The Departed / The Sexton Irish Whiskey

0:00 Robots radio presents in 2006 director Martin Scorsese and far too many stars to name in this short opening gave the world a shockingly violent foray into the underworld of Boston crime in 2020. We return to the Emerald Isle to sample. A single malt, the film is The Departed, the whiskey is the sexton and we'll review them both. This is the film and whiskey podcast. Welcome to the film and whiskey podcast, where each week, we review a classic movie and a glass of whiskey. I'm Bob book, I'm Brad G and this week we are looking at the 2006 film The Departed.

0:59 You accuse me once. I put up with it, you accuse me twice, I quit. You pressuring me to feel for my life and I will put a bullet in your head as if you were anybody else, okay? Brad. It is good to be back with you again this week. This is actually the first of two Martin Scorsese films that we are going to be doing this season later on. In the season, will be returning to a Scorsese DiCaprio match up with Shutter Island. But today, we are talking about the movie that finally won him. His best director. Oscar, his best picture Oscar 2006 has The Departed. Yeah. Bob it's been a little bit since we recorded and I'm glad to be back here in the studio.

1:43 And honestly, I am really excited to talk about The Departed today. Day because it is a heck of a film. And if I was using the language of the film, I don't think anybody would be listening to it anymore. We would have numerous beeps already in this episode. Yeah, we be bleeping out quite a bit. But yeah. The The Departed is it's a crazy movie. Lots of stuff goes on, there's so much Intrigue and just I'm really excited to get into it. Bob well that's good to hear Brad and I think in our conversations with each other it had come up before the you have seen this movie before watching it for this. Cast. Is that correct? Yeah, I had seen it once before. Probably about two or three years ago, I sat down and watched it with Haley. She gave it a definitive two thumbs down this. This does not seem like the kind of film that your wife would be into.

2:31 You know what, the the interesting thing is Haley, kind of grew up watching, whatever movies, her dad brought home. So like she saw Saving Private Ryan as like a seven or eight year old, you know what I mean? So like, it's not necessarily that it's like the violence or the language that Others her. But yeah, she wasn't she wasn't a huge fan. It was a little too over-the-top for her. So Brad one of the interesting things and I guess I'm going to kind of out myself now so that we can kind of frame our conversation around. This, is that watching this movie. I was struck by two things. The first is that I really like this movie. I think it's a good movie. I think it's a very good movie, but the second is that it loses a lot on re-watch, and I think that the, the shock of the events that happen in this movie, The First time you see it, and we'll get into those when we get to our spoiler, filled synopsis and Brad explains. But the shock of those events is what really put the movie Over The Edge.

3:26 In terms of enjoyment value. This is a really enjoyable entertaining movie and it's one of those movies that Scorsese doesn't always lean into these kind of things where it's just a movie for a movie sake. It's just the pure adrenaline of the movie, movie going experience, and I feel like on second, watch, it still has a lot of those. Good Vibes that a game gave off the first time. But watching it after, you know, what happens at the end of the movie, I think it really does lose something on the re-watch. I was going to say, I think that before we get into Brad explains, I will say, this is a movie that you should see before you find out the spoiler. Yeah, so if you haven't seen the movie, I really would highly advise.

4:10 Go jump on Amazon Prime. It's like three or four bucks to rent. Check it out. It's a spectacular movie. And it's one worth watching before you have it spoiled for you. But with that said, I don't think we can really get any further in this episode. Brad without breaking down the plot of this movie and the spoilers of this movie because I feel like that's going to come up a lot. So for those of you who are not familiar, we are moving into a segment that we call Brad explains. That is where Brad breaks down the plot of the movie that he has just watched often for the first time, that is not the case today. And so Brad, I am expecting an excellent breakdown. Of this incredibly convoluted plot from you can you break down the Departed for our listeners?

4:53 Yeah Bob I'd love to do some explaining here because this is It's a heck of a story, man. You start the film by following two separate lives. You follow Leonardo DiCaprio. Playing Billy Costigan, who is a young Cadet at the Boston, Police Academy, or Massachusetts police academy, and he's working his way onto the police force and You also follow Matt Damon. Who's playing a man named Colin Sullivan and you follow him through a little bit more of his childhood and you see that he is persuaded by the local crime Lord to kind of become you know one of his main men and you realize quickly that as he is also going through police school and eventually he becomes a police detective that he is in the pocket of Frank Costello, who is played by the very A memorable, Jack Nicholson in this movie, you quickly realize that Leonardo DiCaprio's character grew up with a family full of people and crime and he is probably the only person in his whole family to come out of the south side of Boston and try to have somewhat of a legitimate lifestyle. Whereas on the other side of things, you have a squeaky clean, you know, Matt Damon, who just fits the role of detective and he's sharp who is actually A mole for Jack Nicholson's crime, you know, crime unit his gang.

6:24 And so the movie Just follows them from there, they slowly work. Their ways into positions of power Leonardo DiCaprio is sent undercover into Costello's crime syndicate and slowly works his way up the ranks. Just the way that Matt Damon is working his way up the ranks in the Massachusetts state troopers. And so the movie Just follows all the different Twists and turns. It takes to be an undercover cop and an undercover mole in the cops. And by the end of the film, the people who are keeping Leonardo DiCaprio from being found out, they get killed and Matt, Damon is trying to cover up the evidence and he's killing people left and right and it ends with pretty much everybody getting killed and there's a lot of death.

7:11 There's a lot of f-words and violence. It's have. I have I emphasize enough how This movie is, it's incredibly violent and you know, Brad it doesn't quite play out as suddenly as you are making it seem. But some of the deaths in this film are incredibly sudden and again, if we get into spoilers we might as well just say it at the end of the film. It finally looks like Leonardo DiCaprio's character who has gone through hell. Being an undercover cop is going to finally get some justice. He makes basically a citizen's arrest of, Matt Damon's character, because Damon's character has erased all the files indicating that he was. Several police officer and he's taking Damon down this elevator to go turn him in and prove that he was Costello's rat.

7:54 And as the elevator doors open, you get just a gunshot and then Leonardo DiCaprio splattered brains on the back of this elevator. And it was one of the most shocking deaths I've ever seen in a movie. And I have to give it up to Scorsese because it happens really quickly. And if you watch that scene really carefully, like it gives you just enough. Time to register what's going on? Like DiCaprio, kind of hangs in the frame for just a second before he falls out, and it like, it's not so jarring that you're disoriented. But it was one of those moments where, like, I was in the movie theater when this happened and people audibly said, what the f out loud and I love when stuff like that happens in a movie that no one's expecting.

8:40 Yeah, that that was my exact same response. The first time I was watching this movie. I mean, you are just So heavily invested in Leo's character and his path for justice and his path to find some normal semblance of a life and it's just gone just absolutely destroyed and half of a heartbeat. And and I think that that moment leads you to a beautiful place where for the next 10 to 15 minutes of the movie, it feels like Matt Damon is going to get away with it, right? Like he sits down and he tells them that Leo was a hero and that he was the undercover cop. That found the mole and that the mole was this other guy, which technically this other guy was a mole in the office. Like it's so convoluted and so crazy that those last 10 minutes, you're like holy cow.

9:32 Matt Damon's gonna get away with this and then Mark Wahlberg shows up and he looks he looks like like have you ever had an electrician come to your house and like do some work? And he's like wearing those little booties if it Kind of looks like he's just this electrician to come in to work on your house and he just shoots, Matt Damon wipes, his gun off and walks away and that's the end of the movie and that's the end of the you're absolutely right. Brad like everybody dies and at that point it's almost like Scorsese and the screenwriter William Monahan were just like well that's the last dramatic thing that needed to happen in this so let's just wrap up there. Yeah, there's no resolution it's just like gunshot Falls over dead. You get this terrible shot of a rat which is supposed to be Symbolic and then it's like and directed by Martin Scorsese. There is just there's nothing else to say. It's almost like Shakespeare except you don't have anybody come out and summarize what happened? It, just it.

10:28 You're in. You're out everyone's dead. Low hear the tale of Billy kashagan, Brad. I think that we should start talking about this cast because it is absolutely enormous. Obviously we're not going to be able to talk about everybody in the cast, but our two leads DiCaprio and Matt Damon are especially important. And for us to talk about here and I actually want to start with Matt Damon because DiCaprio has the protagonist role DiCaprio. We spend more time with him. We see more of this story through his eyes, even though the story is set up starting with Damon's character as a young boy, but DiCaprio's, the one we're rooting for and Damon is the one that were rooting against and more and more. As the film goes on, you're really starting to hate this guy and you really want to see him get his comeuppance.

11:13 When he finally, you know, sheds, that cocky outer layer in the elevator. And DiCaprio's taking him down and he just starts crying and just kind of a sniveling little weasel. You're like, oh yeah yeah I relish this. I have a theory though. Brad that Damon is actually so good in this movie that it has kind of affected his reputation among the general population ever. Since like he plays the bad guy so convincingly and so well that I think people kind of actually look at Matt Damon as he His character in this movie a little bit now. Does that make sense? Dude, you know who else I feel that way? About is Joaquin Phoenix after he played Nero in Gladiator.

11:58 Oh yeah, I can't watch him without being a little bit creeped out that he wanted to sleep with his sister. Yeah. Like like, I'm just like, man, I don't know about that Joaquin. Phoenix guy, he's a little weird. I mean, it reminds me of a conversation. We had in an earlier episode when we did Interstellar and Matt Damon's kind of play, The same type of role in that movie that he is here. And I talked about how he's an A-list star, who is, as big of an actor as McConaughey was, and you kind of went. And I don't know if he's that big but I think part of it is that he's been so willing to take supporting roles, he's been so willing to play the villain and not played the movie star. Quote-unquote role in his career that I think in our minds we kind of downplay just how big of a star he is.

12:44 And I think to have somebody like a Leo paired up with a Matt Damon in this movie. Like it really is in terms of their acting ability in terms of what they're bringing to the table, like a Clash of Titans in a way. Yeah, well and that's the crazy thing about this movie. It has some a plus level stars from the older generation but then it has the younger generation with Damon and Leo as well. So I like the fact that you have Martin Sheen and Jack Nicholson. Both of whom are huge movie stars. Jack might be one of the greatest Movie stars of all time. Sure. This movie is so, so stacked when you going to take Costello, huh.

13:25 I mean, what's wrong with taking on any one of the million in felonies that you've seen him do or I've seen him do. I mean I mean he murdered somebody right? The guy and murder somebody and you don't can take him. What are you waiting for unassuming? Do you want to chop me up and feed me to the poor? Is that what you guys want? Oh, that might stick you shut up. We are building a case. It takes time, you know? Oh, that something's wrong. I'm telling you, something's wrong and I think that you almost need to watch this movie, a few different times and really just analyze the different performances. Like, man, I'm just going to watch how Damon and Leo interact with each other. I'm just going to watch Jack Nicholson and really pay close attention to his performance.

14:10 You could watch this movie just for the performances about nine different times and see it from nine different. It's fascinating, how many stars Scorsese was able to bring on this Seto? Absolutely. And that's what inflated the budget of this movie. It was a 90 million dollar movie and I mean, when you look at it on paper this movie shouldn't cost 90 million dollars but they had to pay the people that were in the movie and before we move off of Matt, Damon though? Brad, I want to, I want to get your sense of what you think of him in the film, because the more I think about it, you know, if I was pressed to choose who was better between him and Leo, I really Don't know who I would pick because Leo is the sympathetic character. And so I feel like we're kind of colored by that, but this movie doesn't work. If you don't have Matt Damon playing Sullivan in this movie. Like it's so nuanced.

14:59 It's so layered and he's so good at that. Like, you can tell that his character really projects this Cockiness that he starts to believe the Cockiness that like he wants to be a politician. He wants to work his way up in the Statehouse and he's willing to throw anyone else under the bus for it. That when he finally Crumples and shows just how much of a coward he is, at the end of the film, it really lands and I don't know a lot of actors who could make this role work, and I think he really is kind of like the unheralded person in this cast because he's doing it all and not drawing attention to it. Well, the, the beautiful thing about this movie is that it's almost as if the movie is charting the direction of two separate Stars, one of them is pointing up into the right. The other one is pointing down into to the right. And so you watch as Leonardo DiCaprio just descends into frustration and fear and this madness almost that comes with being an undercover cop with no real ties. You know to who he really is as a person. But in the same way you see Matt Damon struggling with the same things but he gets the cushy life. He gets the nice apartment, he gets the girlfriend and so when you look at these two characters, I really don't think.

16:17 That there is a star in this movie. I like, in the truest sense of the word, I think that Leo and Damon are co-stars in this movie. And I think that Damon really does a spectacular job at selling the image that he is trying to tell himself is true. You know, his characters trying to tell himself that it's true and out of the two performances, I think I am more impressed with Damon, you know, there's something about that ability. B2B convincingly. Evil that not not, not. All actors can do. And and honestly, I think Leo can do it as well, but Leo feels like it's more in his wheelhouse here. Like, there's certain elements of like The Aviator that I see in this movie, where Leo is struggling with, to hold his grip on reality to understand why the things are happening around him.

17:12 And honestly, like, I love Leo in this movie, I think he does a great job, but I Of them. Like, I don't know a B plus to an a - for this role. I don't know if this was his a game, whereas Damon, like you said, Bob by the end of the film, when he, when the when push comes to shove the dudes, a coward and he's not willing to face, you know, the real facts of life that you see those cracks throughout the whole movie. But they finally, just rupture at the end and it's beautiful. Yeah, for sure. Brad. And I don't really know that I need to say anything else about DiCaprio, I completely agree with you, this really does seem kind of like his wheel house and he really started to lean into these psychologically damaged pent-up frustration rolls. You kind of got it a little bit with Aviator, but then starting with this movie I feel like he just started to kind of rattle off performances like this.

18:05 It's the same kind of character, you know, that you see in Shutter Island which we're going to review later this season. Same kind of character you see in Inception and I think by the time you get to like a Shutter Island, that's one of my favorites. Honor DiCaprio performances because there's a, there's a layer of emotion and nuanced under it that I don't think this movie and the script behind it has time to invest in. I think it should have made more time to invest in, but it almost seems like the characters in this movie don't have much background, they don't have much growth. They you know they are just completely tools of the plot. They're being moved around like pieces on a chessboard and I think that ultimately like DiCaprio does as much as he can with the Character.

18:47 But the character always seems to be kind of in the moment and you don't really have the sort of emotional weight of his history or his past that goes with it. That would kind of take it to the next level if that makes sense. Yeah, yeah, I'm right there with you. Bob, I think that Leo did a great job but it just wasn't over the top for me. But honestly, I, if you're okay with moving on I want to hear what you have to say about Jack. Yeah, so this is, this is the big one and the interesting thing with this movie, which is really, really cool is that That it's almost set up like a like an algebraic equation. There's a symmetry to this cast that everybody in the the crime, underworld has their analog on the other side of things. So you've got you know, for every DiCaprio you have a Matt Damon for every Jack Nicholson character. You have the Martin Sheen character for the, you know, the Mark Wahlberg character on the on the top side, you've got Ray Winstone as the sort of number two on Jack Nicholson side, and The supporting characters Again, Brad. I think they run into the same problem where they don't really have a lot to do except kind of move the plot along and some of them do it better than others and like, Mark Wahlberg was nominated for an Oscar for this movie. Jack Nicholson was not and I think on paper, if you are just, you know, the average moviegoer and you think about Mark Wahlberg's performance versus Jack Nicholson's. It's like wow, Jack was robbed, right? Because Jack Nicholson is like, the more entertaining figure. He is the more I'm nearing

20:17 presence in the movie. Mark Wahlberg's kind of in the background and yet when you start to see what all the other actors in this movie are doing and the way that some of them are restrained and some of them are over the top and then you look at Jack Nicholson. I think the knock against Jack here is that Jack doesn't care about any of the other actors in the room with him at least in this movie, you know, DiCaprio's trying to underplay some things because he knows how big Jack is going and we use this, this phrase all the time. About chewing scenery Jack Nicholson is like devouring everything around him and the point where it really got to be a little too much for me was about two-thirds of the way through the movie when it's DiCaprio and Jack Nicholson sitting down in this restaurant and Jack Nicholson.

21:03 Start talking about how he knows. There's a rat in his crew and he starts making these faces of like there's an ongoing little rat. God does read this knowing Keating, all right. And it brings up questions, you know. See, Bill like you're the new guy girlfriend. Why don't you stay in the bar that night? I got your numbers. Social Security numbers. Everybody's numbers is that it is something that you just want to go ahead and ask me because I'll give you the finance.

21:44 All right, Frank look at me, look at me, I'm not the rat. Okay, I'm not the fucking rat start with you agree. There is a rat. You said there is one right eye base, most of what I do on the idea that you're pretty good at what you do. He starts burning. Pieces of paper, he's eating flies and all the reports that came out of that was that Jack Nicholson was just improvising like crazy and Scorsese left some of it in the movie because it amused him. But honestly it got to the point with Jack where he was like so cartoonish and so over the top that I felt like the movie was almost grinding to a halt.

22:24 In every one of his scenes to let him do his thing before. We could kind of like pick back up with the plot. Some more like was it a good performance? Yeah I enjoyed it. Jack Nicholson's. He's a great actor. But was it what the movie needed? I don't know. That's really interesting. Bob, I I if you had said all of those exact same things except about Mark Wahlberg, I would be right there with 0 interest igrad. Like I think I think Wahlberg was the most one-dimensional character in the movie though? That's for sure. Like I don't think he was well written but I thought Wahlberg played him well yeah I think Wahlberg played him well but like I don't know. It's just kind of like they set up Queen and And and, you know, Martin Sheen and Wahlberg to just be purely. Good cop, bad cop, like no matter who they were talking to Wahlberg, was just always the bad cop. And, you know, he's just yelling at everybody and screaming at everybody and being as Boston as he can be. And like, I just struggled with that, whereas I think Nicholson's performance like I think about the very start of the movie and how creepy he comes across and how Nuanced, he is when he's like when he's grabbing the attention of young, Matt Damon and like, pulling him into his crew. It was stuff like that.

23:43 That made me made me really loved his performance. I I thought that his over-the-topness was it just fit perfectly with the character I thought Jack did a great job with that. I actually really, really love Nicholson in this movie. Yeah, Again Brad. I don't really think that this cast has an actual weak link. Like everybody's good top to bottom. Um, I think Alec Baldwin is really good in his small role. Basically playing Alec Baldwin. That's like, that's just what he does. Yep. But he's Jack, Jack Donaghy, if I if I had to give one more person that I think is worthy of being praised, it would be Vera Farmiga as sort of the love interest of both characters and I need to separate what she does with what the script does, because her character is, the biggest problem I have with this script, apparently. And this movie is actually a remake Brad of a Kang movie called infernal Affairs and apparently in the original film, there were two female characters. And they condense them down into this one character for The Departed.

24:42 And I don't know how I feel about that because, you know, this movie really relies on a lot of luck and contrivance has, and people just barely getting missed, you know, like DiCaprio has five different run-ins. I think where it's like oh man if he would have been two steps ahead, he would have been killed but with her character especially it's like she is Matt Damon's live. In girlfriend who also happens to be a police psychiatrist, who also happens to see non-police people, which Leonardo DiCaprio goes to because he's on a court-mandated therapy session and then they end up basically having this like illicit Affair, unbeknownst to Matt Damon and it just gets a little too contrived.

25:26 It's like you're really going to like play up that these characters are basically the same person. And the way you're going to do that is that In the entire city of Boston, they share the same woman. Like it's just, it's a little much for me. But I have to say, she does what she can with the Ridiculousness of that plot point, and she's really, really good. And she's the only person in the movie who, who even tries to bring some emotional like underpinning to what's happening on screen? Yeah, there's a softness to her character that you know, belies the tough Edge. Gayatri stews going to turn away the drug seeking Leonardo DiCaprio, it gives the movie and emotional core that like makes you really care about the movie. And I do agree Bob like the whole it does feel very contrived and if he liked the script itself, her character in The Script feels forced and the fact that she I think that I'm right in assuming this but like the baby isn't Matt. Damon's it's actually Leo's back right and Your enemy like stuff like that.

26:35 You're kind of like. Okay. You know, of course, this is how it goes right Susan. So there's there's certain parts of that that, you know, I don't think she could avoid unless unless she was the scriptwriter, in which case she could have done better. But her performance was spectacular. I think she shows a lot of love and care towards Matt Damon. And you understand why she's interested in him? But when she's away from him, I Of how she shows her uncertainty about Damon. Like, there's something about him that she can't quite put her finger on. That makes her feel uneasy about him, and it's just, it's so well done. And I think that the way she connects with Leo's raw acting ability and the way that Leo brings this broken individual into the picture, her cautiousness in there and yet openness to him is just amazing.

27:32 Well, Brad, I do want to keep talking About this script in the second half of our episode. Because if I'm not mistaken, it won an Oscar. And yet I'm not convinced that it's really that great, we've touched on some of the contrivances here. You know, I also want to talk about scorsese's Direction and The absolutely brilliant editing in this movie by Thelma Schoonmaker. But before we get into all that, why don't we hit pause here? And let's try this Sexton, Irish whiskey, let's get to it.

28:34 Hey, everybody. If you've been listening to the podcast for any length of time than you know, that I am a huge nerd when it comes to movies. But the question is, what are you nerdy about? What is the thing that makes you nerd out more than anything? Is it video games is it D and D like Brad we know you have something in your life that you like to be nerdy about and for the inner nerd in all of us there is a place called Loot Crate. It's a subscription service that sends all kinds of different bundles directly to your door with different kinds of themes. If you're a fan of the robots Radio Network, You may want an Elder Scrolls themed box. You may want to fall out box, a Marvel box. There's gaming, there's anime. There's tons of different subscription themes that you can sign up for at Loot Crate. The great part about a Loot Crate Box is that they try to give you a variety of things each month. Then actually have more value in the Box, than what you would get buying each thing separately.

29:22 And the best part is that we as a part of the robots radio network are excited to be able to offer you a 15 percent off your first order with Loot Crate. If you're interested in checking out Loot Crate, make sure you use. The link in our show notes go to the episode that we're listening the show notes there and click the exclusive link that we have there and make sure you enter the code robots radio at checkout. You have to do both things. Click the link and enter the code robots. Radio for 15 percent off. Your first purchase from Loot Crate. Alright so today we are reviewing the sexton, Irish whiskey. Now this is actually a more recent release in the United States.

30:03 It premiered on us shelves. In 2018, it is one of the most distinctive looking bottles. You will see on the Shelf at your local liquor store. Brad. Can you describe what this bottle looks like? Well, before I describe it bob, every time you say the sexton, I feel like it makes me think about how I met your mother and the Blitz. The gentleman, the gentleman, the sex till their little logo features. A skull wearing a top hat. So he actually would, I the gentleman? He would he would fit right now. Yeah, so this bottle, I legitimately thought that they had sent us a sample size bottle, which is usually like a 375 instead of a 750, but then I looked and I was like, nope, it's just very short and squats and stout and it looks it's like let's See 1 2 3 4 5 6 so it would be sexed agonal hex.

31:00 Hexagonal hexagon hexagonal, I don't know, it's not octagonal it's a six-sided bottle that is not much opaque like it's basically black. It's got this really cool. Click copper colored text on it too. It's just a really, really sharp. It's bottle. It's one of the coolest looking bottles. I have ever seen a whiskey, be placed in for sure. And what always worries me when a new brand comes along and they Invest so much in their look. Is that okay? What's inside this bottle is not going to be any good, right? You have to use the branding to actually sell the product inside, right? Exactly. And that's what worried me. Looking at this bottle. For the first time now, I had seen it on store shelves before, but we actually had been contacted by the pr firm that represents the sexton.

31:45 And they said, we want you to review this on your show. They were fantastic. They sent each of us a bottle. They also said, look, it's not the most portable kind of bottle, so we're going to send you pourers to go with it. They color-coordinated them with the bottle, like it. We were treated, very, very well by these people, but we said we were going to give an open and honest review of this product and looking at it Brad, you know, beyond just the copy, that's on the bottle. The story that they're trying to tell, they don't give a lot of information, it's a single malt. So we know that it is from one Distillery and that it is made of barley, right? We know that from the scotch world, it's bottled at 40% alcohol or 80 proof, but it doesn't have an age statement and it doesn't actually say exactly. Exactly, where it comes from now, I've been online. And a lot of people have basically pinpointed that they say, it comes from a certain County in Ireland. And because it comes from this certain County, it's actually likely made by Bushmills.

32:37 So if you ever had Bushmills, Irish whiskey, this is kind of coming from within there and it might taste kind of similar. So now that we actually know where it comes from, like I said, it doesn't have an age statement. People have been kind of speculating that it's a four-year whiskey, I'm excited to test this. Against last week's whiskey which was Bogaerts Irish. We're doing two Irish Whiskey's in a row. Brad. What are you picking up on the nose of this Sexton Irish whiskey? Honestly. Bob it. It's very alcohol forward. It smells a little young for me. Oh interesting. Yeah and this is one of those areas Again Brad where we use different glasses, you.

33:17 And I to sip our whiskey and I'm not getting a ton of alcohol. I get some really really great fruit notes. It is similar in Like the nose to a blended Scotch. Now, I know this is a single malt and it's Irish, but it reminds me a lot of the Johnnie Walker Black Label that we tried last season. It reminds me a lot of Chivas Regal. There's that that distinct barley multi smell to it but it has a ton of like pear apple notes. On top of that. Yeah just reminds me of kind of a lower-end blended Scotch when it comes to the nose Bobby. Yeah, as I continue to knows this it It has some nice like sweet almost like Peach notes.

33:59 Hey just you know pear Peach, just kind of along that lines of a nice sweet fruity palette that always gets me excited and I'm going to use my my famous word for Irish whiskeys. It just kind of comes across as bright Absolutely Fresh egg. Yeah you know it's not super Smoky. It doesn't have like a dark caramel character. It really is. Just like grain and fruit. It smells like it smells When I think bright Brad, I think of like something healthy that I'm supposed to be eating what I mean and it just has those sense of like grains, honey and fruit and I really, really like it. I think it's a really beautiful knows. I'm gonna give it a seven on the nose. I'm right there with you.

34:39 Bob. I'm going to give it a seven as well, but I'm really curious to see where the nose takes us once we taste it. Well let's get to it bread. That's nice. I like this a lot Brad. Wow that is that is really good. Bob But as my professional opinion really good, I like this a lot, brat it right up front on the tip of my tongue. It had that fruit sweetness, that it carried with it, maybe some sort of Honey. Again, not a dark caramel sort of sweet but a really bright almost floral. Sort of sweetness to it as you kind of roll it to the back of your tongue. It carries that sweetness with it and any alcohol or kind of smoke or that multi you know, scotchy sort of taste that comes with, it is really paired nicely with that sweetness all the way through, you know, a lot of Times when we talk about balance and I'm like, skipping ahead here.

35:31 But we point out that like from the front of our tongue, to the back of the palate is a completely different whiskey. And if there's not enough of a transition between those, we take some points off. I don't see that here at all Brad. I think that it really transitions nicely from what you get upfront to what you get at the back of the taste. Yeah, there really is. I think I would just call it movement. There's a beautiful movement from the front of your tongue to as it moves back to your palate as you finish it. And there's just a lot. Going on here at the front. I'm getting some of those pear Peach. Nice, sweet fruity notes. And then as it moves along, you do get some of that malted barley kind of feel you get some of that graininess but it's not overwhelming.

36:15 I think a lot of dangers with young grainy whiskies is that you just kind of get overwhelmed by it and you lose all the good flavors. You got on the tip of your tongue. It does not do that here. It's an impressive whiskey. I'm going to give it a one and a half on the taste. I'm right there with you. Brad seven and a half for me and that takes us to the Finish. I don't think it has a very long finish. It does leave those really nice grain. Malted barley notes on your tongue. It really does. Again it kind of almost has like a rolled oats kind of a flavor for me. The grain is what lingers but it's not a drying effect. It is very mouth-watering finish. It's not very heavy on the Alcohol again because it's only 80 proof. So it's Pleasant you know if you want something that's going to really Linger on your tongue for a Or on your palate. This is not the finished for you, but I really like it. I think that it really goes with this sort of bright fruity. Sweet theme that it's crafted so far and you know, I'd probably be more likely to give it a six and a half. If I wasn't so impressed by the overall experience. But I think I'll give it a seven on the Finish Bob. I think we might come out with the same scores on this one. The the Kentucky hug on this is a little more pronounced than I thought it would be for an Proof, but it's not a bad thing. I think the flavors meld, well, as they finish, it's a solid enjoyable finish.

37:39 I'm going to give it a 7 out of 10, you know, I don't know if we can call it a Kentucky hug. When we're drinking Irish whiskey, we might have to call it like, the, the Killarney hug or something. All right, so that brings us to overall balance. This is knows taste and finish all put together. I think this is an extraordinarily. Well, balanced whiskey. I think it is more well-balanced in the bow. Art's was it's unapologetically fruity and sweet and it is that all the way through and what grainy notes are left on. The Finish are introduced really subtly by way of that fruit. And I think that honestly Brad this is one of the better balanced Whiskey's we've ever had on this show. Is it a perfect whiskey? No I mean I'd prefer for it to be a little bit higher proof but in terms of what it what it offers and then what it delivers its really really well-balanced I think I'm going to give it an eight and a half on the Balance.

38:32 I'm just gonna say that. I gave it an eight and a half as wow. Wow. All right, cool. And that brings us to overall value. Now, if you saw the packaging on this, you might be tempted to think that it was actually a higher shelf, product selling for more than it actually is. I really love the price point on this, Brad in the state of Ohio, a fifth of this will cost you thirty four ninety nine. So this is right in the same range as like a Jameson. I think this is phenomenally priced and you know, for me Reminds me in the scotch World, kind of a monkey shoulder. I think this is a really good thing that you could have side by side with a monkey shoulder. And I think it just delivers and I can't think of an Irish whiskey that I would be recommending above this at this price point.

39:14 I don't know if I'm gonna go a full 10 Brad but I am going to go with a nine and a half on overall value. Wow, Bob this will be the first place that we diverge but not by much I think $34 is right in the Wheelhouse of where This whiskey should be. I'm gonna give it a 9 out of 10. I think that this is probably one of the best. If you had told me that this was like 30 or 31, I think it would be a 10 out of 10. 34 35 is just right in that range where I'm like oh that's II. Got to be committed if I'm going to buy this but he had this is a spectacular value. It's an extremely tasty whiskey, the longer it sits, I almost feel like I'm getting a little bit of a cinnamon note, that's just like lingering on my palette that I'm really enjoying. Yeah, it's an impressive whiskey. It's well-balanced, it's complex. This is a great whiskey.

40:05 And if you have an extra, you know, with tax like 35, to 38 dollars to spend, please, please, please go check out the sexton, Irish whiskey. So, that is bringing us to a seventy eight point five out of a hundred or a 39 Point 25 out of 50 Brad, this is right all you know almost to Breaking that 40 mark which is so hard to hit on our podcast. I I mean I Don't have anything else to say, except for the fact that I highly recommend this whiskey, this is a spectacular whiskey, it as a lot going on for it, please go check it out. I highly recommend. All right, Bridal, what do you say? We carry this positivity back into talking about The Departed. Go from the Irish whiskey, to the Irish mafia. I'm sensing a theme here.

40:49 Let's get to it. Alright, so that was the sexton.

41:37 Single malt. Irish whiskey. A whiskey that we both heartily recommend and we are getting back into talking about The Departed. Now, before we went to the break, I mentioned that, I wanted to say a few things about the script for this movie. The oscar-winning Script for this movie brat, I'm in a weird place with it, because I think that to juggle this, many moving pieces and to kind of make them crisscross and to resolve, most of the loose threads, that are hanging, at the end of the movie is impressive in itself. Elf. And I think that some of the scenes in some of the lines of dialogue are just brilliantly written. There's a really early scene. That's not even that important to the plot of the movie, where Matt Damon is talking with Alec Baldwin about, basically, pinning, something on a guy and Alec Baldwin says like, yeah, but who benefits cui Bono and Matt Damon's, like, who cares? This is all wrapped up and Alec Baldwin just as like I think you are a cop, my son and makes the the sign of the cross. Like he's blessing him.

42:35 Is really sharp witty dialogue that I really really like in this movie. But then there's these big glaring things that I think are like structurally, very weird about the movie. And, you know, we already talked about Vera Farmiga is entire character. Being just almost too difficult to even believe in the world of the movie. So Brad, I kind of want to get your take, like from a storytelling point of view, did you have any issues with this movie? You know, as far as the script goes, well, I think that the The main, you know, the core Crux of the script is the trajectory of Matt Damon versus Leonardo DiCaprio, right? And so that is believable. It's easy to see like, oh yeah, this kid from Southie that grew up with a Criminal family is trying to write his career and he gets sucked into you know this this undercover informant type of thing.

43:30 Like it just makes sense and the other part of the movie Matt Damon's character Also makes complete sense. So like that is a believable part of the movie but what's unbelievable are just certain parts of how they interact and how they get around and and and you kind of suspend that disbelief because you're like these are the two main characters. But when it comes to Vera Farmiga you're kind of like okay yeah like sure sure sure of course you know she's all these things and can be having sex with both of them and you know that that's fine. Just suspend your disbelief. Well I think that's the thing is like there's these weird like really nuanced moments and really clever things that they kind of cook up for themselves.

44:11 And, you know, I'm even thinking right now of that first scene with Nicholson and DiCaprio, where they're like sitting at the bar next to each other and DiCaprio's kind of playing dumb. And it kind of reminded me of like when in the movie Django Unchained when Django had to basically play a different character halfway through the movie. It was really clever and it was well played. But then you have moments like, you know, the entire subplot about Matt Damon being impotent and like yeah you find out. He's I don't even noticed this, but this is also like a Scorsese thing, not just the script, the scene where you find out. Matt Damon is impotent Vera Farmiga, walks in and starts talking to him about how he's impotent and they have her eating a banana during it and it's like, did you really make an erectile dysfunction joke with a banana?

44:59 Like it's just, it's just So like there's moments where it's so subtle and so nuanced. And there's other moments where it's, I rolling, Lee bad. I didn't notice the banana. That's actually, that's pretty funny. It's funny. But it's super juvenile. Like I just I don't know. What do you think about it? Tell me if I'm wrong. Did you catch the vibe that Matt Damon is gay in this movie? No. No I just thought that it was an impotence thing because I like I don't know. I I kind of caught the vibe. I don't know. Scorsese was trying to put this forward. Word, but that he might have had, you know, some homosexual desires the and that's why he was impotent. And that's why, when he's in the police academy, he like, vehemently is like, you know, using homophobic slurs. And so, interestingly angry about it. But I don't know, I'd be curious to hear what filmin whiskey Nation thinks because I, I had a feeling that they were trying to portray that.

45:55 At the very least, he might have been like bicurious or something like that and struggling. With that, you know, as a cop in Boston. See the only reason that I would say, I don't think that is because of the whole kind of I don't call it a subplot but there's a running theme of like do you have a girlfriend and it's not so much like do you have a girlfriend? You know, Jack Nicholson's character. Basically asks the same thing of DiCaprio and says, like, you know, if you don't have a girlfriend answers, a lot of questions. Like, however, I think it's one of those things where the script is actually really nuanced because people keep asking Like why don't you have a girlfriend? Do you have a girlfriend? Because the girlfriend lens the person a sense of legitimacy, right? That's what Nicholson's getting at is like, it's this sign that you have your stuff together that you can be, you know, tied down to somebody people, trust you more and yet at the end of the day, the person with the girlfriend is Matt Damon who is fundamentally untrustworthy and the person without a girlfriend is DiCaprio who's actually the good guy. And when you look at Matt Damon's relationship, it's an empty one because again, Like in the in the world of the movie procreation is like the end goal. He can't do it.

47:07 And yet Leonardo DiCaprio can like impregnate her. So I think that like I am not discounting the fact that like the character may have actually had those impulses Brad. But I think, in the course of the movie, The impotence portion of that is actually, the more important piece if that makes sense. Yeah, no, it totally does. It was just something that I don't know. When when Alec Baldwin is talking about like, oh well, you know, Know, if you have a woman, then then that's what matters and it shows you have stability and blah, blah blah, and and he kind of goes on in the way, Matt Damon reacts to it and the way he reacts to the idea of him getting her pregnant was almost like a little kid, like oh I actually did it like I didn't think of right, right. So which once again that could have easily Gone Gone on just with the impotence side of things, it was just I don't know, maybe it's just a good Nuance of the film that Is that making you ask questions about you know about the main character?

48:05 Yeah, well, and before we get out of here for the day Brad, I do want to touch on scorsese's, kind of technical Brilliance with this movie, you know, he, he is such a master of Cinema and he's such an encyclopedia of movies that if you're looking for them, you can see references to so many other movies with in this film, but one of the things Scorsese is known for is his collaboration with the editor Thelma Schoonmaker. And we've talked about her a little bit in Goodfellas and With The Aviator. But with this movie, it almost feels like Scorsese was like, hey, let's take the third Act of Goodfellas where everyone's high on cocaine and let's stretch that out to a whole movie in terms of the pacing of the editing there is just, I mean, it's crazy.

48:45 There, there is no regard for continuity between shots like somebody's arm. Could be all the way up in the air and the next shot, it's down at their side, there's their shots where people have cigarettes in their mouths and are looking right at the camera. And then in the next shot, there's no cigarette anymore. And it's Done in such a way that it is. So clearly intentional that you kind of have no choice but to just be along for the ride. It's a really kind of, ballsy way of making a movie, and I love that they lean so far into that and Scorsese does so much with the camera as well to compliment at the cameras. Constantly likes like moving super fast swooshing back and forth. There's this really great sequence, we're right at the beginning where DiCaprio's interviewing with Martin Sheen's character and they cut back in time to show. Show like what DiCaprio has been dealing with in his life and that past sequence is intercut with a sequence with Matt Damon in the present.

49:38 So they're like, jumping all over in time. And every time they returned to the office where DiCaprio's interviewing they have different camera setups from different angles. It almost reminded me of, like, in 12 Angry Men, how he said, they never use the same angle twice. It was a lot. It was a lot like that. And it was really, really interesting from a technical point of view. Yeah, I think that, if anything Being that this is probably one of the most accessible Scorsese films that he has ever done for sure. Because like, when I think back on Goodfellas, I think about it space and how slowly it moves. And if I remember correctly, both movies are around two and a half to two hours and 40 minutes.

50:19 Am I right? I think so. Yeah, and yet, when I watch The Departed, I feel nothing of the boredom that I felt during Goodfellas. And I think that like you said with the cinematography with the pacing of the script with the pacing of moving back and forth between two main characters rather than just following one. Throughout the whole movie. I I think that this movie is the perfect blend of like something that is going to appeal to the general population. And yet something that is also artistic and deep and beautiful. I really, really admire Scorsese in this film. I think he dropped.

51:00 Us together all of the elements that he needs to. And and I think there's a reason this is his best director. You know, when I really think that this is the better movie over Goodfellas. Well Brad, I think that's a really great segue into our final scores and this is my big struggle with the movie. You know, I said that it doesn't really hold up as well on re-watch and I think that's, that's mostly true. But there's one other thing that goes with it and it's that I can't quite shake. This idea that this Movie is designed to be an entertaining movie and nothing more and now there's nothing wrong with that. I think there's a there's there's whole genres of movies where we just go to be entertained and nothing more, and like that happened with me a year ago, and I went to see Mission Impossible, Fallout that movies, freaking phenomenal, and there's nothing more to it. Other than just, it's an entertaining way to spend your time and watch Tom, Cruise, do stuff. And this, this movie to me, is like scorsese's Mission Impossible movie, because You know, we keep making the comparison to Goodfellas, but for me the reason Goodfellas is so much better than this movie.

52:06 Is that? At the end of the day it's it's commenting on something more. It does it in a really entertaining way, but it's commenting on the fact that like, this is what you get when you idealize violence, this is what you get when you idealize the Mob Life. This movie doesn't really have that. It's not really reaching for anything more and I think because of that and because it just relies solely on its ability to entertain you. That when you watch it a second time and you know what's coming? Even though it's still super entertaining, it doesn't entertain you quite as much. And when the entertainment value wears off a little bit, there's nothing deeper to kind of dig into and dwell on. And so for me Brad, this is still a great movie.

52:47 I just wouldn't put it in League with some of scorsese's actual masterpieces. And in fact, I don't think this is as good as The Aviator we gave that movie a nine and a half. I'm going to give this movie an eight and a half out of ten. Super watchable really great. Film enjoyable all around, but there's just, there's just nothing more to it than that, if, that makes sense. It kind of does, I probably wouldn't call it a mission impossible of scorsese's films. What I would say more than anything this film, really felt like scorsese's version of a film Noir. Like, when I think about Double Indemnity and I think about the way that movie ended and kind of the moral of the story, That is kind of how I feel about this movie. You don't feel great about the characters at the end. You get in a weird sense.

53:38 You kind of get a nice clean wrap up. You know? Yep, everybody died. And we're moving on, but in the end like you don't get to see a police funeral for Matt Damon. You see it for Leonardo DiCaprio? Sure, you know, you hear the 21-gun salute. And so I think with that, like, you know, as cheesy as the rat at the end is the only Imagery that we get associated with Damon's death is a rat. Whereas with Leo you get this nice nice police funeral and so I guess in my mind I think that there is a moral of the story that I think there is a sense that Leo is Justified in the end and Damon is just left as a piece of garbage on the floor.

54:21 And so I, for me, I will agree with you. I think the message in Goodfellas is much more obvious, you know, especially with the narration and that style. I'll it makes it much more obvious, but this movie is just more accessible. It's more fun than Goodfellas. It's, I like the two character Arc versus the one character Arc. I think it's really interesting for me. This is a nine and a half out of ten. Well, it's not a perfect movie, but I really, really love it a lot and for me watching it a second time, I didn't have any issues with knowing the ending and it didn't cause me to struggle at all, with the action is, I really loved re-watching. It, it allowed me to kind of revisit the characters and see it from a different nuance and angle. I like this movie a lot Bob it.

55:09 It's one of one of my favorites from this season so far. Well, those are our scores for the Departed. We are coming out to an average of a 9 out of 10, but we want to know what you think. So, please get in contact with us on social media. You can find us on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, at film whiskey, or you can give us a phone call, let your voice be heard on the film. When whiskey podcast you can Can give us a call at 216 800 5923 once again. That number is two one, six, eight hundred 5923 or leave us a voicemail on our acre dot, f m-- web page. Next week, we'll be returning to the World of Harry Potter for two weeks. We've got the Prisoner of Azkaban, followed a week after that, by the Goblet of Fire. So please join us next week as we kick off that double feature for the film in whiskey podcast.

55:55 I'm Bob book, I'm Brad G and we'll see you next time.