Goodbye, Columbus

July 28, 2014July 27, 2022 LizLocke2 Comments

For many years, I’ve been slightly obsessed with photography and paintings depicting beautiful people in swimming pools (Slim Aarons and his society poolside photos are definite favorites of mine). Thus it was thrilling to discover a film that captured this beauty on celluloid, the classic Goodbye, Columbus (DVD/Download). Based on the novella by Philip Roth, it stars Ali MacGraw as Brenda, who begins dating Richard Benjamin’s character Neil, a lower class librarian from the Bronx. Class differences and parental interference create conflict in their relationship, but nevertheless they spend a glorious summer playing tennis, lounging poolside, and attending parties.

Released in 1969, Goodbye, Columbus was an early film in Ali MacGraw’s frustratingly short career, made even before she did Love Story. It’s sometimes difficult for me to watch her in this, just because she’s SO beautiful. Truly, she has that kind of naturally perfect skin and hair that makes you think she must just wake up looking camera-ready. Her clothes in this film are also stunning. Cute 60’s bikinis, tennis whites, and later, pleated skirts and pea coats after the summer ends- they’re all completely fabulous. The film is a frank look at relationships between college-aged young adults, and in many ways reminds me of The Graduate. Richard Benjamin’s character is searching for something, and he stupidly thinks he’s found it in a smart, beautiful girl whose affections run hot and cold like tap water.

My drink this week was inspired by one of my favorite scenes in the book. It was given short shrift in the film adaptation, but I still think about it every time I see cherries suddenly appear in my grocery store’s produce section. In the novel, Roth describes the sheer opulence of a wealthy family’s refrigerator. Filled with a bounty of delicious fresh fruit, it’s a sight that the main character would never have experienced in his own home. He takes a cherry from a bowl, but is then immediately caught by his girlfriend’s annoying little sister. It’s ridiculous, of course the cherries are there for all to enjoy, but it’s such a foreign concept to him that he becomes embarrassed. Therefore, I’m urging my readers to go crazy this week- buy cherries and actually eat them with abandon! This week, I’m serving up a Cherry Gin Sling.

Cherry Gin Sling

1 oz gin

1/2 oz Cointreau

1/2 oz fresh lime juice

3 oz light cherry soda (I used Simply Balanced Cran-cherry soda)

Fresh, whole sweet cherries

Lime wheels, for garnish

In an empty highball glass, muddle one cherry. Fill the glass with ice. Then, in an ice-filled cocktail shaker, add gin, Cointreau, and lime juice. Shake to chill. Pour into ice filled glasses, then top with cherry soda, to taste. Garnish with cherries and lime wheels.

This is a great summertime drink that can be served up at backyard parties. Cherries are my absolute favorite fruit, and if I had been confronted with a giant bowl of gleaming cherries like this character, I would have dove in head first. Plus, I love using seasonal ingredients in my cocktails whenever I can. So mix up your gin sling, and get ready to enjoy watching Ali MacGraw frolic through summer while poor Richard Benjamin just tries to keep up. Cheers!

Action/Adventure/Heist

The Lego Movie

July 21, 2014July 27, 2022 LizLockeLeave a comment

Newsflash: EVERYTHING IS AWESOME!!!!!! That’s right, I’ve finally watched The Lego Movie, after hearing rave reviews from pretty much everyone I know. And for good reason. It’s awesome!!! I’ll admit, when I heard they were making a movie out of the little toy bricks that didn’t hold much interest for me as a kid (I was more of a Barbie girl), I rolled my eyes. THIS is what someone in Hollywood thought was a good idea? A movie about talking Lego men? Even my husband, devoted Lego fan for life, shook his head in annoyance. We ignored the glowing reviews when the film was in theaters, thinking surely it’s a fluke and our friends are more immature than we thought. However, I allowed myself to consider the possibility that maybe it was sorta kinda okay and put it on my Netflix queue anyway. The DVD arrived, we watched it, and let me just say- I was so wrong.

I assumed that The Lego Movie (DVD/Download) would be one long cutesy toy movie, catering to 5-year old boys. Not so. It caters to adults as well, through hilarious cultural commentary (honestly, Where are my Pants? sounds about on par with most of the sitcoms on tv these days), and wonderful references to the Legos that older viewers grew up with. When my husband saw that Benny the Lego Spaceman had a broken strap on his helmet, just like the one he had as a child, his face lit up. The filmmakers get it! That attention to detail is certainly what got me hooked, both in the visual style and with the script. This film doesn’t play down to its audience like so many children’s movies do. Adding in a roster of big movie stars (Liam Neeson, Morgan Freeman, Will Ferrell, etc.) lends the film some caché, and I admit I certainly had fun trying to match the voice to an actor I was familiar with.

After deciding that I had to write about this movie on Cinema Sips, I knew I needed to think of a great cocktail to accompany it. Like a Master Builder, I decided to stop looking for instructions and come up with something wildly imaginative. Also, it had to be fun and youthful. A lightbulb went off over my head when I remembered the one Lego item I have actually used in my life- a Lego brick ice cube tray. If you grew up in the 90’s like I did, you may remember the Jell-O Jiggler commercials. As an adult, I’ve combined the fun novelty of a jiggler with the boozy finish of a Jell-O shot. This is a great way to use wacky ice cube trays that have been lingering in your cupboards, and of course Lego makes their own variety, found here. When watching The Lego Movie, I suggest making a tray of Block Shots.

Block Shots

1 packet Jell-O, any flavor

1 cup Vodka

Prepare your molds by spraying non-stick cooking spray in each mold, then wiping off excess with a paper towel. Heat the vodka in a pan on the stovetop, careful to bring it just to simmering, but not boiling (we don’t want to boil off all the alcohol). Once it’s well-heated, mix in the Jell-O and stir well. Once the Jell-O is dissolved, pour it into the molds. Place your molds on a pan in the refrigerator, and refrigerate until firm (at least 3 hours). To remove the bricks from the molds, dip your (CLEAN!) finger in warm water and pop the shapes out, running your finger along the edges to loosen.

*Note, if you’re watching this movie with kids, totally not a problem. Just make a separate batch with water instead of vodka for them, in a different color so you’ll know the difference.

Feel free to experiment with different shapes, and if you don’t feel like investing in bricks or Lego-man molds, regular ice cube trays work fine (though, you run the risk of being called a Duplo-lover). Fair warning, these are VERY strong. As you see from the recipe, there’s no water in them, just vodka and Jell-O. Do you need to get hammered to enjoy this movie as much as your kids? No, probably not, but it makes it a whole lot more fun! This movie has made me realize that I’m a lot more like The Man Upstairs than I would care to admit. I don’t crazy-glue my Legos, but I have museum-waxed my dollhouse into an immovable tableau. Perhaps it’s time to let loose a little bit, in several areas of my life- it can be good to not follow the directions all the time. Cheers!

Classic Films

A Summer Place

July 14, 2014December 8, 2018 LizLocke1 Comment

True confession: I’m a sucker for any movie with Sandra Dee in an A-line dress. I’m also a sucker for melodramatic movies of the 1950’s, the type that would have been playing at a drive-in movie theater. This week’s Cinema Sips pick, A Summer Place (DVD) fulfills both criteria. I must have caught this movie on AMC back in high school (when they actually showed classic films) and from the moment I laid eyes on Sandra Dee and Troy Donahue as two star-crossed teenage lovers, I was hooked. Throw in cardigan sweaters and preppy boat shoes, and well, we may as well just call this a perfect movie.

A Summer Place is about two teens who find themselves together on an exclusive New England resort called Pine Island for the summer. Troy Donahue plays the son of the innkeeper, and Sandra Dee is the daughter of a family that comes to stay. As it turns out, Sandra Dee’s father (played by Richard Egan) used to be involved with Troy Donahue’s mother (played by Dorothy McGuire) when he was the lifeguard there as a teenager, and even though each married other people, they never forgot each other. As you can guess, romance rekindles between the parents as it blossoms among their children. The writers of this film’s script make the ensuing adultery pretty convenient, since she’s married to an alcoholic and he’s married to a racist. OF COURSE they’d have affairs. Admittedly, it’s a soap opera, complete with wonderfully melodramatic music, kooky supporting characters, and hysterical overacting. But the scenes of ocean waves crashing against craggily rocks, afternoon sailing, and a cocktail hour where everyone dresses up make me swoon. It’s what summer should be.

This film was an easy choice for Cinema Sips because it features some great drunk scene-stealing by actor Arthur Kennedy. He tells it like it is, even when “it” happens to be that his wife is sleeping with her former lover again. He’s an alcoholic for sure, but a dignified alcoholic. None of those bar fights or crying meltdowns that movie alcoholics are traditionally known for. So in his honor, I’m mixing up a great standby WASPy summer drink- a Pine Island Gin & Tonic.

Pine Island Gin & Tonic

1.5 oz Bombay Sapphire Gin

3 oz Fever Tree tonic water

Lime wedge

Sprig of Rosemary for garnish

Build ingredients in a tumbler full of ice. Squeeze a bit of the lime juice into the glass, stir, and garnish with rosemary and lime wedge.

I’m adding a sprig of rosemary to this because it mirrors the pine trees surrounding the inn. And it fancies up a drink that, admittedly, is pretty simple. But in summertime, when it’s hot out, this is the drink that I make more often than anything else. It’s easy, delicious, and really hits the spot. Be sure to use the best ingredients though, because when you’ve got a simple drink, it’s abundantly clear when you’ve skimped on quality. I like to fix one of these and imagine I’m sitting at Richard Egan’s Frank Lloyd Wright-designed home bar, as I listen to the ocean waves crashing and watch Troy Donahue stroll down the beach in his short shorts and cardigan sweater. Très jolie, as the French would say. Très, très jolie. Cheers!

Comedies

Wet Hot American Summer

July 8, 2014July 27, 2022 LizLockeLeave a comment

How do I get through summer in Texas? Day b’day, people. One thing that helps is watching a hilarious movie about summer camp, and no I don’t mean The Parent Trap (although I do LOVE Hayley Mills). This week on Cinema Sips, I’m featuring the cult classic Wet Hot American Summer (DVD/Download). Spoofing raunchy 80’s movies like Meatballs and Porky’s, this film is so unabashedly silly that you can’t help but laugh at the bad one-liners, the poor production value, and the plot points that make absolutely no sense. I was lucky enough to see this in a movie theater when it was briefly released in 2001, and I remember wondering why the entire world was not as obsessed with this film as I was. It was the funniest thing I’d seen in years. Well, the world has caught up, and WHAS fever has swept the country, even spawning an upcoming Netflix prequel series. Will all of the original actors make it their beeswax to be in the new series? God I hope so!!

Wet Hot American Summer launched the careers of many of the top comedic actors popular today, including Amy Poehler, Paul Rudd, Bradley Cooper, Elizabeth Banks, Ken Marino, and even Christopher Meloni (who plays the scene-stealing Vietnam vet, Gene). Janeane Garofalo and David Hyde Pierce are amazing as always, and kudos to Molly Shannon for playing weepy divorcee/art teacher Gail von Kleinenstein. Because this was a David Wain film, we’re also seeing a lot of his usual cadre of actors, including Michael Ian Black and the hilarious Michael Showalter, who plays both lovelorn Coop and Borscht Belt comic Alan Shemper. There are so many quoteable lines in this film, but my favorite has to be the Paul Rudd classic, “You taste like a burger. I don’t like you anymore.”

What??!

In an ode to summer camp, I’m making an adult version of Bug Juice. Traditionally made with powder packets (let’s not even think about where Gene claims to keep his packets), I’m eschewing that sugary version for something a little more boozy. Of course if you don’t have the energy for a complex drink, vodka and green Kool-Aid will do the trick, but I think we can do better than that. This week, I’m serving up some Adult Bug Juice

1 oz Blue Curaçao

1 oz Orange Juice

1 oz Pineapple juice

2 oz Lemon lime soda

Pineapple Sherbet

Fill a glass (or mason jar) 3/4 full with chipped ice. Add the first 3 ingredients one at a time over the ice. Top with soda, and then the pineapple sherbet.

When I watch Wet Hot American Summer, I always feel like the actors who were in this film must have had the best time making it. I’ve read accounts that it was ridiculously cold and rainy during the filming of it, which makes me really feel for Elizabeth Banks in that skimpy bikini. No matter what Amy Poehler does with the rest of her career, I’ll always think of her as the controlling drama-nerd counselor, and ditto for Bradley Cooper, who despite various Academy Award nominations, will always be making out with Michael Ian Black in the tool shed of my mind. So mix up a big batch of Bug Juice, get out your “arts & farts & crafts” supplies and D&D dice, and blast some Loverboy because we’re headed back to 1981 like you’ve never seen it before. Cheers!

*Note: This week’s cocktail can easily be made non-alcoholic. Just leave out the Curaçao. Also, my drink looks great perched on one of my new coasters from Monday Morning Crafts!

Comedies

Honeymoon in Vegas

July 1, 2014August 30, 2022 LizLockeLeave a comment

A recent trip to Las Vegas has prompted me to re-watch some of the better movies set in Sin City, including Casino, Oceans Eleven, The Hangover, 21, and my personal favorite (and this week’s Cinema Sips pick), Honeymoon in Vegas (DVD/Download). This film gives a bit of an outdated view of The Strip (prompting my mother and I both to wonder- Is Bally’s even there anymore?) but even without Cirque du Soleil ads and trendy restaurants, it’s still a delightful romp about the dangers of gambling, the dry heat of the desert, and the timeless hilarity of Elvis impersonators.

Honeymoon In Vegas is one of the better films to come out of Nicolas Cage’s weird-n-wild oeuvre, only because in this one, his intense, slightly insane mannerisms really work for the character. He plays private investigator Jack Singer, a man terrified of marriage who nevertheless proposes to his longtime girlfriend Betsy (played by Sarah Jessica Parker). They run off to Vegas to elope, but before they can get to the chapel, he enters a rigged poker game set up by mobster Tommy Korman (played by James Caan). Of course Jack loses, and instead of paying money that he doesn’t have, he agrees to let his girlfriend spend the weekend with the mobster. James Caan takes SJP to Hawaii while Nicolas Cages runs around like a chicken with its head cut off, and hijinks ensue. Some great cameos to look for are Pat Morita (aka Mr. Miyagi) as the Hawaiian taxi driver, as well as little baby Bruno Mars singing his heart out as a child Elvis impersonator. The story is ridiculous, but it always gets me excited for Las Vegas, and hopeful that one day I’ll actually spot an Indian Elvis wearing a turban. It’s like seeing a Yeti.

On the cocktail front, I had the good fortune of attending some great Texas Tiki Week events last week. I always look forward to the last week of June because it means Austin becomes a sea of rum drinks in commemorative tiki glasses. How appropriate then to mix up a classic tiki drink to enjoy while watching Sarah Jessica Parker flaunt her perfect body on the beaches of Hawaii. When watching Honeymoon in Vegas, I recommend drinking a Mai Tai.

Mai Tai

1oz light rum

1oz dark rum

½ oz lime juice

½ oz orange curacao

½ oz orgeat syrup

Maraschino cherry and fresh lime for garnish

Pour all of the ingredients except the dark rum into a shaker filled with ice cubes. Shake well, then strain into an old-fashioned glass (or Tiki mug if you have it) half filled with ice. Top with more chipped ice, then add the dark rum. Garnish with a cherry, lime, and a drink umbrella.

As much as I love Vegas, my favorite parts of this film are definitely the Hawaii scenes. Watching Nicolas Cage shout Kapa’aa into a pay phone just makes my year. And let’s not forget the South Pacific sing-along with Peter Boyle’s island chief. As a child I often wondered how the parakeet brandy they drink was made- crushed feathers? Beaks? To be on the safe side, stick with the Mai Tai, and never forget- if you’re about to jump out of an airplane dressed as Elvis, it’s yellow, then red. Kabluna, and Cheers!

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