Movie And A Beer

In this double episode of Movie And A Beer, we discuss a couple of challenging films, Jojo Rabbit and Marriage Story, and the wonderful beers we enjoyed while watching them. First up was Jojo Rabbit, a WWII comedy/satire that follows the ups and downs of a young 10-year-old boy Jojo during the end of the war and how his view of the Jews and the Nazi regime has been wrong all along. Written and directed by Taika Waititi, the film does have some light-hearted moments, but it's not all fun and games for young Jojo.

We enjoyed some German beers (imports) while watching this film, we highly recommend that you find a Kolsch, or Kolsch style beer to enjoy as it's a lighter film and sipping on a refreshing beverage that is lighter matched up closely.

The second film we review is Marriage Story, a film by Noah Baumbach that covers a messy divorce of an actress played by Scarlett Johansson and her director husband played by Adam Driver. This is what we would call a slow trainwreck that you're forced to watch for over two hours. While the beers we tried and enjoyed were worth the time spent, we have some questions and concerns about this film and how hard it is to watch. 

We purchased a few Irish beers to sample (Guinness, Smithwicks, and Harps) and an American Milk Stout from Left Hand Brewing to contrast against those. We discuss each briefly and highly recommend that you find something you'll enjoy while watching regardless of its origin - foreign or domestic. 

In this episode of Movie And A Beer, we discuss the WW1 film 1917 by Sam Mendez. A challenging and visually stunning film based in 1917 that follows a couple of soldiers as they traverse the German front line to deliver an important letter to another British military unit. 

We were able to enjoy this movie at the St. Johns Twin Cinemas here in Portland and enjoyed a couple of small pitchers of Ex Novo's Hoppy Pilsner. We all enjoyed this film but had some reservations about the beer. 

In this episode of Movie And A Beer, we review the film Uncut Gems. This is a great film that follows a jewelry dealer in New York in 2012 as he gambles everything on that 'big win'. 

There are guest appearances by professional (NBA) basketball players and a few well-known Hollywood actors to support an amazing script/story and film. With the film, we enjoyed a locally produced beer, New England/Juicy IPA Orange Whip by Fortside Brewing in Vancouver WA.  

In this episode of Movie And A Beer, we review Parasite, a dark comedy from South Korean (foreign film with subtitles), and briefly discuss the beers we drank at Cinema 21 in Portland OR while watching it.

This is one of the best movies of the past few years that we've seen. Amazing storytelling, amazing acting, plot twists, an examination of the society, and how rich and poor treat each other. 

In this episode of Movie And A Beer, we discuss Zombieland Doubletap, a followup film to the first Zombieland that came out 10 years ago. We watched this film and enjoyed three different beers at the Livingroom Theaters in downtown Portland OR.

We really enjoyed this "zom-bedy" (zombie comedy) as the writing and actors don't take themselves too seriously. They break the fourth wall occasionally and even make fun of the way they portray zombies. Overall a fun film and the beers we picked to go with it were spot on. 

In this episode of Movie And A Beer, we discuss the Joker, a film the three of us watched at Regal Cinemas at the Fox Tower in downtown Portland OR. We also discuss each of the beers we enjoyed while screening the film. 

This comic book movie isn’t as much of a superhero film that is a retelling of a comic book character's origin story. It's a direct homage to the 1970's movies that portrayed society and its faults directly. Director Todd Phillips casts Joaquin Phoenix as a mentally ill professional clown Authur Fleck whose life starts to unravel, leading to the birth of the "Joker".

In this episode of Movie And A Beer, we enjoy Sierra Nevada Brewing's Oktoberfest, a collaboration beer with Bitburger Brewing in Germany. This German-style lager is 6% ABV and is more true to the style than other US brewers make. It is a wonderful full-bodied and mildly sweet beer that was brewed with Bitburger’s custom 'house' yeast and secret hop blend called Siegelhopfen.

As it's the Halloween season, we picked a horror/slasher genre film to watch with this great beer. The Banana Splits came out in 2019 and unfortunately, this movie left us with a sour taste in our mouth. It's about a long-running children's TV show that does live studio tapings and follows a family that attends one of these. Fleegle, Bingo, Drooper and Snorky are the animatronic characters that perform and are programmed by a mad scientist with the premise that 'The show must go on'. With the cancellation of the show by the network, the robots go crazy and start killing off the audience and other performers and crew. 

On this episode of Movie and a Beer, we review Sam Adams ‘76, a new session American Pilsner by the Boston Beer Company. Labeled as 'crushable' or what we refer to as 'sessionable', this lighter (4.7% ABV) lager is a medium-bodied and refreshing take that goes well with most casual beer drinking. 

The movie we paired and watched with this beer was Yesterday, directed by Danny Boyle, starring Himesh Patel as Jack Malik, a struggling musician who finds himself being one of only a few people that remembers/knows the Beatles. The movie follows Jack as he realizes that he can become a world-famous musician using the songs of the Beatles. While this is an interesting 'What-If/Rom-Com' film, it's shallow and relies heavily on the music to help the story along. 

On this episode of Movie And A Beer, we first review the Mirror Pond Pale Ale, one of the long-time favorites of the Portland beer scene.  This Pale Ale has been around for over 30 years and provides a consistent and classic approach to this style of beers in the northwest.

We then discuss the three movies we've watched to pair up with this beer to include: The Raid: Redemption, a great martial arts/cop flick; Blade Runner 2014, the film-noir follow up to one of the greatest sci-fi movies in the past 30 years; and finally Back to the Future 2, which continues the saga of Marty McFly and his time-traveling exploits.  

On this episode of Movie And A Beer we discuss the music-biopic Rocketman, the story of Sir Elton John's early life and career told through his career and life's experiences while enjoying a wonderful Belgian Trappist beer.

Even if you aren't familiar with his music, you'll enjoy this movie as it touches on the challenges that we all face in life as we grow up, become adults, and 'face the music'. It's got some wonderful acting and signing by Taron Egerton who plays Sir Elton John and highlights the challenges musicians face within the music industry during the 1970-1980's.

In this episode of Movie And A Beer, we discuss the movie Pokémon Detective Pikachu and what beer we recommend to enjoy while watching this at the theater or at home.

Even if you're not a fan of the Pokémon game, anime, cartoons, manga, films, or characters, we think you'll enjoy this film with your kids (7+ age) or with friends. It has a great visual appeal with amazing CG environments and Pokémon, the story follows a young adult as he deals with the disappearance of a parent and his feelings towards his current place in life. Ryan Reynolds voices Pikachu and brings a lot of support to the sometimes flat acting and storyline. 

In this episode, we discuss Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and review a couple of beers that you might enjoy while watching. This is a throwback to the classic Hollywood TV and movie industry covering the 50’s-60’s decades.

While the film’s story centers around the career of TV and film actor Rick Dalton, who’s played by Leonardo DiCaprio and his stunt double, chauffeur and friend Cliff Booth, played by Brad Pitt, it is more of a historical drama with a fictional story than not. 

The plot covers Rick Dalton's career as it rises and falls over the course of two decades and includes a bit of Sharon Tate's career and outcomes with the Manson family.  

Discussion of five movies to binge over a weekend and what beer(s) you can enjoy with them. The underlying theme of the movies selected was 'running away from something and personal loss'. While they all have their strengths in story, cinematography, acting, and direction.

Each of these movies can stand alone on their own, but binging them makes it more fun.   

Movies discussed: 

• The Balad of Buster Skrugs (2018) 
  This is a great western anthology of six short stories told by the Coen Brothers. 
  
  
• Taxi Driver (1976) 
  A classic film by Martin Scorsese. Follows a Taxi Driver that is suffering from insomnia,  Travis Bickle, played by Robert De Niro. 
   
• Run Lola Run (1998)
  German film starring Franka Potente as Lola who runs across Berlin to seek the help of her father. It retells the story over and over as she makes slightly different decisions each time. 
  
  
• Zombieland (2009)
  This great 'buddy flick' follows a group of four survivors of a zombie apocalypse. The film teaches you to abide by a list of survival rules and zombie-killing strategies with humor and grace.  
  
  
• Ex Machina (2014)
  Sci-Fi film that has robots that are self-aware at different levels and uses one of the characters to test their humanity. Beautiful visuals and use of technology to tell the story. 

A brief discussion of the Avengers Endgame movie and how the movie fits into the overall MCU.

We then explore what beers some of the main and secondary super hero's of the story might drink and why to include: Iron Man; Captain American; Hulk; Hawkeye; Black Widow; Thor; Dr. Strange; Falcon; Ant-Man; Wasp; Black Panther; War Machine; Spiderman; and Capt. Marvel.