Movie And A Beer

Next up on Movie And A Beer, we have the acclaimed and award winning documentary Genghis BLues about the blind blues musician Paul Pena as he discovers the ancient art of Tuvan throat singing and his journey to the country where it originated. First time film maker Roko Belic allows the scenes and story to unfold in a natural and unscripted way (as documentaries should) and this brings you along on the spiritual and inspirational trip with Paul that is genuine and unique. We learned a lot about the culture and people of Upper Mongolia along with Paul as...

There's a lot to unpack in this latest episode of Movie And A Beer with a review of Sinners and a couple of great sipping beers along the way. This movie is one of the best blends of horror, fantasy, historical drama, and music that we've ever seen. From start to finish, the story of redemption as presented by the director, Ryan Coogler brings you along for a lesson from our past. Michael B. Jordan plays twin brothers Smoke, and Stack as they return to their roots to create a new life for themselves while dealing with the messes...

On this exploration of space and ciders, we enjoyed the 1968 sci-fi classic 2001 A Space Odyssey by Stanley Kubrick. This film is considered one of the most influential sci-fi epics to come out of the 60's and it's influence can be seen in many other films and TV shows. We spend some time with our youth correspondent Otto discussing it's impact and the meaning it was trying to convey to the viewer. There's a lot to unpack and this is a little bit of an extra long episode as we also review some snacks and a number of ciders that...

Here we are with a new installment of Movie And A Beer and this time around it's the 2025  horror/family drama Death of a Unicorn. Follow the pharma-bro's family as they discover a new and exciting drug that can cure all. Staring Paul Rudd, Jenna Ortega, Will Poulter, Téa Leoni, and Richard E. Grant, the cast really does an excellent portrayal of the ultra rich vs. nature and common sense. It's a great film that has lots of great humor sprinkled into the story to help you feel sorry for the unicorns and not so much for us hu...

On this most layered episode of Movie And A Beer, we experienced Inception, the 2010 sci-fi dream inspired film by Christopher Nolan that involved going into others dreams, many layers deep, to plant an idea. We were lucky enough to have our old friend Randal and Otto, our youth correspondent along for the ride. During the discussion we cover differences between dreams and reality, movies and film, and what kind of dreams we have in conjunction to the snacks and some beverages we sampled along the way. 

For the beers we sipped, both went exceptionally well and added l...

On this thought provoking episode of Movie And A Beer, we discuss Mickey 17, the 2025 science fiction black comedy film written, produced, and directed by Bong Joon Ho (Parasite) that was based on the 2022 novel Mickey7 by Edward Ashton. Starring Robert Pattinson as Mickey, a down on his luck guy who escapes his problems by becoming an expendable (clone), he's one of a kind over and over and one of the most important parts of the expedition to colonize the ice world Niflheim. The movie follows the journey and the problems that Mickey helps the fellow explorers overcome. 

T...

On this episode of Movie And A Beer we discuss the recent Wes Anderson movie, Asteroid City. While this movie is about a play, it switches back and forth between the actual play and the production of the play, and the writing of the play and screen testing with poignant dialogue and sparce settings. Primarily character driven with some minor plot points push along the 1950's story about a small town's celebration of science and the inventions of some young scientists. The list of actors in this great movie is long and deep and it shows in their scenes. 

On this jungle exploring episode of Movie And A Beer, we discuss the rather farcical action flick Tropic Thunder. With an excellent cast of actors portraying actors portraying stereotypes we expect from Hollywood, this movie achieves what few only hope too, in that it pulls off making fun of itself without taking itself too seriously. Ben Stiller, Jack Black, and Robert Downey Jr. are the main protagonist(s) whom exemplify the worst parts of being an "A-Lister" effectively while the supporting cast bring it all together. 

Along the way we also sampled three beers which brought different p...

On this most frightful episode of Movie And A Beer, we review the recently released streaming film The Parenting. Directed by Craig Johnson with the screenplay by Kent Sublette, the movie starts out in 1983 providing a backdrop for the spooky vibes and monsters that show up later on in the film. Starring a number of talented actors, the story is a great blend between the horror and comedy genres. The story, while somewhat believable takes you along the path of discovery and forgiveness in a meaningful way. 

The beers we tried and reviewed were also somewhat tasty a...

On this most epic spoof of a space comedy episode of Movie And A Beer, we most lovingly enjoyed Spaceballs, the Mel Brooks film from 1987. This is one of the best spoof movies that is out there, it uses all kinds/types of humor to make fun of and laugh along with the audience references to pop culture, sci-fi movies and TV shows, and just about anything else that was relevant at the time. While the film's humor is centered around that, the story and acting were quite simple and straight forward without a lot of confusion. 

T...

On this cold weather survival and hunting expedition of Movie And A Beer, we discuss the wonderful black and white (sort of) silent film Hundreds of Beavers. This comedy was created using a super low budget, amazing physical action, and lots of talented post-production effects. The film’s writer, director, editor, and main visual effects artist Mike Cheslik has provided the viewer with an experience that should be shared with a wide audience. Storytelling without much dialogue is along forgotten skill that he masters with the characters on the screen. 

We discuss a couple of great beers alo...

As we look back on one of the better stand-alone MCU films on this episode of Movie And A Beer, we celebrate Asgard's destruction with Thor Ragnarok. Directed by Taika Waititi, this film brings in a delicious mix of humor with super-hero non-stop action and great actors supporting a simple, but humble hero's journey to save his people. The character Thor has a long and rough journey to find himself and his true powers while facing new challenges. You don't necessarily have to have watched the other MCU films prior to this one as the story stands alone for...

On this historically accurate episode of Movie And A Beer, we explore the 1992 film A League Of Their Own, which is about the woman's baseball league that was formed during WWII. It's directed by Penny Marshall and includes an amazing cast of actors, it follows a team of women who prove that they have what it takes to play ball in America. We also include some discussion about SheBrew, an annual female-identified brewing competition and celebration that's taking place in March. There are parallels between the empowerment portrayed in this incredible film and with the beer industry. 

H...

We at Movie And A Beer have found ourselves enjoying the 2005 futuristic comedy known as Idiocracy while making a concerted effort to convince each other that this is a reality that could never come about. The film itself is great, the acting and comedy are on point, the realities of big corporate ownership of the government and information that is taken for granted starts to hit a little close to home in the movie for us. We did discuss a bit in our review about society and technology and the 'have vs. have-nots' type of dystopia that's so common...

As we venture into the past with a new episode of Movie And A Beer featuring The Royal Tenenbaums, there's much discussion on Wes Anderson's approach to filmmaking and the way in which this film provides insight into dysfunctional families and self-centered people whom seem stuck due to their own self destructive behaviors. This film is entertaining with an amazing ensemble cast of talented actors, great sound design and music, great design and visual appeal. However, there are some things that are hard to overlook and we dive into this in some detail in our discussion. 

We a...

As we imagine ourselves back in the 80's when creature features and bad puppetry were at their peak, Movie And A Beer discovered a strange secret Xmas film that was made in 2024 that fits the bill in Frankie Freako, Written and directed by Steven Kostanski, it follows Connor, a number crunching square who's been given permission to let lose while his wife is out of town for the weekend. Paying homage to the puppetry horror films of the past, Connor calls a late-night party hotline that promises out-of-this-world fun. Once the mayhem beings, he must battle the pint-sized forces...

On our third and final installment of "What kind of zombie is this?" we at Movie And A Beer enjoyed the 2016 Korean horror film Train To Busan. While the movie does a great job of portraying the tension and horror of a zombie outbreak, it also includes some parallels with the social standings and class attitudes that exist within Korean society. It follows a well-to-do fund manager who's neglected daughter convinces her father to take her to visit her estranged mother who lives in Busan via train. The outbreak provides the father with the opportunity to discover what really...

On this second installment of "what kind of Zombie are they", Movie And A Beer explores Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead, a Japanese buddy horror film that takes place during a zombie apocalypse in Tokyo. It follows Akira Tendo, a worker drone who's existence is only driven by his sadistic boss. Figuring out he no longer has to go to work, Akira discovers he can actually live his life to the fullest. The action and storytelling are well done, there is some manga style adaptation to the film towards the end, so if you're a fan of that...

On this zombie driven episode of Movie And A Beer, we watched Apocalipsis Z: El principio del fin, a 2024 Spanish zombie action film staring Francisco Ortiz as Manel. He's a regular guy (lawyer and engineer) trying to make his way through grief and the zombie apocalypse with his wife's cat, Lúculo who represents all that he's fighting for. This isn't your typical horror film, it wouldn't even get a R rating here in the states. It's extremely well directed, written, acted, and shot and tells a great story without relying on the tropes usually associated with zombie films.

On this late 80's episode of Movie And A Beer we watched Miracle Mile, a film about an unlucky guy who first meets the love of his life at the Labara Tarpits Museum (in LA), plays some jazz music for her at a concert, then oversleeps his date later that night only to discover the world's ending in an hour. What does he do? He of course goes to save the girl just to be caught up in a tangled mess of poor decisions and the world ending. 

While that might sound like a huge mess to w...

We welcome episode 150 of the Movie And A Beer podcast with a delightful thriller movie The Wrath of Becky, which borrows from it's predecessors in the genre with the simple story, excellent acting, and overall appeal to crossover humor, horror, and thriller/revenge films. "You killed my dog..." as a phrase comes to mind. Becky is a distraught teenager trying to find her way through life after a tragic set of events and now is faced with another set of unfortunate circumstances which lead her down a path of revenge and hate. 

While the movie proved that i...

We celebrate a couple of birthdays on Movie And A Beer with Detective K: Secret Of The Living Dead, a wonderful 2018 Korean historical horror drama that provides the audience with a lot of laughs and some great lessons in how to get revenge against those that have wronged you. Examining just how human vampires can be, the story provides some insights into feudal Korea and how injustices often were justified when trying to hold onto power. 

We had a couple of great beers with this film, a West Coast style lager from Funky Fauna (OR), and a C...

This episode of Movie And A Beer brings us a coming of age story based in the 1960's through the lens of kids playing baseball in the film The Sandlot. Newly moved to a new neighborhood, Scottie Smalls (Thomas Guiry) learns how to play baseball while having the summer of his young life. He makes fast friends with his teammates and goes on a number of amazing journeys and faces the Beast to retrieve his fathers signed baseball. 

We were lucky to try a couple of beers that were related to both baseball and things from our c...

On this action packed foreign film episode of Movie And A Beer we watched Kill, a recent movie out of India with 90 minutes of knife wielding mania.  What should be a simple Romeo-and-Juliet style love story between an army commando Amrit and his true love Tulika whom is engaged against her will, they are faced with a gang of knife-wielding thieves led by the ruthless Fani (Raghav Juyal) who terrorize innocent passengers on his train and then the killing begins. 

We sampled a couple of excellent pale ales for this movie, one from Olympia WA by Ilk Be...

Movie And A Beer celebrate Portland Pride with this excellent 2024 campy horror drag film from Tubi titled Slay. Along with our special guest host James, we discuss the in's and out's of drag performances when faced with the challenges of a Texas roadhouse, an unfriendly crowd, and of course vampires. With excellent production quality and writing, this movie provides great entertainment and a positive message to the audience of acceptance of one-self and others. 

We were super lucky to find a couple of local beers from Gigantic Brewing (OR) that featured local drag legends, Darcelle (Blond IPA) a...

On this July 4th nature documentary adjacent installment of Movie And A Beer, we enjoyed the peaceful serenity of the movie Sasquatch Sunset along with our coastal friend Jason whom once again, provides us with some amazing insight and discourse. This somewhat controversial film follows the life of a sasquatch family over the course of a year in the wilds. With potty humor, beautiful cinematography, and a breathtaking soundtrack, this film is definitely worth your while. 

We sought out a couple of beers to sip with this amazing piece of film. First was a Yeti variation from G...

Here we are, another flashback to the 80's episode of Movie And A Beer! This time around it's Weird Science, a John Hughes coming of age film about a couple of high school misfit nerds who use their computer to create/simulate their perfect woman "Lisa". She's played by Kelly LeBrock who turns their world upside down in just a few days. This movie doesn't hold up well but it is worth watching as it's a time capsule back to 1985 in suburban America. 

We were really fortunate to have both Otto and Randal as guests hosts for t...

On this episode of Movie And A Beer we bring together an interesting set of plot twists and turn with the all up in your face violent revenge film in Boy Kills World. Starring Bill Skarsgård as the mute (deaf and unable to speak) child who was raised to become a killer and take revenge for his families murder, he slowly and sure comes to realize that not all things from his past are as he remembers and that he may be doing the wrong things for the wrong person. 

We enjoyed a couple of beers ba...

On this episode of Movie And A Beer we had a special guest host with us to experience an amazing time traveling artistic masterpiece, La Jetée. Released in 1962 by French director Chris Marker it consists of almost entirely still black and white photos, and tells the stable time loop story of a post-nuclear war experiment in time travel. It is 28 minutes long but holds your attention through calming visuals and narration. The more recent movie and TV show 12 Monkies were both based off of this short film. 

We selected a couple of craft ciders to sip al...

On this war/spy/heist episode of Move And A Beer, we watched The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, a film by Guy Ritchie that stars a bunch of really great actors including Henry Cavill as Gus who leads the group of motley soldiers to take out a secret German submarine restocking base on the coast of Africa. The film is really well done and surprisingly entertaining from start to finish. AND it's also based on true/real events that was recently declassified from the papers of Winston Churchill, so double bonus. 

We were lucky to have a B...

On this throw back to the old days of police car chases and suspense, we watched Bullitt, the classic 1968 cop drama that set the bar for much of the cinema today in regards to car chase scenes. This action film is one of the greats from the 60's, it's up there with any of the Bond films and provides a great platform to discuss film making from that era. 

We enjoyed a couple of phenomenal local beers along with the film. First was a Pilsner from Everybody's Brewing (WA), and the second was a hazy IPA from V...

On this episode of Movie And A Beer we're going deep into the heart of Texas with the documentary Boys State. It follows the program of the American Legion developed from the concept that youth should be offered a better perspective of the practical operation of government; that the individual is an integral part, and commensurately responsible, for the character and success of his government.  So, spend a week with 1000+ 17 year old kids on the UT at Austin campus for a week. We do dig into the concept of the film and our thoughts on how the topic was p...

On this spy-centric episode of Movie And A Beer, we enjoyed Kingsmen: The Secret Service, a 2015 film by Matthew Vaughn staring Taron Egerton as Eggsy, a London street thug that's been given an opportunity to become a part of a secret spy agency in England who's first job is to save the world from a crazy tech-billionaire played by Samuel L. Jackson. 

We had a great time watching this and sipping a British beer from Fullers and an ESB by local brewery Away Days (OR). Both were exceptional and went really well with the movie, we even d...

On this episode of Movie And A Beer we're brought into a fantasy realm of kingdoms, dragons, and sacrifice staring Millie Bobby Brown in Damsel. It really tries to turn the tropes and typical fantasy movie on it's head while still doing the typical things you find in a fantasy story. We found the aspects of this film interesting in how one might interpret who's actually the 'damsel' in it.

Along the way we also had a couple of interesting locally produced beers to sip. A soft IPA from Kings and Daughters Brewing (OR), and a Mexican...

On this episode of Movie And A Beer, we go on a mission from God, one that lands Jake and Elwood behind bars, but only after saving the orphanage. The Blues Brothers is an iconic music comedy film from the early 1980's that lends itself to more of an SNL sketch than full length film, but somehow it pulls off some movie magic and has become a part of our music and comedy culture. 

Along for the ride we had a couple of great beers, a black lager from Moonlight Brewing (CA), and a really wonderful NE st...

On this car chasing Aussie accented episode of Movie And A Beer, we enjoyed Mad Max: Fury Road and a couple of amazing beers along the way. This is more of a soft reboot than a prequel or continuation of the Mad Max franchise. With amazing actors, action, and a compelling story, the movie brings us along for an amazing ride through the post-apocalyptic landscape of the Australian outback. 

We were lucky and picked a couple of great beers based on both can artwork and the relationship to the film. The first was a milk-stout from Left H...

On this episode of Movie And A Beer, we explore the vast emptiness that is winter in North Dakota in the late 1980's in Fargo. Directed by Joel Coen, the story is quite simple and the outcomes were not terribly shocking, but the acting and visuals make this film a must see and classic tale that brought a spotlight to the Minnesotan culture and sensibilities. 

We were lucky to have a couple of beers from Drekker Brewing that's based out of Fargo ND in honor of the films namesake. They are distributed out here on the west c...

On this day Movie And A Beer watched a film that takes place in1993, where a cynical weatherman named Phil relives his life over and over and over in Groundhog Day, and while we enjoyed this comedic film staring Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell, we found that even if he relives his life a 1000 times, he just doesn't seem to get it right. 

There were a couple of beers that we brought along for this journey through time, a British Pale from Away Days Brewing (OR) and the other, an IPA from Breakside Brewing (OR). While one w...

On this hero's journey episode of Movie And A Beer, we discuss a wonderful action/romance movie from the 1990's titled True Romance. Directed by Tony Scott with the screenplay by Quentin Tarantino and Roger Avary, this film boils down to a simple approach: if life you want to live isn't within reach, you do crazy things to make it happen. True Romance stars Christian Slater and Patricia Arquette as our hero's on a quest to find a better life. 

This action packed film calls for a beer(s) that don't distract, but provide some solid flavors t...

On this sci-fi driven episode of Movie And A Beer, we watched a classic from 1997, The Fifth Element, staring Bruce Willis as Korben Dallas, a taxi drive destined to save the universe if he can convince Leeloo (Milla Jovovich) to fall in love. They combine forces with Father Vito Cornelius (Ian Holm) and zany broadcaster Ruby Rhod (Chris Tucker) to defeat Zorg (Gary Oldman) and the evil he follows.

The beers we had with this were a plenty as the five elements, Culmination Black IPA (air), Ninkasi IPA (earth), Great Notion Rice Lager (Water), Coldfire IPA (fire...