Inside Out (2015) / BenRiach 10-Year "The Original Ten"

Transcript

Brad

In 2015, Pixar Animation Studios and star Amy Poehler gave the world a heartfelt dive into the rapidly shifting emotional world of a child.

Bob

In 2025, we stay in Scotland to try another smoky speyside. The film is Inside Out. The whiskey is Ben Riach, The Original Ten.

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 the 2015 film Inside Out.

Brad, this was a huge palate cleanser for me after last week's incredibly dim, dour, sour movie, Joker. And smack dab in between that and next week's Wolf of Wall Street. So I really enjoyed watching this movie, Brad, because otherwise I feel like my soul would need cleansing badly.

Poor Inside Out.

Brad

This poor movie got stuck in the middle of just a hurricane of debauchery and nihilism.

Bob

I feel like we unfairly put a lot on this movie's shoulders. You know, like, yeah, we're relying on this one to make us feel less icky. And, you know, no, no spoilers yet, folks.

But I think that we can say the movie did a pretty commendable job living up to those expectations, Brad.

Brad

Yeah, absolutely. I remember. See, I'm pretty sure I saw this in theaters when it came out, if not in theaters soon afterwards.

This movie has always been like a representation of the more modern Pixar era and how they just still freaking got it.

Bob

I went to see this movie with my wife and our two best friends from Kentucky, Cy and Sarah. Love you guys. If you're listening, by the way, this was the first time like we ever did a double date thing together when we lived in Kentucky.

We had just met them the fall before, and I openly cried in the movie theater next to these people that we were just becoming friends with. And so, you know, I can make it through that.

Brad

Yeah, I can 100% see you inside just like holding each other, sobbing.

Bob

That's actually not far off from how it went, man. So, yeah, that's my experience with Inside Out. Now, we threw this on our schedule to talk about because I think it is considered kind of a modern Pixar classic.

It's in pretty much everybody's either S tier or A tier when it comes to Pixar films. And I think you're right, Brad. It kind of kicks off what I would call the modern era of Pixar, where they had ended the golden age.

And now you're getting kind of sporadic one off. Hey, this was really good. And then, oh, that didn't work so well.

And this was obviously one of the higher marks in that era. But we put it in here, especially because Brad and I really liked Inside Out two last year, and that was one of the first movies that I was able to take both my kids to and have them enjoy it. And we saw that movie, I think, two times while it was out in theaters, and it made us go back and watch the first one.

And so even today, we went back and watched it again. So I've now seen this first movie probably five or six times, but at least two of them have just been in the last like six months. So I guess what I'm saying, Brad, is I feel much more qualified to speak on this movie than I do with most of the films we talk about here.

Brad

You mean you haven't watched Wolf of Wall Street like four times in preparation to watch it with my kids? Yeah, with your children.

Bob

Sit down, guys. Let's check this one out. What do you think?

Brad

Let's just get the entire extended family. Make sure your father in law's in there watching you watch what happens in Wolf of Wall Street.

Bob

If Wolf of Wall Street's not your family's Thanksgiving movie, you're doing it wrong. What do you? Yeah, what's what's what's wrong with your family?

All right, man, I think let's just go ahead and dive in. Let's start with Brad Explains, and we'll just kick things off talking about Inside Out. So, folks, let's get to our first segment of the day.

Brad Explains. Brad's gonna give us the movie plots with only 60 seconds ticking on the clock. So let's go ahead and do your take with this little segment that we call Brad Explains.

Brad Explains is the part of the show where Brad breaks down the plot of the film that he has just seen often for the first time. Brad, we've established how many times you've seen this movie. I'm I got to be honest, man, I could not be more happy to be talking about this movie today, and I don't think I'm going to give it like a 10 out of 10.

But I guess I just underestimated how much of a funk Joker put me in. Dude, Joker is gross.

Brad

Like, I don't I don't love this word, but it is very useful in specific situations. Joker is icky. Oh, yeah.

Bob

You know? A hundred percent. Yeah, it is.

It is one of the few times that I would like refer to the ick TM. Yes, it's all over that movie.

Brad

Exactly.

Bob

So now we get to talk about Inside Out. Brad, you have one minute to break down the plot of this film. Folks, if you have not seen this 10 year old Pixar movie, I would highly recommend that you spend the next hour and a half watching that, then come back and listen to the rest of the episode.

Bum, bum, bum, bum. 90 minute movie, Bob. 90 minute movie, as God intended.

As God intended. Brad, you have 60 seconds.

Brad

Spoil this movie and go. Inside Out is a film about a young girl named Riley, who is moving from the Midwest, Minnesota, I think, all the way down to San Francisco, California. As she goes about that move, the majority of the film takes place inside her little brain as her emotions are trying to help her navigate this new change.

Joy and sadness get lost back in the recesses of her brain and have to take her core memories back to the command center to make sure that she is able to understand and make good decisions in her new life.

Bob

All right, Brad, let's dive into talking about the movie. And folks, by the way, if this is your first time listening to Film and Whiskey, welcome into the show. We talk about movies.

We talk about whiskey. This season, we are talking about films from the last 20 years. We're asking the question, does this movie deserve to be considered a modern classic?

So with that set up, Brad, I want to talk a little bit about what good Pixar movies do well. And they don't all do this thing, but I think probably the closest analogy between this movie and another Pixar film or franchise is Toy Story, right? It's taking an object or a representation of childhood, of a kid's ability to think and reason, and it's putting that in a sort of fantastical element that helps explain that metaphor.

So with Toy Story, obviously it's the toys. With this movie, it is Riley's emotions that are living inside of her head. And I think what the good Pixar movies do well is they are endlessly inventive.

They sometimes go for the lowest common denominator joke, right? But I think that being able to visually show what the inside of Riley's brain looks like with long-term storage being those kind of nooks and crannies of the brain, but then also having the idea of core memories. That was not a thing before this movie.

The term core memory is popularized by Inside Out and how they each lead to these specific islands of her personality. It's just a really brilliant, effective, efficient way of explaining who a person is that an adult can vibe with and also a young child can understand.

Brad

Absolutely, dude. My kids have a children's storybook called the Jesus Storybook Bible. If you're an evangelical and you have a child, there's a 100% chance that you have this.

I think what that book does so incredibly well is that it boils down the purpose and intent of scripture into the most readable, understandable format possible. You're taking ancient literature that's very convoluted and complex and difficult, and you're making it so that anybody, adult or child, can understand it. I think that's what Inside Out does with the human personality and brain development.

The field of neuroscience is freaking fascinating. Why humans think the way they do, why they feel the way they do, how our feelings and emotions interact with one another. It is absolutely one of the coolest branches of science in the world.

Also, one of the most complex. If you ever want to be super confused, just go YouTube neuroscientist explaining things about the brain. It's crazy what goes on up there.

Inside Out somehow takes all of that and makes it understandable so that any human being, adult, geriatric, pediatric, anywhere in between can understand what is going on in the human brain in a way that actually helps them make sense of their own life even more.

Bob

Yeah. And I think what the really good Pixar movies do is not just toe the line, but find the happy medium between the two poles on the spectrum of, OK, on one end, this movie is about very grown up themes, and we're going to put it in the guise of a children's film. But it's actually not that great of a movie for kids, and it's not that inventive in the way that it tries to communicate those themes.

And so what you end up feeling like is I have been force fed a movie about trauma that's for adults, that it just happens to be animated. And my children didn't seem to enjoy that much. A La Lion King?

No, Lion King manages a little bit, but you get what I'm saying. And then on the other end of the spectrum, I think that there are a lot of movies that try really hard to go too far into the cutesy, inventive realm, and they do a really poor job of like Trojan horsing in the themes a little bit. And even like even though I think Inside Out 2, spoiler alert, I actually like it probably better than Inside Out 1, I also think Inside Out 2 is more guilty of that.

Like some of the jokes in Inside Out 2, there's the idea of like the sarcasm where you actually have to have a character like look directly at the camera and be like, a sarcasm? Really? Like they're breaking the fourth wall.

It gets a little too cute for its own good at parts. And I think that this one manages to walk the fine line between those two things. And it's a super delicate balance.

And I think that's why, at the end of the day, Pixar still is the king of movies like this because everyone's trying to do this like, let's make a movie about trauma now. And a lot of them fall flat.

Brad

Yeah, we all know that human beings have difficult lives and that eventually our children will have difficult lives. It's just kind of a fact. Mm-hmm.

Doesn't mean the kids movies have to be about trauma.

Bob

No.

Brad

You know? Like life's hard enough, man. We can just have kids movies be like fun and deep and interesting and they don't have to be about the most horrible thing in the world.

And I think that's one thing I really love about this movie is like it's about a kid moving across the country and losing her friends and trying to fit in at a new school and like those are all somewhat normal things to happen in a person's life that parents are going to have to help their kids navigate. It feels very relatable.

Bob

Well, and it does such a good job of not getting preachy, too, because there are there are logical, the next logical step in terms of how you would break down this movie if you were analyzing it, but they don't make it explicit. And I really appreciate that. So like at one point, you know, the inciting incident is that within Riley's head, she has these emotions living.

The main one is joy and her chief competitor among the five that are there is sadness. And sadness touches this orb that represents a memory that was a happy memory. She turns it sad by touching it.

A fight ensues. They get sucked out of the mainframe of the brain and they get lost and they have to get back to the control room. So that's like explains that.

Yeah, that's the setup of the movie. Right. But at some point, joy falls down this gigantic canyon into like where they dump the memories that are going to be forgotten.

And the absence of joy and the absence of sadness from the control room leave the other three emotions unable to control to make her feel anything, to make Riley have any sort of emotion. Everything kind of goes gray, fear, anger and disgust. Thank you very much.

And so it's obviously a visual representation that this child has fallen into depression and joy has fallen into a forgotten canyon. And yet there is no point in the movie where somebody looks at the camera and says something like this is what it means to be depressed. She's lost her joy.

Like, it's just it happens. And if you are attuned to what they're doing, you grasp that. But it never talks down to the audience in order to get its point across.

And that's what I love about this movie. You know what else it does that Pixar is just continually great at?

Brad

What's that makes you cry, Bob? Oh, I don't know how. I don't know how Richard kind does it.

But man, oh, man, he nails it in this movie.

Bob

Bing bong, the true MVP. We need to we're pouring one out tonight for our boy. Bing bong.

A hundred percent, dude. What a guy, Brad. Let's I feel like if people haven't seen this movie, then we're just saying nonsense words at this point.

But let's dive a little bit more into the structure of the big, big, big what we liked about it. So cast list. This is a pretty stacked cast of comedians that they got to voice this movie.

Pixar has always gone the celebrity voice route. I think they were kind of the first ones, you know, Disney had dabbled in it with like Robin Williams and Aladdin and Matthew Broderick, James Earl Jones and the Lion King. But you get a megastar like Tom Hanks on board for Toy Story and your brand becomes immediately marked by we are the celebrities voicing characters thing.

And now you can't get an animated movie that just has voice actors. It has to be recognizable celebrity voices. But I feel like Pixar has always done such a good job of finding or I guess matching celebrities voices and personalities to their characters.

And I know that you and I have had gone back and forth on the fact that you're not a huge Parks and Rec guy, but I really do think Parks and Rec. Oh, OK. I thought you had told me that you or maybe you just didn't like Leslie.

Nope. As a character. Ah, that is true.

I was a nope. In spite of that, I think Amy Poehler is inspired casting for this movie. It is like a perfect combination of voice and character.

Brad

Yes, absolutely. Like to be the embodiment of joy, Amy Poehler just nails it in this movie. And I think she nails it in the margins of the film.

Like that's what really makes her stand out are those moments where even the embodiment of joy itself is struggling to find joy. And like the the frustration that you hear in her voice as she is struggling with sadness or fear or anger like she just turns in an absolutely stellar performance.

Bob

Well, so then going down the cast list, I mean, like I said, it's mostly comedians or people who were on sitcoms. And so it's funny because, you know, the next biggest person in the movie is Phyllis Smith playing sadness. And, you know, Phyllis, if you watch The Office.

And so it's an instantly recognizable voice. And I think that this is even like it's even more of a challenge for Pixar to take Leslie from Parks and Rec and Phyllis from The Office and put them in these two characters. And for you to not let your mind wander too far to those sitcoms and also to not think that this is like the easiest casting ever because it seems like it is.

But then they both do such a good job. Phyllis freaking knocks it out of the park, dude.

Brad

Oh, she's incredible. Like if she's not the perfect just just as. Amy Poehler is the perfect embodiment of joy.

Phyllis has that voice that just droops like it just is a very long, slow, sloping voice. Will teeth. Yeah.

Wilty.

Bob

Yeah.

Brad

That just like falls into obvious sadness at every moment. And like so much so many of her lines are so freaking funny because of like the. Dichotomy between what she is saying and how she is saying it.

Bob

Yeah, I honestly she might be my favorite performance in the whole movie. I mean, it's it's really good. And if you don't get sadness, right, the movie doesn't work just based on where the story goes.

You know, the three other emotions are perfect supporting character casting. They are like your, you know, Jerry Orbach as Lumiere in Beauty and the Beast. You need a bigger, larger than life character.

And so getting Bill Hader as fear and Louis Black as anger and Mindy Kaling as disgust. It's like I don't I don't think you could do any better than that. It makes a lot of sense.

Brad

Yeah, the casting all around in this film is not maybe the best part of the movie, but it lays the foundation for absolutely everything that that Pete Docter is trying to do as a director.

Bob

All right, Brad, I mean, I think we could name every person that voices a character in this movie and say they did a good job. But, you know, for the sake of brevity and not getting boring, let's move on a little bit. I'd like to talk about, you know, this is me personally.

I don't think I'm going to give this a 10 out of 10. Do you? No, I don't think so.

And I think we've both also established that we like inside out to a little bit better than this. But we could spend some time in the back half talking about comparing and contrasting what makes that movie work better for us. A few months ago, we did a bonus episode that was just for our Patreon subscribers where we took all the Pixar movies and put them into tier lists.

And I'm fairly certain that Inside Out did not make S tier, but it did make a tier. Am I correct in remembering that? I'm pretty sure you're right.

Yeah. OK, so let's let's break this down a little bit. What is it about this movie that keeps it from being the best of the best Pixar for you?

Is it something like inherently flawed about the movie or is it just like, you know, we're talking about five of the best movies ever made? And this just happens to be a tiny step below that, right?

Brad

I think there are pieces of the movie where the script doesn't feel very tight, where it just feels a little too loosey goosey. It often feels a little too on the nose. And then like this time, as I was watching it, I was like thinking that I was like, ah, like joy is just a little too overbearing or on the nose or however you want to say it.

And then I think I was almost talking myself out of that point because I was like, yeah, it's an 11 year old's emotions. Like, obviously, they're going to be immature. Right.

So I don't know where I'm at with it now because I'm kind of like maybe maybe it makes sense within the story that the characters act in this way.

Bob

And I think, you know, going back to my Toy Story comparison, like Woody in Toy Story one is not the Woody that you're used to at the end of Toy Story three or Toy Story four. It's just he's very overbearing. His character arc is super simplistic in Toy Story one.

And that's kind of how joy is here. I think for me, my biggest issue with the movie is structurally. I thought that the first half hour of this movie was pitch perfect, dude.

And probably the last half hour was like near there. And it's that middle third that really dragged for me. And in fact, like, I don't do this often, but I was like pulling out my phone.

I think it's because I'm familiar with the movie, but it gets very repetitive in that, you know, joy and sadness are trying to find ways to get back to headquarters and they fail repeatedly and joy gets frustrated. And I feel like there's probably four to five different attempts to get back before she's successful in doing that. And they could have cut like a solid two of them out.

And this movie would have worked a hell of a lot better for me.

Brad

Yeah, I'm with you a hundred percent. The oh, we're going to try this island to get back. Oh, shucks.

It fell apart. Let's go to the next one. Like with a little bit of hijinks in between.

Yeah, it just felt like they were kind of looping the formula to pad the running time a little bit till they finally got to the landing point. Which is wild to say for a 90 minute movie.

Bob

No, but it definitely dragged for me. And I think it also had the sequence that I liked the least, which is that like abstract thought, because I really did feel like that was they took what was already kind of a lowest common denominator joke. And then they were like, let's make this like a six minute sequence.

And it just really like it. I got a solid chuckle out of it in the first 30 seconds. And then it just kept going and kept going.

Brad

Oh, I kept going.

Bob

I liked that. Oh, I like the abstract thought.

Brad

That was my least favorite part of the movie. I feel like that only took like two minutes max.

Bob

Well, maybe three. And I think that it was because that was also the most explicit use of like therapy talk or, you know, sure. Neuroscience talk where they like, what's the final stage?

They're like, oh, we're non formative or whatever. It's like, OK, well, this is no longer even a segment that speaks to children. You're just trying to get a chuckle out of parents and also a tiny subsection of the parents watching this movie who even know what you're talking about.

Sure. But, you know, it's still good animation. Like kids are still going to like that scene.

Brad

Brett's like, sure, but I'm one of those people. So it worked. It worked for me.

A, I understand the psychology because I'm like totes smart. And B, I'm also a child and I liked the animation. It made me laugh.

Bob

All right, let's do it, man. Let's talk about crying at this movie because your boy did it at multiple points. Yeah.

Brad

And if you have a child and you happen to like that child watching the opening scene of this movie, it had been a little while since I saw this movie, Bob. I did not remember a lot of the opening parts where you like meet joy for the first time. Oh my gosh, dude.

I'm sitting there thinking about my girls who are like both sick. The whole G house is sick except for me. And so I'm just like, I've been cuddling my children as they're just, you know, feverish.

And I like watching this movie in the midst of all that. I'm like, yeah, my girls do have joy in their heart.

Bob

Oh, dude. Yeah, we're gonna let's commiserate together for a minute, Brad, because it's like same. First of all, the first thing in this movie that that, you know, makes your like dog ears stand up as a potential signal that you're going to cry is the opening piano theme of the movie, which is just a gorgeous theme.

It is. It's it's so humble. Yeah, dude, it's perfect.

It's perfect. But you know that it's going to come back around and it's going to make you cry a hundred times.

Brad

So yeah, all they have to do is play it one octave higher and like at about quarter to halftime and I'm going to it's a wrap.

Bob

Yeah. So yes, the opening sequence where Riley is an infant. A hundred percent.

I'm crying. The time that it like sneaks up on you that you're not really you don't remember on repeat watches is like when she's down in that pit with bing bong and she finally breaks down and like her tears are falling on the orbs of memories and she she has that like parent thing that was just like, do you remember how she used to and her voice is cracking? Oh, do I?

I lost it because my kids are getting to that age now where like, yes, I can still cuddle them in bed, but like my older son has lost. He lost both of his front teeth in the last like month or so. And the ones behind them had already kind of grown in and pushed them out.

So they're fully in and I watch him smile now and I'm like, that is a whole new set of teeth in this kid's mouth. Like he has entered like a completely different epoch of childhood and he's so much teeth are going to be with him forever, forever. It's so weird.

And I've had so many of those moments like joy where I'm like, do you remember how he used to do this? And like it just completely broke me, which immediately jumps into the bing bong sacrificing himself and looking up at her as he fades from existence and saying, take her to the moon for me. I was in shambles, my friend.

Yeah, absolutely.

Brad

There's just this movie was clearly made by people who love their children. You know what I mean? Like they just very clearly have a heart of like, we love our kids.

We want to see them succeed and we feel the pain of nostalgia. Yeah. And we're just going to put all that on you, the viewer.

Bob

Which led me to the last time I cried in the movie, which is the only time which is in the real world, which is Riley finally breaking down in front of her parents because it might be one of my favorite moments of Pixar animation. It is. It is such an incredibly detailed and nuanced facial reaction as she starts to cry that I forgot I was watching a movie featuring goofy looking computer animated humans like it.

Oh, like I know that face when a teenage person doesn't want to cry and can't hold it back anymore. It's just brilliant, dude. Yeah, yeah.

Brad

It's like any picture of you at a dance in high school. You're painfully accurate, Brad. Sorry, we were getting a little too swarmy there, Bob.

Bob

I just had to pull it back from there a little bit. Oh, man, I had something I was going to ask you, and now I've forgotten it because I'm having these horrific flashbacks to my high school self.

Brad

Oh, man, I'm sorry that that that came out of nowhere. I've been I'm feeling too good, I think.

Bob

Well, maybe this is a good time to hit pause. Then let's take let's take a drink and then maybe I'll remember what the hell I was going to ask you, Brad. What do you say?

Let's get to it. All right. So today we are checking out Benriach, the original 10.

This is a 10 year old speyside single malt scotch whiskey. So, Brad, last week we tried Benromach 10. This week we're trying Benriach.

They are, I guess, competitors. I mean, they don't seem to be beefing with each other. But they're not distributed by the same company in the United States.

So they are like fully apart from each other. But they are both known for being the smoky speyside whiskies, which I was not familiar with prior to trying Benromach last week. If I had done even the basest amount of research, I guess I would have found that out.

But I was shocked at how smoky that was as a speyside. So this week, I'm a little bit more prepared to dive into this 10 year Benriach knowing what's coming for me here.

Brad

Yeah, and I feel like after last week, I'm just intrigued by speysides. You know, a few months back, I had a Macallan, kind of one of their specialty whiskies and really, really enjoyed it. The Benromach last week, I was a big fan of.

It also got me the best trilling R that I think I've ever done in my life. So I'm always going to be a fan of that whiskey.

Bob

So as last week's Benromach, this is also a 43% ABV or 86 proof 10 year old single malt speyside scotch whiskey. Brad, let's go ahead and dive in here. I'm drinking this live.

I know that you've already tried it, and I'll give one quick note as I just pulled my nose from the glass here. I get like a ton of like fresh raisin on this, especially if you've ever had the raisins that come from like white grapes, like the lighter colored raisins. It's really, really nice.

It's not the melon that I'm used to, but it's like definitely raisin forward for me.

Brad

Yeah, yeah. The nose for me, there was raisin. It's got the nice honey vibe.

There's a really strong like apple peel. There's a little bit of pear. It's it gets a little bit seedery for me.

I like this nose a decent amount. I'm going to give it a seven and a half.

Bob

Yeah, it's definitely like lemon peel for me. I get that raisin. I get a little bit of like peaches and cream on this as well, but you're definitely right in that apple juice kind of note, which we sometimes get on more inexpensive Irish whiskeys.

This tips towards the Irish whiskey kind of brightness for me in a way that Ben Romack definitely didn't last week, but I like it. So I'm going to give it a 7.5 out of 10. The palette for me just dropped off a little bit.

Brad

The pear really took over. It kind of got into like a little bit of a grapefruit territory for me. There's almonds.

It's a tiny bit oaky that that white grape note is a good one. There is almost a tiny bit of a white chocolate dusting vibe, but overall, it just kind of moved into a place I wasn't a huge fan of on the palette. I dropped down to a 6.5 out of 10.

Bob

So I definitely don't pick up smoke on this. So that was bullshit. Whoever told me that, but I will say, though, that this kind of reminds me of drinking like a blended scotch or an Irish whiskey in that it doesn't want to be super complex.

And I like that about it. But where we would drink like a Cutty Sark and get these same notes on the palette on the back end is where like Cutty makes itself known as like a cheap whiskey. Like you get some more bitter, sour notes.

The way that this gets around it. Go ahead. Sorry.

You only paid like $18 for that. That's really true. The way that this gets around it is that I actually get absolutely no like nothing on the back of my palette.

Like this got to the middle of my tongue and then was like, I'm done giving flavor and then just disappeared. So it's kind of good and bad. It's like all of the simple pleasures of a cheaper scotch without that bitter finish, but also like there's nothing to this whiskey.

I don't know what to do with it. I still like it, though. I'm going to give it a 7 out of 10 and reckon with the lack of a finish here in a minute.

Brad

See, I think that the finish has some stuff going on. It is somewhat faint for me. It dives into like the really delicate floral territory where like you got to be vibing with it.

If you're really going to enjoy the finish, there's some honey, there's some almonds, but it really sits in a in a almost like a lilac floral almost kind of like a scented hand soap kind of territory. I'll give it a 7 out of 10 on the finish. Not my favorite.

Still decent considering, you know, everything going on here.

Bob

Okay, the finish is pretty non-existent for me, not in like an unpleasant way. There's a little bit of like minerality to it. I get that.

I get the floralness you're talking about. I almost get like an earthiness, like a topsoil kind of thing going on. It's fine, but it's just like this is not pretending to be anything more than a very simplistic palette that is pleasant and enjoyable.

I don't think it's the best possible version of that kind of a whiskey, but I do want to commend it for like not going absolutely buck wild with its palette here. I'll give it a six and a half on the finish, and I'm going to go ahead and give it a seven and a half on the balance. This is a good whiskey.

If like if this was your Roger Ebert, you know, one to four star movie review scale, this is like a three star whiskey for me across the board. Enjoyable. I didn't have a bad time with it.

I will forget that I drank this within a week, Brad.

Brad

Yeah, I think I'm at a seven out of ten on balance. It's fine. It's it's a decent whiskey.

The problem is getting into value now. They've priced this basically at the same point as our whiskey from last week. It's about $50 from everything that I can see.

I really just don't think that this is as good as the Ben Romack in any way, like every single thing on the Ben Romack was like a half a point to a point and a half higher. I'm going to give it a six out of ten on value.

Bob

It's so weird because I don't think you compare these two, and I wanted to come in here today framing this as like, let's compare these two, but I literally just drank the last few drops of my Ben Romack sample to compare. And that reminds me of like Laphroaig Light. Like if you made a light beer version of Laphroaig, it's kind of that.

Whereas this reminds me of like an elevated cheap Irish whiskey. And so like they are in very different flavor wheelhouses for me. You can't make one to one comparisons.

That said, I think $50 is a reasonable price for this. I have no qualms with it. If you want a lighter, more delicate drinking experience from your scotch, this is more in the realm of what we've come to expect from Speyside's.

It's no Aberlour, but it's like a seven out of ten for me, Brad. And that's bringing me to a reasonable 35.5 out of 50. Where are you coming to?

I'm just a hair lower than you.

Brad

I'm sitting at a 34 out of 50.

Bob

All right, that's taking us to a 69.5 out of 100 or a 34.75 out of 50. I think that's a really fair place for this because we typically start recommending try this or buy this at 35. I think this is worth like a poor at the bar.

It's probably only going to run you like eight or nine bucks. That's fine.

Brad

Yeah, I would hesitantly say try it at the bar. Wait to pick up a bottle until you know you like it. There's just other good Speyside options out there in this price range.

I would put this kind of on the lower end. The interesting thing for me, though, is that as I was finished drinking this or as I was getting close to finishing it, I just realized I was like, I would still drink this over any bourbon that I gave a 34 out of 50. Like, I would I just I love scotch, Bob.

Yeah, it has taken a hold of my soul.

Bob

Till those tariffs hit, baby. You know, they're coming at some point. All right, man, let's get Scott.

Scotland's going to do something to piss off Trump. Let's get back into talking about inside out, Brad.

Brad

All right, everybody. That was Ben reach 10 year a whiskey that was scotch. So it's good.

Just not quite as good as the Ben Roma, which was very good last week. Bob, you know what else is very, very good?

Bob

My ability to friggin dominate at two facts and a falsehood.

Brad

Well, I was going to say mankind, like God said in scriptures. But, you know, you be a heathen. It's all right.

But more importantly, Brad is going to try to stump you, Bob, to our right.

Bob

And what is wrong, two 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. And I have to figure out which one that is. Now, Bradley, I think last week did I did I fail last week?

Did I fall on my face? Oh, no, no, no, no. You won, my friend.

I'm on a two game win streak here. Let's see if I can keep it going, Brad. Hit me with your two facts and a falsehood.

Brad

Fact number one, the writers originally considered up to 27 emotions, but settled on the five that we see in the film to make it a little less complicated. Joy, sadness, disgust, fear and anger. Some of the primary emotions that were cut included surprise, pride and trust.

Fact number two, the character of Bing Bong was kept a secret during the promotion of the film. And when asked why, director Pete Docter said, I hate when movie trailers give things away. It's like, oh, I guess I don't have to go see it now.

Fact number three, the country of release saw various changes made in the film, one prominent of which being that Riley's dad daydreams about different sports. In Canada and America, it is hockey. In India, it was cricket.

And in most other countries, it is soccer.

Bob

Interesting. Did you watch this movie on Plex, Brad? I did watch this movie on Plex.

I also watched it on Plex and the version of Plex that we are totally legally sharing with each other. Yes. Is clearly the French cut of the movie or maybe the Canadian version that they just released in, like, you know, Quebec or something.

But all of the signs, newspapers, everything was written in French. And yet the dad was still dreaming about hockey. So I'm trying to decide, like, is three the falsehood here?

Because we technically did watch a foreign version of the movie. And hockey was still the dominant sport. You said it yourself, Canadian.

It could be Canadian. It could be French. So I'm keeping an eye on number three.

Number one, I'm actually pretty sure is true. I know this movie underwent some significant revision. It would be hilarious if they just went with all 27 emotions.

And it was like they took all the wrong lessons from Peter Jackson's Hobbit trilogy. Yes. Where you couldn't keep track of balling and dwelling and everybody else.

Brad

So, yeah, I'm going to say one is talking about talk about a book that you think should be made for a film, but it just isn't because there's 14 main characters.

Bob

And then number two, my only hesitation is that that was that was a very inelegant quote from Pete Docter that sounded like how Bragi talks, not how I imagine Pete Docter would talk. You know, I'm quite an elegant man, Bob. My gut tells me that three is the falsehood, but I don't feel super strongly about it.

I'm going to go ahead and lock in three, Brad.

Brad

Bob, you have once again chosen correctly. Yeah. Number three is the falsehood.

Bob

Thank you, illegal rip of the French version of Inside Out. Totally legal rip. Cough, cough.

All right, man, let's get back into talking about the movie here. And I'd like to kind of turn it over to you. You know, you said coming into this right before we pressed record.

I love this movie. And I also love this movie in that. I love what the movie stands for.

I love what it is very successful at accomplishing. It does miss the mark of, like, transcendent greatness for me, but I still think it's a pretty great movie. But I want to hear from you, man.

Like, what haven't we talked about yet that makes Bragi love this movie? I think we've kind of talked about it all, Bob.

Brad

I know that you, like, just lobbed me up a softball there. But at the end of the day, man, this movie makes me cry because it deeply resonates with the human experience. And I think, like, you know, we talked earlier about what is Pixar do great.

I think that has to be at the core of it, right? Like, they make movies that resonate with what it means to be a human. And when you go to see it like like a movie is a is a piece of media, right?

And media literally means, like, in between. And so this this movie stands as a text in between the story we are trying to tell ourselves about the world and our inner being. And it just does such an incredible job of translating and helping us better make sense of what's going on in our own lives.

And like, man, Inside Out just does a great job at all of that. It really takes its time to set up a beautiful narrative, to set up a relatable narrative, and then takes you so deep into what it means to develop healthy, a healthy relationship with our emotions to recognize, hey, it's OK to be sad. It's OK to be joyful.

It's OK if some memories go from being joyful to being sad because they are so far away now. Like, there's just so many important life lessons that this movie teaches us that I'm just really, really thankful that these people put this movie together.

Bob

I think that we've had some really instructive movies the last few weeks, Brad, about I mean, you could you could include Joker in this as the the what not to do version. But I think about past lives and I think about everything, everywhere, all at once, which works better for you than for me. But it's still the point still holds here that that it is OK to mourn things that are lost in your life, that it's OK to mourn the paths that you didn't take, that it's OK to look back at what is a happy memory.

And now as you reframe it, where your life is now, it becomes kind of a sad memory because you miss the life that you had at that moment. And I kept thinking about past lives as I watched this movie. And I was like, dang, like maybe this should be my let's make it a double, because I do think both of these movies give I don't want to give permission, but they do.

They allow the audience to give themselves permission to examine their own lives and to say that it's OK and it's human to look at the memories of our past through new lenses, through the lens of happiness or sadness or fear or anger, and that each of those emotions are equally beneficial, equally necessary in building up who we are, who we have been and who we want to be. I just like I really appreciated that we've been talking about some of these films that are not just life affirming, but that actively give their audience permission to go there with their own lives.

Brad

Yeah, it gives us permission to reflect on our stories and until we begin to make sense of the stories as they've been written thus far of our own lives and our stories are not just written by ourselves. It's written by our family, our parents, our loved ones, our high school bully, our first girlfriend, right? Our stories are written by this mass cacophony of voices going on in our lives, and when we have the opportunity to reflect on the core memories that make us who we are, it brings us to a place of being better.

It brings us to a place of understanding the world around us better, and it helps us be less egocentric. If we want to throw more psychobabble in there like it helps us be less self focused and self centered. And I don't mean that in a negative sense.

I think everybody starts there and lives there for their entire lives. But when we examine our own stories, the way movies like these encourage us to, it gives us a chance to come to peace with the parts of our story that made us who we are and then look outwards and help other people come to terms with their own stories as well.

Bob

All right, Brad, I think it's time for us to get to our last segment of the day, which we call Let's Make It a Double. We're near the end of the episode, so thanks for listening to the Film and Whiskey Show. Let's pair another film with this one, even if it's a struggle.

It's the final segment of the day. Now let's make it a double. Let's Make It a Double is presented by Blackwood Distilling Company.

It's the part of the show where we pick a movie to pair up with this one to make the perfect double feature. Brad, this should come as no surprise if you listened to the last four minutes of this episode, but I'm going to pair this with past lives. And if you'd like to know why, please repeat the last four minutes of this episode.

Brad, what would be your pairing with Inside Out?

Brad

Yeah, I just watched this recently, and I was reminded of how much I really liked this film. I'm going to pair it up with Big Hero 6.

Bob

Can I confess something to you? I've never seen it, and I don't know why. Like, I keep being presented with that movie as like, everyone tells me that they've seen it and that it's really good.

And I felt like when it first came out, it didn't really make much of a splash. I kind of felt like, oh, I can skip this one. And I'm really kicking myself for it because it seems like people have caught up with it, but not me.

Here's the thing.

Brad

Big Hero 6, it is a origin story superhero movie animated that hits every single story point, every single beat just right. Not perfectly, but just right. Like, it is an incredible eight and a half, nine out of ten, great animated film with a really cool world.

Like, great world building that I don't know how they never made a second one.

Bob

You know what? Like, I know I've already said past lives, but if I could find a movie that I think captures exactly what you're saying, because I actually think that Inside Out is like that level for me, it's like the eight and a half to nine range for me. It reminds me a lot of a movie that just came out this past year called The Wild Robot, which I saw in theaters and really loved.

But like, as I'm walking out of the movie, I'm like, that was so freaking good. It's also not a 10. And it's one of those things where it's like, I want to love this movie so much more than I do.

And it is like one of the best animated movies I've seen in the past couple of years. But I know that it's not like S tier. And I think it's like exactly where I settle on Inside Out.

So maybe it sounds like that's kind of where you settle on Big Hero 6, too. Yeah, 100%. And I know, Brad, that I'm kind of like tipping us into final scores here.

So let me let me close up. Let's make it a double by saying let's make it a double was brought to you by Blackwood Distilling Company. No matter what movie you pair this up with, you can always make it a double with Blackwood.

And if you go to bourbonoutfitter.com slash film whiskey and use our code film whiskey at checkout, you'll save 5% on your bottle of Blackwood. I know, Brad, you just hung out with our friend Zach a couple of weeks ago. You've got some bottles sitting at your house that I have not been able to sample yet.

I am super excited to dive back into these Blackwood bottles, man.

Brad

I have opened the bottle of rye that I got. It is barrel strength. It is toasted.

And it is decadent, like. It is so freaking good. If you can get your hands on a bottle of Blackwood, do it.

I believe at this point they've announced they have a new 105 proof version that costs a lot less than all of their premium offerings. So please go find yourself some Blackwood Distilling Co. It is so good.

I believe we're going to be having a review of these 105 proof bourbon and rye offerings pretty soon.

Bob

So be on the lookout for that. All right, Brad, before we get into final scores, I do want to kind of hash out Inside Out 1 versus Inside Out 2. I don't know if we'll ever get around to reviewing Inside Out 2 on the show, but assuming we don't, let's break it down here a little bit.

I don't want to say that Inside Out 2 has higher highs and lower lows. I actually think it's probably the opposite of that. I do think that the writing in Inside Out 2 is a little more it goes for the lowest common denominator.

It's a little bit more sloppy. It feels like they put their B team on the script. And yet I actually think that they stay more laser focused on the like explaining one specific problem in Riley's life, which is now like she has anxiety.

Puberty. How do? Yeah, well, like puberty manifested through anxiety and her own self worth.

And how do we visually represent that through this like tree that's growing from her beliefs about herself? And it's so funny because I took my then four year old and my then seven year old to see this movie, and it's about a period of their lives that's actually farther away from them where they are now than the first movie is. But they didn't have as many questions about like after the movie, they weren't asking like, what did this mean?

What did this mean? It did a such a better job of visually portraying both anxiety and like your beliefs about yourself to the kids than this first movie did.

Brad

I think it also the reason it succeeds is a it spends more time in the real world following Riley around as a character, making her the main character and be it gives us a bad guy. But like at the end of the day, there's no actual like bad guy in the first inside out. And like there's a reason narratively pretty much every single story ever told has a bad guy has a villain of some sort.

And while anxiety in the end is redeemed, they do a much better job of casting anxiety in the role of villain. And it just makes the story more compelling because joy in the crew have something to fight against.

Bob

Yeah, totally agree. Yeah, I do think like I would see the argument that inside out to in a lot of ways is a quote unquote lesser movie. But I think that for what it's trying to accomplish, it works better than inside out one does for me at least.

Brad

Yeah, no, I'm with you. I like inside out to more. I think it's a little cleaner.

And like I said, I think it's more focused on what it's trying to be. And it allows the audience to connect with Riley a little bit more than it does in this film.

Bob

All right. With all that said, let's get into final scores, man. And I wanted to talk about inside out, too, because I think it helps explain why this doesn't hit that nine and a half, 10 tier for me.

I think I'm going to land at an eight point five on this movie with the caveat that like I recognize what a big deal this movie is in the Pixar canon. But when I start, you know, splitting hairs about which movies are just more inherently flawed than the others when it comes to their top tier, this definitely settles into that second tier, along with a movie like Wall-E for me. So I'm at an eight point five.

Brad, I'd love to hear where you're at with this one. Just a little higher.

Brad

I'm at a nine out of 10. OK, I like I think that inside out is a spectacular movie that offers such a beautiful exploration of what it means to be a human who has feelings. I really, really love this movie.

It's one that I'm going to come back to many, many times in my life. And so, yeah, it's an easy nine out of 10 for me. The real question is, Bob, is this a modern classic?

Bob

I think so. I mean, yeah, if we're talking like animated movies released between 2005 and now, like you've got maybe five Pixar movies that are up there and then how to train your dragon.

Brad

Yeah.

Bob

And then like three or four non-Pixar animated movies that are up there like this. I think I'm pretty comfortably OK with saying this is a modern classic.

Brad

Yeah, 100 percent. This is a modern classic. Anybody who watches it would have to be heartless not to at least come to a point where you're like, man, I really enjoyed that movie.

Bob

All right. So there it is from us. We are coming to an average of an 8.75 on Inside Out. But we'd like to know what you think. You can find us on any of our social media accounts, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok or YouTube at Film Whiskey.

Brad

Or if you want to join the conversation, you can find a link to our Discord server at the end of every single one of our show notes.

Bob

Next week, we dive back into the cesspool once more, Brad, and we do it for you, folks. We take on 2013's debaucherous Martin Scorsese classic The Wolf of Wall Street. So join us for that next week.

But until then, I'm Bob Book. I'm Brad Gee. And we'll see you next time.

Inside Out (2015) / BenRiach 10-Year "The Original Ten"

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