Bohemian Rhapsody / Old Overholt 114 (feat. Chris Blatner)

0:00 In 2018, director Bryan Singer and star Rami Malek. Gave the world a biopic that sizzles and pops, but lacks any real substance. Oh shots fired breath. I like it in 2020 beam. Suntory gives us a familiar brand, but kicks things up a notch. The film is Bohemian Rhapsody the whiskey is old Overholt 114 and we'll 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, and I oppose of calling this, a classic movie. Yeah.

0:58 We're gonna have to, we're gonna put an asterisk next to that one bread. But yeah, this is Brad G. We are Excited today not to talk about the movie, although we'll get to that. We're really excited because we're drinking a really awesome new whiskey, but more importantly than that, Bob, we have a great friend of show here with us. Why don't you introduce him? Yeah, so we have brought on our friend Chris Blattner known as the urban bourbon Heist on Instagram. Chris is one of our oldest friends in the world of whiskey and one of our very first listeners, I can't believe we haven't had him on yet, but Chris, it's so good to have you here. R. Thanks for being with us today while Brad and Bob, thank you very much for having me. I am a fan of the show and have been for a long time. I continually say like you guys can break down a movie like nobody else and talk about it.

1:51 And so it's exciting to be here and to drink whiskey with you guys and to hear how you guys are going to break down between me and Rhapsody. So it should be a fun really fun time. Yeah, we're excited to have you. For the ride. This episode, everybody was actually intended to be part of our bad movie bonus. Series, if that tells you anything about where this episode is going, we reached out to Chris and said, hey, jump on this bonus episode with us. We're going to drink old Overholt together which is a whiskey with the kind of, very limited distribution right now. And then we had a little bit of a snafu as you heard about with our programming change a couple weeks ago. And so we decided to make up for it by bumping, Bohemian Rhapsody up into a regular weekly episode and that's And of the rub here, Brad, you're talking about how you don't know if this is a classic movie.

2:41 I agree. I mean, it's only two years old and yet at the same time that was nominated for best picture and it won best actor and it made a billion dollars at the worldwide box office. It's the highest grossing biopic of any kind of biopic in the history of the world. So you know, in a sense I kind of feel like we may not like the movie but it's definitely a worthy candidate to be talked about on this show. Well, I think that the reason it has hit such amazing numbers is the I think it's really just an enduring Testament to the power of Freddie Mercury. Oh absolutely. I think we can all start this episode by saying, Freddie Mercury, is one of the greatest superstars that has ever graced. The musical genre like the dude was spectacular. Queen is one of the greatest bands ever to live and I know Chris.

3:34 Bob are you? With me on that, at the very least, for sure. Oh, a huge, huge Queen fan. I mean, just just one of those bands that kind of no matter when you grow up it just kind of transcends, you know, it's one of those bands like everyone knows songs from Queen and and Brad you had said that that Freddy is like one of the best ever. And I think I would, I would say he's the best frontman. Probably ever of a rock group, I mean, there's a lot of really great ones out there. But is anyone really better than Freddie Mercury?

4:15 I would say, no, I'm not really sure that there is and he's actually one of the people I have like an ice breaker question that, you know, you always need to have in your back pocket. That is, if you could choose any singing voice, to be your singing voice, who would you choose? And my number one answer is always. Ways Freddie Mercury. His voice is just unbelievable. Yeah, it's so rare to find somebody with that much of a Powerhouse voice. You know, as he got older and before he passed away, tragically from AIDS, he actually branched out in was doing Opera for a while. Like he had his hand in so many different things. It's because he had this incredible talent and guys if we can transition into the movie a little bit here, I'm going to say it like this.

5:02 I don't think Freddie Mercury would feel incredibly honored by what they did with his memory in this film. Like this is the most paint-by-numbers cliche ridden horribly written over. The top acted sloppily directed musical biopic I can think of like there's tell us how you really think the same. Like there's probably been five or six biopics from the music genre that came out in the last few years and I would pick any of them over this just As a film. And it really blows my mind that this is the one that everyone latched onto. And and not only that, they went to see it because I can understand it having like a big opening weekend getting a lot of, you know, early box office. But this thing blew up, it just kept growing and kept growing which tells me that something in this movie, like struck a chord with the general population.

5:52 And, you know, Brad is a guy who really loves movies and really wants people to watch. Good movies. It's kind of concerning to me because Because I think that the cliches are so obvious. That the manipulation is so obvious. See, here's the thing though. Bob like we talked about walk, the line just a few weeks ago and we basically said this is a paint-by-numbers biopic and and we loved it. I think we gave it around a 99 and a half, eight and a half some somewhere in that upper echelon of movies and I just look at it, I go. Okay well if that was a paint-by-numbers biopic but we really loved it. What was the difference between That. And this, I think that's a really fair point. But, and I was thinking about this, too. I think that there's moments in Walk the Line where they actually write a full scene, like the scene, where Reese Witherspoon and Joaquin Phoenix are in that Diner, and they're first getting to know each other. She's asking him questions about the toll, that the road is taking on him.

6:50 This movie, like, they don't even have full scenes of dialogue. It's just like, they'll cut to a scene specifically so that a character can say one thing and then they'll cut right to the next scene. And it's Almost like, they're not even trying to develop the characters in the movie. It's just like we need the audience to know this thing. So let's insert 15 seconds of somebody saying that thing and then we'll go to the next scene. I think a good illustration of what you just said is like when they sort of hint at how some of the more popular songs that Queen has, come to be known for how they sort of. Arrived at that song. Like they didn't even go into, like, create a, like even touch on creative process.

7:35 Like, you know, they like, we will rock you, they just show them clapping their hands, a couple times and stomping their feet. And that was like, the the extent of the creative process for that particular song, which has become like this song that seriously, everyone knows that song that's listen to Music and it would have been nice to see, like a little bit of, like, what really went into that particular song or any of the huge Queen hits, like how they actually came to be. And they kind of just really glossed over all of that incredibly.

8:18 Well, the most you ever get is when Roger, Taylor is writing a song about his car and they yell at him for it, and that's about it. It. Yeah, and there you go, there's the creative process. So I don't want to get too far down the rabbit hole here, because I want to restrain myself from just dumping on the movie. And I want to try to explain why I think it's a bad movie, but in order for us to get to that point, Brad, we need you to break down this film. So, it's time for our favorite segment. America's favorite segment, Brad explains. This is where Brad breaks down the plot of the film that he has just seen often for the first time. Brad, was this your first time? I'm seeing Bohemian Rhapsody.

8:59 It definitely was Bob. Sounds like it was a momentous occasion for you. So Brad, can you break down for our audience? The plot of the movie? Bohemian Rhapsody? Yeah. So at the start of the movie, we have a young farokh basara, who is living with his parents. He's working at Heathrow throwing luggage around and he follows a few bands and he goes and finds the Proto version of Queen hanging. Out doing a doing a gig doing their thing, you know what I mean? And he sings a few notes, Adam because they're their original singer left and they go, oh, man, we're going to harmonize to that. And then and then we're going to be Superstars two seconds later and then and then through the rest of the movie, they become more and more Superstars. And they have this dude who says, no, I don't want you to do.

9:51 Bohemian Rhapsody, I want you to do this song about a car and its tail pipe. And, and they say You lost us man. You're going to be the man who's known for losing Queen and and that was kind of a setback I guess. And so Freddie turns out that he's gay and that like plays a big role in the movie and his life and he kind of breaks up at the band and then he gets back together for a Live Aid performance to help Ethiopia and and yeah, there's stuff happens but I can't really Remember it? There it is Brad. You've explained to the film.

10:33 Here's the reason you can't understand any of it. Brad are. You can't remember any of it. Brad is because this movie is a filmed version of a Wikipedia article, like them, the more I think about it, the more it's, you know, I keep going back to that lesson. We learned from Trey, Parker and Matt Stone from South Park where they talked about how to build the plot of an episode or of a movie and how each plot element basically needs to happen. And then have either this And so this happens or this happens, but then this happens and a complication arises. This movie is literally just this happens and this happens and this happens and there's there's no heft, there's no weight to anybody's decisions, it feels like throughout the film. They literally are just including things for fanservice, you know, there we Will Rock You. Number that Chris was talking about earlier is, is so I rolling Lee bad for me, because the way that they frame it in the movie too, is like these guys are hanging out in the studio and And they literally say to each other. We need to give back to the fans, man. They've given so much to us.

11:35 Let's give something to them. And this movie, like it has the Fingerprints of the surviving members of Queen all over it. And I think one of my biggest frustrations is that you can tell, when the creative process is being tampered with and I really do feel badly for the writers of this film because Queen was so intensely involved in the making of this movie, they heavily guarded, you know, their He selling their rights. Originally, this movie had been in talks about 10 years ago with Sacha Baron Cohen to Star, as Freddie Mercury, and which is something that I think is just cool to imagine any way, but they had such a huge falling out because Sacha Baron Cohen was saying, we need to make this an edgier movie, Freddy obviously lived a very edgy life, we can't sanitize everything and queen very much disagreed with that. And I think the product that we get at the end of the day, is something that so, Clearly presents, most of the members of queen as people who can do no wrong and it really takes any Edge or any bite out of this movie. It's just a very, it seems sanitized even watching it if that makes sense.

12:45 Well, and with with that edge taken out of it, like you said, Bob I think that the main problem for me with this movie is that none of it is believable. Like even when it comes down to the color palette of this movie and this might Getting into the weeds. But everything about this movie is like so bright that it doesn't even feel like it's representing real life. Not like the scenes, all feel like they're almost CGI. The the actors feel like they are CGI like so much of this movie just felt too shiny and to Papi and like I it just it just left a sour taste in my mouth that I Was like none of this feels real. And I think going back to my comparison to walk the line, there is something rugged and real about Walk. The Line like when you watched him growing up and fishing and finding out about his brother's accident. Like all of it, felt grounded and real and raw. Nothing about this movie.

13:50 Felt very real, or raw know it felt, it definitely felt like it was Glossed over it felt like they just tried to like Bob had alluded to that. They just tried to hit these little points throughout their career that they wanted to highlight and and sort of for no reason. You know, it was just, we want to see these few things and we want to fit them in and they didn't even really figure out a good way how to fit in everything they wanted to say. And Bob you also mention I This movie had all sorts of problems from from the get-go because of the issues with acting they replace the director like halfway through through the movie. And I think it just shows how the movie reflects that. It's kind of just sloppy.

14:46 It's super sloppy movie. And the director of this movie was Bryan Singer, who has become embroiled in a huge Scandal of pedophilia. And he was actually the director of the movie, The Usual Suspects, which we had scheduled to talk. About this season but the the sort of intersection between Bryan Singer and Kevin Spacey being in the same movie. We just didn't want to talk about that movie right now, and he cropped up again here. He filmed most of the movie before becoming replaced. And from what I've read online, he was responsible for the recreation of the Live Aid performance at the end of the movie to which incidentally is. I think the strongest directed part of this whole movie. The ending of this film actually brought the movie up a couple notches in my Because the first, you know, 3/4 of it were so so bad, but you're right Chris.

15:34 I really do think that everything just seems kind of like a mess. There's there's no forward momentum to the movie. There's nothing tying one scene to the next. I feel like parts of it looked like they were rushed because you can tell like I'm not usually the guy that notice is bad wigs on people in movies. But but the whole first half of the movie before Freddy gets short hair and a mustache, every member of Queen. As the worst wigs I've ever seen in a movie. And, and like, like, like low-budget movie levels of wigs, they were, they were horrendously bad. And I think that's one of the things that's like, so frustrating to me, is like, the wigs are bad, Freddy's teeth or terrible, like Rami Malek. Can barely even talk through those teeth. The makeup is bad.

16:18 Like, it's just there's parts of this movie, that are so amateurish that I just can't wrap my mind around it. Yeah, I agree. I actually think that. When you talked about the Freddy's teeth and Rami Malek they like so over-exaggerated obviously Freddie Mercury is known for that over buying and went like Rami Malek could barely close his mouth. Yeah. Yeah. It was, it was just, it was almost cartoonish. Well, and I noticed it especially to with, I think I mentioned the make up a second ago, but like they keep aging Freddie, Mercury's, parents to the point where like the makeup is like their faces are immovable. They look like they've been mummified and like they start aging them right from the beginning and poor Freddy Mercury's Mom wearing this terrible wig this awful. You know, it looks like the kind of age makeup you put like that they would put on you when you were doing like high school musicals like they put they drew the lines, the age lines, and her cheeks and stuff.

17:21 I looked it up after the movie was over the woman who played Freddy, Mercury's mom was 42 years old and they made her up that much. At some point you just have to ask like why don't they just hire a 55 year old person to play this role and age them from 55 to 70 or whatever it was like why are you taking a young person and continually applying this terrible make up to them? Well I think Chris really hit the nail on the head when he described it as cartoonish. The movie just continually portrays Freddy with every single over-the-top stereotype that has ever been applying Freddie. And it just feels like somebody off the street. They ask somebody off the street. Like, hey, you've heard of Freddie Mercury, what do you think about him?

18:07 And the guy was like, oh yeah, he's like really over-the-top. He does everything kind of crazy and that's that. And so they use that to do everything about him like his overbite, his sexual preference. The the way he carries himself with people just everything about him in this movie is so Cartoonish over-the-top ridiculous that well, but here's the thing brat. Like it's over-the-top and cartoonish and yet none of it rings true to who Freddie Mercury was like, if you've actually watched Freddy on stage, he did bring this. Like he was a very slender, slight, man, but he brought this raw masculine energy to the way that he performed on stage and I don't think Rami Malek captures that at all. He definitely captures the sort of sensitivity of Freddy and the insecurities.

19:01 But even in the Live Aid performance, he does a really good job of imitating, you know, Freddy's motions. But I just never got the sense of that sort of masculinity that he brought to his singing. And I think that it carries over to the rest of the film. We talked about how it seems. So sanitized this movie was so sanitized, in fact that they were able to scream this movie in China and only cut, I think two minutes out of the movie and China is, you know, famously one of the most Pressive restrictive markets, you know, anything that smacks of a homosexual relationship like the sensors, come down hard. And I think it says a lot about this movie that Freddie Mercury, this hugely, debaucherous, sex, drugs, and rock, and roll. Figure has been portrayed.

19:47 So tamely that all they had to do was cut two minutes out of the movie, and they could screen it in the most restrictive, movie viewing area of the world. Is it bad that I kind of wish that I I'd seen the Chinese cut because then that means I would have had to spend to last minutes watching this movie. It's, that's not a bad point. Wait, you know, I do think that's a huge. That's the the biggest myths of this movie is how they they almost vilified, Freddy's sexual preference in this movie and and they didn't, you know, when they portray has Actual romantic relationships.

20:30 And in this movie, they actually portray his relationship with Mary more than anything else in the entire movie. They just barely allude to, you know, him being gay. Yeah. I mean, they obviously it's part of the movie, but they kind of just wash over it. And I feel like they somewhat vilify it and say, you know, Freddie was going down the wrong path. I think, especially that scene where he throws the party at the mansion and and the rest of the band members come and they're and they're all married and and they kind of say this isn't our scene anymore Freddy. And they sort of, I feel like they vilified his lifestyle and they vilify his flamboyance in in that particular scene of the movie and like he's going down the wrong path. And like the other three band members have their totally flying there on the straight and narrow. Yeah, and like even the way they confront him, like Brian May just stands up and like, Taps Freddy on the shoulder and he's like, you know, sometimes you can be really mean and then they walk away.

21:40 Yeah. Like the like the other band members do nothing wrong in this whole film and and the funny thing Chris like you're talking about this scene where he's having this like debaucherous party I actually laughed out loud at that scene because Freddy is like we're gonna throw a party. We're gonna bring in dwarfs, it's gonna be crazy. And I'm expecting Like the Wolf of Wall Street, you know, and then they cut to the scene and it's just people standing around nicely, like, having a toast of champagne. Like the most debaucher is they get is people be like Freddy walks into the party and everyone goes. Woo. And that's the extent of this crazy party and it's so crazy that the other members of Queen can't even be there. They feel so uncomfortable. I'm like this looks like a dinner party like it's nothing crazy about this.

22:24 Yeah. Bob I think you bring up a great point. I would like I'd love to see a Scorsese directed Queen biopic. Oh yeah, that's a great point. Do you think there'd be enough, Catholic guilt in there now, maybe a little bit. You know, Chris I wanted to talk really briefly about something that you were alluding to and that was the character of Mary, who is Freddie, Mercury's wife, who you know? They she then finds out that he's gay and they get a divorce and I felt like that was a huge missed opportunity in some ways to and I think this is where the, the kind of dizzy. Vacation of things really comes into play because they make, Merry a very understanding person. And I think by all accounts she was, but there's no sense of the struggle that she has with his homosexuality. There's really no grappling for Freddy with his sexuality at all, like he a little bit alludes to it and there's that scene where he feels tempted by that guy in the truck. Stop but Freddie Mercury was gay at a time when it was really Not okay, to be gay in many, many parts of the world. And I think that to honestly and accurately portray his struggle with that, and the responses to, it would have made this movie so much better, but they turn marry into this really fakely Progressive person who she seems like a character that would be in a 20/20 movie or 2018, you know, time frame, where she's so openly accepting that.

23:54 There's no, there's no struggle at all. He's like, hey, we need to get a divorce because I'm gay and she's like, all right, you know, life's going to be hard for you but I understand and it was just there was like there was no dramatic tension to that decision at all zero. Yeah the the way that she delivers a line where she basically says because he tells her you know, I think I'm bisexual and she goes, you're gay Freddy and you can't she said something to the effect of like you can't even control it or you were born that way or yeah. And like Just leaves it at that and it just feels so I don't know. It feels like it was just doused in hand sanitizer like yeah it just feels der EFT of any real conflict or frustration because I don't know.

24:44 It's a weird thing. It's like we want people to be loving and caring and accepting, you know, for anybody wherever they're at in their life. But at the same time to make a good movie. I feel like it's okay to Say hey man, this is the 80s. 95 to 99% of the world wasn't okay with this and I kind of doubt that Mary just had this. Well, this is just who you are and I'm a little bit sad about it but, but we'll get over it well and Brad on that note and right before we go to break here, I want to say that the reason that I'm grappling with what to criticize and what not to is because let's just say for a second that that is exactly how that conversation with Mary went, okay.

25:27 Like maybe Maybe it was, maybe she was that accepting in that open. The problem with this movie is that if you do any sort of research on it, I would say a solid 50 to 60 percent of this movie is completely made of like just didn't happen. You have composite characters all over the place where, you know, people from The Real World in Queens life are composited into one person to kind of save time and save space, developing characters. The Mike Myers character never never existed, he's not a real person and and which makes me even more upset. Mike Myers is even in the movie because I feel like they literally only got him in this movie to say that one stupid line about the Bohemian Rhapsody song where he says.

26:08 This will never be the song that teenagers bang their heads to in a car. Well I'm about I'm in love with my car. Geez, I love it. Well that's the kind of song teenagers can crank up the volume in their car and bang their heads to Bohemian Rhapsody will never be that. Song. And I literally fell. I thought he was going to turn to the camera and just wink, and break the fourth wall because it's like such this obvious reference to Wayne's World. Yeah. Then I was like, did you really put that in the final edit of this movie? Like there's so many things like that that you know. And and I think the most egregious of them is this idea of Freddy's diagnosis with AIDS prior to the Live Aid performance, when in reality Freddie wasn't even diagnosed with AIDS and Two years after the Live Aid, performance and didn't die for, like, another three or four years after that.

27:04 And I think it's like they, they didn't know where to go with this movie. They didn't know how to give it, any sort of dramatic tension or something to build to. And they were like, well, you know, Queen did a really good job at Live Aid. So why don't we just build to that? And in order to build to that they just concoct all these fake dramatic beats so that we walk out on this, really triumphant note of them at Live Aid. And like, you know, do I expect 100% authenticity from movies like this? No, I don't. But I think that this is one of those movies where even if you don't know every detail of the timeline of Queen, you can kind of tell something's off like they did such a shoddy job with it, that you can kind of tell their fudging, you know, the facts of the matter. But Bob it's okay because because they play Queen music and we all love that and I will say, The best part about watching this movie was the fact that man, I got to listen to some good Queen songs and I liked that. Yeah.

28:04 I think the best part of the, I think the best part of the movie is just being able to watch along and hear those songs as as they're played during the movie. We can get into Rami Malek performance later on, but yeah, I agree with you Brad. Like that's, that's really the highlight of this movie and probably why It was so popular. Yeah. But which also kind of begs the question like why don't we just listen to a queen album instead of watching smoothie? Well, I think that the highlight of this episode might not be the movie but I've given this thing a few noses. I think this old Overholt 114, may just be the best part of this episode. What say you guys, let's get into it. Let's do it for sure.

29:33 Alright, so today we are checking out old Overholt 114. Now Brad, I don't know if you remember this, but old Overholt was one of the first I'd say six to ten Whiskey's we ever tried on this podcast. It is a staple of bars across America. It is the well Rye for a lot. A lot of bars. We actually had the 80 proof version in season one. We've never gotten around to trying the 100-proof, the bonded version, which a lot of people really, really liked. This is a bottom shelf. Picture from the Jim Beam Corporation beam suntory. And now what they've decided to do, Jim beam's kind of expanding their portfolio, like across the board and they took this brand old Overholt. They said we're going to kind of inject it with some new life. And so the the regular old Overholt has been upgraded to have a 3-year age statement on it now. And I've seen some people online talking about how they can taste the difference even in that, that standard 80 proof version, but they also decided they were going to add a couple different Expressions to the old.

30:33 Whole brand. And the first one that they've come out with is this old Overholt 114, which is, you know, something that Jim Beam likes to do. If you remember a couple months ago we tried old Granddad 114. That's also a Jim Beam product later this year. They're planning on coming out with an old Overholt. 11-year age statement and that one's actually going to be pretty pricey compared to this. But from what I can tell online, I thought this was going to be a nationwide release and Jim Beam has only made this available. In Ohio, and Pennsylvania. And I think maybe Kentucky, but I'm not sure on that. So this has been a very Regional release. We're lucky enough to get it here in Ohio, guys.

31:13 I mean, Brad, you remember anything about the old Overholt that we drank, you know, almost two years ago now, honestly? Bob, I don't, I think that early on. It was one of those rise where I was kind of like, huh. Riser interesting. I might like these. And now here I am a few years later and I really love Rai but Don't remember a ton from the 80 proof way back in the day, Bob Chris. What's your history? Been like with old Overholt so I'm a huge Jim Beam fan there. I don't hide that in any way. In fact, I celebrate that something about Jim Beam products just matches my palette pretty much perfectly for me. They pretty much can't do any wrong. And so I like I like the old Overholt line and in fact they kind of started an overhaul of this a couple of years ago with the with the 100 proof.

32:16 I think the it's bottled in bond. I think that one came out and 2018 and that was sort of like the first kind of reimagining of this brand taking the 80-proof upping it to 100 Proof, they they did. I'm chill filtering to it so they didn't they didn't chill filter and then after that they released an 86 proof that was non chill filtered and that's going to I think it has replaced the 80 proof. So the 80 proof is is going to be no more. And so the bottom level of the old Overholt lineup will be that 86 proof non she'll filtered.

32:59 Then you have the 100 Proof And then now you have this, this, this 114 and I truly find it to be a really excellent product. And this is like Jim bleep, Jim Beam, like flexing their muscle showing, like what they are able to do and I can just imagine what what the 11 year is going to be like it's just one of those Whiskey's that kind of has changed. I think has kind of changed the The game for Rye Whiskey, especially at this price point, when Jim Beam comes out and they deliver a 114 proof Rye for 2999.

33:44 That's a major major Flex. Oh, I totally agree. And I can getting a sense of where Chris might go with his scores on this, but before we get into drinking it, I just want to say what I remember about bowled over hold. And what I find to be true with this 114 is that Really good Gateway into R. I like it's not super Rye, heavy on the nose on the taste on the finish. It doesn't have that sort of souring effect. You don't get this right? The either the dill pickle that you get with some rye or the mint that you get with other Rise. It's very, it's a very Bourbon irae and it's really subtle and its really soft. It's great for a mixer. It's great to try, you know, on the rocks or neat, if you're not a huge ride Drinker and that's what I loved about the 80 proof. So let's see if they can Kind of capture that same magic here with the 114, guys.

34:35 Brad, what are you picking up on the nose? Well Bob while you're talking for 97 minutes, I had a little bit of time to come up with what I wanted to say and I think I nailed it this to me smells like a Nutty cream soda and it is. I love that tacular. Yeah, I definitely get some of those like, almost like a cola kind of sent to this and I feel like that notes been coming up a lot in our last few weeks, Brad, but it's There's that really great. Oh shoot, what's that? I can't even place the bananas fast and he'll stop peanut butter. Is that really great? Almost like root beer? Sarsaparilla kind of note going on in here, but it is undercut with some of that like, raw Rye grain so it's got some spice to it as well. I think that's a really great note that you're getting on the nose there, Brad.

35:24 Oh man. Thanks Bob, let's be honest though, Chris is the real expert here? So let's let's Here. Chris. What are you getting on the nose? No. I totally agree with. With both of you. Like I get I get all of those notes that you guys are talking about. There is a, there's a nuttiness that is always present for me and Jim Beam and it's usually it's usually peanut. But in this it's not it's not a in-your-face, kind of peanut note. It's a nuttiness. I don't know if I can put my finger on the exact type of nut but there's a nuttiness to it. There is A bit of like a sweet marshmallow kind of note to it. And I totally agree with the like Sarsaparilla type of and like root beer type of Aroma.

36:13 Coming off of this. It's, it's a great nose. All right guys, so what do you say? Let's quantify it here. What would your score Beyond these? I'm sitting at an eight and a half Bob. Wow. This is a really, really great nose and I will say it's hard for me to ever give nose like a nine. Or above because I haven't tasted yet and I'm like a little bit nervous that I've been betrayed and it's going to be like a three on the taste. So I usually, I, it's hard for me to give a very high score on knows, but eight and a half is about the highest. I usually go. Yeah, this, the nose on this is its exceptional. I, I would give this a nine on the nose, it really has some really interesting things happening and as it sits in the glass, like More Aroma is kind of develop.

37:03 It's it's really nice. Yeah guys, I agree with what you're saying. It's just not really like knocking my socks off. I think it's a really Pleasant knows. It's not super complex, it's definitely inoffensive and I think that's really in line with the old Overholt brand in general. I'm gonna give it a seven and a half on the nose. I like it but it's just not, you know, it's not exceptional to me. And as you guys go ahead and give this a sip, one thing that I will say is that when we tried the old, Granddad 114 a couple It's ago. Our biggest criticism of the old Granddad brand. Is that for us? It felt like they were just dumping, you know, grain alcohol on top of the 80 proof. It just got more and more harsh and alcoholic as we went.

37:44 And so my fear with this is like they're going to do the same thing to over. Hold so guys what are you thinking of this as you take a sip is it is it just 80 proof with a bunch of alcohol added to it and no more flavor or have they kind of found the correct balance as they up the proof here man. There is A beautiful nuttiness, right? As it hits. The tip of your tongue. It's an it. Like you said Chris, you were totally right. It's not a peanut or like a peanut butter nuttiness. I don't know if it'd almost be like a cashew or a pecan or something like that. But it leads into this like really great sourdough bread, kind of in the middle of the palette that I am really, really enjoying and it for me, it's ours a little bit near the end, right?

38:30 As I'm starting to finish. But overall, this is a really nice. Nice palette. Yeah, this is, this is, like I said, when we were talking about the nose and just kind of introducing this, I feel like this is a game changer for Rye, Whiskey. The pallet for me is just again that root beer comes back like with a force on on the palate. You know, you kind of get that Sarsaparilla that root beer on the nose. That's the thing that Out to me on this like this deep rich root beer /, Sarsaparilla kind of flavor. There's some there's a little bit of pine Enos to for me on the pallet on this. The nuttiness is certainly there. It has a lot going on even like Brad. You had mentioned like a Sourdough. I get like that.

39:26 That sort of, I get like a graham cracker out of this. It's so similar type of like bready type of flavor on this and a really. I feel like this has a really rich kind of oily mouth, feel to it as well. And I think that can be attributed to the non chill filtering of this product. But the palate on this is just really wonderful to me and it certainly does not drink. Like like I it's a rye whiskey, it has, it has some spice to it. But I think this is something that is certainly approachable for someone who prefers bourbon. Yeah, it's definitely in that realm of like a bourbon drinkers, right?

40:12 I completely agree. Actually, if you had just put this down in front of me and asked me to drink a blind, I'm not entirely sure that I'd be able to identify it as a rye. I'd be really interested to see the mash bill here because I have a feeling that there's a ton of corn in this as well and it may it may be just barely over the line into being awry. I don't think Jim Beam has disclosed the mash bill of this, but I do agree with you guys that it drinks way smoother. I expected it to be much much hotter than this at 114 proof. I would never have been able to tell this was 114 proof. If you had just asked me to kind of give some tasting notes on it. It's a very sweet Rye. I don't get a lot of like raw Rye grain out of this.

40:53 Most of the notes you guys are getting I am as well there's a little bit of heat but I feel like they just improved upon what the 80-proof did so well. I'm going to give this an 8 out of 10 on the taste. Yeah, Bob, this flavor is really really nice. Its pleasant it's not overwhelming. I wouldn't call the most complex whiskey that we've had, but it's really, really good. I'm going to give it an 8 out of 10 on the flavor and I think the, the palette on this is really interesting, and as you let it sit in the glass, I recommend like pouring this nosing it drinking it and and NG it kind of sit there and develop a little bit in the glass because some some more stuff does start to come out. This one.

41:39 I have to I got to stay with a 9 on on the palette. This is this is a really impressive release to me and a huge. I said it before. I feel like this is a huge Flex by by Jim Beam. Alright guys, so we're going to hit the lightning round here because we are running way behind on this segment but in terms of finish it's not an Harsh finish. It's a nice warming sensation on the way down. I don't get like an excessive Kentucky hug. It's definitely way of milder than the old Granddad 114 on the finish. I think it works really, really well for the proof point. They're trying to go for. I'm gonna give it an eight and a half on the Finish. Yeah, Bob it's really beautiful finish little bit sour for me.

42:21 I'll give it a seven and a half the finish on this for me, it's I feel like it's a pleasantly long finish, it's not doesn't hang around forever but it's got some nice. Flavor to it, some honey, some cinnamon. I give some Citrus on it, I will give the finish on this an eight, all right? And that takes us to overall balance. This is nose taste and finished put together, I think this is really where this whiskey shines. It's a really solid rye, whiskey across the board. For me. It's like the romantic comedy of Whiskey's, like, you're never really going to get a 10 out of 10 with this whiskey. It's never really meant to blow anybody away.

43:01 But it does everything so well. And it's so darn Charming that. I think I'm actually going to give this a nine out of ten on the balance. Yeah, I'm right there with you. Bob, this is an eight and a half on balance, for me, you can't ask for much more. It's not, you know, the craziest whiskey we've ever had, but it just performs. So well in every Avenue I really, really love this stuff. I'm with you guys on this. It's, I feel like it's got a really, really nice balance to it. I'm an eight and a half. Out of 10 on this. All right, and that takes us to overall value. Now again, we apologize that many of you will not have this available in your state. Typically we try to keep Regional releases to a bonus episode, but you know, at the end of the day, I'm really glad they release this in Ohio because I was able to just walk into my local liquor store and pick it up for 2999 guys. I don't think there is another another Whiskey on the market. At this proof point that even competes price-wise. The only one is old Granddad and that's a bourbon. I mean, like you're really just pitting Jim Beam product against Jim Beam product and if those are the only two products at this proof point and at this price point, I think this one blows old Granddad 114 out of the water. I'm going to give this an eight and a half out of ten on value Bob.

44:17 I'm going to give it a 9 and a half out of ten. I would buy this any day of the week for $30. That is a spectacular value. Now I will say the only reason I'm not giving it a 10 is because of the limited distribution. Which Which, you know, hopefully they'll fix in the upcoming months or years or so. But for now it's a nine and a half, I think this is a spectacular value for what you're getting. I might agree with Brad here, which is shocking listening to the previous film and whiskey podcast Brad and I typically don't agree. Sorry, Brad. Hey that's all right. Is it on the whiskey or on the movies? Little bit of just everything.

45:00 Mostly everything. I'm just kidding. I agree the value on this is is outstanding. I don't think it can get a 10 because 10 would have to be something just a ridiculous low price. But I would, I would go nine point five out of ten on value of this. It's just, there's really not much out there that can compete with this on value. See Chris, we just needed to get you here on the podcast with me for you to understand my charm. Alright guys, so that is bringing me out to a 41.5 out of 50. This is, this is getting pretty high score here, guys, what are you coming out to 42? Wow, I'm at if I did my math correct I believe I'm at a 43.5. My God is one and Chris knows whiskey way better than we do. So guys take his recommendation on this one, if you average out Brad and my score, we are coming out to an 83.5 or a 40 1.75 out of 50.

46:01 I would highly recommend this guy's. Is it, is it like the most complex chewable kind of whiskey that you want to sip on all day? Not so much but it's just really solid at everything that it does it hit ticks every box. And for me, that makes it an absolute no-brainer of a recommendation. Yeah, go out and buy it. If you have friends in Ohio, the can buy it for you, pay them for the shipping and it is well worth your time. Absolutely, I agree with that. 100%. I've Done that myself. I've reached out to friends to find this this bottle for me it's going to be in Pennsylvania as well. I do hear that there may be a national release on this. There has been a label that has been approved. That is a national release label. I don't know if that's actually going to come to fruition but potentially you could see this across the country. Well if you do make sure to pick up a bottle. But guys what do you say?

47:00 We get back into town. Talking about Bohemian Rhapsody. All right guys. Well that was old Overholt 114 be looking for that Nationwide distribution because man oh man, it is a heck of a rye whiskey but as we get back into Bohemian Rhapsody or bow wrap, as we lovingly like to call it here on the film whiskey podcast, we're just going to be honest with you. We don't like this movie.

47:59 It doesn't seem like Chris likes it Bob and I don't like it. There's a lot of problems with it, but in the end I I think, you know, why? We don't like it. I just want to hear let's go through really quickly. What did we actually liked about this movie? Was there any like one scene or character or, you know, was there anything, you know, a certain shot that you really just loved? What were some things that we liked? Out this movie. Well, yeah, I think that, that definitely Rami Malik's performance is is, certainly worth noting. He's the best thing about the movie. He doesn't really, really well. I actually don't know, all the actors that were up for best actor in 2018, or, whenever this I think is came out in 2018. I don't know.

48:52 Everyone that was up for best actor. I don't know that his performance. Formance was? Worthy of that award. I'd have to see who else was in in the running for that. It was the best thing about this movie though by far. He did it really well display, despite the the cartoonish teeth he had had to wear and I do think that overall, the best scene of the movie, obviously, to me was the Live Aid performance, but that was more of just like, eh A parroting of what actually occurred. You know, it was almost like a Scene for scene. Like, if you watch those two performances next to each other, they actual live performance that actually happened. And then what happened in the movie? They're really close.

49:46 I I've watched both and and Rami Malek does an incredible job of, you know, re-enacting, Freddie Mercury's performance, which was absolutely incredible. That's by far, the best part of the movie Rami, Malik's. The best part of the movie and pretty much the rest of it. It is not that great. Yeah, totally agree. I mean, and, and either with Rami Malek, I don't feel like he got a chance to really shine in a in this performance until probably 2/3 or 3/4 of the way through the movie. The first time, I noticed that the acting was actually picking up was that scene in the back of the limo, where he fires their manager and is kind of getting manipulated by, you know, his lover at the time.

50:30 Because that was the first time the movie ever, really took a breath and paused for a minute and had a full Dean of dialogue and I thought that, that Malik really nailed that moment. And he did the same thing when he revealed to the band that he had AIDS, which was a really contrived. And, and not, not really well-written scene, but I think when they give him a chance to actually get to tap into the emotion of the scene to display a little bit of emotion on his face, to take a pause and they're not just cutting away from him every two seconds, he really does shine in this movie. I don't have time to be there. Victim that aids poster. Boy that cautionary, tale. No, I decide who I am.

51:14 I'm going to be what I was born to be. A performer. Who gives the people what they want for a long time I was wondering like is Rami Malek really that good of an actor like I thought that movie was terrible and re-watching it. Now I realized that I think the he gave a good performance in spite of almost everything else on this film set conspiring against him giving a good performance. Yeah guys, I would agree with you. I think Rami Malek has the potential to be good in this movie and the scene that really showed that to me. It was when he proposed to marry you know Bob like you said when he is in the car with his agent, that's one of the few scenes of the movie that the camera just settles down. The the lighting is muted.

52:03 You, you let Freddie just be Freddy and I think the time when he proposes to marries a similar scene where he actually gets to talk to her for a minute and profess his love for her, and you get to see him be cute with her. That was one of the few scenes in the movie that I thought was Shotwell the lines weren't horrendous. I actually really enjoyed that scene of the film, not much else. But yeah, that was a good one for me. All right, so before we leave Brad, I can't go on any further without getting a couple more things about this movie, that I just really hate it off my chest. But before I launch into a tirade, any burning things in your mind, Chris or Brad, that just really irked you about this movie that you got to get off your chest before we stop recording today.

52:51 For me, it's just that if you're going to do a movie about this, incredible rock band that has this place in history of rock, that there needs to be a little bit more of an exploration of how they created, what they created. And this movie basically gives you nothing in that aspect of of the band. Well, and I think that It to really help you understand why how they created, what they created. You just need to dive more deeply, into the characters of the movie, like, we need to get into the nitty-gritty of all four band members, not just Freddy. And unfortunately, I think this was cast as a Freddie Mercury biopic and I think it might have been better as a queen biopic. I completely agree bread.

53:45 Yeah, to dive into the lives of all four band members, you know, maybe with a focus on Freddie and He experienced the four of them but you could have done so much more and honestly the final thing that I'm going to leave you guys with is that Queen is probably up there is probably my top three or four bands of all time. But this biopic makes me so nervous for the day when they come out with a movie about my favorite band of all time the Beatles. Yeah. Like if they give this kind of treatment to the memory of What happened in the 1960s with John Paul, George and Ringo? I will just be.

54:30 I don't know. I might just quit the podcast. I might just seclude myself for months, if they messed up the Beatles, I would be so. So angry. Yeah, and so, that's kind of what I want to leave everybody with here today. You know, like, I know, sometimes that I can come across like a really snooty movie snob and I get that. It's because you don't worry. Ty am the worst. But here's, here's the thing, with this film in particular, brat, like, If you're out there and you watch this movie and you enjoyed it. Like, I want you to honestly think about what it was about this movie that made you enjoy. It, was it just the fact that you got to see somebody recreate Live Aid? Because if that's the case, why not just go watch the live Aid performance, the real one on YouTube.

55:13 It's 20 minutes long and it's fantastic. If it's just hearing these songs. Again, just turn on a queen album. The thing for me with this movie guys, is like the script is one of the worst. Pick scripts I've ever ever seen before, to the point where like I was laughing out loud at unintentionally funny stuff and you guys might think I'm terrible for this. But this sequence where Freddy goes to the clinic and gets diagnosed with AIDS, which should be Far. And Away the most dramatic, emotional moment of the movie like he's in this weird space that's designed to look like look like a church. He gets diagnosed with AIDS and as he's walking out there's another AIDS. Who sees him walk by and like the script, has that guy not say, like, hey, it's Freddie Mercury. They have him go hail and Freddie Mercury without turning around has a dramatic, pause, and just goes. Oh, and that's the whole scene and I was like, what on Earth did?

56:16 I just would like, is that really how you are choosing to portray Freddie Mercury's, you know. Solidarity with the victims of this terrible disease. In the late 1980s, they just missed every single opportunity to give this movie real emotional weight and heft the dialogue is terrible. You know, when Freddie Mercury is standing out in the rain for five minutes and going on and on about fruit flies and then tells the guy fly off fly off. You little fruit fly. Like it's just, it's so so bad. I have an entire list of quotes that I hated from this movie and I'm not even going to go into them.

56:56 Em. But there's just so many moments. It was just, it's ridiculous. It's a ridiculous film guys. And you can love, Freddie, Mercury, and you can love Queen like I do. And still admit, this is just a poorly made movie, guys, I don't know if you have as much as much hate for it as I do, but I think once a movie, you know, not only gross is as much as this film did but then becomes one of the five to ten movies in a year that are nominated for Best Picture. You know, 30 40 years from now, and people are looking back on the year. 2018, one of the first places, they'll go to find out what were the best movies is, what was nominated for best picture and I can't for the life of me, understand how this movie more than any other one. So many awards and captured the heart of a Nation when we have so many better examples of a musical biopic to choose from. And so, you know, I'm that note guys, I guess we should move into our final scores You know, for me, like I said, the Live Aid performance really brought this up a peg. I was, I was sitting at about a three for a while, but there was some really great technical Mastery in the last 15 minutes of this movie that I think makes it like a three and a half to a for.

58:08 I'm gonna give it a three and a half out of ten like it's just not a well-made movie, there are parts of it that are worthwhile. But overall, I just cannot recommend this film Bob's. Sometimes I look at the score that I I gave Eternal Sunshine and I must have been in just the most crotchety mood. It sounds like about two out of ten. Yeah. I'm about to give this movie a higher score than internal definitely disagree with big-time Bob, I'm with you on the Eternal Eternal Sunshine.

58:49 That's a good movie. I am never going to Retract my position on that movie but I will say Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless. Mind is a better movie than Bohemian Rhapsody. So regardless of that, that statement, I'm going to give Bo wrap a two and a half out of ten. It's kind of a bad movie. I don't know. Bob, Chris, this movie made a billion dollars. Wow, honestly, I'm I'm so with you guys. On this. This is especially as we as we've talked about it and as we, you know, you guys break things down.

59:34 This is just a bad bad movie, it's just it's really not worth the two hours and 15 minutes of your time. I'm with you. I'm a three and a half on this. And that's basically, because of the last 15 to 20 minutes of this movie, which is just parroting the Live Aid performance that that Queen did and and a slight nod. To Rami Malek, making what he could out of what he was given and his portrayal of Freddie Mercury. I would like to see him actually play Freddie Mercury in a real movie about the band with a real deal, real movie.

1:00:22 Yeah and it resembles me about the band and with a real director and it's just it is really bad. Well. Alright, so you guys hear what we think about the movie Brad and I are coming out to an average of a 3 out of 10 on this movie. Brad, I have a feeling, there are people in our audience knowing what this movie grossed that really loved this movie. And so, if you are like really angry with us and you're gonna, you know, light into me for being a snob, I want to hear why, what is it about this film that so captured your imagination, if you listen to this whole episode and you go back and watch it and you find out that maybe your opinions changed and you're in our camp, let us know you can reach out to us on social media on Facebook Twitter or Instagram at film whiskey. If you guys want to give us a phone call, our number is two one.

1:01:11 Six eight hundred 5923 once again. That number is two one, six eight hundred five nine, two three or you can leave us a voicemail on our web page which is anchored on FM / film whiskey. Once again we want to say thank you so much to our friend, Chris Blattner for joining us. Chris it has been just a delight to have you here guys, this has been seriously one of the The funnest podcasts I've ever done. I really like how you guys get into a movie and and get into the details and and really make people think about what they're watching. So huge huge fan of the show and thank you so much for having me on. It's such a pleasure to do this with you guys. Well, next time I promise that we will bring you on for a movie that you love so that we can kind of balance out the emotional weight that You had to carry here today? Cheers.

1:02:08 All right, guys, that has been Bohemian Rhapsody. Next week, we will be back with the movie that you have chosen as your listener, special Straight Outta Compton. So join us for that next week for the film and whiskey podcast. I'm Bob book, I'm Reggie and we'll see you next time.