Toy Story 3 / Bardstown Bourbon Company Collaborative Series Amrut

0:00 In 2010, Pixar Animation Studios and star Tom Hanks gave the world a tearful goodbye to the 90s favorite cast of toys. And the goodbye was so perfect and so beautiful that no one in their right mind would ever try a money grab by making another film in this storied franchise. In 2024, we try a whiskey that's a pairing up of two of our favourites. The film is Toy Story 3, the final of the Toy Story franchise. The whiskey is Bardstown Bourbon Company collaborative series I'm Root. And we'll review them both. This is the.

0:41 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 Buck. I'm Brad G and Bob. I have to say, I'm just jumping in. I I'm so I'm feeling so strongly today. Jump baby, do it. This is the point where my Disney hatred starts.

1:24 This is the point. This is the point in the podcast where like I feel like I'm at a point where I can specifically point to something that's like Disney F you and now it's not Toy Story 3. Oh gosh, this movie. I was just going to say, wait a. Minute I I love Toy Story 3. It's the fact that Toy Story 4 exists dude, and I know it doesn't exist for another, I don't know, 6-8 years after this. When did that one come out? Who cares? But this is like a specific place where I'm like Disney. Well, I should say Pixar, great stuff, killing it, keep it up. But Disney just ruins everything. And we're we're going to spend most of this episode just talking about the brilliance of Toy Story 3. But I just right here, I'm going to say, if you have not heard me discuss my Disney hate for too much of this season, I think this is the episode where it really kicks off. This is the point of no return, that this is kind of like our last wonderful treat of the night and we have overstuffed ourselves on good movies this season and the rest of this season is going to just be the post meal vomit that comes up afterwards.

2:41 Do. Do you vomit after all your meals, Bob? Listen, what's not important that. Might be. Everything's fine here. Folks, if this is your first time tuning into Film and Whiskey, welcome aboard. I always reserve this little spiel that I do until after we say something weird or controversial. So you got your vomit for the day, and now we're going to plug our podcast here on Film and Whiskey. What do we do? We talk about movies. We talk about whiskey. It's in the title. This season what we're doing is we're going through the highest grossing films of each year from 1988 to 2019. I don't think Toy Story Three was actually the highest grossing film of 2010, but we've done quite a few of the high grossing movies of this year. We've also done, oh, I was just thinking Inception. I think Inception came out this year, Brad, and that may have been higher grossing than Toy Story 3. I'm not sure.

3:31 We'll we'll run the. Numbers Now, Bob, you are actually wrong here. Inception is the sixth highest calendar gross year for in your releases of 2010, Toy Story 3 is the number one domestic box office. Well. 415,000,000 Oh yeah, 100%. Brad, I want to start off today by talking about last week's episode on up, which I am almost done editing and will get posted here soon. Folks, you will have already heard it 'cause it came out last week, but at the time of recording, Brad, I think that this might be the first time we have an episode that's longer than the movie itself. So congratulations to you and me. We did it finally.

4:16 And congratulations to our audience. You got that much more film and whiskey than normal. But on that episode last week, Brad, you said that you thought that Up was a perfect movie, or at least a 10 out of 10. And I guess my opening question to you here, Brad, without spoiling your score, do you feel the same about Toy Story 3IN comparison to UP? Man, that is a tough question. I think that Toy Story 3 is not a perfect movie. I think that it is a perfect ending for the Toy Story saga. Is that is that fair? I think that's absolutely fair.

4:59 I have really struggled with this movie Brad, because when I first saw it, I loved it and we will talk about the reasons that I love it later on in the episode. This movie just goes really, really deep. It came out at a very particular time in the life of you and me and I think we were the absolute target audience for this movie and it worked like gangbusters. But I I always had this nagging thing in the back of my head of is this actually a good kids movie? Like is this a movie that children would enjoy? And it was one of the first times, Up being another, that I remember thinking to myself, like Pixar has found a way to release movies in kids movie packaging that is actually for 20 somethings.

5:41 Wally, I felt like Wally I felt was like this. Up was kind of like this. Toy Story 3 definitely is. And I think because of that, I've always struggled with, is this the best Toy Story movie? It might actually be the best movie of the three, but I I still waffle back and forth between Toy Story two and Toy Story 3 in terms of which one I would rank as the best Toy Story movie in quotes. Does that make sense? Oh 100% that. There's so many different factors that you can take into account here. I think if you are arguing for this purely on a kids movie standpoint, I think that UP kind of takes the cake there like that.

6:24 There's so much in UP that feels much more kid friendly and kid amusing. Toy Story 3 spends its entire time talking about the mythos, the story of Toy Story one and Two, and how important it is for you to understand as a viewer. And I, I feel like most of that is just going to go over the head of most kids watching it who are in the six to 10 year old range. Yeah, and I feel like it. Well, obviously thematically this movie is is much, much darker than the first two are. But even in the the settings of the movie and the lighting style, the the, you know, quote UN quote filming style of the movie, you know, there's scenes where they're trying to attack that monkey that's watching the surveillance footage and there's this eerie green lighting to everything. And it's a much more kind of real world, naturalistic look to this film than the other two have been. But it's also really kind of jarring. Sometimes you forget that you're watching, you know, computer animated dolls because it's so engrossing. But if you pull back for a minute and think, like, does this seem like an environment that Woody and Buzz should be in?

7:38 This seems a little bit like adult for what these movies are supposed to be. Now again, I don't think it's a bad thing, but you do kind of have to put that out on the table before you even start discussing this movie. Yeah. And I, I think that the, the place we need to start discussing this movie in is to kind of go back to the center of it at all and have conversations about our performances. Because I, I, I think that at the very core of why Toy Story is great, you kind of have two things. A you have the performances of Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, and B you have the animators at Pixar Studios, and when you pair those up with a great story, that is why the Toy Story franchise is legendary.

8:24 Well, before we get into talking about those performances, Brad, it is time for us to get to our first segment of the day, which we call Brad, explains Brad. 'S going to give us the movie plots with only 60 seconds ticking on the clock. So let's go ahead and hear your take with this little segment that we call, Brad explains. Brad Explains is the part of the show where Brad breaks down the movie that he has just seen often for the first time. Brad, where does this fall on the Brad G Bell curve of films watched? I so I actually saw this as a double feature, like I made it a double all the way back in 2010. You just knew what was coming.

9:08 I. Just I knew it was coming, man. I was working at a summer camp and a group of US1 Saturday night when we're off decided hey let's go to the Drive in Theatre and I believe it was the Barberton Drive in Theatre. What a great if I that's my hometown, baby. I love the Magic City drive in. What a great spot. Yeah. Yep. Yeah, we drove all the way up from Amish Country, went to the Magic City drive in and saw, I believe it was Despicable Me, followed by Toy Story 3, which I I know you're not a huge fan of the Despicable Me franchise, Bob, but the original one is like a solid 7/7 and 1/2 out of 10. And then it was followed up with my Toy Story 3, making it like, I'm not going to choose that as my let's make it a double, but it was a hell of a double feature.

9:55 Yeah, I I guess I'm trying to think of which order I'd rather watch both of those movies in. But regardless, you had an enjoyable night out at the movies and Brad, that means that it is time. Wait, you didn't answer my question. How many times have you seen it? I. Don't think I've ever seen it again since then. Like I'm really racking my brain but I believe this was my second time through. I'll talk a little bit about my history with the movie, but I'm not going to step on Brad explains any longer. Folks, the way this works, Brad gets 60 seconds on the clock to break down the plot of the movie with full spoilers. So if you have not seen Toy Story 3, it is now 14 years old. You really need to get on this. Go watch this hour and 30 something minute movie because it's a great one, and then come back afterwards to listen to Brad break down the plot.

10:43 Brad, one minute and go. Toy Story 3 is a film about toys and the story that they go on. You get it, I sure. Do. Oh, good job, Bob. So Toy Story 3 talks about how Woody and Buzz and the group of toys that are left are trying to figure out what to do with their lives as Andy, their owner, goes off to college. Through a series of mishaps, they end up at a daycare where they are used as cannon fodder, if you will, to pacify the the. Monsters. Just monstrous play of the young two to three-year old toddlers, which is a little viewed overboard in the movie. Bob, if, if I do say so myself, 10 seconds. I I don't know, man, go watch the movie. It's great.

11:39 It's a good. Movie. Yeah, all. Right, Brad? Man, that really just petered out. I shouldn't have said 10 seconds. I shouldn't just let you keep going. Yeah, you should have we're. On a strict time, we're we're. We're putting this one on you. This is your fault, Bob. You said absolutely nothing for 50 seconds and then gave up. Don't put this on me, Ricky Bobby. All right, dude, let's dive into talking about the movie itself. And it sounds like you want to start with performances, which is kind of funny because I think the voice performances are amazing. And you know, this cast as all the Toy Story movies are, but as the as the cast of characters has grown by the third one, they always fill them with celebrities. So if you just go down the roster of people who voice characters in this movie, it's kind of staggering. However, there is so much going on thematically with this movie that I think performances was the thing I wanted to talk about the least 'cause I'm like, let's get to the meat of it, baby. But I think you're right.

12:33 And I think we should start at the top with Tom Hanks as Woody. Now, this is really even more than the last movie was Woody's movie. This is really Woody's movie. I feel like every other character in the film except for maybe Lotso is a truly supporting character in that they have significantly less dialogue than Woody does. This is a lot about Woody continuing to grapple with his own existence and his meaning and the finitude of being a toy over against Lotso, who is presented kind of as the anti Woody. But it's Tom Hanks's moment to shine once again here, Brad. And once again, there's nobody better that they could have gotten than Tom Hanks.

13:18 I mean, yeah, if if, if they they recast the slinky the the slinky dog because Jim. Varney died, right? Yeah, he had passed away of lung cancer, unfortunately. If they recast Woody though that that would have to be a hell of a recast because like Tom Hanks. Is. Possibly one of the greatest voice actors of all time just because of this role. Yeah, I I mean, what I really love most about his performance here is that you feel the grappling that he is doing with the quickly running out time that they have with Andy. And you know, the few small moments that he gets with Buzz in this movie are some of my favourites. When Buzz is like, listen, man, like, I, I know you're trying to spur the troops on, but what are we actually going to do here? And it's in those teeny tiny moments where I'm just like, like Tim Allen and Tom Hanks are just beautiful together. Yeah, and you really do see Buzz kind of stepping into I, I already said a supporting role.

14:30 But quite literally, he is Woody's moral support throughout the whole film. Because in the context of this movie, his love interest Bo Peep has already been donated by Andy, like in the past. We don't even see that wave of toy donations that happens. And so he's really leaning on Buzz. And Buzz is doing a great job of being supportive friend #4 and he has his own little side quests and storylines that happen in the film. But as much as Tim Allen is very solid as Buzz here, I don't really remember a lot of like, big emotional moments from his character. It really does seem like Woody and pretty much everybody else. Yeah, I I'm curious what you think about the additions though.

15:11 Like where, where does Ned Beatty and what's Batman as Ken Batman Keaton. Wow, dude. OK, well, we'll start with Ned Beatty because I feel like he is excellent as Lotso. It's also at least the second time we've had Ned Beatty on the show. Do you remember the first Brad? Do I remember the first? Yes, he was in network. He. Was in network. He's the guy that gives the big long soliloquy about you have tangled with the very forces of nature, Mr. Biaimo. Forces of nature. You must atone. Yeah, it's great, dude.

15:51 First off, give me props. I just pulled that out of nowhere. Yeah, you did or? Did you pull it from IMDb? That's the real question. No, I I was just like, man, Ned Beatty. I remember that name. I did watch Network maybe like eight months ago with some friends. So you know a little. Refresher. OK. So what do you think of the performance though, Brad? Oh, it's incredible. Yeah. Like he, I can't imagine a better performance for like Godfather of a Prison from anybody else. Like he has that warm, engaging, very soft Southern lilt to his voice as he's being friendly.

16:39 But man, when he gets menacing. Dude, one of one of the things I love most about that character though, is both in the voice acting and in the character design. From the very moment that he pulls up on the back of that like Tonka truck or whatever it is and greets them, there's an edge to him that you already know, like, oh, that's going to be the bad guy. Like it's it's so obvious. And they're not really trying to hide it because Ned Beatty's doing this particular voice where it's it's warm and engaging, but in a very fake way that you can already tell like, Oh yeah, this this doesn't seem like this guy exudes warmth. It seems like he's putting on an act. And, and the only thing I can really compare it to is a movie that, I mean, I don't think you've seen this yet, but last year Scorsese made a movie called Killers of the Flower Moon. And Robert De Niro's character in that movie is this is not a spoiler.

17:32 He's the bad guy in the movie. And he does this thing every time somebody dies or is murdered and they come to him because they think he's a good guy. For consolation, he puts on this very like, oh, they're, they're kind of a voice. And it's so fake, but it's so eerie because it it just underscores how this guy is incapable of empathizing. And I think the same thing happens here with Lotso, where he is so overcome with this hatred, this deep seated bitterness and unforgiveness and hatred in his heart that it comes out even when he's pretending to be friendly. And Bob, I, I know you want to talk about this. Why?

18:12 Is he so angry, Bob? What's going on in poor little old Lotso's heart? Abandonment issues, man. Yeah. I mean like literal abandoned ministry. I don't know. It's like get more literal than that. Those are like right up there. Next to father issues for you, aren't they? Not really, but. But it's hard to watch. Yeah. I can't remember ever being left at a rest stop and having to find my way back home. Brad, but. I'm, I'm really glad to hear that, yeah. Good, Good job, Mr., Mrs. Book you have. That's the. That's the baseline for parenting the. Baseline the bare minimum of parenting. Don't. Get it your child. Here's my question is the.

18:55 Story of Lotso. Too similar to that of Jesse in the second one. Yes but I noticed this time around and it's something that I really really loved about it. It's pretty obvious. But the fact that they make him the anti woody I think is what distinguishes the story because they add 1 little line in there when the clown is narrating what happened to them. And he said, like, you know, she loved us all, but Lotso was special. Lotso was the leader. Lotso was the one that we all looked up to. And it so obviously is trying to parallel Woody's decision later on in the movie. So, you know, Lotso to the very end of the movie refuses to allow himself to accept friendship and to accept community 'cause he can't trust anybody anymore.

19:43 And so at the very end of the movie, when they're about to get sent into the fiery furnace and die, he looks down on them and is like, I would rather be alone than be with you guys and turns his back on him one last time. And it really mirrors what Woody's going to do at the end of the movie, which is I'm going to college with Andy, you guys. I've set up a really nice retirement home for you, but I'm still going away. And so the final act that shows that Lotso and Woody are different is Woody choosing to stay with them instead of abandoning them the way that Lotso did. And I think that. Yes, the back story part is way too similar to what happened with Jesse, But they tried to kind of sow the, you know, the seed early on that we're not comparing him to Jesse, we're comparing him to Woody because he's the leader of the group. Sure.

20:34 Yeah, I, I mean, that's interesting because I feel like in Toy Story 2, the the purpose is to highlight we get abandoned. Therefore we ought to be admired, you know, we ought to be set apart as these collectibles. Whereas like Lotso takes it to a place of like authoritarianism and like totalitarianism and like I'm going to create a world where I get to do the rejecting and I get to control what happens in my life. And that, like, for me, that almost feels like a more human interaction of like, what happens when people are neglected, abused, abandoned as children.

21:21 It's like, yeah, you, you become an adult who wants to control everything in your life. That that totally makes sense. Well, I'm glad you brought up Toy Story 2, because if we could go back to that movie for a minute, and this is a really nice Brad, because now we've done the three Toy Story movies that I ever care to talk about. We've done 1-2 and three now, so we can talk across the trilogy now. In Toy Story two, you start to get the deepening of the lore and the mythology and the way this world actually works in a way you didn't with the first one. And I think that at the end of that episode, we talked about how people view the Toy Story films as a metaphor for parenting. And I think that if the movies kind of stopped at the second one, that metaphor would be probably the deepest metaphor that you could get from these films. And it does.

22:08 It's it's really nice. It's a good deep metaphor. But in that movie, you get yet like, yes, Jesse got abandoned. But what she ultimately wants to do is not just be admired, but like, artificially replicate the love of a child. And what they choose at the end of the movie, instead of just being viewed through glass, is we'd rather have a finite amount of time being really loved and really played with with Andy than to live forever trying to artificially duplicate that. And I think that, like, that's a, it's a perfect metaphor for parenting, which continues on into this movie. This movie is all about the existential crisis of Andy's mom. And, you know, Andy's going to college. The room is emptied out.

22:54 Like, what does this mean for us as parents? And you can see that kind of thing play out with all the way to, you know, the brink of despair at the end of the movie. I think that the metaphor does go even deeper than that this time around, which is what I really want to talk about in the second-half, Brad. But I guess let's let's go back to the characters in the movie, too, because Lotso is lording over all these other characters at Sunnyside, trying to create this kind of fake utopia similar to what you see in the second movie with the Prospector. And if there's one more addition to the cast that I think is worth talking about, it's Michael Keaton as Ken, which I remember seeing that he was the voice of Ken, But I, I don't think I ever would have pegged that voice as Michael Keaton's voice because he does such a good job throwing himself into the sort of, I don't know, for lack of a better term, flamboyance of that character.

23:45 And man, oh man, does he do a great job as Ken. Oh, dude. It, it is so far and away a ridiculous performance. Like I like, I can't imagine that I'm a casting agent, director, whatever in like 2009 Hollywood. And I'm trying to put together this cast for Toy Story. And I'm like, I need the most expressive, like wild, flamboyant actor I know to play Ken in an upcoming Pixar animated film. You know who I'm going to call? Let's call Michael Keaton.

24:25 Let's call it Batman, yeah? Like not just Batman, but like a Batman known for how stilted and kind of wooded in his performance was. And he he nails it, man. He he comes across with so much vibrancy that like the the way he voices can gives it a sincerity and an authenticity that you feel like exists. If a Ken toy were to come to life, it's perfect, Yeah. Yeah, man, I don't really have anything else to say about him. He's he's really great. It's a it's a good side character because it offers some much needed Comic Relief to the movie.

25:11 But he also like, I do think that that he helps under score exactly what Lotso's point of view is. And they really make Lotso's worldview clear at the end of the movie when they're all kind of standing on the precipice of the dumpster and lots of just spouting philosophy at them. And he, you know, he said, he says to Woody like you're you're a piece of plastic. You were made to be thrown away, you know, like this really nihilistic worldview. And Ken expresses that he wants Barbie to come with them. And he looks at Ken and says, she's a Barbie doll. There's 100 million just like her. And man, I just, I love that this movie is both the most obvious in what they're trying to get across, but also that they find really clever ways of making their characters say these obvious things. Like it's clear that Lotso is representative of a worldview that views humanity as not being particularly special, I think to understate it, but to but to express it as she's a Barbie doll, there's 100 million like her. Is this really great touch 'cause it has this, this sense of not just nihilism, but almost like fascism to it. You know, like I'm just looking at the masses and they don't matter to me.

26:30 They're just a number. And I think that and go ahead. And on a, on the flip side of that, like you're just a Ken doll, there's 100 billion more of you too. And that like that's the fascist side of it for me, that that just feels like gross. I, I think that's the only word I can use. And, and the movie forces you, the viewer to ponder with that question. Like, what do I believe makes me special in in a world with 7 billion and rising amount of people? Like, I don't know, man. It's a question that I constantly think about. Like when when people watch a YouTube video for, you know, all the young people out there who supposedly want to be influencers.

27:15 Like, it has to be a little bit crushing to your soul to see, you know, 728,000 likes on somebody else's video and like, just to see the sheer magnitude of that number and think to yourself, I'll never be that special. And. Like, well, it's just such a difficult question that I feel like our culture is wrestling with right now. Yeah. Well, and the addition of a Ken doll as the the way the mode of expressing that I think is really brilliant because, you know, if you saw Barbie last year, the entire plot of that movie kind of revolves around, you know, her quest to become a real person. What does it mean to become a real person? What does it mean to be a woman in the real world? But then the side quest of Ken, culminating in him realizing I'm just Ken and how everyone kind of ignores him. And it's true.

28:12 Like you think about Barbie and it's Barbie and Ken. Like Ken is completely devoid of personality. He's the blandest looking doll there is. And so to include him here to under score the fact that yes, there are of 100 million of him. And then Lotso has this line that that says like, we're all just trash waiting to be thrown away. But they've made us the audience care specifically about this one Barbie and this one Ken. And I just, I, I just think it's a really, really clever way of introducing and working with these themes that they're trying to hit on. I have I have two thoughts. 11 is good and the other one is just amusing. The second thought, first the line, the line when when Ken and Barbie are talking and he goes, I love you Barbie.

28:59 I know you, you don't know me from AGI Joe, but that just that freaking killed me, man. The more important thought is this, the, the important message of the story and I, I think it's the important message that we can hopefully take away is that the reason Ken and Barbie and Woody and Buzz and Lotso and Jesse and all these characters, the reason they are important is not because they're a Ken doll or a Woody doll or a Buzz Lightyear action figure. The reason they're important is the time that Andy spends with. Them yes, like.

29:42 Like that's what makes our lives meaningful is the fact that we spend time with people who want to spend time with us, right? Like that. Like those are the things that make beautiful memories. I. Think that there is like the the Brad G Community Corner TM really does show up in this movie The way that it does in so many movies that Brad G loves Brad G loves movies about community and you get that amongst the toys. What I really love about this movie is that it takes. I guess what if you could call it Canon, like it takes the Canon of Toy Story one and Toy Story two, and I think it takes things that they weren't even intending to make this deep and they and they make them that deep in this movie to the point where like, you know, the the kids love is essentially like what breathes life into these toys.

30:33 I know that the toys come alive when the kids out of the room, but like what, what their ultimate purpose their tell us, if we can use Greek words here, is to be loved by a toy like that is what gives them meaning and identity is to be loved by a kid. I mean, not a toy. And I I just think that, you know, you're talking about what makes these toys worthy and worthwhile and have meaning is their relationship to that kid and that without those that relationship, their life has no meaning. Do you get to the point where lotso is where it's like, well, if can't be loved by a kid, then everything is garbage. Everything is trash, Everything's end is the dumpster. And I think that it it becomes pretty clear, Brad, what they're trying to say metaphorically with this movie and philosophically.

31:18 And I think that's kind of where I want to get in the second-half of this episode before we throw to whiskey. Any final thoughts on the performances, the music, the filmmaking? Because I think we're going to get pretty deep in the second-half of your Brad. The the way you said whiskey was like as if it was a capital W before we throw to whiskey like, like it's a person. It's hard to interview. Yeah. I mean, is it not our friend? Yeah. I mean, you know, they call it the water of life. It's just like the kids in Toy Story. Whiskey is what revivifies us, Brad. It sure revivifies me, my friend. I don't think so. I I think that if there's anything else to talk about from a technical standpoint, how far along has Pixar come from 1999 Toy Story 2 to 2010?

32:13 I mean this movie is gorgeous and to the. Credit of Toy Story 4. There's another jump that I didn't even realize they could take from 2010 to 2017 or whenever Toy Story Four came out because like from the beginning we talked about how good they were with some surfaces like the wood grains and the kind of dinged up furniture in Andy's room. But that the plastic, it just looks terrifying and the people look terrifying and the dog looks terrifying in Toy Story One. And you start to see those incremental improvements throughout Toy Story two. I think the thing that I noticed mostly with this movie, Brad is like, yes, everything looks a million times better and clearer.

32:53 The way they employ light and shadow in this movie is just so much more nuanced even than Toy Story 2. Like it in the very first scene when Woody rounds everybody up and he's like, all right, we all need to gather up and you get that horrifying shot of there's no one there anymore. And they say, Hey, we are gathered. It's like, oh God, that's what that's what this has come to. They start to do these really cool close-ups on Woody that has like a a shallow depth of field. Like the background's all blurred, but hit whole one side of his face is not facing the window. And so there's shadow on it. And I was just like, Oh my gosh, like these textures look absolutely real world level now because of the way that they finally figured out how to make Light interact with these characters. Yeah, it's incredible.

33:40 I I was even thinking about when they throw him in the in the sand pit, when they throw like, dude, the way that they animate sand looks incredible. There's just a lot of this film that looks so much more sleek and just sharper than the first two that I'm like, yeah, I, I, I I can't not have an episode about this and not point out how beautiful it is. All right, man. Well, let's try something else that's hopefully beautiful in this Bardstown I'm root collaboration. What do you say? Let's get to it all right. Everybody today we are drinking Bardstown Bourbon Company Collaborative series collaborator. I was going to say collaboration but by the time I got to the end of reading this really long word I was like crap. I have pronounced this wrong to finish the word. It's supposed the way it's supposed to be finished. Collaborative series.

34:47 Amroot. Now, Bob. I. Don't know how good your memory is? Oh. It's, it's pretty great, Brad, when it comes to it's pretty great. Do you? Remember about one season ago we drank a little little products called Amroot Fusion and it blew our socks off I. Would just like to take credit for Bardstown doing this. I think they heard our our review and we're like, well, shoot, let's we need to get a hand on this whiskey in there. Yeah, yeah. Now 100%, Bob, this is a whiskey that we were so, so excited about. And when I saw this box show up on my front doorstep, I like, I can't explain to you the excitement in my soul when I opened this box. Bob, do you?

35:33 Know how I know how excited you were? You immediately made a post about it on Instagram and I usually have to pull teeth to get you to even interact with people on social media. You sure do I? Literally opened Instagram and there was already a Brad G produced post about this product on our Instagram page. So Brad, thanks so much for that. What we're drinking today is a straight rye whiskey finished in Amrut Indian malt whiskey barrels and then blended with straight bourbon whiskey. Now if you want to get nerdy about this, what I find interesting about the process here, Brad, is that just reading that sentence, it looks like they took a bunch of rye. They finished that in the OM root. And then I don't know if maybe that wasn't quality enough in their opinion to release as is, but it sounds like they came in and blended bourbon into it at the end. So like they didn't blend the rye and the bourbon 1st and then finish all of it.

36:25 They kind of cut it down with some bourbon and I I suspect that has to do with how I don't know what the word is. Powerful, dude. That had to be. Yeah, that. Had to be so spicy. Oh. Yeah, dude, like. Dude. I wish I had that. Like I I trust Bardstown, I trust that their blenders are far and away better than anything I could attempt at blending, but I really wish I could try the the just the rye finished in the in the Amrut cast. That would be incredible. So Amrut was I think the 1st we ever had from India on the show, Brad, and we really started things off with a bang because that was I think our highest rated whiskey of that season. I am super pumped to dive into this. We're dealing with a 110 proof whiskey. Brad, you have already tried it.

37:18 I'm drinking it live. Go ahead and give us your nosing notes. Dude, I like the note that we kept giving over and over on the OM root was plum. And maybe it's just me like manifesting that into existence, but I get plum on this nose. There's some Raspberry, there's some cherry, there's some cinnamon. All in all, you are just getting a really unique experience here that I like. I'm almost surprised that they blended in the bourbon 'cause I'm not getting much of it. You know, maybe it was just a little hint to give it some, some sweetness back into the the palate.

38:01 But right now I am getting all sorts of fruits. There's barley, there's cinnamon, there is a little bit of that rice spice. I'm at a nine out of 10 on the nose, Bob. This is really, really nice, man. I do get a little bit more bourbon than you do on the nose here. And I think to your point, it's really fruity, but it's not the usual suspects that we pick up on bourbons and rice. It's not green apple. I do get a little bit of Peach. I'm not getting pear. And I feel like pear was also one of the things I got on the Omrut Fusion when we tried that one. Plum is a really good note though. And I think that as I as I kind of pushed through some of those initial fruity notes, I do get some cinnamon. I do get a little bit of those classic bourbon things. I wonder, like you said, Brad, is it just too spicy to release the rye finished and am root?

38:49 Because to be honest, I think the bourbon kind of tamps down the bold notes that we got on the on the AM root. But I think this is still a really, really good nose. I'm going to give it an 8.5 out of 10. And I'm sticking at a nine out of 10 on my on my palate, the taste notes once again, the plum comes through somewhat strong. There's barley notes, there's vanilla. I felt like there was almost like a hint of a powdered sugar. And. The the more I thought about it as I put those four notes together, plum, barley, vanilla, powdered sugar, I realized what I'm tasting, Bob, and it's something that I know for a fact that you ate growing up. This is a Klotzky. A what?

39:32 A. Klotzky. I don't even know what that is. I daggone it, Bob. Did you even grow up in Northeast? It sounds. It sounds Polish, I can say that. You are correct, it is a Polish cookie. You you've had them before. There's a little. Bit of pastry and like this it's almost like a a diamond and the the outer parts are wrapped around a little bit of like a tart. Oh, sure. Sure. You know like Plum. My Italian wife's family makes those. They call them Keithley. I wonder if it's similar thing. Sure. Yeah, most, yeah, most likely. But like this tastes like a plum klotchke and it's incredible. Yeah, this is significantly different than I expected it to taste based on the nose.

40:13 And I, I'm not trying to tip my hand with the balance score here at all. But it's immediately much more kind of dark sweet brown sugar, almost Maple character that tips into vanilla and then gets even darker, really dark prune plum notes. You get kick it to the back of your palate, the rye takes over and then you go to swallow and then the the mulch just starts creeping in, but then it's like a wave of vanilla after that. This is a word I don't typically use, Brad. Really smooth finish on this because of that addition of vanilla at the end. It's like, I don't know, it's like a three act play on your palate. Like it's just it continues to go in waves. It's not consistent from front to back, but it's like they keep introducing new characters the whole time. Really cool experience.

41:02 I'm going to give it a nine out of 10. Yeah. And as I get to the finish, this is where I think that this whiskey really takes off. I think that there are some really interesting spices here. There's a ginger flavor. Lately my wife has been She bought a box of a blueberry zinc tea. That. I've really liked and I, I got notes of that here there. There's a little bit of that blueberry tartness. There's almost a bit of like a classic kind of grape feel to this. But. Overall, like the rye finally comes through here on the finish and and you get that rye spice and it it wraps it all up into this spicy, delicious finish that I'm sitting at a nine and a half on the finish floor.

41:48 Yeah, I think I'm with you. This, the finish is the best part of this. Blueberry is a great note. And specifically blueberry tea. I think you absolutely pinpointed it. This is delicious, man. And I, I would never have thought like, oh, let's mix this with rye and see how it tastes with the amroot. But the rye doesn't take away from the malt character and it doesn't take away from those really unique, I think terroir inspired notes that you got on the Indian malt. 9.5 for me on the, on the finish as well. And on balance, Brad, man, I don't know, don't want to give it an 8 1/2 or a nine. I think. I think I'll give it a nine out of 10. The nose tipped me off to things that I didn't really pick up on the taste or the finish.

42:31 It was a lot brighter than the taste and finish was. But it did tell me, hey, this is going to be an interesting, complex whiskey. And it definitely delivered on that. Yeah, I'm at a nine and a half on balance. I I think that the flavors that you get all work together really well. And then they get wrapped up with the giant bow of that rye spice at the end. It's a nine and a half on the thin on the balance for me value wise. Bob, we are talking very close to premium whiskey territory. I'm trying to remember, did we say $200.00 and up is premium? Yeah, I. Think that's where we settled. Yeah, so this is $160.00 bottle of whiskey, so not quite enough for us to label it officially as a premium whiskey, but man, it's close. Wait, before the finger score.

43:21 Hold on. Let me see if I can reframe because I can. I can hear the hesitance in your voice. Let's compare this to last week's whiskey, the Barrel Vantage, which is quite literally half the price of this. And I would argue maybe a whiskey that I like better, but I like it better because I can see myself returning to that like once every two weeks. You know, like a little treat myself poor every other Friday, whereas this is one that's like, I actually think this might be the better whiskey, but this is like a once a year. Hey, I want something that is just make going to make me sit and think about life for an hour because it's so complex. And I almost feel like the the $160.00 price point is justified because I'm rude as an expensive imported whiskey And you know, Bardstown stuff is just always at least $140. And even among Bartstown, I would say this is probably the best Bartstown collaborative I've had since Fifer Pavit. Like it's been, it's been a minute, dude. So with that in mind, I, I don't mean to undercut your score. I think I'm going to give this a 7 out of 10 on value. It's definitely premium, but I don't think you could make like an apples to apples comparison to the Barrel Vantage just because of the kind of product it is. Yeah.

44:42 No, I think that those are all really good points, Bob. I. The way you were talking about it, it sounded like, you know, the enjoyment of a Fast and Furious movie versus the enjoyment of like French cinema from the 1950s. Like there, there's definitely something going on here that you don't often get in the world of whiskey. And I think that's what they are selling for $160.00 is a a really unique experience. And I, I think that they succeeded that. I still think $160.00 is a lot of freaking money. I'll I was hovering at A7. I'll give it a 7 1/2 on value. Like I I think. What they have to offer here is worth it and I would encourage people to buy it.

45:28 But like the the. Sticker shock is going to hit differently for everyone and I and I want people to know like it. It's OK if that hits you hard. Yeah, 100%, man. And I mean, I would say a pour of this is going to cost you 40 bucks. Yep, but. I think a pour of it's worth $40 too, Brad, Like, oh. Yeah, you know what? I mean like this is I because I would put this up there. 28. Yeah, I've paid like. 28 to $30.00 for a pour of like a midwinter's night, Yeah. So. Like this is better than that. I would say yeah, this is better than that. I would pay 40 bucks. Yeah. All right. I'm coming out to a 43 out of 50. Brad, what are you at? A little bit higher. I'm at a 44.5. Out of 50 all.

46:10 Right, and that takes us to a 43.75 on average, or an 87.5 out of 100. It's just slightly lower than last week's Barrel Vantage, although I rated it higher. So, Brad, you were two full points lower than last week. Yeah, I just don't think I could say one's better than the other. They just serve two very different functions, even as two pricey whiskeys. I mean, I think that my three tasting scores might be the same or like 1/2 point off. I'm like right at a 37 out of 50 on both of them. And then it's the value score that makes the difference. So yeah, I mean, as far as like drinking these whiskeys.

46:53 I. Would drink that barrel vantage anytime I want like classic bourbon plus. Like like the better. Version of classic bourbon that I can get and if I want a unique what just happened experience I'm I'm going to come over here to Bardstown bourbon company all. Right, we had two back-to-back 40 plus whiskeys. Finally salvaging the season, Brad. Yeah. I would say after a season of of decent whiskey, yeah, here we are with two great ones in a row, Bob. All right, man, let's get back into talking about Toy Story 3. What do you say? Let's get to it.

47:36 All right, everybody? That was Bardstown Bourbon Company. Dude, the collaboration between Amrut and Bardstown. Come on. So, like, it's a match made in heaven. So good. Yeah. I'm so thankful that they sent us that. I I just can't tell you enough. Go get your hands on a bottle if you are able to afford it. It is a Well, it's a good use of your resources. I love it, man. All right, dude, it's time for us to get into our game for the day. And it's a game that we call 2 facts and a falsehood, Brad. Is going to try to stump your ball 2 All right and what is wrong?

48:22 2 Facts and a falsehood. Two Facts and a Falsehood is the part of the show where Brad presents me with three items as fact about the making of this movie, one of which is a complete lie. Brad, I am doing a pretty darn good on the season right now. I'm at 14 and 8:00. I've got a little bit of cushion here, a bit of wiggle room. I need to get two more wins to guarantee a 500 season. And you know what? I'm going to get it today. You're you're going to get two wins today. I'm. Calling it man, I'm calling my shot. That is quite impressive, the rare. Two point victory. Is if there's a foul on the play, you have a chance? Yeah, exactly. For another point, OK, all right, fact number one in a knot that Pixar's expansive universe.

49:08 Several characters from other Pixar films make cameos In Toy Story 3, for instance, the iconic Pizza Planet truck can be spotted in the background of several scenes. A small toy version of Nemo from Finding Nemo is seen in Bonnie's room, among her other toys. And additionally, Boo from Monsters Inc appears as a kindergarten student in Sunnyside Daycare. Fact #2 for big babies, One line for the entire movie. Mama. The crew had just so many babies audition by recording them saying that one line. The baby that was chosen was named Woody. Director Lee Unkrich joked that the that was the reason why they chose that baby.

49:53 Fact #3 During the early development stages of the movie, when the people behind the film sat down to look at their work from the first Toy Story from 1995, they found that they could not edit any of the old 3D models because of the advances in technology, and they rendered the digital files containing the models incompatible with newer software. As a result, everything had to be recreated from scratch. These are interesting man #1 I'm, I'm a little hesitant to say is true because I know for sure that I've seen the pizza planet truck, you know, Lotso and the gang are riding on the back of it in the one scene. And I know that in other movies like monsters Inc, a, a little Nemo shows up.

50:37 So there's always those Easter eggs. I just didn't see them. And so I, I don't know if Brad wrote them into this. Number 2 sounds interesting too, because like it is such a fake sounding baby. It sounds like a baby doll that I, I struggle to believe that they would try out that many kids for it #3 sounds pretty plausible. And I think that if there's one that that just immediately sounds like it could be true, I'm gonna put #3 there and set that aside. Number one is something that Brad would make up if he was trying to be really sneaky and nitpicky, which you often do, Brad. You. Always put that on me, Bob. I am not nitpicky. I would say on average, there's somebody else on this podcast that is more NIT picky than I. I'm not going to name that.

51:22 I don't know. Who you're talking about, my gut's telling me #2 My gut has proven me wrong many times this season. But I just think that 2 sounds like one you would make up, so I'm going to say #2 is the falsehood. Bob, I don't know if you were planning on getting two victories by picking the wrong answer, but that is what you've done today. Number one was the falsehood. Yeah, see, I knew that some of that stuff was present, but I'm sure that if you looked up like a list of all the Easter eggs or, you know, appearances by other Pixar characters, there's probably a ton. I just didn't see them. As best as I could tell, the Pizza Planet truck was the only one.

52:02 OK. Yeah, would have been cool to see Boo as a kindergartener in the in the class I. Thought the same thing. That's why I put it in there. I was like, man, of all the things, that feels like a really easy one. For sure. All right, Brad, I guess it's time for us to put our our theology major philosophy hats on for a minute. I've been very excited to talk about this movie today because way back in 2011, 2012, when I was first planning out what my senior thesis was going to be when we were at Malone, I started thinking about movies, obviously, and how I could tie that to my theology major. And the movie that immediately stuck out to me was Toy Story 3, because I think that this movie really does articulate not I don't want to say that this movie has a Christian worldview, but I think it really effectively illustrates elements of the Christian worldview over against elements of what we would, what we were then calling like the anti theist worldview. And that was like people like Richard Dawkins and oh, who is the really Christopher Hitchens in England who were writing books like the God Delusion.

53:10 There was a a huge kind of groundswell movement of atheism that wasn't simply atheism, but was kind of like edge Lord atheism in the early 2000 tens. And I thought that a lot of what I was reading in Dawkins was coming out of the mouth of Lotso and that a lot of what you were seeing espoused by Woody and the gang was, you know, they talk about having a kid and serving a kid and where's your kid now? And they they keep saying kid in this movie in a way that made me think of like old King James Bible where like you would capitalize adjectives about God. They talk about kids like their capital K kids in this movie.

53:51 And I was just like, huh, that's an interesting lens. And then the more you start thinking about this movie as if it is some sort of theological argument, the more it all really does fall into place. Brad. Yeah, there's so much going on here to I, I liked your use of the word telos earlier. That that we all have this ultimate purpose and that that ultimate purpose is to be of use in the way that we were made to be useful. Does I, does that make sense? Absolutely. Like, you know, it's, it's kind of like a fork is that it's most forkiness when it is being used to pick up delicious food.

54:34 Are you aware that there is a character in the 4th movie called Forky? It's it's yeah, it's actually really, it's probably my favorite part of the movie. They it's like a little spork that a kid has has like tied a pipe cleaner around and put little googly eyes on. And then it comes to life and the whole movie it's wondering like why did I? Why am I alive? How did this happen? Like what am I? What do I mean? It's I was. I was just a fork and now I'm a. I'm a I'm a breathing entity like. What is this? Dude, that. I mean, that even takes your metaphor further, that a kid has creative powers, yes. That's what I'm saying. That's really funny.

55:15 No, I did not know that there was a character named Forky in the in the fourth movie. I didn't mean to to sidetrack you. Please finish your point now. Oh. No, I, I just think that there is a really important essence of humans examining why they were put here on Earth and finding meaning in that. And you know, I've, I've been reading, it's kind of coincides perfectly. I've been reading Viktor Frankel's Man's Search for Meaning, which is kind of his introduction to laga therapy, which is essentially that humans are going to thrive when they have found their sense of meaning in the world. And the the fascinating thing is, you know, Frankel is a a Jewish writer, but his conclusion is that man's purpose is not a humanity wide one.

56:13 Size fits all solution. That fits everyone. He would argue that everyone has a different purpose for their life and it it probably will look the same as other people, but it will be manifested in so many vastly different ways that it is as endlessly unique and creative as the human race itself. And I think that there is something to that, that I really like that we were all built to be something to worship, something to be a part of a, a type of community. And that's going to look different for all of the different humans across this planet. But man, like you kind of know, you can tell when somebody is living into their purpose for what they were created to do here on this planet.

57:03 And you can really tell when they're not. Well, I think it's a great segue into talking a little bit more about about how this. I think this really does reflect this idea of kind of the, the deification of the kids, like they make the kids into almost deities in this movie. And we talked about this a little bit in the first half, but Brad, I wrote down some thoughts. So I mean, I guess I'll just kind of read what I wrote down. You can tell I wrote it 'cause it's, it's much more lurid writing, yes, much more polished than what I say out loud. But basically I think that the third movie really deepens the mythos of what the kid is to the toy and how the toys interact with and and kind of derive meaning from the kid.

57:45 So the film portrays the kid as central to a toy's existence, almost like a deity that bestows purpose and meaning. The toy's sense of fulfilment and joy when they are played with by a child contrasts with their desolation and aimlessness when they're neglected or abandoned, which is what we see in the opening part of this movie when they think they're going to be sent to the attic. And I think that, like you, you understand that inherently that like the toys want to be played with because that's like their purpose is to be played with. But it's not until as the movie goes on that they start talking about like, we can't just be played with by any kid either. We have to be played with by our kid. And I think it's really interesting.

58:26 You can get into a ton of different mythological theological debates about like, all right, if the kid is their God, then like, are there multiple gods? Are there false gods? Like, what's going on in the world of this movie? I'm just wondering, Brad, did you pick up on the way that they kind of deify the kids? 100% And there is this element of Woody being the lone prophet speaking sense in a wasteland of of common sense. And you see the rest of Andy's toys kind of say like, well, no, the the purpose of toys is to be played with. It doesn't matter by whom, you know, it's OK if it's by a bunch of kids at daycare. The the worst thing for them is the idea of rotting away in the attic or rotting away in, you know, the dumpster being being thrown away.

59:19 And yet Woody, I don't know, he he almost has this this belief that it's better to be waiting in the attic for your owner to return to you than to be played with by some other kid or kids. And. I, I don't know, it's a, it's a strong, it's a strong point to take because if you are looking at it from a utilitarian standpoint, it would make more sense to say, yeah, it doesn't matter who or how many. Like the important thing is that a toy is being played with. Absolutely. But I, I think that that's where the, the argument for like the kids as God, it's not a direct like 1 to one. This is not like the Christian God, right? Like there are many kids and some of the kids are considered like false gods or false prophets. Like we can't serve that master.

1:00:08 We can only serve this one. And so it. Almost feels more like a Greek mythology where like Sid is like this evil God of death and destruction. Or like, almost like like in the Old Testament where you get this idea of like the counsel of gods where God talks in wheeze. And it's, it's really interesting. I, I mean, I again, I have no idea if the screenwriters of this movie, including Michael Arndt, who's a fantastic screenwriter. He won an Oscar for Little Miss Sunshine and then they brought him on to help write this movie. I don't know if they were, I'm sure they were intentionally doing most of this. I don't know if they were like, how do we tell the story of the Christian gospel under the guise of a Disney movie? Like it?

1:00:51 There's the metaphors are there? It's not a direct allegory, you know, But I think you, you most understand the deification of the kid when you get Lotso's big soliloquy at the end of the movie about we're all plastic, we're all made to be thrown away, we're disposable. There's 100 million of us. We're destined to be trash. But even earlier in the movie, he introduces this idea of like, welcome to Sunnyside. You have no owner here. No owner means no heartbreak. And he paints it as this like utopian world of autonomy. Like, we can be masters of our own fate. We control our own destiny. But even that is like a ruse. There is no such thing as complete autonomy.

1:01:33 You're still under a power structure and that power structure is way more coercive than any anything they experienced being with a kid. And so I think that they're definitely trying to get that point across here that like, you have to serve something as a person, as a toy, whatever. And it is a lie. And it is a myth to think that you can get through life only serving yourself. And if you try to, you get strapped to the front of a garbage truck for all eternity at the end, at the end of the movie. Yeah. Well, and it also sets up this idea that when humans try to take the place of God, chaos ensues, right? Like that's, that's the whole mythos of the the tower of Babel story, right? Humans try to take the place of God and chaos ensues as they they try to ascend to a place that they are not built for. And when you look at Lotso that like he tries to become a kid where he is in full control of all the toys around him. And it works for a little while.

1:02:35 But yeah, I mean, you see, at the very end, he he becomes so unhinged that even his most loyal followers are like, Dang, I I don't know about this guy. All right, Brad, before we get off of this topic, 'cause I, I mean, this is where I live, dude. This is like the most exciting thing for me to talk about filming Whiskey. Listeners are probably already tuned out, but I'm like, let's do it. Let's keep going. Theological Baby. The. Idea of Woody and Buzz's character arcs across the trilogy. And This is why I think the trilogy is so, so cool because they never discard anything that happened in the first two movies, but they find ways to not just reframe it, but to completely deepen the meaning of every single thing. I think the 2nd movie deepens the 1st movie, and then the third film deepens it even more because in the first movie, Woody's arc is basically just like, I am selfish and I have to learn how to be unselfish.

1:03:31 And he becomes a leader and he understands what community is. And in the second movie, you find him facing these questions of like, I don't know, his own limitations, his own finitude. How long can I actually be useful as a toy? And what does it mean to serve this kid to the best of my ability? And by the end of that movie, he's, you know, quote UN quote, like a true believer, right? But that's that's what sets Woody up to be this kind of last bastion of loyally following whatever Andy wants them to do. And Buzz's character I think is really interesting too, because in the first movie, you get him having this like, I guess I would call it like a conversion experience.

1:04:14 Like he realizes he is a toy. He is not this mythological thing. He is like a piece of plastic. And it's not till he's laid low and starts to accept this like reframed reality that he's accepted into the community of toys. And in the second movie, you find him encountering this other Buzz Lightyear doll in the toy store that is like as delusional as he was. And seeing that delusion, being confronted with who he used to be makes him reaffirm who he is now. Like, it's, it's very clearly like this conversion experience. And by the third movie, I think what's really interesting is Buzzed himself gets reset and he gets reset into this like programmed autonomous kind of mindset, but he's reprogrammed by Lotso. Like it's, it's Lotso's teaching and it's Lotso's force of will that takes Buzz out of what he already knew and and resets him. And it's not, again, it's not until he comes back into understanding who he is and what his purpose is for that, that he becomes the hero that we know him to be by the end of the movie.

1:05:19 I just think that like, the more you look at the arcs that happen across these three movies, I just love this movie so much. And that leads me, Brad, to just 30 seconds of crapping on Toy Story 4, a film that you have not seen. And I, I don't want to spoil the ending of this movie too much, but suffice it to say this movie was one of the last ones made at Pixar with the old regime there, your John Lasseters, your Lee Unkrich's John Lasseter. Famously, it's subject of a scandal that comes out a few years after this that details that he had inappropriate workplace contact with a number of female employees. I do not condone a single thing that man did in term. And, and, you know, I'm just saying, but like, I also think that when you get to Toy Story 4, they've hired a completely new team of writers, and those writers have a completely different lens through which they're looking at the Toy Story universe.

1:06:18 What? I What I feel about the Toy Story universe is what I suspect you're gonna feel like when we get to the Star Wars prequels here in just a couple weeks, Brad. Because they the the direction of Woody's character in the 4th movie completely undermines everything that Woody has been known to be and to do and to espouse in the 1st 3 movies. And it suggests that you know that you made a point earlier, Brad. This trilogy has such a perfect arc and ending. Whether you agree with it or not, it is a perfectly constructed arc for a trilogy. It might be the best trilogy ever made in that regard. And I think that when there's nowhere else to go, then what you start to do as a writing team is to argue that, well, the undoing of it might be interesting. And so that's what they do in Toy Story Four. They just undo it.

1:07:10 And it completely craps on all three of the first three movies. And it, you know, it's like, Lotso wins. That's what bothers me. Toy Story 4 is like Lotso's revenge. Ned Beatty does not deserve to win. Yeah, I mean, the the ending of this film is, is pitch perfect. Like, it feels like it on the surface. It feels like it could be over the top and like, kind of sappy and sentimental. But then you actually sit down and watch the film and it is so deserved this idea that there's the transition of ownership from Andy to Bonnie. And it's it's cemented by the act of playing together. And that there's this like beautiful element of what I said earlier that like, what makes a toy special is the fact that it's played with and chosen by a kid. And so when one kid chooses to hand over the sacred bond of of toy and kid to another kid, that's what allows it to move on.

1:08:19 That's what keeps things going in the world. I mean really the Toy Story 1-2 and three is just a big trilogy supporting garage sales I think. Really propping up that industry, man it. Sure is, man. So yeah, it's just such a beautiful ending though it. Really is. And I think that, you know, listeners of our show who know that you and I are Christians, they're probably rolling their eyes right now and they're thinking like we are really influenced by our own worldview. And we're reading that on to the movie. I would argue that like everyone's worldview tilts them to finding their own worldview when it's there. Yeah, You know what I mean? And and so at the end of the day, I. I like my worldview. Bob Well, I'm gonna say it's probably happening to some extent, but like, you and I know enough about like the Hindu faith and Islam and all these other faiths that like, if a movie is basically following the steps of the story of those faiths, I think I'm a smart enough person that I could pick up on it. And Toy Story 3 is not exactly hiding its philosophical influences here.

1:09:17 Like just 'cause I'm reciting them doesn't mean I'm reading them into the movie. However, where I think this movie is truly brilliant, Brad, is that if you want to take that reading of the movie, which I would consider like the third level down from the surface reading, you can. If you just want to stop at this movie as a beautiful metaphor for parenthood, I think you can. It like Andy completes his mission, but Buzz and Woody as the kind of quote UN quote overseers or parents of Woody or of Andy, they complete their mission too. They watch him go off and they've done their duty. You know what I mean? Like it's it's a great arc of parenthood. I also just think that like, hey, we were 20 years old when this movie came out or turning 20.

1:10:01 This movie was like directed at people like you and me. And I'll tell you what, dude, like I was, you know, I was going to my third or fourth year of college at this point. And we went and saw it as a, the university rented out a theater of like, you know, an 800 seat theater downtown Canton. And we all went and saw this movie for free. And like, not a dry eye in the house because guess what? We were all entering early adulthood. We were all at college, but we'd also grown up with the Toy Story movies. It's a fantastic coming of age movie. Like it just works on so many levels and I think that's why it probably is the best of the three, Brad. Yeah, I, I was gonna say, I think the most surface level reading of this movie is the story is complete. But like, if you take away nothing else from this film other than awe, I really liked Woody and Buzz and now their story is finished.

1:10:56 Like, I think that that's a great reading of this film. And 100%, dude, we would have been probably like 4-8 and 19 when these movies came out. Like, these movies were made for us, Bob. Yes. And, and I think that they reflect the psychological level of development for each of those age groups incredibly well. Yeah. I mean, I think that like a A5 year old, someone who was five when this movie came out, probably doesn't love this movie as much as you. And I love this movie because there's just there's an element of it came out at the time in my life when I most needed this movie. And there's a lot to say for that. Brad, listen, we've run a little bit long today. I think it's time for us to get into our last segment, which we call let's make it a double we're. Near the end of the episode.

1:11:50 So thanks for listening to the film and Whiskey show. Let's pair another film with this one, even if it's struggling. It's a final segment of the day. Now let's make it a double. Let's Make It a double is the part of the show where we pick a movie to pair up with this one to make the perfect double feature? Brad, are you going Despicable Me? What are what are we doing here? No, I I've already experienced that as a double feature, and while it was a great one, I am actually gonna pair this with 2014's Big Hero 6. A movie that I've never seen. I don't know, whatever. I I am able to watch that movie at any time. I have a Disney Plus subscription, but like for some reason I just, I've never gotten around to it.

1:12:33 I've always heard great things. Yeah, you should get around to it. I think. I'm not gonna spoil anything. I think that thematically, there are similar themes of searching for your meaning in a world suddenly devoid of it, and I think it'd be a great pairing. So Bob, you need to go watch Big Hero 6. I think I will, Brad. My Let's Make It a Double is going to be kind of in the Brad G vein. You did this one time where you paired it up with either a song or ATV show. And I was like, I didn't know we could do that. And I'm going to do it today, Brad, because I wanted to have an opportunity to talk about my favorite TV show right now. And it's a show called Bluey, which I don't know if you guys have gotten into the Bluey phase yet. Brad, have you?

1:13:20 No, we, we watched a little bit of Daniel Tiger and that's, that's about it, dude. Bluey is the best show on television and it is like the the episodes are 6 minutes long. And a big fan of that. And it is like. They tap into the Pixar level of like, this is for kids, but it's also for their parents. And we're going to get into some really deep stuff in every one of these episodes. And the hit rate on Making Bob Cry is about one in every three episodes. Yeah, my my friend Jordan is in a similar place. I can't tell you how often he talks about Bluey. Yeah dude, I think part of me is like anti Bluey just for the fact that everybody's all about it. Like I I didn't watch Stranger Things until it had been out for like 6 years and I finally sat down and was like yeah that's a pretty.

1:14:07 Good show. See, I think for me it's more like the Hamilton of children's programming where for like 5 years I was like, Oh my gosh, this freaking thing. And then I watched it and I was like, oh, this is the most exciting work of art to come out of America in 10 years, you know? So I I believe it comes out of Australia, Bob. Well, Bluey does, sure. OK, the. Episode of Bluey that I would pair this up with is one called Flat Pack. And the plot of the episode is basically like Bluey's parents are building something from like IKEA and they're throwing out all the foam and stuff as they're unpacking and the kids are playing with it. And as the kids play with it, they're basically, they're basically enacting like a whole life cycle. One of them is pretending to be a baby and they're, they're playing in a, you know, whatever. And then they're then they're a teenager and then they're an adult.

1:14:55 And it basically acts out for you. The entire span of parenthood played out through these kids play. And it ends with this moment where they're like, I don't know how they get to this point, but they're like on a boat or something. Like they're pretending to be on a boat and they cast the, the kid away and say goodbye, like take care. And then the one who's pretending to be a parent comes up on the porch for the parents have built this porch swing out of all these materials and sits down with them and just says, like, you know, now what do we do? And, and it, it's like this beautiful heavenly sunset. And the dad just kicks back and says, like, this is heaven. And it's like this incredible metaphor for like life and death and entering the afterlife and being a parent.

1:15:40 And it's just like, it blows my mind how they can fit this into 6 minutes. And if it's not the closest thing to Toy Story 3 thematically that I've ever seen, Brad, you can knock out this. Let's make it a double in an hour and 36 minutes. And I think that's the best we can do time wise. That is a hell of a let's make it a double Bob. I'm going to send you the link to it. You need to watch that one. Is it free to watch it? Will be when I give you my login to Disney Plus. Oh. Heck yeah, dude. All right, so that's it for Let's make it a double. We've paired it up with Big Hero 6 and Flat Pack, an episode of Bluey Brad, I've talked way too much this episode, but I love this movie. I'm with you in that I don't think it's perfect. I think it hit some spots in the middle where it's either being too goofy with no purpose or it's too adult friendly and it would probably be boring a kid for a little bit. But it lands the plane so well by the end of it. And I also love the the jailbreak parts we didn't even talk about like the the heist movie elements in the middle of it, which I think are really well done. This is a 9 1/2 for me.

1:16:47 I can't make it a 10. But I also don't know if there's a Pixar movie that I want to talk about as much as this one, and I think that that says something. It's a 9.5 for me. I think that this is like an 8 to 8 1/2 film for me and it's a 10 out of 10 landing the plane for the The Toy Story trilogy. So I I'm kind of in a similar place. I think I'm going to give it a nine out of 10, Bob. Just yesterday I was meaning to watch this movie and my kid, my older son, was like, I don't like Lotso, I don't want to watch that movie. And so instead he wanted to watch Inside Out. And Inside Out suffers from exactly what this movie suffers from, but I think it suffers on a much bigger scale.

1:17:28 Like it the middle of Inside Out. It really drags. So then I got around to watching this last night and I think that's what boosted my score. I'm I'm kind of in the same place as you, Brad, but this one works a little bit better than that one does. We're coming out to a 9.25 out of 10 on average. But we want to know what you think. Is Toy Story 3 the best of the Toy Story films or are we off our rocker? You can find us to debate with us at any of our social medias, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube at Film Whiskey. Or you can join the discord, We are on there every single day talking to you guys, fans of the Film and Whiskey podcast.

1:18:09 You can find a link to our Discord at the end of every single one of our show notes. I want to announce the winner of our listener pick because next week is a listener pick. I don't think I will. I think the best way to do it, Brad, is to make people keep guessing what it's going to be and then just drop the episode next week. Yes, I am very, very excited for this, Bob. All right, so join us next week for 2011, a God awful year for film. But until then, I'm Bob Book. I'm Brad G. And we'll see you next time.