Forget the Oscars…this is the real main event.

It’s The BaaMies! — our biggest Beer and a Movie episode of the year, where we wrap up everything that mattered in 2025: the best films, the worst disasters, standout performances, and of course… the beer.

And we didn’t come light.

For the first time ever, dream guest and Patron Saint of Beer for BaaM Daniel Benavidez brings his magic bag of beer — loaded with four incredible brews (and yeah… things may or may not get a little whiskey involved).

Dave and Joe break down their Top 5 Movies, Top 3 Beers, and everything in between in an episode that goes bigger, looser, and a little boozier than usual.

This isn’t awards season.

Only six episodes left, so we’re bringing in one of our favorite reinforcements. Kailey Diaz joins the gang for one last hurrah, and we almost go as off the rails as the final new-release movie we’ll ever review: The Bride!, Maggie Gyllenhaal’s strange, ambitious, full-tilt fever dream of a film.

To pair with it, we go back to the movie that helped launch Gyllenhaal into the spotlight—Secretary—a performance that announced her as one of the most fearless and unconventional actors of her generation. 

We also hear from a listener who’s thrilled that David’s Magic Bag of Beer has been leading to longer beer discussions. In response, we reach into the bag twice. First up is Jester King’s Aurelian Lure bottled in 2018, followed by a Bourbon County Brand Stout from 2018. One of these beers has aged beautifully. The other…has not.

With Kailey in the studio, the beers flowing, and Maggie Gyllenhaal’s wild cinematic vision on the table, the conversation swings from thoughtful film talk to complete chaos—exactly the way we like it.

On this week’s Beer and a Movie, we go global — and uncomfortably current.

The Secret Agent and It Was Just an Accident, two Best International Feature Oscar nominees anchor the conversation. Both films wrestle with paranoia, authoritarian creep, and the slow normalization of fear — themes that feel disturbingly timely amid rising global tensions and the recent bombing of Iran. 

Joining us is Ethan Thompson — the original third co-host of BaaM — stepping back into the third chair to walk down memory lane. The rhythm snaps back quickly: old stories, early-show chaos, and the kind of shorthand you only get from building something scrappy together from the ground up.

The beers match the mood.

We start with New Belgium Brewing’s 1554 leaning into the historic zwert tradition, a centuries-old style that uses gruit (a blend of herbs and botanicals) for bittering instead of hops. 

Then David reaches into his Magic Bag of Beer and pulls out a decade-old bottle of Allagash Brewing Company’s Coolship Resurgam. Spontaneously fermented and oak-aged, it arrives tart, funky, and beautifully evolved.

Creeping fascism. Wild fermentation. A reunion years in the making.

It’s Beer and a Movie — and this one lingers long after the glass is empty.

This week, we attempt to find the hidden thread connecting Norwegian heartbreak with Brad Pitt's high-octane racing. Adam Beam returns to tackle two Oscar Best Picture nominees, Sentimental Value and F1. 

On the beer side, we’ve got a Banger Imperial Hazy IPA from Saint Arnold Brewing, juicy enough for a cinematic slow-mo montage, and from David’s magic bag of wonders, the 2025 Goose Island Bourbon County Double Barrel Stout, an imperial stout (17.4% ABV) aged in two sets of freshly emptied Heaven Hill Bottled-in-Bond bourbon barrels. Sip carefully, argue passionately, and maybe—just maybe—you’ll see why Sentimental Value and F1 kinda work together.

Only 9 episodes left, and this one is all corsets, cruelty, and complicated desire.

Emily Suggs — our resident literary adaptation assassin — returns to the mic after publicly side-eyeing the marketing campaign for the new Wuthering Heights. The big question: did director Emerald Fennell deliver a fever-dream romance worthy of the Brontë chaos…or was this all perfume and no poison?

To keep the seduction simmering, we pair it with Dangerous Liaisons, the gold standard of powdered-wig manipulation. If you like your romance weaponized and your flirtation fatal, this double feature is basically a lace glove hiding brass knuckles.

On the beverage front, Emily zigzags expectations with two non-alcoholic canned mocktails from Athletic Brewing Company, proving you can keep your wits sharp even while discussing reckless passion. Meanwhile, David reaches deep into the magic bag and pulls out a 2017-bottled Oude Geuze from 3 Fonteinen — a spontaneously fermented, beautifully aged Belgian bruiser that’s as complex and unpredictable as the characters on screen.

It’s bodice-ripping. It’s sex-charged. It’s literary. It’s petty. It’s Beer and a Movie at its most unhinged and articulate.

Nine episodes left. Don’t miss the scandal.

Only 10 episodes left!

Harold Ramos returns armed with two things we respect deeply: a massive film pick and an even more massive beer. This time, he brings a 19-year-aged Cantillon Lou Pepe — the longest-cellared beer we’ve ever poured on the show. It’s funky, complex, a little intimidating… which turns out to be the perfect pregame for 2025’s Nuremberg.

To pair it, we go even darker.

We discuss Elem Klimov’s Come and See — a film that isn’t just “disturbing,” it’s endure-it-and-process-it disturbing. The kind of movie that doesn’t feel watched so much as survived. Brutal. Unflinching. Historically suffocating in a way that lingers long after the credits roll.

To honor its Russian roots (and brace ourselves emotionally), we crack open a 7-year-aged Lickinghole Creek Craft Brewery Illuminatos Russian Imperial Stout — thick, heavy, and appropriately brooding.

What unfolds is a conversation about World War II on film — but from wildly different cinematic angles. One film examines accountability and aftermath in courtrooms and ideology. The other drags you through the mud, fire, and psychological ruin of war itself. Same historical shadow. Completely different lens.

Big beer. Bigger history. Ten episodes left.

This one weighs something.

With only 11 episodes left, Beer and a Movie is deep in the endgame—and David takes the wheel to program The Kelly Reichardt Episode. This week’s films are 2025’s The Mastermind paired with Wendy and Lucy, and David makes his case—again, and lovingly—for why Reichardt is one of the great American filmmakers. Her quiet precision, her empathy for people on the margins, her ability to wring devastating emotion out of the smallest moments… yeah, Dave’s in his bag on this one.

Joining us is Pam Brouillard, who made her BaaM debut on the now-infamous Talking Women episode. Pam brings three beers from Wisconsin, while David reaches into his Magic Bag of Beer to crack open a 9-year-old Jester King Spon, because apparently endings are for pulling out the good stuff. Emotions run high—people cry—but that’s kind of the point when Reichardt’s involved.

Clearly, we’ve been inspired by the completely bonkers ending of 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple as we wind down the podcast — and this episode follows suit. Things spiral fast, and you really should be listening to what happens after the episodes in After Hours as it all comes to an end: https://www.patreon.com/beerandamoviepodcast

How did it all get so out of control? Blame guest Josh Deleon, director Nia DaCosta, and David’s Magic Sack of Beer. We finally tackle 28 Years Later: Bone Temple alongside DaCosta’s 2025 release Hedda, and like Bone Temple’s Iron Maiden-blasting, upside-down-cross finale, the show is a blast.

The beers choose violence. We crack the brand-new Saint Arnold Brewing Eclipse IPA, then make a historically reckless decision by opening a 12-year cellared Firestone Walker XVIII Anniversary Ale. From there, responsibility exits the building. Notes get poetic. Memories unlock.

By the end, the episode is gloriously off the rails — late-run BaaM chaos earned after hundreds of films and nearly a decade of bad decisions. And somehow, it still isn’t the wild part. That honor belongs to this week’s After Hours.

The end is coming for Beer and a Movie, but we’re not fading out. We’re going full blast — Iron Maiden screaming, vintage beer flowing, daring the credits to roll. 🍺🎬

Well, here’s some big news: Beer and a Movie is ENDING, and we talk all about it at the top of this week’s episode.

But don’t panic just yet — there are 13 episodes left, and we’d love for you to join us as we close up shop as we go out the only way we know how: talking movies, drinking great beer, and probably getting a little unhinged.

This week, Anthony Zoccolillo joins us to dive into Park Chan-wook, tackling his latest awards-buzzy thriller No Other Choice alongside his all-time WTF masterpiece, Oldboy. We talk vengeance, obsession, craftsmanship, and why Park remains one of the most singular filmmakers working today.

On the beer side, we crack open Independence Brewing’s Be/Rad IPA, then follow it up with a true unicorn: a 2017-bottled Bourbon County Brand Barleywine, aged, boozy, and absolutely worth the wait.

The countdown has officially begun. Grab a beer, hit play, and stick with us till the credits roll. 🍺🎬

Two movies. Two comedians. Two very big beers.

This week on Beer and a Movie, Dave and Joe bring on comedian Uncle Sam to dig deep into comedy on film with Bradley Cooper's newest, Is This Thing On?, and Bob Fosse's 1974 Lenny Bruce biopic, Lenny—two very different looks at life onstage, offstage, and the price of being funny. One film captures the awkward grind and personal fallout of chasing laughs, while the other revisits the myth, brilliance, and self-destruction of a Mt. Rushmore comic who changed the rules by breaking all of them. 

On the beer side, things get dangerously boozy. The guys start with Martin House Brewing’s Death by Chocolate Cake (a casual 12% ABV) before escalating to the heavyweight main event: Bourbon County Brand Stout 2025, clocking in at a staggering 14.6% ABV. It’s a lot of beer, a lot of alcohol, and maybe not the best idea—but definitely the right one.

High-proof stouts, iconic comedians, and two comics trying to keep it together long enough to finish the episode. What could possibly go wrong? 🍺🎤