Comedies

Mystic Pizza

October 20, 2014October 18, 2014 LizLockeLeave a comment

Recently I was so excited to see that actress Annabeth Gish had joined the cast of TV’s Sons of Anarchy. Where has she been all these years? Aside from a small part in Beautiful Girls, I really hadn’t seen much of her since her star-making role in this week’s film Mystic Pizza (DVD/Download). That appearance got me excited to re-watch one of my favorite movies, which is an absolutely perfect pick for autumn. It makes me long for fall in New England, filled with crisp leaves, cold nights, and chunky sweaters.

Mystic Pizza follows three female friends on the cusp of adulthood as they navigate tricky romances and their future dreams while living in the small town of Mystic, Connecticut. Kat (played by Annabeth Gish) enters into a torrid affair with the married father of the little girl she babysits, Daisy (played by a very young, big-haired Julia Roberts) gets involved with a wealthy playboy, and Jo Jo (played by Lili Taylor) is debating whether or not to marry her long-time boyfriend. They work at a pizza parlor together, and I swear the pizza in this movie looks so good that I always crave it mid-way through. Just do yourself a favor and order one about half an hour before the movie starts. You’ll thank me later. What I love about this film is that these women manage to find themselves and figure out what they want out of love and life, without sacrificing their friendship. That’s the central key to why this movie works so well. Men may come and go, but the friendship among these women is forever.

As for my beverage choice this week, nothing says fall to me like apple cider. I do a little happy dance every time I see it appear in grocery stores next to the bushels of fresh apples. Over the years I’ve paired it with everything under the sun- spiced rum, whiskey, brandy, even an ill-fated night with Bailey’s Irish Cream (I do NOT recommend this if you value your stomach lining), but this week I’ve decided to go girly and make an apple cider sangria. While watching Mystic Pizza, I recommend drinking a Mystic Sparkler.

Mystic Sparkler

2 cups apple cider

½ cup cognac

750ml bottle of cava (or other dry sparkling wine), chilled

2 apples peeled, cored, and thinly sliced

Add the apples to a large pitcher 1/4 filled with ice, reserving ½ cup of the apples for garnishing. Add the cognac, apple cider, and chilled cava. Stir. Add more ice if necessary. Serve in wine glasses and top with more apple slices.

I like to think these ladies would have mixed up a big pitcher of this and sat around dishing about their trysts in abandoned houses. Seriously, haven’t any of their boyfriends heard of electricity? The characters say at the end of the film that they wonder where they’ll all be in ten years, and frankly I wonder that too. Who’s divorced, who has kids, and who still lives in Mystic, CT? I’m just putting it out there to the cinema gods that there NEEDS to be a sequel to this movie. This can’t be the end of it for these ladies. How will we ever know what Leona puts in that pizza?? Cheers!

Comedies

Edward Scissorhands

October 13, 2014October 11, 2014 LizLocke1 Comment

This week, my film selection was inspired by some drinkware accessories my husband crafted. His company Heartless Machine was contracted to make some amazing scissor sculptures for a failed NBC pilot, and part of the collection included scissors that hook onto cocktail glasses. I liked them so much that I convinced him to make a few extras, so I am now the proud owner of some very dangerous barware! What better movie to go along with these sharp scissors than Edward Scissorhands (DVD/Download)?

Released in 1990, Edward Scissorhands was the first collaboration between filmmaker Tim Burton and actor Johnny Depp. The story is about a boy who was invented by an eccentric, loving man, but before he could get his real hands and become a full human, the inventor died. Years later, the boy (by now a young man) is found living alone in the inventor’s castle by a kind Avon lady. She brings him home to her suburban house, where he falls in love with the family’s daughter (played by Winona Ryder). In the suburbs, Edward is at first a beloved novelty, sculpting hedges and creating wacky asymmetrical hairdos for all the ladies, but eventually the neighbors turn on him and he is forced to return to isolation. There are definite influences from old monster movies, as well as a great commentary on suburban life. I love Tim Burton movies for their wild production and costume design, and this movie was no exception. The neighborhood houses, though simple and plain in design, are painted in bright pastel colors to make them look even more fake than the people inside them. Johnny Depp is nearly unrecognizable in this, playing his role a bit like Charlie Chaplin with a learning disorder. I’m willing to overlook the filmmakers’ poor choice of hair color for Winona Ryder because the movie is so good, but seriously, strawberry blonde is definitely not her color.

One of my favorite scenes is when Alan Arkin takes Edward down to the basement for a drink. I can practically smell the mustiness as they descend the rickety wooden staircase, but the dad of this eccentric family has fashioned a pretty great lounge area in the corner. Sure, it’s a little sad that he has to hide it in the basement, but I love the padded freestanding bar with its vintage lights and plentiful liquor bottles. He serves Edward “lemonade”- the brown variety, which knocks him out cold. My cocktail this week is definitely not for the faint of heart, and it’s definitely not actual lemonade, though it does contain lemon juice. When watching Edward Scissorhands, I recommend drinking a chilled glass of “Lemonade”.

“Lemonade”

3 oz Amaretto

1.5 oz Bourbon

1 oz fresh lemon juice

1 tablespoon simple syrup

Lemon Peel for garnish

Fill a cocktail shaker with cracked ice and add the liquid ingredients. Shake vigorously to blend and chill. Add fresh ice cubes to a glass, and strain the mixture into the glass. Rub a lemon peel around the rim of the glass to release the oils, then drop it into the drink to serve.

I know I’m lucky to be married to a metalworker who can turn my barware from ho-hum to seriously cool, and I’m lobbying for him to put some of these scissor accessories up for sale on his website, http://heartlessmachine.com . But until that happens, enjoy your “lemonade” with or without sharp edges and revel in this beautiful story of a misunderstood man. After seeing what Edward can do with hair styling and ice sculpture, I can’t help but think of all the other uses for those scissor hands. Cutting up limes and lemons for cocktail hour perhaps? A girl can dream. Cheers!

Dramas

The Bridges of Madison County

October 6, 2014October 3, 2014 LizLockeLeave a comment

Image Credit Warner Bros Pictures, 1995, Bridges of Madison County

Sorry to do this again to my readers, but I’ve got another tearjerker for you this week (okay maybe not a tearjerker for everyone, but for me, watching this means I’m sitting there, a blubbering mess on the sofa, while my husband rolls his eyes.) The Bridges of Madison County (DVD/Download) is a film that I consider to be one of the most romantic ever made. I’m definitely a sucker for love stories with unhappy endings, and maybe it’s because I like knowing that I’ve already seen the best of what this couple has to offer. I’m not missing out on anything after the movie ends. The romance in The Bridges of Madison County only exists for the two hours I’m watching this film, and that’s okay. The fact that it’s a slow burn of a romance makes it even better.

The Bridges of Madison County is based on the bestselling novel by Robert James Waller. Adapted by screenwriter Richard LaGravanese and directed by Clint Eastwood, the film also stars Eastwood as wandering National Geographic photographer Robert Kincaid, who meets Meryl Streep’s character Francesca Johnson while on assignment photographing covered bridges in Iowa. Francesca is an Italian war bride who came to America in hopes of grand adventures with her husband, but now finds herself shuffling around a country kitchen in middle-of-nowhere Iowa. Her husband and two children leave town for the weekend to attend a farm show, leaving Francesca alone. Alone, that is, until a rusty pick-up driven by Clint Eastwood pulls into her driveway and her life changes forever. Eastwood is absolutely magnetic in his role, and even though he was in his mid-60’s when he made this film, I dare you to find a sexier romantic lead in recent history (I’m certainly stumped). Something about his lithe frame and piercing blue eyes just gets me every time.

My drink this week pays homage to Francesca’s Italian roots. I was lucky enough to be gifted a bottle of Cocchi Americano by some very lovely and generous friends (one of whom is from Iowa!), along with a recipe for a White Negroni. I’d made the mistake of ordering a classic Negroni while on honeymoon in Italy, and I was definitely not a fan (I still wonder if I was served cough syrup). However, I’m a big fan of this version. Boozy and bright with a twist of lemon, this is a great drink to sip while you’re watching Meryl Streep and Clint Eastwood flirt with the idea of running off into the sunset together. When viewing The Bridges of Madison County, I recommend drinking a White Negroni.

White Negroni

2 parts gin

1 part Cocchi Americano

1 part White Vermouth

Lemon twist

Mix liquid ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice. Strain into a chilled coupe glass, and garnish with a generous twist of lemon.

Of course Meryl Streep does a phenomenal job with the Italian accent in this, and while stocky and average in appearance at the beginning, she seems to transform under the gaze of Clint Eastwood into a beautiful, vibrant woman. As she reminisces later on, “I was acting like another woman, yet I was more myself than ever before.” I love this idea, that finding one’s true soulmate can change you into the person you were meant to be. Toward the end of this movie, I’m definitely shouting at the TV when Meryl has her hand on that car door handle, and weeping like a baby at that final scene on the bridge. I would say they don’t make romantic tearjerkers like they used to, but then came The Notebook. That’ll have to wait though, I’m all cried out. Cheers!

Dramas

Rudy

September 29, 2014 LizLocke1 Comment

Since it’s been one whole year of Cinema Sips fabulousness, I’m harkening back to my very first post on A League of Their Own, where I discussed my general disdain for sporting events, and my inexplicable love for sports movies. This year, I’m switching games so I can talk about one of the all-time best football movies, Rudy (DVD/Download). Now that we’re heavy into college football season, it’s definitely appropriate viewing. While I roll my eyes at a Facebook newsfeed littered with tailgate photos and score updates, I plan on watching Rudy with a tasty autumnal cocktail in my hand to usher in fall. Some autumn spice candles may be lit- we’ll have to see.

Rudy is the wonderful inspirational movie about young Rudy Ruettiger, whose main dream in life is to play football for Notre Dame. He’s not the best student, so he can’t get into Notre Dame on academic merit, and he’s pretty small for a football player, so he’d never be recruited. But, he doesn’t give up. Even after being rejected time and time again, he continues to work on his studies at nearby Holy Cross, improving his grades, until eventually he’s accepted. Then he goes to work on becoming a football player. Everybody tells him he’ll never make the team, but he persists day in and day out, until eventually he makes the practice team. From there, he never misses a practice, and always gives a 110% during training, until finally, they let him dress for a game and run out onto the field with all the other top players. Honestly, during the final moments of the film, with Rudy’s family and friends cheering him on in the stands, I’m a weeping mess. This is the Marley & Me of sports movies- you just can’t watch it without tearing up. The game is utterly uninteresting to me. What makes this such a great film is the courageous, tenacious, and unbreakable spirit of Rudy.

My drink this week is inspired by the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame. It features that great Irish export Bailey’s, along with apple and caramel. Perfect for fall, and for when you just can’t drink another pumpkin spice latte. This week, while watching Rudy, I’ll be drinking a Fightin’ Irish Appletini.

Fightin’ Irish Appletini

3 oz Baileys Caramel Irish Cream

1 1/2 oz Smirnoff Green Apple Flavored Vodka

1 teaspoon caramel

1 apple slice

Add Baileys and Vodka into a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake until chilled. Prepare glass by swirling caramel on the bottom and sides. Strain liquids into glass, then garnish with an apple slice.

After thinking about this movie, I got to wondering what Rudy Ruettiger did after the big game at the end. If that was his life’s goal, to play in a Notre Dame football game, wouldn’t it all be downhill from there? A little internet research has informed me that he’s now a motivational speaker, which made me remember that the real Rudy actually did come speak at my elementary school 20 years ago, and I’m sure at the time my only thought was, “Well he looks nothing like Sean Astin.” I’m happy that his life took this particular career path though, if only because I’m seeing now how important it is that kids understand that their dreams are attainable. It’s not going to be easy, and nothing will be handed out on a silver platter, but if you work hard enough, and don’t give up, anything is possible. So hats off to Rudy and this movie for inspiring generations of people, and for goodness sake don’t forget to watch it with a box of Kleenex. Cheers!

Top 5 Lists

Top 5 Movie Bars (public)

September 24, 2014September 24, 2014 LizLocke4 Comments

In honor of Cinema Sips’ one year anniversary, I’m launching a new feature- Top 5 Lists! Inspired by John Cusack’s “Top 5” picks in High Fidelity, these lists are by no means scientific and totally based on personal opinion.

To kick things off, this week I’m highlighting my Top 5 Movie Bars that are open to the public (we’ll get to private home bars in movies another week).

To all my readers who have found me over the last 12 months, thank you so much for following this blog. I’ll keep drinking, watching, and writing if you keep reading!

1) Hollywood Star Lanes bar, The Big Lebowski

White Russians, Sam Elliott, and the Dude. Bar wisdom: “Sometimes you eat the bear, and sometimes the bear, well, he eats you.” Wait, what??

2) The Overlook Hotel Bar, The Shining

OK maybe this one skirts the line at being “public” since it’s pretty much just Jack Nicholson and a creepy bartender, but hey- sometimes a man needs solitude. I’m in love with the weird lighting, tin ceilings, and ghosts of guests past.

3) The Park Hyatt Tokyo Bar, Lost in Translation

It looks like they make a mean vodka tonic. And they have a delightful house band called Sausalito. And Bill Murray hangs out there. Does it get any better?

4) The Double Deuce, Roadhouse

Two words: Patrick. Swayze.

5) The Winchester, Shaun of the Dead

While I’m sure a cocktail would be hard to come by in this beer-centric pub, I give major props for pub snacks and Queen on the jukebox. If a zombie apocalypse were to descend on my city, you’d better believe I’d be headed to a bar. Snacks, alcohol, and Freddie Mercury- what more do you need?

*Honorable mention: Rick’s Café Americain in Casablanca. My personal distaste for African desert climates and Nazis kept it out of the top 5, but those cocktails and piano music are swoon-worthy.

Dramas

Her

September 22, 2014September 14, 2014 LizLockeLeave a comment

Image Credit Annapurna Pictures, 2013, Her

Although I had already seen this week’s film Her (DVD/Download) while it was in movie theaters last year, I decided it was time to check it out again, this time with my significant other and a lovely, bright cocktail. This was by far my favorite film of 2013, calling to mind other personal favorites like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Lost in Translation. It’s an unconventional love story, set against the backdrop of futuristic urban beauty, and moody instrumental music. I was thrilled when this film won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay because the script by Spike Jonze is truly beautiful. It makes me want to give up writing altogether because I fear that I’ll never be able to string words together as perfectly as he does in this film. Nevertheless, I was thrilled to sit back and let this lovely film wash over me once again.

Her is set in the future, however it feels like a just-out-of-reach future. People basically wear what we wear now (though men’s trousers are a bit more high-waisted), and spend their days glued to their smart phones. The architecture is a little more interesting, and most people don’t read books on paper anymore. Additionally, writing has become such a lost art that the main character Theodore (played superbly by Joaquin Phoenix) has a job crafting personal letters on behalf of others. It’s interesting to watch him writing these romantic love letters while his own love life is crumbling, as he’s still reeling from the dissolution of his marriage. Early on in the film, he gets a new computer operating system, but this OS named Samantha can actually talk to him. They begin a relationship, eventually falling in love. It sounds crazy to think that a man could fall in love with his computer, but oddly enough this is one of the most romantic stories I’ve seen on film in recent years. He’s happy with Samantha (voiced perfectly by Scarlett Johansson) and watching their romance progress is just riveting. I’ve often found that most literary love stories are totally ruined in their translation to film, simply because what I see on the screen never really matches up to the picture I’ve created in my mind. By taking away a physical half in this relationship, Spike Jonze has made a romantic film for the dreamers out there. Samantha the OS is anything I want her to be.

When I started raving about this film many months ago, I had another friend dismiss it by saying “ugh, too much orange.” Well, that’s true, there are a lot of warm colors used in the production design. I actually love all the orange though. Perhaps the reason is because I will always associate the color orange with my time spent studying in Valencia, Spain during college. The city was vibrant and alive, with futuristic architecture by Santiago Calatrava, and I found myself gravitating to bold oranges and reds both in my clothing and design choices. Thus my drink this week is inspired by that time in my life, and really does pair nicely with Her. This week, I’m enjoying Agua de Valencia.

Agua de Valencia

1 cup orange juice

2 oz gin

2 oz vodka

½ bottle cava (sparkling wine)

Sugar to taste

In a large pitcher or bottle, combine all ingredients, adding sugar a little at a time until you get it to your desired sweetness. Chill for an hour, then serve in ice-filled glasses.

This is a great drink for a crowd because it can (and should) be made in advance of your party, and it’s refreshing on those hot days where should be autumn, but unfortunately still feels like summer (hello September in Texas). The drink is a beautiful yellow-orange color, and feels right at home with the visual styling of this film. The characters in Her might be a little lost, and a little sad at times, but they still seem hopeful to me. After watching this, I find myself feeling hopeful too, for even if we’re all eventually tethered to our technology, we’ll still find ways to make personal connections. That’s a world that I’ll still want to live in. Only, don’t expect me to wear unflattering trousers. Cheers!

Dramas

Mermaids

September 15, 2014September 14, 2014 LizLocke1 Comment

Over the summer, I received a request from one ardent Cinema Sips reader for more movies starring Cher. This is somewhat of a tall order, considering that the queen diva rarely does film work. I was actually a bit shocked about how few films were on her resume, the count being only 13. That’s impossible, I thought. She’s Cher!!! I suppose it is a testament to her larger-than-life persona that she’s left such an indelible mark as an actress given the limited film work she’s done. Perhaps no movie epitomizes that persona better than this week’s Cinema Sips selection, Mermaids (DVD). This was always a favorite of mine growing up, for many reasons. A mother who serves only appetizers! Jake Ryan from Sixteen Candles! Polka dot dresses! I could go on and on. Plus, Cher plays a woman who definitely likes a cocktail, so what better movie to watch with a drink?

Mermaids is about a single mother named Mrs. Flax (played by Cher) who moves her two daughters to a small town in Massachusetts (played by Winona Ryder and a very young Christina Ricci) in 1963. Mrs. Flax is hip, scandalous, and fun- basically a lady who’s been around the block a few times. Of course her elder daughter Charlotte is a conservative prude who dreams of being a nun, while simultaneously harboring a fierce crush on the town handyman (played by Michael Schoeffling, aka Jake Ryan of Sixteen Candles fame). Charlotte is constantly embarrassed by her mother, as all teenage girls are, before realizing that maybe her mother is pretty great after all. Rounding out the cast is Bob Hoskins as shoe salesman Lou, who is so charming and kind that Cher can’t help but fall for the loveable galoot. Heck, I kind of fall for him, bald head and love handles be-damned. This is definitely a coming-of-age story, but I love that it’s told from a girl’s perspective, a rarity in Hollywood.

My cocktail this week was inspired by Mrs. Flax’s culinary skills. As her daughter puts it, “Fun Finger Foods is her main source book and it’s all the woman cooks…. Entrees are too much of a commitment.” I couldn’t agree more, and frankly I wish I could get away with pizza bagels and soft pretzel bites every night. But, you know, health. However, that doesn’t mean that I can’t turn a drink into a fun finger food. I’m loving the recent Bloody Mary craze going on right now, wherein the more food you can stuff on the top of the glass, the better. Did y’all see the one with the whole roast chicken on it?? Mine isn’t that elaborate, but it does involve small foods on a toothpick. I’m pretty sure Mrs. Flax would approve. When watching Mermaids, I recommend drinking Mother’s Bloody Mary.

Mother’s Bloody Mary

2 oz vodka

4 oz tomato juice

3 dashes Worcestershire sauce

3 dashes Tabasco

Salt and pepper to taste

Random small foods- eg. Celery Stalk, andouille sausage, olives, peppers, lemon wedges, etc.

In a cocktail shaker with ice, combine the vodka, tomato juice, Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco, salt and pepper. Shake vigorously and then strain into an ice-filled glass. Garnish with your small foods on toothpicks- get creative!

The beauty of this drink is that it’s all in the garnish. Whatever you have laying around in your kitchen, if it fits on a toothpick, throw it in! The more the merrier! This is for ladies on the go who don’t have time to prepare a full meal and would rather drink it than eat it, kinda like Mrs. Flax. Was she a bad mother who neglected to serve her children nutritious meals? Perhaps. But did she truly love her daughters and try to do the best she could? Absolutely. I think the same can be said about many mothers out there. I was raised by a single mother who maybe took culinary shortcuts now and again (hello Steak-umm’s!) but she did the best she could and that counts for a lot. This movie makes me appreciate all the mothers out there, who maybe want to fly free and wear sexy clothes and be outrageous, but instead stay home and make peanut butter sandwiches in the shape of a star, and show their kids that they are loved more than anything. Cheers!

Comedies

Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion

September 8, 2014September 14, 2014 LizLocke1 Comment

This week’s Cinema Sips film choice was inspired by a project currently occupying most of my kitchen counter. My better half, artist Christopher Locke, has undertaken a project drawing amazing portraits on Post-It ® sticky notes. He decided to start a Kickstarter campaign to fund the drawing of even more portraits, with the eventual goal of putting them together into a book. Of course, all this talk of sticky notes got me thinking about Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion (DVD/Download). After all, they invented Post-It’s ® (okay actually it was Art Fry of the 3M Corp, but Lisa Kudrow sure does know a surprising amount about the chemical formula for glue). This is one of my all-time favorite movies, so I have to thank my husband for giving me an excuse to watch it with a cocktail. I’ll forgive all the sticky notes crowding the kitchen.

Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion is about two lifelong friends who decide to go to their ten-year high school reunion. Mira Sorvino plays Romy White, and the always-brilliant Lisa Kudrow plays Michele Weinberger. As the reunion approaches, they get nervous that they haven’t achieved anything in the 10 years since they’ve graduated. No husbands, no careers, no kids, and they still live together. So, they make themselves some cute business suits, and set out to Tucson pretending to be business women. Of course, they realize a little too late that they don’t actually have a business, so they claim to have invented Post-It’s ®. I won’t ruin the ending here, but I will say that this film features some hilarious performances by Kudrow and Sorvino, as well as Janeane Garofalo, Alan Cumming, and Justin Theroux (long before he was arm-candy for Kudrow’s former Friends co-star Jennifer Aniston). My favorite scene is the interpretive dance done to Cindy Lauper’s “Time After Time”- Alan Cumming just kills it here. But really, there are so many amazing moments. Who among us doesn’t get really happy when Julia Roberts finally gets to shop in Pretty Woman??

My cocktail this week is inspired by a drink I stumbled upon called a Roaring Twenties. After all, Romy and Michelle may be in their 20’s, but they still have just as much fun as they did in high school. It’s pink, it’s tart, and it’s as enjoyable to drink as it is to watch this movie. When watching Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion, I recommend drinking a Business Woman’s Special.

Business Woman’s Special

1 1/2 oz light rum

1/4 oz Grenadine

1/4 oz Lemon Juice

1 oz Ginger Ale

Lemon twist (for garnish)

Mix rum, grenadine, and lemon juice in a shaker filled with ice. Shake until chilled, and strain into a chilled glass. Top with Ginger Ale. Garnish with lemon twist. Serve with gummy bears, jelly beans, and candy corn if you’re on a diet.

I’ve never actually been to a high school reunion, and thanks to Facebook I don’t think I’ll ever feel the need to attend one. I’ve kept in touch with the few people I thought were interesting and intelligent, and that’s all I need. Sometimes I think that my current lack-of-high-paying-career might seem slightly pathetic to those I graduated with, but I suppose aspiring to be a writer gets me some bonus points for creativity. After all, being a broke writer sounds a heck of a lot more interesting than being a wealthy tax attorney. But give me a few years- maybe I’ll be desperate enough to claim invention of the staple remover. So this week, I suggest you watch Romy and Michele, giggle as you drink your Business Woman’s Special, and then after you’ve had a few, head on over to Kickstarter and check out this awesome project. Because Post-It’s ®. Cheers!

Musicals

Rock ‘n’ Roll High School

September 1, 2014 LizLockeLeave a comment

It’s that time of year again- the kids are going back to school, teachers are saying goodbye to their summer freedom, and the countdown to Thanksgiving break has officially started. What a perfect time to watch a great high school movie. I was reminded of this week’s film Rock ‘n’ Roll High School (DVD) by a Cinema Sips fan, and the only thing I remembered about it from a viewing years earlier was that it had some REALLY bad acting, and some REALLY great music. After watching it again this week, I still stand by that opinion. Truly, it feels like one absurd concert film for The Ramones, much in the same way as Help! was for The Beatles. The plot is ridiculous (though thankfully, we’re spared the terror of seeing Ringo Starr try to remove a gaudy ring), but the music will leave you humming I Wanna Be Sedated long into the night.

The story of Rock ‘n’ Roll High School is relatively simple. Administrators at Vince Lombardi High School are cracking down on students listening to rock ‘n roll music. PJ Soles plays #1 Ramones fan Riff Randall, who enjoys rocking out to punk music in the parking lot of her high school, and looks like she’s pushing 30. She’s on a quest to give The Ramones a song that she’s written for them, and of course in the end, the ugliest rockers in history fight for the musical freedom of the students. There are some forgettable subplots involving Clint Howard as a high school Yenta, but really I want to just fast-forward to any scenes with The Ramones. They’re not actors, they’re barely humans, but I can’t take my eyes off of them. Crazy-talented Joey Ramone lopes across the screen while singing songs like Sheena is a Punk Rocker and Teenage Lobotomy, and I kinda swoon. Is this fine cinema? Please- it’s a Roger Corman production. Is this tons of fun? Absolutely!

When I put this movie on, I tried to think of a drink I might have ordered in the old CBGB, waiting for The Ramones to take the stage. To me, nothing says punk rock like Jack Daniels. I picture Sid Vicious swinging a half-empty bottle around on stage as he screams incomprehensible lyrics into a microphone and sweats more than a jogger in Death Valley. My drink this week may be a little low-brow, but so is this film. When watching Rock ‘n Roll High School, I recommend mixing up a Jack ‘n’ Coke.

Jack ‘n’ Coke

1 oz Jack Daniels whiskey

3 oz Coca-Cola (the more sugar, the better)

Mix the whiskey and Coka-Cola in a glass over ice. That’s it.

This is a pretty simple drink, which will leave you with more time for dancing around the living room (which you WILL want to do when the Ramones start playing). It’s bittersweet to watch this now, knowing that all of the founding members have died- most recently drummer Tommy Ramone (though he had already been replaced by Marky Ramone by the time this film was made in 1979). However, I still enjoy watching them in their heyday, sporting skin-tight jeans, thick bangs, and bored expressions. Because I rarely consume Jack Daniels, I opted to buy a tiny airplane bottle for this drink, which incidentally is the perfect size for one’s backpack, if you are headed back to school and can’t face another pep rally sober. Not that I know from experience….. Cheers!

Action/Adventure/Heist

Romancing the Stone

August 25, 2014April 10, 2024 LizLockeLeave a comment

This week, I’m pleased to respond to a recent movie request from an avid Cinema Sips reader (side note- keep them coming! I love having to make one less decision in my life!). Romancing the Stone (DVD/Download) is a film I had always associated with lazy afternoons watching bad ’80s movies with my mom (Murphy’s Romance) was another gem in her collection. Now that I’ve watched it again as an adult, I must admit- it’s pretty fun! Really, any heroine who travels to the jungles of Colombia with tiny liquor bottles in her purse is a gal after my own heart.

Romancing the Stone tells the story of romance novelist Joan Wilder (played by Kathleen Turner), a buttoned-up cat lady who drinks alone and lives vicariously through the characters she creates. Joan gets into trouble after flying to Colombia to rescue her kidnapped sister, but luckily she meets Jack T. Colton (played by Michael Douglas), the charming rogue who saves her from some bad folks trying to steal her treasure map. Naturally, while running from the Colombian secret police, running from Danny DeVito, searching for treasure, AND trying to get to Cartagena to save the sister, they fall for one another. It’s a story right out of one of Joan Wilder’s romance novels- ludicrous, but wildly entertaining.

My drink this week was inspired by one that Kathleen Turner enjoys quite early in the movie as she meets with her publisher in Manhattan. She drinks a creamy green concoction that initially seems like an odd choice (what ever happened to the three-martini lunch???); however, after seeing the bright emerald “treasure” at the end of the map, I understand this green drink choice a little more. Foreshadowing with a cocktail! Brilliant! While watching Romancing the Stone, I recommend drinking a Grasshopper.

Grasshopper

1 oz green crème de menthe

1 oz white crème de cacao

1 oz half-and-half

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake until chilled, then strain into a coupe glass.

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I had to laugh while watching this movie because of the connection I feel to Joan Wilder. I too am an (aspiring) novelist, and while I don’t exactly sit at my keyboard wearing giant headphones and sobbing, I often get wrapped up in the storytelling. It’s incredibly fun to write characters who do wild things I would never actually do in real life, saying things I would never have the guts to say. I love that Joan finds the adventure that she had previously only imagined, and I also love that her success as a writer gets her out of a jam multiple times. Who knows- maybe my next book will be a hit in the jungles of Colombia too, saving me from death by firing squad. Hey, it could happen. Cheers!

	LizLocke on The Cutting Edge
	Kerry Dunn on The Cutting Edge
	Kerry Dunn on Slap Shot