Gladiator / Elmer T. Lee

0:00 In 2000, director Ridley, Scott. And star Russell Crowe gave the world, a modern sword and sandal epic, that Drew critical and popular. Acclaim. In 2021, we return to America's most awarded Distillery for another allocated bourbon. The film is Gladiator, the whiskey is Elmer T, Lee and we'll review them both. This is the film and whiskey podcast.

0:43 Welcome to the film and whiskey podcast. For each week. We review a classic movie and a glass of whiskey. I'm Bob book. I am Brad. G of Seven Hills, father to a cute daughter husband to a beautiful wife, and I am Friend Bob, but I'll have my revenge in this podcast, or the nation. Yeah. Fred. The great thing about that is, you know, you're from a city named Seven Hills. And that's a metaphor that in Rome, that's what they called, Rome the city on Seven Hills. I'm so glad you picked that up. Hell yeah, I did, man. I paid attention in seminary. I think he paid more attention to the history of Rome than Ridley, Scott to it.

1:26 That's probably true. Hey man, it is really good too. I hear your voice like it's it's been a crazy couple weeks for us. I know we talked about this a little bit on last week's episode but for me like I just moved to a new house, it's the first house lol. Homeowner now it's been it's been an experience already after like not even a week of living here we found out the furnace needs replaced. We found out that there was a gas leak, you know, just all the good things happening in the realm of homeownership already, for me, bro. I'm not gonna lie. This is actually going to be really mean, so I apologize in advance like we Haley. And I bought the best house in the world, like we have had zero issues and all I ever hear from all my friends who own homes is that there's like just inordinate amounts of issues that come up in home ownership and I don't know what like we did, right? But we got a really chill house.

2:22 I'm happy for you, man. I as long as you recognize that you are in the very small minority of people, rest of us. Struggling percent. Yeah, my basement stays dry. When it rains. Haven't had any furnace it. Like it's just, it's a wild place. It's awesome. So Brad, I do feel. I feel for you, man. That's yeah, it's all right man. We're getting settled. I don't have a permanent recording space yet. I'm in the basement right now. So this it probably sounds different than most episodes will but bear with me as I try to find a new recording closet in my home. So if we will see how that goes Bob we I need to come up there and build you something like we need to get Legit recording booth. Yeah, I think we should just build a whole like Wing onto the house. Yeah, yeah, it'll be the, it'll be like in Beauty and the Beast Spa, no one enters the West Wing sponsored by our patreon account.

3:12 That's right. It'll only take us like, I don't know. 370 months. Yeah, raise the required. You know, we'll get there eventually. Yeah, we'll get there. We'll get there. Well, Brad. We're here to talk about the 2000. Best Picture Winner Gladiator, a movie that I, you know, what? I saw this a CH when I was a kid and it's always always on cable. I feel like AMC just exists on reruns of this and The Walking Dead and the Shawshank Redemption. But I got to be honest with you, man, I can't remember the last time I sat down and watched this all in one sitting it's been on my show, like, you know, I own it. It's on my shelf, I got it. When they were selling those, they used to do DVD two packs and it came with Braveheart. So it was a Broward Gladiator to pack. I have the exact same one.

3:59 Yeah man. It's a classic of the DVD genre, but I'm like, I'll just say this of all the two packs that have ever come out. I don't know if they've ever paired two movies more perfectly together. Yeah, I think, for good and for bad, like, 100 peaking back to our brave heart episode. And this movie Just shares so much DNA with Braveheart and, you know, bright honestly, like I think we'll get into it, but I'm not gonna lie. I think watching this movie after probably 10 years. Of distance. It was a very, let's just say, different experience. For me, this time around. Okay? Can I just tell you that? I, so I haven't seen Gladiator and probably, like, three, four years. And because we watch Braveheart somewhat recently and like, I saw them both on the same case.

4:49 I legit was waiting for Lucilla, you know, played by Connie, Nielsen to come up to Commodus at some point and say, like it's okay because I carry His baby. And then I realized that the end I was like, wait a second. That was Brave heart. Yeah, rock Rock movie. You know, they both really leaned heavily into the, I miss my dead wife, but I'm also going to sleep with this other pretty lady, and I think it kind of throws the whole movie off, in both instances. I mean, in this one, at least he doesn't sleep with her. Yeah. You just like kisses are once. Yeah. He's like I'm not attracted to you at all and then she's like, hey, make out with me. And he's like, okay, maybe a little, they just move.

5:29 Vaughn from there may be a little you know I am. I am a gladiator now. I deserve this, you know. Oh 100% man. I mean proximal acid. Did you like girls boys? We can send it to you. Alright. Man before we get you off the rails here, I think we should throw over to Brad explains, which is the part of the podcast, where Brad breaks down the plot of the movie that he has just seen often for the first time. I am going to go ahead and assume this was not your first time seeing this as you owned the DVD to pack. Right. Yeah, this is probably a round number 10. So like something wrong. I've seen it quite a few times my hand tight like bread. And I don't mean this in, like, a patronizing way at all. We're about to be so patronizing, you, but seriously, you watching a movie ten times that this has to be really high up, your list of most re-watched bragi movies. Yeah, I I've said this before but actually let's make a contest of it film.

6:25 One, Whiskey Nation, if you can name my most watched news, Movie re-watched movie, then you'll win some sort of prize because I know that at some point in the history of this podcast, I've mentioned it. No, I like it. Well. Okay, get out us on social media or on our Discord Channel, with your answers to that question. And Brad will send you in his words, some sort of prize. Yeah. Well, how about how about the Luca Mariano? We got all those packets and bunch of samples. Cool. Boom. All right there. Boom, boom. All right. Brad, let's get into Brad explains. Can you break down the plot of This movie for our listeners, in 60 seconds or less. I sure can Bob, the movie Gladiator is about Russell Crowe wanting to be the Spaniard guy that like, Farms his Spanish land with his Spanish wife in a Spanish son, and he doesn't get to do that.

7:18 Instead, he's the empty Emperor's primary General, he beats the Germans and then his son and I do not his son, the emperor's son, kills the emperor and Becomes the emperor. And then tries to kill Maximus. Maximus goes back, home is family's dead. He got becomes a slave becomes a gladiator and then he becomes so good at being a gladiator that he denies the emperor's power Commodus, the emperor tries to fight him in one-on-one combat and like Stacks the the battle in his favor, but Maximus is a badass and kills many ways and freeze the Roman Empire from the tyrannical reign of The Emperor's. Boom, also he dies.

8:00 Yeah, dude. I'm not going to lie, man. For all the crappy cinematography in this movie that last scene when they're carrying maximus' body off and you just see Lucilla standing in the middle of the arena. And you just see Commodus his body lying there. That's it, it's over shop for coverage. I don't have to you know what it reminded me of though. The very end of West Side Story, when they're carrying off Tony's body, And you've got, Raffia following them out of the end of the camera, pulls back up from the park. And yeah, man, ever made me that quite a bit West Side Story. That's the one where they had that song. There's nobody, like, Maria. Is that wrong?

8:40 Maria wrong Maria. Oh sorry, sorry. All right, man, I want to Dive Right into this movie and I can't tell what a better place to start would be. So I'm gonna let you pick and I think the two options because we got to discuss both of them are the script and the Action. Now Ridley, Scott is the director here. We've talked about him on the podcast. Before we have at least I have lots of opinions about Ridley Scott, but I also have lots of opinions on the story and the script in this movie. Brad, where do you think we should start here, dude. My boy rids. Co he, he struggles in this movie. All right, let's yeah, let's do Ridley, Scott them because Ridley Scott is one of the most famous directors that has been working for well over 40 years now.

9:26 He has made incredibly great movies. He's most famous for alien and Blade Runner, you know, he's been nominated for best director. I can't remember if he won, best director for this film are not actually, I don't think he did, I think Angley 14, Crouching Tiger in this year, but, you know, he's a really, really famous director. And yet, I feel like over the years, he has just kind of become like a very serviceable, passable director. And when you go to see a Ridley Scott move, There's not a lot of like stylistic things that I think characterize a Ridley, Scott movie, you know what I mean? Like you look at all the movies he's made in the last 20 years and they're kind of all over the place. They all kind of feel the same and I guess that's a good sign but I also don't know that Ridley Scott has made a great movie in 40 years and and that means that's where I struggle with him.

10:19 Like, is he really a great director or is he just one of our best kind of Directors for hire? And you're kind of guaranteed to get a three star movie out of him. Yeah, I mean, when you look at where he started with alien, and then you look at something like Gladiator, which won him best picture somehow. And then you go to, like, his next collaboration with Russell Crowe, which was Robin Hood? Which I don't know if you saw that, but it was really, really bad. No bueno. Yeah, no bueno. I like, I just look at him and I think that overall I just feel like, Ridley Scott is an Average director that struck gold in his first movie. I haven't seen Blade Runner so you know, you can, you can discount my opinion as you will.

11:05 But overall like I don't know, especially like when you talk about a specific style that he has like his style is just really flat washed-out cinematography where there's not a lot of color and that works when you are filming a Sci-Fi alien. Ian on a, you know, derelict space cruiser type movie, but it doesn't really work when you're doing a movie like Gladiator, like Robin Hood. Like all, you know, these other movies where they should be a lot brighter, there should be a lot more color. I think that's one of the things that frustrates me most about this movie is that the cinematography is just average.

11:48 The coloring of the movie is boring. There's just a lot of issues with gladiator and as I come out you know swing in I love this movie for the longest time, like there's a reason I watched it 10 times, there's so much of this movie. I really liked and there's some of it that I still enjoy, but as I get older, I think it now. No man. I just look at it and I go man in 1999. American Beauty one. Best picture and then you have a 2000 Gladiator winning it and it just, I don't know. It's just a hard left turn. Yeah, it really is man. And I think the most frustrating thing for me watching this movie which again, is a movie that I like, for the most part is how uneven the direction is because there are some sequences where it really feels like he must have sat down and storyboarded this like the it flows really well. He picked all his shots really well and then there's other sequences where it just seems like they filmed. The same thing from like 15 different angles and they just kind of spliced it together and you know, the opening battle scene, I feel like there's a pretty great kind of set up for this battle that you're going to get and then the battle starts and it is just a mess, dude.

12:58 It's like incomprehensible. I didn't know where I was. I had no sense of the geography. And I think that there are like a number of sequences like that throughout the movie. And it really just kind of seems at least the edit that we got here, like, Ridley Scott, Had really good ideas for like forty percent of the movie. And then the other 60% it was just kind of like, all right, like we're going to see what we get here. Yeah. That like there's a part of me that wonders of this movie could have been like an hour and 40 minutes long instead of two hours and 35 minutes because as I as I get deeper into the movie, the first half of the movie is, is hard to get through. There's, there's some good moments throughout but I don't know, I think that you're Hitting the nail on the head. Bob, there's Great Moments in this movie that like give you hope for a phenomenal movie, but enough of it just drags you down that.

13:53 I mean it's the pacing. It's the cinematography, it's the dialogue. It's the acting. There's just, I don't know, but I don't know. Where do you want to go? Well, that's it. Maybe this is a good place to kind of transition into the script because I feel like there are moments where this script is really good, but for the most part, it's not good at all. And then I also feel like there are moments where I really Scott's direction is really good. And then there are times where that's not good at all. And I think the most frustrating thing is that they never really seem to be working in sync together, like when the script is, is doing some okay, Exposition or something like, it seems like Scott's direction is just wandering off in a completely different direction for lack of a better word. And then there's other times where it's like, oh, Ridley Scott is taking this turd of a scene that was written and he's really making something suspenseful or intriguing out of it but But again, like it just doesn't seem like those to really work together and they're kind of always at odds.

14:50 And, you know, you talk about the first half of this movie, man, like I kind of had to watch this movie and bits and pieces, and that is never ideal for watching a movie. But again, I've seen it a ton of time. So I know what's coming. But I have to say, man, the first half of this movie is just an absolute slog. Like I came to watch a movie called Gladiator. I want to see a man Gladiator. Wait dude, you know what I mean? Like I just I want to see somebody in the Colosseum and there is just this protracted bike setup of Roman politics and the relationship between the emperor and his son and it's just goes on forever. Like he doesn't even get sent or he doesn't even wake up, you know, as a slave until I think like the 45-minute Mark, he doesn't actually get to the Coliseum until the hour and a half.

15:43 Mark That point. There's only an hour left in the movie. It just kind of seems like the pacing of this film is way off to me. See, for me the I think the the first half has different issues. I actually kind of liked the protracted prologue if you will. I guess I really enjoy the setup of Maximus has character of his relationships with Commodus and Lucilla and Marcus Aurelius. Like, I enjoy that opening sequence because you get to see See. Who Maximus is what he is all about? I don't know. I was reading some reviews of the movie and a lot of people complain about how. He's, he's just such a simple character, right? He's a great fighter that wants to go home and that's kind of a stereotypical thing.

16:28 But honestly, I like that Trope. I like the idea of The Reluctant Warrior. So that's not something that bothers me. I think for me the first half of the movie, It's the battle sequences that struggle and like there's a there's a few cool shots of like The arrows flying through the air and the catapults launching these fiery, you know Boulders, but for the most part, I think the entire movie struggles with the battle sequences the, their, their film, strangely their cut to Pieces as far as like, the choppiness of the editing. So, for me, that that opening sequence, the opening battle sequence and really most of the battle sequences, for the whole movie.

17:10 I just think Scott really struggles as an action director. Four grand large-scale Warfare. Yeah, I think that's a good point man. And one of the things I noticed this time around was that weird slow mo effect that they put into place in a lot of the battle sequences and not to nerd out too much. But you know, when you're recording a movie on film, the way the film goes through the camera is you get 24 film cells, or frames per second. So when you play back film, like on a spool in a movie theater, it's 24 frames a second. And so if you wanted to film something in slow motion, let's say you wanted to slow it down. Half. You need to record that, add a frame rate, that's much higher. So you record that in the camera at 48 frames a second, so that when it plays back at 24 frames a second, it plays in slow motion.

17:55 But sometimes, like, when you can't afford 48, frame stock, or, you know, like, you just don't have the resources, you'll see, like filmmakers will, just go ahead and use 24 frames, and then just play it back, really slowly. And you can kind of tell each click of the frame. It doesn't look seamless anymore. It's not like tricking your eye into thinking that it's like a fluid. Mint. And they do that a lot in this movie where it's like it's in slow motion but it's not really slow motion. It's like cheated slow motion and it has that weird choppy kind of flicker effect to it and it was super distracting for me like there was a lot of camera work and you mentioned that cinematography there's a lot of Zooms in this movie and I like for some reason I just I don't get down with when cameras zoom in movies in general but especially like, when you're showing me ancient times and there's this Sounds stupid to say like this but like every time there's a zoom you become very aware of the fact that there's like a camera in this place and it really pulls me out of whatever world you're trying to build. So there were a few things like that that Ridley Scott and his cinematographer chose to do that. Just like it takes you out of the world of the movie. Yeah, there's multiple times where he uses the like slightly lower angle than the objects face. It's like a mid-range Zoom.

19:13 Umm from Far like from decently far away, but you're like, looking up at Marcus Aurelius or you're looking up at. I think it's Senator grakkus at one point, as he's delivering a line. And I'm just like, that's just it just feels like a really weird decision. Like, like, do you want us to focus on them? Do you not, like why is the camera so far away? But you're slowly zooming in from a weird angle. Like, I don't know what I'm supposed to focus on and I think the other thing that frustrates me about that is I feel like half the time like When they're zooming in on something, the object, they want you to pay attention to isn't like clear of other objects or people. And so, you end up seeing like close-ups of just random extras faces as they're like, looking around right in front of Marcus Aurelius.

20:01 And you're like what what what come on bro. Like look at these extras out of here man. I will say I did notice a couple times like some of the choices stylistically that they did make I think really got borrowed from They got borrowed from pretty heavily by Peter Jackson for the Lord of the Rings. Like all of the sequences where Russell Crowe is like a stroll, planing never like astral projecting and thinking about his dead family that is like 100% the kind of frame rate, the kind of color grading, the kind of weird, you know, with pans and zooms that Peter Jackson does whenever Frodo puts the ring on and they show, you know, whatever Frodo seeing in Mordor. And and so I, you know, to their credit there is some stuff in this movie that I think was really influential on filmmaking in the early 2000s, but there is a lot of nitpicking. We can do here Brad and I guess, you know, just to kind of pull back a little bit from that nitpicking. I think we should talk about Russell, Crowe the man wins the Oscar, for this movie.

21:04 I don't really know why. And that's not to say, he's not good, but I just, you know, we've seen a lot of great Russell Crowe performances. I don't know that I'd put this in like his top. Four or five performances and yet at the same time, you know, the the credits come on and the cuts right to Maximus his face. And he is imagining himself. Basically, walking through these wheat Fields going to see his family and it cuts back to him and you realize he's on the battlefield and he's been daydreaming and they just let the camera Linger on his face for like, I don't know. 20 seconds, he sees a butterfly or a bird or something fly off and he watches it and dreams about being free and you can See, all these things registering on his face of I'm daydreaming and I'm snapping back to reality. But I want to go back to the Daydream. I'm thinking about this bird and then he, he resolves himself to go fight this battle.

21:57 And I think from the very GetGo, just that little touch is of its kind of like a microcosm for the whole movie that this script is not very good, it doesn't flush. His character out very well. The dialogue is going to be terrible and yet Russell Crowe is going to do the heavy lifting. To make this believable and I think he needs to get the credit. So like, you know, even though I don't think he deserves the Oscar necessarily, maybe he does, because he took, what could have been a very Bland mediocre character and he makes something out of it. I was in say, I think that if there's anything I enjoy about this movie, I actually like a lot of the performances in this film. I like Russell Crowe.

22:39 I like Oliver Rita's proximo, I like Connie Nielsen is loose. I really like Joaquin, Phoenix as Commodus. I like the the characters, who play the Senators, I like the character who plays the, the numidian, his gladiatorial friend. Like, there's a lot of performance in this in this movie that I think pull a really average to bad scripts like out of the toilet and give you a movie that's that's endearing and charming and motivating as so. I think that if there's anything that It really helps this movie out. It is the acting performances. Well, let's go in on that a little bit because I do think we should talk about Joaquin, Phoenix. He earns a Best Supporting Actor, nomination, I believe for this movie, and I think he deserved it, he's really, really good in this movie.

23:28 And honestly, I noticed it in that scene, where he murders his father. You know, in my mind, I had thought that there were two separate scenes that he has the confrontation and then he comes back later and murders him, but it's all one scene. And I don't really want to focus on the murdery part of it. I Focus on what's before that when Marcus Aurelius comes, and breaks the news to comment as the, he's not going to be Emperor and you have Joaquin, Phoenix just really baring his soul and and just saying like, Dad, why don't you love me? The many forms of courage? Devotion. To my family. Did you? But none of my virtues one your list. Even then it was as if you didn't want me for your son. Come with us.

24:19 You go too far. Let's faces of God. waste, please you to make you proud. And, you know, I would, it's a great line actually because it's like a complete window into this character soul. I think he says, like, I would butcher the whole world if it meant that I could have your love and it is such an insight into like, wow, this guy is a freakin sociopath but also what's driving him is that he wants this approval and the fact that he can't get, it is the thing that's going to set him over the edge and watching him, just kind of beg and plead. And, you know, Marcus Aurelius is just already determined not to do it.

25:02 It's really heartbreaking. And I think the frustrating thing for me was like, I'm watching that scene and I'm thinking to myself, oh, this guy's not as evil. As I remember him being a, he's really layered and I can understand his motivation. He's really upset about what he is perceiving as Maximus. Taking something from him and not just the the throne, but like his dad's love and then they just kind of turn him into like this cartoonish villain in the second half. And he loses all that Nuance, but even, even with that working against him, I think Joaquin. Phoenix is just freaking phenomenal in this movie. Yeah, I will just never forget watching this as a young teenager and just being blown away by how creepy he is in this movie. Like, I just think Joaquin.

25:48 Phoenix, is terrifying in this film and even watching it, now is a thirty-year-old. I think you find the nuances of his performance. Like what? Like when he's in that scene you were just talking about Any talks about the four virtues that Marcus Aurelius had written to him about. And then he lists he goes. Well I knew that I didn't have those but but father I have other virtues. Like you can see that he's still trying to win his father's approval and it just isn't gonna work. And so for me as he enters the second half of the movie, I think the key to understanding him is the other great scene that I think he really has, which is where he's in the Senate and the Senate is like, you know, belaboring him with All these different things he needs to do and he gives you this line about.

26:32 Like I will be their father and the people of Rome will be my children and I will love them. And I think that's like the motivating piece for this character is like, okay, well, if I never got the love that I deserved. I'm going to give it to my people. I'm going to treat them the way I should have been treated, you know, which is paired with this immoral. Let's start the Roman, you know, gladiatorial games back up. But at the Same time, like he's like /, he's almost like perversely, pure of heart. Like he desires love, even if he pursues it and ungodly and forsaken type of ways. Absolutely. All right, man.

27:12 I think we're off to a good start here. There's lots to like what this movie, but there's definitely some flaws here. Let's see what we think about the whiskey for the day, which is Elmer T lie. When you say, let's get to it. Alright, so today we are checking out, Elmer T, ly, single-barrel bourbon.

28:08 This comes from Brad's favorite Distillery, Buffalo Trace and just like most Buffalo Trace products. It is nigh impossible to find and Brad. There's not too much to say here because we have set it all about Buffalo Trace. But just in terms of the specifics, this is only a 90 Proof bourbon. It is from Mash bill. Number two, which is a Rye bourbon. They think it's about 15 to 18 percent Rye. It shares the mash bill that Blanton's carries which is also a single barrel which is also kind of in this General proof point. I'm excited to try this Brad because I've never actually gotten a chance to sit down and try Elmer T ly partially because it's really hard to find just to buy it at retail.

28:51 But also, you know, when I go to a bourbon bar, I know how much it costs these bars to get a bottle. And so the markup on this stuff is in Shane and honestly, if I'm going to be paying 20 plus dollars for a poor of bourbon, I'm probably gonna want something that's not just a 90 Proof bourbon. So I'm excited to try it. We have a sample from our friend at TK bourbon on Instagram. He sent us a sample of this. We are very very grateful for that Brad. You've kind of had a checkered history with Buffalo Trace. So are you familiar with the Elmer T ly brand? And how are you feeling about this one going into it? God bless about. I just looked it up and Like 100 to 300 dollars on the secondary Market. Yeah.

29:34 But the retail is like 40 bucks. Yeah. You're not. That's what I'm saying. Yeah. Bob I don't need to get started on this. I damn it. This is just so frustrating because I drink the whiskey already. I took all my freaking notes, it's a solid whiskey. Yeah. Like like it's pretty good and I like honestly at $38. I gave it a six out of town value. I was like yeah, it's a Solid. Whiskey $38 is a little expensive but like sure. Yeah, it's fine at Bob I came out with a 37 out of 50. Like, that's a really solid score for a whiskey and then I have to freaking find out that it's a Buffalo Trace bullsh, that you can't even got get it anywhere, and people are dropping 100 200, $300 for this crap, and it's not worth it. Listen man, I love that.

30:22 You are so worked up that. You just skipped the whole whiskey segment already gave your final score. So I'm going to play catch-up You now because I think I'm the only one reviewing this whiskey at this point, but yes, I share your frustration. It is incredibly incredibly aggravating to see what's happening with the secondary market and Buffalo Trace, you know, to their credit. Like, they don't have a hundred percent say, in how their whiskey is sold. The three-tier system is really, really crappy. But Brad, let's just talk about what's in our glasses here. When I poured this out and I nosed it. I thought this was just really, really beautiful. Beautiful. This is an incredibly. I mean, it sounds simplistic to say nice, but this is a really nice nose.

31:05 There's a lot of Apple on this and specifically for me, it was green apple. I get a lot of caramel on this, you know, obviously it's a bourbon. You're going to get Caramel on it and then I got like a little hint of like a cherry candy, maybe like a red vines or Twizzlers on this, it was really, really nice and pleasant, and lighter than some of the Buffalo Trace products. We've had in the past, it certainly was a little bit brighter and lighter than Blanton's and even Eagle Rare. I'm going to give this an 8 out of 10 on the nose. Come on. All right, all right. I mean you can do it. So for the nose, I think it has a really nice bright. Kind of vanilla note to it that like popped out to me at the start. And then underneath that was I'm right there with you.

31:46 Bob it had this nice crisp refreshing, Apple knows to it. That was just Pleasant. I had I didn't expect it from this bourbon. I was honestly expecting more caramel. I really just kind of got a Hint of it but yeah, nice. Lots of vanilla, lots of Apple. I give it a 7 half out of ten on the nose and then when you get to the pallet, the mouth feels a little bit thin, but again it's 90 proofs. I wasn't expecting a lot here thin, but really nice again and I gosh, I keep I hate that. I keep saying the word nice, but this is just like it's not even just inoffensive. It's just a very pleasant little whiskey and I enjoyed the heck out of it and, you know, so for me again, the apple carries over, there's lots of cinnamon on this Want to get a little bit of clove on the taste.

32:32 Right before you go to swallow, I think it does turn just a bit bitter and it gets very Oaky and it reminded me a lot of Eagle Rare in that way. So, you know, compared to our notes from Eagle Rare. I still think. Overall the palette on this is really, really, I'm just a nice again but it's a really enjoyable experience. I'm gonna give it a seven and a half on the palate. You've been down to like Amish country and had been like the barn or Dare Dutchman, or something like that, right? Sure. Yeah, you know like their peanut they're creamy like peanut butter spread. Yes I do. That is what I got on. This will interesting. Okay. Like it was creamy, it was peanut buttery. There was a ton of vanilla and a little bit of that crisp.

33:16 Apple came on through and I think honestly what you said I didn't write it down but cinnamon is a good note that like it's almost like a cinnamon peanut butter vanilla. I really like this. It didn't blow me. Out of the water but I thought it was a really solid complex palate that I gave an 8 out of 10 to. All right. So let's move to the finish here. I think the Finish is actually a little bit nicer than the palette because like I said it goes a little bit bitter and and heavily oaked on the end of the Finish or on the end of the palate. But for the finish, I actually think that some of those sweeter notes came back. It was a really nice and mouth, man. I've said, nice 18 times.

33:56 It was a really mouth-watering finish. It didn't dry. My mouth out. It wasn't tannic at all. And I really appreciate that on a whiskey like this. I'm gonna give it once again a seven and a half out of ten. Yeah, once again this is this is a finish that is smooth and sweet. Like there's a little bit of oakiness a little bit of spice but I'm getting all that vanilla for me. The Apple kind of come becomes more pronounced at the end of this experience. And there's a nice little Kentucky hug to go along with it. I like the Finish it's an 8 out of 10 for me. Alright that takes us to overall balance Brad. I think this is a really well-balanced whiskey. There's not much to say here in terms of negatives, I think it does drop off a little bit from the nose to the palate.

34:41 But then again from the palette to the finish, it goes back up again for a 90 Proof bourbon to not pack. A lot of a punch and to really stay in that fruit forward. Sweet vanilla caramel wheelhouse. I think they really knocked this one out of the park. I'm going to give it an 8 out of 10 on. The overall balance. Yeah, Bob, I can't really add to what you said there. It's a well-balanced whiskey and it had some surprising complexity from the nose, to the flow, to the palate. So for me, it's a seven, half out of ten, really well-balanced whiskey? All right, so this is where it gets, you know, Buffalo Tracy, because we're talking about the value here, Brad it retails for what, 40 something dollars, was it retail for 3799?

35:28 All right, so let's Order up to 40, let's just say you're paying $40 retail, it doesn't sell for that, you know, anywhere you're going to be spending at least a hundred dollars to get this. Unless you are lucky enough to live in a state like Ohio and even then you're going to have to enter a lottery for the chance to buy it at retail which is ridiculous and its own right. So Brad this is the hard part, I think scoring this out at $40, makes it comparable to Eagle Rare and Eagle Rare was one of the Bourbons that made me fall in love with bourbon. But when we tried it, It about a year ago, I think we realized like in a lot of ways we have encountered many, many more and better, bourbons, and I actually think head-to-head, I might prefer this flavor profile to Eagle Rare.

36:12 So if I could get it for 40, I'm going to give this like an 88 and a half out of ten on value. If we're talking a hundred dollars, I don't see this being a hundred dollar whiskey at all and that makes it a really bad value. If I'm going to split the difference, Brad I guess I'm just going to give it a 4 out of 10 on value. Alright, so my original score for this was 6 out of 10 at $38. I think it's just a little overpriced if it was like if it was Eagle Rare range and like 32 33 dollars probably be like a seven or eight out of 10 on value. But at 100 200, $300, this has never been done before in the history of film whiskey podcast. I'm going to give it a negative 6 on value. And that brings my final score out to a 25 out of 50 valve. And I - that's a 12-point swing.

37:06 We went from a 37 out of 52. 25 out of 50. Are you, are you really for real sticking with that number? You know I'm going to cut the difference and give it a zero. All right? Cool. So that brings you out to what 31 out of 50. All right. I'm at a 35 out of 50 so that's bringing us to a 33 on average. 66 out of 100 again. Like if we were just taking into consideration that the taste and the drinking experience, this is a much better bourbon than a 66. But when you've at when you factor value into it I think this is pretty appropriately rated. Yeah honestly I know that I'm harsh.

37:46 It's honestly a solid whiskey. I understand why people want it. I understand why the price goes up on the secondary Market. I just think that Buffalo Trace needs to do Amore to keep the secondary Market under control, whether that's increasing production. Whether that's I don't know putting limits on how much it can be sold for otherwise. They stop selling to those, you know, third-party sellers. Like I don't know what it'll take but they need to get a handle on this because I think the beauty of whiskey is that it's an Everyman drink. Like like when I think about the world of whiskey, it's a place where anybody can come and join.

38:26 And what Buffalo Trace is doing is they're creating a snooty select secondary Market where you're better than somebody else. If you get your hands on a bottle of their stuff and I just don't think that. That's right. I think that they need to do something about it. So Revolt, are you go the Revolt? That's right. We're you are the Maximus of this this coup that we're about to throw a game of right ice. You're damn right. I am and I think it. Needs to start with the film, whiskey podcast, stops supporting their stupid Whiskey's, but you keep putting them on here Bob. So you are the quintus. You are the quintessential to my to my maximum, right? Whatever man Brad right.

39:11 Let's get back into talking about Gladiator. What do you say? Let's get to it. Bob All right, that was Elmer T.

39:55 Ly bourbon a whiskey that we both really like, but I don't know if we would recommend it Brad, just because of the chase involved in getting a bottle. And that's exactly how we feel about Gladiator. So, we'll see you next week. Brad. I'm gonna call an audible here. Most weeks. You invent a brad G award to give out to our movie of the week. This week, I'm going to do it. I'm going to give the Bob Buckle This week do it and it's kind of dark. Are you ready for it? Well, who I love dark Bob, it's from the worst timeline. This movie gets the award for best child-sized. Mannequin, getting absolutely heated by a horse. This Pleasant, man.

40:40 First of all, I gotta say for a movie that I like this movie has just so much unintentional comedy, especially in that first half like moments that I I laughed out loud where it was completely inappropriate to do so, but none more than when Russell Crowe's little son, is running towards that, you know, that platoon and saying like a paw, paw it just cuts right to the horse going push. That is kid lying out from, under the feet of this horse, it was the fakest looking and then, but they made a little sound effect. Like, if I can find the scene, I'm going to put the sound effect of this kid. Getting just, just trucked by this horses. So funny to me and tell me if I'm the worst person ever or if that actually was just a terrible idea on their part. Now as long as you add like a crowd, booing in the back. Like oh afterwards that I think it's a perfect sound clip. Did you ever get into Vine when vine was a thing? No, I honestly didn't.

41:42 I thought it was like old Tick Tock. Is that what it was called much? Yeah, I never got into it, but I've been watching all of those like good vine compilations on YouTube lately and there's this one where it's like an infomercial, I think it's Alyssa Milano or something, and she's doing, you know, one of those infomercials for underprivileged kids and it starts with her saying, what would you do if there was a child standing right in front of you and then it cuts off and it cuts to somebody else, it could be like a home video of somebody just Trucking a kid out of their way. And it just reminded me like, I need to make the mash up of her saying, what would you do if there was a child and then cut Gladiator. And this kid, just yes.

42:23 By this course. Yeah, that'll be the first video on the filmin. Whiskey Tick-Tock. Absolutely. They'll get us banned forever. No, Bob, honestly, the other moment that I will point out of bad mannequin Knology whatever you want to call it when. So you remember, he doesn't have almost any lines other than the God's favor you because their color is red. The the guy who like Challenges him when he first gets to the trainings of cool but then he kind of becomes his friend early 2000s. Dave Bautista guy? Yeah, yeah, Drax. But you know, a discount version. Yeah, discount Drax. So when discount Drax dies when they're like, let when the Gladiators are helping Russell Escape.

43:10 That is the single worst most fake-looking deaths. I think I have ever seen in a movie, like, I don't think velocipede Dirk could have a worse death. You know what? I bet that whole last sequence of them do trying to do this escape and the whole coup attempt. Honestly Brad, I'm not gonna lie, I forgot. That was part of the movie. I remembered how it was going to end. I knew it was building to that but I totally forgot. There was this attempted escape from the prison and it felt so weird and tacked on and not filmed very well. Like, I couldn't really understand why is Russell Crowe like down in the catacombs now. Where is he going? And especially with that Guys death whom were calling discount Drax apparently when he gets killed, I really think it was one of those things where they were like, oh, shoot like we forgot to show him die and he's not in the movie anymore.

44:01 We gotta go back and film that again. Yeah, because he's filmed in silhouette and it's just kind of out of nowhere. Like you don't even know it's him at first. And then you just see this this body get hit with like three or four arrows and then they kind of cut to a close-up and you can tell it's him and then he's dead. But he goes out. So, unceremonious, Lee for a Who you thought was kind of important to the movie, like they really just felt like a, like a disrespectful way to kill him off. Oh dude, it just felt so herky-jerky and weird. I just yeah. That was the death that just just kind of killed me a little bit on the inside. But I will say that the way that they filmed the Nets closing in like the traps being foisted upon Maximus and his allies.

44:49 I actually really Got into that, like, for me, that set up that final battle in such a way where like it makes you feel like Commodus has already won. Like, by the time, he's giving the speech to his sister about how, like, if she tries to be nobleman that seen her sight. Oh, dude, it's so good. And it's in the middle of, like, all of Maximus is allies being decimated or captured, but the emperor Claudius knew that they're up to something. And you'd have a busy little bees. And one night, he sat down with one of them. And he looked at her. and she said, What you've been doing? Busy little bee.

45:42 Or I shall strike down those dearest to you, you shall watch as I bathe in their blood. And a was heartbroken. Little bit winded, him more deeply than anyone else could ever have time. For me that's seen is one of the most memorable from the movie. Yeah. That might have been the best overall sequence because that, you're right, they really expertly intercut it with what's going on at the prison. And, and I think that's one of the things with this movie that like, the first hour and a half. I absolutely hated the last hour Ridley, Scott's like, hey, watch me, go to work now. Like, I'm gonna do the thing and he does, like, it becomes suspenseful, I think the choreography of the action sequences gets a lot better for the most part. The direction and the editing or much tighter. So the movie really ends on a good note, and I think that it kind of makes you forget about how long it took to get there. Yep.

46:43 But for me, like man, I don't want to jump right into final scores here and I don't think I will yet Brad, but I think that's the central thing I'm struggling with. As we get closer to giving this a final score, it's just a really uneven movie. Yeah, I mean, let's just go to the action sequences as an example of that because For me, something that has stood out to me. As I've learned more about film is something that friend of show Patrick age Williams. Once said, which is that in an action sequence? One of the most important things, a director can do is set the geography of the fight, right? That everybody knows the boundaries, everybody knows where the antagonist and protagonist are at every moment. And I think that when you take that lens and you It's a gladiator. 90% of the combat, and this movie is jarring. It's 57 Cuts per 4 seconds.

47:42 You never know where you're at. You never know where Maximus is and relation to his people, like, it's just such a cluster of a battle sequence every single time, except for the final battle. Like, when Maximus and Commodus are fighting, he does such a better job of keeping you Aware of where they're at at all times. You don't have to keep track of like 87 different Gladiators fighting one another. You just have to focus on Maximus and his dark armor and Commodus in his amazed. It probably the best costume of the movie, he's all white like armor set piece like it's a beautiful action sequence and like even the the way that Commodus dies I legitimately had chills as he's like Hopelessly beating against Maximus with his free arm. I genuinely think that Commodus is death, is one of my favorite deaths in movie history.

48:43 Yeah, listen, I agree with everything you're saying, like it ends on such a great note. It's just that I don't think they maintain it throughout the whole movie and before we get to final scores, Brad are there any other like nitpicks that you have with the movie or just things that made you kind of chuckled yourself things that stood out as Maybe? They could have done that a little bit better. Dude. The, the up-and-down nature of the dialogue in this movie, like some of the lines and some of the, the interactions I think are just out of this world. Good, like, like there are certain parts of this movie where the, the dialogue, I think anytime Russell Crowe speaks with his new midi and friend is, is spectacular.

49:28 I just love the interactions that they have, but in spite of that, Are just some, I rolling Lee bad lines in this movie, that it doesn't matter. How much great acting you have from the people in this movie. There's just some bad writing for this film Bob, like, like, for example, when they're fighting the one battle where maximus' people are portraying the ancient Carthage, the ancient Carthage. When when Joaquin Phoenix says to the senator, he goes, now refresh my memory. I believe it was The Barbarians who were supposed to lose here. Like I just love the dripping sarcasm in that line. Like to me, that's like a peak line of this movie but then whenever I hate to say it but other than there may be their first interaction between Lucilla and Maximus every interaction that they have after that is just boring. Yeah.

50:25 Like the lines are horrifically. Bad. Their dialogue is not engaging in any way you You can't tell if they're trying to make them into a love story or if they're just like kind of casually staring at each other. I don't know, man. So Brad. I'm gonna, I'm gonna throw a hot take out there. Hans Zimmer, did the score for this movie and it is one of the best-selling movie soundtracks of all time. This movie was a cultural phenomenon, like it made a whole boatload of money. Apparently, sold a whole bunch of CDs back in the day too. I gotta say, man, I don't think that the music matches the actual Action on-screen very well in this movie, like it's a cool soundtrack and I think a lot of the music is good but I noticed it in the first five minutes or so of the movie where they're playing, what sounds like a Pirates of the Caribbean type, huh?

51:17 Theme over the battle with the barbarians and it's supposed to be like this really brooding kind of you know, the color palettes all grayed out and it looks like the opening scene of the Revenant or something and the music is just this kind of old. Wash buckling type thing. And at multiple points in this movie, I was just like, what's going on with the score here, because it either seemed like it was in a completely different movie, or it was so on the nose that it made me kind of roll my eyes. Like, when Russell Crowe wakes up on that wagon, and they're taking him to become a slave and they kind of cut to the marketplace. I'll be damned if that wasn't just lift it from Aladdin. Like that was, that was the Agrabah theme from Aiden, I'm 100% certain of it.

52:04 I was like, where is the genie gonna burst out here? We got to start singing Prince Ali. Like, it was egregiously bad and the scene where like, Russell Crowe's family dies. I think this movie, like, started the Trope that we got all through the 2000s of anytime, a movie, is set overseas. And something dramatic happens. You have to have a female singing, like vaguely Middle Eastern lyrics in. What sounds kind of like a yodel. Do you know what I mean? It's Like throughout the whole sequence and it just none of it matched. What was going on on the screen? See, here's, I have two thoughts on that first. Thought Hans Zimmer also composed Pirates of the Caribbean curse of the Black Pearl. Oh, did he really say?

52:50 Okay, so there's a reason that's that opening shared. See, literally, it is 100% the Dead undead. Adam I didn't intend turn up like it's it's 100% parts of the Caribbean and Hans just like took that one, little Motif and turned it into the entire Motif for the Pirates of the Caribbean Universe where it works. Much better much, much better. So that's that's my first thought. Second thought I actually think that if you take any of the orchestral music in this movie, it's not great. It doesn't fit the movie. I agree with you 100%.

53:31 Anytime they have a Wire for the soundtrack, I think it fits perfectly and it hits the nail on the head. So for me, I agree with you. That it becomes a Trope. But anytime anyone physically sings in this movie, I think it actually fits the movie Perfectly. All right? Brad last thing I want to talk about before we get to final scores I sent you a like a short video to watch because there's something that happens in this movie. That it happens. Kind of a lot and it's kind of egregious but It's the use of a thing called insert shots, and if you're familiar with the film language, you might know what an insert shot is. But imagine that you are well imagine that you're watching this movie, right? And Russell Crowe is being taken out to get executed in the forest and he is fighting these guys. And you get slashed, by one of them. He falls to the ground after he kills them, and Russell Crowe reaches behind his breastplate.

54:26 And when he pulls out his fingers, it cuts to a shot of his fingers covered in blood, that's an insert. Shot is a shot that doesn't really go with the rest of the scene but it is inserted to give us information that we might not see. Otherwise it happens a lot when people are framed in close-up because there might be things happening outside the frame of their face that you need to see. And so they'll show a character opening a letter, you know, when when Rick in Casablanca stands on the train platform, he's reading a letter from Elsa. They show the letter and everything. It says, that's an insert. I think this movie relies on the insert shot in ways that make me. Me question. Sometimes, like, how well did Ridley Scott plan out this movie? Because there are so so many of them, and in a way that almost makes it seem, like he doesn't trust us to just understand what's going on.

55:17 Like it Russell Crowe reaches behind his breastplate, and pulls out his fingers. And you see him kind of like wiping, what looks like a bloody substance on his fingers, even if you don't see, you know, that his fingers in close-up, you understand that he got hurt? And I mean he like grimaces in pain. Yeah. Okay dude got her got it you don't need to give me any more information than that and this movie has. I mean it uses insert shots as transitions between scenes like when he escapes from those guys and he goes riding on his horse day and night and he's they show him riding a day and then they cut to a shot of the Moon and it just lingers on the moon for like 5 seconds and then they show him by a campfire and it's dark behind him. So it's like well, we showed the moon so that you know, that it's night time now.

56:02 Now, it's like, I didn't need that. I know it's night time. He has a fire and it's dark outside. Like, stop insulting. My intelligence, and I really think this movie's over relies on those little moments because they didn't really do a good enough job, framing the shots otherwise, well, I think the big issue is that he uses such a static camera throughout the entire movie. Like he I don't know if he ever moves the camera and so for me, the insert shots are Are because he needs somewhere to go with the camera. And so it's it is a struggle, it's not something. I noticed a ton and even after you sent me the video, I was like, oh yeah, I can think of a few like awkward insert shots throughout the movie, but it wasn't something that dominated for me. I think, for me, it was the inconsistent. I don't know style of the movie, like, you get a few shots of Russell Crowe, like cgi'd over the ground. Like moving over the ground, when he's dead. Dead.

57:02 You get some random, like massive shots of the sky and like lightning. And I think that I'm watching tree of life for a second, like, like, there's just so many different styles of cinematography & art-direction happening in this movie. That that's the thing that really frustrated me about the cinematography. Alright. Brad, I think that we've nitpicked enough. And again, this is like one of those episodes where I hope we kept it. Meaning, I hope we don't seem like, we're just kind of pooping on the movie here but we both liked this movie. I have a feeling you might have liked it more than I did but let's find out. Brad, what would you give this as a final score out of 10 you know coming into it.

57:46 I was expecting to give it a 9 out of 10. It's a movie. I've always loved. I knew that there was flaws, I knew that there was stuff about it. I you know, it's not a perfect movie but this time through there's just there's just a lot of stuff I realized wasn't well made Made. But for me, I don't know. There's something about this story about, there's a heart to this movie that I think is what captured, you know, an entire generation of moviegoers and there's a reason it won, best picture, there's a reason. It what made so much money? I just think there's something special about this movie and despite all of its flaws, I'm still going to give it an 8 out of 10.

58:27 So Roger Ebert gave this movie two out of four stars and Roger Ebert For being a really well educated and understanding Cinema studies at a level that most people will never understand. He always seemed to relate to the Everyman, like, people watched Roger Ebert on TV, and if he gave a movie to Stars, it wasn't like, oh, he's just pretentious in a snob and I read his review today and I agreed with a lot of it, I watched this movie and it does remind me of Braveheart in so many ways because almost all of the nitpicks we had with Braveheart, we have with gladiator. It's Kind of a jumbled mess. Sometimes it has pacing issues. The script is not very good and yet the acting is really good.

59:08 I think some of the battle scenes are spectacular. There are lots of memorable moments. I just think that this movie is still kind of like overvalued and over appreciated by people on IMDb it has an 8.5 out of 10. It's the number 45, I think movie of all time, like I just don't see it Brad. It's a really a really enjoyable to and If our movie that could have been two hours, I'm going to give it a 7 out of 10, but I think what I would like to hear from filmin. Whiskey nation. Is what exactly about this movie? If you love it, keeps you coming back to it? Because, you know, I look at other sword and sandals type epics like a Spartacus or even just things set in the desert.

59:54 Like a Lawrence of Arabia things on a massive scale and I just don't think this movie really Compares Brad. And so I'd like to hear from Phil. Owen, whiskey Nation. If you love this movie reach out, let us know why you love it. What keeps you coming back to it? You can find us on social media on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram at film whiskey, or you can give us a phone call. Your voice can be heard on the film. Was he podcast? You can do that on our website, which is Anchor dot f. M /, film, whiskey next week, we are going to be watching Quentin Tarantino's 1992, debut film Reservoir Dogs. So join us. For that one. But until then I'm Bob book I'm Brad G and we'll see you next time.