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!

Comedies

The Birdcage

August 18, 2014July 27, 2022 LizLocke1 Comment

As we all know, last week the world lost one of the great comedic icons of cinema, Robin Williams. Some took the loss harder than others, but personally I was saddened to think that I wouldn’t get a chance to see what sort of role he would take on next. As an actor, he always had a way of surprising me. Just when I thought he was the zany, manic comedian whose brain worked just a bit faster than anyone else’s, he would throw a curveball in the form of a great drama like Insomnia and completely change the way I viewed him. When I heard the news last Monday, my neighbor mentioned having just watched him in The Birdcage (DVD/Download). Hearing that, a lightbulb went on over my head. YES! This was the way I would celebrate him, by watching Robin Williams in one of his greatest roles, yucking it up with Nathan Lane, while being equally heartbreaking as a man trying to defend his sexuality. Plus, with the buzzy Miami setting, this movie just screams for a cocktail pairing.

The Birdcage stars Robin Williams and Nathan Lane as two lovers who run a Miami drag nightclub. Nathan Lane is the star of their revue, and Robin Williams is the director. They have also raised Robin William’s son together, and now said son is coming home as an adult with the announcement that he’s engaged. Unfortunately the girl he’s engaged to is the daughter of a staunch republican senator. Soon, the conservative family comes down to Miami to meet the future in-laws, and Williams and Lane have to pretend to be a married couple, with Nathan Lane in drag. The cast in this film is stellar, with Gene Hackman and Dianne Wiest playing the senator and his wife, respectively, and Hank Azaria steals just about every scene he’s in as the flamboyant houseboy “Agador Spartacus”. Williams and Lane are so brilliant together that I find myself wanting them to actually be a married couple in real life. They spar, they bicker, but they love each other deeply. Anybody questioning marriage equality need look no further than these two characters to see why it’s worth the fight.

Fans of the Cinema Sips Facebook page already know what my cocktail pairing is, but I am now sharing the actual recipe. For The Birdcage, I wanted to find a drink that was appropriate for the tropical Miami climate, but also sweet and strong like Robin Williams’ character. Immediately, I thought of the Hemingway Daiquiri I recently enjoyed at a local bar. It was cool and refreshing on a hot day, and not sticky like many bastardized versions of the daiquiri often are. I inwardly cringe when I see a frozen daiquiri on a menu (mainly because I know in that instance I’m probably sitting at a TGI Friday’s, and how on earth did that happen?!). So please, do me a favor, and serve your daiquiri’s shaken, not blended or frozen, the way God and drunk writers intended.

Hemingway Daiquiri

2 oz white rum

¾ oz fresh key lime juice

½ oz fresh grapefruit juice

½ oz maraschino liqueur

Add all liquid ingredients to a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake vigorously, and strain into a chilled coupe glass.

This is called the Hemingway Daiquiri because Ernest Hemingway is rumored to have drunk quite a lot of these in his day, starting at the El Floridita bar in Havana. I think it’s fitting for The Birdcage because I can almost picture Robin Williams mixing one of these up for his enchanting Starina, which she will drink pinky-up of course. I urge you to watch this movie, and try not to be sad that Robin Williams is no longer with us. Instead, think about how lucky we are that great films like this one will live on forever. He will always be funny, he will always be a bit heartbreaking, and he will always make me smile. Cheers!

Dramas

Frida

August 11, 2014July 27, 2022 LizLocke2 Comments

In the dog days of summer, the only question I really want to hear is a bartender asking me, “Salt or no salt?” I admit, this week’s film is mainly just an excuse for me to drink margaritas in pretty Mexican glassware. However, it is still one that I enjoy watching time and again, and not just because I’m married to a charismatic artist whom I might call Panzón when I’ve had too many drinks. Frida (DVD/Download) is genuinely one of my favorite artist bio films, mainly because of the creativity director Julie Taymor brings to the project.

Frida is of course the story of Mexican painter Frida Kahlo, who rose to fame in the 1930’s and gained even greater posthumous recognition during the 1980’s and 1990’s. This film tells the story of her debilitating accident that occurred in her young adulthood, her early paintings, her marriage to artist Diego Rivera, and her activism in later years. Frida is played by actress Salma Hayek, who does a phenomenal job of capturing the artist’s passion and intelligence. Diego Rivera is played by wonderful character actor Alfred Molina, and he’s absolutely fantastic as the fiery politico artist who causes so much happiness and pain in Frida’s life. Several actors make cameos as famous figures, such as Geoffrey Rush as Leo Trotsky and Edward Norton as a young Nelson Rockefeller, but it’s really Hayek and Molina who carry the film. I love watching them fall in love, fight, inspire each other, and champion each other’s work. The best of their marriage is what I feel that I have now with my sculptor/illustrator husband. The worst of it- well, we haven’t gotten to the worst of it and I hope we never do. By worst I mean uni-brow.

You’ve heard me wax poetic above about margaritas in summertime, so I won’t bore you with much more, other than to say that if you’re looking for really great margarita recipes, I urge you to check out Viva Tequila by Lucinda Hutson. This is my margarita bible, and I love trying the different variations she lists while reading about the history of the agave plant and Mexican culture. I can almost picture Frida Kahlo holding up a cobalt blue glass filled with ice and lime juice and tequila while she studies her latest canvas. Or perhaps throwing one in Diego’s face in the middle of a fight. To that end, when watching Frida, I recommend drinking a Caliente Margarita.

Caliente Margarita

2 parts tequila

1 part Cointreau

1 part fresh squeezed key lime juice

Chile salt (here’s a link to a brand I like)

Lime wedge

Combine liquid ingredients in a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake vigorously, allowing the ice to melt and dilute the strength of the alcohol a bit. Rub a wedge of lime around the rim of your glass, then dip it in a saucer-full of chile salt, just so the salt coats the rim of the glass. Pour the contents of the shaker into the glass, and garnish with a lime wedge.

Obviously, the chile salt is what makes this margarita “caliente”, mirroring the fiery passion between Frida and Diego. If you’re not into spicy things, you can use a regular salt rim, or no salt at all, but I’m pretty partial to my chile salt after enjoying it on a few margaritas this summer. This recipe is actually adapted from the one Guero’s Taco Bar uses for their tasty house margarita, my favorite in Austin. The ice is key here because it allows the flavors to mellow out. So be liberal with the cold stuff (it is summer after all) and enjoy your spicy margarita while you watch Frida and Diego make love, make war, and most importantly, make art. Cheers!

Comedies

Sideways

August 4, 2014August 2, 2014 LizLocke2 Comments

This week on Cinema Sips, I’m veering off of cocktails for a moment to talk about wine. I had the good fortune to spend a day visiting wineries around Napa and Yountville, CA last week, and while there, I realized that pretty much all of my knowledge of wine comes from the movie Sideways (DVD/Download). I haven’t decided if that’s a good thing or a bad thing, but at least I wasn’t going in to this experience completely clueless. This film forces me to appreciate and consider the complexity of what I’m drinking. Truly, it’s a love letter to the art of winemaking and oenophiles. That said, I made sure to watch this movie again before leaving on my trip, so that if confronted with a Cab Franc, I’d know that it is not, in fact, a French taxi.

Sideways is about two longtime friends who take off on a pre-wedding trip to California’s wine country. Paul Giamatti plays Miles, a depressed divorcée who is struggling with getting his novel published (sadly, a powerless, defeating process I am all too familiar with). Thomas Haden Church plays Jack, a has-been actor and playboy who is struggling with the idea of being tied down to one woman for the rest of his life. They’re certainly an odd couple, but they play off each other brilliantly. While there, Miles falls for a lovely waitress and fellow lonely heart Maya (played surprisingly well by B-movie actress Virginia Madsen), while Jack lies about his single status and fools around with her friend Stephanie (played by Sandra Oh). The four of them laugh, picnic, tour the vineyards and sip Pinot Noir as the sun sets, creating an idyllic world before it all eventually comes crashing down. The scenery is beautiful, and the script and acting are absolutely top notch. In fact, when I watched this last week, I had to pause a scene so I could turn to my husband and remark, “My God, Paul Giamatti is such an incredible actor.” The fact that he failed to even be nominated for an Academy Award for this performance is widely considered to be one of the top snubs in Oscar history.

On my trip, I visited the Clos du Val winery, Ma(i)sonry (where I sampled some excellent rosé from Blackbird Vineyards and viewed hideously expensive art), and finally ended with wonderful sparkling varietals at Domaine Chandon. Below are some photos I took of the lush scenery and (more importantly) the wine!

Picnic grounds of the Clos du Val Vineyard

Clos du Val wine- an excellent Sauvignon Blanc!

Picnic food, Napa style. Mt. Tam cheese from Cowgirl Creamery, fresh blackberries, cherry tomatoes, bread, salami- YUM!

Blanc de Noirs sparkling wine from Domaine Chandon- my favorite of the day!

After a day of wine drinking, I was happy, parched, and still a little buzzed. Did I drink any merlot? I’ll never tell ;-). I urge you to watch this movie with some friends and a few bottles of wine, and really make a night of it. So often with cocktails, I find myself sipping way too quickly, particularly if it’s a sweeter drink, and I fail to really experience the flavors that have gone into the beverage. Wine doesn’t let you get away with that. It’s meant to be tasted, savored, and contemplated. As Virginia Madsen so beautifully says in Sideways, “If I opened a bottle of wine today it would taste different than if I’d opened it on any other day.” Sometimes I think the same thing about films. I react differently each time I watch the same movie, noticing little moments I hadn’t seen before, and maybe relating it to what is presently happening in my own life. When I first saw Sideways, I thought it was a humorous tale of two friends on a journey of self-discovery. Now when I watch it, I relate more to Miles’ struggles with getting published, and wondering if working so hard on something that not many people will ever see is worth it in the end. The conclusion of the film is ambiguous, just like life. I love that so much because it makes me hopeful for Miles, that maybe, like his beloved Pinot Noir, he will eventually be coaxed into greatness. Maybe I will too. Cheers!

Classic Films

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!

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