The 22nd Phoenix Film Festival is here and Whiskey and Popcorn is back at it. Hosts Kaely Monahan and Tuesday Mahrle caught up with the festival's executive director, Jason Carney, to chat this year's highlights, doing multiple festivals so close to one another, and COVID precautions.

You can get tickets and schedule details to PFF 22 at www.phoenixfilmfestival.com.

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Find out more at https://whiskeyandpopcorn.pinecast.co

"We are all running from something" is the tagline line for this Maine-made movie. Downeast takes the noir genre and gives it a 2021 update. Lobsterer Tommy lives in a small fishing town that is under the thumb of a gangster. Emma is the sister of his now deceased friend Mikey. The need for answers and closure drive Emma to return to the town. But secrets lie around every lobster trap, and a dangerous game of cat and mouse begins.

Downeast won Best Ensemble at the Phoenix Film Festival, and it also impressed us as well.

Curious about the drinks we paired with this film? Visit our website whiskeyandpopcorn.org for more details!

It's 2025. Kyoka works as a web director in Tokyo. She's still grieving a breakup that tears at her heart. Lonely she decides to purchase a personal care humanoid, a PCH. He arrives and she names him Kai. Able to simulate 60% of human behavior, Kyoka quickly develops feelings for Kai. 

But things take a creepier twist when she suddenly discovers she's pregnant. Something that should be impossible. 

12 Months of Kai takes the concept of artificial intelligence a step further than most films of the same concept. Beautifully directed with riveting acting, it's no wonder this movie won the 2021 Phoenix Film Festival Best SciFi Feature.

Curious about our drink choices? Visit whiskeyandpopcorn.org for the recipes!

What happens when you call out for one thousand rock musicians to come to your town and play together, all in the hopes of attracting your favorite band? You get an incredible documentary full of joy, spirit, and human greatness. And that's exactly what We Are the Thousand gives us. It's the story about the world's largest rock band and how they got started.

Curious about our drink choices? Visit whiskeyandpopcorn.org for the recipes!

Another fun-filled and Arizona-made film, Planet George follows the hijinks of George, a trustworthy doorman fed up with a rash of low-level crimes in the luxury condo complex where he works and lives. With pleas for help going unanswered, by management, George enlists the help of his goofy childhood friend and the pretty girl next door. The mission: solve the mystery of break-ins and reinvent his lackluster life.

Curious about our drink choices? Visit whiskeyandpopcorn.org for the recipes!

Beans is the director Tracey Deer's debut feature.

Based on true events, twelve-year-old Beans is on the edge: torn between innocent childhood and reckless adolescence; forced to grow up fast and become the tough Mohawk warrior she needs to be during the Oka Crisis, the turbulent Indigenous uprising that tore Quebec and Canada apart for 78 tense days in the summer of 1990.

Curious about our drink choices? Visit whiskeyandpopcorn.org for the recipes!

Kicking off our Phoenix Film Festival experience this year, we started with The Immortal Jellyfish. A truly hilarious film that's so off the wall and charming that it easily ranks as one of our top picks this year.

Denny, an off-the-grid oddball who calls a nurse hot-line for help with his nasty "fire piss" problem. When a dying man washes ashore, Denny and nurse Linda get caught up in the drama and become madcap partners in crime-solving.

Curious about our drink choices? Visit whiskeyandpopcorn.org for the recipes!

Find out more at https://whiskeyandpopcorn.pinecast.co

Mark Wahlberg and Reid Miller star in this tender story of love, loss, and acceptance. Following the story of father Joe Bell, we learn how his son committed suicided after severe bullying led him to taking his own life. Propelled to walk across the country, Joe tries to come to terms with his son's death while learning to accept his own failings as a parent.

This film split us on its merit. Does the story hold up? Is it missing something? Kaely, Tuesday, and returning guest reviewer Jen, dissect this film.

You can see Joe Bell in theaters now.

And if you or someone you know is struggling with thoughts of suicide, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 800-273-8255

They are available 24 hours a day in both English and Spanish.

Find out more at https://whiskeyandpopcorn.pinecast.co

The story of Anthony Bourdain has in many ways been eclipsed by the shocking news of his suicide. But the chef with the rockstar life style was so much more than that one moment. This incredible artist lived to push boundaries and fill the void in his soul with as much as he could, be it for good or bad.

Director Morgan Neville (Won't You Be My Neighbor), pieced together interviews from family, friends, and production team to paint the complex life Tony lived. Choosing to not dwell on Tony's end but still giving it its due, Neville allows the audience to decide for themselves the truth about the brash yet shy, artist and romantic that was Anthony Bourdain.

In this review, we also feature a special guest reviewer who has been a long time fan of Tony's work.

You can see Roadrunner: A Film About Bourdain in theaters now.

And if you or someone you know is struggling with thoughts of suicide, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 800-273-8255

They are available 24 hours a day in both English and Spanish.

Find out more at https://whiskeyandpopcorn.pinecast.co

Kicking off our summer movies is the Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard, starring Ryan Reynolds, Samuel L. Jackson, and Salma Hayek. It was our first film back in theaters (ahhh movie popcorn!). On it's surface this movie is incredibly stupid, but hosts Kaely and Tuesday fell in love with it.

Take a listen to hear why you should see this film!

Find out more at https://whiskeyandpopcorn.pinecast.co