District 9 / Hardin's Creek Col. James B. Beam Bourbon

0:00 In 2009, director Neil Blomkamp and star Charlotte Copley gave the world a strangely touching film about the dangers of. Human Pride. In 2024 we try one of the newer releases from the James B Beam Company. The film is District 9. The Whiskey is Hardin's Creek Colonel James B Beam. Or review them both. This is the Film and Whiskey podcast.

0:47 Welcome to the Film and Whiskey podcast, where each week we review a classic movie and a glass of whiskey. I'm Bob Book. I'm Brad Gee. And this week we are looking at the 2009 sci-fi classic District 9. Brad, I just want to set the stage today by talking about District 9 by offering a bit of an apology to our listeners who are big sci-fi fans because much like the Academy Awards who consistently ignore the realm of sci-fi, we've not done a lot of true sci-fi films on this podcast. I mean, fair like you've, we've done Star Wars, right? And maybe a couple others, but anything that's kind of science fiction related has been more horror than like pure sci-fi. Yeah, I was going to say I it's hard anymore to get pure sci-fi films right.

1:37 Like anything set in space is either going to be like fantasy adventure or Marvel, neither of which fall into the realm of sci-fi. Now even Star Wars, I would say is like famously, it is a space opera. It's a fantasy. It's more about what it takes to be a heroic person than it is about the gadgets and technology and exploration of space and all that. So I can't think of many true sci-fi movies we've done. I I would call the original Alien like a an actual sci-fi movie. Yeah, I mean, it's a horror film, but it's also probably the closest thing we've gotten to a pure sci-fi film. And we've always said from the beginning that you are definitely more of a fan of sci-fi than I am. Not that I'm against it, it's just never really been my favorite genre and I'm kind of wondering now that we've parsed out all these different mini genres too, whether you're actually a fan of sci-fi or or if it's more like space operas, baby.

2:41 I've always been a fan of fantasy over sci-fi. Like I, I've not read the original Dune books, but from what I know, they are highly technical and can be pretty dense to get through. And so I, I actually don't know if I would say I'm a huge sci-fi fan, but part of that's because I didn't grow up in the 60s and 70s when like sci-fi really was a hugely popular thing. Like as the world was trying to figure out technology and going to space and what is out there. Like there was this massive fascination in the general public about the the like technicalities of what it would take to go to space, and that's why the genre really exploded.

3:27 Yeah. And I feel like that's where you kind of get this idea of a hard sci-fi and soft sci-fi being. Like, you know, you could call Jurassic Park a science fiction film because it's about a fictional use of human science. It's about this fantastical idea of where human intervention could go if we push our scientific knowledge to its limits. But I've never considered Jurassic Park a sci-fi film. And so when you look at a movie like District 9, I feel like it really toes that line because it is an Earthbound film, but it also features aliens and it has some pretty intense world building. So this is probably the most pure science fiction film we've done on the show since Alien. And I, I think that's one thing I really love about this film is the world building that occurs, the talent that blom comp blom comp blom camp.

4:20 Yeah, just go with one pick. Let's pick one and we'll run with it today. OK. I'm going to go with Blom. Blom, I don't even know, man. Blomkamp, we're saying it. Blomkamp. All right, so Blomkamp does such an incredible job at giving you tiny little tidbits that lead off into like no man's land as far as world building goes, and then they just trail off and leave you nowhere. It's like, why the hell do these aliens love cat food? It's like nobody knows, but it's such a fascinating little piece of nothing that you need mountains of those little things built up to make a universe interesting. And I, I think he knocks that out of the park here. Well, we're going to explore every corner of that little universe, especially the cat food corner. But folks, let's let's welcome you in here a little bit. If this is your first time listening to film and whiskey, what do we do on this podcast?

5:15 We review movies, we review whiskey. It's pretty straightforward. I know this season what we're doing is we're looking at films from the last 20 years and we are asking the question, does this movie deserve to be considered a modern masterpiece? Except for last week, when we forgot to answer that question for La La Land. This is the second time in our young season where we have forgotten to ask the core question of the season. So please forgive us folks, but I feel like our scores on La La Land are fairly indicative of what we think of the film. So I'm just going to very quickly say yes, I think it deserves to be considered a modern classic. Absolutely. Cool. All right, now we're going to ask that question about District 9 over the next 4550 minutes. So Brad, I think in order to get into the movie, we need to get to our first segment of the day, which we call, 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 Explains is the part of the show where Brad breaks down the plot of the film that he has just seen, often for the first time.

6:23 Brad, I'm pretty sure this was your first time with District 9, but perhaps the more important question, did you have any knowledge of this film? I have not seen this movie before and my the extent of my knowledge was that there's aliens that are like in a ghetto and that's it. So I, I knew very little about it, although one of the most important elements of world building that this movie does is to assume that humans aren't the only species who have tears of like intelligence and productivity and ability. I I love the way that Blomkamp shows how even in this alien society, it's like we don't really know why this ship landed here on Earth, but it seems to be alien ineptitude on some level. Yeah, I feel like that's that's kind of like what people think when they listen to our podcast, when they're like, I don't really understand why Brad is saying these things, but I'm just gonna assume it's it's probably alien ineptitude. Yeah, 100%.

7:34 All right. So I'm glad that you were at least aware of the movie. And I think that's a testament to the fact that, you know, this movie was fairly low budget and upon release it ended up grossing over $200 million just in North America. So it was well seen at the time. I feel like I remember it also being a, a huge fixture on early streaming Netflix, like when everybody first got Netflix in, you know, 2013, 1415. It was on Netflix all like that entire stretch. And I think a lot of people caught it, you know, when it first came to streaming. So people are definitely aware of this film. I feel like it's the kind of movie that you couldn't release today and expect the same widespread viewership of like it has no movie stars. It's made by a guy from South Africa. It cost $30 million to make.

8:22 This would be probably a direct to Netflix movie that people would watch over the course of like a Thanksgiving weekend and then no one would talk about it ever again. So I'm glad it came out when it did because it deserves a lot better than the fate it would receive today. Brad, I'm rambling now. You have 60 seconds to break down the plot of this movie. Folks, if you have not seen District 9, I encourage you to stop this episode now, go watch it and then come back and join us. It's a nice breezy sub two hour movie. Brad, One minute and go. District 9 is a film about a fictional alien, not quite mothership, but a massive alien ship that settles in over South Africa. The inhabitants are released and ghettoized into a small area known as District 9. A large corporation comes in about 20 years later and is trying to move them out of this ghetto and into a nearby area. And in that process, the man in charge of the movement of the aliens is infected by an alien disease, slowly transformed into one of the aliens, and fights for his very survival and cure. Yeah, Brad, I think that's a good explanation of the plot of the movie.

9:37 But I think where I'd like to start is talking about the, I don't want to say the genre, but the form of the movie, The way the movie is presented to the viewer because it has elements of obviously documentary. There's like legitimate fake documentary interviews with experts throughout the movie talking about the context of this alien invasion, setting the stage for the world building that we're going to do. You know, how did they come to live in a slum? Why are we trying to evacuate them? Who is this corporation? So it has documentary elements. It has found footage elements which we which would come to be really prominent over the following decade in horror film. And then it has like just straight action movie kind of shaky Cam, almost Cloverfield type cinematography throughout the movie. So it's this mash up of different genres that I think really helps create a unique movie experience. There's really nothing new here in terms of what the movie does, what the movie says, how it's put together, but I think like the unique combination of ingredients feels fresh. The way that they take this main character who we haven't named yet, his name is Vickis Vanderveer, which is a great name.

10:53 Like of all the characters we've ever seen in the movie, I think it might be one of my favorite names. And the way that they take him on this journey of inept, like not quite politician, but like bureaucratic official and slowly turn him into a completely BA like action hero is, is absolutely incredible. And along the way you get so much world building that's like actually of interest. I, I, I think that's the thing that really clicked with me for this movie was that A, everything that they reveal to you about the alien culture and how the humans interact with them is so well done and fascinating and kept me like in my seat at the edge of my seat. And then B, the movie just has a way of keeping me guessing. I like I never found myself going. I know exactly what's going to happen next. The only element that was lackluster was the main bad guy, you.

11:57 You just knew that he had plot armor until he didn't. That was like one of the very few in my opinion. Poorly part, poorly done parts of the film. All right, let's start talking about the movie itself. And I guess let's start at the top here with Charlotte. So Copley, who was unknown globally prior to this film, much like Neil Blomkamp and has been a steady working actor in Hollywood since this movie came out. It really helped establish an international career for him. I feel like unfortunately, he's has been cast as like really devious bad guys, mostly in movies from here on out, which don't tap into his strengths. Like, yes, he can play a slimy guy, but the great thing about his performance in this movie is is how much of A weakling he is. And that transformation that you were talking about Brad, you know, he he gives off huge early season Michael Scott vibes at the beginning of the film when they're showing the inner workings of the office.

12:53 And he's not like he's not committing the social blunders and faux pas that Michael Scott does. But you can tell that like, none of these people respect him. None of these people think he's a good leader. And then slowly over the course of the movie, you watch his desperation, you watch his emotions, and then finally this resolve at the end of the film to do something about this predicament that he's in. And I just think it's an absolutely stellar performance, man. Yeah, he actually kind of reminds me of Jerry from Parks and Rec in that he, like, he's a complete bubbling fool but also has this wildly attractive wife. And you, like you don't really understand how it works or how it happened.

13:34 And yet here he is. I will say for me, you know, you talked about the kind of like Maine mercenary guy that's chasing him throughout the film. I thought the weakest part of the film by a country mile was his wife because they have one scene together where she has to cry a little bit in his presence. And it is like, you know, bad Christian movie acting bad. Like it's, it's it's real bad, dude. You know you gotta. Throw Christian buses movies under the bus like that. At the end of the movie, or I guess throughout the movie, there's a couple phone calls they make to each other and she's crying on the phone and it's so much better than trying to watch her emote. She was real bad.

14:14 Apart from that, I thought pretty much everybody in this movie was either incredible like like Charlotte O'copoly was, or at least serviceable in the roles they were given. Yeah, I mean, I I remember watching Pacific Rim and thinking like the main character in that is just generic white action guy #17 and I kind of feel that way about the big bad Boss for what is it multinational? Yeah, yeah, whatever the the main big bad corporation which MNUMNUI love that they just give it the most generic like. It's literally called Multinational United.

14:55 Yeah, there you go. I absolutely love the naming, the nomenclature there. But, yeah, like, the CEO of that, who is his father-in-law, he's generic CEO bad guy #42 and the mercenary who is the head of their security branch, generic mercenary, white mercenary guy #14 like, and they do exactly what they need to do without drawing attention away from the main thing that's happening in the movie, which is this slow transformation from, you know, the human, all of the negative elements of humanity into something that is alien to humans, which is like, kindness and a desire for home and protection of your children and, and all of these, like, beautiful things. Let's talk a little bit about the aliens in this film and specifically the creature design. So I, I've said a couple times, this movie only cost $30 million, which is kind of staggering when you think about it.

15:54 I mean, it is you can tell where they put every dollar of the movie because they're doing the documentary slash found footage thing. And so they're not having to do like these elaborate set pieces. It most of the film is contained to just like two or three locations. It's like Vickus's house and then you and then the the slum of District 9. That's pretty much the entire film. And so you know that the money is not really going to that. And so pretty much all the money is going to a couple explosions, some practical effects and then the CGI which is used to create these aliens. And I think I will say upfront, it's pretty obvious that this is $30 million of CGI and not $300 million of CGI.

16:41 I'm not going to lie, I like the CGI. See, that's the thing I did too. Like there's, there's some things about it where like their eyes look kind of fake, but there's there's like an element of how the chintziness of it almost kind of works better because these creatures look so completely foreign to us that once you get used to the way they look, I think it works really well. Brad. Yeah, there there is no doubt in my mind this is one of the best alien movies as far as like the visual composition of the aliens, like they're familiar. They do a good job of marking out which aliens you should care about. And also I you said that the eyes look a little chintzy. I think that the absolute 100% most important part of this movie is the fact that they made the aliens eyes look endearing. Like think about any like anime cute little dog character or something.

17:47 It's got giant eyes right? And the the aliens eyes in this are big and they are round and they remind me of like a cute anime character. And without those eyes that show genuine pain and remorse and sadness like the aliens in this movie would be, you would not be able to empathize with them at all. But man, when you watch the main alien, who is named Christopher Johnson, interacting with his son, it's his eyes that draw you in and helps you understand the pain. And I, I think if you're ever going to make an alien movie that has relatable aliens, you have to get the eyes. Right, 100% and you can see fear in their eyes. You can see sadness and longing in their eyes. I, I just yeah, I'm with you.

18:37 I like the the coloration of them and they don't look like they exist in the real world. But again, once you kind of get past that first filter in your brain and you start just watching the movie for what it is, I really thought that they did a great job with their limited resources and budget on that CGI. And I also think it's really funny. You know, the early goings of this movie are basically you are following a documentary team as they are raiding District 9, which is where the aliens all live to evict them and forcibly move them to a new sort of ghetto to another part of town. And Vickus is leading the charge because his father-in-law is the CEO. It's it's very bureaucratic and it's really funny.

19:18 It's funny to watch Vickus like pretend like he knows what's going on. And he he does have some knowledge of the aliens, but he's bad at negotiating. He's bad at being an enforcer. He doesn't know how to properly handle alien weaponry. And then you get the what to me was I think the funniest reveal of the movie, which is like, he's talking to the 4th or 5th alien down on the list who becomes kind of our main protagonist alien. And they haven't named any of these aliens yet. And then he's like Christopher Johnson. That's you, right? And the reveal that they are naming these aliens and not just naming them, but giving them the most generic names. Again, this, you know, this entire movie is a reference to apartheid South Africa.

20:03 You know, so I'm making light of the naming, but obviously, like the way that slaves in Africa and outside of Africa came to acquire the names they had today is because people gave them those names and they weren't names that they were were born with or brought here with. So I understand that I'm making light of something that is actually hitting on a very serious topic. But for the entirety of the movie to watch these people with a straight face refer to this alien creature as Christopher Johnson. It it did kind of just get me every time. Yeah, that was the surprising part for me about the film is the style of black comedy that it is like when he's going around trying to get these signatures from aliens that like there's just something visually so funny about the alien hitting the clipboard out of his hand. And he goes to his compatriot who he's like training and he's like, see, this is this is the scribble that I that I needed. He he hit it and therefore we're good to evict him in 24 hours. It really demonstrates how slimy the corporation is and it kind of sets the tone for the first half of the movie. I talked about how the movie structured or not even structured, but like put together out of three different kinds of filmmaking.

21:18 But I think it also incorporates different genres really well. So at the beginning you've got kind of the comedy workplace environment elements and documentary style. And then there's this big government conspiratorial element with cover ups and becomes a parable or like a metaphor for apartheid. And it's really harrowing for a while. But then it shifts into like straight David Cronenberg style body horror. Like there's fingernails falling off and teeth falling out and limbs transforming into alien limbs and bodies exploding everywhere. And by the end, it's like a straight up action war film. And I really love how Blomkamp kind of weaves together these genres so effectively.

22:02 Because to your point, Brad, I, I want to focus on that first part for a minute. It's really hard to watch at points because once you start empathizing with the aliens, seeing what happens to them gets continually worse. And I mean, I don't want to draw direct comparisons to a movie like Schindler's List, but it's like not out of the realm of comparison. You're watching this race of creatures get absolutely eviscerated and taken advantage of and exploited, and then you find out there's genetic testing and kidnappings and experiments and just firing weapons at them to see what happens. And it's a really tough watch in the early part of the movie. Yeah, and that's that's the entire impetus of the film is that we we humans, when we come upon something new, we often will show fascination and respect and dignity and all, all of these things where we are interested in the new thing. And then within a few years, if that the question no longer is, you know, wow, there's this beautiful new thing. What what is it all about?

23:11 And it turns into the question of how is it useful for me? And like, that's the entire thrust of this movie is to say like, what is the cost of a human large corporation style entity that is only ever interested in its own profit and you like you end up with wild things. Like, I don't think it is a stretch to say that they were thinking about the Nazi experiments on humans when they were looking at what this corporation is doing to aliens. And you can 100% hear the justification of like, well, they're not human. They're just aliens. We can do whatever we want. This is for the betterment of humanity. It'll keep us safe if they ever invaded. Like you can hear all of the reasonings, but the movie is continually trying to show you, like, what is it costing humans to engage in such activities?

24:06 What part of the movie did you find most effective? Was it the early documentary style or the middle body horror Manhunt? Or was it the third act where he starts fighting back? I think that the first two acts of the film are incredibly effective. I think that the third and final act kept me guessing based on the twists and how you think that they've lost. There's no way that they could win and they come back. Like it definitely is effective action storytelling and keeping you interested. But for me, the documentary style lasted just long enough for me to be like, OK, I wonder where this movie's going. And like, right as I was almost bored, his body starts changing and, and he starts trans, you know, transforming into this alien creature and you're like, OK, I'm back in. And then it's this mystery film of like almost like a fugitive type of movie where you're like, he's on the run, He's trying to find a solution.

25:06 I and I think that was what was so effective about the three individual parts of the film is that it kept me interested the whole time rather than the entire movie being done through 1 lens. Well, and it's such a great action movie convention too, because in that middle part, he returns to the slum of District 9 to hide from multinational, whatever it's called. I almost said university. He's hiding out with the with Christopher Johnson, the guy that he was interrogating earlier in the film. And it does that brilliant thing where you've got two guys who both have to take down the same common enemy and they are bound together by circumstance. They don't like each other, but they have to work together. And then by the end of the film, they're buddies. You're bought into their relationship. And it's like, you know, it's been done 100 times, but it's been done 100 times for a reason. It's like it's a great convention to get two different parties to start working together. And like, you know, the second that they start revealing their plan to Vickus that they're trying to get this kind of like a small, I don't know what, what would you call that? Like a fighter jet almost to get back up to the ship so that they can go home and then hopefully come back and rescue their people.

26:22 Once that plan is put in motion, it's like, OK, I can see where the movie is going to go now and I am 100% on board. And the reason I'm 100% on board with the relationship between Vicus and Christopher Johnson and the action and the escape and all the things is because they made a freaking adorable little alien boy who just wants to go home. Dude, that scene where he's asking his dad about how many moons there are around this planet? Come on. It's absolutely perfect at pulling on the heartstrings and helping you go. Yeah, no, these are just real people who are also aliens.

27:03 And Oh my gosh dude, what an incredible use of emotional just like heart pulling on the heartstrings. I'm I'm talking myself into a higher score on this movie than I initially gave it. I dude, I, I, I came away from watching the movie. I was like, yeah, this is like a 7 1/2 like a like a really fun little action drama about, you know, the dangers of human predations. And I'm like, the more we talk about it more like, I don't know. This is a pretty good movie, Bob. That's a pretty good movie, Brad. I think this is a good place to hit pause. I have more to say, but I think it's time we drink some whiskey. Let's get to it.

27:47 Today we are checking out Hardens Creek Colonel James B Beam Bourbon Whiskey. This comes from the Jim Beam Company as a new brand extension that launched I think in 2022. We haven't gotten around to trying it until now, Brad, and I'm really excited because it made a big splash upon release. Part of the excitement came because of Jim Beam's announcement that this would be a line of new annual releases. So there's multiple variants of Hardin's Creek, but today we're just focusing on the label called Colonel James B Beam. This particular whiskey is only two years old, but it's made at the new Fred B No distillery recently opened by Jim Beam. It's distilled by Master Distiller Freddie No, who we've talked to on the podcast before. They've said this expression honors Jim Beam with its low distillation proof and lower entry proof into the barrel. It's clocks in at 108 proof in the bottle. I'm going to be honest dude, that two year age statement is a little bit concerning for me.

28:48 You and I have had wildly varied experiences with two year whiskey. Yeah, I read the same thing, that this is 2 years old and became a little suspicious that there's just, there's only so much you can do in two years, Bob, You know what I mean? Like I there's just a part of me that you drink enough whiskey. It feels like you have to recognize that 2 year old product is either a going to be for consumers that don't know much about whiskey, or it's for the other end of the spectrum of like people who are so familiar with the intricacies of whiskey production that they can taste a 2 year old product, recognize where it's going in the barrel, and like point it towards something greater.

29:43 But that means that you're either a master distiller or you know somebody who is only interested in $20 bottles of whiskey. Now to your point, I think there are two ways to think about why they choose A2 year whiskey. You know, one approach is basically what Bardstown Bourbon Company has done, which is sourcing whiskey and then kind of gradually working their distillate into the blend until only their whiskey is left and kind of takes over entirely. Then the other approach is basically saying, hey, we think this stands up on its own at two years to release it. And so maybe they'll increase the age statement in coming years and kind of allow that whiskey to develop over time. But I think people have different reactions to that strategy. Like either it's hey, this company's trying to sell me a story about two year whiskey, or you can choose to do what I'm choosing to do, which is take the optimistic view. They really believe in this.

30:39 And after talking with Freddie No about the product, I believe that they genuinely stand by it. Like they could have blended it really heavily and blended it in with a bunch of other stuffed and kind of masked its character. But they chose to showcase it for what it is. So whether they increase the age or not, I think that it's pretty clear that they believe in what they've made and I appreciate that. I I think that's a, that's a take that is a fair and honest. Take now, Brad, you've tried this already and I feel like, I feel like you're tipping your hand here a little bit. Yeah, So the nose on this bad boy, if I can get into it, there's peanut brittle, it's vanilla frosting like it's got some very sharply sweet notes.

31:25 There's some black pepper. It gets a little bit spicy for me, though, the the more time I spent with it, there's a lot of young graininess on this nose that kept it from being a higher score. I'm going to give it a 7 out of 10 on the nose. I I think it's interesting just a little. Bit young for me. I'd give it a 7.5. I think that there's a lot happening here. I get floral notes like rose petal on the nose along with some melon. There's definitely some graininess, but there's oak, there's black pepper, there's vanilla. What bums me out though is that even at 108 proof like the aromas feel very muted. It smells like a watered down whiskey even though it's not. So the flavors are good, but they don't stand out, which is why I'm landing at a 7 1/2.

32:15 Yeah, and the the mutedness kind of continues on into the palate for me, man, I did not get very much sweetness at all on this. Like there's a little bit of caramel vanilla going on at the front of the pallet. After that, though, it is all black pepper oak. I don't know if I've ever given this note before, but it kind of jumped into like a paprika spice range for me. It's a really weird, interesting flavor profile that has that essence of youth about it that I'm going to give a six out of 10.

32:55 Interestingly, this drinks like a very heavily oaked older bourbon. Like if somebody told me this was 10 year whiskey, I might believe it. On the palate, I got green apple upfront, which I really love. Caramel and the nuttiness that Beam is known for. That's all here. It definitely has more of a toasted oak thing though, like that that profile that can be hit or miss for me. So honestly, I don't know man, this is one of the best young bourbons I've had on the podcast. I'm going to give it a 7 1/2 again here. I think the finish comes up a little bit from the palate. There's oak, there's coffee bean. It sticks with that black pepper like everything I kind of expect out of a finish.

33:42 Once again though, it's got a little bit of that sour youngness that sticks around for a while. It just doesn't have the age to give you a well-rounded experience. It's a 6 1/2 for me on the finish. The finish drops to just like a six for me, OK, Like it's, it's not the finish itself, but like the last gasp of the palette that graininess kind of presents like it's almost like when you drink like a bottled water that has minerals added like Dasani, like there's a minerality here. It gives you kind of that, like that chalky note, which I really don't like for 90% of the drinking experience. This is way better than those kind of young or cheap Jim Beam products that we tried at the end of last season.

34:29 But that minerality at the end reminds me of even some of those like bottom tier Beam offerings. In terms of balance, I'll come back up to A7. Overall, this is really well balanced. The 108 proof was the right choice. At 80 or 90 proof, it probably would have been too watery. But that one off note at the end, like really keeps it from getting a higher score for me. So I'm going to give it just a solid seven overall. Yeah, Balance wise, this is a six out of 10. I, I, I don't think that there's enough going on here for me to be interested. And unfortunately, man, oh man, this just never goes anywhere sweet.

35:13 And it, it's not that I need things to be sweet to be tasty. I, I love a good 95.5 rye, 100% rye, but it just doesn't have the balance to make the sour young grain worth it. And and getting into value Bob, this is an $80.00 bottle of whiskey for a two year product right? That is a lot of money for a average 2 year bourbon in my opinion. Dude this is a 3 1/2 for me on on value. Yeah, I mean, I think the whiskey is actually quite good. It is also a two year product.

36:00 Like I just, there's only so much you can tell me in the marketing materials about how rare this liquid is to justify putting an $80.00 price tag on two year bourbon. Like I just, I don't get it. You know, we've tried the, I believe, 108 proof Jim Beam Single Barrel last season, which was fine, but that's like $35. And I think that that's a blend of, you know, four to seven-year bourbon. So like, what are we doing here at $80.00? I do think this is a poor value. I'm going to give it a four out of 10 on value, which takes me to a 32 out of 50 on average. Brad, where are you coming out on this one? I am at a 29 out of 50. Yeah, this is weird because I actually think that if we're just talking about the liquid in the glass, this is better to me than a 61 out of 100, which is what we're coming out to. But when you factor in the value category, you know, even if they were trying to sell this at 50 bucks, I'd probably give them a little bit more of a pass on this one. I just, I don't know how you can justify an $80.00 price tag here.

37:04 Yeah, it is massively overpriced. The only way I would come above like a 5 or 6 on my value score is if the price tag was 3999 or less. That like that is the only way I could justify this. As it is, this is my first sub 30W and quite some time I feel like. Do you feel like the the juice itself is sub 30 or is it just kind of dragged down by the value I? Mean my score was a 25.5 out of 40, OK, for just the juice. So maybe, you know, extrapolate that out. Maybe it's like a 70 to 75 out of 100, you know, if I was just doing it on that basis, but man, I, I don't think I would buy this even at $40.

37:54 Yeah, I agree. And, and I again, I don't think it's bad whiskey, but I just, there's nothing that would make me tempted to go out and spend $80.00 or honestly to get a pour, a pour of this is going to cost you probably 12 to $14.00. Like I, you know, I just think there's other things, especially from the Jim Beam company that I would try before this. So a. 100%. Brad, unfortunately we've hit kind of a snag here in our day with this product. But you know, this is what we're here to do. We're talking honestly about the whiskey in front of us. Yeah, the there's other places you can go to find good whiskey. Today is just an unfortunate detour. All right, man, let's get back to talking about District 9. What do you say? Let's get to it.

38:39 All right, everybody. That was Hardens Creek Colonel James B Beam Bourbon. Is it a bourbon? It sure was. Yeah. A whiskey that I will not be returning to anytime soon. Paired with a place in the world, I probably wouldn't return to either. I do like that you had to double check if it was a bourbon. It would be really funny if you were like, oh, the whole time I thought it was single malt. This changes everything. All right. Well, Brad, I think it's time for us to get into our game for the day, which we call 2 facts and a falsehood. Brad is going to try to stump your ball. 2 are right and what is wrong? 2 facts and a falsehood. 2 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. Brad, as of right now, I am sitting at Let's count them up 123-4567 and two on the season.

39:39 You're dominating, man. It's been pretty good so far. I I will say, beyond knowing that Neil Blomkamp made this movie, that it's set in South Africa, that it's about apartheid and that Peter Jackson helped produce it, I know very little about the background on this movie. So I said this last week with La La Land, and I just guessed. I pulled an answer right out of my butt and. Was happily lucky on that one. I might have to do the same thing today. I. Am excited to see you pull things out of your butt Bob. What a good time it. Doesn't help that we are video chatting as we do this so I I feel like you're being honest and I don't like that. Fact number one District 9 was largely inspired by director Neil Blomkamp's experience of apartheid and contains many references to that time period throughout the film. True such as?

40:30 Such as anti apartheid graffiti and the use of the term prawns which is similar to the Isuzu word for oppressors which is pronounced Prawnzana. Fact #2 District 9 was originally supposed to be a spin off of the Halo Combat Evolved video game franchise. When the project fell through, producer Peter Jackson gave Neil Blomkamp the go ahead to make a movie about whatever he wanted. Fact #3 The design for the aliens went through quite a few iterations before the final insectoid prawn concept was finalized. Originally, the aliens were conceived as a quadrupedal hulking creatures with leathery skin and tentacled faces, and were intended intended to be performed by actors in creature suits. The prawn creatures were initially meant to be masters of the tentacle faced creatures, keeping with the idea that the aliens were slaves.

41:26 OK, so I know that number 2 is true just from browsing the Wikipedia page before we jumped on here. Like I I knew that it was a a. Halo thing. I love when you. I love when you go. I know nothing about this film other than the director and the setting. And then you immediately go, you know, as I browsed the Wikipedia page. Well, forgive me for thinking that your research would go deeper than Wikipedia, my guy. I don't look at Wikipedia for this. Well, there you go. I did. I did today and I read the production thing which said Peter Jackson intended to make a Halo movie. And then that fell through 'cause I was going to make note of it in the first part of the episode because they said that most of the props that are used in the movie were repurposed Halo props.

42:08 And I'm not a guy that plays Halo. So I was going to ask you, does it look like Halo stuff 'cause I have no idea. But do you play Halo? I have played Halo quite extensively, Halo and Halo 2 specifically. Once it hit Halo 4, I was kind of out. Me too. Yeah, I know, right. I will say the weapons in the film, the alien weapons are very similar to a lot of Halo weapons. And actually the sniper that they use at the end of the movie that has like the giant like rectangular kind of muzzle at the end of the the barrel looks a lot like the sniper rifle from Halo 10.

42:50 OK, cool. Well, so great. I'm going to say 2 is true. Number one I'm not entirely sure about because I remember reading that the prawns were based on like some kind of insect in South Africa, like it they call them prawn crickets or prawn. What are those things called? Not cicadas, but locusts. And so I don't, I don't know if like you would present number one as complete fact and then change the reference to what a prawn is. I don't know if you'd be that petty, which makes me think #3 might be the falsehood because I just have no idea about the the creature design or what they put into it.

43:32 So I'm going to say 3 is the falsehood, but I'm going to be really pissed off if you changed one tiny little detail about number one to make it false. Bob, you are now seven and three on the season. Damn it was it #1. It was #1. God. Bless it. The only part of number one that was true is the absolute first part that is inspired by Neil Blomkamp's experience of apartheid. Nothing about anti apartheid graffiti, nothing about the term prawn like like none of the rest of the fact was true. So did he not experience apartheid or what?

44:12 He he did, yeah. He he grew up in the time of apartheid. But but the movie's not based on that. I'm confused. What did you make up here? So the second-half of the fact was that the movie contains many references to that time such as anti apartheid, graffiti and the use of the term prawns similar to the Isuzu word for oppressor which is pronounced Prasanna. That's all the part you made-up. The whole thing all. Right. I feel like you're stretching it here man. Like I by everything. Making up facts about the movie. Well, because like, there is graffiti that is similar, I would imagine, to what apartheid graffiti looked like. And the, I don't know.

44:54 I just feel like sometimes you're like, yeah, I'm going to make this thing up. But then it's still actually there in the movie. And you're like, well, I wrote it, so it's not real. I I 100% can guarantee you that there's nothing. There is no Isuzu word pronounced pronzana. No, OK. Yeah, that that is 100% Brad G baby. I will take that at your word because you are a master of many languages so. I you know me man, I speak like 14 languages. All right, all right. So I, I had preemptively filled in AW for myself on our little sheet here. I'm going. To change that to an L No wonder you lost Pride goeth before a fall, young Robert it. Certainly Goeth.

45:39 All right, man, let's dive back into talking about the movie and I think let's kind of camp out here, Ha, camp on Neil, Neil Blomkamp, because Neil Blomkamp, this was his first feature length film. He had gotten the attention of Peter Jackson with some short films that he made, and he's made quite a few movies after this, but I feel like he kept trying to recapture the magic of District 9. He made a movie right after this, I don't know, maybe 3 or 4 years later called Elysium with Matt Damon. And it had a very similar plot to District 9. Like Matt Damon ends up becoming fused with some sort of technology and he has to get up to the ship to try to get it off of him. And it's set in like the slums of South Africa. And so it's like.

46:23 This is this is the same the same movie. The same movie then he made-up with Matt Damon, Then he made a movie called Chappie, which was about a robot that got stranded on Earth in what seems to be the slums of South Africa and they're trying to get him to escape. So again, the same movie. And after those two movies were not the financial successes that they wanted them to be. He's kind of since become a journeyman filmmaker. I watched a movie that he made last year, which was the big screen adaptation of the video game Gran Turismo. It was not great. And I'm, I'm really bummed that Neil Blomkamp has not panned out the way that I thought he would after this film because, you know, yes, he injected so much of his own personal experience into this movie.

47:08 But it's a bummer when that doesn't translate to being able to direct other people's stories, too. And I think that's kind of what we ended up getting with Neil Blomkamp here. I, I feel like we're about to do a bonus episode on like top five one hit wonder directors and I feel like Blomkamp would fit into that cause District 9 is truly a one hit wonder there. There is all sorts of stuff here to love. I, I think to talk about him as a director. What was the element of District 9 that made you go OK, like this Neil Blomkamp guy? He knows what he's doing. I think that the the first part of the movie where they're doing the documentary found footage stuff, it felt a little artificial this time around to me where like in 2009 it was like, oh, this is a really clever way of covering up the fact that your budget's not huge. And I think we've seen that done so much since then. Maybe it's unfair for me to read that back on this movie because it was one of the first ones to do that. But it was like, oh, OK, I see what you're doing here. But where it really got me was in that third act, because they clearly spent the majority of the budget on the third act of this movie.

48:20 There's, you know, much more multi camera setups and coverage from across, you know, the battlefield. And for me, it was this moment where Vickus gets in that big mechanical suit, which may or may not be a reference to the end of the movie Aliens, where Sigourney Weaver's, you know, give her back, you bitch. And and he's the one of the worst fight scenes in the history of cinema. Well, so he's like running away from Christopher Johnson. He's like, just, you can have the prawn, just let me go. And then he has his change of heart. And the, the shot that he chooses to frame it in is like, you see him in the metal suit, like slow down. And he kind of bows his head 'cause he's thinking about his choice. And you see the alien ship in the background and it's the only two things in the shot.

49:06 And you see, like, here's the destination, here's my escape, here's my hope. And you watch him have an emotional transformation, the inside of a metal suit in the foreground, and I'm like, OK, this dude knows what he's doing. Like, Blomkamp composed that shot beautifully, and he's able to let these inanimate objects emote in a way that really gets the audience invested. I thought that he really proved himself in that final act of the film. Yeah, the, the claustrophobia of it, like every single time there's a shot inside of the suit and you're like shoved up in his face like it's Iron Man, like they like it.

49:46 It creates this intense heated pressure of every decision that Vickus makes throughout the end of the film. There there's when you pair that with the continual shaky Cam, all of the whipping around the battlefield, the coordinated movements of the MNU troops coming in, it just feels like this really cool mix of like a Sicario and Edge of Tomorrow experience that as a film goer, I, I was 100% there for. I think Edge of Tomorrow is such a good comparison point. You know, it, it's a little bit more fun, it's a little bit more slick and Hollywood, but I think it took a lot of the sort of griminess and the in the dirt fighting from this movie.

50:36 I've never really seen it done in such a visceral way as I saw in this film the first time I saw it. And and I do think that it's a much more influential film than it maybe gets credit for today. You know, it's been what, 15 years since the movie came out? It's a popular movie that I think many, many people have seen, surprisingly popular, but I don't know if it gets credit for for influencing the genre. And it may go back to what we were talking about at the beginning, that there's just not a lot of sci-fi movies made anymore. So even if it is influential, we might not notice it. Yeah, I I know that the tagline for this movie was something along along the lines of like humans not allowed or there's no way out.

51:18 I feel like it should have been Aliens have feelings too. I like it. I think that would have made it do so much more business, Brad. Yeah, and I I feel like it directly led to a movie like Shape of Water becoming a thing. Well, it's on that note. What if they just made the poster that photoshopped image of Vickus, like having like rigorous sex with dude. That's that's probably the worst part of the whole movie in terms of like, oh, this poor guy. Like the second he goes rogue, they've got photoshopped images of him and he's like in that sandwich shop, Like, can I get a sandwich? And then they put that on TV and everyone's like. And then he goes to the Nigerian like gang in District 9 and they somehow have a print magazine that has made its way into the slums already of a Vickus just getting it on with some aliens. It's incredible.

52:21 If they have like a subscription, you know, do they mail it to you in District 9? A nice little mailman shows up. Care of Nigerian warlord. Can I say one thing, though? The the one thing about this movie that surprised me a little bit. The whole film is about how humans are terrible and we treat essentially, once they realized that the aliens didn't have anything to offer them and that they were just poor people, that's when like humans started treating them like garbage. But then the way that they portray the Nigerian gang in this movie, racist very much. It's not good, Bob. Yeah, you're right.

53:02 Like Neil Blomkamp is obviously making an apartheid metaphor where the aliens are a stand in for what he witnessed black people experience in South Africa. But then the only actual black people in the movie are like partakers of voodoo and eating. And you know, like there's a there's a shot where they're like, oh, and of course the Nigerians started interspecies prostitution. And it's like, OK, like was that? Necessary. Yeah. It felt like a really strange inclusion in a movie about the dangers of racism. I don't know it as the slightly more conservative person on this podcast, even I watch that and was like, I don't, I don't know if this is great.

53:49 Yeah, I mean, I don't want to accuse Neil Blomkamp of having his own implicit biases, but it it definitely feels like you're undermining the point you want to make here, bro. Yeah, a little bit, little bit. But see, that's that's the paradox, because then what if he was aware of it and it's like, well, we can't we can't have the terrorists be Nigerian. So then he makes them Middle Eastern, you know, like it's still the same problem. You know what I'm? Saying sure, yeah. This is what happens when when we get along peacefully with the Russians, Brad. It used to just be the Russians. We would make the Russians the bad guy and everything. And it worked perfectly for 30 years. You didn't want the Nigerian like ganglord to just look at Vickus and be like I will crush you. I wanted a scene like in Goldeneye where Vickus drives a tank, like through the Kremlin or whatever would have worked. Yeah, exactly.

54:39 I would have loved that. All right, man. I think we're in a good spot to get to our final segment of the day, which we call Let's Make it a Double presented by Blackwood Distilling Company. We're near the end of the episode, so thanks listening to the film and Whiskey show. Let's have another film with this one, even if it's struggling. It's the 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. Earlier today, I'm finishing up the film and Brad texts me and says I have the best let's make it a double. And I got to say man, it it kind of distracted me from the end of the film because I was wondering and so I started taking guesses. Now my first guess at what Brad's Let's Make it a Double was came towards the end of the film when I said to myself, man, rough day at the office for Vickus. And I thought I was real clever.

55:35 And then I thought, Oh my gosh, what if that was Brad's thought too? What if his Let's Make It a Double is Office Space? Because I feel like that would be a fantastic bad Day at the Office movie. Absolutely perfect double feature, Bob. Like 10 out of 10. No. No comments, no recommendations. And then he said, it's not, it's not Office space. So then I'm thinking, OK, maybe he paired it up with like Hugh Jackman's real steal because he gets in this thing at the end of the movie. Maybe Brad goes thematic with it and starts thinking, oh, this is about an emotionally stunted male helping an alien find its way home and becoming more brave and courageous. So maybe it's ETI think I'm just striking out here, Brad, but I really want to know what you're let's make it a double is.

56:22 My Let's Make It A Double follows a middle-aged man who is just kind of skating through life and finally, throughout the film, grabs adventure, grabs life by the horns and really takes it for a ride. Come on. This is going to be paired with The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. I love it. Tell me that this isn't sci-fi. Action adventure, secret life. I mean, I guess, man, it's no Office space. OK, Brad, I, I told you at one point that I was going to just do a season where I paired every single movie with ET. And I feel like this might actually be the best chance I have to pair a movie with ET.

57:09 I'm trying to think of of what would be a good, let's make it a double. I spent so much time trying to guess yours that I didn't actually come up with one. Recently. I saw a movie in the theater called Nickel Boys, which is positioned to be a big Oscar movie. And throughout that film, there's reference to a movie from the 1950s called The Defiant Ones. It has Sidney Poitier and Tony Curtis in it as two escaped prisoners from a chain gang who are chained together. And Tony Curtis's character is like, super racist. And they have to figure out how to a, like, get to where they're going while chained together. And you watch them kind of become friends all the way through the film as they're being hunted.

57:52 And I think that, like, after I talked all about the action movie tropes of this film, I'm going to pair this up with the Defiant Ones. It's a movie that I don't know if we'll ever get to on the podcast, so I'm glad to be able to talk about it here. Yeah, I that sounds like a fascinating film, Bob. I have not heard of it before, and I've only ever seen Tony Curtis make out with Marilyn Monroe. So. Well, now you can watch him be in close quarters with Sidney Poitier. So they're they're excited. Brad picks Secret Life of Walter Mitty. I picked the Defiant ones and that is today's Let's Make It a Double brought to you by Blackwood Distilling Company. No matter what film you choose to pair this with, you can always make it a double with Blackwood.

58:34 And folks, if you go to bourbonoutfitter.com/film Whiskey, that's Bourbon outfitter.com/film Whiskey. Buy a bottle of Blackwood and use our code film WHISKEY at checkout. You'll get 5% off your bottle of Blackwood. Have you ever seen the clip of how I think it was like in Brazil or somewhere they would like insert products into? Movies. I sent you these. It was. Yeah, the the Star Wars. Cervesa. What was it called? I don't remember but but it would have the guy singing really loud too. Yes. Oh my gosh. I, I kind of want to do that with District 9, but just put like bottles of Blackwood whiskey all throughout the film.

59:19 Like they crawl down into the little cargo ship they're going to use to escape and there's just like Blackwood Whiskey just hanging out behind like a crate or something. Oh man. Oh, it's Chris Cervesa Cristal. Yes. If it wasn't a copyright infringement, I'd play the clip right now, Brad. Yeah, totally. All right, dude, let's give this movie some final scores. I think that, like, if we're talking about this film as an influential movie, as a good alien movie, as a good action movie, and in terms of like what it accomplishes by what sci-fi I think does best, which is getting at real human issues, I think this movie's like a nine out of 10, dude. I'm I've been waffling back and forth between an 8 1/2 and a nine.

1:00:04 I kind of want you to go ahead and go first because you said you were at a 7 1/2 and it's coming up. So where are you coming up to? I, I think I'm going to sit at an 8 out of 10 Bob. Like, I think this movie is really effective. It does what it wants to do well. I don't know if it quite transcends that 8 out of 10 mark where you start getting into some absolute classics of the genre at like 8 1/2 to 9 out of 10. I I think I would need to see this once or twice more to really gauge my reaction on if it's worth that high of a score. I think that's fair. I'm going to give it an 8.5 out of 10. And perhaps the harder question is, does this deserve to be considered a modern classic? I think if we're just talking about like, here's the stack of movies, should this be included?

1:00:53 I think there's definitely better films than this, but as a representative of sci-fi, there are not very many things that can go into the Canon from the 21st century. I don't know what are you thinking. I mean, another movie we could have gone with for Let's Make It a Double would have been something like Children of Men. And I think that if you had cinematography like that in this movie, like I think I could call it a modern classic. But overall, there's just too much generic use of camera and it's not bad. Like it's well done. The found footage, the security Cam footage is great.

1:01:34 All of it is well done. None of it like advances the medium of film in a way that makes this movie feel heavy and impactful. Right? Doesn't have the the gravitas that something like a children of man would have. So I I think I'm going to hold off on saying that this is a modern class. I think I will, too. This is one of those beneficiaries. This was the first year that the Best picture field expanded back to 10 after The Dark Knight missed the cut in 2008. And so it gets nominated for best picture. But it's definitely one of those movies that's like, Oh yeah, everybody can agree this is one of the 10 best films of 2009. But it's when we're talking modern classics, I'm with you. Children of Men is one of my favorite movies of all time. Like that gets in and then this is one of those that branch off where you say, hey, if you like Children of Men, check out District 9 next or check out Edge of Tomorrow next. Because those have those dystopian themes, but they don't have the artistry and I think the lasting impact that a movie like Children of Men had.

1:02:39 Yeah. I mean, Bob, this is a year kind of stacked for best picture. Like Hurt Locker wins it all. You've got Avatar up in the air, Blind Side, Inglourious Basterds, like up is in this, like this is a stacked year in the history of film. So I'll be I'll be frank with you, man. I don't think this makes the top five. I think this is like a 8-9 or ten in that list of 10 films. Can I give you my hot take though? Oh, I'm ready. This. Is a better movie than The Hurt Locker? Oh, it's not.

1:03:19 It's like on par with Up in the Air, and it's probably not as good as Inglourious Basterds or even Sharp, but I think it's better than The Hurt Locker. I think you might be right, like Hurt Locker has certain elements about it that are better, but overall as a film I think this is way more entertaining than The Hurt Locker. I don't know if the purpose of the Hurt Locker was like, let's send them out dancing, you know, But all right, so it is an 8 1/2 for me. It's an 8 from Brad for an average of an 8.25. But we want to know what you think of District 9. First of all, is it a modern classic and is it better than the Hurt Locker? You can find us on all of our social media platforms, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tiktok, and YouTube at Film Whiskey.

1:04:10 Or if you want to join the conversation, we are on our Discord server every single day talking to you guys, fans of the film and Whiskey podcast. So if you would like to join the conversation, there's there's a link to our server at the end of every single one of our show notes. Next week we are kicking off the Christmas time season with one of my favorite films from last year, 2023. It's The Holdovers. Brad, I cannot freaking wait to dive into the Holdovers with you, man. Dude, what a great movie. Oh, have you seen it already? Oh hell yeah. Let's do it, man. I. I am so excited to go over the holdovers with you that like if there was ever a movie built for this podcast, like for a for this podcast, but B for Paul Giamatti, like it was the holdovers.

1:04:58 All right, next week we'll see you for the holdovers, but until then, I'm Bob Book. I'm Brad G. And we'll see you next time.