Night at the Museum / Redwood Empire Lost Monarch (feat. Lee Diaz, ReserveBar)

0:00 In 2006, director Shawn Levien star Ben Stiller gave the world a goofy romp through the expansive annals of history. In 2024 we sample a different kind of empire. The film is Night at the Museum. The whiskey is Redwood Empire lost monarch. 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.

0:48 I'm Bob Book. I'm Brad G. And today we are in the year 2006 looking at the second highest grossing domestic box office juggernaut of the year. Night at the museum. Brad what? Was #1 Bob? Number one was Pirates of the Caribbean Dead Man's Chest. But our operative rule on the season is if we just reviewed your movie 3 weeks ago and now it has a sequel, we're not doing it. I I will just take this Pirates. Enough. Me too. I'll take this one obligatory moment to say go watch Bill Nighye, he films. Yeah, listen, man, the Davy Jones character and the design of that character. Oh man.

1:29 And it holds up really well 18 years later. Does. 100% So folks, if this is your first time joining us, welcome into film and whiskey. This season, what we're doing is looking at the highest grossing films from 1988 to 2019, and we're visiting each year in succession. Brad, when we arrived at 2006, I was pretty surprised to see Night at the Museum as the second highest grossing movie. It's one of those films that like we were still in a big DVD market at the time and pretty much everybody I knew at least rented this movie at some point. It's just it seemed like a very harmless, family friendly movie. But in the shocker of all shockers, at the end of last week I announced I have never seen this movie prior to. Not a single, not a single time, Bob. No.

2:16 And it's kind of like, I don't know if it was just, hey, I'll get around to it eventually, someday, or the trailer. The trailer pretty much gives the whole thing away. So I have a sense of what this is, but I'm glad I've seen it now. But this is one of the rare Bob hasn't seen it weeks on film and whiskey. Yeah, and I I probably saw this. I know that I saw it more than once, but I'm pretty sure it was just two times. I don't think I've returned to this movie time and time again, so this is in the medium amount of times I've seen a movie 2 times. The the bell curve does not span a large number here. It it sure doesn't, Bob.

2:58 All right. Well, joining us today is our first special guest in a number of weeks. I'm very excited to have another voice represented here and it's none other than our friend Lee. Diaz Lee is the e-commerce Director and Single Barrel Curator for our friends over at reservebar.com. Lee, how you doing today, man? Oh, doing great. And actually I've seen this movie about 20 times, so I'm super stoked about this one. It has, it has a new life and syndication. So it is, it is everywhere. When you're like, kind of lazy on a Saturday, you'll see it on TBS and just be like, all right, I guess I'll watch this again for the 35th time. I know what I'm doing with my next two hours here.

3:40 Yes, I. Was going to say this is one of those movies that has a quote from it that like still lives on in my life and for some reason when Dick Van Dyke is leading Ben Stiller through the museum and he always goes moving on, moving on and and he just says it over and over. That has been a quote that I just I I find myself using really often. Is that where that comes from? I've heard you do that to me. Yeah. Yes, it's from Night at the Museum. Oh my gosh, oh, this explains so much. Brad. Such a full circle, full circle moment. Well, yeah, this movie came out like three years before I ever met Brad. We've been friends for about 15 years and I've been hearing him do that for 15 years and it's never clicked 'cause I never saw this movie. And it's it's like, not something that totally makes sense why that line has stuck in my brain, but for some reason it's just a great moving on.

4:38 Man, that's funny. All right. Well, before we get too far away from our friend Lee, folks, you know, usually we have people that are spirits writers or movie critics. It's not often that we have someone that's the e-commerce director of a website join us. So we we kind of need to establish our relationship. We met Lee last year when we were judges at the New York World Wine and Spirits competition in New York City. Lee was at our table for the three days that we were there and boy oh boy did I have a freaking blast getting to know this guy. And so we've been talking for almost a year about how to get him on the show. We sent him the list of movies at the beginning of the season and he said I'm circling night at the museum. So we've been waiting like 1818 weeks to get you on here, dude.

5:20 So you better bring it today, is what I'm saying, Lee. I I mean, that's a that's a really stressful place to be in. I'm I'm worried. I mean, how do we relive a spirits competition live while reviewing a movie? I mean, this is going to be tough. I thought maybe we could just take like 150 sips of the whiskey that we're drinking today and and then we'd kind of recreate the experience a. Bit this will get very sloppy quickly but. You. Tell Spit Bucket Lee. What? Oh, yeah. Spit bucket. Where's the spit bucket? Oh my gosh. Lee, can you tell our audience a little bit about Reserve Bar before we dive into the movie? Absolutely. So Reserve Bar is an e-commerce site we where we offer rare and unique spirits as well as wine and champagne.

6:08 We have a lot of customers who will buy for gifting opportunities. We also do engraving and a lot of times when you can't get something at your local store, you can find it on reserve bar and we can ship it directly to your door. And so it makes it very easy for you to find some things that you actually, some allocated things even that you might have to wait in line for. You can just sit in bed and order it on reserve bar in the morning instead of waiting in 30° weather to try to get that bottle. I have to say my my first real exposure to reserve bar selections, which Lee again curates, was just this past week. I stopped off in Kentucky and visited our friend Zach Johnston for a hot 2nd and he sent me home with a whole bunch of whiskey. One of them is an Amberana finished rye from Who's it from? Rare character.

7:01 Rare character. Oh my gosh, dude. And I know it was a really divisive thing, but like, this is the most tasty thing I've had in months and I have not given Brad any yet and I'm kind of outing myself now. But that's how much I love this bottle, Lee. Nice job. Well, sneak preview and Brad I will send you Umberana Part 2. It was just, it just hit our retailer and so it will hit our market in a few weeks, but you'll get a sneak preview of that one. Yeah, we will. That's why we bring Lee on the show, folks. All right guys, let's dive into this movie. And in order to do that, we have 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 ticking on the clock, so let's go ahead and hear your take with this little segment that we call. Brad explains.

7:52 Brad Explains is the part of the show where Brad breaks down the plot of the movie that he has just seen, often for the first time. This is Brad's rare second time viewing or perhaps even third time viewing of Night at the Museum, so he is a a seasoned expert at this film. By now, Brad, you have one minute on the clock to break down the plot of this movie, spoiling the whole thing as we go. So folks, if you are like me and you haven't seen Night at the Museum, hit pause here, Watch the movie. It's an enjoyable hour and 40 minutes and then come back and join us Brad, 60 seconds and go. Night at the Museum is a film about a 40 something year old schlub who can't keep a job. In a bid to impress his ex-wife and estranged son, he takes a job that will definitely impress them. Night security guard at the Natural Museum of History in New York City.

8:48 Upon getting the job, he finds out that at evenings the museum comes to life and he has to learn how to keep its inhabitants happy and from escaping the museum, all while fighting off some former feisty old guards. And folks, this is crucially the first film that we've ever had on this podcast featuring the great Mickey Rooney, who is, I believe, 147 years old. Tell. Me that I. Can still do a pile driver. Tell me that every time he talks. You don't just lose it, man. I love what he calls Ben Stiller a hot dog. Yep.

9:29 Like it. Like, derisively at multiple points at this movie. As if a hot dog is not a delicious American basic treat. Yeah, I I don't know, man. It's great. You get some Dick Van Dyke in here. Just what a great old guy movie. Well, and and really, the three old security guards are iconic actors, right? So, I mean, Dick Van Dyke, Mickey Rooney, Bill Cobbs, I mean, let's go. I mean, these are guys that have had decades in in film and TV and they're just here being the old crotchety security guard. It it honestly reminds me a little bit of second hand lions. Like you just have Michael Caine and Robert Duvall being old and awesome and I and like, I'm here for it, man.

10:14 If you can have a career of 50 plus years in Hollywood and then star in a kids movie where you're just crotchety and old. I I don't know, man. That's that. That'll do it for me. That's the dream. That's what we're shooting for here, Brad. That's what life's all about. All right. So as we talk about this cast, I think I want to go back to one of the things that really made me smile watching this movie. And it's the fact that this movie has a dedicated opening credits sequence. Like there is no movie. It's just the opening credits. For three minutes. Fan. I'm a huge fan. It was probably the best directed part of this whole movie. It looked amazing, like, and it also features like the cast to this movie is so weird when you just list them all in credit order that you had.

11:01 You had credit like titles that were 18 people down the movie and then it was like Charlie Murphy and Rami Malek, we're on the same card and that was like, it felt like a fever dream. What is going on here? But I guess that's just how deep the roster goes on this movie. Yeah, man, you even got Ricky Trevez in here, yeah? Where do you Brad, where do you want to start with performances today? I I think it might be worth starting at the top. Let's start with Ben Stiller, because it feels like an easy one to get lost in the weeds of all the side characters and miss out on talking about Ben Stiller and I would say probably Robin Williams as the second. Lead here?

11:42 Yeah, let's start with Ben Stiller. We've only done a few Ben Stiller films on the show, maybe even just one. We did Walter Mitty. I don't think we've done like Zoolander, have we? Anchorman, I guess for our our very first time ever recorded. That is true. He was an Anchorman in a in a pre episode that that wasn't even episode one. Bob. Yeah. That was like our test episode. It's been a long time since we've talked, and it was. Perfect. And there was nothing wrong with that. Episode Ben Stiller is such an interesting figure in comedy. Because he was by far the biggest thing in comedy for a number of years there. When he came out with Meet the Parents and then especially the sequel Meet the Fockers, which was a record-breaking comedy at the box office, he really was on top of the world. And it's always been interesting to me because he'll play a wacky character here and there.

12:32 You know, I think about Tropic Thunder where he's just going really big and over the top, but for the most, yeah, but for the most part he's kind of your everyman. And it almost seems like in most of the movies that he is the star. He's almost setting up the other characters to be the big goofy. And and it's it's interesting to me because I can't remember a lot of people who were that popular as comedians who played the straight man that much. And I think in retrospect, like we look back on Ben Stiller and it's like, Oh yeah, whatever happened to that guy. And part of it is just he's been doing great work. He's just not as big and showy about it as some of the other comedians have been. Yeah. And I think that actually represents him so well.

13:15 And I I think some of these characters, like this one as Larry Daly, he's like probably just a little bit of himself, right? Like super chill trying to figure things out in this movie. He also just plays like really a millennial. Like I don't know what I've got going, but I got to figure something out eventually. Yeah, One of the funniest things about his actual character is how different his life situation feels to me in 2024 than it must have in 2006, 'cause, 'cause he's just like, hey, I'm in between jobs, I might have to move to a smaller apartment, and all of the other adults in his life are like, you freaking bum, what are you doing? And now it's like, oh, this seems like a wise financial choice he's making.

14:00 I I, you know, I have to move out into Queens, 'cause I can't live in Manhattan anymore. But in in 2006, this guy was the lowest of the low societally. It would have only gotten better if he had moved in with his, with his parents. Actually, that would have been like, just right on. Like I'm moving back home with mom on the couch for a little bit and we'll figure it out from there. I did. I feel like we have to mention Paul Rudd for just a second here because he is like if you want a new husband slash dad character that isn't a Dick and is just kind of goofy and nice, I think Paul Rudd is the perfect actor for that role. Well, and it's funny because he he looks slightly similar to Ben Stiller, like he's but he's taller and he's better looking and he's a little bit younger and so it works so well in this movie because it's so clear that his wife just replaced him with Paul Rudd.

14:53 With somebody who makes way more money than needed. Way more money and has the old school Bluetooth earpiece in the whole time and. The the Dad Belt. Yeah, it's great, man. On Ben Stiller, though, I guess one of my big notes that I would give if I was helping with the screenplay here is they give him the barest semblance of a character. Like the movie is basically, what if Ben Stiller was a night guard at a museum? It's not really. What if this guy Larry was like, there's just not much going on here and you you kind of understand like, hey, he needs a job and he wants to be close to his son. So he feels desperate and takes this. But the 1st 20 ish minutes of the movie really feel like it's just an excuse to get him into the museum. And every time that we see his life outside the museum, I'm gonna be real with you guys.

15:45 I could not care less like that is not what this movie's about. Get back to the museum and let me see a Tyrannosaurus skeleton chase you around. Come on, man, you you didn't like the The Walking across Central Park in the fall with his son? There was something about the the 1st 15 minutes that I'm like this looks like it was shot in in 1994 like if you. Kind of reminded me of When Harry Met Sally. Yeah, like if you took any B grade Billy Crystal comedy like My Giant and just like clipped out parts of that and put them here, I would. They would look exactly the same. I think that the that when they're walking through the the Central Park, though the sun says just the most savage thing in the world. He like looks at his dad and he goes, what if you're just ordinary dad?

16:35 What, what? What if you just need to get a job. Look, grow up, Peter Pan. Yeah, we've had multiple weeks in a row of kids who suck on this podcast, and I wanted to just be like, hey, F you kid like, he's doing his best man. It's not like he's negligent. He's like showing up every week to pick up his kid and his kids, like, Oh my gosh, you're a bum. Everyone thinks Ben Stiller's a bum. But I I do think you're being really harsh on, you know, the outside life of a Guardsman. I mean, he has a real life. OK guys, so we we have to we have to take time to acknowledge that the night Guardsman has a day life. He does. He is not defined by his work. I like that you're using the word Guardsman like he's a part of like the Scottish Royal Guard or something. He has a flashlight, guys.

17:27 So that's Ben Stiller. I will say that the and this is going to be my recurring theme on this movie. I texted Brad when I was one hour into this movie. The first hour of this movie feels like it needs to lose a full 20 minutes somewhere like it. It really drags. And then when you actually get to the sort of like thwarting a heist subplot at the end of the movie, it really picks up like I I enjoyed the hell out of the last 40 minutes of this movie, and I feel like they bring home the Ben Stiller character a little bit. He actually gets to have human emotions. He gets to do stuff that isn't just exposition dumps, and I think he kind of earns his paycheck there in the last half of the movie. But, you know, for me, Stiller's character was probably the weakest character in the movie, except for maybe Carla Gugino, who's, you know, obligatory girlfriend figure. I don't even know what her name was. What was her name?

18:20 Brad. Rebecca. Sally. I I don't know what her name was. It was it was Rebecca. It really was Rebecca. OK, Yeah. I just thought you were picking a random name. Yeah. I'm going to call her Sally. Then that's where we're. That's over for Bob. It's a budding love interest, right? So, you know, hey, I'm making something of myself. I just got this new job and wow, look at this scientist walking through. And she goes, oh, did you always want to be a night security guard? I've been dreaming about this forever and waiting for this moment we when we met. The great thing about female characters in 2006 is that they never had a life outside of their job. They were always consumed with their work. And he's like, hey, what are you up to tonight? And she's like me, I don't do anything at night. OK.

19:12 This this seems like the perfect situation for you, Ben Stiller. All right. Let's dive into the rest of this cast. And I I guess we can go back to the old guy figures that we've been talking about. Brad is this perhaps the best Dick Van Dyke on film? My guy had freaking killed it in this movie. He's incredible. I mean, I like we loved him and Mary Poppins, a movie that overall we are just OK on. But Bob, I'm I'm kind of with you, man. Dick Van Dyke knocks it out of the park in this movie. Yeah, he has charisma and personality, along with being a little bit crotchety and then towards the end, tons of energy.

19:53 Clearly, you know, it's a plot line, but I mean, I mean, he really is a great dynamic character throughout the film. Whenever, whenever he pops in. I do have a question for you guys. So folks, you know you've heard Brad explain the movie, but by the end of the film, the three Night Guardsmen who had preceded Ben Stiller are all in cahoots to steal this priceless tablet, old Egyptian tablet. And when they're revealing their plot to Ben Stiller, when they have them like, locked in the Brig or whatever they say, you know, we found out we were all getting fired. And so we decided to, like, play on this heist. What's going on with this museum? Like, I don't understand exactly like they're getting fired, but they had multiple days to, like, train their replacements and they could just wander in and out like freely.

20:42 I have no idea, like, what's actually going on here, Brad? Did I miss something? No, that that is how America works. When we fire people as a reduction area cost saving measure, we just let them train the replacements. Yeah, I also love that their solution was let's fire all three guys who have years of tenure and replace him not with just with one guy, but with one completely new person. That seems like the logical step to take Who had. One night of training. Not even a night of training, technically. They just walked him around the museum and then handed them a manual. Guys, there are a number of HR teams that took direct notes from this movie and we have seen them play out in the twenty 20s consistently.

21:28 That's the next think piece we need to have written like did Night at the Museum wreck corporate culture for decades afterwards? It set the tone, man. OK. Hey, wander around for a little bit. You got this, but you're out in three days. Get out of here. It reminds me of last week's movie, Brad, The Chronicles of Narnia, where Peter kills one wolf and then they're like, you're freaking king now, man, you did it. Like you did it, you. Can lead our army. That was a funny moment where the wolf jumps on him, falls on his sword, and then Aslan is like Rise Wolf Spain. Like, you can't. You could make the argument that he didn't even kill the wolf. That just kind of like it was a happy accident that resulted in him being king.

22:14 I love happy accidents like killing wolves. They're very convenient when they happen. Yeah. All right, let's talk about the other figures that come alive in this museum. So all of the many colorful figures are played by great character actors, chief of which is Robin Williams. Brad Back in, I think season three, we did a Robin Williams mini marathon of movies. But it's been a minute since we really talked about him and it is just, it's such a welcome presence. And the thing I love about Robin Williams is that I never think that he's a limited actor. But no matter who he's playing, he's always playing Robin Williams. But you just love Robin Williams so much that it doesn't matter. And he he's like the most kind of like nakedly vulnerable actor that I think maybe we've ever talked about. He just always seems to have instant access to the deepest emotions and and every moment he's on screen feels powerful because he's the one there doing it. Yeah.

23:18 Yeah, that he is. I think this might be a weird description. He's the warmest actor I think we've ever seen on screen. Like every time he he comes into focus, you just have this sense of like everything's going to be OK. And I I don't know how he does it, but watching him in this, it felt like it just confirmed for me that Robin Williams is a hell of a good actor. And I and he doesn't need to be anyone else. Like, he just needs to be him and he's awesome. Yeah, He has this incredible depth of like, character and presence that few people have. And and to your point, and I think they even kind of highlight this really well, yeah, he just has this energy about him.

24:09 And so when he is on screen, it's like you, you have to pay attention, but it's because you're really drawn in. And so for him to play like a role as Teddy Roosevelt, who is, I think you know, in the mythos of presidents, someone who people are like, oh man, that's, that's the man, right. Like I think that's such a great compliment and and such a great casting for that character. I I texted Bob like near the end of the movie and I was like, I think Robin Williams is the only actor that could pull off yelling Bully like multiple times throughout the movie. I don't know anybody else who could say that one word line like, authentically, but Robin Williams pulls it off. One of the things that I love about him being in this movie is that he is not the ideal choice to play Teddy Roosevelt. If you're just trying to accurately capture Teddy Roosevelt, you know what I mean?

25:08 And especially if they made this movie today that is 100% a Nick Offerman, Ron Swanson role. Like he's he's definitely playing Teddy Roosevelt. But you put him in this movie for two reasons, and I think this is the key to me liking this movie. Brad in the first half of the movie, he's in it for a few scenes and he's just kind of doing a Robin Williams bit, like he's just going into character and it's big and loud and brash and you're like, OK, I guess Robin Williams needed a paycheck, and I'm cool with that. And then you get to the scene where it makes sense why Robin Williams actually wanted to take this role. And it was the scene that turned the whole movie for me. It's when Ben Stiller's character is at his lowest. He's been locked in this kind of jail cell by the security guards who were stealing things from the place. And as Teddy Roosevelt, he comes over and he talks about how, you know, I'm not even really the real Teddy Roosevelt. I'm just a wax figure that comes to life. And that's why I'm not brave and that's why I'm not this. And he has this line where he looks at Ben Stiller and ends his monologue by saying I'm made of wax. Larry, what are you made of?

26:16 And dude, if that isn't the moment that this movie absolutely took off. And it only works because Robin Williams is so good in this role. Brad. Yeah dude, there is so much emotion at the end of this movie and you don't expect it because like you said, like I, you know, to go back to Ben Stiller for just a second, I actually really like him overall throughout the whole film. I think that his interaction with his ex-wife at the start of the film is really endearing. And and like, there's an authenticity there where you don't feel any ill will between the two of them. There's just a genuine tension of like how do we raise our kid.

26:56 And so you have some emotional core to this movie before that. But you're right, man, when when you know Robin Williams is looking at Ben Stiller at multiple points throughout the movie and saying like, what kind of a man are you? Are you are you going to be a man who takes the reins and rises up to meet the occasion And then But then he doesn't just do that. The key to that whole question is he continually tells Ben Stiller, and I think you can do it. And I think that's like, what makes him so endearing is that he's the dad that we all want in our life. To say, hey, what kind of a person are you going to be? Because if you're going to be a great person, I could see that in you.

27:39 I I could see that being real. Yeah. And I I think that is really the challenge and opportunity and really a kicking off of the trilogy. But I mean where you're seeing this evolution of man and being pushed into into that that next step. And I also just think that he he he delivers that so well. He he is that one person that can deliver that message where he can be super comedic one moment, you know, part of the ensemble for a little bit, have a love interest with Sakajuiya and still deliver this moment of like inflection.

28:20 And I you know I've got you. Yeah, and I think it's like Brad to go back to last season when we were doing our Chaplin miniseries. I really do think Robin Williams is kind of the closest analogue to a chaplain that we have or that we had unfortunately in in the modern day. And it's because Chaplin can make you laugh and then immediately could make you cry. And it's not just that he could craft a moment as a director that was that was sad. It's that he is such a vulnerable character as the Tramp that you see him getting hurt and there's something within you that like there's a protectiveness within you that's like, I'm, I'm there with him. I feel this with him. And that's how Robin Williams was all the time. There's just like a woundedness there and he brings it to every character, but it also just makes every single character better. Yeah, I mean there there is that sense in the human experience that that humor and sorrow can occupy similar places that like why does laughing sound so much like crying? And I I think that you're right, man. People like Charlie Chaplin, people like Robin Williams occupy that weird place of sorrow and and joy that, you know, he goes so deep into sorrow. And I and I think that's and I I didn't expect to go this deep in this, this episode guys.

29:38 But like, because of what we know about Robin, Williams struggles with depression and the the depth to which he went into sorrow, I I think it kind of illustrates that reality that the people who understand suffering the most also can understand joy and laughter the most. And and Williams brings that out even in a somewhat silly children's movie like Night at the Museum. Well, and to take that a step further, he knows how to bring it out in other people. And so as a compliment, it's like out of that output, the result is lifting other people up. And and you see that across like all Robin Williams movies to some degree.

30:23 And to nail it here in this like very character, character caricature, heavy space as Teddy Roosevelt nails it right. Yeah, he's a really generous actor in that way where Ben Stiller has ample opportunities with his ex-wife, with his kid, where people are saying hurtful things for you to see, like a woundedness in him. And it doesn't really work because you know, the the kid that plays his son is not a very good actor. But then you see Robin Williams do it, and they cut back to Ben Stiller, and it's almost like being across from Robin Williams and seeing him do it, unlock something in Stiller's character, too. Guys, we we've gone long on Robin Williams. I want to hit a couple of more of these characters before we get to break. So you've got Owen Wilson and Steve Coogan as warring Cowboys and Roman centurions.

31:12 I think they're great and they do a really good job. Shawn Levy does a good job with letting some of these smaller characters improv a bit, and you can kind of feel the shagginess of their moments because they're just riffing. There's a great moment where Ben Stiller's like, look back there at the Mayans that I had to put behind the glass. Do they look happy? And they cut back to Owen Wilson and they're like, no, no. And you can tell they just let the camera go a little bit longer and Owen Wilson goes, they look sad. It was a few moments that made me really laugh out loud and I just love that he does that with a few of these characters. And I think it's I I think that that is a perfect encapsulation of like what the moments of this movie that are great, Like those are the things that make this movie great is when you have these little tiny characters, not not just tiny as in little teeny tiny figurines like Owen Wilson and Steve Coogan, but when you let the little characters have moments of just being funny.

32:14 You know, I I think that you see that with Brad Garrett as the the Easter Island statue head. Like he he just has some moments where the way he interacts with Ben Stiller just make you laugh out loud. And I I I think that's where this movie really shines. Give me gum gum dum dum I you know I. And I think that yeah you're introduced it and then the introductory kind of tore around the museum. You're almost given an insight into oh you're going to get to know all of these characters right. Like you're walking it through the museum. They're stable or dead now, but you just wait what's coming. And then all of these, all of these characters get a moment or two to kind of shine.

33:05 And they they kind of fit all those moments in such a way that it works out. But it could be some pretty broken moments too that they just kind of figured out how to work it in. Well, I'll go back really quick to what you said at the start. Bob, the opening sequence of this movie sets you up as a viewer for where you're going to be going in this film. And and all of the major, you know, side characters that come to life throughout the movie, you see all of them in the opening credits and and it builds in this intrigue and mystique and I wonder what, you know, these Huns are going to do in the caveman in the Easter Island statue. And and it kind of slowly starts to evoke that that curiosity in the viewer that gets rewarded later in the film. Yeah, I mean, the concept of this movie is one of the most brilliant, just just as an idea.

33:59 And I think that's why I wanted more of just like give me Night at the Museum. Like, don't call your movie this unless you're willing to just go all in because they do a great job. Like you said Lee setting up OK we're going to go to this exhibit and talk about this and it it reminds me a lot of my my all time favorite film, Jurassic Park where you get the introduction to like, hey the velociraptors. They've been testing the fence strategically. So you know when the fence goes down, like stuff's going to get real. Here's the T Rex, here's where this thing is, and you get the whole tour before stuff goes S The great thing with this movie is it's like, what if Jurassic Park got mashed up with Home Alone? And so you have the Defending your house, but your house is Jurassic Park.

34:42 It's like it's such a brilliant concept for a movie. And I think by the time all the threads come together at the end, it really is clicking. And you also just have great little moments, like them trying to let the air out of the tire in the van and they like, stab it with a spear and they're so tiny that they're all getting blown away. It's just little things like that that make me chuckle, yeah. All right, guys, I think we're in a good spot to hit pause. We'll come back. We'll finish out talking about this massive cast and then how the movie worked for us. But before we get there, let's try this. Lost Monarch? What do you say? Sounds great I I am so stoked for this bottle.

35:24 All right everybody. Today we are drinking a whiskey from a a distillery that we have not reviewed before. Bob, this is called Redwood Empire. It's based out of California as you might imagine and we are reviewing their lost Monarch whiskey. This is a blend of straight whiskeys that comes in at I believe 90 proof and this one is a blend of 60% rye whiskey and 40% bourbon whiskey. And even that bourbon whiskey is a high Rye's, it's got 21% rye in it. So we're looking at essentially A heavily rye blended whiskey. I don't see, let's see, it's a blend of four to 12 year old bourbon and three to five year old rye, so.

36:11 So it's got a little bit of age to it. Yeah, we've had multiple distillers tell us before too, that rye tends to mature quicker in the barrel than bourbon does in terms of how it tastes. It doesn't taste young for as long, so if you're going to go young somewhere, I'd rather you go young on the rye than on the bourbon. I'm really looking forward to this man. And I was. I was messaging Lee a couple days ago. I asked him which of these whiskeys that we had lined up for the season would you like to do today, And he picked this one. And I told him I've never ever tried a Redwood Empire product. I think partially because we knew we'd get around to doing them on the show someday. They're all really affordable. They have beautiful artwork. So I, you know, I've had my eye on them for years and years. Lee, you are just unlocking things for me today. I've never seen this movie.

36:54 I've never drank this whiskey. This is a big deal, man. Yeah and and for me the the connection to the movie is, is really fun. So if you look on all of the labels for for Redwood Empire, there is a a nod to John Mirror who was really this ultra conservationalist that then inspired Teddy Roosevelt and helped with the development of the National Park system. In fact, John Muir founded the National Park System and Sierra Club and then inspired Teddy Roosevelt. I think there's actually a story about them camping in Yosemite for like 3 or 4 days and that's where he really got the inspiration for like, oh, we need to really work to protect and set aside these places.

37:42 So I thought this would be fun. It's a nice little nod that ties in. Absolutely. Look at Lee doing his homework more than you and I have done, Brad. Doing our job for us, Bob. All right, guys, let's dive into this. Brad, I know that you've already sampled it. I'm drinking it live on air. I think Lee is as well. Give us that bottle pop, Lee. All right, Ten out of 10W. We've done it. Brad, while we go ahead and nose this, why don't you give us your nosing notes? Yeah, as I as I got into the nose here there is there are some really nice rye forward notes that I'm getting it It's a little bit dill there's some vanilla, it's a little bit minty. I I really kept searching for those bourbon notes but couldn't quite find them like maybe some hints of brown sugar but but it's a little tough to find it.

38:35 It definitely comes across much more strongly rye forward and I I will say despite this being a blend of at minimum three-year whiskey, I I felt like there was some young graininess, some ethanol here that I was a little surprised by for the proof point. That kind of lowered my score just a little bit, but I'm coming to a six out of 10 here. Yeah. Now I have not given it a sip yet, so I'm going just on the nose here. But I'm in a very different place than you, Brad. This is really pleasantly sweet on the nose. There's a lot of like, you're right, like a younger bourbon on the nose here, but I don't get a lot of like raw corn. It just kind of reminds me of that sort of simple syrup note that we get sometimes on younger bourbons.

39:20 The problem is, every time I kind of agitate it in the glass when I'm swirling it, that's when the rye notes come out and there is a mint note here, but it almost smells like a like a mint that's gone sour. There's like a just a a touch of an off note here. Not quite chemically, but something's just a little bit concerning to me. I like it for the most part, but I'm going to give it a 7 out of 10 on the nose. Yeah. And I I'll be probably a little bit in the middle of both of you because I think that I get a lot of those right forward notes. And then I also get a touch of like brown sugar and honey, which I do think is some of that bourbon coming out in a way, but it's probably. It's a it's a little bit muddled because it is so rye forward, but I agree there's like this off spearmint note in there that you're like, oh this is a little funky. I can't tell if I love it or not since this is my first nosing. I would also be in that 7 range, but it it's a lot to explore. I need this to sit, I think, and breathe for a little bit. Last year I got the brilliant idea of hey, why are they always adding fresh mint to bourbons when they're making mint juleps? I'm just going to take a big sprig of mint and put it in a bottle of bourbon and just let it absorb the mint oils for like 4 days.

40:48 And then I realized why they don't do that. It's because the mint goes real sour and gross after a couple days and I I I got a little bit of that on the nose here. Now when I get into the palate, Brad, I think the the front of my palate is really pleasant. I get a lot of those honey notes that Lee's been referring to, but when you kick it to the back of your pallet, there is something about kind of cheap rye that I don't really know how to explain how I know it's cheap until you get there. It's very herbal, It's really bitter, and I think that the aggressiveness of the youth here on the rye really comes out at the back of my pallet and it just almost feels like they're trying to cover up the youth of their rye with a pretty nice bourbon on top of it.

41:32 I don't think it's bad, but I also, it's almost like I can see the seams of where they sewed this thing up. I'm just going to give it a six out of 10 on the on the pallet. Yeah, I I'm at a 5 1/2 on the pallet. I I get dill, I get some salted butter at the front. That's kind of a nice creamy experience. But overall that you're right, it becomes herbaceous at the back end and and not in a way that I'm like super pumped about. Once again, it it is not bad, but it's not something that it feels intentional enough and complex enough, and it doesn't feel like it just has quite enough flavor for me to give it a high score.

42:13 Yeah, I think that it isn't complex, actually. It's it is like whatever you get on the front end of your palate, it's basically what it is. And then it kind of dies out. Doesn't linger too long either. I think that the rye is fun though. Like there's there are certain whiskey buyers that like just kind of unique, funky, kind of elemental, weird whiskeys that you could have a lot of fun with. I think this is one of those where you would be like let me show you all of the kind of unusual things Ryze can do or blends can do and this is 1 where you'd be like you're never going to expect this.

42:57 Try this one and I think this is a really fun like comparative rye where I'd put this next to a 95.5 and and see how people kind of what do you enjoy? What do you not enjoy? Yeah, I like that. Lee And I will say, I don't think this is a great whiskey, but I also wouldn't recommend this as a mixer. I think it's way better. Neat because there's something about that funky note we're getting here that if you if you put this in a coke or something like it would just completely disappear. It would taste like just you added vodka almost. I think whatever is here, it it's not complex like you said Lee, but it is subtle enough that I think it does merit drinking it neat. Brad on the finish.

43:41 I think that herbal note lingers a little bit longer than I'd like it to. The second and third sip were considerably better here than the first sip was for me. But overall, I just think this is an above average to average whiskey. I'm going to give it a 6 1/2 out of 10 on the finish. Yeah, I'm at a 6 1/2 as well. There's some rye. It gets into a little bit of a nuttiness, a little bit of like an almond flavor at the very end. For me it gets a little bit peppery but overall it kind of stays in that that rye strong ending. But it is a nice medium bodied finish that I I gave a 6 1/2 to. I I the finish was the one point of this where I kind of felt like it deserved a little credit. Yeah, and there's this actual fun like herbal tea note that I think is on that finish along with like that roasted nutty note as well.

44:38 So I I think actually the finish is probably my favorite quality in this whiskey. And actually on the finish, it makes me want to go back and and have another sip and be like, did I misunderstand what was happening here? Because I actually really enjoy, like how it's lingering a little bit, but it makes me say like, oh, maybe I just misinterpreted, you know, that that first sip, which I didn't, but. Should be clear. I was correct the whole time. That's correct, Brad said salted butter at one point. And I think that did kind of unlock something for me here. I think the mouth feels really nice and it is, it is buttery.

45:21 It reminds me a little bit on the tip of my palate of the the buttered popcorn Jelly belly, which is very divisive but also like one of my favorite Jelly bellies. So I'll take it. I think that the balance here, Brad, the the experience from nose to taste to finish is fairly consistent and I think I'll give it a 7 out of 10 here. Yeah, I I'm with you. I I actually gave it a 7 out of 10 as well. I I I don't think that this this is definitely not a poorly made whiskey like like you can tell that there's some craft going on here and that they were blending for specific things. I just don't know if it's blended for a mass audience, you know what I mean?

46:03 Yeah. This is really one blended for people who want to get into the nuances of whiskey and blending. Like, I don't, I don't think your masses are going to want this as a rye or a bourbon, having both in there because I don't think it's like distinct enough. But as a rye, I do think you get those core notes throughout. And the bourbon, thank you for telling me there was bourbon in here because I would not know it, right. So thank you Bourbon, for being somewhere helping fill this bottle. Brad, what would a bottle of this cost you in the state of Ohio?

46:43 Well, they don't sell specifically the Lost Monarch, but a bottle of Redwood Empire is about 35 to $40 in the state of Ohio. And the best I could tell for Lost Monarch at large was that range $3540.00. So you're looking at I mean at this point Bob with with the way prices have gone up about that midline mid level price you're going to spend on a whiskey? I mean, you know, my baseline for $35 is always Elijah Craig. Like, is this a similar value to Elijah Craig? How dare you? And like, you know, I think it is, man, there's two ways to look at this when they're blending stuff. Either you look at it as you know this massive company is just dumping stuff in a bottle and giving a swill or you look at it as there's some craft behind the blending and I choose to look at it that way. I think when you factor in their their labor here and the fact that they are a smaller operation, $35 is not out of range for this at all.

47:43 I'm going to give it a 7.5 out of 10 on value Brad. I think for me, I I'm with you that for for what the operation is and what they're putting out. I think it's a decent price. My only problem with it is that the whiskey itself isn't great and that's the struggle I'm having with giving it. I I think that this is a subpar whiskey compared to something like an Elijah Craig, especially compared to like just like a baseline Woodford. I I just don't think that this stands up. And so I'm going to give it. I think I'm going to give it like a 5 out of 10 on value, Bob. Wow. OK. I think there's a regionality to whiskey that we're really starting to explore as kind of the whiskey community grows. And so I think some of that is in this bottle of like california-based and trying to get some of those nuances of the regionality of you know, of the space. So I think it is a really fun kind of exploration of like Northern California Whiskey.

48:51 There are a few others that I actually enjoy a little bit more in that space. But I think like the regionality is really fun to explore at that price point. It would be one that I'm like if I was on the fence, I would, I would buy it, right, Because I want to kind of expand from my core. But to your point, the core is the core because it's those bottles are so good, like the Elijah Craig's, the Woodford's, the old Foresters and makers. Like those are the ones that people return to because they're consistently good at that price point and they deliver every time. This is where you're like, I want to play with nuance at that same price point.

49:36 Yeah, not everybody's in on that. Brad G out on nuance. Let it be known. Folks, no nuance. None at all, friends. Brad, what's your final score on Lost Monarch? I'm coming to a 30 out of 50 Bob. OK, I'm at a 34, so that brings us to a 32 out of 50 or just a 64 out of 100. It is slightly below where we like to start recommending a product. I actually don't think this is bad enough to not recommend like I I think I enjoyed myself drinking this. It also may just be the company that we have today Brad. So I'll give it a like a slight Joaquin Phoenix and gladiator like thumbs up. Yeah, just barely.

50:18 Yeah. Yeah. I think I'm with you. I, for the price point, it's not worth completely passing over. So like if this was $10 more, I would say pass at the price point. I'd say if you're interested in it like you like, Lee said. If you're interested in trying new regions of whiskey in America, go for it. All right, so that was Redwood Empire, Lost Monarch, the first Redwood Empire we've had on the show. And Brad, apparently for you, it can only go up from here. So we're hoping to have some more Redwood Empire on the show soon. Let us know what you think of this whiskey if you've tried it before. I'd like to kind of feel out what the general public thinks of this one.

50:59 But Brad, we need to get back into talking about night at the museum. What do you say? Let's get to it. All right, everybody. That was Redwood Empire lost. Monarch. A whiskey that was drank by all three of us. It. It sure was, and good times were had by all. They were unique. It like interesting I I I I guess it was a pleasant but strange experience. Sure, I valued the conversation. All right. Well, Speaking of things that are often a strange experience, Brad, I am 11:00 and 7:00 on the season at our next game here, which we call 2 facts and a falsehood. Brad is going to try to stump your ball. To.

51:50 A right and what is wrong? 2 facts and a falsehood. 2 Facts and A Falsehood is the part of the show where Brad presents me with three items as fact about the making of this movie, one of which is a complete lie. Brad man, I am on a losing streak here overall. It also doesn't help that I kind of have to take the opinion of our guest every time we have a guest because you have implemented these strict draconian rules where if the guest talks at all, you're considering that guest input. And I, being the editor of these episodes, know that we don't want to let the guest not talk for seven minutes in a row. So way to go, man.

52:34 You have. You've set it up for yourself very nicely. Here, Bob, I have not been that draconian about this, and if you want to interpret it that way, that's fine with me. I I'm OK with that. Anytime that you have to start a sentence with I have not been that draconian. That's pretty a little bit. Moderately draconian. All right, Brad, hit me with your two facts and a falsehood. Fact #1, famous for his later role as Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody Night at the Museum, was actually Rami Malek's film debut. Fact #2A, Full wax statue of Robin Williams as Teddy Roosevelt was commissioned for the film. Williams enjoyed performing in the film so much that director Sean Levy gave it to him as a gift after the filming finished Fact #3. Despite their respective careers of more than 50 years each, this is only the second time that Mickey Rooney and Dick Van Dyke have worked together, their first movie being The comic from 1969.

53:38 I have no idea about the comic from 1969. I don't even know if that's a real movie. Rami Malek. Was he in a movie before this? I don't know that either. These are pretty good, man, I'm not going to lie. I'm just trying to stay silent. I think that #2 sounds the most plausible. I feel like Robin Williams is the kind of guy who would have a wax statue of himself in his possession just for kicks. With a giant mustache. Yeah, of course. It had to have been made because we do see a wax statue version of Robin Williams in the movie, so we at least know that a statue had to be made. The question is, did it go to his house as a gift? Great question, man.

54:20 All right, I'm going to just say for the sake of argument that #3 is true, just because I have no way to know without cheating whether that movie is real. So I'm going to say it's true. So it's either Rami Malek or it's Robin Williams. Now, folks, the way we've done this normally is if I have a guest and I seek the guests input, I only get one victory if we win, but I get 2 losses if we lose. Dang. Double the brain power, double the Li. Feel pretty? I'm on shaking ground here. I'm already leaning towards an L You might as well join me. Let's go down together here. I'm. I wouldn't need phone a friend.

55:01 I mean, I guess I am yours. A friend? Yes. No, I I never mind. I take it back. I'm not seeking your input anymore. Can a friend phone a friend of a friend because it's? A whole network here. I I feel like Robbie Malik. I don't remember him in anything previous to this film. Now I remember him in plenty of films following this and I just don't know if that's just bad memory or this is all I paid attention. To can iPhone a friend. All right, so let's say, for the sake of argument, then, that this is also Rami Malek's first film. That would mean the Robin Williams one is the falsehood. Oh gosh.

55:47 Yeah, probably. I I mean, I that's probably the most likely to be false. My favorite of having guests on is that Bob doesn't have to talk in circles around himself. I can help I. I just talk in circles with another. Person with another person. Where you start with #2 is absolutely the one that is true, and by the end you're like no, no, no, no, no. If I had to, if I went with my gut, I would say I think one is the falsehood. My gut has proven me wrong. Brad, you, like, literally commented on this, 'cause I changed my gut the other week. And you're like, it's a good thing that you don't listen to your gut.

56:28 So I'm gonna go with Lee. Don't go with Lee. Oh. No, I think. I think #1 will be the falsehood there is. So there are so many like child actors who are in things that you would not expect it. But, like, do we know that he was one? No, of course not. Like baby Rami Malek, just all right, I'm going to say let's freaking do it. Let's do Robin Williams. Let's do #2. Wait, wait, Brad, if if I don't go with Lee on this, do I still get 2 losses? Oh, good question. So, I so that we'll, we'll, we'll suss this out, Lee, are you saying that number one is the falsehood in your opinion? I am going with #1 is the falsehood and I want AW for life after this.

57:22 Lee, you always have AW for life for me, yes. All right. So then, yes, I'll say #2 is the falsehood, because either way, I'd be wrong and I'd only get one loss. So I'm going to say Robin Williams is false. Brad. Guys, that was the best, most roundabout way of getting to the correct answer. I did it, Bob. It's an L for life, baby. Bob looks like he just solved A Rubik's Cube for the first time. So, Rami Malek's first film. Yeah, this is his absolute first film. Incredible. Let's talk about that for a second, because we need to finish talking about this cast real quick. And I only have a couple more people, Rami Malek being one of them.

58:05 He is perfectly fine in this movie. But you know, Brad, sometimes we say like, oh, I am in on Robin Williams in whatever movie, whenever he comes on screen, I am all in. I didn't realize how out I am on Rami Malek until he showed up in this movie, 'cause I was like, I'm texting you saying, man, this movie is really picking up, this is spectacular. And then The Mummy unwraps his head and it's Rami Malek. And I was like, ah, come on. Man. And he he spits out that dust and you're like, oh, I can't wait for his first line. Oh my gosh, I'm just so excited. There's just something about him that's like, I don't know if he was an actor in the 90s, he would be like Steve Buscemi, Like he would only be the quirky, eccentric character because he has these weird tics.

58:52 But somehow we've made him the leading Oscar winning man. And I look at it now and I'm like, you had the career that Steve deserved, man. I will. I will give Rami credit. He is much better looking than Steve Buscemi. But similarly eccentric? You know what I mean? I would say Steve Buscemi is the better actor. Like, like probably by far, but Rabbi is rabbi's better looking than than Buscemi. So they each have their one thing that they get. Yeah, they do. Lee, any comments on Rami Malek as Pharaoh in this movie? I think that they tried to find somebody that looked the part as much as possible, missed terribly, but still got somebody who is OK at the role.

59:43 Fun fact, he was born in California, but he is of Egyptian like both of his parents are Egyptian. Oh man, Lee just continues taking L's here. Man Double L Jeez Louise. Oh man. All right. Last person that I think we should mention briefly is Ricky Gervais, who I think benefits the most from Shawn Levy, letting him riff because his entire character is saying. Nonsense things and starting sentences and not ending them. And I have to be honest, it seems like the kind of bit that would get old really quick, and it was consistently the funniest bit in the whole movie to me. I just, I really love Ricky Gervais here. Yeah, I'm, I'm with you 100%, man.

1:00:25 He he has a talent for being outraged and clueless all at the same time throughout this entire film, and even at the end, like when he looks around at the completely full museum and like, doesn't say anything, he just hands the keys and the flashlight back. It's a brilliant moment of acting like it's. So. Good. Yeah, I so I'm I'm all in on Ricky Gervais in this movie. He is by far the best movie museum curator I've ever seen. No, I think he adds. Like this little comedy touch in this like AB exchange with Ben Stiller periodically through the movie and I think what's really fun is getting beyond this movie and they still keep, they bring him back constantly. I think they they saw they struck A chord and had this great interaction that they wanted to to maintain, which was super fun.

1:01:24 How many museum curators have there been in movies? Oh, you know what, Brad? The animated movie Curious George, you know who's, who's the old man in charge of the museum in that movie? Dick Van Dyke. Dick Van Dyke, baby. Oh, really? It all comes back around. Whoa. That was a legitimate guest spot. Well, on that note guys, let's get into our last segment of the day, which we call, let's make it a double. We're near the end of the episodes of Thanks for 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 think there's a lot of directions you could go here. You could, you could go with Curious George if you're big on museums.

1:02:12 I think that, you know, I already mentioned Home Alone I think would be a great one for this. I think Jurassic Park actually has parallels here, but I'm really anxious to hear what both of your picks are. We as our guest. Why don't you go first? Oh my gosh, I I was worried I would have to go first. So I think that my compliment, my double feature for this would actually be National Treasure. Oh, nice. Let's go from experiencing a museum as as the night guardsmen to essentially terrorizing a few museums in this epic adventure of solving and finding the lost treasure. Right? Like, I think those are really fun of like, what if the museum came to life and then you get into what if there were still secrets to be found in these museums? And they're they're also just both of an era like I I want to say that that probably came out in in a similar like 2005 to 2008 range, am I right?

1:03:16 Yeah, I think the first National treasure was 04, so that, yeah, right around the same time. Yeah. So yeah, that is Lee. That's an incredible pick. And we also just always need more Nicolas Cage. Absolutely, Brad. How about you, man? You know, I was thinking about going with a film I saw once as a child, and for some reason it reminded me of this Indian in the Cupboard. But I I'm not going to go with that, OK? I'm going to go. I'm going to stick in the Robin Williams train because just like Nicolas Cage, we need more Robin Williams in our lives. I'm going to go with Jumanji. OK, I thought you were going a different direction. Jumanji actually might be the better pick here. I was going to say, Bob, I don't know how Jumanji is not the right Robin Williams movie.

1:04:03 It sounded like you had something else in mind as I started to talk about Robin Williams. It was but but please make your case for Jumanji here. Oh, I mean, Jumanji is a great action adventure film. I think that it it falls just outside a similar era like Jumanji's what like 9697? Yep. But I I think it's just a really fun movie and you get to see Robin Williams be Robin Williams and bring all of the hearts and all of the chaos that he always he always does. Yeah, it it really does fall into that sub genre of Robin Williams plus elephants and rhinos. You know, there's only a few movies that you can really slot that into. So it's a it's a great pairing, Brad. I had two movies that I was thinking about for my Let's Make it a Double.

1:04:47 And the first of which they all revolved around this idea of, you know, Dad whose kid thinks he's a bum. And so he has to kind of become a superhero of sorts to win his kids affection. And I think the most literal pairing for that is the 1996 Christmas movie Jingle All the Way where Arnold Schwarzenegger has to become Turbo Man. But then I started thinking about like, oh, Jingle All the Way is actually basically just Hollywood responding to a movie that came out a few years before that. And this was my Robin Williams connection. I think the best pairing for this movie is misses Doubtfire. I think it's it's Robin Williams doing the I have to become another person to learn how to be a better father thing.

1:05:31 You get that here with Ben Stiller finally kind of waking up to being the hero that he's always been. I think you get the emotional moments and you just get double the Robin Williams man. How good is Misses Doubtfire? How good is Jumanji like you? Can't go wrong there, dude. Can you imagine watching in chronological order, Misses Doubtfire, Jumanji, National Treasure, National Treasure, and then Night at the museum. What a day. That would be a heck of a day of movie watching. All right, Brad, let's give this movie some final scores here and I'll get mine out of the way. First, I really thought this was going to suck. It only had a 42% from critics on Rotten Tomatoes and only a 65% from the audience.

1:06:17 That's crazy. That's super duper low for an audience score. And through the first hour of the movie, I was like, oh, I get it, like this is a four out of 10 at best. And then the last 40 minutes of the movie happened and it was an 8 1/2 out of 10. So I'm trying to really balance those two, but I think this is the type of movie where the ending is so strong that it sends you out forgetting about how slow the first hour was. And I think I'm going to come all the way up to a 7.5 on this movie. It was super enjoyable. I had a great time with it. I'm I'm hoping that my kids will watch it with me one of these days and I plan on returning to it again. So it's a 7.5 for me. Yeah, I I'm at the exact same spot Bob, this is a 7 1/2.

1:07:01 I I always like in my brain categorize it on IMDb scores which don't give us half points. And so when I'm whenever I'm at a half point, I'm kind of like is this a eight out of 10/7 and 1/2 or a seven out of 10/7 and 1/2. You know what I mean? This is an 8 out of 10/7 and 1/2 like this is the most fun that I think you can have with a 7 1/2 type of movie. And I just, I really enjoy it. I can't wait to watch it with my kids someday and I I would, I would recommend anybody go back and just have an enjoyable evening with with Ben Stiller and Robin Williams. As APG movie, which is still interesting to remember.

1:07:44 It was a Fiji movie, man. I think this hits all the right notes. And I think that the ensemble cast each gets some really fun moments to just let people just kind of sit in those moments. And I think, you know, just getting back to the the kind of main storyline like when I used to go to a museum as a kid, just imagining like, if they came to life and if this happened right. And so I think there's a certain amount of like whimsy in the movie that's a lot of fun to kind of like re explore and and just kind of think about like oh what what would those times look like? What would these character churs become if they if they came to life. So I just think this is 1 where you can kind of like reinvestigate like your childhood and just kind of be in that whimsy again, which is, which is always exciting a. 100% man.

1:08:35 I'll be wild this 20 more times. It'll be great. And next time you watch it, I I don't know if this was meant to be, but I noticed throughout the movie there's multiple times where there's like a poster or some sort of writing right behind or around Ben Stiller and they all match where he's at in the story. So next time you watch it when when he escapes the Huns on the first night in the elevator, there's a poster in the elevator that says spineless at the end of the second day, when everything has gone wrong in the museum, even though he tried really hard. As he walks back into the museum after the caveman turns to dust, there's a sign that says weathering the storm.

1:09:21 And then at the end of the third day, he walks back into the museum. And when he's like checking in all the animals, there's like a a carved mural on the wall behind him. And you don't see all of it, but it says like iron and manhood and like these things of like, he's made it as a man. And I'm like, I don't, I don't know if I'm giving Shawn Levy too much credit, but I thought it was pretty cool. Yeah, the gift that keeps on giving this movie and you can see like where where Stiller got some inspiration for some of the stuff he did in Walter Mitty too. Absolutely. Awesome. Brad, thank you for that. And thank you, Lee, for joining us today. Can you give us real quick just a quick plug of what you have coming up at Reserve bar and where we can find you?

1:10:02 Absolutely. So on reservebar.com right now we have a series of 20 new single barrels that I am in the process of bringing to market, including as I already mentioned, the rare character on Burana and a rare character Maple cask. We also have some great things from Knob Creek, Maker's Mark, some of your core favorite brands including Woodford Reserve, Double Oaked personal selection. So I mean just a lot of really fun buys that we get to experience. And then just coming off of San Francisco World Spirits, there will be a large number of really fun up and coming brands that will win Double Gold that we will actually bring on to reservebar.com as a part of their winning Double Gold because we want them to be recognized and be available to the general public. So what I'm hearing you say, Lee, is that if you like whiskey and you don't follow Reserve Bar, then you are doing yourself a massive disservice.

1:11:06 I mean, that's one way to put it there. There are just. So many, so many great barrels out there. And the one thing that I'm hoping that we can create in Reserve Bar is a, a place where you not only get access to compelling spirits, but for every single barrel that I select, I take the time to kind of painstakingly write the story behind it, the notes, you know why you would want to taste it. And if it's not your thing, it's not your thing. But at least we give you a base level of education that you won't get anywhere else. And then in our cocktail lounge, which is our blog, we're really getting deep in this year into the stories of compelling distillers, master blenders, founders of companies to really talk about why, why they're doing what they're doing.

1:11:53 So we just had a great editorial piece on Emma Crandall Blender at at Balcones and just a really great example to, you know, pull the curtain back and say, hey, these are the people that are making that work happen. Well, Lee, we can't thank you enough for being here. Come back soon. Maybe we can talk about the sequel tonight at the museum, which I still haven't seen. So guys, we'll be back next week, Brad, as we tip into the the dark side of this season, kicking it off with 2007's Michael Bay epic Transformers. So join us for that. But until then, I'm Bob. My book. I'm Brad G. And we'll see you next time.