Dec. 30, 2021

Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 / Talisker 10

Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 / Talisker 10
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Season 5

Bob and Brad spend a second week with Marvel heroes as they revisit Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2, director James Gunn's (vastly superior) follow-up to the 2014 original. This movie goes so much deeper into character arcs and motivations, and to this day is the only MCU film to make Bob shed a tear. Brad was decidedly cooler on the movie the first time he saw it...will this rewatch change his mind?

Meanwhile, the guys try the second whisky in their Coastal Collection sampler, Talisker 10. This single-malt has a very distinct aroma--will that bode well for its flavor?

Film & Whiskey Podcast. New episodes every Monday.

Theme music: "New Shoes" by Blue Wednesday

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Transcript
Brad
In 2017, director James Gunn and star Chris Pratt gave the world a surprisingly touching episode of the MCU machine.
Bob
In 2021, we continue our three-week journey through some of Scotland's most intriguing coastal distilleries.
 
The film is Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2.
 
The whiskey is Talisker Ten year.
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 Gee.
 
And this week, we are looking at Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2, a movie from my Season 5 list.
Brad, before we start talking about that movie, how are you doing, man?
 
It's good to catch up.
 
We have not recorded in a while.
Brad
Yeah, we have planned on recording this episode four times now.
 
This is our fifth time.
 
And we're actually sitting down to review this movie.
So I'm doing really well, man.
 
The date as of airing is Monday, December 27th.
 
Robert, how was your Christmas?
Bob
Christmas was good.
 
Yeah, man.
 
I mean, good and bad, because things are running rampant with COVID right now.
So we had some people in our extended family test positive and then just the risk of it happening with others.
 
We ended up not being able to celebrate Christmas with our families.
 
So it was just me and the wife and our kids.
It was really nice to do a small scale thing.
 
But, you know, I feel like for the second year in a row, a wrench has been thrown into things.
 
I don't know.
Were you guys able to successfully meet with family?
Brad
Yep.
 
Not a single problem.
Bob
All right.
 
Well, forget you.
 
Yeah, I just feel like you just coast through life, man.
You just you know, you just the blessings are showered down upon you.
 
I live a worry free life, Bob.
Brad
Yeah, no, we were able to hang out with some family.
 
And yeah, we had we had a few really nice days.
 
You know what, man?
This was one of the most relaxing Christmases I've ever had.
 
We always do a big Christmas breakfast instead of like a lunch, you know, dinner type thing, which is a lot more chill.
 
Like Haley just makes biscuits and gravy and I make eggs.
And it's just the most delicious thing in the world.
Bob
Oh, it's great, man.
 
Yeah, we my whole family got sick.
 
And so, you know, we didn't have COVID, but my son came down with some sort of, I don't know, upper respiratory something.
And so that's the reason that we've pushed this episode back so far.
 
This is actually the first time, Brad, in almost three years of recording that we have not released a new episode on Monday.
 
So Brad and I are sitting down on the Monday that this was supposed to come out.
I'm going to try to get this out by Thursday and then we'll get back on track.
 
So, Brad, let's let's plow ahead here and talk about Guardians of the Galaxy Volume two.
 
Now, when we first discussed this like briefly in our season five preview and then last week at the end of whatever the episode was last week where we picked this one, you kind of said that when you first saw Guardians two, it was the first film that really made you kind of question where the MCU was going.
And you kind of hinted that you weren't a big fan of it.
 
So I was interested to hear what you thought upon rewatch.
 
But what was your process going into it on this rewatch?
Brad
Honestly, for this specific time watching it, I really just wanted to be open to the fact that I might have been wrong, that that it was a better movie than I thought.
 
I was like, there's probably a reason Bob loves it.
 
And then I realized I was like, oh, it has to do with father issues.
Obviously, Bob's going to love it.
 
Disclaimer, Bob has a great relationship with his dad or so he tells me.
Bob
So I tell you.
 
But yeah, you're right.
 
I mean, there's definitely a father son relationship at the heart of this movie.
But anyway, yeah, go on.
 
Go on.
Brad
Yeah.
 
So I really just wanted to be open to having my mind changed.
 
It's kind of how I felt about the E.T. rewatch.
 
I'm just very open to my mind being changed.
 
The sarcasm is just dripping.
 
I don't know what you're talking about, Bob.
We're recording like two hours away from each other.
 
There's no way you could see sarcasm.
Bob
All right.
 
So coming out of this rewatch, what are your thoughts?
Brad
I mean, if you want me to give my basic thoughts on the movie, it's just way too long.
 
It takes forever to get anywhere in this stupid movie, Bob.
 
So you're not a fan.
It drives me nuts.
 
This is a two hour and 20, 30 minute movie that should have been an hour and 40 minutes max.
 
Interesting.
Outside of that, genuinely a decent movie.
 
I liked the themes.
 
I think that Yondu is like weirdly the character I care most about in the entire MCU.
And it's only because of this movie.
 
So I don't know how they accomplished it, but all of a sudden you just give all the shits about Yondu.
 
You just fall in love with him in this movie and then he dies and it's brutal and you're really sad.
And yeah, so there are parts of this movie that I like, but I will stand by my original opinion.
 
This movie should have been about 50 minutes shorter.
Bob
So if you've never listened to the film and whiskey podcast before, I guess it's too late to say this now, but we definitely get into spoilers on this podcast.
 
And you may have just had that movie ruined for you, but guess what?
 
It's like what, five or six years old now.
So you should have seen it by now.
Brad
It's out of all the movies we've reviewed.
 
This is the MCU, Bob.
 
Everyone has seen the MCU.
Bob
That's true.
 
Oh man, I can't wait to get into another discussion about the MCU, Brad.
 
Our favorite topic here on film and whiskey.
Brad
Well, here's the wild thing.
 
This is the second MCU movie we've reviewed.
 
Yeah.
Bob
And yet it somehow still permeates our conversation.
Brad
Yeah.
 
Well, it's pretty much ubiquitous at this point.
Bob
All right.
 
Well, let's keep this train rolling with Brad, giving his thoughts on the movie and move into Brad explains, Brad, I feel like we should just rename this, this segment, Brad splaining.
 
I really like, I really like Brad splaining.
I'm totally down, dude.
 
All right, let's do it.
 
So it's now called Brad splaining.
This is where Brad breaks down the plot of the movie that he has just seen often for the first time.
 
This was a watch number two for you, Brad.
Brad
Yes.
 
Second time, maybe third time.
Bob
No, no, this is the second time.
 
Second time viewing this movie.
 
Brad, you have 60 seconds on the clock to explain the plot of this movie to our listeners.
Can you do it?
Brad
Well, I mean, if I'm talking about the plot, that'll take like two seconds.
 
Chris Pratt is half God.
 
His father wants to turn the entire universe into himself and everybody stops him.
If I want to talk about the movie itself, I would talk about how every single joke in the movie goes on for about 30 seconds too long.
 
Every single conversation takes about 50 to 200 seconds too long.
 
And if I really wanted to, like, keep in the spirit, the James Gunn spirit of things, I would take about, I don't know, five, six minutes on this Brad explains, but you know what?
I'm going to stop.
 
I'm done.
 
That's, that's the movie.
Chris Pratt is a half God and he kills his father.
Bob
Boom movie.
 
What a great summary of this movie.
 
Chris Pratt is a God and he kills his father.
Brad
All right.
Bob
Whoa, half God.
 
Half of a God.
 
He's a, he's a God.
So, all right, let's get into talking about this movie.
 
I picked this movie for my list and I think it's because, well, let me say this first.
 
I don't think this is a perfect movie.
I'm not going to give this movie a 10 out of 10.
 
It is definitely in my top, I'd say three, maybe four MCU films though.
 
I really, really loved this a lot.
And I think it's because even being too long, even having jokes that go on too long, even being too shaggy in parts, this movie does what very few Marvel movies do.
 
And that is kind of put the brakes on the plot to let you develop themes and let you develop characters.
 
I went into this movie expecting very, very little.
Like, I didn't even see this in theaters.
 
I watched it when it was on Netflix back when, you know, in the pre-Disney plus days.
 
And, you know, even like halfway through, I was like, this is okay.
And then the last half of the movie, I was crying at the end of this movie.
 
This is the only, to this day, the only Marvel movie that has made me shed a tear.
 
And I think that says something.
Brad
What are you talking about?
 
Jeff Daniels didn't get you to cry?
 
Tony, come now, Bob, why you no cry?
Bob
It's not Jeff Daniels.
 
It's Jeff Bridges, man.
 
You keep getting them mixed up on here.
Whatever, man.
 
Jeff Daniels.
 
They're pretty much the same person.
Well, that is just patently false.
 
So I don't even know where I was.
 
So the reason I picked this movie, it develops the characters.
And I really, truly, Brad did not like the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie.
 
And the reason that I thought it was so interesting that you had the opinion you had about this movie is that I had the same opinion about the first Guardians.
 
I remember when Guardians 1 came out and everyone was saying like, it's such a breath of fresh air.
Finally, a comic book movie that's not downbeat and dour.
 
And then I saw it and I was like, okay, yeah, it's not downbeat and dour, but they have truly embraced the silliness to the point where, like, I felt like that that vibe undermined the whole movie.
 
Did you go back and watch any of Guardians 1 when you like in preparation for this at all?
Brad
Oh yeah, Bob, I totally watched another MCU movie to prepare for us to talk about.
Bob
Notorious researcher Brad totally went back and did his research for this movie.
 
All right.
 
So I don't know how much you remember about Guardians 1, but it is like for me, just an eminently forgettable movie.
Like the villain is lame and it gets to the point where at the end of the movie, you know, they're trying to get an infinity stone and the bad guy gets the infinity stone and he's about to kill everyone.
 
And Chris Pratt distracts him by doing like a goofy dance and singing, uh, ooh, child.
 
And it's like, the movie just hinges on this ridiculous joke at the most crucial moment.
And I guess for some people that level of silliness worked.
 
And for me, I was like, I just spent $10 to watch this movie and this is what I'm getting.
 
And I, like, it pissed me off how silly and, and ultimately, uh, slight that movie was.
And so for this movie to go in such a different direction, like, and to take these characters that were like objectively had really great chemistry together, but there was just not much there in terms of like depth and to go really, really deep with all of their relationships.
 
I like, I was very, very impressed that they allowed this movie to go to the places that it did.
Brad
Yeah.
 
I mean the, the first one, I remember what I liked about it was what you said.
 
There was so much chemistry between the four main characters and there was really good music and there was, you know, a few good action sequences.
And so I remember walking out of the first gardens being like, uh, yeah, that was pretty solid.
 
Uh, that was also in the middle of when I actually still kind of liked the MCU.
 
So by the time I got to guardians two, I remember being like, man, I like, I've barely watched any guardians.
I think we were watching it at a friend's house.
 
So it wasn't even like my choice to watch it.
 
And it came on and I watched it.
And I just remember thinking, man, this is just way too long.
 
Don't understand why they're, they're moving in this way.
 
And honestly, to me, it felt like a sign that the MCU was lacking in quality.
And so on the second watch through, I definitely was able to appreciate the relationships a lot more in this movie.
 
I think that the relationship between Nebula and Gamora feels forced into a certain direction.
 
Like I like where it goes.
I like the, the sisterly competitive love that they come to by the end, but it feels very forced from the first movie and the start of the second movie of, I am literally going to murder you to no, I'm actually just going to bear my soul to you and become your best friend.
 
So like, you know, there's certain stuff like that, that feels rushed, but overall you can definitely see that I think gun and the writers for this wanted to dive a little deeper into what makes these characters tick and you, you really get some beautiful results from that.
Bob
Yeah, for sure.
 
Well, and again, I think that like, if you, if you look at the way that the MCU does humor, there's definitely a Marvel brand of humor.
 
You know, when you watch a Marvel movie compared to a star Wars movie, the way that they do humor is just very different.
And I think one of the criticisms that I remember hearing when the last Jedi came out was that it was the first time that people really felt like, okay, the Disney humor is having an effect here because the way that the jokes were told in last Jedi seemed very MCU to people.
 
And I, you know, like if you don't quite understand what I'm saying, I don't know how to put it into words, but there's just a certain type of self-aware throwaway mumble one-liners that are always self-referential and things like that.
 
And I thought that the, the jokey jokes in volume one really took away from the plot, but here, you know, like you said, Brad, I think sometimes the pendulum swings too far the other way where it can be like, you know, every character has to have a motivation and we're going to get to the core of who they are as a person and drill down too deep.
But I like that the jokes were a little bit more few and far between because more of them landed for me as a result.
 
I don't know, man.
 
Like what, what'd you think of the humor in this movie?
Brad
I think it was more of the same.
 
And I think that they just, I don't know.
 
I feel like I'm beating a dead horse.
They just draw out a lot of the jokes in this movie and they just take too long to land.
 
I mean, you have, uh, Dave Bautista.
 
What's his character's name?
Drax.
 
Yeah.
 
Drax.
Drax literally sits there and just calls this poor alien woman ugly for like five minutes straight.
 
Like camera doesn't move, just sits on him, just mercilessly ripping into her looks.
 
And then it just ends and moves on to the next scene.
And I'm just sitting there going like, well, that was about four and a half minutes too long.
Bob
That's so funny.
 
The crazy thing about it is I think that this is one of those movies where the things that work for you are probably things that didn't work for me.
 
And then vice versa, because Drax is one of my favorite characters.
Like even in the first movie, I think.
Brad
I love Drax dude.
 
Okay.
 
I think he's phenomenal.
It's just, that was an example of a joke that I'm like, it was a funny joke, but you didn't need to just drag it out so long.
Bob
All right.
 
Well, maybe the, the way to go is let's kind of talk about each character and then the actor that portrays them.
 
Okay.
So like, well, let's start at the top.
 
We'll start with Chris Pratt.
 
Groot.
Obviously.
 
Right.
 
Of course.
Baby Groot.
 
Vin Diesel.
 
Vin Diesel with some, you know, some auto tune.
And now let's talk about Peter Quill, AKA star Lord played by Chris Pratt.
 
You know, Brad, I don't know how much time you spend on the internet, but apparently people don't like Chris Pratt anymore.
 
I don't have anything to say on that matter, but the character of Peter Quill is, is an annoying character, I think to begin with.
And Pratt does a really good job of playing him as just kind of a cocky asshole and watching the emotional arc of Peter Quill in this movie is probably one of the best things the MCU ever did.
 
I don't particularly care for the character.
 
Chris Pratt is fine as him in most circumstances, but in this movie in particular, this might be, I think Chris Pratt's best performance.
And that, that final scene post, you know, funeral where he's just kind of looking around at his friends and talking to Gamora about some unspoken thing and just the look that he gives her in this really vulnerable moment.
 
And then, you know, Rocket says the thing about stealing batteries and he looks down and says, like, you know, of course he didn't scare them off.
 
And I'm just like, oh man, every little piece of acting that you've, you've ever been able to acquire, you put to use in this scene, Chris Pratt.
I think he was really good in this movie.
Brad
Yeah.
 
I mean, I really think that what you're getting from Chris here is some of the more vulnerable parts of Andy Dwyer mixed in with the kind of braggadocious character that Peter, Peter Quill is.
 
And so you really get this good mixture of, of lovable roguish charm that, that I think he was trying to shoot for in the first one, but there was no depth there to back it up.
And so I think he was fine.
 
The hard part for me with him is I feel like he's kind of the most forgettable character in this movie.
 
Like, like, yes, I know that the whole story is about him and his father coming to terms, but like when I come, when I walk away from this movie, I think more about Drax.
I think more about a rocket raccoon and Gamora than I do about him.
 
Honestly, I think more about Kurt Russell than I do about him.
 
Yeah.
Bob
Yeah.
 
I don't know.
 
I think there is kind of like an inherent limitation to this character, right?
Because, so, you know, the plot of the movie essentially is that Peter Quill finds out that the person who fathered him is actually a, like a God, a celestial named Ego, and they get taken to Ego's planet and he shows them, you know, all around and you find out essentially that Chris Pratt has these powers that he never realized that he had.
 
He's immortal if he wants to be, but that Ego has this plan that he is going to basically expand himself throughout the universe until he consumes everything, until he is everything.
 
Do you get it, Bob?
Brad
Yeah.
 
Ego.
Bob
He's going to expand his Ego.
 
Hey, right?
 
So it's a very obvious metaphor and the whole character's arc is learning to set aside Ego for the good of his friends and learning how to sacrifice and learning how to give things up that he wants.
So like this would be a very good lesson in metaphor for like your sixth grade English class.
 
You know what I mean?
 
But, but I think, you know, it works for the most part.
Brad
I mean, let's get to another point of contention for me with this.
 
Yes, there's a lot of really deep, meaningful things in this movie, but they're presented in such a shallow way that like, it's almost like the, the writers for this movie knew that their audience is the average MCU fanboy.
 
And so they had to just like smack them upside the head with like, his name is Ego.
Do you get it?
 
And I don't, I don't think many people actually got it in the end.
Bob
We'll see.
 
But like, oh, so what I was saying was, I think that there, there is a limitation to the character because like, yes, he has a semi traumatic backstory in that, like he watched his mother die when he was a young kid and then he got snatched up and taken to space.
 
But like the thing that he, the thing that he's overcoming is just being a dick.
Do you know what I mean?
 
And I think that like, if you look at a character like Rocket Raccoon in this movie, he, he, on the surface, everyone is calling him a dick and like, it seems like his character arc is also overcoming being a dick, but it's not really like his character arc is actually going deeper into the emotional core of who he is than what you're seeing with the main character.
 
And I think you're, you're on the nose with that because like the arcs of Yondu and Rocket, who are like very much parallels of each other, I think are ultimately more compelling.
And I think to his credit though, like James Gunn recognizes that because when you watch the end of this movie, then everyone's watching this funeral for Yondu and realizing that Yondu even could be redeemed.
 
Like it, it clearly has a profound effect on Rocket to the point where the very last shot of the movie is Rocket Raccoon with a tear falling down his face and then it cuts to black.
 
And I like, I remember seeing that moment and being like, James Gunn, you brilliant bastard.
Like, because, because they could have included that shot, you know, in reverse order to the shot before it, which was a shot of all the guardians standing together.
 
But no, like they, it's the shot of the guardians, it's the shot of Yondu's arrow flying through the fireworks and then it's Rocket and then it cuts to black.
 
And I'm like, I love that you sent the audience off with this last little bit of character growth.
Like that was the last thing you wanted to show us in this movie.
 
And I like, I really love that touch, but to your point, you're right about Peter Quill.
 
He's not, he's not as deep of a character.
Brad
Well, even that last shot reinforces the fact that he's not even really the main character of this movie.
 
Like, I feel like if anything, that what they, the trap they fell into here was they made Peter Quill more of a plot development and he, like he himself is almost the MacGuffin and everybody else circling him has character growth happen.
 
And his just, his just kind of feels forced.
And I think it's partially because you don't, you don't get as much time with him.
 
Like you get tons of time of Gamora with her sister and Drax with his alien friend and Rocket Raccoon and Yondu together, but you don't actually get a ton of time with, you know, Peter and one other person.
 
The only other person he really spends time with is his father, who is evil and trying to destroy the universe.
So I think the reason you don't see as much character growth is because his character literally had no one to grow with.
 
Whereas every other character in this movie is paired off with someone that challenges them and forces them to grow together.
Bob
All right.
 
So who else do you want to talk about?
 
I mean, we've only hit like half the characters here, but maybe, maybe let's talk about Kurt Russell as Ego.
Brad
Yeah.
Bob
Because I think he's fantastic.
Brad
He, he, he is another definition in chewing scenery.
 
I mean, this dude goes so far over the top and it's perfect.
 
His name's Ego.
His whole goal in existence is to self-replicate to the point of destroying everything else.
 
I mean, really, when I was watching it, I realized that they were just talking about cancer.
 
Like he literally is a cancer upon the universe that has to be destroyed.
Uh, you know, which once again, do you get the metaphor?
 
Like, like Ego is a cancer.
 
It's gotta be destroyed before it, before it destroys everything.
I don't know if you got that, Bob.
 
I didn't get it till just now.
 
It just hit me.
Bob
Yeah.
Brad
It's crazy, dude.
 
Kurt Russell though.
 
I think he played the part literally perfectly, like pitch perfect.
The, the, the part where he's, uh, yelling at Peter and he's like, I tried to turn into the form that you would like, you know, I did this for you.
 
But even in that yelling, you can tell that it's really all about him.
 
I just, man, it's such a good performance.
Bob
Well, you're right.
 
Like that last little bit where he's just blowing up on him, it is over the top.
 
And then especially like once he just turns into CGI, because he very much just becomes like, come back, Tony.
Like it's, it's the same thing, but they, they know what they're doing with Kurt Russell.
 
Like he's always had this very like youthful dimpled face, you know, he's like, he's a very attractive guy.
 
And they lean into his ability to just be a charmer, right?
Like when, when they are showing the guardians around the, the ego planet for the first time, and they're like popping those bubbles with their fingers.
 
And you're like, man, this is wonderful.
 
And even though as a viewer, you know, like something bad's going to happen here for a minute.
You're like, man, I wonder if this guy ego is actually going to end up being okay.
 
I know his name's ego, but maybe he's a good ego, you know?
 
And I think even just knowing that inevitably things are going to go bad for me to, to even for a moment, consider like, nah, he seems okay.
It is a really huge testament to what Russell's doing here.
Brad
Yeah.
 
And I think my other favorite performance really is Zoe Saldana as Gamora.
 
I think her ability to challenge the people around her and like force them to come to terms with the stupid decisions they've made is like genuinely impressive.
And the performance that she, she, you know, undergirds that motivation with is spectacular.
Bob
Yeah.
 
And I think that like just in general, she's an underappreciated actress because the movies that she shows up in anymore always tend to be huge blockbusters in which she's very good, but she's under like heavy makeup or in the case of avatar, she's a completely CGI creature.
 
And so like, I just, you know, this is our second Zoe Saldana movie in like the last four weeks, Brad.
So I'm, I'm glad to be able to see her in more things because I think she's a, an incredibly talented actress who just doesn't usually get her due.
 
Wait, what else was she in?
 
She was in the terminal.
Remember she was the, the girl with the stamp, the security guard that marries.
Brad
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
 
I totally forgot about that.
Bob
Yeah.
 
Holy cow.
Brad
Thanksgiving.
 
Thanksgiving baby.
 
Can we just talk about the fact that Thanksgiving is the best thing our podcast will ever have come up with?
Bob
Ever, ever.
Brad
Like for the rest of eternity, no matter how long this podcast goes on for, I will watch a Tom Hanks movie on or around Thanksgiving.
 
You have to do it.
Bob
All right.
 
If I could, if I could nitpick a couple of performances though, well actually no, let's do one more that I love.
 
And that's Michael Rooker as Yondu.
He's perfect to the point where I don't really know how much you can really call anything iconic anymore.
 
And that's one thing I hate about the internet, Brad, is that like anytime somebody does anything, they're like, this was iconic.
 
It's like, no.
And then the, and then the other half of the internet is like, F you.
 
No, it's not.
 
But it's always stuff like, you know, like Tom Holland's look on the red carpet is iconic.
And it's like, what was he even wearing?
 
Like, this isn't like, like he didn't change fashion.
 
What are you talking about?
Yeah.
 
I don't know if a 12 year old can really change fashion.
 
But I think to the extent that anything can be at this point, you know, with the Marvel-fication of things, Michael Rooker as Yondu has become like one of the kind of unimpeachable things about the MCU.
Tony Stark, you know, Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark is like, you're never going to replace the guy.
 
You know, I think that Chris Evans as Captain America is up there and Thor, whatever.
 
But like this guy as a supporting character getting the line, I'm Mary Poppins, y'all.
It has just become part of the lexicon in a weird way.
 
And I love that about it.
 
He's just, he's so good.
Brad
He may have been your father boy, but he wasn't your daddy.
 
I'm sorry I didn't do none of it right.
 
I'm damn lucky you're my boy.
Yeah.
 
I mean, it's almost for me, like when you want to talk about iconic supporting roles, I think of like Michael Caine as Batman's butler.
 
Like you can never in my mind cast somebody else as Alfred and have it be nearly as good as Michael Caine.
And I'm with you, man.
 
Rooker in this movie as Yondu, there's just this perfect gruffness to his voice that that just hits every emotional beat you need it to.
 
And so, yeah, I'm with you, dude.
I think Yondu and Michael Rooker is the best performance in this movie.
 
All right.
Bob
So if I could nitpick a little bit, I've always kind of struggled with Karen Gillan as what's her name?
 
Nebula.
 
Yeah, dude, she's like way.
She's good.
 
So here's the thing.
 
She's good.
And I don't know how I would suggest playing her otherwise, but she has this thing.
 
It's almost like the like she was doing like two days in football.
 
Somebody effed up and the director told her to like run half a mile before every one of her scenes.
Like she does this breathless.
 
My father is doing that and I'm going to kill him.
 
Every single line is like through gritted teeth and completely out of breath.
And I don't know, like it's a it's a choice with a capital C.
 
To her credit, she does it in every single movie that she's in in the MCU.
 
And it hasn't changed.
So, I mean, you know, hashtag consistent.
 
But I just don't know if it's the best choice.
Brad
Yeah, I mean, that I'm with you, dude.
 
She is way too serious at every single moment she is ever on the screen, even when she's trying to deliver like a somewhat joke, somewhat touching moment with with Gamora.
 
And she's like, you know, she like doesn't kill her.
And she's like, oh, get over it.
 
But the way she said is it like you said, it's just always breathy, always serious, always intense.
 
And like there's moments where that intensity works.
But for a movie about two sisters reconciling, it feels like they're still fighting each other even after they come together as a team.
 
And so for me, it's just a one note performance in every single MCU movie.
 
And like you said, it just gets old.
Yep.
Bob
Yeah.
 
And then the other one is Bradley Cooper as Rocket, which I think sometimes like when you watch Rocket and you're just trying to be like in the context of the movie, the voice kind of works because you're like, oh, he's a he's a loud mouth raccoon.
 
Like, of course, he sounds like this.
And then sometimes you kind of become aware that it's Bradley Cooper and he's he's clearly doing a voice.
 
And I think that's the thing that bothers me is like it's not really if they found someone who had a voice that kind of sounded like that, I think it would work better.
 
But you can always tell when someone is like affecting their voice for the performance.
And he just sounds like like you told Bradley Cooper, like, hey, I want you to play a raccoon who's also Danny DeVito.
 
And then that's what that's what he did.
 
You know what I mean?
I kind of wish they'd just gotten Danny.
 
Oh, my gosh, that would have been amazing.
 
This whole movie could have just been everybody from It's Always Sunny and I would have it would have been just as good.
Brad
Oh, man, I've watched just enough of It's Always Sunny to appreciate the fact that that would have been the perfect casting for this.
Bob
I mean, Dennis and Peter Quill are like the same person.
 
And yeah, yeah.
 
Drax and Charlie are the same person.
Yeah, I mean, I think we just made this movie ten times better.
 
Oh, man.
 
Yeah.
And then Mac Mac is Rocket Raccoon.
Brad
You're set.
 
No, that's that's Danny DeVito.
 
Oh, sorry, Danny DeVito.
Then Mac.
 
Who would Mac be?
 
I don't know.
Everyone else.
 
Everyone else.
 
I love it.
Bob
All right, man, we're we're very clearly devolving here.
 
Let's let's take a break.
 
Let's try this Talisker 10.
What do you say?
Brad
Yeah.
 
You know, it'll help us with this whole devolving thing is adding risky whiskey.
Bob
Let's get to it, Bob.
 
All right.
 
So today we are checking out Talisker 10 year.
This is the first whiskey from the Talisker distillery that we've had.
 
Brad, this is a single malt scotch whiskey clocking in at ninety one point six proof.
 
I'm excited to drink this one, man.
And I actually didn't mention this last week, but there are these little sample packs called like there's one called like the strong pack.
 
There's one called the coastal pack, and they feature three different distilleries.
 
And we've talked before about how scotch whiskey distilleries are very collaborative.
And, you know, a lot of them are owned by big conglomerates now.
 
And so they can release different distilleries in box sets like this.
 
I picked this bad boy up.
It's three two hundred milliliter samples.
 
And Ohio is actually liquidating them.
 
So I got it for like thirty one dollars.
And it is like one of the best values I've ever had.
 
And I've been really excited to talk about these three whiskeys.
 
Next week we'll have the third one of the three.
But so, yeah, I had never tried Talisker before.
 
I got this sample pack.
 
I'm really excited to try it with you today.
Were you familiar with the distillery at all before you had this this sample?
 
Heck no, dude.
Brad
I had zero clue about Talisker.
 
Honestly, outside of a few of the heavy hitters in the world of like peated scotch, heck, even, you know, non-peated scotch.
 
I don't know my scotch distilleries super well.
So I feel like this has been an education, I guess.
 
Like we obviously love, absolutely love Glenmorangie.
 
Great, great company putting out great stuff.
But jumping into some of these new expressions for me has been a lot of fun.
Bob
All right, man.
 
Well, let's jump into this one.
 
What are you picking up on the nose of this Talisker Tenure?
Brad
Man, it is a really nice nose.
 
I'm getting like soft peat.
 
It's not like overpowering with like little bits of brine and a bit of caramel to kind of underlay it.
It's got almost like that salted caramel smell.
 
And then there's leather and tobacco and green apple kind of as I as I got deeper into it.
 
This is a incredibly complex nose for me that I really like.
I'm going to give it a nine out of ten.
Bob
Yeah, this was a complex nose.
 
I think if there is a slight ding on it, it's that I didn't get a lot of notes at once.
 
It was like I poured it out.
And the thing that that was like blasting out of the glass was, like you said, brine.
 
But for me, it was like green olives.
 
It was like opening like a jar of olives.
And I hate, hate olives.
 
Like I hate them with so much.
 
They're so disgusting.
So I gave it a sniff and I was like, oh, like this is this is like smoky olive.
 
And I'm thinking like this smells like a whiskey martini.
 
What is going on here?
And like to its credit.
 
I wasn't all the way turned off by that.
 
You know what I mean?
I'm like, OK, I don't like olives, but it's really interesting that this is going on here.
 
So I set it down.
 
I let it kind of air out for a couple of minutes.
And after about three minutes or so, you get past that.
 
And you're right.
 
A lot of really subtle sweetness comes out.
It does have that butterscotchy kind of caramel thing going on for it.
 
But those things weren't layered on top of each other.
 
It was one of those whiskies that you have to just let it breathe.
And then when you come back for another nosing, you get a completely different note on it.
 
So if I had just kind of swigged this right out of the glass when I first poured it, I think I wouldn't have gotten a lot of that subtle sweetness.
 
So I'm going to give it a seven and a half on the nose.
Brad
Yeah.
 
Typical American Bob just wants to start chugging his liquor right out the bottle.
 
And yet I did.
I'm proud of you, man.
 
I restrained myself.
 
That's character growth, just like Peter Quill.
That's right.
 
No one's calling me a dick anymore.
 
Oh, man.
But Bob, like as I get into the actual palate, the taste of this whiskey, holy cow, man, it is oaky and leather and tobacco and like a layer of smoky peat on top of all that that that like undergirds it.
 
I am a big, big fan of what they're putting out here.
 
I'm going to stick at the nine out of ten.
Bob
Yeah, I'm going to give us an eight and a half out of ten on taste.
 
And part of it is because everyone who listens to this podcast knows I like my sweet whiskeys.
 
And there's something about scotch where I haven't quite figured out the language to explain it yet, but there's different levels of sweetness and there's, you know, there's different zones in your mouth, I think, where you pick up sweetness.
And this one, unlike a lot of scotches, is is really sweet from the get go.
 
Like on the tip of my tongue, I was like, oh, this is a sweet whiskey.
 
It had that kind of vague honey sweetness to it that I really, really liked.
And it really stayed like candy sweet throughout the whole tasting experience.
 
I thought the smoke on this was really subtle.
 
And then the thing I loved most about it is it was almost like the whiskey equivalent of a Gushers, where like I went to swallow the whiskey and it had this like one last burst of spice that went all the way through my mouth.
It was like black pepper and cinnamon, and it wasn't really there the whole way through.
 
And then when I went to swallow it, like shot back up my tongue.
 
Really, really cool.
It was a great drinking experience.
 
So, yeah, I'm going to give it an eight and a half on the taste.
Brad
And then the the finish, this is just like nearly perfect for me on every stage.
 
You get a little bit extra smoke at the end that really sits on the back of your throat for a while.
 
It's mixed with oak and saline.
And for me, the finish is almost where I got a lot of that honeyed sweetness.
 
There's a little bit of butterscotch that that just lingered for a really long time on my on my tongue.
 
Big, big fan.
I'm going to just I'm just sticking at the same nine out of ten.
Bob
So the finish doesn't burn at all on the way down, which is really nice.
 
Like, you know, it's warming, but it doesn't burn.
 
But the alcohol really was kind of prickly on my tongue and it stayed that way.
This this packs a nice punch for only being 91 proof.
 
And I appreciate that it was a nice finish, not overpowering.
 
I do think it was probably a slight step down from the taste for me.
So I'm going to give it a seven and a half out of ten.
 
But then when it comes to balance, man, this is just a really, really well balanced whiskey.
 
I enjoyed this experience a lot.
And it's not a note that I normally take to just say, like, this was enjoyable.
 
You know, usually like you appreciate a whiskey or you think it's delicious.
 
But like the actual tasting experience on this was fun for me.
So I'm going to give it an eight and a half on balance.
 
Dude, nine and a half for me.
Brad
I like wow.
 
Like the note that I took was killer balance.
 
Like it just hits every part from nose to finish perfectly.
And I I'm just overwhelmed with how much I like this, this scotch.
 
You know, I think some of the other peated stuff that we've gotten into, you know, I know that they have a scientific way that they measure the amount of peat or smokiness in these scotches.
 
For me, this feels like the perfect balance of a sweet, complex, smoky whiskey that I would buy a bottle of this in a heartbeat.
And when I get to my value score, you'll understand why.
 
Bob, this bottle of whiskey, Talisker 10 year comes in the state of Ohio for fifty five dollars, which is an easy, probably one of the easiest ten out of ten on values I've ever given a whiskey.
 
Ten.
Bob
Yeah.
 
So here's the thing.
 
I am a little torn because getting a 10 year peated scotch for fifty five dollars like you're not going to get much lower than that.
I think ten is probably around this price range.
 
I think ten is probably just a couple of dollars cheaper than this, but I like this a lot more than the Freud.
 
So I totally get the ten out of ten.
I think I'm my opinion is tainted a little by the fact that peated scotch is just not my favorite, you know, subgenre of whiskey.
 
And so when I'm like fifty five dollars, like it is great in its, you know, in its wheelhouse.
 
But then I'm like, oh, I wonder what bourbon I could get for fifty five dollars.
And then it's like, oh, OK, I can go spend my money on that instead.
 
So I'm going to give it an eight out of ten on value.
 
I know I'm probably breaking my own rules to say that, but that still puts me out, Brad, at a forty out of fifty.
What are you coming out to?
Brad
A forty six point five out of my gosh.
 
Really, dude?
 
Forty six and a half.
Yeah.
 
I mean, nines across the board with a nine and a half and a ten.
 
Well, so you have it.
All right.
 
So that Bob, this is this is one of my favorite whiskies I've ever had on the podcast.
Bob
All right.
 
So all right.
 
So that's putting us out to an eighty six point five out of a hundred or a forty three point two five.
This is an easy, easy recommendation for me.
Brad
Yeah.
 
Very obvious that I love this whiskey.
 
If you haven't gotten into peated scotches but want to try them, go try Talisker 10 year.
It is affordable and delicious.
Bob
Absolutely.
 
All right, man.
 
Let's finish out talking about Guardians, too.
What do you say?
 
Let's get to it.
 
All right.
That was Talisker 10 year, a whiskey that we both really, really liked.
 
I would dare say loved question mark.
 
Yeah, easily.
And now we're getting back into a movie that Brad kind of likes, but that I actually do love.
 
And it's Guardians, too.
 
Brad, I don't know how much more we need to say here.
You know, sometimes when we're both in total agreement on a movie, we delve really deep into the themes.
 
And I feel like sometimes we, you know, if my own ego could take over for a minute, there are some episodes, I think, that are quite poignant of film and whiskey where I listen back and I'm like, wow, that was that was really good.
 
I don't think we're going to get there today because I don't think you like this movie as much as I do.
And the themes do kind of speak for themselves.
 
But I think at the end of the day, the MCU and just kind of blockbusters in general now are so lacking and so bereft of.
 
Like touching relationships that this movie almost overcompensates for that.
I don't know, does that make sense?
 
Like, I appreciate this movie so much for what it does, because it's the only one I can think of that really does it like the only other MCU movie that really gets deep into like emotional catharsis.
 
And, you know, almost like I mean, it's almost like watching people go through therapy watching this movie.
It would be like kind of Black Panther.
 
I think Black Panther does a lot with talking about like, you know, the historical injustices and things like that, that a lot of the other MCU movies don't.
 
Infinity War very obviously gets into like, you know, genocide.
And that's that's a compelling thing in itself.
 
But the characters, there's not enough room in that movie to go really deep on the characters.
 
And they're relying on 20 prior films of context to make those characters deep.
Whereas this one is like, hey, you met these characters in part one, you know, and you love them.
 
We are going to put them through the ringer in this one.
 
And in that way, I think what I love about this movie, Brad, is that it is a quintessential part two in what could be a trilogy like they are making a volume three.
But this really has the feel to me of an Empire Strikes Back of a two towers, not necessarily in as a measure of quality, but in terms of like taking the second chapter and focusing on deepening the characters and getting a little darker and a little more down and dirty with what's going to come of these characters.
 
And I think for that reason, this movie is way more commendable than most MCU sequels are.
Brad
Bob, the thing about it is, I honestly agree with you on every single level.
 
Like, I can't find a single thing to disagree with you there.
 
I think that the battle that they face of their own egos, of their own pride and the way other characters help them grow beyond that to see the need of the group over the need of the individual.
It's amazing.
 
It's really well done.
 
I'm proud of the MCU machine for churning out a movie like this.
I just still think that there's enough of the MCU trademarks.
 
There's enough of the ridiculousness that I just don't enjoy anymore.
 
I'm not impressed by it anymore, that it kind of taints this movie for me.
So while I'm with you.
Bob
Let me ask you this though.
 
I'm not saying that your opinion is not valid, but like, is it necessarily fair for the intervening five years worth of MCU stuff that came out after this and the fact that you and I are both really over MCU movies?
 
I'm just fatigued with it.
I don't care anymore.
 
And it's the only thing anyone sees and it's the only thing anyone talks about.
 
And I could not care less.
I couldn't.
 
And honestly though, what it kind of sounds like, Brad, is that that fatigue is coming out in a way that is like, you're reflecting back on this movie as if it's coming out in 2021 after five more years of MCU stuff.
 
Do you know what I'm saying?
Is it totally fair to take your apathy towards the MCU out on this movie?
Brad
Yeah.
 
I mean, I, I see where you're coming from and I understand it, but I think the reason I can say that, no, that's not true is because this is how I felt about the movie when I saw it the first time back in 2000, I don't know, 18 or 19, maybe like, I remember watching it and just thinking like the Marvel universe at this point is just ridiculous.
 
And it's, it's so far over the top that they just indulged themselves for two and a half hours on a movie that frankly just wasn't as funny as they thought it was, wasn't as impactful as they thought it was.
And, you know, watching it the second time through, I think that it actually hit a little bit harder than it did the first time, but that doesn't mean that I I'm suddenly falling in love with it.
 
Honestly, you know, if we're, if we're getting into scores here soon, the first time I saw this movie, I probably would have given it like a five and a half or a six out of 10.
 
So if that helps you this time, I'm going to give it a seven and a half out of 10.
Okay.
 
Good.
Bob
That's fair.
Brad
So for, so for me, I I'm coming up like two to two and a half points.
 
I genuinely have given this movie a shot.
 
I really think that a lot of the themes are really well done.
I just would have been fascinated to see a movie like this as a solo movie on its own, dealing with the issues of fatherlessness, dealing with issues of, you know, how do you reconcile with somebody who has wronged you so deeply and how do you deal with the illusion of fatherhood when it's offered to you, but they're really just gaslighting you and trying to use you for their own means.
 
Like, those are all fascinating themes that I'd love to see explored more outside the MCU.
Bob
Yeah.
 
And I, I hear you on that.
 
And I think that if there's one drawback that that isn't even this movie's fault, it's that it is a necessary chapter in this sort of serialized way that we tell movie, like the story of movies now, which is the MCU.
Like these are just big TV episodes that are designed to be consumed quickly and then forgotten about.
 
And I think this movie deserves to be remembered longer than you would remember other MCU movies because it's getting at something deeper.
 
But the problem is, you know, if you look at like the releases of these movies, I think Marvel was really kind of putting a lot of their characters in, in interesting positions within their own individualized narrative arcs.
And then they were like, all right, now we have to make infinity war and infinity war as a standalone movie is one of the best MCU movies ever.
 
Right.
 
I thought infinity war was better than end game, to be quite honest with you by a lot, but infinity war really just kind of like halted the progress of all of these characters so that Thanos could come in and, you know, fuck shit up.
Right.
 
Well, I was gonna say, I think it halted the progress of about half the characters.
 
So like even in like Thor Ragnarok, that movie ended and I was like, oh man, I can't wait to see the wacky adventures all these people get on.
And then like the very first scene of infinity war is Thanos has discovered their ship and come in and killed everyone.
 
And I'm like, well, that sucks.
 
Like I really wanted to see what happened next.
And so I think guardians suffers a lot because of that, because they really set these characters up in this super vulnerable, familial way.
 
And like, does it make some of the sacrifices of infinity war more impactful than they would have been?
 
Probably.
But I feel like you kind of threw this whole narrative arc to the wolves so that Thanos could come in and be a little more intimidating.
 
Yeah, man, it's all about Thanos.
 
Anyway, I'm sorry.
My final score.
 
I'm going to give this movie a nine out of 10.
 
It's probably somewhere between an eight and a half and a nine for me.
I love that they choose to end this movie the way they do.
 
I love that, you know, killing the villain is not where this movie ends and that there's probably 20 minutes on the back half or on the back end of that with Peter and Yondu and Yondu's funeral and that incredible cat Steven song, like, and then to end this movie in such a, a vulnerable emotional way.
 
I really respect the hell out of it.
When I look at, you know, we were talking about the way that these characters set aside their ego.
 
This is the same story arc that they want Tony Stark to go through.
 
And if you watch the Iron Man movies, every single Iron Man movie is like Tony is cocky and then he learns a lesson.
And then Iron Man two is Tony is cocky.
 
He learns like Iron Man three.
 
It's all the same.
And like, even in end game, it's like Tony learns how to sacrifice and now he's dead.
 
The Tony Stark story never affected me emotionally the way that this movie did.
 
I cried at the end of this movie.
I did not cry at end game when Tony Stark died.
 
I was like, yeah, my guy's contract is up.
 
I know he's about to die in this movie.
It did not catch me by surprise at all.
 
So I think there's a lot of things that this movie should be commended for that we, we kind of bypass it.
Brad
Do you think that Robert Downey Jr. was like, you know what?
 
Let's just get the crappy post Iron Man role out of the way and do Dr. Doolittle like as a, as a palate cleanser, as a refresh, just kind of a refresh.
 
Like, you know what?
I know that whatever role I do next is going to get compared to Tony Stark.
 
So I'm just going to do literally the worst movie ever created.
Bob
I've thought about this kind of thing because like he did Iron Man in probably what?
 
10 movies.
 
When you consider like all the Spider-Man movies he was in and all the Avengers, it was probably like 10 movies.
He didn't do anything but Iron Man for over a decade.
 
He did one movie called the soloist, which didn't do very well.
 
And he did a movie called the judge with Robert Duvall.
So like every once in a while he would do a really small movie that was outside of the MCU.
 
But I wonder with actors like him and, you know, someone like Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean, when you have played a character to death to the point where it's just like a caricature of itself, how do you come out of that as an actor?
 
Like, how do you jump back in the game?
I feel like he could have done something totally off the wall and I still don't know if it would have worked for him.
 
I feel like you definitely have to have a palate cleanser as an actor.
Brad
Yeah.
 
I mean, I think that's a problem with, you know, a lot of TV actors and why they can't make the jump to movies is because they usually become famous because they did a show like friends and then they try to jump into movies and everyone's like, oh no, that's just Rachel.
 
Totally.
Bob
And there's totally theoretical hypothetical thing you're making, you know?
Brad
Oh yeah.
Bob
Totally.
 
Just making it up.
 
Let's just say that this person was on a show called friends and that this person was called Rachel.
Yeah.
 
Just two generic words that I came up with.
 
All right.
So we are coming out to an 8.25 out of 10 on this movie.
 
I think that's a fair score.
 
It just means more to me, I think, than it does to you.
And that's fine.
 
If you like Guardians 2, I would like to hear from you.
 
If you don't like Guardians 2, keep your opinion to yourself, but you can find us on social media on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram at Film Whiskey.
Brad
Or you can head on over to our Discord.
 
We have daily discussions with all of our fans there.
 
We really have a blast.
There's memes to see.
 
There's whiskeys to talk about.
 
It's really a time.
There's a link to our Discord in every single one of our show notes.
Bob
All right.
 
We're actually not going to spin the wheel of fate this week, because if you remember, we were going to do To Catch a Thief for Brad's last movie.
 
We did Spider-Man instead.
So next week we will see you for Alfred Hitchcock's 1955 film To Catch a Thief.
Brad
Wait, the audience doesn't get to listen to me make a clicking noise this week, Bob.
 
Whatever will they do?
 
The clicks will return next week, my friend.
Bob
But until then, I'm Bob Book.
 
I'm Brad Gee.
 
And we'll see you next time.