La La Land / Rebel 100 6-Year Bourbon

0:00 In 2016, director Damien Chazelle and star Emma Stone gave the world a brilliant musical that captured the essence of love and dreams. In 2024, we dream about one of our favorite bourbon brands. The film is La La Land. The whiskey is Rebel 106 year bourbon 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. And this week we are looking at Damien Chazelle's 2016 masterpiece. Oh, that's that's a bold, bold move, Cotton. I'm going to go ahead and say no, but it is Damien Chazelle's film La La Land. Oh Bob, this is 100% of masterpiece. Can you have more than one masterpiece? Yes. I think some people operate under the assumption that you have to choose one. I've always said no. I mean, you look at guys like Spielberg or Scorsese, like there's the Mount Rushmore is better than anybody else's. Best movie ever. You know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah, that's a So you're saying yes, you can have more than one masterpiece? I think you can. OK, yeah, I was going to say there's no chance that you can look at even, you know, a few seasons ago we did little director miniseries at like, I can't have watched a bunch of movies by one director and just say, Nope, you're only allowed to pick one.

1:49 Yeah, for sure. And I think with Chazelle, you know, he's made 4 theatrical films now. He did, he did have a film before Whiplash that we've never talked about, but it was kind of like his student film. So you've got Whiplash, La La Land, First Man, and then Babylon. And I think that they're, you know, Babylon and 1st Man definitely have a following, but the two that we're doing this season, Brad Whiplash and La La Land are definitely his biggest 2 films and I think both deserving of the title masterpiece. Are you trying to say that Chazelle Bros aren't quite as vocal as Nolan Bros? Not quite. Wouldn't it be funny, though, if people turned out in droves for a La La Land the way they did for Oppenheimer?

2:30 Dude, that would be a beautiful thing. Well, let's talk a little bit about this movie. This is one of the few films that Brad has seen prior to coming into the podcast. And I also happen to know it is one of Brad's favorite movies. Brad is a huge fan of La La Land. And so I'm excited to pick your brain today, Brad, because I think that it has become kind of fashionable in the, you know, bitchy, cynical world of film Twitter to dump on La La land. In retrospect, I think a lot of people have been trying to find hot takes about this movie for the last 7-8 years. I don't buy into most of them. I think this is a pretty fantastic movie. But I'm curious what puts it over the edge into being like a, you know, I don't know if you're going to give it a 10 out of 10, but for the sake of argument, a 10 out of 10 classic movie for you. I think La La Land captures the essence of what it means to be a human in a lot of ways.

3:28 Like, there's this beautiful ability that Chazelle shows in this film to delve into the realm of human desire and love and how two people, two flawed, imperfect people can push each other to become better and better and better and achieve their dreams. And in the midst of all that, there's still this longing, this desire of like, well, what if I had stayed with this person? I, I just, I think it taps into humanity at its core. And, and, and there's just so much beauty about that. Like, at the end of the day, all of us live with dreams. And the, the final sequence of this film, which you know, spoilers if you have not seen this film, go watch it. It is well worth watching before you listen to this episode. But at the end of the film, they go through this extended sequence of a what if?

4:25 Like what if we hadn't been so negative with each other and broken each other's hearts and moved away from each other. You know, what is the child we might have had together? What is the life we could have lived together? And I think that that is a testament to the power of human choice and how that reality that you get at the end of the film could have happened if they had chosen differently throughout their life. And so I just, I love that element of free will and destiny kind of colliding in this movie. Yeah, and we're going to get into talking about all this, but Chazelle seems to have a running theme, especially in these first few films, about the choices we make, the dreams that we choose to invest in, and the cost investing in those dreams.

5:11 Whiplash definitely had that. This movie does as well. Whiplash is about that. I know, right? Isn't that crazy? Who? Who knew? All right, man. I think that we're in a good spot to get to our first segment of the day, which we call Brad explains Brad's going to. Give us the movie plots with only 60 seconds sticking on the clock. So let's go ahead and do your take with this little segment that we call, Brad explains. Brad Explains is the part of the show where Brad breaks down the plot of the film that he has just seen, often for the first time. Obviously not Brad's first time with La La Land, but what's the La La Meter at Brad? How many times have we seen it? I want to say this is my fifth time watching La La Land. Maybe fourth.

5:55 Wow. Yeah, that might be a record, dude. And not only have I seen it that many times, I like this is a movie I saw in theaters, which is a rarity in and of itself. I probably watched it with some friends. A year or two later, I watched on the plane because I wanted to watch something good. And now I've watched it again. So yeah, 4 I believe I'm at 4 times. All right, well, then you should be able to summarize this movie pretty easily, Brad. You get 60 seconds to breakdown the movie's plot, including full spoilers. Let's go La La Land. I will say when I was on the plane watching it, I was like sitting there like Bob book esque like weeping in my seat trying to keep it in. You know what?

6:41 That's the thing that I like. I want to hone in on what makes you cry about this movie? I think like it's it definitely has like some grieving regret elements to it at the end of the film. I'm shocked to hear that you cry at this movie. Oh 100% dude, we will get into that. Yeah, let's, let's do, Brett explains. 60 seconds go. La La Land is a film about two young professionals in Los Angeles. I was going to say, I was going to say in La, La Land in Los Angeles, one of whom is Mia, who is a up and coming actress, which means that she works at a coffee shop and does a billion auditions. And the other is Sebastian, a young man who wants to be a serious professional jazz musician who holds on to a respect for the old world of jazz. Both of them have their goals and dreams, and as their worlds collide, they fall in love, push each other to be the best that they can be, and everything falls apart between them, even as things come together on their professional lives. Boom, La La land, baby Brad.

7:52 I think I'd like to frame our conversation thusly today. I am very high on this movie. I'm going to give this movie a very high score, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to come out just slightly below where you're at on this movie. So I want to first of all extend the olive branch to tell you that no matter what gets said here today, Brad, I'm going to give this movie a very high score. But I think it's one of those films that I am on the cusp of loving. And it's that that fine balance between, damn, this is really good and I really appreciate the movie, but it doesn't have like all of my heart. And I think if it did these few things just a tiny bit better that I would be in love with this movie The way you're in love with this movie. Is that fair to say?

8:37 100% I understand that your heart still has some dead patches, still places that Christ needs to regenerate it. It makes sense. I mean, we are arriving at the time of year where we have our annual reminder that I like the Grinch and so my heart may not have grown 3 full sizes yet to receive this movie into it, but we'll get there, man. So I think what I'd like to say on my cold, callous heart front is let's kind of breakdown what the movie's trying to do, because to the film's credit, it's trying to do a lot. There are many homages and references. It's also trying to be many types of one film at one time.

9:18 And I think that Chazelle pulls it off almost in spite of the ambition of the movie, but that ambition needs to be kind of discussed. And so let's let's start diving into all of the things Chazelle's trying to accomplish with this movie. And I think we just start with the title of the film, La La Land. At its core, this movie is about many things. But he wanted to capture his love for Los Angeles. I was reading a one of those stupid listicles of like all the things that Damien Chazelle was influenced by when he was making La La Land. And one of them was this movie from the early 90s. Does every like listicle article in your mind voiced by like like a 2020 murder mystery narrator?

10:05 No, it's voiced by like the worst guest you've ever heard on Joe Rogan. That's like that tone. It's like, maybe you've never heard of this, but it's like one of those things and one of the the influences was this early 90s movie called Falling Down. It's a Michael Douglas movie about a guy who just absolutely snaps and then just goes on a like a shooting spree across Los Angeles. I thought it was like a comedy from like the 20s about a. Guy like an old heralding Charlie Chaplin. Yeah, he's. Just tripping over and over. Well, Chazelle said that when he was growing up in New Jersey, he watched this film and it convinced him that Hollywood and LA in general is a hellhole and that it's the scary place that you should never go. And he said, once I arrived here, I fell in love with the city and found out that it was nothing like that movie. And I think that that's a good way of kind of framing the LA of it all.

10:56 Brad, you and I, I mean, I have for sure never been to Los Angeles. Have you ever set foot in LA? No, I have been to San Francisco and that is that is the closest I've been. Well, it's closer to me, but still far away from Los Angeles. It's still like a six or seven hour drive. You might as well be in a different state dude. But I, I love movies that are like about a place. And you can tell, you know, when you're watching a film that's made by a native New Yorker and they're trying to give you a sense of what it's like to live in New York or Los Angeles or Chicago, any of these big cities. And I think that I'd like to hear your thoughts on what does Chazelle capture about LA that you think he was trying to get across?

11:39 But kind of more broadly, is this a good LA movie to you? Once again, as somebody who's never been to Lai would imagine that this is very much So what LA is like. All of the horror stories that you hear from this town revolve around people going there, and it's the place where your dreams shine brightest and fall the furthest. Like when Mia is going to audition after audition after audition, and you know, these people are barely paying any attention to her. They're answering phone calls as she's, like, crying on camera, which is something that was inspired by Ryan Gosling and something that happened during one of his auditions. It feels like LA is this bright, beautiful, gorgeous dance of a city that you know, in the same way that the movie starts, it's all of these dreamers who are dancing on the streets and would only put up with the traffic because they know that they're going to be the one who makes it. And yet not many of them do, and most of them face extraordinarily difficult times before they ever succeed in their dreams.

12:54 And so it it seems to me like the heart of the city, at least the Hollywood area of LA, is captured really well. Yeah, I think they definitely do a good job of capturing the emotion of the city and what's, what's the phrase like the the stakes involved in everybody being there, right? It's all these dreamers who have come to LA to pursue this thing that is inside of them that has driven them away from their hometowns and they're going out on a limb. I think I'm wondering more of like, I, I still don't really know if I get a good sense of the city of LA in this movie because it's a highly romanticized version of LA. You only really see a few neighbourhoods.

13:35 I do think they let Chazelle does a good job of kind of, are you playing along or like playfully poking fun at the stuff that sucks about LA, like the traffic? You know, there's a scene where he picks Mia up from her house and they go around the corner and then you just hear her scream like it's a one way and then you watch them back up across the screen. Do you? Like, talk about a great like physical sight comedy. Like what a great shot. So in addition to it being a movie about LA and his deep, deep love for LA, it's also a musical, a out and out musical with original songs written for it. And I think there's a couple ways to approach that part of it. Brad 1 is like, how does this work as a musical?

14:18 How does it compare to musicals of the past? But I'd like to start with the songs themselves, because I think top to bottom, this is one of the best movie musicals that's come out in a long time, featuring holy original stuff. Dude the songs in this movie are freaking bangers. Like I am watching John Legend just tear it up on stage to one of the catchiest songs like that. Like the song that he's saying. Oh, it's so good. It it gets stuck in my head every time I watch this movie. I'm like humming it for weeks on end. The song of days that John Legend does. And so folks at this part of the movie, Ryan Gosling has kind of accepted a job touring with the band of a guy he went to Conservatory with or whatever. And he's playing a much popular style of music that, you know, his purest heart does not like to play. And I think Brad, that song is actually so good that it's kind of problematic for the whole movie and kind of for Ryan Gosling's character a little bit too, because, you know, he's so mopey and talking about how much he hates playing that music. And it's like, bro, I'm sorry.

15:26 But if, if we as an audience are supposed to be on your side here, then you should have made that song worse because I am fully on board for whatever you're doing on stage there. I think that's like the, I think that's the key point about his character though, is that he is unwilling to move on. He's unwilling to dive into what it could be. And so like, I think that's kind of the whole point. If anything, it's watching Mia respond to how much Seb is enjoying himself playing the music. Like that part that felt a little bit jarring for me where it's like that was one of the very few points of the film that every time I watch it it, it causes me to struggle that she is not allowing him to evolve to change as a person.

16:22 Like, like this is diving into character study, which we weren't doing, but. No, no, I this is good because it is kind of getting us off schedule a little bit. But it's also that scene is one of the key scenes in the movie. But I think it's because you can read it like 5 different ways. Like I actually was was going through the IMDb synopsis of the film and the way they describe it in there was like, Mia goes to see the concert and can tell that Seb is not enjoying playing this music and she's horrified for him. And it's like, that's not actually how Emma Stone plays it in the scene or how Ryan Gosling plays it. Like, he might hate this kind of music, but he looks like he's making the best of it. And she looks horrified.

17:03 And I think it's left up to interpretation what she's horrified about. Is it that she sees that his future will be playing music that he hates? Is it more kind of the cynical reading, what you're getting at, like, and what Ryan Gosling accuses her of in the next scene, which is you only liked me when I was failing, and now that I'm successful, you don't like me anymore? I do think there's a number of ways to read that scene, and it reflects poorly on either or of the two main characters, depending on how you read it. Yeah, I mean, I, I think throughout the movie, Sebastian continually pushes Mia to change and grow and be better. And as he is trying to do that, she is pushing against him changing.

17:47 The the reason I would lean actually towards the first reading that you said where Mia like recognizes his hatred of the new music as he's playing it is the fact that dude, the scene where they get in the argument as they're having the dinner that he made for her. I think it's up there with Marriage Story is like one of the best arguments I've ever seen a couple have on screen because Ryan Gosling, Literally the entire time he is arguing with her, his eyes are down down, down. He won't make eye contact with her unless he is accusing her of something.

18:28 It's like he raises his eyes for a challenge and then every other moment he's like stuttering and stumbling over himself to try to defend where he's at and his eyes stay down the entire time. I think it's one of the best bits of acting in the entire film. Yeah, And I think that scene almost feels improvised because it mimics a real life argument so well. I think it's really brilliantly scripted. But the way they both play that scene is like, man, I wonder if they were like ad libbing a little bit during the filming of it. I I really can't tell. I think it's the best acted scene in the whole movie. And it also kind of wears the influences on its sleeve, right? I mean, she comes into his apartment, and outside the apartment window is this green neon light coming in. And Brad, if we've watched a movie many times for this podcast that features a man watching a woman walk through the door surrounded by green neon light like this is a clear homage to the hotel room scene in Vertigo. Let's go dude, I didn't even realize that. Oh, I thought that was like the most obvious reference of the. Movie.

19:37 As soon as you said green neon light, I'm like, he's right. It's Vertigo. Now see, this is, I think one of those areas where Chazelle is such a great student of classic Hollywood and he's trying to evoke something here. But in the movie Vertigo, the colors red and green are so like tied to specific emotions. Green being like memory, red being longing. And I think in this movie, he goes kind of overboard on that too, because right after that, you have the scene of Mia about to walk on stage on her one woman show. And she is like shrouded in red neon light in that moment. And it's pretty clear. That Chazelle is trying to visually recall Vertigo, but I can't tell what those colors are supposed to represent in this movie. Like, it feels like a nice little nod to Vertigo, but it doesn't feel as purposeful.

20:26 And I think that kind of underlines my overall opinion of the movie, which is like, this is a expertly made film and I can see his heart and his passion behind it, but I can't always tell exactly what the purpose of those homages are. It's like, besides just saying, hey, I saw this movie, You know what I mean? Sure. I for me, I don't know. I mean, it's hard for me because I didn't necessarily see that as an homage at first. I think that the thing I loved about the lighting and coloring of the movie is that the entire first half, 2/3 of the movie are these wildly bright and brilliant and colorful scenes.

21:14 Where like, think about when Mia is in her apartment. Like every single one of her roommates is wearing things that nobody wears around their apartment like that. Like they're all wearing these bright, bombastic colors. And the entire movie is shot in that way. But as they descend into the depths of their dark night of the soul, the the shadow on their career, they the lighting of the movie becomes a lot more Moody. And I think neon is a really good illustration of that. Like when I think about neon lights, I think about things like Vertigo. I think about things like like 1980s dystopian sci-fi, like like Harrison Ford dystopian movies. And so you find yourself in this darker, Moody place. And so the the bright red light, the bright green neon light didn't necessarily make me think homage. It made me think like, we're getting into these really jarring places where the characters are in so much darkness they don't know what's the right choice to make. Yeah, I think, and I think that's a perfect segue into talking about this movie.

22:28 Compared to kind of your classic Hollywood musical where everything was filmed on a soundstage. The lighting is always impeccable. Think about a movie like American in Paris, which this pays direct homage to. The lighting in that movie is very clearly like really even done by light bulbs, not done by natural sources for the most part. And I think this movie, it caught me off guard once again from the very beginning. You got that opening number, Another Day of Sun, where they legitimately closed down an exit ramp on the freeway for two days to make this number. They filmed it on location in the blaring sun of LA, and it's really cool that they did that. But the sun is so bright and such harsh lighting for a film that a lot of times the people's faces in that scene are like blown out by the sun on one side of their face. And then there's like too much darkness on the other side of their face and you can't really see their faces. And then I love that.

23:27 I like I think. And I think that's it's an aesthetic choice, right? And either works for you or it doesn't. But the whole movie is kind of like that where I would just describe the lighting in most of this movie as harsh. And I don't necessarily mean it's like a spotlight being shined on you by the interrogator, like, where were you the night of? But it's always like, kind of unforgiving light. It shows like, you know, the oiliness of someone's skin or you can see their pores. It's not lit in a classic Hollywood way. And I think that's what's really interesting. And you can tell Chazelle's doing it on purpose, but he's trying to tell a classical Hollywood story in in terms of the theme of the movie, but to visually represent it in the most realistic way possible.

24:09 And it's such an interesting mash up of ideas. I think it, I think that's what works so well for me about the movie is that human beings are simultaneously their dreams and their reality that the bright sun on one side represents, you know, I mean, that's another day of sun. It's about the dreamers that want to see these great visions of grandeur become reality. But then there's the dark side of that. There's the difficulties that we face. There is the grease on our skin that we desperately want to get rid of the the pores and the like. All of the rawness of being a human is captured in this movie. And, and so the, for me, the lighting choices really accentuate that reality that these are very real people who also have these bright, huge dreams. And and like you, you asked earlier, like what makes me emotional about this movie, it is the tension that Chazelle holds between those two things.

25:13 That we can dance in the stars to the most beautiful of music and yet still end up in a place with regrets and doubts and insecurities. Man, what an eloquent way of phrasing your love for this movie. I, I really have no rebuttal. I I do think I just want to say like the lighting, the, the look of the movie is a purposeful aesthetic choice and it either works for you or it doesn't. And for me, it was the thing that took me out of the movie The most. You know, the very famous shot from the poster of the movie of them dancing to the song. I believe it's called a lovely night. You can tell on all of the print materials that came out the poster that they had to digitally like brighten up that scene because in the movie you can't see their faces hardly at all because they're they're lighting it with the street lamps and obviously some off camera lights.

26:06 But it's intended to look like a parking lot at night time in in the real world. And they're just parts of me that are like, dude, you can still like this in a way that's like movie magic. And we'll all still think that it's a parking lot. It doesn't have to look fake to look presentable. And for me, sometimes the movie doesn't look presentable. It looks like, did you not have the budget for the lights to so I could just like see their faces while they're dancing. Do you know what I mean? Yeah, did did the scenes that were very not farcical, but like the the fantasy sequence. The fantasy sequences, did those work better for you? They're truly like just shadow silhouettes dancing across the sky.

26:49 That and then you know, the the extended fantasy sequence at the end of the film where they're just ripping off American in Paris. They're doing that on a sound stage. The lighting is freaking beautiful. That and and I don't need everything to look like it was done on a sound stage, but I've always remembered this one quote. There's a cinematographer named Conrad Hall and he's the guy that filmed American Beauty and wrote to Perdition, very famous cinematographer. And one of the Godfather movies that was shot by Gordon Willis did not get nominated for best cinematography, which is crazy because like the Godfather movies look incredible. But Gordon Willis, his nickname was the master of darkness because he always put people's faces in shadow. And you know, when you watch the Godfather films, especially the second one, it's very purposely done so that you, you kind of can't see people's faces in these dimly lit interiors sometimes.

27:45 And they asked Conrad Hall, who was like the head of the cinematography wing of the Academy at the time, why didn't you guys nominate the Godfather? And he, he said, it's all about the eyes. You have to have eye lights off screen so that we can see the twinkle in their eyes. And it's, it's a controversial decision that was made 50 years ago, but I think it applies kind of to movies like this. You can choose dramatic lighting, but you still have to kind of demonstrate that you know the rules in in order to break them. And I think sometimes this movie looks like, frankly, I just like, I think the lighting kind of looks amateurish sometimes, Brad. No, I, I think that's fair. I, I think that the, there are scenes where they're dancing, specifically the lovely night that you're talking about that remind me of something like the scene in White Christmas where the two guys go to see the two girls at the club and then Danny Kaye ends up dancing, you know, up the, the pier and back. And, you know, I'm talking about for some reason, those two scenes remind me of each other.

28:51 And you're right, like in White Christmas, you can absolutely see their faces, their emotions, what's going on. The cameras also a little bit closer to them, like I feel like he has a more detached camera in La La Land, whereas, you know, classical classic Hollywood musicals. The cameras a little bit closer and more flat to the actors rather than like up and at an angle. And that's one of those things where I know Chazelle's doing it on purpose because to your point about the camera in this movie, he is in love with his wonders in this movie. There are so many really, really long takes.

29:32 And that lovely night sequence, once they start dancing, I believe is 1 extended shot and the camera will pull way far back. And then it'll kind of just be a two shot and then, you know, when they finally kiss, it pushes all the way in on their faces. And it's really brilliant use of the camera. And so I know that if this guy has these camera shots choreographed so perfectly, then obviously his decision to light the movie like this is a is a purposeful decision. But that's kind of what puts me in this frustrated place sometimes with this film, 'cause it's like I agree with 9 out of 10 choices you make, but the one that you that I don't agree with is like, why would you like this movie like that? It's a it's a burn your saddle, isn't it, Bob?

30:13 Well, hey, man, we've got a lot to talk about. We really haven't talked about Emma Stone or Ryan Gosling, but I think we're in a good place on what this movie means to you, what my small gripes with it are. And we can kind of come back and revisit how these two leads really take over this movie. But we'll be. Completely forgotten about the star of this film, JK Simmons. Oh. Man, listen, those those couple snaps he does at the end of the film. All right, man, let's drink some whiskey. What do you say? Let's get to it. All right, so today we are checking out Rebel 106 Year Bourbon Whiskey. Now, Brad, as you know, the Rebel brand is near and dear to our hearts.

30:59 The Rebel, the Rebel lineup, we've pretty much liked everything in the Rebel lineup, some less than others, but I don't think I would just say no to any of them. No, I would absolutely drink anything they put in front of me. We especially like the words back-to-back. Rebel 100. That like that, is an especially beautiful phrase in my heart. A couple weeks ago we looked at the Rebel Small Batch Reserve. So today we're moving into one of their newer expressions which is this Rebel 106 year. Now I believe the Rebel 100 is a non age stated product, so we know that it is at least four years old, but it's a blend of stuff and this one is an age stated product. So I appreciate that Luxe Row is not doing away with the $20 bottle of Rebel 100 that we love so much, but offering kind of an, you know, a more elegant version of it. Yeah, it is always fun to see what happens to some of your favorite whiskeys when they stay in a barrel for a longer period of time.

32:07 Like, you know, we've we've talked a lot about like dreams and love and and human decisions. Like, there is something magical about whiskey, Bob, that like, but we've talked to enough master distillers at this point to know that you can be as scientific as you want with whiskey if you are not MGP. Like there's a magic to what goes on here that you just can't capture time and time again. And so, yeah, like leaving it in the barrel for a few years longer. I think it's going to be really curious to see what has happened to one of our favorite budget whiskies. Now, Brad and I first tried Rebel 106 Year when we were at the Kentucky Bourbon Festival way back in September. We visited the Luxe Row Distillery. They had a little tasting bar there, and that's where we tried the Small Batch Reserve and the Rebel 106 Year. So I already have my scores written down. Brad, it's fun to revisit this one, but let's go ahead and jump into our nosing notes.

33:07 On the nose, I got a lot of cherry. I, I mean, this is just a beautiful bomb of cherry. There's like a, a caramel drizzle going on here, a little bit of a cheesecake feel and it definitely dove into an almond territory that I enjoyed quite a bit. I give it an 8 out of 10. Yeah, I'm also at an 8 out of 10. You know, it has classic egg, classic Rebel notes, but just classic weeded bourbon notes. Cherry is all over the place on this. It's a little bit dustier than the regular Rebel 100 and I think that has a lot to do with the extra age in the oak. And then chocolate. I I don't usually get dark chocolate on Rebel products, but this was kind of like eating a cherry cordial. I really, really loved it.

33:53 I gave it an 8 out of 10. The balance on this palate is so nice. Like there is the cherry that's not overwhelming, there's caramel, there's vanilla. It gets really almost into like a white vanilla cake consistency for me. And there's this really nice rich cream cheese frosting. I think that this is a banger, Bob. Like I'm at a nine out of 10 on the pallet. I'm at an 8.5, but I agree with you man. There's there's a lot of spice here, not just alcohol burn and there's a little bit of ethanol here, but it's, it just tastes almost like like when you first flip the switch into fall and you start eating like spice cake or pumpkin roll or anything like that.

34:39 And just everything has more cinnamon, nutmeg, clove to it. There's some of that here. It's definitely oak heavy. It might be the most oaky rebel product we've tried, but it's really balanced with this kind of sweet Luxardo cherry note on the back of the pallet and it's underlying everything. It never tips into like a Robitussin flavor, which sometimes we get when it's too oaky and has that cherry note to it. It gets kind of medicinal. This does not have that at all. Really beautiful. I gave it an 8.5 and then on the finish I I took really brief notes on this man. I just said waves of flavor, a bit ethanol heavy, but the oak and cherry linger. I think the thing that I want to give this credit for is its consistency across the board. Like not the most complex whiskey we've ever had, but every note you get is consistent throughout. So I'm going to give the finish an 8 out of 10 as well. You you said that you start eating spice cake and fall. I just imagine like you see a leaf that's like barely turning yellow and you reach into your you unzip your cargo shorts and like Napoleon reaching for some tots, you just pull some like smashed spice cake out.

35:50 You're like frosting. It's between my. I think the finish, for me, it falls off a little bit. It turns into almost a cherry syrup kind of taste. It gets very oaky for me at the end of this. The vanilla kind of gets lost in the shuffle, but it's still a very good finish, just not quite the heights that we hit on the pallet. I'm at a 7 1/2 on the finish. I do think I'm at an 8 out of 10 on the balance. Like there is everything you want out of a rubble product, plus a little bit of that dusty oakiness. And you can't go wrong here, Bob and.

36:32 That's why I gave the, that's why I gave this a nine on balance. Now I do think that balance kind of like value can be a little skewed by the type of product you're trying. Like, again, this is not the most complex thing we've ever tried and it's a relatively inexpensive whiskey compared to a lot of stuff we've been drinking this season, Brad. But for what it is, it's incredibly consistent and I want to reward that by giving it a nine here on balance. Now, when it comes to the price, it's kind of all over the place from what I'm seeing online. I see it for $65, I see it for $49.00. I don't know if you have an MSRP, Brad, but if you don't, I was going to say like 55 seems to be a pretty nice middle ground for this. I think I looked at the distillery and it was $60. OK.

37:19 All right. Well, I mean, I'm seeing it for as as little as 50, but we can set it at 60 if you'd like. Yeah, I mean, I don't, I don't care in that 50 to $60.00 range. I mean, you know, $10 is a big difference. Not, you know, going to break the bank. I think if you put it in that 50 to $60.00 range, this is a 7 out of 10 value like this. Oh Bob, this is right on the edge of being a remarkable whiskey it it's not quite there at $60.00. Actually, if this was like 4548 dollars, I think that this would be like a nine out of 10 value. I mean, Rebel Distillers Collection is my favorite whiskey and that I think it's gone up in price a little bit.

38:06 But as recently as like two years ago, if you could find it 'cause it is kind of allocated, it was $35.00. So this is significantly more expensive than that and it's nowhere near as good as that one is. I think just kind of given the market, yeah, I'm at a 7 out of 10. This is we've always kind of talked about or I know we haven't always, we talk about how you have that like $10 per year pricing structure and this is about that. However, I think there's other things at this price point, like if you told me, hey, you could have this Rebel 10 or Rebel 106 year or Wild Turkey rare breed like that's that's kind of a no brainer for me. So it's it's just a 7 out of 10 for me, but that's still enough to bump this over the 40 mark for me.

38:49 I'm at a 40.5 Brad. I am exactly 1 point behind you Bob. I'm at a 39.5 out of 50. All right, so we are averaging out to a 40 out of 50. This is hitting that sort of excellent mark where not only do we recommend it, but it becomes kind of a no brainer for us to recommend. Yeah, I, like I said before, this is like on the edge of being a spectacular whiskey for me. I think that at $60.00, it's a really fun, flavorful representation of one of our favorite brands. I just, I wish it was like 45 to 50. Yeah, same, same. All right, man. So I think the undisputed king of Rebel, the Rebel line is still that distillers collection. We also definitely liked Rebel Cask Strength, but man I like nothing's approaching that distillers collection for me. Unless you're talking straight value and then Rebel 100 takes the cake.

39:45 I dude I've had so many conversations with people recently like I don't know why but I've had so many people ask me what's like your best budget bourbon to buy and I have been name dropping rebel 100 like it's freaking hot. I swear to God, rebel you, you got to just start sponsoring this podcast. This is ridiculous at this point. You guys all right, man, let's get back into talking about La La Land. What do you say? Let's get to it. All right everybody. That was Rebel 106 year. A really great expression of whiskey that I just wish cost a little bit less. Yeah, me too.

40:27 That's OK, you know. You know, it doesn't cost you anything at all, Bob. Freaking winning this week's game. 2 facts and a falsehood. Brad is going to try to stump you. Ball 2 are right and what is wrong? 2 facts and a falsehood. 2 Facts and a Falsehood is the part of the show where Brad presents me with three items as fact about the making of this movie, one of which is a complete lie and I have to figure out which one that is Brad I am sitting at what? 12345. 6:00 and 2:00 on the season so far. You're knocking it out of the park, man. I'm. Doing all right, I did very little research on La La Land aside from reading that one listicle. So unless it was, unless all of these are influences on Chazelle, then I you might get me today, man. Yeah, I am very excited for this specific set of two facts and a falsehood.

41:23 All right, let's hear him. Fact #1 director and scriptwriter Damien Chazelle said that he originally included a subplot in Blue involving Sebastian having his teeth knocked out by some people he owed money to, similar to jazz legend Chet Baker. While it didn't make it into the final cut, he did keep an element of the idea, with Sebastian biting his lip and showing his front teeth during his band's photo shoot. Yikes. Fact #2 executive music producer Marius Devries says of the song City of Stars it had many permutations prior to filming, from duet female lead, male lead until it locked into its current position. The whistling in the song was done by Justin Hurwitz as Ryan Gosling is unable to whistle.

42:12 Huh. Fact #3 Emma Stone performed the song Audition The Fools Who Dream Live. She would decide when to switch from dialogue to singing. There was no pre recorded soundtrack that she was lip syncing to. Justin Hurwitz, the song's composer, was in another room, playing the piano in her ear. Well, these are good, Brad. I don't know. I'm going to say 3 is true because you can kind of tell that she's doing like a live on set performance. So that leaves me with one and two. Now I am immediately drawn to number one. I'll explain why. Earlier today I texted Brad and said, hey, are you familiar with Chet Baker?

42:56 And Brad said, I have never heard of that human being before today. And Chet Baker, of course, very famous jazz trumpeter who also sang occasionally and has a very unique, like really, really well regarded voice. It's this breathy kind of sultry voice. He's good for ballads. And I was like, this had to be an influence on how Ryan Gosling was instructed to sing in this movie. And that's how I ended up on that stupid listicle because it ended up being true. Ryan Gosling was influenced by Chet Baker. However, Brad was not familiar with Chet Baker. So I'm immediately drawn to #1 as a falsehood, 'cause if you had done this research, you would have heard of Chet Baker before I texted you. Here's here's a thought for you, Bob. What if I made 2 facts and a falsehood 10 minutes before we got on and I went to the IMDb page, clicked control F and typed in chat Baker?

43:51 You might have done that. Perhaps I should do that right now just to Fact Check myself. I don't know, man. It's either one or two. I'm gonna go ahead and just put it on one 'cause I bought. I, you know, made the effort to tell that super long kind of anticlimactic story. So we're going to say #1 is the falsehood, Brad. Bob, you have locked in the absolutely 100% correct answers. You are sitting at 7:00 and 2:00, my friend. More importantly, I got you to listen to a small snippet of Chet Baker. You did, and I googled him and he did in fact have his front teeth knocked out by a drug dealer. By a drug dealer.

44:35 Yeah, he had a very tragic life, man, as most jazz musicians tend to have, apparently. Yeah. Not Sebastian man. He ends up owning his own club and living the bachelor life. It's great, man. Yeah, he he doesn't seem sad at all at the end of. No, not, not even in the slightest. Let's jump into talking about the leads of this movie, Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling. And since we're on Sebastian right now, let's talk about Ryan Gosling. Now, Emma Stone wins the Oscar for this movie. Ryan Gosling obviously does not, and I think upon watching it this time, that is the correct choice. I still don't know if Emma Stone's performance screams Oscar winner, but Ryan Gosling's character is definitely hard to get your arms around. He's a he's kind of a prickly guy, but from scene to scene, he's so damn lovable.

45:23 And I think Ryan Gosling is inspired casting for this performance because he as an actor, really toes the line between too cool for school. Like I'm, I'm too good for this. And you kind of see it in that lovely night dance number. My guy is just super half hearted in the way he's dancing in that scene. But then you have the scene like where I don't know if it's his sister is over at his apartment towards the beginning of the film and he's going back and forth with her. And it's just like this is what Ryan Gosling was made for was to do this like self deprecating, improv heavy style of comedy. And so he's, he's a delight. I just don't know if it's the character as written that I can't quite get my arms around or if it's how Gosling plays him from scene to scene. I think Gosling is spectacular in this movie. Bob, I like.

46:13 I don't totally disagree with you. I think there are some places where like the Gosling of it all kind of overwhelms the character, but that is very few and far between. I think that you get to see somebody who has been burned too many times for holding a strong opinion, obviously in the world of jazz and like he's going to go down with the ship. And I think that's why you have such a deep disconnect between Mia and Sebastian in in the ultimate fight scene that they have. I think that Gosling is absolutely incredible at playing the disaffected person who deeply wants to believe in something real but is trying to just get by in life even as he has these huge dreams. Yeah, I totally agree.

47:09 I think the thing with Gosling is that because he plays everything kind of deadpan and sometimes too cool for school, his way of expressing emotion is also that he's really good at playing a guy who tries to stifle his emotion. And so he's like, right at the very end of the movie, there's a time jump after Mia and Sebastian have kind of broken up and she's gone off and become a famous actress. She wanders into his jazz club with her husband and he sees her, kind of freezes up, and then goes over to the piano. And you watch him decide what to play. And Gosling is just absolutely like statuesque, like he, he just sits there still, but there's so much tension in him without any expression that it communicates so much.

47:57 And I, I really love the dynamic of both of them together, he and Emma Stone. Because where I think Emma Stone really succeeds in this movie is when they do close-ups on her face and she has just the tiniest little flicker of emotion or you start to see those great big eyes of her as well up with tears. She plays the minutia of emotion really, really well. And he plays the suppression of emotion really well. 100% and whenever I love his character because whenever he has high emotions regarding Mia, he lets them out like every single time. But whenever it's something that he wants or something that's really a huge emotion about him, he freezes up, he pushes it down, and it just feels like a very raw, honest human being. And I think that Gosling is stellar at communicating that. Now, it sounds like you had some qualms with the decisions that Emma Stone's character makes in this movie, which is funny because I, I really did have the opposite read from you on that one scene we discussed earlier.

49:03 But let's talk about her performance because she does win the Academy Award. I think that a lot of her winning this award was running a really good campaign. She's a super likable movie star. She's really down to earth in the way she does interviews. So she was working the campaign trail a lot. But as I watched this movie, I think if you try to take that out and just say, like, does this seem like an Oscar performance? It does not because it's not a big showy role. She seems like she's Emma Stone that also sings, but I think that's kind of sneakily what makes this performance work so well. She feels like a real person when they're standing in front of her parents house towards the end of the movie and they just leave the camera on her as she just keeps saying like, maybe I'm not good enough, maybe I'm not, maybe I'm not.

49:50 And then it she finally kind of breaks down. It's like, Oh yeah, like that's she's got the goods, man. And she's not overdoing it. She's not performing in that sort of classic Hollywood musical way. And I think that that's what makes this truly a great performance, even if people can't always see it as a great performance. I think that Emma Stone is one of the best actresses we have acting nowadays, like, and it's because of performances like this, like that. That scene you just referred to felt like a goodwill hunting. It's not your fault. Like, she finally breaks down and is honest about what's going on at the deepest levels of her heart and that fear of not being good enough.

50:38 Who can't relate to that and who can't wish that they had somebody who pushed so deeply into their life that they could honestly admit that with the tears in your eyes, with the emotion coming through. I, I think Emma Stone is incredible in this movie. I think that her reaction to the producers or, you know, the casting agents who finally take her seriously, who are kind enough to say, hey, like, just tell us a story whenever you're ready. You take your time. And like, you know, the you're whenever you're ready has been said to her before in the audition, but it is said in such a biting like you're beneath us whenever you're ready, Like, and the way that the casting agent says it to her at the end of the film is full of kindness and patience And like feels honest that when the camera switches back to Emma Stone, she looks like she's about to cry because she has received kindness in the place where she is only ever received coldness for six years. I like she is freaking incredible in this movie. Yeah, I'm glad you're on the same page as me, because Gosling, man, I, I, I sound like I'm crapping on Ryan Gosling. I love Ryan Gosling.

52:02 I just think that what he's doing in this movie is a little bit more like toned down, muted than what Emma Stone is doing. And I think that she's doing a lot of the heavy lifting here. Even though the camera seems to wander off with Sebastian Moore, I think that they kind of want you to be on his side a little bit more. I was just always like, where's Emma Stone? Let's get her back in here because she's freaking great, man. Yeah, I, I always want her to be on the camera more. I do think, though, like little moments like when he gets fired by JK Simmons and has that brilliant little back and forth when he's walking away. And she, like, brings her bright dreamer like self to like put herself out there and say, hey, I think that was beautiful. Like, you don't often just say that to a stranger, although if I if I had a guy like Ryan Gosling, I might say it to them. That is just sure.

52:57 Like go for it Emma Stone, you get a girl. The brooding anger in his eyes as he brushes past her is incredible, and it makes the next scene believable that you know, six months later, whenever you know, the summer scene starts and he's playing the terrible music on the synth. Like, the idea that they would remember who each other were is only realistic if you see the brooding, angry intensity with which he approaches brushing past her in the scene before. So I want to talk real quick before we get to let's make it a double about this movie as compared to Whiplash.

53:37 We just did Whiplash a few weeks ago, so it's still kind of fresh in my brain, Brad and I think Whiplash was a obviously a much smaller movie than this, but it also was a movie that I feel like he honed a bit more because he had to make it as a short film, as a proof of concept to get financing for the whole thing. And so it felt like he really zeroed in on what that movie needed to be. And I, I just truly think Whiplash is a perfect film in a lot of ways. It's just, it works like clockwork, man. This one, it doesn't feel Shaggy, right? But I almost can tell that he had more passion for this movie, like he wanted to pour more of himself and his beliefs about the world and about regret and dreams and LA and everything else.

54:23 But this one doesn't feel quite as honed to me as Whiplash did. And I'd kind of like to hear, because I know you're higher than me on this movie, do you agree with that statement or not? I think that Whiplash is just trying to tell a different story. Like it maybe not even a different story. I think it's honing in on a different element of the human experience. Like neither Emma Stone nor Ryan Gosling's characters in this movie are interested in destroying the rest of their life in pursuit of their dream. Like like that. Like that is focusing Whiplash is focusing on just a very different part of the human experience. I think that this one is highly more focused on human choice and dreams and visions of the future and love here in the present. And how do we navigate all of those things? And so it's just working in different lanes, maybe on the same highway.

55:27 OK, I like that. Yeah. And I don't like, like I said, I don't think this is like a really shaggy movie that needs a bunch of time cut out of it. But it it reminds me of when we talk about, you know, Jaws or Jurassic Park against a Schindler's List or something. Right. Like Schindler's List, you can tell, is like a passion project for Steven Spielberg. And I think a great film. It just doesn't have the sort of clockwork precision that like a Jurassic Park does, you know what I mean? And I think this is, this is similar, obviously on a much different kind of scale, but you can see Chazelle's heart all over this movie. I just wish that it had like that I could look at this movie and say they didn't need to cut one second of this movie out.

56:08 I wouldn't change a thing about it because that is how I feel about Whiplash. I I guess I'll say this and maybe this is pre saging my final score. I think that Whiplash is the better quote UN quote film. I think I like La La Land more like just pure enjoyment. Like you, little romantic you. I am man that like there's just something so beautiful about this film that makes me want to dream big dreams and experience beauty in the world. And like, you know, we've talked about how musicals, the whole point of a well made musical is that it doesn't represent the real world is that it shows how when somebody can't find the words for what to say, they burst out into song and dance.

57:00 I think that this movie captures that element so perfectly that it oh, it's it. It's so, so good, Bob. All right. I think on that note, it's time for us to get into Let's Make It a Double presented by Blackwood Distilling Company. We're near the end of the episodes of Things, listening to the Film and Whiskey Show. Let's pair another film with this one, even if it's struggle. It's a final segment of the day. Now let's make it a double. Let's Make It a Double is the part of the show where we pick a movie to pair up with this one to make the perfect double feature. Brad, you're on a roll here. I'm going to let you go first with your Let's Make It a Double. I'm going to pair this with a movie that definitely does not stand up in quality in my mind, but I think that thematically, visually, it is a unique enough movie that I think it really would be a great pairing with Lala Land. I'm going to put this with 500 Days of Summer. Nice.

58:00 Yeah, I, I think that there's that element of relationships going sour and the hopes and dreams that we have for a relationship and how real life doesn't always match it. I think that that scene near the end of the movie when you have the split screen, like what he hopes will happen versus at the party versus what actually happens. I think that there's a lot to love about 500 Days of Summer and it feels it's got the same vibes as a La La Land. Yeah, I think I was going to go this same route, not with 500 Days with Summer, but I was, I was thinking about pairing this up with Past Lives, a movie that we're going to watch later this season because that's another movie that's all about the what ifs of this is a person that I could have married, how would my life look differently? And in that film, that sequence that we see at the end of La La Land is happening internally to those characters. And so I found that to be like a really nice interplay. I think since you chose 500 Days of Summer, though, I'm going to go a slightly different route.

58:58 And I want to talk about this filmmaker named John Carney. He's become a pretty popular filmmaker in the last decade and 1/2 for making these kind of modern musicals similar to La La Land. He made a movie back in 2007 called Once, which was won the Oscar for best original song, became a massive hit on Broadway after the movie came. And then he made a couple other bigger budget musicals as well. He made one in 2013 that had Keira Knightley and Mark Ruffalo in it called Begin Again. And I freaking love that movie. And you know, she is a musician. It's not like a musical in the same style of La La land. But what I really found fascinating about thinking about Begin Again in this movie is how do you portray someone's passion for music on screen in the 21st century in a way that doesn't feel cheesy and also doesn't feel super cynical? And I think both of those movies do that really, really well. So I'm going to pair this up with Begin Again. I would be very curious about watching that movie. It's super good you'd like.

59:58 It a lot. Big big fan of Keira Knightley. Mark Ruffalo. I I never know quite where to put my finger on him, if I like him or not. Well, give it a try man. Tell me what you think. Let's Make It a Double was presented by Blackwood Distilling Company. No matter what movie you chose to pair this with, you can always make it a double with Blackwood Distilling Co. Dude talking about something that makes me dream big. Blackwood's whiskey. So freaking good. I have been, I have been nursing this bottle of rye that we brought home from Kentucky. 'Cause I don't want it to fit it, I don't want it to be over. Yeah, it's really good. Where are you at? I'll just, I'll just get my final score out there.

1:00:39 I think this movie is a 10 out of 10. Like now I will say I was hovering between a nine and a half and A10. I think that emotionally it pushes me over the hump to say that this is a 10 out of 10 movie, even though I would recognize Whiplash is a more technically sound film that also is wildly emotionally effective. So like, I'm not acting like like Whiplash isn't, you know, this incredible film. I think Whiplash is the better movie. I think La La Land just gets me, man. Makes me cry every time. Brad I think I'm going to go with a nine out of 10 on this movie. I think my the overall enjoyment factor of this film is about an 8 1/2, but I think it's a better made movie than an 8.5. And my big hang up is is like the lighting of the movie and a few small directorial choices.

1:01:32 But I can look at this movie objectively and say those things were done on purpose. They work for some people even if they don't work for me. And I think because I know Chazelle's intention, it it kind of papers over the fact that I don't like it, I can be a little bit more objective about it because I don't have to wonder if it's just a mistake, you know what I mean? And so because I like the ambition of the movie and it works way more than it doesn't work for me, I'm going to go with a nine out of 10, which brings us to a really high average on this one, a 9.5 out of 10, Brad. Dude, what a great film. I know that this isn't going to be for everybody. I literally was watching this last night and during the day yesterday I told Haley, I'm like, I'm going to invite a bunch of guys over to watch La La Land tonight.

1:02:20 I love this movie and she goes, what a great bro night watching La La Land together. I was like, hey man, I I think it's going to be a great time. Should be watching La La Land together. I, I mean, to be honest, I think so too. Nobody came. I watched it by myself and cried. Oh, you basically had the same experience as Emma Stone in this movie. Yes, yeah, it was brutal. I was devastated. And for those of you listening, you know who you are. That's right. No, I cried because this movie is gorgeous and beautiful and I love it. All right, so there you have it, it's a 9.5 from us on La La Land, but we'd like to know what you think. You can find us on all of our social media channels Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok or YouTube at Film Whiskey. Or you can jump onto our Discord channel. We are on there every single day talking about movies, whiskey, and everything else that enters into your little brain. You can find a link to a Discord server. Well, I'm talking about people who think that you pick good movies about.

1:03:24 Sure, sure, sure. You can find a link to our Discord server at the end of every single one of our show notes. We want to say thank you again to our sponsor, Blackwood Distilling Company. If you would like to try their whiskey at 5% off, you can go to bourbonoutfitter.com/film Whiskey and type in our code Film Whiskey at checkout. That's whiskey with an E That's 5% off at Blackwood Distilling Code when you use our code Film Whiskey. We'll be back next week, Brad. Going in a completely different direction. We're looking at the sci-fi classic District 9. District 9. District 9. District 9. So join us for that next week, but until then, I'm Bob Book. I'm Brad G.

1:04:07 And we'll see you next time.