Season 9 Bracket Challenge, Part 1: Round of 32

0:00 On today's Film and Whiskey, it's bracket time, the most wonderful time of the year. We are taking our 32 movies and whittling them down to the final eight in this episode. And we're trying a new whiskey from West Fork. That's all ahead on Film and Whiskey. Well, hey everybody, welcome into the Film and Whiskey podcast. I'm Bob Book. I'm Brad G. Brad, do you know what time it is? Oh baby it is bracket episodes. I am super pumped man. Listen, I only review movies to get to the bracket episode. If we could have a whole podcast that was just called Bracket Time and we just did brackets every week, actually we should do that.

0:44 We TA patent pending bracket time. Yeah, bracket time with Bob and Brad. Man, I love it dude. So folks, if you are new to film and whiskey, first of all welcome into the show. Typically what we do is we take a movie, a classic film and we review it often. Brad is seeing that film for the first time. At the end of each episode we give that movie a final score and at the end of our 32 episode season, we take all of those movies and based on our scores, we put them into a 32 seed bracket and we determine what movie is the winner of our current season. Brad, tell the folks a little bit about this current season because it was different than all the seasons we've done in the past. Yeah, we have been going through to figure out what exactly makes a movie a modern classic.

1:32 We we are considering movies of the last now 21 years. It was the last 20 years when we started, you know, last year and basically saying here are movies that hit one of four categories. The four categories being was it nominated for best picture? Was it, did it make over 100 million at the domestic box office? Is it in the letterbox top 250 or the IMDb top 250? And you know, though we figured even if it hits one of those categories, it it clearly has been popular enough to warrant some level of attention that that we should give it. So here we are.

2:15 We have reviewed 32 movies. We probably should have kept track of how many we said yes to on the modern classic front. It's it's all in the can, man, or not in the can, but it's in the pipeline, Brad. We're going to do an episode in the offseason where we revisit all these modern masterpieces and we decide what the 21st century Canon really is on film and whiskey. So we'll get there, man. Have I done that work yet? Absolutely not Heck no. Am I developing an episode in real time? I absolutely am for sure. But folks, for for this episode, the way the bracket works at the like I said, at the end of every episode, we give a numerical score. We take those average scores and then we have a pretty well ranked system. But you know, after watching 32 movies, after spending well over half a year on this season, you kind of look back at some of the movies and you think, yeah, maybe I gave that A9 instead of a 9 1/2.

3:07 But I think ultimately I like that movie better than the 9 1/2. So Brad and I just kind of take the list of films independent of our initial scores, and we just rank them based on what our heart tells us. You know, you have to balance head and heart, Brad. And we try to do that here on film and whiskey. And so Brad comes up with his heart list, I come up with my heart list, and then we have our numerical scores from the episodes. We average all of those together. And then we come out with this nice ranked tiered seated system that we have, which always inevitably makes for some crazy, crazy matchups in the bracket. Brad. Yeah, it, it seems like every year there is one or two matchups usually in the second round where you're like, this is a #8 versus like, you know, I don't know, a 14 or something. And and yet one of us is like really standing hard for the number 14 seed and you just, you never know what's going to happen, man.

4:05 Yeah, 100%. Now when we get into these matchups, we're going to go through this entire bracket. If Brad and I agree which movie is better, then it's great. Our our friendship remains and we are not at each other's throats. That movie moves on to the next round. If we are at a loggerheads here, Brad, we we have to flip a coin and we call that coin the Coin of Destiny. Now, in years past, Brad has controlled the coin of destiny and I am always more than a bit skeptical of his process, but he swears by it. You flipped a few times here or there. He says my methods get results. Those results usually favor Brad. But you know, what are you going to do? I I still want to say the integrity of the game is far more important to me than any individual victory or loss on my part, so.

4:58 You say that and then you know, we watched all these Star Wars movies and I know. I know the evil that's in your heart. I know how compelled you were by the tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise. Can we just, can we watch Rise of Skywalker and just crap all over it sometimes? Do a bad movie bonus, Yeah. I I really just see the movie. Yeah, that's a good idea. All right, before we get into the bracket, I do want to say this bracket is available for you to follow along with. What we really love is when people download our bracket from our site film whiskey.com. Fill out your own bracket. Let us know what movie from this list of 32 would be your champion. You can hashtag us. You can at us on social media. Let us know who your champion is. Again, our website isfilmwhiskey.com. You will see the Season 9 bracket right up top in the banner.

5:46 Now this is the film and whiskey podcast. So in addition to our bracket, we are going to be reviewing some whiskey out of the West Fork Whiskey Company, which is in Indianapolis, Indiana, as my mother-in-law calls it Indianapolis. And so we're going to be drinking their bottled and bond weeded. And then two expressions from another brand that they have the label, another label that's a better way, the old Hammer. I'm really excited to drink these today, Bob. I am too, Brad. Today we're going to focus just on this West Fork whiskey, the bottled and bond weeded. And then on Part 2 of the bracket, we'll dive into both of those old hammers. Here's what the deal is, folks, if you are a distillery out there, we are not a pay to play podcast. We don't ask for money and we certainly don't give reviews for money.

6:39 But I will say, if you send Brad and I each three full bottles of whiskey as opposed to like 11 tiny sample, we will absolutely give your brand prime exposure on the bracket episodes. So I want to say thank you West Fork Whiskey for not being stingy. We love a good non stingy brand. Yeah, scratch my back, Bob. You know what I'll do? I'll drink your whiskey. That's how that expression goes, right? Dude, I am ready for this. Let's get into the first round of our bracket episode. Yeah, Brad, I'm excited to dive into, man, why don't we do this as we introduce our brackets? You know, it's broken up into quadrants like any good bracket is.

7:20 And typically Brad likes to name the quadrants based on just whatever's on his mind that day. They never, ever associate with anything that actually came out of our season. So Brad, you know, I just realized the day that we're recording this, we're a couple weeks ahead. I sent you just now a list of six different celebrities, people that have birthdays today. Should we name our quadrants after these random happy birthdays? We should. I think it's a wonderful idea. Today is May the 14th, and with it being that day, I'm going to start us off. We're going to be in the George Lucas bracket. George Lucas, best known for the film American Graffiti and nothing else. He is celebrating his 81st birthday today. Happy birthday Georgie boy.

8:10 You you said American Graffiti. You seem to forget about THX 113. Eight. I did, you know, I did forget about that. Slightly less popular than American Graffiti, but still a huge impact on cinema. Huge, huge Brad. And you know, that's that's befitting of this quadrant that we're in the Lucas quadrant. Why don't we go ahead and start with our first overall match up here featuring our top seed, the movie Whiplash, right, I don't think. Whiplash. I don't think I would have picked Whiplash as the number one seed if you just asked me to name what movie would be #1 But it's one of those films that's like, it's so perfectly made that even though I don't think it was either one of our actual number one films that still got the highest overall point total here.

8:58 Yeah, and it makes sense dude. The the like this movie hits on so many different cylinders. The performances are like spot on pitch perfect. And it asks like a really interesting question in a world where like hustle culture is a thing, this movie is asking like, is it all worth it? What, what are you willing to sacrifice for greatness? And I, and I think that's a question that our, our culture is kind of struggling with. So, you know Whiplash. Phenomenal movie. It's going up against the number 32 overall seed Joker now. Before the DC fanboys come for us, I have to say I liked Joker a lot better this time around than I remembered liking it. And I don't think any movie in our ranking got lower than like a 6 1/2 or 7 on average.

9:47 We have a lot of good movies this year. Joker just got the lowest score. And you know what, Brad? I don't really know that there's a lot of conversation to happen here about this match up. Whiplash is quite simply, a better movie than Joker. I really wish that Joaquin Phoenix when he's on the tram with, with the the Bros, the finance Bros, I really just wish he walked up to them and like slapped them in the face and was like, not quite my time. 123123 All right, Whiplash is moving on into the round of 16. Let's get into the real meat here, Brad. We're looking at the number 16 overall seed, Ratatouille, up against the number 17 seed, Spotlight.

10:34 Boy oh boy, could we have picked 2 movies that are more thematically different than Ratatouille and Spotlight. I'm curious to hear, Brad, what you thought of of both of these movies, because as I recall, Ratatouille was a little further down your heart list than I would have expected. Yeah, I ratatouille. I did not see it when it came out. It it wasn't like a highlight of the Pixar experience for me. I still really like this movie like it. It is still a solid Pixar film, which makes it better than like 80% of all other animated films. Spotlight I really really enjoyed.

11:16 It was well made. The pacing was really well done. I this was one of the hardest matchups for me, not even thematically, because obviously there's like, we should probably make the movie about exposing child predators, move on. That's probably a good thing to do. But I didn't do that, Bob. I chose Ratatouille. I did too. And it's it's hard because I think in that episode we said spotlight is kind of hitting the ceiling of what this kind of movie can do. And that's like a really commendable thing. But it's like a perfectly 8 1/2 movie. And I think Ratatouille is kind of like a movie that that might have an overinflated reputation now, but it's still just like, even with flaws, at least a nine for me.

12:01 So Ratatouille is moving on for me. And that takes us to our next match up, the number nine overall seed, 1917 up against the number 24 seed. Her thoughts, Brad. This was a harder match up for me than I thought, you know, a 15 spot difference would give us. I enjoyed her. It made me think it was interesting. I think Joaquin Phoenix is excellent. I think our girl Scar Jo is incredible. Like what a great voice performance from her. At the end of the day, like 1917 is such a grand, ambitious movie. I had to move it on.

12:47 I don't know, man, Like what? Was there any qualms in your heart about moving 1917 on, or did you want her to go further? I mean, I remember liking her a lot when I saw it when I was 23 or whatever. And I think it played better in the movie theater because it is a slow movie. And I think sometimes when you're like in a theater and kind of forced to reckon with a movie on its own terms and don't have the distractions, it works better. I found it to be a little slow this time. Like I found it to be quite boring at parts and that sucked because I like what the movie does overall, I just think 1917 is better. And so, you know, the that's the third favorite in a row to move on to the round of 16. And that takes us to our last match up in the Lucas Quadrant, the number 8 overall seed La La Land up against the number 25 seed. The Help.

13:38 I do not imagine that this is a hard decision for you, Brad. It was a much harder decision for me. Oh. Get out of here dude. I like the. Help. I know that it's problematic. It's good movie, and Viola Davis is incredible. The The hell is this year's Green Book? Yeah, I I mean, that's 100% what it is. But they're both good movies. I don't care what anybody says. No, I'm I'm with you. I like the help. It's no La La Land I like. Again, I think La La Land is a movie that for some people it's like this is a masterpiece and for me it's like it is reaching for masterpiece. And I just don't think we make human beings like this anymore. Like Ryan Gosling is never going to be Gene Kelly or Donald O'Connor or you know, And so I think the like the fact that it, it can't quite hit those heights for me. Some days I'm like La La Land's a nine. And other days I look at La La Land and I'm like, it's a 7. And so I will tell you straight up my first draft of my bracket, I moved on the help.

14:37 I'm not going to do that today. I'm going to put La La Land here. But I, I do think it's going to kind of meet a buzz saw for me in 1917 in the next round. Yeah, that that's pretty wild to me, Bob, because at the end of the day, like, you are correct, we don't make Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire's anymore like that. Like Ginger Rogers just isn't coming out of nowhere to be the greatest dancer of the generation. It's not going to happen. Which means if you're going to make a musical, you have to make it about the story and about the human experience. And, and I think that's why La La Land sticks out for me. So we we can have that argument next round. I'm just letting you know La La Land is a perfect modern. Did you give it a?

15:23 10 If you didn't give it a 10, you gave it a nine and a half. I know how much you love that movie. I'm. Pretty positive I gave it a 10. Yeah, I'm not. I'm. Just not there, man. But you know what? It's good enough to move on to the round of 16, and that gives us our first four entries in the round of 16. Whiplash, Ratatouille 1917 and La La Land. 4. Damn good movies, if I may say so myself. Brad, dude. I'm not going to lie, I was looking at our let's see, it's 32168. My top eight could be winners of just about any season.

16:04 This was the hardest Elite Eight I think I've ever had. All right, well, we're going down to the next bracket. If you're following along, it's the bottom left bracket which we are naming what. That's up to you, Bob. I I named the Lucas Quadrant. Where are you at? Well, we are wishing celebrities. We're wishing. A happy 56th birthday to Cate Blanchett today, one of my favorite actresses. So we're going to be down here in the Blanchett bracket, Brad, and we're looking at the number four overall seed Parasite up against the number 29 seed Ford V Ferrari. Now, I will say this, I, I've said it many times on the podcast, Brad, Parasite is a movie that has been forever spoiled for me because of my awful viewing experience the first time. I I do think that if it comes down to like a 1917 versus Parasite 2019 matchup, I still think I like 1917 better. However, Ford V Ferrari is a very 7 out of 10 movie. Yep.

17:08 Which made me sad. I it was a movie that you know, 2019 was just such a great year for movies. So many of the great the best picture nominees I wanted to see with Ford V Ferrari being one of them. I, I was it's pretty mid. It's a pretty fun dad movie that has too many like YouTube able moments for me to really like. Love It 20. 19 was such a good year for movies that we're in our fifth match up in this bracket and we've already had four of the best picture nominees from 2019 in this in these 10 films like that's insane dude. It's. Really nuts. I, I, I really think, you know, we, we talk about different years being incredible for film. This is going to be one of them in the history books. All right, so parasite is moving on into the round of 16 pretty drama free so far.

18:02 Brad, I I need you to hate me for some reason or this episode's going to get boring very quickly All right, the the next match up is the number 13 seed spider man into the spider verse against the 20 seed district 9. Now this is a really intriguing match up because it's like we finally found something that the sci-fi and comic book nerds can argue over, right? Like these movies feel not necessarily related to each other, but kind of like they're made for the same general crowd of people. And District 9 was an interesting rewatch for me. I hadn't seen it in probably at least 10 years. I think it holds up really freaking well. It's just not a 10. And Spider Man was interesting to me because I remember not liking it that much at all when I saw it and it boosted its score all the way up to like a nine for me. So I'm, I'm pretty torn on these two, Brad. Yeah.

18:54 This feels like the closest match up so far where I like. I've really enjoyed district 9. I really enjoyed spider man into the spider verse, and I like enjoyed them at a similar enough level that I'm kind of like, well, do I want like space aliens or animated just madness that that feels like the vibe check for me. I think I'm going to go with space aliens, Bob. I pitched Spider Man, so that means, Brad, that it is time for us to split the vote here with the Coin of Destiny. Folks, welcome to the coin of destiny on film and whiskey. This is this is perhaps.

19:36 Reintroducing the whole show, this is perhaps. The best feature we have ever featured on this show. Brad has a big old brass coin he's about to flip. The way this works is the higher seeded film gets heads, the lower seeded film gets tails, and the loser gets eliminated from existence. We forgot to mention that Brad, our operative MO is If this film survives the apocalypse, which of these two films should move on, right? Yeah, which one is getting cast into the fiery inferno all? Right, so spider man will be heads district 9 tails. Brad, flip that coin. Bob, I have flipped onto heads, which means Spider man into the spider verse has escaped annihilation for now all. Right.

20:30 Are you much of A annihilationist, Bob? How do you how do you feel about God destroying the souls of the unworthy? Oh. Man, that's a great question. I'm I'm big into soul destruction, Brad, you know, it just sounds it just sounds cool. I that's I it's more metal that way it. It is a little more metal that way. So now we have the match up of Parasites and spiders in the round of 16. We're going to move on into our next match up, the number 12 seed Inside Out versus the 21 seed Zodiac. Unfortunately I I think that this match up deserves more discussion than it's going to get, but I also know that you both like Inside Out more than I do and dislike Zodiac more than I do, so this seems like this was one of your easier choices in the entire My Passions.

21:19 My passions run hot, Bob. Yeah. I mean, if you want Moody Gyllenhaal, like, sure. Like, Zodiac's a good film. Not compelling enough to beat Inside Out. All right, here's let me let me make a match up of just moments from these two movies 'cause I think this would be a better match up. The Hey Jake Gyllenhaal come down in my basement with me seen in Zodiac versus Bing Bong flinging himself off the back of the wagon in Inside Out. Inside out. Oh man. It's at least a comparable level of like well made sequence to me, yeah. No, it's, it's a those are both great sequences that stir the emotions. I'm, I'm, I'm going with Bing bong, Bing bong, Bing bong. Bing Bong, the real MVP.

22:11 All right, Bing Bong and the film Inside Out are moving on into the round of 16. And that brings us to our last match up in the Blanchette quadrant, the number five overall seed, the Holdovers versus the 28th seed Argo. Now, Brad, I will say, even though this is our fifth overall seed and thus very highly ranked, Holdovers did not quite crack the top tier of films for you on your heart list, which I thought was a little surprising because we both came out to like what, a 9 1/2 or A10 on this movie? Such a good movie I believe. I believe a nine and a half. Yeah, dude, The Holdovers is an incredible movie. It is an instant Christmas classic in my opinion.

22:53 I'm trying to remember what I gave it. Let's see, you were at a 10 out of 10, Bob. I was at a nine out of 10. So yeah, for me, The Holdovers, it does everything you want it to do. I think that. What is his name? Angus Tolley. What's the actor? Dominic Sessa. Thank you, Dominic. My boy Dami, it's his first movie and we we can tell that it is his first movie and that's nothing on him. He he does a very admirable job. I think it does hold the movie back a little bit. All right, well, you're wrong, but I think that you are correct enough that we can agree that it's going to defeat Argo here. Argo is a very competently made Hollywood movie that upon rewatch, I'm very surprised that this thing won Best Picture. Good movie.

23:48 I I would not say that it's anything special. Fair. Yeah, totally. I I don't yeah, there there's just certain movies that maybe it made sense in the era for it to win that award. You know, it's it's a good fun movie that I'm not sure how it won best picture. All right, so we have our first eight entrance into the round of 16. Brad, have you been keeping track here? I. Sure have. We have Whiplash, Ratatouille 1917, Lala Land Parasite, Spider Man, Into the Spider Verse, Inside Out and The Holdovers.

24:28 Brad, I think it's time that we take a break here as we're in between the round. Let's try our whiskey for the day. West Fork bottled and Bond weeded. What do you say Let's. Get to it. All right, everybody. So this whiskey West Fork weeded, bottled and Bond obviously is coming to us at 100 proof as all bottled and Bond products do. We don't have a mash bill here, Bob. We just know that this is weeded, which I would assume means the second highest grain in this is wheat. That's about it.

25:12 I'll tell you. What? Man, This is why you podcast with old Bob Book. I have a mash bill for you. Oh, they don't have. They don't have it on the website. So, well, they found it on Breaking Bourbon somehow. So once again, we are eternally indebted to Breaking Bourbon. The mash bill listed there is 73% corn, 17% wheat and 10% rye. So actually a little bit higher rye content that I was expecting. West Fork is the distillery on this. So they're based in Indiana, but they are not sourcing from that large juggernaut of an Indiana distillery. This is a smaller operation that was started in 2014 by 3 Indiana natives. And we are trying, as Brad said, I would say like their flagship bourbon here. This is a A4 year old bottled and bond. We did, Brad, as, as our listeners may or may not know, bottled and bond is a distinction given by the government and there are a lot of regulations on it, right? So it has to be the product of 1 distilling season. It has to be at least four years old. It has to be bottled at 100 proof. It has to be housed in a government bonded warehouse. So, you know, this was established way back in the late 1800s when you could just bottle a bunch of hooch and make people go blind and it was a very good thing. Now it's just a nice little thing to slap on your label to show that you've put time and care and effort into making your whiskey.

26:31 I'm super excited, man. I've never tried anything from this brand, have you? I have. Not this is my first exposure. All right, man. Let's dive in. What are you picking up on the nose of this West Fork Bottled and Bond weeded bourbon? Honestly. Bob, this is this smells very young to me. It has the craft vibe, which sometimes is good, sometimes is not good. I'll let you decide how I feel about it. I smell sawdust and corn and youth like a street youth. 6 out of 10 Bob I. Spell St. youths on this. I think it's a little bit better than that, Brad. And I'm getting an interesting note you ever make, like I don't know how you cook your pancakes in the pan, but I, I like to use butter in my pan with my pancakes.

27:17 And when like a little piece of the pancake kind of breaks off and you could just kind of let that small bit of batter get a little over toasted or overcooked because you're busy flipping the big pancakes. It smells like that. It smells kind of like a Roux that's been overcooked a bit. Do you get that butteriness get a little bit of like a burnt scent as well? And I get some saline on it. And that's in addition to your kind of regular bourbony notes. I think it's intriguing. I don't necessarily think that this is knocking my socks off, but I'll give it a 7 out of 10 I think. On the palate, it, the corn really comes through it to me just tastes very young, which I, you know, I know that this is 4 years old.

27:57 It's very young, very crafty. It kind of has a little bit of a vanilla vibe. It reminds me a little bit of like kicks cereal, like like a there's a little bit of a sugary coating to a very bland ball of grain underneath. I don't like this, Bob. I I'm just going to say it. 5 1/2. Wow. Oh. I'm sorry West Fork, for Brad's lack of kindness towards you. Yeah, I listen. I don't think this is a great whiskey, however. You know, it's funny like. Brad is being so mean. I also too do not think this is a great I mean I. Think it's a pretty good whiskey though.

28:37 Like, you know, some whiskeys are great and most whiskeys are good and some whiskeys are bad. And this is definitely not bad to me. So like, here's where I'm at on it. Though we've been saying for multiple episodes like, oh, this whiskey reminds me of the kind of whiskeys that we drink at the Kentucky Bourbon Festival. This whiskey reminds me of the whiskeys we drink at the Ohio Distillers Festival. Like there is something about, like it's a startup distillery. Their stuff is just coming to age. It still has a little bit of youthfulness on it for sure. And it's a little bit thinner and just not as bold, not as syrupy on the palate. But it's still like, I, I like that kind of whiskey 'cause it feels like you're kind of getting in on the ground floor of something, you know what I mean?

29:22 Like I I'm not going to put this up against anything from like a well aged Kentucky stock, but I'm I'm still going to give it a 6 1/2 on the pallet bread. I. I am going to be honest with you, Bob, if you start comparing things to the Ohio Craft Whiskey Festival, yeah, finish is Taste of Sour Wheat and I'll give it a 5 out of 10. Yeah, again, I, I just, I don't find this to be as unpalatable as you. I think it's pretty good. I'm going to give it a 6.5 again on the finish overall balance. If you're reviewing movies on the Rodger Ebert like 4 star scale, this is like a 2 1/2 out of four for me. It's like right in that 6 1/2 range.

30:03 I think I'll probably go there again with this one, Brad. Yeah, I'll, I'll give it a six out of 10 on balance. You know, for it not being my favorite craft whiskey. Like the experience is palatable and straightforward. So I'll give it a six out of 10 on balance. Value wise, they are selling this for $45.00, which I do think is a very reasonable price. I have seen some craft distilleries out there that I'm not going to name selling whiskey much worse than this for 80 to $140.00. So like $45.00 is an accurate, accurate place to sell this at. I, I'm still going to say for what you are getting in the bottle, you know, I, I think you could spend $45.00 elsewhere and, and get much better value.

31:03 But at the end of the day, they are pricing at the right point. I'll give it a six out of 10 on value. I'm going to. Give a 7 out of 10. I do, I just have a soft spot for the little guy in areas like this. You know, I I work in marketing and I work with a lot of startup companies. I've worked with a coffee company for a couple years and like, one of the things that we always get is like, why is your coffee more expensive than insert giant brand? And it's like, 'cause, 'cause they make $3 billion a year and they own all their facilities and they own farms and like, they have completely streamlined the entire process of coffee growing, importing, roasting, like it costs money, The. Oil. The oil Baron of the coffee world. Yeah, I mean.

31:43 Like it, it costs money when you're a little guy and you're trying to break into the industry. And I think to price this at $45.00 is actually quite generous of them to do. I'm going to give it a 7 here, Brad. That takes me to a 33.5 out of 50. Where you falling on this one? Not terribly lower than you, but 28.5 out of 50. All right, so that. Takes us to a 62 out of 100 or a 31 out of 50. I think this is a good baseline place to start with West Fork. I have definitely tried the other two old hammers and I think they are a step up from here, Brad. So I'm excited to dive into those two in our next episode. Yeah, I, I. Will say Bob, I have drank all three of them before this. I knew going into it I did not like this bottled and bond weeded. And just in case there is somebody out there who listens to this episode and not the next, although that would be just asinine of you not to fight, you know, finish out the bracket episode.

32:37 I want you to know the old hammers cast strength and rum finish are really, really good. And I, I, I like what they're doing at West Fork. I'm excited to review those in the next episode. The bottle and bottle we did just didn't quite do it for me. Bob. That's OK. Man, you know what does do it for me, Brad? What's that, Robert? The Season. 9 bracket challenge was it getting? Slapped in the face by JK Simmons A. Huge turn on. Let's get back into that bracket, Brad. Let's get to it, man. All right, so we're getting back into this round of 32. We are in the top right quadrant of our bracket, better known as Brad. This is.

33:21 Going to be known as the Robert Zemeckis Memorial Bracket. Bobby Z Our. Favorite director His he he might not be passed away, however his film career seems to be. Did you see his most recent film here with Tom Hanks and Robin Wrights where they are digitally de aged for the whole film? No, listen, what I? Tell you. Brad unwatchable for 98% of the movie. And then the last scene of the movie made me cry so hard that I cried the whole way home from them. It was unbelievable how much I turned around on that movie in the final two minutes.

34:05 Yeah. So you went Bobby Z baby A5 out of 10 to A7? I went from like a three to like a 5 1/2, but still, it's a big deal. That's almost as big as my jump on Eternal Sunshine, so yeah. Yeah. All right. Well, so in the Bobby Z bracket, we're starting with the number two overall seed, Oppenheimer versus the number 31 seed, The Big Short. I think the more interesting thing to talk about here is Oppenheimer, obviously Brad, Best Picture winner, one of only, I think, 2 movies to hit all four of our criteria for inclusion in the Canon here. Oppenheimer's interesting because I do think that it's messy and I do think that it's shaggy. And I do think that it's a movie that is really saved by the editor, Jennifer Lame. Like it is one of the best edited movies I've ever seen. I think Nolan gets a lot of credit where a lot of credit should go to the editor.

34:57 And I've cooled just a bit on Oppenheimer to the point where I'm like, I think it maybe it's a 9 1/2, but it's a monumental 9 1/2. Yeah. Does that make sense? Oh. Absolutely dude, the the thing was a freaking juggernaut in American culture, which is pretty crazy for a three hour biopic drama. Like I I still it's still kind of blows my mind how much power Nolan has over American cinema, but it's well deserved. He, you know, way long time ago, probably in like season 3 or 4 when we did Interstellar, I just said I was like, listen, man, he swings for the fences every single time and he has a crew around him that that makes it come close. So it makes sense to me that this film did so well. But man, oh man, it it's wild that this type of movie did so well at the awards with the American public. Like everybody loved this movie, The Big Short. Meanwhile is a movie that just did not seem to work at all for you.

36:04 I like it, but I I do think that it's just frankly not nearly as good as Oppenheimer is. Yeah. Oppenheimer is the clear victor here, which takes us to our next match up hold. On I have one question for you, Brad. Oh, OK, go ahead. Are you jacked that Oppenheimer moved on to the next round? Buddy. I'm jacked to the tits. We had to give it one more Jack to the tits before we send it off into the fiery furnace. What a. Great line, Oh. It's amazing now. I'm sorry. Please, please proceed now that you're jacked to the tits. Which makes a lot of sense for the next movie I'm about to announce, Bob.

36:44 We are talking the number 15 seed Wolf of Wall Street, going up against the number 18 seed, Skyfall. This is 1. Of the harder ones for me, I don't think Skyfall is as successful for you as it is for me. I like James Bond. I think it's a very handsomely mounted film. Wolf of Wall Street is like a It's like the White Album. It's like. Handsomely mounted sounds like a very British way of saying well hung handsomely. Mounted is exactly what happens in multiple scenes of Wolf of Wall Street. Sure. Wolf of Wall Street reminds me of the White Album in that it's like we made 50 songs and we're going to just throw them all on an album and 35 of them are classics and 10 of them are OK and five of them suck. Like, that's Wolf of Wall Street for me. I what?

37:35 What scene, What scene in Wolf of Wall Street is your #9? Because what a like, it's not even a song. It's like a concept weird avant-garde thing. So where where are you at on Wolf of Wall Street with its avant-garde Ness? It's got. To be the scene where they're on Quaaludes at the party and then everything goes into slow motion for a minute and then Jonah Hill wanders down and has his Dick out. Yes. That's got to be the Revolution 9 of Wolf of Wall Street. Brad, I picked Skyfall here, but it's because it's so razor thin for me. I don't really care what moves on here.

38:15 They're both really good movies, and I think that Oppenheimer is going to defeat either of them. Yeah. I, I picked Wolf of Wall Street. I, I am with you. I, I think Skyfall is a good competitor for Wall Street. That, like Daniel Craig, nails it. I I think that it makes a lot of sense to pick that here. All right, well, it's time for us to flip the Coin of Destiny. So heads will be Wolf of Wall Street, tails will be Skyfall Rad Flip that coin. Bob, we are on a streak. Heads has won again, which means the Wolf of Wall Street has moved on. I'm not going anywhere.

38:58 You have such a weird pronunciation of that title. The Wolf of Wall Street. It's great. Gary Oldman. All right, dude, let's move down into our next match up, the number 10 film How to Train Your Dragon versus the number 23 movie Moneyball, Bob I. Was a little surprised at both of these rankings. I did not expect How to Train Your Dragon to be this high. I didn't expect Moneyball to be quite this low. You like? Moneyball less than me and I think that I just kind of shared with you again that it has the like spotlight syndrome of the ceiling on the way this movie is made is like a perfect 8.5. Like it will never achieve higher than an 8.5, but it is like a great 8.5.

39:47 I just think how to train Your Dragon is more successful at what it's trying to do. Like it is a perfect nine or a 9.5 for me. And especially with that crappy remake coming out soon, I want to hang on to this one for as long as we can. Brad. Do you think it's going to be garbage? Oh. Absolutely. That really reports on people who have seen it has said that it's like in the 90s this director Gus Van Zandt did a remake of Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho and the whole premise was like, it's a shot for shot remake. Like we have set the camera up in exactly the same way. And they said that this is basically that. But like Roger Deakins helped make this version and did not help make the new version. So you know, how good can it be?

40:29 Yeah, yeah. I mean, if you get Deakins on it, you know, maybe it it has a chance. That's unfortunate, man. Like at the end of the day, I think that this, you know, we compared it to Avatar a few times. I think that a live action remake of this movie actually could make sense. You just have to do it right. You have to cast it well, you have to have a good cinematographer. And too often these are money grabs, which means they're not going to hire the best crew, right? You're not going to get deacons or like, I don't know, like could you imagine if like Denny took took a took a swing at this movie? Like that would be freaking cool if he made a version of how to train your dragon.

41:12 Alas, he did not. But I do think it's good enough to move on to the round of 16. Brad. Yeah. Totally. It it is better than Moneyball. Moneyball is a perfect dad movie, man. Yeah. It's it's going into the fiery furnace and as Brad Pitt says in that movie, how can you not be romantic about Dragons? So we're moving that on to the next round. And that takes us to what is for sure Brad's favorite match up and the easiest one for him in this entire bracket. Witness me. We're talking about the number seven seed Mad Max Fury Rd. up against the 26 seed Creed. Now listen, we both know what's moving on here. I think Creed's a good movie and I was shocked that how flawed it was on rewatch for me this time around, yeah.

41:57 It's a good film it it comes nowhere close. The moniker of modern masterpiece. Like. Mad Max does some damage in my bracket, Bob, like I'm sure it does. I still walk like I can't believe I watched that film twice in a day. And yet when I think about it, I'm like, man, I, I should probably go watch Mad Max again. Well, I guess it's moving on here, Brad. Then that means that we have our first four entries into the round of 16 in this side of the bracket, but we've got to finish out our final quadrant. And today we are celebrating the 54th birthday of the director Sofia Coppola.

42:38 So we're down here in the Coppola region, Brad, and we're starting out with a movie that I think Sofia Coppola would really love because it has the same kind of vibe and rhythm as Lost in Translation. It's my personal favorite movie of this entire bracket. It's the number three overall seed past lives going up against the number 30 seed, John Wick. John Wick, a good movie that I liked a lot. It is no past lives I really. Wish that we had the crossover where like John Wick is like in a murder spree and it just so happens to like coincide with them drinking at the bar in the middle of the night. I, I think that's the, the crossover film that we all need and deserve where the, whatever the Korean gentleman's name is, he like hit, you know, his childhood love is murdered. And so now he becomes the new John Wick. So can we Would it be called the past Wick? Is that the name of the mash up?

43:41 Past Wicks. Past. Wicks, can we Can we say goodbye to John Wick? Yeah, we can. We, we can shoot it in the head bomb, he says. I'm thinking I'm back and I say, O contraire, go into the fireplace. What a. Terrible. What a terrible line. Oh, you're you're. Ridiculous. That is a. Line written by a stuntman. I'm sorry it. Was a good movie. Past Lives is way better. Past Lives moves on into the round of 16. Now, Brad, before we move on, I got to ask you about your Past Lives ranking. You got it at #7 which is a very admirable ranking. It is behind Mad Max Fury Rd. for you. It's behind Parasite, Oppenheimer, La La Land, Whiplash, and a movie that has yet to be named. Is it just that you don't think it's as good? Is it just that it didn't capture your heart as much as some of these?

44:28 Where you at on Past? I was going to say. It's a heart ranking. Like looking back at my list, I could maybe move Mad Max up a few slots, maybe to the four slot and drop Oppenheimer and Parasite back. Like do these top 6 movies. All of them could probably replace each other at #1, but not. Past lives, 'cause that's at seven. Yeah, past. Lives is the first one that's like just outside that like doesn't hit that man. This could be my number one movie. Like on any given day I could look at Parasite, Oppenheimer, Whiplash and be like, yes, this is the number one movie of the season. I think the highest I could go for Past Lives would be like four or five.

45:18 So yeah, I, I really love Past lives. I think it's a beautiful story. I think it asks phenomenally important questions about the human experience and and how we go about our lives. It's just not quite there on a you know, Mad Max has the holy shit, this is one of the coolest things I've ever seen on a movie screen factor past lives doesn't, you know, just doesn't doesn't quite hit that level of spectacle. All right. Brad, we're moving past lives on. Even though you gave it a 10 out of 10 in the episode. It's it's funny how that works, isn't it? Like you can say something is a 10 out of 10, but it still doesn't crack the top five or whatever for you on your heart list. Yeah.

46:01 Yeah, it's, it's wild, dude. I, I think I gave a decent amount of 10s this year. I, I try to be stingy with my 10s, but then I get excited about things and you know, here we are with multiple 10 out of 10s. Great movie, Bob. Now, Brad, these next couple match ups I think are the ones that we're going to start getting contentious on. We've got the number 14 seed Dune Part 2 up against the 19 seed JoJo Rabbit. Now I know how much you love JoJo Rabbit and I don't have your list pulled up in front of me, but you ranked it pretty high. I'm just way cooler on JoJo Rabbit than you are. I I think if you looked at the spectrum of like what most of film Twitter thinks about JoJo Rabbit, you and I are only a tiny sliver apart from each other. Like I actually like this movie way more than the general population it seems, but way less than you. It's it's wild to me that people don't like this movie. I like.

46:57 I don't understand it. People are so dumb. That's. It it was your #8 ranked movie. It was the first movie after JoJo Rabbit or after Past Lives for You. Yeah, I I love JoJo Rabbit. I think it's a great film. I think the comedy is really well done and I I think when you can have great comedy with some great physical, you know, gags paired with a really heartwarming heart rending like story and some awesome performances. I like this movie is incredible. The the two child actors do a great job. Scarlett Johansson is stunningly good in this movie.

47:39 The the amount of conflict she has within her soul as she's trying to navigate a wildly tense and unfriendly hostile world is is incredible. So yeah, JoJo Rabbit is the choice here. I'm going dune, baby. I'm going Lisan Al gaib. I want him riding a sandworm into the next round. Brad, screw that kid, JoJo. Throw him into the fiery furnace with the rest of the Nazis. I want the Lisan Al gaib. Hey, man, he's. Not a Nazi at the end of the movie. And, and you know what, honestly, honestly, Paul Tradies kind of is a Nazi at the end of the movie.

48:23 So, you know, we're just going to ignore that. We all know where Bob stands. Dune Part 2 is moving on for me Brad, and that means that we have a coin flip in our future here. Dune as the higher ranked movie is going to be heads. JoJo Rabbit is tails. Brad flip the coin of destiny. Man, this has been a episode of Heads, and yet here we are with Tails coming up on top. JoJo Rabbit. No is moving on veto. Power needs to be instituted here. I cannot believe we are moving JoJo freaking Rabbit on Over Dune Part 2. Dude, here's the thing.

49:08 I could show you my bracket. I literally wrote down JoJo. And then I thought about it and I was like, Dune's probably the better movie. And I scribbled out JoJo and I wrote Dune. And then like literally as we started, I was looking at it and I'm like, Nah, JoJo Jojo's move it on well. Maybe I can get get back at you here with this next one cause we've got the number 11 overall seed Everything Everywhere All at Once up against the number 22 seed Once Upon A Time In Hollywood. I want to bury the lead here a little bit, Brad 'cause I know you're chomping at the bit. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is where I'm going to start a movie that we both like and that both of us agree is like, I don't understand why people think this is Tarantino's best movie. It just rambles and then it ends and the ending is so good that people forget how much it rambles. For some people, that works.

50:01 I think for both of us, it was a little bit. Well, let's see. Where was it on your list, Brad? I mean, I I gave every. I gave Once Upon a time a Hollywood, a nine out of 10, Bob. Oh yeah. You have it at #9 on the season and I gave. It at #9 I don't know, I don't know how it got down to 22. Did you like rank this number 30? Pretty close man. Yeah, I, I don't have my my ranking pulled up in front of me, but it was real low. Yeah, I. I was shocked to see it here. I was also shocked to see Everything Everywhere All at Once at 11. I, I knew that you did not like that nearly as much as I did. I I don't know, man, this match up befuddled me because in another world, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood could have made my top 8. Like, I really liked that film.

50:52 And I think Tarantino nails it on the pacing that, you know, it's not a perfect movie, but there's so much to love here. And you know Brad Pitt zoned out on shrooms killing Austin Butler and company is incredible. And you have Leonardo DiCaprio burning a girl to death with a flamethrower in a pool. You sure? Do and. But and then like casually talking about it with his neighbor 10 minutes later, Crucially. Though it features 0 bagels that suck in all of the universe around them. Now, Brad, I I know that you're looking at this ranking. I know that Everything Everywhere All At Once was your number one ranked film of the season, which is freaking wild, but you are entitled to your opinion. But as you can see, it's pretty low on my list. It's a movie that I've I've kind of cooled on and really turned on over the last couple years.

51:48 I just don't think it's going to age very well. I think that the emotional moments in this movie work perfectly, but there is a lot of silliness that you have to wade through to get there. However, I moved Everything Everywhere on in this round. I'm assuming you did too, Brad. That's right. You did, Bob. You gave it an 8 out of 10. Yeah. So it's it's not like you hate this movie. No, it it very clearly works for you, just not on the level that people who understand cinema. Do you like me? You have been known for your extensive knowledge of the history of movies, Brad. Everything Everywhere All at Once moves on into the next round, which takes us to our very last match up. And then, Brad, I have an idea to share with you. We're talking about the number six overall seed Godzilla -1 up against the 27 seed Prisoners.

52:38 I'm pretty bummed about prisoners, man. I remember this movie being great, and it is simply pretty good. Fair. Yeah. Yeah. Totally fair. It's it's a pretty good movie that does not pull any punches in trying to make you feel terrible and definitely doesn't give you any room to feel good about the human condition. Not a fan, Bob. I I I like it and I really don't like it. Which means Godzilla -1 is moving on, question mark. Oh, absolutely, dude. Do you want to hear a fun story, please? Yesterday, Haley and I were doing our anatomy scan to see the gender of our third child.

53:26 Hey. Congratulations man. Yeah, I already. Knew but film and Whiskey nation did not so you know yeah, we're having. A third baby, it's super exciting. There were certain points where they're like measuring the blood flow in the baby to make sure you know everything's moving properly and and doing well. Well, it doesn't show up as red, it shows up as blue. And so it's at a certain point my, my in utero child like lit up in blue. And we had just watched Godzilla -1 a few weeks ago. I was like, I was like my baby's Godzilla. Prepare for the nuclear blast to just come out your wife's stomach. Yeah, dude, yes. That's hilarious, man. All right, so on that weird note, Godzilla moves on into the next round, and that takes us.

54:13 And that leaves us with our final list of 16 films. Now, Brad, we've never done this before, but we have a lot to get through here. We still have awards to give out. We have two whiskeys to give out. Typically, we divide this into two episodes, but we are only halfway through what we typically do in episode 1, and I think that we're running long. Obviously. I think I should propose a third episode of Bracket Challenge Third. Episode, I think let's. Stop here today, right? Let's take the round of 16, just the round of 16 in the next episode, and we'll knock out these whiskeys and some awards, and then we will proceed with our round of eight, round of 4 championship in the final episode.

54:54 What do you say? I love that idea, Bob. I am tired of talking to you. I. Too, man, we need a break but before we get a break, let's get the final list of 16 Brad, can you share that list with our listeners? We. Have Whiplash versus Ratatouille 1917 versus Lala Land, Parasite versus Spider Man, Into the Spider verse, Inside Out versus the Holdovers, Oppenheimer versus Wolf of Wall Street, How to Train Your Dragon versus Mad Max Fury Rd. Past Lives versus JoJo Rabbit, Everything Everywhere All at Once, facing off against the monster itself.

55:35 Godzilla -1. All right, folks, So what we're going to do is today's Tuesday. On Friday we will release Part 2 of the Bracket Challenge, which is our round of 16, and then we'll come back after the weekend. We'll finish it out next Tuesday with the real final episode. You get 3 episodes for the price of two, folks. Where else can you get that but film and whiskey? Join us on Friday for the next episode, but until then, I'm Bob Book. Hi. I'm Brad G and we'll. See you next time.