GoldenEye / Saints Alley The Nobleman Rye ft. Bilge Ebiri

0:00 In 1995, director Martin Campbell and * Pierce Brosnan gave the world the latest iteration of the world's sexiest spy. In 2024, we go globetrotting with an exotic finished whiskey. The film is Goldeneye. The whiskey is Saints Ally the nobleman. And we'll review them both. This is the. Film and Whiskey Podcast Welcome to the Film and Whiskey Podcast, where each week we review a classic movie and a glass of whiskey. I'm Bob Book.

0:51 I'm Brad. G. Brad, I cannot withhold my excitement for this stretch of the season I like let let us remind our listeners of the the run that we're on right now. So in in back-to-back consecutive weeks, we did The Fugitive and True Lies. Today we are watching Goldeneye and then we're we're capping it off with let's see, what are the next couple weeks? Independence Day, Men in Black and Armageddon. People could not get enough of violent movies. Well, my question is, is there a better time to be alive than right now watching these movies in a row, Brad.

1:34 Dude, I am not going to lie, These have just been a run of really incredible action films and like you know, The Fugitive is a drama first, action second. But man oh man is it tense and keeps you on the edge of your seat. True Lies was a wild experience, Bob, I did not expect when I was getting my first time through that movie. And here we are with Goldeneye, a movie that Bob, I feel really uniquely positioned to watch because I grew up with Casino Royale on, right, Daniel Craig. I didn't like Quantum of Solace, but other than that I I really liked the Daniel Craig movies.

2:16 I also grew up watching a few of the really old Sean Connery 60s and 70s James Bond, and I had always heard that the the Pierce Brosnan ones leaned way more into the silly. At least that's what how my dad told the story. I don't think I was ready for the bridge that Goldeneye is between like Old school Bond and Daniel Craig Bond, because I think it's much more of a middle ground than I was ever led to believe. It's a middle ground, but to continue your bridge metaphor, it's like a bridge where parts of it are wood and parts of it are steel, and it's like this weird amalgamation of both like it doesn't.

3:00 It has its foot in both sides of the Bond camp. You know, yeah, yeah. It's like if you went to like Cedar Point, like, you know, amusement park and you got on a ride that was half modern steel and half old school wood and you're like, I don't really know what's happening here, but I'm kind of having a good time, I I think. Brad, as I think about this season that we're currently in and folks if this is your first time listening, welcome into the show. This season we are focusing on the highest grossing films from the years spanning 1988 to 2019. Now this was not the highest grossing movie of 1995, but it was darn close and I think we've already reviewed it was like either Apollo 13 or Toy Story. It was one of those films.

3:43 It was those two. Yeah, we've already done those ones And so the next one down the list was Goldeneye, which is awesome because it continues our streak of films in the genre that we call Dudes rock. And dudes definitely rock in this stretch of the 90s. Brad, we have for eight seasons tried our hardest to not come across as film Bros and I think we have gone so far the other direction that we've come out not as film Bros but just as Bros like we are just in the in the camp of Michael Bay is awesome. Like, I don't know how we arrived here, but that's where we're at now. And to help us on our journey today, Brad, we have brought in one of our favorite guests. It is the renowned film critic and writer Bilga Ebiri.

4:24 Bilga, how are you today? I'm good. I'm having a a little nostalgia trip. You were just talking about, you know, what a great time it is to be alive right now watching these movies. And all I could think of was man was a great time to be alive when these movies were coming out. Of course I was in college and right out of college at the time. So I at the time thought it was, you know, these were the worst years of my life. And now I look back on it and I was like, my God, I would, I would probably kill several people to be able to go back in time to to those days. You know, I was, I was young all my, you know, I was hanging out with my friends. We'd go see cliffhanger in the theater.

5:07 You know, stuff like that. Oh. Man. There was a stretch of mediocre action oriented films in the 90s that I look back on with so much nostalgia now because they seem like masterpieces in retrospect. Like where where is today's Dante's Peak? Where is today's Daylight With Sylvester Stallone and Volcano with Tommy Lee Jones? Like these are, these are just cornerstones of the genre. I used to make so much fun of daylight. I Like Daylight was one of those films that I that I, you know, I preemptively hated before I even saw it. I don't even remember what I thought of it when I saw it. I was just like no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I just bought a Blu-ray of Daylight. It all comes full circle, Belga.

5:54 Yeah. Oh man, this could easily devolve into a commentary on current cinema and how good we had it back in the day. But I, you know, I don't know if we fully want to dive into that, Bill. Gah, I'm curious. You had your, you know, the pick of the winner. You you saw the season. What made you go, man, if I could talk about any of these 32 films. Goldeneye is the one. Well, I'd already done a podcast about True Lie, so that was that was out of the question. Goldeneye to me is is a a great movie to talk about so many things, so many things that are that are topics I love to to talk about.

6:42 I mean among them the James Bond series which is you know something that like I started watching those movies when I was very young and then have continued to watch them and and have obviously gotten to the point where I'm now writing about them and sort of speculating about where they're going. And also I did multiple multiple re watches of the James Bond Canon quote UN quote for a variety of reasons. I mean I you know, years ago, I mean quite aside from the fact that I'd I'd watched them as they were coming out and occasionally re watch them. Some years ago I did a small list for Vulture of well I did a couple of different Bond related lists for Vulture.

7:22 This was this was you know, like 10 years ago or so, maybe even longer. And I rewatched most of the films then and then over the years I've shown them to my son. So I rewatched them with my son. And then several years ago, when No Time to Die came out, I did a full ranking of the Bond movies and I rewatched them again. And what was interesting was, I mean, I've seen the films and I have pretty good memory of them, so it wasn't like I had to watch them to remind myself of them. It just felt like the world was changing so much that every two or three years I felt like I had to rewatch these movies to make sure that I wasn't, you know, if I may say so, that I wasn't like putting at the very top of my list some movie that people now find, like incredibly problematic.

8:11 Or, you know, like you only live twice at the top, which is an amazing movie in certain ways and a not so amazing movie in other ways. Some of these movies date more than the others, but just you know, I wanted to rewatch them for those reasons. But but also because I still love the films, even the even the bad ones. And also my opinion of them changes too. Like, for many years I I would have told you if you'd asked me what the worst James Bond movie was, I would have said, no doubt Moonraker, like terrible movie, you know, low point of the series, low point of the Roger Moore era, blah, blah, blah. But like, every time I watch Moonraker, it just gets better and better, you know? And then other and then other Bond films that I always kind of held very high, sort of shrink into the distance a little bit, you know?

8:58 They're not the masterpieces of the series. There are other kind of real gems hidden out throughout. So I change the culture changes and the movies change in certain ways too. So I love revisiting them and and Goldeneye is great for those reasons in part because it is a reboot and people don't think of it as much that in those terms because of what came later with Casino Royale and and a much bigger sort of rebooting of the series with the Daniel Craig films. But Goldeneye was the first time they really did that. Like you don't get Casino Royale without Goldeneye and not just because Martin Campbell directed them both. And I love Martin Campbell too. He's someone I've interviewed and I love talking about Martin Campbell because I do think he has a very special place in action movie history. Also, this period is fascinating. I mean the the post Cold War period where sort of the the classic international villain types are are receding into the background and there's this, this is all illusory of course within six years of the world completely changes again and and resets.

10:07 But but it does, it does affect the cultural products that come out, especially the pop cultural products that come out like action movies and James Bond movies specifically. So anyway the the Goldeneye is a great prism through which to discuss all these things. It's also just a fun movie, you know? Well, with all that historical context, Brad, I think it is time for us to throw over to you with our first segment of the day, which we call Brad explains. Brad's going to give us the movie plots with only 60 seconds ticking on the clock, so let's go ahead and hear your take with this little segment that we call. Brad explains. Brad explains this. Is a This is a Bond movie?

10:48 How much explaining can I really do? Well, let me let me give the spiel. So Brad explains 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. And it has been established. Brad, this was your first time seeing Goldeneye. Oh yeah. It sure was. Oh, wow. Yeah, I'm I'm a big fan of when Brad watches movies from my childhood for the first time. And so, if for no other reason than that, Brad, I'm gonna make you do this today. Yeah, no, you can. I'll say this though, this is a very unique position. I don't think I could have ever said this before. I vaguely knew the plot of Goldeneye before I ever watched this film, and I'm assuming you can guess the reason why, Bob.

11:37 Because you played the video game. Because I played the heck out of the video game as a kid, which genuinely like, not. I've never thought of this until this very moment. That's kind of weird. Like, how often do you know a decent amount about a movie before you ever watch it because you played a video game? Like, I've not been able to say that about a single other of the 250 plus movies we've watched for this podcast. Brad, as you will remember, I got big into the Super Nintendo when we were in college again. It had a resurgence in our dorm room and I bought a copy of the Jurassic Park SNES game. Bro, what a. Game Let me tell you, I lasted all of 43 seconds in that game before a velociraptor would eat me every single time. There's like, I don't even know what the game is about because I could never make it past the first room full of Raptors. So it sounds like you at least made it far enough in Goldeneye to glean something about the plot. And you're gonna share that plot with us now because you have one minute on the clock to spoil this film and go. Bond mission goes poorly, but he accomplishes it and he loses a friend.

12:47 Travalian. See, remember, remember the names? A bunch of years later the same bad guys get a space laser to do AEMP pulse, which seemed like really wild at the time. I love old movies and the bad guys, and there's a woman who can kill people with her iron thighs and just crazy stuff happens. Bob, that's that's the movie. OK, first major question after that very clear explanation of the film.

13:28 Did this movie account for more sales of Jane Fonda workouts and Suzanne Somers Thigh Master workouts and Richard Simmons videos once people saw the results of the Iron Thighs? Easily. Have we done a study to to track sales of these items? Yeah, I was no deny. No doubt that that that iron thighs sales surged after this film. Oh, my gosh, man. OK, so as you said Brad, this movie is a bridge between older Bond and what we would come to refer to as like the modern gritty Jason Bournified Bonds of the Daniel Craig era.

14:12 Now I I do think we are slightly skipping over in the post Roger Moore era. You got 2 movies, I think it's two with Timothy Dalton in the late 1980s when Bond was really heavily influenced by Joel Silver and like the Lethal Weapon Ness of cinema, they were much grittier. They were the first R rated Bond films like significantly more violent than what we're used to seeing with Bond. And so even this reset in the early 90s, it returns a little bit of the camp elements. It returns a little bit of that sort of Adam West Batman zaniness to it all. And I'm wondering, Brad and Bilga, you know, looking at it now almost 30 years on, do you feel like this honors the spirit of the bonds that came before? But also, what's it like watching this, having just come out of this like, insanely realistic, gritty born era that we've just come through?

15:12 I'll I'll give my answer first because Belga needs to have the last word here. Clearly, I would say based on my memory of watching the, the probably like four or five of the old Bond films as a kid, I actually think that this like hit the nail on the head. I I don't know of many franchises that have, you know, rebooted, which is seems pretty often nowadays. I have. I've not seen many that capture some of the spirit of the goofiness from the earlier films, but genuinely take it into a more modern feeling, darker, more serious direction.

15:55 I I Bob, I actually really enjoyed this movie. It's funny because I because I I rewatched these films over and over again. I never feel like I'm. I'm in the midst of any particular Bond period, especially now, now that the Daniel era is, I think, effectively over. The thing I the thing I remember though is, you know, Pierce Brosnan, Pierce Brosnan seemed like the guy who was going to become Bond in the 80s, you know, when he was doing Remington Steele. And I remember this was a thing like, I mean I was AI was a kid in the 80s and I remember we all said, oh, he should be James Bond. And and I gather that he was going to be James Bond but he couldn't get out of his Remington Steele contract. And so by the time so and we all knew this, we we knew that Pierce Brosnan was like the bond that never was. So then when he took over Goldeneye took over with Goldeneye.

16:53 I remember at the time we thought, oh, Pierce Bros and like, like, it's too late for that because Remington Steele was was long over, if I remember correctly. And it seemed almost like a desperation move to bring him in at that point, which I gather, having read a little bit about it, sort of was because like, Timothy Dalton was going to do it and then he wasn't going to do it. And then they were like, and then he was like, OK, fine, I'll do it. But then they were like, we need you for five movies. And he was like, get the fuck out of here, you know? So and they finally they finally went back to Pierce Bros and then was like, hey, do you want to do this? And but it helped so much that Pierce Brosnan of course to to us at the time it was like, oh he's older. He's an older bond.

17:35 Which is funny because like Roger Moore was like 85 years old or whatever. But, but but like Roger Moore never. I mean aside from a couple of jokes in like the last couple of movies about his age, you know he was never presented as a gritty guy. He was presented as a kind of, I mean, he was a cartoonish bond, sort of still doing the old Bond things but acknowledging that he was creaky. Whereas this seemed like a warier, tougher, grittier bond just by virtue of the fact that Pierce Brosnan just read older, at least for people like me who were like, you know, in their early 20s and watching Bond movies. So, So that added that added a certain element. But it was also this fact that, you know, yeah they've they'd always tried to reinvent Bond and and you're right with they, they did that with Timothy Dalton. And I remember it was a disaster. Like nobody really liked those movies. I think they they have sort of a retroactive appreciation of them and and I've come to sort of enjoy them as well. They're interesting.

18:37 They're they feel more like big spy novels than they do frothy Bond movies. But. But there was something about Timothy Dalton that that didn't read write as Bond. He wasn't sort of. He didn't have that, like, effortlessly suave quality. He seemed to be trying a little too hard. It was a little too intense. Right? And and as a result, I think one of the reasons why we always forget those movies, it's funny because nobody forgets On Her Majesty's Secret Service even though that was like totally abortive and George Lazenby just did one movie and then they brought back Sean Connery. Like, nobody forgets that one because in so many ways, despite despite some unique qualities, it does feel like a Bond movie. Whereas License to Kill and Living Daylights, right? No, sorry.

19:29 Yeah, Living Daylights. Those those films don't feel like Bond movies in certain ways, which I think probably freed up the folks who made Goldeneye. They could still bring a certain element of that grittiness. But then throwback a little bit, right? So it's it was like they jumped off with the with the Timothy Dalton movies, they'd like, like jumped off a Cliff into a completely new thing and suddenly somebody was no, no, no. We got to build a bridge, right, to continue the bridge metaphor. But it was like there wasn't a bridge before. It was like, here's the Bond movie where you know Felix is. Half eaten by sharks. You know it's like really that's going to happen now And now it now it was kind of like, OK, no, no, no.

20:16 Like let's, let's step back a little bit there. There's there's a sex crazy thigh killer on the loose. Like that's much more that's much more in the bond. That's. Ours bond. Yeah. Right. There would never have been. Yeah, there would not have been a sex crazy thigh killer in in the the Timothy Dalton movies. Although I I will say Goldeneye is sometimes presented as like the first James Bond movie that didn't you know, that didn't use any of the in Fleming novels and it was like completely original. It's not completely original. The plot is basically Thunderball, which is also, by the way, the plot of Never Say Never Again. And there's also, like Barbara Carrera in Barbara Carrera as Fatima blush in Never Say Never Again, which is like the Bond movie, you know, nobody talks about because it was produced by a different studio.

21:06 She is the original Phamke Jansen. I mean that that she is playing a very similar part in that movie. And. And so it's funny when people say Goldeneye is like a total original. Like, no, it's not like it just, it just regurgitates a lot of the same things from other Bond movies. It's just, you know, it doesn't quite nod to them as overtly as the way the others did. Yeah. I've always thought that it's funny how the Bond eras, if we can call them that, get entangled with the actor that played Bond so much that like we put, obviously we put the success of the movie on that actor's shoulder and that that makes sense. But but also like the overarching, the kind of narrative that they tell, the arc that they take, the trajectory of all of those movies gets placed on that actor as well. And I've always found it odd with the Pierce Brosnan movies, because it felt like we were kind of doing this analysis of his films in real time.

22:03 Because from the first one in Goldeneye to the last one he does in Die Another Day he did 4 Bonds. And the the acceleration into camp was swift. Like by the time you get to Die another day, it's like, you know, the man's just like surf Hang Gliding on a glacier. And like, you know what? Cool. I went and saw it for my 12th birthday. I had a blast. But like, I always thought that we read the trashiness of those movies back onto Pierce Brosnan in a way that was never earned. Because I'm going to be honest with you guys, I I know that I grew up with him as my Bond as a kid. I still think that aside from Connery, Pierce Brosnan might be the second most successful actor at playing Bond. I think that he he has something that's kind of needed in Bond, which is like all respect to Pierce Brosnan, he doesn't have the broadest range as an actor.

22:54 And I think that, like, there is something about the sort of not woodedness but like aloofness of Bond that gets called out by characters like Em and and even like Sean Bean's character, who is like, constantly critiquing, hey, James Bond, you drink too much and you're sleeping with women to fill a void in your life. And they cut back to Pierce Brosnan. And it's like dawning on him for the first time that he's doing this. And I think Pierce Brosnan is kind of the perfect actor to put in that position because he's not introspective the way a Daniel Craig is. He At the end of the day, he's still going to go back to doing James Bond things. And so I really love, aside from Connery, I do think Pierce Brosnan is just consistently hitting exactly all of the notes that you need a James Bond to hit.

23:41 Yeah, like you're you're not going to ask a Benedict Cumberbatch to. Play No no. Right, Like he's got too much going on in his eyes. Well, that's that's the other thing is that in many ways, Pierce Brosnan is my favorite Bond. He's not in my favorite Bond movies. I mean, I love Goldeneye. I love Tomorrow Never Dies. I actually think Tomorrow Never Dies is the best Pierce Brosnan Bond movie and one of the best Bond movies. Didn't really get it's due and it's day. But I think people are. I'm hoping people are rediscovering it, you know, also because of Michelle Yeoh and stuff. But then he does. The World is Not Enough which is And then Die Another Day which is which is bad which is which is terrible And and he I mean so he winds up with like he makes 4 movies which doesn't feel like a lot. 2 of them are like among the worst bonds ever.

24:36 But then the other two are Goldeneye and Tomorrow never dies. But because. Because he ends it on Die Another Day, which which a lot of people really hated for a variety of reasons. It's like his legacy is Bond is kind of tarnished as a result. And he didn't have enough of the like, you know, Roger Moore had a few stinkers too. But he was in so many Bond movies that like anybody can point to like, oh, but this one's great and this one's great and this one's great. You know, so So yeah, I mean, I think you're absolutely right. He is He is sort of perfect and he's he's not. I mean, they're all limited actors to a certain degree. I mean Daniel Craig is probably the best actor to have done Bond but Daniel Craig is is a is a great actor and and he brings his his talent and his depth to Bond, but almost to a fault like because because Timothy Dalton is a great movie star, right?

25:29 I mean he he knows his limitations. He uses his limitations. You know the thing I always say is a great actor uses their, their skill and their and their range. A great movie star uses their limitations, right. Arnold Schwarzenegger knows his limitations and he's a movie star because he stays within, you know, within that, within that, within those parameters. Whereas you know I think you're absolutely right with Pierce Brosnan in in that he's he's totally, totally right for the part. And that little self-awareness combined with Woodenness is perfect for Bond is absolutely perfect for Bond. Bill Guy I'm.

26:13 Almost. I'm a little ashamed to ask this. How many Bond movies are there? I I just All I know is the answer is a lot. But what's the specific to a lot? Oh my I. Don't even. I don't like. I got to look up my list to see. OK, good. I'm glad you're 25 or 20. Six now, OK And I don't know if they count that. Yeah, I was going to say I don't know if they count the the one random one that Sean Connery made apart from the official ones. So. And Christina First. Christina Royale too, I don't know. Sean Connery. Made a Bond film. That's not a Bond film. Yes. So that was. What? What Bilga was referring. Never say never again. Oh, so hang on, this one does.

26:56 I'm looking at the list I did, which has 26 entries. But I can't remember if I think that list does not have no time to die on it because because you know it was like a rank list before the. I'm just. I'm scrolling. Oh, no, it's there. OK, so it is 26 maybe. Maybe when people say 27, they're counting you know the funny Casino Royale movie that got made. Yeah. Brad I. Keep forgetting that, you know when you ask Bill, go like, hey, what's the number? And then I'm like, oh, I'll be helpful and offer what I think it is. I forgot that Bilga literally wrote the list of Bond movies. Like there's a He's like let. Me check the list. That I wrote in a national publication. Sorry, there's a reason I.

27:40 Asked Bilga. Not you, Bob. Right. Thank you. Yeah. No, it's funny because it's like they go through period. I mean, especially with like the Pre Brosnan period. I mean, they go through periods where they don't do one for a while and then suddenly, suddenly they have a new bond and they're like churning them out or quote UN quote churning them out. And there are periods when there's one every every couple of years. You know, it's funny. I mean, No Time to Die was supposed to come out in 2020 and then COVID hit and it got delayed to 2021. We're now in 2024. They haven't even cast a new bond. It's going to be several years before we get a new one. So it'll it'll been a long wait, I was going to say I. Remember during the early Daniel Craig years? It felt like every other year for a few years there it seemed like there was a new Daniel Craig Bond film. They all, other than Quantum of Solace, it seemed like they all did really well at the box office. I'm sure Quantum did fine well as well. But yeah, it seems like they definitely go through those. Those stages of like let's get out four or five while we have Daniel Craig in his prime is what it felt like so. To continue our bridge metaphor, to push this metaphor even further, you know, Bill goes absolutely right, though, in that it seems like they make them in these these rapid bursts, and then there's long stretches. And so they kind of seem disconnected from time to time and and from bond to bond.

29:04 But there are often actors and characters who tie together these many eras, and I think a good place to start talking about this cast outside of Pierce Brosnan is with one of the smaller roles in the film, but with one of the most important, and that's Judi Dench in her first appearance as M And man, oh man, does she make a first impression. Because I have to say, Brad, you know, I watched this movie front to back for the first time maybe two years ago. I went on a big Bond kick and I tried to fill in a lot of my blind spots with the Bond series and full transparency. I remember most of the action set pieces from my watch just a few years ago. There is a lot of filler in this movie that I completely forgot about.

29:47 Yep. And. Judi Dench's scene with Bond sitting in her office and just needling him is perhaps the best scripted and best acted scene in the whole movie. It is just like a crackerjack performance, man. It's so good. It's incredible. I I will say so there's the character of Moneypenny and then the character of M, which I remember when I was a kid thinking was one of the dumbest decisions like you could make. It always confused me in this film. No joke. When Moneypenny came on screen I like obviously she looks nothing like Judi Dench her. Voice.

30:31 Sounds almost exactly like Judi Dench because she started talking to Bond and I was like, hold on a second, I know that Judi Dench was younger when she made this movie, but I don't think she was that much younger and it genuinely took me aback. I didn't even noticed. That I didn't have to go back and listen, Go back and listen. I legitimately was like, that's not Judi Dench, but that's sounds like Judi Dench. Long story short, I was a big fan of Judi Dench when she came on screen because she can act circles around just about everybody in this movie. Maybe Sean Bean could give her a run for her money, because I I think he's really solid here as well. But man, she is the best, yeah.

31:13 No, she's she's terrific and and there's a reason why they kept her on as Em you know after they you know Barb Brosnan left and and they went with Daniel Craig. It's you mentioned Moneypenny. I mean, there's this, this exchange with Moneypenny, which is such a perfect encapsulation of, like the bridge that we're talking about. I mean, the sort of straddling, you know, the two sides of Bond, you know, when she says, you know, this sort of behavior could qualify as sexual harassment, right. You know, what's the penalty for that? Someday you'll have to make good on your innuendos, you know? And it's like that's such a great. Line right.

31:53 It could go in so many wrong directions, right? I mean, it could become like a whole thing. It could just be, you know, we're just going to on James Bond. And it's like, no, you know, this is Miss Moneypenny, This is James Bond. They have a thing. It's now 1995 and we're going to acknowledge that, but we're not going to turn Moneypenny into like something else. That's like you audience have come in to to this room to see a James Bond movie. We're not going to dawn you, you know, I was. Just say honestly Bogan that's that's kind of where I fall with a lot of this movie where they do a a pretty good job in this film of using the innuendo to color in the blanks and and not like innuendo just in a sexual way.

32:46 Like the innuendo to what James Bond has been in the past. Just enough and little jokes that they give or visual gags or even in the way he saves the day a few times feels like an innuendo on who Bond was. But then they continue to stamp like their own unique twist on the violence and and you know what? What the bad guys trying to do and certain things that it just real, it stood out to me, yeah. It's funny the 7-8 years ago, maybe longer, I did AI, did a piece for Vulture. Again another list.

33:27 But this time I I went through the Bond movies and all the ones that had a financial crime associated with them or or somebody trying like some of the Bond movies are like crazy man wants to destroy the world, whatever. But, but, but a lot of them are also you know ex mastermind wants to you know make a make a billion dollars or steal a billion dollars or whatever. And I actually did a piece where I fact checked these with. They never want to make the. Money. Honestly, it's always that. No, no, it's. James Bond, you know, but I but I, I, I fact checked it with a with a World Bank economist.

34:07 My dad, my dad is a retired World Bank economist and I had him call one of his friends who who I got on the phone with. And we went through the the various financial schemes of of these Bond villains and explained which ones made the most sense, Which ones would actually conceivably work, You know, like Goldfinger's plan, which is to basically irradiate, you know, the gold at Fort Knox so that his gold becomes Gaines value. Like, that could work, you know? But my favorite was when he explained that what they're trying to do in Goldeneye, it would be kind of a disaster because they're like stealing all this, all these British pounds, but they're also destroying the British economy.

34:55 So they're going to lose. Like all that money is going to immediately lose value. But also like, what are you going to do? You've just destroyed EU KS economy. You're now going to go around trying to spend British pounds. Like you'd have to convert that money. And actually converting such huge amounts of money is actually not that easy. It's not an instant thing that happens. Like, you know, believe it or not, the the world economy is an incredibly complex thing. And you know, this whole, like, we're just going to steal all this money. You're not going to steal all this money. It's just on a computer, and you're going to wind up having to, like, turn that into money somehow that you can actually use. That has value anyway.

35:39 Goldeneye was among the worst ones. Are you trying to? Tell me that the man who associates himself with a Thigh Assassin might not be thinking logically about things I know well, but. The Thigh Assassin works. You know the Thigh Assassins are brilliant. We. Have evidence of that? Come on. Yes. Yeah. Multiple dead. But yeah but it is but it is such a such a 1995 Bond kind of thing. I mean all all the Brosnan movies are kind of, I mean except for Die Another Day which is you know that that period when like every movie The villains were the North Koreans because that was like the one country left it. Like you could sort of depict as villainous. But you know it's it's such a it's such a strange thing like at this time I remember this is like we're on the edge.

36:26 We're on the verge of the tech bubble, right? It starts within a couple of years and then, you know, obviously it all melts away in 2000. But like people are becoming more interested in financial matters and things like that. Like that kind of stuff is entering pop culture a little bit because there's a bit of that in the next one too. The World is not Enough where they have kind of a Rupert Murdoch type character being played by Jonathan Pryce. So you know this is like the that's the other thing about the the Brosnan movies is that he never really had like a great villain, right. I mean he, I mean they they had great actors doing these parts and they were interesting, but he never had like kind of the great. I mean Connery had Spectre, of course, and and Goldfinger. And.

37:12 Goldfinger. Yes. And and then and and Roger Moore had an assortment of flamboyant crazies who want, you know, the the guy in Moonraker, the guy in Spy who loved me and you know and Katanga and like that. You know like or and the man with the Golden Gun, Justifer Lee, you know who like acts him off the screen. You know. So like he had great villains, individual villains. He never fought Spectre, but Brosnan didn't really have the great villains. And I think that's also something that he suffers from a little bit. His his Bond corpus, if you will, suffers from not having particularly great villains or great sort of Bond villains, right?

37:54 I mean, Tomorrow Never Dies is the one that kind of comes to closest really. I mean, I don't know if this. Is a good when you said that it it LinkedIn my brain to you talking about the 90s finance villains, right? And it made me think of a movie like Fight Club, where right at the end of the day we're destroying all these banking institutions and it's all about the money. But at the end of the day, the villain of that movie is himself. And it feels like maybe in the 90s we were starting as a country to move away from all of these other countries are bad guys, were actually the bad guys, right? And I, you know, I think we've kind of definitely swung that way in the last 10 to 15 years.

38:37 But I wonder if Fight Club was kind of hitting on the cultural moment a little more deeply than Goldeneye. Is that crazy? Yeah. Well, that's a stretch Brad. No. I was going to say though like to to bill this point. I actually think that this hits on 2 characters and let's start with Sean Bean as the Bond villain in this movie who was a who was a double O. He was double O 6, but he was secretly A villain the whole time. And here's the thing about his character is that. I think sometimes. The the truly great Bond villains fall into one of two camps.

39:17 Either they are like just fun evil or they are like sympathetically evil. And not that you sympathize with them, but you at least understand their motivations. Like, I think about Javier Bardem in Skyfall. Like, he is just so freaking good. But you understand what drove him to the point of madness. And it's this, you know, the idea of Judi Dench as mother and everything else. And you kind of have the same thing here, where a, a, a genocide of sorts against his people was committed and he wants to get back at the British for what James Bond admittedly says was quote not our finest moment, you know, and like. Very much, very.

39:57 Much the truth the British way of. Saying like. We But it is a paradox to me because he is one of the more sympathetic or understandable Bond villains, but his character is just so bland and Sean Bean is a great scenery chewing villain in hundreds of movies. And yet, I don't feel like he really leaves that much of an impression as an overall. Like, if you're making a ranking of Bond villains, I don't know how high he would fall in the list. No, he wouldn't. He wouldn't fall that high on the list. And it is interesting that you mentioned that because I'm, I'm going over the Bond villains that came prior to him and trying to find someone who maybe also had that sort of sympathetic edge. Because this was a thing in the 90s to concert, you know, the villain who you sort of understand, right? The villain who is you know demonic and must be destroyed but also like has a legitimate gripe. I mean maybe I'm maybe I'm blanking on some but I don't think there was a Bond villain like that before. Afterwards we get a bunch of them and I think that's that's interesting too but it is it does speak to that moment where you know there is a certain self reflective quality to to some of these villains.

41:18 You mentioned Fight Club. You're absolutely right. There is this process that starts around now of action movies and and or pop culture, pop cultural products where we're a little more inward looking that there's a pause that happens though when September 11th happens and then there's this period of, you know, good versus bad and then we get the fantasy movies right. I mean also we we stopped getting actual action movies. We get Lord of the Rings and we get Harry Potter and you know, we get, we get the the Marvel movies and everything. But eventually those two sort of slowly find their way towards introspection, right.

41:59 And now we definitely get so many action movies where it's like who is the bad guy after all? You know, you get, you know, no, but you get something like Black Panther where you're like well, kill Longer has a had a point. You know, we do get some of those. I mean look, you know, I will always mention Michael Mann, right? Michael Mann is very good at that stuff, right? I mean, we get less than we can well before all of these. And it's like Magua's got a point, you know, so but yeah, no, it's it's, it's rare in these films, especially not a thing you expect to see in a Bond movie. And Bond movies can be very, very interesting gauges of, you know, the cultural temperature because they have a very good idea of where the limits are.

42:42 They're never going to push against the limits. But when they do something, when a Bond movie does something, you know, oh, this is like mainstream now. Like, this is a thing you can put in a Bond movie, and it's OK. So yeah, here's here's a. Question for you as a As a bond certified, I was about to make a pun bondified. Get it? Bona fide. You're a bona fide bond experts. Bill. Gah. This might be a dumb question. Who are the caretakers of the Bond IP? Because like you just said, like you know, once they decide that this can make it into a Bond film, it's must be culturally relevant enough. Is it just like the the CE OS of the studio that owns the IP?

43:26 Like who? Who's been the caretaker over the last 20-30 forty years? Well, it's EON Productions and it's, you know, Albert Broccoli, who was the producer of the Bond movies. In fact, Goldeneye, I believe was his last one. And then Barbara Broccoli, who I think is his daughter, and Michael Wilson, who's her partner in this. So they've they're sort of, they sort of oversee, they're the ones who make the decisions. They're the ones who you know will cast the new next Bond and stuff like that. And they have a certain amount of freedom under the studio. I mean, it was MGMUA and then or was United Artists and then MGMUA and now it's Sony, right?

44:16 It's Sony but also Amazon, right? But but like, but it was funny because when Amazon bought, you know, like, there was this assumption, oh, Amazon's Amazon controls Bond now. Not really like EON still controls Bond. Like EON makes the decisions about Bond. And yeah, and they've been, you know, they've made lots of not good movies and they've made all sorts of decisions that I maybe don't agree with all the time. But they've managed to shepherd Bond in interesting ways. I mean, the Daniel Craig era, you know, I mean, Bond movies were not like that before, right? The Daniel Craig era where it's like you have through lines going from movie to movie to movie and there's this sort of Arc. I'm not a big fan of that type of stuff, that type of continuity where it's like, I don't, I feel like I'm watching an incomplete movie if I haven't seen the others at the same time.

45:08 They did kill them off. So now they can do whatever the hell they want with the next one, which which I think is kind of brilliant, actually. They're like, OK, well, well, that James Bond is dead and we're going to start over again, just completely start. This guy could be completely different. You know it's a multiverse. Now, yeah. Exactly. But, but I love the fact that I love the fact that there isn't a lot of cannon. And in in James Bond movies. I mean there are elements that have to be in all of them or almost all of them and there are elements that we expect. But there isn't a kind of like, no, no, no. James Bond can't do this because he did this in the other movie like no, stop. Get out. Like that's not. We don't do that in Bond. First, like, you can call out to another movie, but it's not like, yeah, well guys, I think this.

45:51 Is a good place for us to hit pause. I'd said a bit ago that we were going to talk about two characters and we hit on one of them. The other is I guess what we would call the Bond girl of the movie who is very 90s in her own right. And we'll talk about that when we come back from break. But Brad, it is time for us to try this Saints Alley nobleman. What do you say we drink some whiskey, man? Let's get to it. All right. So today. We are checking out a whiskey called Saints Alley Colon, The nobleman. The nobleman. This is a whiskey that you provided to me from a friend that gave it to you as a sample.

46:32 I had never heard of Saints Alley before and I got to be honest with you man. For a guy that is chronically online and chronically on whiskey Instagram to have never heard of a brand is a major feat. So Congrats to you and your friend, so it seems. Like you've contradicted the Cos Chronicle Chronically Online Syndrome I. Guess so. I'm not online enough it seems. Yeah, this. Is from good friend of show Wes. He provided quite a bit of whiskey that we're going to see on this season of the show. And I think we're starting off with a good one here, Bob. Yeah. So I did a little bit of background on this company and it turns out that the head distiller at a distillery in Texas called Iron Root Republic, his name is Jonathan Lacarish. He paired up with a guy named Chris Trevino who's a pretty big like whiskey influencer and writer. They got together, they started talking about whiskeys that they loved and they kind of hatched this plan to start a finishing series.

47:28 They took a trip over to Cognac, France. They learned about distilling and blending techniques there, came back to America and started Saints Alley, which I'm not sure if it's 100% under the Iron Root Republic umbrella, but it is certainly made in collaboration with them. And so today what we're drinking in this, the nobleman, it is a combination of MGP Rye and Iron Root Republic's rye that is then finished in Tokai casks. Now Tokai which is T OK Aji is a Hungarian sweet wine. We have had one other whiskey in the history of this show that was finished in Tokai barrels and we were huge fans of it. So I'm really, really looking forward to this one, Brad. I don't have an age statement on this, but it does seem like it is 107 proof.

48:16 So you know, it's got some nice body to it. It would probably be freaking great in like a Manhattan or something. I I can't wait to dive in, man. Now you've already tried it. I'm drinking it Live Today. Yeah. And as I got into the nose on this, it had a lot of the every single classic note I'm looking for on a rye. But but like, deep and beautiful. There there was some brown sugar. It it kind of smelled like fresh, fresh bread. The rye notes were coming through. There's a lot of nice vanilla. Nothing surprising here. But all of it was like a really nice version of something I want to smell. Smell on a rye whiskey. So I give it an 8 1/2 on the nose. Yeah, I really.

48:59 Like this A lot, man. The rye grain is really present here. It doesn't smell young, but to your point of like the breadiness. I get a lot of rye bread here. Typically. Our rise, you know, at least for you and and I and our our palates, we'd say that our rise typically fall either on the dill side of things or the mint side of things. Yeah, I think this tips a little bit more minty. I don't get as much sour notes on this, but it is. It's underscored with a really nice layer of vanilla. There's some dark fruits, almost like a pruney kind of scent to this. I like this a lot. I think I'm going to give it an 8 1/2 as well. Brad. Yeah, and as. As I got into the palate, Bob, this is where it really popped off for me. It's like a salted butter. There's the rice spices that come in.

49:41 There's some clove. The palate for me is where that nice sweet mint really came into play. And the longer I I drink it, the more sips I took, the more I really got a really nice rich caramel cheesecake sort of vibe. This is a hell of a rye whiskey, Bob. It's not the best I've ever had, but it's a nine out of 10 for me on the pallet. I think I'm going. To go at an 8.5 here Brad, there's not quite as much sweetness as I was expecting from the nose. It got almost a little bit tannic to me, which I think may be the wine influence on this, but it has like a really nice dark tannic red wine, almost earthiness to it. It just like it. You get a little bit of like rye and dirt. It's a very manly rye and I really really like that, but it is underscored with these layers of of dark stone fruit. I don't know if I would call it caramel, but there's definitely like, some brown sugar here.

50:35 It just smells like like stewed prunes. I don't really know what else to to call it here. It's really, really nice. I'm going to give it an 8.5, yeah. And on the finish for me it it softens a little bit being at 107 proof. I think this has like a perfect feeling finish that warms you but doesn't overpower you. The oak comes through, there's a bit of a white pepper vibe and here's where I start to get into that fruity territory where when I when I'm done drinking it and it's just kind of sat there for a few minutes. You're right that there's a lot of really nice ripe fruit notes that I'm getting, all a little bit of like a dark cherry prune is a good note. I am a big fan.

51:20 Bob 8 1/2 What's your. Favorite red wine, Brad? There's a there's a local winery that has a American heritage kind of dark dry red wine that I like, but in general I lean towards dry Reds. OK. Yeah, I. I think that this finishes like a dry red mixed with rye. Like it. It is exactly as advertised. The rice, like not rice spice, but the rye grain is left behind on the tongue along with some of that really tannic red wine character. It's really beautiful. I would never have pegged this at 107 proof. You know, we don't really like to use the word smooth often on this show because bourbon Bros get, you know, up in arms about it, but it doesn't finish just so smooth. Like there's just enough alcohol character here that you know you're drinking a whiskey, but it does not. It's not harsh at all, not a stringent at all, really well-rounded.

52:15 I think this is the kind of whiskey that's like an 8 1/2 across the board, which is kind of spectacular. Usually when something is a blank across the board, for us it's like a 7 out of 10 across the board. Yeah, if you can do every category at an 8.5, you've got a damn good whiskey. And so far for me, every single category is an 8.5. Yeah. And that's why I. Gave it a 9 1/2. On balance, I I think that they take the flavors. They don't make the most complex rye whiskey I've ever had, but every area that they try to enhance, they do well, and so that I think this is one of the best balanced whiskeys we've had all season. You know, I don't really.

52:56 Know a lot about Iron Root Republic, but the Texas whiskeys that we've had, Brad, we've been really hit or miss on because there's a very distinct character to Texas whiskey. And it doesn't just have, like that quote, UN quote, craft whiskey feel, but more than maybe anywhere else in the country. I think that, like, you can really start getting into conversations about terroir when you talk about Texas whiskey. Like there's just something in the dirt out there that makes their whiskey taste different. And I'm wondering if that earthiness comes from whatever amount of Iron Roots rye is in this blend. It's really nice, man. I I think I'm going to be just a hair beneath you on the balance. I'm going to give it a nine out of 10 on balance. I did not look up any pricing information on this. So you're going to have to surprise me here. Brad, what does this sell for generally online? I found it at a few different places, right around the $80.00 price point.

53:50 And honestly? At $80.00 I think this is actually a pretty good value. You know it like for about 95 to 100 you're going to get barrel seagrass, which I think is probably the best rye out on the market right now. And so this is you know 20 ish dollars cheaper and nearly as good in quality. So I I'm actually going to give this an 8 1/2 out of 10. I think this is a good quality. I mean especially. Like when you are finishing in something as obscure as Tokai barrels, like I'm just automatically expecting this to be near the triple digits. So $80.00 from a small kind of startup craft distiller, you know, producer. I don't think that's bad at all.

54:32 Again, $80.00 is more than I would spend on most whiskeys, but the like. The price is justified here, so I'm going to give it a 7.5, which brings me to a 42 out of 50. Brad, what are you coming to? Two points higher. 44 out of 50, All right, that takes us. To an 86 out of 100 or a 43 out of 50. Far and away our highest ranked whiskey of the season so far. Folks, if you're new to the podcast, it is really hard to break into the 40 out of 50 Club. Yep. And Brad, as soon as you told me that you were a fan of this, I knew it had to be really good because you are a lover of Rise and I think that you have AI don't. I don't know if I would say you have a more discerning palette that I do, but you're you are a little pickier when it comes to what constitutes a good rye because you love them so much. Yeah, yeah, this is definitely.

55:21 My wheelhouse, I'd say in the world of whiskey and St. Sally knocks it out of the park with this this offering. Well, we are. Kind of riding high today with our conversation with Bill Gah and with this whiskey. What do you say we get back into talking about Goldeneye? Let's get to. It all right, everybody. That was Saints Alley, the Nobleman. Bob, come on. Good. Good stuff, man. Yeah, I tried to pair these things up thematically, and I know that, like, the story of James Bond is that he is the opposite of a nobleman.

56:02 But he's such, he's such a dapper gentleman that I feel like a whiskey called the nobleman. Just I mean suited. The occasion. How many noblemen? In history were truly noble. Yeah, you know, James. Bond is more noble than any nobleman we know, so there you go. Oh man, Bob, I am really excited to see where we go with today's 2 Facts and A Falsehood, because for the third week in a row you have a guest to help you out. Well, let's get into it. Man, this is 2 facts and a falsehood, Brad. Is going to try to stump you ball 2 all 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 about the making of this film. All three are presented as fact.

56:53 One is actually a falsehood, and it's up to me to determine which one that is. Brad, I am sitting pretty at like 4 and two, five and two on the season now. Yeah, you're killing it, man. I'm. Doing pretty well. So no pressure, Bill. Gah. But here are the rules for two facts and a falsehood when I have a guest at my disposal. So you will be my my lifeline, my phone, a friend. If I seek your help and we win, I only get one win in the win column. But if we lose, I am double penalized. I get 2 losses if we guess wrong. So we don't. We don't mess around. Yeah, man. Now I will also say Brad introduced a new wrinkle just last week where I sought the guest's help and then did not go with his answer. And Brad told me that even if I chose not to go with the guests answer, just seeking his help meant that I would get 2 losses if I guessed wrong.

57:50 So I think what what's happening here is Brad's starting to get desperate and he's just looking for ways to to punish me. Maybe I. Should make little. Visual gestures, if I know the answer, have. You like tug on your earlobe and stuff? Yeah, I was just say I. Grew up watching Regis on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? And if you phoned a friend and guessed something different and it was wrong, you still lost. You were out. I mean that's. That's a completely different game, Brad. We can't make comparisons like this. Is basically. The same game, Bob. All right, man, hit. Me with your two facts and a falsehood fact number. 1:00 During the filming of the iconic bungee jump sequence at the start of the film, Pierce Brosnan performed the jump himself without the aid of a stunt double. This was an unprecedented move in Bond film history and added an extra layer of authenticity to the scene. Fact #2, Sir Roger Moore paid a visit to the set to see his son, Christian Moore, who was working as a third assistant director. He quipped that early test of Pierce Rosen hadn't worked out, so he was brought back.

58:52 Fact #3. Goldeneye is the nickname of James Bond creator and Ian Fleming's beachfront house in Jamaica, where between 1952 and 1964 he wrote the Bond novels and short stories. OK. I am pretty sure that #3 is true because I remember Googling like James Bond, Goldeneye and there was an article that came up and it was called like Ian Fleming and Goldeneye and it was a picture of him on the beach, so that sounds right. Nailed it. I'm immediately. Gravitating towards #1 bilga and I'll tell you why. Hey, just so much liability if my man jumps off of a dam, but also at the very end of the jump.

59:38 Where he like shoots. His little Batman gun and anchors himself to the ground and then like slowly lowers himself in. It's it's very clearly a green screen. So like maybe Pierce Brosnan did the part of the jump where he was actually jumping from 12 feet off the ground and they then they green screened him. But I just that one sounds really, really false to me and the Roger Moore one by comparison sounds like something that might have actually happened with Roger Moore. I am going to seek your help just because I like hearing your input. So if if we're going down, we're going down together man. What are your thoughts on this I? Agree with you for for two reasons. One is we don't really see, I feel like if Pierce Brosnan had done that stunt himself, they would have, we would have seen a lot more of him.

1:00:36 And also, it doesn't sound right to me that, you know, this was the first time a stump like this had been performed by the actor. That just feels like, I'm like, wait, I mean, there was performing stunts all the time. What does that mean, a stunt like this? And and also I think I agree with you about two, that does sound like something Roger Moore would have said. So I think I agree with you. I think. I think it's #1 now Brad has. Three is definitely correct. We know Three is still correct. Yes, Brad has. Definitely been known to make up a very innocuous sounding fact because it flies so under the radar. So two could be the the, the one. But I'm gonna, I'm going to lock in #1 as my answer, Brad, because we've got the confidence of me and official Bond ranker Bilga Abiri behind me here.

1:01:31 Is that is that Bilga's new title at all? Is it is that it's on the byline now? Yeah, I was going to say it's his new byline. Official Bond Breaker Bilga Abiri Bilga Abiri Official Bond Raker Ranker is also correct about this two facts and a falsehood. 6:00 and 2:00 on. The season, Brad, dude, you are running. Away with it, this is my new. Strategy. It's called Bring a A a plethora of experts on in a row to help build a lead. An insurmountable lead, I was. Getting ready for this one. And I was like, man, Bilga, I feel like is just gonna know everything. Well, well, the thing, the the the the thing that I thought about with #2 and I thought this would have been really devious and you should have done it.

1:02:24 But but I thought to myself, I was like, this sounds like a true anecdote. So it doesn't feel made-up. But I was like, but it's also something that could have happened on another movie that he brought in, like it could have happened on License to Kill. You know it could have happened on any of them. But it it's like, you know, it feels like like it has the texture of a real anecdote. But I thought it could have been really devious to like have something that actually did happen but but change the movie. You know the reason I. Don't do things like that is because I would never hear the end of it from Bob. He would whine and complain, for we saw an end. He's not.

1:03:05 Wrong. If I were to do. Something like that. No, Brad, you have to be original. Make it fully up yourself. All right, guys, let's get back into talking about the movie itself. And we left off about to talk about the Bond girl of this movie. Her name is Natalia. In the movie, the actress's name is Isabella Skorupko, who I do not know outside of this film. I'm not going to lie to you guys. I will say that similarly to Sean Bean's character, I don't feel like we really remember this Bond girl as a Bond girl. And it's partially because she's she's one of the most helpful Bond girls in the history of the series.

1:03:49 She is in many ways, Bonds equal throughout this film. And you know, I know they tried to do this with like Denise Richards in in later Pierce Brosnan movies and in with Halle Berry and Die Another Day. But what's really brilliant about this character is because she is a computer scientist, which is clearly something that Pierce Brosnan knows nothing about. Like this. James Bond does not know a computer at all. She really brings a whole series of skills to the table that come in handy in ways that are like Bond can't take subtle digs at her, like she is not the the butt of a joke in any way and I found that incredibly refreshing. But it also you know, I guess it it it's not a good thing that this is the case. It also feels very out of place in a Bond film to have the female lead be so much James Bond's equal, and I'd love to hear what your guys thoughts are on this character. Well, it feels like she's the expert in her field, He's the expert in his.

1:04:49 And they need both of those skill sets to beat the bad guy. And you're right, man, that's not a common trope within the realm of James Bond films. I mean, it was. It was. Much more similar to, like what we saw with, you know, a season or two ago. Bradby reviewed Edge of Tomorrow where like Tom Cruise does his thing, which is like mystical ability to wake up every day. And Emily Blunt does her thing, which is actually be able to fight well. And they are equals throughout the movie. And so they develop a chemistry and a romance. But it's it's its own thing. And the way that these two develop a romance is much more akin to that than the the seduction that James Bond typically employs, which which he does.

1:05:32 At the start of the film, right. He has a psychological evaluator and he sleeps with her like and I yeah, I I really like her in this film. I think as per the YUGE, the script doesn't do anybody in this movie a lot of favours, but it doesn't do her a ton of favours other than like setting her up as the expert when it comes to the actual lines that she's given and the the arc of her character that you know, it's a little bit flat, but I'm OK with it because she she brings something that you don't see in other Bond films, I think. I think you're. Absolutely right. One thing I I remember from, you know, from my childhood and and and later as well as every time there's a new Bond movie, there was always some kind of TV feature. I mean, this is back when we had TV shows like Entertainment Weekly and or Entertainment Tonight and stuff like that. But there was always a report just like, well, this Bond girl is different.

1:06:35 She's not like the other Bond girls. And they did that for every single one of them. And I remember, I remember them, I remember very vividly the reports about how this Bond girl was not like the other Bond girls. And because they always do try to find something, not always, but like. And it's not always. I mean, the the Bond girls have, there's certain things that that need to happen for someone to be a Bond girl, right? Right. There's certain traits that they have and there's certain things we need to see in the movie from them to qualify them as Bond girls. But within those parameters, they're always trying to find ways to make them unique or interesting in some way. And that I think has actually benefited the Bond girls over the years in that some are better than others, you know, for a variety of reasons.

1:07:30 And I agree, like Isabelle Skorbsko's character isn't necessarily the most memorable of Bond Girls, but they all, but they are all interesting characters to a certain extent. Like, they do get dimensionality, a little bit of dimensionality. They get back story. They're in a, they're in a situation, right. And and she especially in this one, is like she's in a situation. She's in this place that's been like all her friends have been massacred. She's like trudging through the snow, you know, like she she she gets stuff to do. And I think that just helps build characters so that they do eventually become, they do feel like real characters, which is not a thing that people think of with Bond girls, right. They they they're supposed to be interchangeable and whatnot, but they're not they're not really interchangeable. I mean some of them are, I guess, but especially earlier in in in the series.

1:08:16 But after a certain point, you know, even the Roger Moore ones, I mean, you know, the Roger Moore films, often people see those as like the most problematic Of the bonds, Roger Moore had the best Bond girls because each one had a story, right? I mean, whether it's inspired Who Loved Me or For Your Eyes Only or or Octopussy, like, he actually had like the best Bond girls and the most interesting and the most kind of dimensional Bond Girls. And, you know, I think Isabel Skorpco's character kind of fits in that in that mode. Now one other thing about her character, and I think this relates to the film in general, and this is one of the reasons why it always kind of stands out for me among sort of the other Bond movies, You know, there's such AI mean Bond movies are founded on him going to quote, UN quote exotic places, right? And there there's a lot of eye candy in Bond movies, not just, not not with the women, I mean, but like with the kind of, you know, very escapist settings and stuff like that. What I love about Goldeneye is, you know, this is like post Soviet Union Russia.

1:09:25 And like the settings, there's nothing exotic about the settings. And the settings are like, you know, giant bureaucracy filled with papers and files. You know Gray Soviet apartment buildings like the the the colour palette is Gray and brown and black and you know like the train sequence is like this incredible looking like you know hammerhead shark of a locomotive being chased by a tank through just like the grimiest looking settings. And then you know or like James Bond goes to meet somebody and it's in like a it's at night and it's just a a field full of like abandoned Soviet statues. Like that's a like that's a unique looking Bond movie for sure.

1:10:18 Like there you don't I mean you get later with the, I mean they go to town with the Daniel Craig movies later but you don't like there's so much atmosphere in this film that's not like the atmosphere you expect from a bomb movie and it's almost a joke when they finally go to Cuba. It's just like you know like you got 5 minutes of beach and all right we we get Isabella Scorpco in the bikini. Let's get let's let's check that off the list you know and it's like all right. And then and then they go and it's like they're fighting against the giant satellite dish. You know, there's nothing, you know, colorful or exotic about it. But like, that's that to me is Goldeneye, right? That's that. That symbolizes Goldeneye. The fact that it's all just kind of really kind of gritty and gross and everything's falling apart and you know, he's being chased through like, you know, it's giant.

1:11:06 Stacks of paper. Yeah, it's a much. Dingier movie than I think we remember like it. It was sold as this release, this really sleek new Bond. You know we're not in the 80s anymore people and like to your point like everything about it is just there's a there's a layer of coal soot on on everything that James Brown touches in this movie. All right guys, real quick we are running out of time before we have to get into our our last couple segments. I have a list of notes on the the rest of the cast that I just want to speed run through. Brad, I know that you have something that you want to talk about before we get out of here today. So let me just real quick. Alan Cumming, who has never been known to not play an over the top character, what do we think of him? Because he is a walking cartoon in this movie and he gets absolutely Jack torranced by some liquid nitrogen at the end of this film in a way that it seemed very out of place for the rest of the film.

1:12:04 Brad, what are your thoughts? Bob, you know how you. Talk about in the like late, like, I don't know, like 2009 to 2014. It's a very specific era where almost any like romantic comedy has a scene where a teenager is teaching their parent how to use like, Twitter or Facebook. Yes. Right. Yep, I feel like. The mid to late 90s through the early 2000s, any sort of action movie had a really crappy version of Simon Pegg from the Mission Impossible movies. And Alan? Cummings. Is that in this movie 100%? Like you, you. Know that a movie is from the late 90s when there's like a hacker who's like this really scrawny, like can't get laid in so. With, like with glasses.

1:12:58 Slob the the He's either really fat or really like mousy skinny. Everybody's riffing. On Wayne Knight from Jurassic Park. In this, like in this kind of character, yeah. It's it's wild. So that's what I think about Alan Cummings. All right, second, second. Question Joe Don Baker playing the CIA operative. Are we to understand that he has been embedded in Russia, or was did he just happen to be visiting at the same time as James Bond because he is dressed in full Russian garb with the thickest Texas accent? I like. I do not believe for a moment that this man can fool anyone when speaking Russian.

1:13:40 And he's like so loudly yelling across Red Square to James Bond, Like, hey, Jimbo, come over here and help me with this thing. Like, I like the worst CIA operative I've ever seen in a movie. Like, absolutely does not blend in whatsoever, and I'm here for it. Honestly, that's when you. Remember, these movies are made by Brits and the CIA. Agents in these movies are always buffoons who who who never actually blend in or anything like that. Like I think that's actually like a British in joke that they, like The Americans are actually not very good at what they do. They're basically good for, like, weaponry and you.

1:14:21 Know get. Getting Marines to Cuba at a moment's notice, which you know, is a thing they often have to do or Puerto Rico or whatever, DEA agents. But but it's like, yeah, the Americans are not actually good at their jobs in these movies for the most part. No. And we all. Sound like Foghorn Leghorn. So final note is that I loved the era of the mid to late 90s where even the people with the smallest roles would go on to have big careers. You know, like you get Robbie Coltrane in here for a minute, who is just hitting, like way above, like his pay grade in this movie. He's unreal. You get Minnie Driver as like his mistress for four seconds. Like, I I couldn't believe it. I was like, wait a minute, that's Minnie Driver. And I didn't realize like this is before goodwill hunting. So she's not famous at all yet.

1:15:08 And I was thinking like, oh, she's just doing a cameo here. No, she just like, this is the level of role she was getting in 1995. She needed five. Grand. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. I mean I think Rodney Coltrane did have a profile at this point cause like nuns on the run was he on and like that movie's, that movie's happened at this point, right? I can't remember for sure, right? And I know that he. Had done like he he was, he had done TV like on the BBC, like he was known in Britain especially so like cracker right Was he? Crack. You know, I think so. So all right, those are my notes on on the cast guys. Any other notes on the acting in this movie? I think it is pitched perfectly for what the film is trying to do, but I'd love to hear your guys thoughts I would say about.

1:15:50 Phamka Jansen, who is, you know, who's great in the movie. Earlier when you were talking about, you know, when you were talking about Judi Dench being like, you know, the best actor you know in this movie. I agree because Judi Dench is great. But Phanka Jansen is a great actress. And and and I will say, I've seen her in a number of movies where I was like, wow, she is terrific because this was my introduction to Phanka Jansen and like what an introduction. Every time I see Phanka Jansen in a movie, I'm like, oh, she can like kill somebody with their thighs. Like that's a terrible thing to think. I'm sure.

1:16:31 It's like it's like a a horrible thing to say. But like, she's so good in this and so iconic that there is always a part like Tangy. Jensen has done such a variety of films, you know, over the years and it's been very good and has a tremendous amount of range as an actor. But she's so good at at Zania on the top that there is a little bit of like Zania on the top tingle every time I see her. You know also the. Joke that that I think Em makes about her last name being on a top is incredible. I think that's another reason why Isabella Skrupko kind of struggles a little bit is because you have Famka just going all out and going for them.

1:17:16 I mean, she is absolutely wild and I think that causes her to suffer a little bit as a character because she's just not quite, as she's not asked to do that much, right. This is a not. Uncommon problem with some James Bond films where there's like, you know, there's a, there's a a female villain or you know, kind of villainy character who sort of, you know, draws a lot of the attention from from the Bond, the Bond. I mean, this happens and never say never again where you're like you remember Barbara Carrera and it's like, who was the IT was it wasn't Kim Basinger, was it? But it's like the the Bond, the ostensible Bond girl in that movie is like you just forget about her completely. All right, Brad, it's time to talk about tanks bursting through walls.

1:18:03 The the best sequence of this entire movie, bar none. And. And here's the reason why. And not to go back to the MCU thing we talked about 40 minutes ago, but like, the MCU makes 25 movies in like an 11 year period. Because we can create massive worlds inside a computer now, and none of it looks or feels tactile or real at all. And you need three or four years in between each James Bond movie because they have to rebuild Russian cities after James Bond drives a freaking tank through them in real life. Like the shot of this car whipping around the corner, It's framed weird. And you're like, why is it framed so weird? What's that big wall back there? And then through that wall comes James Bond in a tank. It is the coolest thing I've ever seen. Brad.

1:18:51 Yeah. If there's ever a dude's rule moment in a James Bond film, that's it. And I I love it because that's the type of decisions that typify Goldeneye, and they don't always work. But at the end of the day, how many, you know, action movies have you seen a car chase in? Probably almost every single one. And then how many of those car chases is the hero in a Jason Bourne situation where he's in a crappy, broken down car going down alleys trying to escape? Not Goldeneye, my friends. In Goldeneye, Bond is the one doing the chasing. He's not chasing in a car.

1:19:31 No. No, he's in a freaking Soviet tank, and it just made every bit of my soul so happy to watch. And even like we didn't talk a ton about, I don't know, kind of the we talked a little bit about the visuals of the movie. But the shot of the the train after the tank shoots at it, it looks like a demon flying out of hell with like the fire. Like it almost looks like eyes in the fire and it looks real because it's real and it it's incredible. And everything about the tank was perfect in this in this movie Bill. Go Where do you think?

1:20:12 This would rank, I was going to say Bill go Where would this rank for you in your James Bond action sequences? Because it really is up there for me, man. I mean. It's a, it's a it's a great action sequence. I mean there are there are a number of other James Bond action sequences that I would rank above it but but I I I love to see and every time I watch Golden Eye again, I'm like Oh yeah, yeah, that's right. The tank and the the way that like the the the way that like the the the women look at him as he's doing like the you know because the cutaways to you know the people in the train they're looking at him and it's like there's just this like delight the delight on their faces. So it starts to achieve this almost phallic quality like James Bond chasing like the the enormous turret. It's just it's just and busting some walls. Yeah, it's always.

1:21:02 Drawn like a North by Northwest? Yep. Yep. Exactly 100%. Yeah. And. North by. Northwest was like an influence on the original James Bond, you know, So it's there's there's like it it all, it it's all connected. The other thing I was going to say was the point you made about, you know, the fact that they shoot these movies, I mean it's not always on location, location, they shoot them in locations as opposed to, you know, a parking lot in Atlanta. It's it's something that over the years I've noted about James Bond films. You know, we often talk about all the problematic aspects of the James Bond movies and all that which which are, which are true.

1:21:47 But there's also another way of looking at these, which is James Bond is one of the most popular international pop culture figures in the like people in other countries love James Bond, right? It's, I mean people. Oh, it's you know, he's a he's a pig headed Western, imperialist, blah blah blah blah. They love James Bond movies in other countries and part of it is because they shoot these movies in those places, right? I mean the the hotel in India where they shot part of Octopussy, like they still show Octopussy there like all the time. You know, I know from personal experience that they still tell stories in Istanbul about. Now there have been multiple James Bond movies shot in Istanbul.

1:22:34 They still tell stories in Istanbul about the time that for your that that from Russia with love was shot there, right. I mean like these were like huge events because they go there and they do their scenes there and they're there for weeks and months and they employ local talent. I mean it's actually a big deal. I mean, part of it's the nature of budgets and the way studio films are made nowadays. But, like, I feel like we've lost some of that quality, that idea of like a production that goes all over the world and actually shoots in one place for a while and kind of absorbs the atmosphere of the place so that what comes up on screen actually actually conveys some of that and, you know, transports you like. That's such an important thing.

1:23:16 And that's one of the things I miss, not miss, but that's one of the things that's missing from the Marvel movies. Not all of them. Some of them are very good. But there is that sense of, like, I mean, they're going all over the world and I have zero sense that I'm going to any of these places, you know? And that stinks. That really stinks because that's like one of the charms of, like, big budget studio spectacle action movies. Like, that's kind of the point, right? Yeah, you can't. You can't fake. Yeah, you can't fake that. Like, it comes across in the movie. It's intangible and it it comes across even in the acting and the way they do things, that that feels so much more real. What?

1:23:58 I think it says. It says a lot about the tank chase sequence, Brad, that that is not even like the keystone action sequence of this. Like it's not the one that they were selling us on in the trailers, right. Like the big moment where the the satellite falls on Sean Bean at the end is like the biggest, most extravagant moment of action in the movie. But to us looking at it now, almost 30 years later, just the fact that they drove a tank through a real brick wall is like, wow, a wall Like, I think it's such a sad state of affairs that we can look at something that tangible, which in 95 was like the 11th coolest thing that happened in this movie. And now for us, we're like, wow, this is, this is a top tier James Bond action sequence because the wall was real, you know, So what I hear you saying.

1:24:47 Is Bob build that wall? That's exactly. What I only because. If only so we can drive A. Tank through it. Yes, yes. But, but it. But it's true though. And to their credit, the Bond films have kind of continued that idea. I mean, they've always been. I mean, they've always been a great showcase for stunts and things like that. I mean, they do spectacular things in these movies and they do them, you know, like, I mean, they all the Bond films have had janky special effects over the years, but like they do as. Much of them. As they can, you know, but they do as much of them as they can. I mean, I'm, I'm about to write something about the Moonraker, the parachute fight in Moonraker.

1:25:28 And it's like, I mean there's a lot of janky stuff in there. But like they did some of that, you know, like and it's and it's really and I mean other movies have done some of that stuff since. And the ones that do it for real, like Mission Impossible or or or Point Break, it really feels, you know, like it's still it's still endures to this day. Mission Impossible isn't that long ago. But, you know, it's like, I mean what better example do you need of this stuff than the fact that, like this, this stuff that people did 40 years ago still feels so visceral and real. And the stuff they did five years ago with, you know, with VFX now there's a lot of really good VFX out there.

1:26:15 I shouldn't, you know, I have, I have friends who are VFX artists. I mean these are really hard working people. But but, you know, but it takes just as much effort to get those things right as it does to get like a real properly done stunt, right? That's the thing that people don't understand. It's not a shortcut, right? I mean VFX is not a shortcut. VFX is a way of doing certain things that you cannot do with with real people, right. You can't make Avatar with like the real settings and all that, but you can't do it. You need the VFX to do it, right. Same with some like some of the Star Wars stuff and stuff like that. But, but, but you know, But if you're just using VFX because you don't have the creativity or the knowledge to stage an actual fight sequence, well, you know you're in the wrong business frame, you know, yeah.

1:27:05 I wasn't saying it's not. Gonna look good? Yeah. When it comes to VFXI, always just come back. This might be the most film snobby thing that I say. I always just come back to Gone With the Wind, like when they're escaping Atlanta and you have the shot of that warehouse on fire and they're riding their wagon out of town in front of it. Holy. Shit like. That thing is on fire. You cannot fear that. Like the IT just is brilliant and one of the most beautiful shots in film history and and it just feels so real, no?

1:27:47 You're absolutely right. And the the film I always point to and this is, I mean this film is I mean since we're talking about the Soviets here a little bit, the war and peace. The Soviet War and Peace, which is a film that had an unlimited budget. Like I remember I I I worked in Russia on a film set in 1997 and I and I, you know we were it was a big historical epic that that we were working on and I worked with a lot of like veteran Russian crew people and I was asking them about like what they knew about War and Peace. They did. None of them had worked on War and Peace. Some of them had worked on like Tarkovsky movies and stuff. But they all like the legends of War and Peace and obviously we're still very much with them and and the thing I remember one of them said because I said to them what was the budget on that movie?

1:28:36 Did they ever kind of finalize like a budget. And he said, we Ted what we like to call open budget, you know, and it's like open budget, There's no budget. The whole industry works on it. We're making this movie now for the next couple of years. Who knows what it ultimately cost? There's there was no real budget. It was just whatever, you know, because it was like the Americans had made a very successful adaptation of war and peace. King Vider directed War and Peace, which which was a big hit in in the Soviet Union. And they were like, we cannot let the Americans have good last day on war and peace. Everybody get in here, we're making war and peace, you know, But where was I going? Oh, no.

1:29:22 So, so there's AI mean there's a great scene in that sequence actually the, you know, the burning of Moscow. And there's a scene where where one of the one of the lead actors, who also happens to be the director of the film, Sergey Bunderchuk, and an actress, I mean basically an extra, they're they're running through the burning city looking for some, some someone or something. I can't remember what the exact context is, but but they're running through like these burning buildings and running around them and there's ash everywhere. And I'm watching this thing and going, Oh my God, that's real fire they're running through.

1:30:03 And you can see the terror on the actresses eye in the actress because she doesn't have like a big part. This is like a small part. And it's like, and the person pulling her along is the director of the film. And I'm just like, oh, this is like him basically just grabbing her and running through the set because there's no way she's she's going to do it if he's not there. Just like yanking her along. It's terrifying. I mean, not that anybody should be doing that. I'm sure several labor laws would be, you know, the Soviet Union, the great hero of of the working people. No labor laws in that country, you know, but, but, but it was.

1:30:43 But again, you watched that scene today and it's like, holy crap. Like I'm there, I'm there. It's terrifying. I'm there. They did it. Yeah. And you. Only you. Only have to watch 7 hours of film, yes, to fight that and and this happens. In like hour six, you do have to watch like, the whole thing to get to it. Well, on that note, guys. I think it's time for our last segment of the day, which we call Let's make it a double. We're near the end. Of the episode. So thanks listening to the film and whiskey show. Let's pair another film with this one, even if it's struggling. It's a final segment of the day. Now let's make it a double. Let's make it a double. Is the part of the show where we pick a movie to pair up with this one to make the perfect double feature? Brad, I'm going to throw over to you.

1:31:24 We have not heard from you as much today. Bilga and I are over here nerding out about James Bond. I would like to hear what your double feature film is for Goldeneye. Honestly, Bob? I was. I was thinking through a bunch of options for this. Part of me wanted to pair it with a Mission Impossible film, because I just think that they're just the duality of those two film franchises. Come on. But I'm not going to choose. Come on, Possible. I want to pair this with true lies. Oh, OK. Because. More and more people need to see that movie. I know that True Lies is a wildly popular movie, but I am new to it and I want everybody to see that movie. So go watch True Lies.

1:32:05 I think watching that back-to-back with this would be a wildly entertaining night. I love that. Brad I I kind of want to do 2 movies. I I was just say what? Were you hoping I would say you were? You were very clearly. Well, this is a great. I'll do it this way, then. I was hoping you were going to say Austin Powers international man of mystery. I've. I've. Never seen Austin Powers? Oh my gosh. Man, OK, that's We need to just cancel the rest of the season and just watch Austin Powers 18 weeks in a row. My. Quick one time I remember Austin Powers being on cable when I was on my 8th grade trip to Washington DC and it was whichever one where he was, Doctor Evil was trying to destroy Washington DC with his laser and we just thought it was the craziest thing. Like we're in Washington DC right now and a jet that was wild.

1:32:58 So that's the only scene I've seen, I think there. Is a a fun think piece to be written about how the success of Austin Powers accelerated the James Bond, the the Brosnan Bonds into camp because they saw that people liked Funny Bond and then they tried to do Funny Bond and it didn't work. I'm going to pair this movie up with a Guy Ritchie film from the 2000 Tens called The Man From UNCLE, which I thought was a drastically underrated film that I had a blast watching. That is now, you know, perhaps even more problematic to talk about than most James Bond movies due to who's in it, but which is AI mean. You get your Brits, you get your Soviets, you get spy stuff. It's funny, There's a good Hugh Grant performance, a leash of Vikander's in it.

1:33:45 You could do a hell of a lot worse than pairing this up with the man from UNCLE. Is that a A? Kevin Spacey film No, it's. Not it is. It is an Army Hammer film and if you're if you're not familiar with his scandals, go look it up after the fact because that is we're not wasting air time on that. But no need to bilga what would be your double feature with Goldeneye? You know, I thought. I thought a lot about pairing it with another Bond movie. Couple of the ones that we mentioned, I thought, oh, never say never again or Thunderball would be just Thunderball would be great because it's also one of my favorite Bond movies. But the movie I'm going to pick is Mask of Zorro, which is the film that Martin Campbell made after this movie.

1:34:31 Martin Campbell is a guy who doesn't get enough respect, but the man made The Golden Eye and effectively rebooted the James Bond movies. Then he made The Mask of Zorro, which the Zorro film had been something that everybody had been trying to make for years and years and years and nobody thought it was going to be any good like a Zorro movie in this day and age were so much more sophisticated than that. And he makes The Mask of Zorro and it is just an all time banger of a movie. I mean, I I, I rewatch it all the time. It absolutely still holds up, perhaps even better than it did back then. I mean it's just it's just so good. And then and then he comes back and he, you know, reinvents Bond again. He directs Casino Royale.

1:35:17 I mean the man like, you know like there should be statues of Martin Campbell as far as I'm concerned. And I've interviewed him a couple of times and he's a, he's a very sweet guy to talk to. And and, you know, you know, he's he's one of those film makers who's really good with action, in part because he directs clean action. You know, he's not, I mean, he has a real sense of rhythm and a real sense of editing, but he always makes sure that you know where everything is and what's happening at any given moment. And that's important for Bond. I mean, there are some films where some action films where you can get away with just the sheer chaos of everything and like like Christopher Nolan can get away with like many, many great scenes in The Dark Knight where you don't entirely know what's happening, but but it but it kind of works. But Martin Campbell is like the opposite of that. He's like, OK, this guy is here, this guy's here, he's going to run this way and that guy's going to run that way. And you know, but he does that with such fluidity. I don't know.

1:36:19 He's a great, great filmmaker. You know, Mascozzaro was a big hit as well. So, you know, I was going to try and find something obscure that I could pair with, and I'm like, wait, these movies are old. As far as the rest of the world is concerned, They are obscure, you know? But anyway, Mask of Zorro. I mean, you can have a really, really good night for yourself watching Goldeneye and the Mask of Zorro. All right, guys, let's give this. Movie some final scores. I'll go first, Brad, because I'll take 10 seconds to do it. This is like a really solid 7 out of 10. Like, I thought about a 7 1/2, but there's there's just enough preposterousness to it that I'm like, it's an enjoyable 7 and I'm OK with that. Where are you falling on this one? I I'm.

1:37:02 Right there with you. I was kind of hovering a 6 1/2 to A7. I had so much fun with certain parts of this movie and other parts did just drag a little bit for me. Overall though, really fun film I I looked it up. This is the sixth highest rated Bond film in the series. So you know if there's 26 films that's that's doing pretty good for itself at 7.2 on IMDb. So I I think 7 out of 10 is a good score. It's right in line with where a lot of people have it. Bill, I'm curious to hear where you would place this film you, you know, I'm. I'm I'm close to you guys. I mean, I think, I think 7 1/2 would probably be the correct for me. I mean, I want to say a, you know, when I look at my ranking, it's #10, which is, which seems low because I do love it. But then like there's.

1:37:56 I mean, I mean, look, I'm going to read Tomorrow Never Dies. So the ones, the ones ahead of it, are in order. Tomorrow Never Dies, Goldfinger, Skyfall From Russia With Love, The Spy Who Loved Me, Thunderball, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, and then my top two which are For Your Eyes Only and Casino Royale. I can't. I can't put it ahead of any of those, but I still love it. So yeah, like it's like 7 somewhere around 7:00 or 8:00, you know, I mean, they're all 10s, but, but you know, it's a 7 but among the 10s. It's a seven. I get it. All right. Well, those are our. Scores on Goldeneye.

1:38:37 It's a 7 from me. It's a 7 from Brad. It is a 10, but also an 8, but also a 7 1/2 from Bilga. But we'd like to know what you guys think. Have you seen Goldeneye recently and what kind of a score would you give it? You can find us on all of our social media accounts to tell us what you think on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, and YouTube at Film Whiskey. Or you can jump onto. Our Discord we are on here every single day talking to you guys, fans of the Film and Whiskey Podcast. So if you want to join the conversation, you can find a link to the Discord at the end of every single one of our show notes we. Want to say thank you? Again to our guest, Bilga Abiri Bilga, it is just an absolute honor and a privilege to have you here. What are you up to, and where can people find you? I I'm.

1:39:23 Still at Vulture New York Magazine, best place to find my writing is to just go to vulture.com and poke around. Usually I have something up. I'm on Twitter at Delga Ibiri BILGEEBIRI and that's about it. You know, I, I, I every once in a while something by me will show up somewhere else, you know, like the Criterion Collection or something like that. Right now I'm in the midst of writing something. I don't know when this will go up, but right, I'm in the midst of writing something about tenant right now, so but that'll probably be up by the time by the time this this episode comes around. Brad next. Week we are diving into a film that was for a time when I was 7, my favorite movie of all time and that is the Jeff Goldblum, Will Smith Banger Independence Day. I cannot wait to watch this movie with you next week, man. Bob, I've I've.

1:40:14 Never seen Independence Day. I'm so excited. Brad, this is the best season of our podcast by far. I I'm. So pumped about it, man. We'll see if you're still saying that by the time we hit 2019. But so far, even like sister act was a lot of. Fun The 90s, Baby the the 90s. All right, We'll see you. Guys, next week for Independence Day. But until then, I'm Bob Book. I'm Braggie. And we'll see you. Next time. Music.