Avengers: Endgame / Jim Beam Straight Bourbon Whiskey

0:00 In 2019, directors Anthony and Joe Russo and star Robert Downey Junior gave the world a climactic and heartfelt ending to an epic chapter of cinematic history. In 2024, we try a whiskey whose name is as synonymous with bourbon as The Avengers are with superheroes. The film is Avengers end game. The whiskey is Jim Beam. Or review them both. This is the. Film and Whiskey Podcast Welcome to the Film and Whiskey podcast, where each week we review a classic movie and a glass of whiskey. I'm Bob Book.

0:56 Chomp BOM BOM bom. And I am Iron Man, yeah. There it is. I think I always kind of identified a little more with Thor just drinking beer. Yeah, just got that, that beer belly. Going. I'm definitely in that phase of life now. I think I definitely identify with Thor. Well, hey, Brad G, since you didn't introduce yourself, let me say hello to the people on your behalf. And let me also say welcome in Film and Whiskey Nation to the last episode of season eight of Film and Whiskey. Bob, I know you're not super excited for today's episode, but I don't think we've ever had a season ending episode that feels quite as appropriate as Avengers End Game. And is right in the title.

1:48 It's right there, man. You know what? I I don't know how to explain this, but there's something that just made me feel so American about our intro to the podcast this week. Because usually we have to say, like, today's whiskey is Jim Beam finished in rose casks with a hint of honey. And then today was just like the movie's Avengers end game, the Whiskey's Jim Beam. Get on board or get out like. We're drinking something out of a jar that has a skull and crossbones. 3XS on it. So folks welcome into film and whiskey. What we do on this podcast is review a movie and while we do that, we drink and review a new whiskey each week.

2:28 This season of the podcast we've been looking at the highest grossing film of each year from 1988 to 2019. So we have finally arrived, Brad. It has been a long journey from a Rain Man to Avengers End Game. And I have to say, I think that Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise are the only two actors in Hollywood that do not make an appearance in Avengers End Game. So it's, it's pretty fitting, you know? Yeah, it is incredible to think that we started with, Yeah, Rain Man to end game. If you were to just pair those two movies together in a Let's make it a double, that would be a really strange night of cinema. I don't really particularly care for Rain Man that much. Like, it was a good movie.

3:12 I don't really understand why it won Best Picture, but there is something about holding up Avengers End Game as the movie that people wanted to see in 2019, for all its merits. You know, like it's a fun movie. It's got a huge spectacle to it versus a movie like Rain Man. And it just seems like we're we're the 1980s were such a more sophisticated time, like people wanted to go see this small intimate drama versus, you know, a guy with a big purple nut sack for a chin. We're we're going there already. Oh man, I'm, I'm coming in hot today. Listen, I sat down. I've got my can of PBR and I've got half of a doughnut. I'm ready to go, man. Dude you are full on off duty cop. No, I'm 4.

4:00 Who? Also, fun fact, didn't seem to care about anything in this movie, and I'm guessing that you don't either, Bob. I really do, and I really don't. You know, I've been thinking about this movie a lot, Brad, and I'm going to have some spicy takes and I'm probably going to piss some people off, but it's an appropriate time to review this movie because it is the fifth year anniversary of this film. I can't believe it's been five years. But then COVID really threw things off and it feels both like only a few minutes since this movie came out and like an eternity. The five years is enough time for me to kind of sit and ruminate and revisit. And this time around, Brad, you know, we reviewed Black Panther last week. I did not go back and watch Avengers Infinity War, which is the immediate precursor to this movie and a film that I liked significantly better than End Game the first time I saw them both. And so I really tried to watch this film in as much of a vacuum as possible because this is a movie that, quite frankly, you just can't divorce from the 21 MCU movies that preceded it. And I think that's maybe my biggest issue with the movie is that just taken on its own as a movie, it's got some weird stuff going on to it.

5:11 I'm not saying it doesn't totally work, but it doesn't feel like a complete movie as much as it feels like you've watched a whole season of TV. And then you get the little previously on The Avengers, and then you go right into that. And so it's like, it's jarring. I have many thoughts Brad stop me before I ran for too long. It's curious to me. I think I'm just going to push back and say if there's ever a movie that deserves to be judged not just on its own merits, but on the merits of what came before it, I think this is the movie, Bob. Like, Like you can't just judge this movie in a vacuum. End Game will never exist in a vacuum. Like tell me of the, you know, 100% of people who have watched Avengers end game, what percentage of those people? It was their first scene.

6:09 Had never seen another Marvel movie. Yeah, you're right and I get it. But I mean, we we can make that argument for the closing chapter of any cinematic saga. This could be the same for Harry Potter 8 or Lord of the Rings three or Return of the Jedi. You know there there has to be some Lord. Of the Rings 3. Golem's Revenge. I believe it was called Return of the King. I could be right. I was going to keep numbering. Lord of the Rings 3. I was going to keep numbering things and then I was just like, I'll go throw in Return of the Jedi. My point was going to be, yes, there has to be some familiarity with the preceding material and you can't just be plopped in. I I completely get that and I agree with it, but I feel like this movie really leans on that and, and perhaps too much.

6:54 You know, there does have to be some extent to which in every movie you give the characters a proper reintroduction. And I think in this movie they, they try to do that, you know, like Ant man comes back from the quantum realm and we see Thor for the first time in five years. We really do see each character grappling with this thing that happened five years prior. But I love when you set up a point and then, like, refute it yourself. It's it's what? I don't even have to do anything. I'm just sitting back here like smoking a cigar. As you should I I think this movie tries is what I'm saying. It just falls short for me in so many areas. Brad And I think, oh gosh, how many weeks ago was it now that I was talking about Transformers and I said that I sat through 2/3 of that movie thinking to myself, I not only don't exist on the same wavelength as this film, but I actively hate this movie.

7:50 Brad Avengers End game. For the first two hours plus, I was like, I hate everything about this movie. I hate the acting, I hate the cinematography, I hate time heists. I hate everyone that ever touched this thing. I hate what I did to cinema. And then the last hour. Delightful. So I am in a really weird conflicted spot on this movie dude. Yeah, I mean, I don't know if it helps you out at all, Bob, but for me, the the first time I watching end game was a fun experience. So my first experience watching Avengers end game was was somewhat amusing almost. Bob, I I'm sure I've told the crying patron sitting behind me story before.

8:37 Oh, I. Don't remember that, please enlighten me. So I sit down at Avengers end game at our, our local like really small theater. And so we sit down and watch the film really excited. And you know, 10 minutes in the there's a guy sitting behind me and he's kind of whispering to his friend. And it's like, not loud enough to make me say something, but it's loud enough for me to be like thinking to myself, like, people have waited like 12 years for this man. You should probably shut up. And he keeps kind of whispering here and there throughout the first half of the film. And I, I was getting a little more and more annoyed and I almost turned around and said something to him a few times.

9:21 We hit the halfway point of this movie or, you know, 2/3, whatever it happens when, when everybody starts coming back to life, this man behind me who has been whispering through the whole movie starts sobbing. I mean, ugly weep crying. And he doesn't stop until the end of the film. And I was like, oh, you're the guy who's been waiting 12 years for this movie. It, it was one of the most wild experiences of my life. Needless to say, I also wanted to, wanted to talk through the entire movie.

10:06 And so on Monday the next week, Stephen Jordan and I went and saw it like 10:00 AM matinee. It was the three of us like kind of near the front left of the theater and then like two people way in the back right. And so we just kind of watched it and talked about things and, and honestly enjoyed the movie in the way that we would want to enjoy it, which was kind of making fun of it, kind of enjoying it, kind of just reminiscing about the 10 years and it, it was a good, good experience. That sounds like a fun way to watch this movie. And before we go any further, because we do need to get to, Brad explains. I am going to get up on my soapbox for the next minute and a half, Brad, and I'm going to say this about people talking in movie theaters. Bring back public shaming.

10:52 Yes. Here's the thing, I have no qualms about telling people to shut the fuck up in movies and I will say those words out loud. I I went to see Inside Out Two with my kid a couple weeks ago. Did I tell this story already? I don't know. No. I'm sitting there with my son and it got to the most emotional part of the movie. And these people in the two rows behind us in the back row were snickering and like making fun of the movie and everyone else in the movie is like trying to enjoy the movie. And it's quiet enough in the theater that everyone can hear these people. And I keep looking. Back And this isn't like, you know, Hobbit Legolas being Mario.

11:33 And me, this is like you're, you came to this movie to to make fun of the movie like which pisses me off. So I turn around and loudly say, can you please stop talking? And then they think that's funny. So then I'd said, stay here a minute, son. And I stand up and I walk back into their row, whereupon I see that they are small, scrawny teenagers because I took a gamble that this person may just be a large man with a gun. But you know, this time around it was teenagers. And I stood over both of them and they just said that's enough. And then they shut up for the rest of the movie. It was great. I got my dad voice on. I publicly shamed some teenagers and I don't feel one bit bad about it.

12:15 People need to shut up in movie theaters, Brad. Yeah, I I experienced the other end of that while watching the Dune 2. No, Brad, stop talking in movies, dude. No, here's here's the deal. Not even during the movie. It was before the movie starts. They give the, you know, the things the the not. Trailers the like the studio cars. Production yeah, the production studio things during that I lean over and no joke, like I'm like making out with Steven's ear, whisper in his ear something and this dude two seats down for me screams and when I say scream, I mean screams.

13:04 Shut the up, you piece of. And I just, that's my dude, I. Just looked over there, that's my dude. Was like I was ready to fight. Man, I'm on team that guy. This movie hasn't started. That was me, bro. I was. I said that very. Quietly talking to my neighbor and I didn't say, I didn't say anything the entire movie, but this guy just thought he was, you know, better than everyone else. That was me. You know what cosign that guy? I Yeah. No, that guy was a Dick. I have thought back to the number of times you. Were kind of a Dick too. But here's the thing, I I really don't feel bad about it. I spent so much money to take the two of us to the movies. And if people are going to purposely try to ruin the movie, like they deserve to be told to shut up. And like, seriously, I would never do that to you in that situation, Brad.

13:56 And that it had gone on for an hour at that point. Yes. But I do think like, the pandemic has ruined theater etiquette for people. It's the amount of people I see with their feet up on the seats with no shoes on, like talking through the movie phone on full brightness. It's just like, if you want to be in your living room, stay home. Like there. There just has to be a different way you act in a place like this. And that's, you know, that's my soapbox. Yeah, no, I'm, I'm with you man. I in general I am a don't talk during movies person. I there are people I don't enjoy watching movies with because they constantly ask questions throughout the entire movie. Questions that involve answers that you have to wait to see 'cause like, we're watching the same movie and I don't know the answer.

14:46 Is he going to die? Yeah, Yep, 100%. But I will say, like my second experience watching End Game, like if I'm with just my friends and there's nobody else in the theater and we want to talk during the movie, I'm. I'm going to do that, yeah. 100% OK, on that note, let's talk about this movie. And this movie is called Avengers End Game, and that means that it is time for Brad to break down the plot of this movie in the first segment of the day, Brad explains. Brad's going to give us the movie plots with only 60 seconds taken on the clock, so let's go ahead and do your take with this little segment that we call, Brad explains. Brad, as you know, you get 60 seconds on the clock to break down the plot of this movie with full spoilers. So folks, if you have somehow avoided seeing what was at one time the highest grossing film of all time, you can hit pause here.

15:38 You can come rejoin this episode after you've watched the three hour long superhero movie. Credits roll at 2 hours and 50 minutes. Bob. OK, all right, fair. Just saying 25250. Brad, you get one minute on the clock and go. Avengers End Game is a film about The Avengers bet you never saw that coming, did you Bob? Terrible thing though, half of everybody is dead. We follow The Avengers as they try to cope with the loss of their friends and family. The Ant man comes back and tries to convince everyone that time travel could be a thing. Tony Stark is like F you, I already have everything I want and I'm not going to risk it all. But then he does and they go on a time travel heist and they steal the Infinity stones from the past. They come back to the future, snap half of the population back into existence, but they unfortunately bring a past version of Thanos back to the future. See what I did there?

16:49 Thanos tries to destroy everyone instead of just half of everyone, and Tony Stark stops him, along with a little bit of help from his friends. He snaps Thanos and his armies out of existence and then he's. Dead and he did all right did. And that his Avengers end game. Also, Captain America baby goes back to the 40s so that he can get some of that Agent Carter's booty. I mean. Bradley, you are a married man, Sir. I'm not. I'm not saying I would do that. I just say. I'm just saying, if I was Captain America in that situation, come on.

17:31 Can you imagine what a great line it would be to be like I travelled across space and time and unfroze myself to be here for you, Peggy? Dude, let's go. Let's be honest, I am a straight male. If Captain America showed up at my door and said that, I would throw myself at the man. I'm just being honest here. I mean, what? What greater story for anyone to say? I could have had any number of women in 2019, and I came back here to 1944 to be with you, Becky. For beer belly bop. Dude, I would have slayed in the 1940s. Don't even give me that crap. I have all my teeth.

18:12 OK, let's talk about the movie, Brad. And typically we start by talking about the cast list of the movie. The issue is that with that is that, as I said, everyone in Hollywood is in this movie at some point. So we will certainly talk about the cast. I just feel like it might end up being in a more roundabout way today. We'll talk about people kind of as they come up instead of just reading down a list of 40 A list stars. Where I'd like to begin is with the actual plot of this movie. Brad, we have done a number of time travelling movies on this podcast, and I like a good time travel movie. Perhaps the most controversial one that we've done is Back to the Future, a movie that is considered structurally perfect, but that neither one of us found to be super compelling. If you'd like to go back and listen to our hot takes on Back to the Future, man, that was like season two or three, I think. Yeah, that was a long time ago.

18:59 I think it was also the last episode of a season. It sure was. Yeah, it. Sure was. I keep doing this to myself. So with End Game, I think my big thing with the time travel piece of it is that just as a story plot, not plot device, but like the determining factor of a plot. It feels to me even I'm watching it this time like the biggest possible cop out to end such a huge arc. Like they wrote themselves into such a corner with the way that Thanos snapped everybody out of existence at the end of Infinity War. And folks, let me say for you Marvel aficionados out there, I am aware of the Infinity Gauntlet saga. Like I'm aware that all of these stories were were pre-existing in some capacity or some form or another. So nothing new under the sun when it comes to the MCU. But I was really interested to see how they were going to find a way to bring people back.

19:57 And it turns out that they have screwed up so badly as The Avengers that they're like, we have to find a way to go back in time. And as soon as that element gets introduced, for me, the eye rolls and groans just start. Because it really does just seem like if we can undo everything that happened, then what have I been doing for 20 movies here? And and I don't think for me. The movie ever fully recovers from the idea that we have to introduce time travel into this thing. It just it's something that's never even been remotely hinted at in the MCU outside of the Ant man kind of teasing it thing. But like A, no one saw Ant Man and B like it just, you know, for something that has required so much suspension of disbelief, going to space and other planets and demigods, like I don't know, for me, time travel was just a bridge too far. It was the thing that finally broke the camel's back for me. Bob, I, I know that it's no $1 billion take Ant Man did make $520 million.

21:00 So, you know, a few people saw it. A few. Did anybody that you know go to the theater to see Ant Man? Yeah, I had, I had a few friends who were were Marvel stands. They they went to all of them. And I have never seen Ant Man. Yeah, F that movie. I'm on one today, dude. I'm eating my doughnut. I'm just I'm ready to be over with us. Are are you eating a filled Long John? I certainly am I. Certainly am man. Of course you are. It's it's, it's really fat. Like this is a fat doughnut. I'm not a fan of this one. It's a filled Long John that has both cream and Jelly inside of it. Yeah.

21:40 This is like a diabetes. Yeah. You fun fact, you do have diabetes, Bob. I don't. I don't know if you should be eating that. You can't get diabetes if you already have it, Brad. Bro, you said that. With a mouthful of. Donut amount of bites to let everyone know that might be the fattest sentence you've ever spoken in your life. Listen dude, respond to the time travel thing so I can finish my donut. I think that the time travel is poorly implemented, yes, but I don't, I don't mind it a ton because there's no precedent within the Marvel Universe that they're screwing up where I'm like, it's not my favorite time travel that I've ever seen in the film. It's it probably ranks pretty lowly. But the thing I the one thing I like about it is that they don't make a big deal of it by like continuing to talk about it. They get it out of the way in their own Marvel way that, you know, War Machine and Ant Man are like, yeah, why do we think time works that way?

22:54 Because of Back to the Future, RoboCop, blah, blah, blah. And like, they get it out of the way. Hulk explains Marvel's version of time travel and then they move on with it. And like, yes, they do the time travel thing, but they don't talk about it a ton. And I think that's why I don't mind it a lot, even though it's not my favorite. I'm developing a theory in real time, so let me workshop it here. But I mean, you would say that this is not a perfect film, right? There are definitely a place to it. Yeah, yes, 100%. I'm realizing to me, to me at least, the moments of the film that work are all of the payoff moments and almost all of the moments that don't work are the build up moments.

23:38 And so that I think that applies like on a meta scale to the whole movie, Like the first two hours are just not as successful as the last hour is. But I also think when you take the time travel subplot, the way they set up the time travel is it's like nails on a chalkboard in terms of storytelling. It's like they are constantly undercutting their own decision to do time travel by trying to show you, the audience that they know it's ridiculous and and be a little winking and tongue in cheek and say, like, this is laughable. At one point Tony Stark says this is laughable and it's like you can't tell your audience that it's laughable and then do it anyway, you know, like, and so for me, every time they do that, it undercuts the the seriousness of what they're trying to do, but also it's making it harder for the payoff to actually overcome that. And I think to the movies credit, there are a number of places where the payoff does overcome the build up. And the time travel thing is one of them. Like once they actually go back in time, they get some really great sequences out of it.

24:40 I love the sequence where Tony meets his own dad. And it's partially because Robert Downey Junior, such a good actor and he sells a lot of those moments with stuff that's not actually on the page, but just his own emotional reaction to things that are happening. It's incredible. It's really, really well done. You know, the Captain America fighting himself. What a fun little moment. And then when they're in the lobby of that building and RDJ is dressed up as like a SWAT team guy and Loki's having fun with the Tesseract, it's a freaking blast like that. All that stuff is really fun. But I feel like everything that's happening to set that up is either so, you know, gloomy and dour or to to flippant. And they never really find the right balance of like, what's happening in 2019.

25:29 And so it's not until they go back in time at like the hour and a half mark that I really start caring about anything in this movie. So it it feels like for you, a stand up comedian that just kind of botches all of his setups and you're like, yeah, you know, maybe the joke could have landed, but but but then he. But then he says you might be a redneck and we go. Ah, you did it. You did the thing. I get it now. I, I think as I was watching this, I realize that the thing I hate about Marvel humor, about Marvel plot construction, about Marvel aesthetics in movies is when it gets imitated by non Marvel movies. And here in End Game at least, I was like, oh, this movie wouldn't feel right if it was suddenly like directed by Steven Spielberg or, you know, like a Wes Anderson or like it would just feel completely wrong if all of a sudden it had a super tight script.

26:41 It's humor was actually like, what? What's it called? Diegetic music? Is music playing within the film? Like if it was actually diegetic humor and not Marvel humor, like it, it wouldn't feel right. Like the there's a level of this movie is the culmination of everything Marvel has built itself to be. And yes, there are parts of that I don't like and that's why I'm not going to give this a perfect score. But I I don't know what it was. Man. For some reason this time through, none of that really bothered me that much. I like, I found myself able to just sit back, enjoy the movie for what it was. The the set up.

27:24 I'm with you is not perfect, not well done. I think that the Russo brothers faced such a difficult task of like, how are we going to get to this epic conclusion? And figuring out time travel couldn't take up any more time than it did. Because I remember the first time I watched this, I was like, Tony literally says I won't do it for you. There's like a two-minute scene and then he's like, I figured it out. I did time. He literally asks his computer one question and it's like, Oh yeah, here, here's time travel. Yeah. And like this time through, I was kind of like, sure, Yep, we got time travel, let's just move on to the next thing for sure. Just get that out of the way.

28:09 But then there's so many moments that are like unreasonably drawn out. And I'm not even talking about plot developments, but that Marvel humor. There's a moment where they first go to kind of recruit Hulk and they're sitting in a diner and an Ant man is asking these kids if they want to take a picture of him and Brad. I swear I had like a Brad G moment where I thought the joke was over and then they kept going and they kept. Going You felt that kit in your stomach. Oh my gosh, it was. And it made me angry. By the end of it, it was like, Yep, I'm cool with them letting these guys ad Lib and improv and kind of riff off each other. But as an editor, you have to know where to end that and that joke Stop being funny. And it was, it didn't go on long enough to come back around and be funny again.

28:54 They, they found the maximum level of frustration to end that scene on. And so that's where it's like there's a number of rhythmic things with this movie that, you know, again, I said like the last hour I really liked. And we can go ahead and talk about that whenever you'd like. But in that first two hours, I felt like they could have shed anywhere from 30 to 40 minutes of screen time. Like, seriously, I didn't need entire subplots of this movie. I didn't need to follow Hawkeye into Japan in what is probably the coolest shot of the movie. That cool. Wonderful. Thing I was about to say. That was freaking awesome. It was really well done.

29:34 The problem is it was completely unnecessary. Like, they could have just told us he's gone rogue, we need to go find him and then we could have no like. You got to show that, man. Come on, you. Don't have to show it just cause it. Just cause it's a cool shot doesn't mean it's necessary to the telling of this movie. I'm pretty sure it was. Pretty sure it was. I was not. Sure, Jeremy Renner is not necessary to the telling of any movie. Frank. Like we're being Frank here. Dude, I will agree with you about that with any movie. I actually liked Jeremy Renner this time through. Unbelievable in this movie. Yeah, I, I like, I took a note. Blown away by how moved I was by his performance. I literally have a note in my in my notes on my iPhone that just says the Renner paradox.

30:23 And that is where that is where you give the best performance of your career in a movie where everyone forgets you're in the movie. Yeah, he's so good in this, but like, no one remembers Hawkeye from this movie. And he, he wouldn't be good if he didn't have his like Japanese anime like manga scene where he's just like straight up murdering people. It's incredible. It's the same thing with Hemsworth in this movie. And I think I gave Hemsworth a tiny bit of crap in our first Avengers review where I said that he hadn't quite fully stepped into being the actor that he is today. Because I think he's a phenomenal actor. And in this movie, they really let him show it with how truly broken and depressed this man is.

31:09 And I also feel like there's the Hemsworth paradox going on here too, where he's giving one of the best performances I've ever seen him give. And yet the script and the directors are trying to undermine his truly great character development with jokes and jokes at his expense. And like, undercutting what is a really good performance because of it. Like did Thor need to be fat in this movie? And if he if he did need to be fat at the beginning, did he not? Could he not have just like magically shed 50 lbs with his lightning? Like the fact that they stuck with it through the whole movie and kept calling him Lebowski and stuff. Like it just got it got on my nerves after a while. Oh come on, Lebowski happened once and it's just a throwaway. Like you can't tell me that Robert Downey Junior didn't just ad Lib that I don't even I don't even love Lebowski. That was a great.

32:04 One liner. I think my point, though, is ultimately like, even at the end of the film, they're still making like rocket raccoons. Like, come on Tubby, let's get in the ship. You know, it's just like, at a certain point, you have to know when to pull back and let the emotional arc of that character kind of take over a little bit and stop undercutting it with these constant reminders of like, but he's fat. And like, it just really throws off what Hemsworth is trying to do, I think. Yeah, I mean, I mean, I'll say this, though, like he has one of the most beautiful moments of the whole film when he sits with his mother and there's no jokes, There's no nothing undercutting it. Like Rocket is off stabbing Natalie Portman off screen. And for me, I, that was one of my absolute favorite scenes. Totally agree.

32:56 Like the, the message that they're conveying there about the importance of understanding who you are and living into who you are. I, there's so much going on there that I'm a huge fan of. And I I don't think the joking through the rest of the film detracts from that scene being what it needs to be. I think you're absolutely right, because that's the only scene where they're not trying to undercut it like I. I guess what I'm saying is I wish they'd just given him a little bit more room and space to be the character that he was without constantly trying to, like, squeeze a joke in. The Marvel humor really did. And I think part of it too, Brad is like in a movie with 80 characters from 10 different franchises, where each film franchise has its own tone and visual language and like, humor style. I got a lot of tonal whiplash in this movie. Like whenever Thanos was on screen, I was like, Oh yeah, like we're supposed to realize that this is a very menacing person, but they've been joking about him for the last 8 minutes.

33:59 So I, I found myself really relieved at the end of the movie when Chris Pratt shows up because I've forgotten about Chris Pratt because he died in the last movie. And I'm not on like, team, I hate Chris Pratt. I actually really like Chris Pratt. If he had been in this movie The entire time, I probably would have just like thrown something at the television. It would have been too much of the Marvelly humor. You would have gotten up in the theater and like, yelled at him to shut up. No, that's enough, Chris Pratt. Yeah, security, we got some guy screaming at the screen. Again, I don't know man. So before we go to break, am I just a cranky old man? Like, did the Marvel humor work for you? Did they tie it in well with the dramatic moments? Did you have moments of tonal whiplash? Separately from everything else, yes, Bob, you are a cranky old man.

34:52 That goes without saying. It goes without saying, when it comes to this film specifically, I kind of think you are being a cranky old man. Like, once again, this is the culmination of Marvel. It's not the culmination of Lord of the Rings. Like it's not like we suddenly got in Return of the King a John Woo action thriller with Aragorn. Like, I don't, I don't even know what. Like falling, sliding down the walls of Gondor with doves flying out behind them. Like you get the same movie, just the next iteration of it. And I think that's what you get here.

35:34 Like to, to complain about Marvel humor in the Marvel movie feels like I, I don't, I don't know, like, I guess, I guess I'll say this. It's never been your thing. That's not true. That's never been my thing. It's never been your thing. I have many times over defended Marvel humor on this podcast and I think this is one of the areas this. Is this is the one time where you're like one step too far? It's just Russos, they go overboard with it and I don't feel like they work it in organically the way that they do in other movies. Like Guardians of the Galaxy, I think is a great example of how to do the Marvel humor as the tone of your movie.

36:18 And it's really, really hard to have a movie that takes itself as seriously as this. Like the superhero stories are just ridiculous on their face. They're just like, they are preposterous stories. And I think you have to have at least some level of self-awareness where, where is this movie is like, it's not aware of its own preposterousness. It wants to be taken very seriously, but it's way of trying to mimic self-awareness is let's let these guys riff a little bit. And I just like every time that happened, it just threw me off because it was like, OK, are they going to go back in time and try to save the world? Or do we have to have like 8 more quips before we do that? It like I I don't know, this movie has just never clicked for me on that level.

37:03 Yeah, I, I mean, I would challenge you to someday go back. I don't think that there's quite as many self aware Marvel style jokes as you are portraying there to be. Like they did not stack up at the level that you are saying they do. I I, I, I just don't think that they really affect the outcome of this movie. And I think it's because you have so many beautiful quiet moments in the film. Like, I, I even think about when Scarlett Johansson is sitting there after everybody turns off their monitors and she's eating a peanut butter and Jelly sandwich, which seems like a weird choice, but sure, go for it.

37:49 And she just has this incredible moment of like, this is what's happened to me over the last five years. And she has a great conversation with, I think, is it Captain America? Yeah, yeah. Great conversation. Absolutely. And I so I guess that's what I'm saying is like there are tons of those scenes scattered throughout this movie. And to me, the the Marvel humor put in throughout just kind of gives you a reminder of where they're at as a organization. Yeah, I mean, I think that's fair. I I guess I would just push back and say the fact that those scenes are scattered is what I think is wrong with the movie. Like either be self aware in One Direction of your own ridiculousness or be self aware of how serious things are.

38:36 Like a Nolan movie and I think. So you either want Tyka to direct this or Christopher. Christopher Nolan, Let's see. Dude, give Taika, give Taika Oppenheimer and he makes the worst movie of all time. You know what I mean? Like you just you can't do both. I just really want to see Taika playing the main guy who's like questioning Oppenheimer throughout the the. But still dressed as Adolf Hitler from JoJo Rabbit. Yeah. Yes, Brad, real quick before we go to break, I do just want to say in that peanut butter sandwich scene, how great would it have been if Bradley Cooper as Rocket Raccoon had just popped right up and said, hey, you ladies like peanut butter sandwiches? It would have been better if he was like, she like threw it away and then he pops out of the trash can holding it. All right, man, it's time for us to go to break. What do you say we tried this, Jim Beam Bob? You told me earlier that you wanted to get this episode quote over with End Quote.

39:43 And here we are 45 ish minutes in and we're on a real wild trip, my friend. All right. Today we are checking out Jim Beam Straight Bourbon Whiskey, also known as Jim Beam White Label. It has come down to this Brad 250 plus episodes. We've never tried Jim Beam, we might as well save it for last. This is one of the best selling bourbons last. Huh. Well, last of the season this is. This is Sam. We're done podcast. Yep, folks. This is. The one you thought Last Jedi would end the podcast, but here we are. This is one of the best selling bourbons in the world, if not the best selling bourbon in the world.

40:27 It clocks in at 80 proof. It is a bottom shelf staple. Now when we say bottom shelf, we don't necessarily mean bottom tier quality, but it is an affordable bourbon that people have used for decades as a mixer and neat. The mash bill on Jim Beam is 75% corn, 13% rye and 12% malted barley. So almost an equivalent amount of rye and barley. This is a non age stated bourbon. And Brad, I know that sometimes we kind of blow through our definitions on the podcast, but a lot of times people are listening for the first time and people don't know a lot about bourbon. And so we want people, especially people who are drinking Jim Beam to understand what they're drinking here. What does it mean, Brad, when we say that a whiskey is non age stated? And how do we know what the age is when that's the case? Well, in order to be a bourbon whiskey, you have to be aged for a minimum of two years.

41:19 A straight bourbon. A straight. Sorry, thank you. A straight bourbon. And if they don't put an age statement on it, guess how many years old it is, Bob. How many bread? Two No. False. Brad, you have learned nothing over the course of eight seasons of this podcast to be a non age stated God bless it. What do I throw to you? I try to give you like a lob and you're like, Nope, miss the dunk. In order to not have an age statement on the label, a bourbon has to be aged for a minimum of four years. Now what that means is that the youngest bourbon in this blend, they take, you know, barrels from all over the Rick house and of all different ages and blend them together. The youngest whiskey here has to be four years or older.

42:01 Otherwise, it has to be aged stated. Now you can have an age stated whiskey like we talked last week with Jim Beam Black Label seven-year where everything in that bottle is 7 years old or older. But a lot of times people don't want to advertise, hey, this is only four years old. So they just don't put anything on the label. And that's how we know that this is at least four years old, Brad. So with all that out of the way, this is our fifth week of Jim Beam. We have been very up and down on this, but I'm really looking forward to just sipping meat on regular Jim Beam bourbon. Brad, you've had it already. I have not, So why don't you give us your nosing notes here? Yeah, the Jim Beam comes across with like dust of peanut.

42:43 It's not quite a strong enough nose to peanut, literally. Yes, there's a little bit of caramel. It really reminds me of like a fizzy water that you can't place what flavor it is. It's just kind of a generic there. There's something effervescent about it, but I, I there, there's not a ton of notes here. I'm going to be generous. I will give it a six out of 10 on the nose. I yeah, you know what? Last week with the Black Label and this week I have found the nose is much more pleasant. And I think it's just because they're leaning much more sweet. This definitely smells like crack and open a bag of peanuts at a baseball game.

43:26 But if they were like doused in caramel and honey and a bunch of things like it's, it's really, really nice, man. You get peanut butter, you get brown sugar. I get Maple on this. It's by far the most pleasant smelling of all five of these Jim Beams. I'm going to give it a 7.5 on the nose. Yeah, I, I love that you called out Maple because that for me was the thing that bumped that my taste score up there. There's caramel, there's vanilla, there's a little bit of a peanutty note. But for me, it was like a really nice rich Maple syrup on the front of the tongue that that brought the score up decently. I'm at a 7 out of 10 on the taste. Yeah, I like this a lot.

44:10 This is like everything else that we've had from Jim Beam. I feel like their solution to let's come up with a higher end version of this is more years in the barrel, more oakiness, double oaking and it has really thrown the balance off, tipping it into like almost bitterness. This has a lot of oak and I can sense the rye and the barley here as well, but it is like syrupy sweet. I really, really love this and for an 80 proof bourbon, it has so much going on on the palate that I don't notice how thin it is like I did last week with the Black Label. I think this is a significant step up from the Black Label Brad, and I think once again I'm going to give it a 7.5 on the palate.

44:51 I think for me, the finish, it kind of falls back down to earth for what this whiskey could be. It gets really corn heavy on the end. The vanilla comes through just kind of has a generic sweetness to it, almost like a simple syrup, but there's not enough, you know, of like classic peppery oak notes to get me super excited about the finish. So I'm back down to a six out of 10. I'm, I'm with you on all of those notes, but I think that this is the first time where it hasn't been coupled with an intense bitterness. It's definitely an 80 proof bourbon, but it tastes like an 80 proof bourbon that they could charge more money for like it, you know, Basil Hayden's famously another Jim Beam product is $40.

45:41 I don't know that I'd be able to just immediately tell the difference between the two if you put them down because they've been so diluted. But I also think this just has a really nice well-rounded flavor profile. The finish feels like it's something that could stand up in a lower ABV cocktail. I just I like the oakiness of it. I like the spice and that sort of Maple caramel comes back a little bit on the back of the palate. So I'm going to give it A7 once again here. And when it comes to balance, I said seven and a half, seven and a half, seven. That means this is a pretty well balanced whiskey. Is it the greatest whiskey we've ever had? Absolutely not. But for a cheap blended bourbon with no age statement that like most people will pass by on shelves, I'm actually pretty blown away here.

46:26 I think I'm going to give it an 8 1/2 on balance. Yeah, I mean, I give it a 676. I'll, I'll give it A7. On balance. I, I think that the flavors they're going for, they hit. There's just not any real variance of the notes here to make me excited about it. There's, there's a lot of good stuff going on here. 7 out of 10 on balance Bob, this bottle of whiskey is going to set you back $17.00 in the state of Ohio. Oh man, do I love to hear that, Brad, because do you know why I love to hear that? Why is that, Bob? This is a 10 out of 10 value.

47:08 I'm I'm staking my claim here. I'm putting my stake in the ground. Brad. This is the first one that I've had in this series of five whiskeys, including the single barrel, which cost like 30 something dollars that I understand why people like the Jim Beam palette, like why that's their wheelhouse. You know, we've had bookers, we understand like what it's like on the high end, but people who go out and just buy Jim Beam products, this is like, this is the flagship product. And if they don't nail this, then everything else is kind of like, why would I want that? And I think that the fact that we ended with this one is really important because this is the first time I've understood, OK, like I could get on board with this. I think they kind of got off track with the other four that we tried.

47:54 And so for $17.00, like this is a freaking steal, man. I'm I'm going to give this a 10 out of 10. Yeah, man, I'm just not with you on this. I'll give it a 7 1/2. Like it's $17.00. It's a decent pour. I think you can get a few other better pours for just a few bucks more good value. Like they're, they've produced a solid whiskey and they know, they know what they're making. And I I love when a large company can recognize that I'm coming out to a 33.5 out of 50. Yeah, I am significantly higher than you on this one, Brad.

48:36 I'm at a 40.5 out of 50. Get out of Bob. Well, OK, like listen, this is definitely skewed by my 10 out of 10 value, but I gave it a 30 1/2 out of 40. Like I think it's a 70. High score. I think it's a 7 1/2 whiskey across the board, but when you put that at a $17.00 price point like Brad, this is cheaper than any whiskey we've ever done on the show except for maybe Benchmark. Like I I just, I don't know what else you could possibly get at this price point, let alone something. Go ahead, you've purged the Canadian mist from your memory. I'm talking bourbon, but yeah, you're right. I don't know, man. I really, really liked it. You know, it's clearly, of the four whiskeys I've given above a 42, it is clearly the worst of the four. But if you're asking me, hey, I have $17.00 in my pocket and I want to spend all my money on whiskey, what should I get? I mean, you know, what else can I steer you to besides this? It's really good.

49:35 Yeah, I mean, I, I came to a 26 out of 40, which is, you know, a 65 out of 100. I like, I think that they're doing good stuff here. I'm just a little softer than you on it. And that's, that's totally OK, man. I am happy that you have something to rejoice in this this this here episode of film and whiskey. I feel exactly how you do about the whiskey, but I feel it about the movie. Like they're doing some good stuff here. It's just, you know, this is not for me. Yeah. All right, dude. Well, that's Jim Beam. What do you say we get back into talking about end game? Let's get to it.

50:17 All right, everybody, That was Jim Beam, an American whiskey. It certainly is. I always like how they refer to it as the James B Beam Corporation. Like they're trying to, what is it? Juice it up a little bit. It's like, yeah. What is it with whiskey companies and having like middle initials? I don't know, they reminds me of have you ever seen the movie Joe Dirt? No, I haven't. An American classic, but at the beginning of the movie, he he works on like a a sound stage or something and he has to show ID to get in and he's the janitor and he tries to spell his name with like an E with a little accent mark at the end. He keeps calling himself Joe Diertay. And the guy at the gate is just like, don't try to church it up, son.

51:01 Don't you mean Joe Dirt? And that's exactly how I feel about these distiller. It's like James B Beam. Don't try to church it up. This is Jim Beam. This cost me $17.00. No, Brad, it cost me $0.99 because I got a 50ML sample of it. Yeah, you did. All right. On that note, you know what time it is, Brad. It's time for two facts and a falsehood. Brad is going to try to stump you. Ball 2, all right. And what is wrong? Two facts and a falsehood. Two Facts and a falsehood is the part of the show where Brad presents me with three items as fact about the making of this movie, one of which is a complete lie. Once again, as with Star Wars, I do not care. You could present me with any number of statements, all of them true, all of them false.

51:52 I have no idea. I did not read these things growing up. So Brad, I'm sitting at 18 and 13 on the season. I have secured for myself my winning season. If I lose today, I'd again, you know, it is what it is. So hit me with your two facts and a falsehood. Fact #1 Upon reaching its peak gross, End Game became the first film in 45 years to be the highest grossing film not directed by Steven Spielberg, James Cameron, or George Lucas. Fact #2 Chris Evans developed an extraordinarily close relationship with his stunt double Sam Hargrave throughout the MCU experience and insisted that in his credit scene, multiple of the background shots of Captain America are actually of Hargrove.

52:40 Fact #3 Robert Downey Junior officially surpassed Hugh Jackman's record for most appearances in film as the same superhero with 10. He set this record in only 11 years, whereas Jackman did it in 17. So Hugh Jackman has since reclaimed that crown. If that is true, because. Or is he at least tied? Because I believe that Deadpool and Wolverine is his 10th appearance as Wolverine now. Yeah. OK, that's so that's. Probably why Hugh did it. Definitely not for the paycheck. Number one, I believe is true. The one about it being 45 years since Cameron, Spielberg or Lucas hadn't had the highest grossing film, because I'm trying to think it was. It was Jaws, and then it was Star Wars and then I believe it was ET until it was Jurassic Park, and then it was Titanic. And then Titanic held the crown until Avatar and then end game. Yeah, So I think that's right #3 sounds true #2 I wasn't really paying attention, to be honest with you. I don't really know who Hargrove is. That's all I remember.

53:52 But that's enough for me. It was so boring that it has to be false #2 Is the falsehood Brad you? Are correct, Robert, look at you go. Just like this movie. Boring as hell. Bobby, you said that the final hour of this film worked for you. So let's let's dive into that a little bit. What was it about the final act of the Marvel Cinematic Universe that like just compelled you? What, what, what made you feel like, oh, I'm finally at a good movie? You know that scene in the Grinch where he's sliding down the hill holding a a a sleigh full of gifts and they say that his his tiny heart grew 3 sizes that. Day.

54:39 I sure do remember that, yeah. It was basically that, you know, I just, I honestly got caught up in the movie making. I think that it just becomes a significantly more well made movie. It feels less thrown together. I think the fact that they finally get everybody in one location means that they don't have to keep cutting back and forth to kind of dissolve or dilute some of the tension. And because of that, you know, the visual palette is still freaking awful. This movie is so grey. It just looks like crap. But even, I mean, getting beyond that, you get some cool little quips. You get some cool little moments of people flexing and like winking at the camera, but they all feel much more tied into the action on the screen. And I've said this a few times in the course of the season when the humor in a movie feels kind of Spielbergian. And I think that that's what I mean by that is like Spielberg's a really good at knowing where within a very tense action sequence he can drop a joke so that it does kind of like give you a moment to breathe, but it doesn't undercut the action of the sequence.

55:42 And I think that the Russos do a really good job with that part of the movie it all all the way up until Iron Man's sacrifice. And, and do I think that they really stretch it out like both his death scene and the funeral scene 100% like it is really dragged out. But that's one of those. Areas where you didn't like the wonder slowly travelling through the groups of people. I I really tried this time to determine if they were actually all in one location or if they were all just like groups of three that they had green screened separately and put together. I couldn't tell so it must have been good green screen if it wasn't. I I think I remember being told that they shot that scene and told everybody that yeah, I've heard it was somebody. Else no way you don't think they all wondered like why are we wearing black dresses and black suits? Like nobody knew that that three day funeral shoot was in a party scene.

56:40 I'm just saying that it would indicate to me that they were all actually there together. Sure, Yeah, yeah. Anyway, like they drag it out, but I think that's one of those areas where you can't just look at the movie in a vacuum. Like this big MCU thing needs it's 1/2 hour long tribute to Tony Stark. It just does. And I'm OK with it. And the IT really got me. Like I always thought that I love you 3000 was a really cheesy thing to say. And this time around I was like, I freaking floored me, dude. I was, if anything, I don't think they milked that moment enough because he says I love you 3000 and then the thing cuts off and it's like, oh, you really could have showed me Gwyneth Paltrow and his little kid crying and it. You wanted to watch like a four year old kid just weeping. Just freaking.

57:31 Ruined. Yeah, they they should have had Jon Favreau stand above her and go shut up. Oh, dude. Speaking of which, Favreau. A. Very underrated actor. He's so good. That moment with the cheeseburgers, like of all the things that could make me cry, he has that look in his eyes and he chokes back the tears saying like, you know your dad like cheeseburgers. That's like he did. He did like cheeseburger. He got Burger King at the end of the first movie, man. So yeah, I just, I think the movie making gets significantly better in the in the last hour. Yeah, I'm 100% with you, man. I think that the last battle is incredible.

58:11 I I think that as much as the color palette, which has been much maligned, it rears its ugly head in the battle. There are a few great moments where he gives you a wide shot of the entire battlefield and you like I'm thinking of the moment where Thanos is on the right and it like everything is like these greens and purples and like it looks like space itself has come to devour earth and it's just a great shot, man. And there there's just a lot of moments like that where I I love the end of this movie. I'll I'll go out on a limb.

58:55 I'll put myself out there, Bob, and say the one thing that drove me nuts about this movie The first time I saw it, the second time I saw it and the third time that I saw it. And and The thing is, it's it's only a foretaste of what's to come with Disney. But like the the one moment of the battle where they're like, let's group up all the women because women are powerful. Did you know that, Bob? I don't, I don't know if you knew this, but women are powerful and they can be superheroes too. And I'm just sitting there going, I'm not even a Marvel fan. And I know that Captain Marvel doesn't need anybody's help. Like they have well established.

59:35 She don't need no man. She don't need no woman. She could easily breakthrough all of these people together, but they had to have this one little moment. And it's like stuff like that for me is what draws me out of the movie. Like all, all the humor beforehand, all of the tonal whiplash, which does exist, doesn't bother me as much. Like all of that, totally fine. Makes sense. It's a Marvel movie, but that was the moment for me that, if I'm being honest, just completely rips me out of the movie and goes, oh, Disney's being Disney. It really does feel shoehorned in. And I like, the thing about it is it doesn't bother me so much because it's such a small moment in the movie. And also like, you know what?

1:00:16 I'm glad that, like, little girls in the audience had a moment like that where they could see all of their favorite heroes in one shot. Like the issue with it is that everything leading up to it like had all the women scattered in different places on the battlefield and then conveniently. Awesome stuff. Yes, yes, yeah. Like doing awesome stuff, being kick ass. Like I am all about that. It's great. But you're right. They're all scattered across the battlefield and all of a sudden they just all happened to be there, ready to go. And they're the only ones there. Yeah. And they, yeah, and I we're talking about. Gripes. This is going to be my most like, People who listen to this episode and don't know me are going to think that I'm like a whole foot.

1:00:58 I think they figured that out a long time ago. Yeah, when Captain America has the has meal near and all of the people come out of their little portals and it's a really, really cool moment. Like it just is. It's really cool. And then he says Avengers Assemble. Everybody goes, yeah, that, that moment. You know, here's the thing. I understand that a lot of people refer to the first Avengers film that went from 2012 as Avengers Assemble. Like that was a, a, an alternate title for that movie. So it's a reference to that. It makes no sense in the context of the movie because they have already assembled.

1:01:43 They're there already. Like, why? Why? He said like he could have said anything. You just said Avengers avenge, charge, charge forward. Yes. Anything Avengers Assemble is the least pertinent thing to say in that moment. Like everyone is there, captain. Like, please just lead us to battle. It's always irked me and I like now that we're just saying small gripes, I have to get it off my chest. That is the silliest. It's true. Think about it now in the context of what I just said. It's a dumb line, Brad. I don't think it's a dumb line. I think it's a comic book line in reference to the comic books that these were all built upon. Like I I mean, sure they're already assembled, but like. Well, what if we just said like, what if we said like Avengers Colon assembled like, we're here, we did it. You know that that would be so much worse. All right, dude, we've barely talked about the cast of this movie, but we're running really long. This is one of those few IMDb pages where they show you the 1st 16 or 20 people in the cast list. And usually once you get through the first four, like actors don't have pictures anymore.

1:02:57 They're just, you know, random people. It's all a list, stars all the way down. And so I I just don't think we have the time to spend to talk about certain people in this movie. But like, you know, we're talking Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner. I I think we really need to talk Evangeline Lilly is the wasp that that's where we really need to dive in, Bob. She's the one that I most just want to give a pat on the back to. Like you. You did it. You're here. You did it. You made it. You made it in. That's how that's how I feel about Robin Scherbotsky. Yeah, she's in the first. She's. Really barely in it at the end of this movie. Yeah, It's like, hey, you, you've made it. You did it. Good job. Who among the cast do you want to call fall out before we get into let's make it a double and final scores?

1:03:41 We've talked about RDJ, We've talked about Renner. We've talked about Hemsworth. I think we both really like Chris Evans as Captain America. And they're smart enough to know who brought them here. Like, you know, what's the saying? Like dance with the person who brought you. RDJ and Chris Evans get the most in this movie, and it's well deserved. So I don't know. Is there anybody else you want to mention? No, I mean, I, I think Scarlett Johansson is incredible. I I think that her sacrifice scene, you get to see like a JoJo rabbit type Scarjo where she gives a depth that you don't always get to see in her as as Black Widow. So I, I love her.

1:04:24 I think she's an incredible actress. But you're right, man, Like the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe revolves around Captain America's view of the world and Tony Stark's. And so the the fact that they really circle the wagons and give this final movie to the two of them, if it feels proper, it goes to show for me something they learned with the Harry Potter franchise, which is like when you're building this universe over a decade. They got really lucky with some of their castings. They really did. Like the the fact that Robert Downey Junior completely revived his career because of this character. The fact that Chris Evans becomes such an incredible emblem of change from the first movie to the end, and yet he still holds on to certain core values. Like there is so much that could have gone wrong in the casting of these films.

1:05:35 There's a lot that could have gone wrong in the intervening years. Like who knows what happens to people over a 11-12 year span But man O man if they didn't get these two castings right from the start this universe would have gone nowhere. Yeah, to the point where like, you know, I want to put Thor and Hulk and all these people on the same plane and and level as these two. But Thor was a franchise that was dead in the water, man. The first one didn't work. They tried something else with the second one and a lot of people hate that one worse than the first one. It wasn't until Ragnarok and The Avengers films that people really started to appreciate Thor and like, thank God they were able to kind of reset that franchise or else it would have been kind of this albatross around the rest of the MCU. But you're absolutely right that I don't think people give especially Chris Evans enough credit in bringing the MCU to where it got prior to the absolute Cliff that it fell off after End Game.

1:06:36 Well, I was, I was just going to say like we could all agree that Marvel ended with end game. Like I don't I don't know how anybody at Disney thought to themselves, yeah, we can do this again. Like I I don't know, I just think that corporate America is so stupid in so many ways. Like I'm not even opposed to them continuing on spin off things like that, but to expect it to be the level of cultural impact that it once was is is ridiculous. All right, Brad, with that final statement, I think it's time to get into our last segment of the day, which we call let's make it a double. We're near the end of the episodes of Things, listening to the film and Whiskey Show.

1:07:21 Let's have another film with this one, even if it's struggle. It's a final segment of the day. Now let's make it a double. Let's Make It a Double is the part of the show where we pick a movie to pair up with this one to make the perfect double feature. Brad, I'm going to go 1st. And it's it's actually funny because I'm pairing this with a movie that is just coming out this weekend. We're recording this 2 1/2 weeks before the air date. So I'm talking about a movie called Deadpool and Wolverine. And my big caveat is that I have not yet seen this film. I'm going to see it tonight after we record. However, I have read enough reviews and listen to enough podcast reviews of this movie now to to hear that in most critics minds, it is kind of the, you know, how like Trump and Bernie Sanders are on opposite ends of the political spectrum, but they're kind of like really close in what they actually believe about the government and how it should be dismantled. It's kind of like that like end game is on one end of taking itself too seriously.

1:08:21 Everything I hear about Deadpool and Wolverine is that it is the most flippant movie and it like actively, literally insults the audience to their face for even coming and says like, you'll feed whatever slop we give you. But then it gives them a bunch of cameos of people that have just been in superhero movies, and so they know people will eat it up. It's really cynical. And I know it's going to make a billion and a half dollars anyway. And I kind of feel like those are two sides of the same coin with this movie. I don't think this movie is quite as cynical, but I think that what Deadpool's doing, at least from everything I'm hearing, is kind of playing the end game card. So I think it would be really fascinating to watch these movies back-to-back, and that's kind of what I'm going to do tonight.

1:09:08 Bob, I'm curious, how often do you go into a movie actually blind? I go into a movie, well, like blind blind, like I've never heard of this film. I mean. With a basic level of information that an average person might have. Oh. Like one trailer 98% of the time. Really. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't. I don't like to listen to reviews before I go into movies. Deadpool's one of those movies that like, I don't really care about seeing but I need. So you're gonna go spend $12.00? Well, I'm gonna spend a ticket $0.00 on it 'cause I get the regal unlimited pass, so I've already paid my money for the month, but. So like.

1:09:50 I've seen everything else that's out. I might as well go. You're kind of, you're kind of stuck. That's why I was like. Yeah, I don't care what happens. Let's listen to these. Reviews. That's funny all. Right, Brad, what's your? Let's make it a double here. I think I I'm going to go. A more traditional route and I am going to pair this with The Lord of the Rings. The Return of the King on terms of scale. While I despise the CGI Ness of Marvel, I think that the final battles of Return of the King and the final battle of End Game are just these massive, epic, super cool, beautifully shot, awesome action scenes and I and I think that it would be a really fun law. It wouldn't even be a night of watching 2 movies, it'd be an entire day because I believe 3 1/2 three we're we're looking at 6 1/2 hours minimum to watch those two films. So I, I think actually I might just be going for the record of longest double feature in film in whiskey history for let's make it a double.

1:11:01 Yeah, you might as well just suggest the extended. Edition and make it a full 7 1/2 hours. Yeah, yeah, go for it. It'd be a blast. That's one word for it. All right, let's give this movie some. Final scores Brad I I think I've actually pulled punches here on how much I truly hated the first two hours of this movie. I thought it was just frankly an amateurish movie. Like, I'm not saying that the CGI wasn't good in parts, that the acting wasn't up to par, but it was just so cobbled together, so wantonly thrown together and randomized and like it. It blew my mind how incoherent the tone and the rhythm of this movie were.

1:11:47 I was going to come in here and give it a four out of 10 and that was being generous. And then the last hour. Happened and the last hour is like an 8 1/2 to a nine out of 10 for me. It's still not enough to redeem the whole movie. I think this is a significantly worse movie than Infinity War a movie that I would give like an 8 1/2 to I'm going to give end game a six out of 10. Brad OK, that that's that's up a. Decent amount from a four. This movie is not a four out of 10 Bob. No it's not. I am going to give this. I'll stick it an 8 out of 10. I'm close to an 8 1/2. I think that there are flaws with this film, but there's just so much that makes this a great end to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

1:12:38 And I think that's what this movie set out to do. And I think it accomplishes it. It it starts off in a really emotional place. It ends in a highly emotional place and it has all sorts of inane, funny, great action scenes in between, you know, even even the moment where Captain America looks around and says Hail Hydra to the the people in the elevator. Like, there's just cool moments like that that are really well done that reward viewers for having been faithful to the franchise for a long time. And I, I also think that like on the level of story, this, this movie just got me, man. Like I cried this time through watching this movie, The the beauty of the dead coming back to life. Like the idea of a resurrection is just a really powerful moment in storytelling, whether or not it's undermined by time travel, solving everybody's problems.

1:13:43 Like it's an incredible moment with an incredible visual. I I think that the soundtrack throughout this film is is really well done. They give you a lot of really good variations on The Avengers theme. They riff on it a decent amount. I I just think there's a lot to love about this film. So I'll, I'll stick it in eight out of 10. Bob, once again, I think that. I would say conservatively half my. Notes did not. Get used in this episode even though it's really long. But I have so many thoughts about this movie. I have so many thoughts about fanservice movies and what it means that a movie gives you everything you expected and whether that's necessarily a good thing. But then if it isn't a good thing, how do we know what a good movie is?

1:14:28 Do you know what I mean? I'm thinking about this a lot and how to differentiate a movie that does fanservice versus a movie that is well made. And if those two things can coexist, I was going to say, do those things have to be diametric? No, I don't think they do, but I I do think that it's worth talking. About and so kind of like The Last Jedi, I think this is a prime candidate of a movie to open up a three hour podcast, you know, for us, right. I think I really would like to sit down and kind of pick some of this apart because this is probably the best example of a movie like that that I can think of. And I really love to explore some of that with you, man. Yeah, well, I mean, I'm, I'm glad you didn't. Give it a a 0 out of 10.

1:15:10 Yeah, me too. I'm glad that one at least. One of us is not petty and a bit level headed. So folks, that does it for season eight of the film and whiskey podcast. We are ending with an average of a 7 out of 10 on Avengers end game. But we'd like to know what you think. So please let us know how wrong I am. You can find us on social media Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube at Film Whiskey. You forgot LinkedIn. I forgot LinkedIn. Come on, be professional. And and find us on LinkedIn. Why are we on LinkedIn? I don't know. If you want. To join the conversation, if you want to talk with like minded people who enjoy movies and whiskey and all sorts of other things, you can join the conversation on our Discord server. There's a link to that at the end of every single one of our show notes.

1:16:03 Next week we will be back closing out season. 8IN earnest with our bracket challenge where we put all 32 movies into a seated tournament style bracket, eliminating each of them from existence until only one film is left and that will be crowned the champion of season 8. Brad, I really can't wait. Those are my favorite episodes of every season. I'm super pumped to get into those with you next week, man. Yeah, it's going to be an absolute blast. Bob I. Cannot wait to crush your hopes and dreams as always, so join us next week for the. Bracket Challenge. But until then, I'm Bob Book, I'm Brad G and we'll see you next time.