Category: Action/Adventure/Heist

Action/Adventure/Heist

Jurassic World

LizLocke1 Comment
Image credit: Jurassic World, 2015

Lately, I’ve been thinking about reboots, and what makes them successful or disappointing. Planet of the Apes has managed to knock it out of the park decade after decade, while the recent Twisters left me yearning for literally any connection to my beloved Twister, beyond the basic existence of tornadoes in the Midwest (they couldn’t even throw in one flying cow or Tori Amos song???). It’s my opinion that Twisters struggles with the one thing this week’s Cinema Sips pick Jurassic World (Disc/Download) does so well: telling a new story on the bones of the old one.

If you know me at all, then you know I’m obsessed with the Jurassic movies. I even flew to Hawaii just to visit some of the filming locations of Jurassic Park and Jurassic World (well… also to drink Mai tai’s), and the giddy excitement I felt at seeing the claw marks in the Indominus Rex paddock was the same excitement I felt as a ten-year-old, watching a man in a port-a-potty get eaten alive by a T-Rex. Jurassic World doesn’t try to re-invent the wheel. It’s still a movie about a theme park where dinosaurs run amok, even with all the new safety precautions. There are a plethora of nods to the original, including the old logo, the old jeeps, the old night-vision goggles, and even the old T-Rex. It doesn’t have the entire original cast, but we get to see one familiar face in the form of BD Wong’s morally ambiguous scientist. Yet among all this old stuff, there’s still new family drama, new romance, and newly trained raptors. Nostalgia is powerful, but even more so when it interacts with the modern world.

One fantastic new addition to the cast is the late, great Jimmy Buffet, who runs screaming out of a Margaritaville when the pterodactyls get loose. Jimmy is of course double-fisting a couple frosty margs, which sounds like a great idea to me. Let’s kick it up a notch with some hatch peppers because this movie has a terrifically creepy title credits scene featuring a tiny dino hatching from its shell. While watching Jurassic World, I recommend drinking a Hatch Margarita.

Hatch Margarita

2 oz Hatch Chile-infused Reposado Tequila

1 oz Lime Juice

1 oz Orange Liqueur

Hatch pepper, lime slice (garnish)

To flavor the tequila, combine a cup of tequila with 1 TBSP chopped hatch chile peppers. Let sit for approximately 3-4 hours, then strain the peppers out. In a shaker with ice, shake together tequila, lime juice, and orange liqueur. Strain into a glass filled with fresh ice, and garnish with a sliver of hatch pepper and lime slice.

When it comes to reboots, I am one hundred percent in favor of winks to the past. It reminds me of what it was like to marvel at these dinosaurs that looked so real, and of how loudly I screamed in a suburban Ohio mall cinema when Laura Dern experienced that raptor jump scare. Jurassic World gives me that same childhood thrill while raising the stakes now that I’m an adult. Life, and movies, still find a way. Cheers!

Action/Adventure/Heist · Classic Films · Comedies

Pulp Fiction

LizLocke3 Comments
Image credit: Pulp Fiction, 1994

This week marks my official return to the Turner Classic Movies festival in Hollywood, and to say I’m beyond excited would be an understatement. Four days of sitting in a movie theater, phone turned off, notifications silenced, while watching classic films = my ideal vacation. Alas, because I’m incapable of turning down a Doris Day screening, I’ll miss the big opening night gala for Pulp Fiction (Disc/Download), a movie I guess we’re calling a classic now, which I guess in turn makes me also a classic.  If I can’t see it at the festival, the next best thing is watching at home with a cocktail.

I remember when Pulp Fiction was first released and everyone lost their minds over the triumphant return of Travolta, a twisting Uma Thurman, and a Royale with cheese. Quentin Tarantino’s script was hailed as a masterpiece, and the indie film scene was suddenly on fire. I still have mixed feelings about the film overall, but I can appreciate it for heralding in a new era of the auteur. Tarantino would go on to make (in my opinion) better films like Inglourious Basterds and Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood, but nevertheless, Pulp Fiction proved that his was a unique voice and we’d all better sit down and listen to whatever story he wanted to tell. This particular story meanders to a lot of places (a diner, drug dens, a cheesy Hollywood restaurant, a pawn shop dungeon, multiple bathrooms, etc.), but it all comes together by the end. That’s what I appreciate most about the movie—not the individual chapters, but how they fit together as a whole.

My favorite scene takes place at Jack Rabbit Slim’s, a restaurant populated by 1950s entertainer impersonators. John Travolta and Uma Thurman drink a milk shake, enter a dance contest, and trade some punchy dialogue over cigarettes and steak . Sure, Uma does cocaine in the bathroom, but it’s all fairly wholesome. While watching Pulp Fiction, I recommend drinking this Martin & Lewis Milk Punch (with a twist!)

Martin & Lewis Milk Punch (with a twist!)

1 oz Half-and-Half

1 oz Bourbon

½ oz Orange Liqueur

½ oz Honey Syrup (1:1 ration honey to water)

1/4 tsp Vanilla Extract

3-4 dashes Orange bitters

Pinch of Pumpkin Pie Spice (garnish)

Orange twist (garnish)

Combine Half-and-Half, Bourbon, Orange Liqueur, honey syrup, vanilla extract, and bitters in a shaker with ice. Shake vigorously until well chilled. Place a large ice sphere or cube in a glass and strain in the drink. Garnish with orange twist and a pinch of pumpkin pie spice.

This drink references a lot of things in the script (the “Five-dollar Shake”, the twist contest, Honey-bunny and Pumpkin), and the sweetness is almost ironic when you hold it up to the film’s major plot points. Maybe that’s why I like the Jack Rabbit Slim’s scene so much—it’s a nice rest stop on the road to depravity. Or, maybe I just like watching John Travolta shake those hips. Cheers!

Action/Adventure/Heist · Classic Films

The Sting

LizLocke2 Comments
Image credit: The Sting, 1973

It’s rare for me to think of a movie as 100% perfect. Most of the time (especially in our current era of 2hr+ movies), I’m considering which scenes needed to be cut, which actor was miscast, and at what point the story started to drag. So when I say that The Sting (Disc/Download) is a 100% perfect movie, know that this is a statement I don’t make lightly. From beginning to end, from the biggest star to the tiniest detail, there is nothing I would change about this classic caper film.

Starring Robert Redford and Paul Newman as con men attempting to fleece Irish gangster Doyle Lonnegan (Robert Shaw), George Roy Hill’s film truly immerses the viewer in Depression-era Chicago. From the title cards, to the music, to the costumes, to the cars, not a single element was overlooked in this production. Add to that a script that’s as clever and slick as an Ocean’s movie, full of twists and turns that never underestimates the intelligence of the audience but still keeps us guessing, and you’ve got a film I can’t look away from. Plus, did I mention the two most attractive men in Hollywood, not just in the 1970s, but maybe, possibly ever, are in the leading roles? Robert Redford was born to play a smart guy in a tux, and Paul Newman was born to play a winking alcoholic, and this is the movie where they both get to shine. Not since Dudley Moore slurred from a limousine have I seen such impeccable drunk acting.

Like the Ocean’s movies, the con job in The Sting is also a revenge job. This time our villain is a vicious Irish mob boss who likes to cheat at cards and doesn’t forgive easily. These guys need to take him for all he’s worth, but never let him know he’s been taken. So sit back and watch the elaborate machinations take shape while you sip on an Irish Stinger.

Irish Stinger

2 oz Bailey’s Irish Cream liqueur

2 oz White Creme de Menthe

Combine Irish Cream with Creme de Menthe in a shaker without ice. Shake until combined, then strain into a glass filled with a large ice cube.

A drink that tastes like an Andes Mint, this is a perfect after-dinner beverage for this undeniably perfect film. But a word of warning: once you see it, you’ll immediately want to watch it again. I could say the same about this drink, too. Truly, a match made in movie-cocktail heaven. Cheers!

Action/Adventure/Heist · Classic Films

Mogambo

LizLocke1 Comment
Image credit: Mogambo, 1953

If you love The Jungle Cruise ride at Disneyland but were disappointed by Disney’s 2021 film adaptation, then put on a classic that gives you all the thrills and animal encounters of a trip through Adventureland. John Ford’s Mogambo (Disc/Download) may be short on puns, but it’s long on danger and melodrama.

Starring Clark Gable as a big game hunter, and Ava Gardner as the cheeky New York socialite who upends his camp and his heart, Mogambo is a stunning Technicolor production shot on location in Africa. It’s wild to me that Ford would subject stars like Gable and Gardner and Grace Kelly to such an intense environment, but the authenticity of the continent shines through. During the course of a safari, Gable finds himself at the center of a love triangle with Gardner and Kelly, who plays the wife of a British anthropologist. Clark may be quite a bit older than both actresses, but he’s still got that twinkle in his eye that makes women of any age susceptible to his charms. Ava Gardner is a breath of fresh air in this movie, and it’s through her eyes that we see the wonder of this amazing place and all its creatures. She acts as the comic relief, to the point where I almost expect her to make a “ginger snaps” joke at the sight of a crocodile. Unfortunately, it’s just me making the lame dad jokes, from my couch.

Speaking of Gardner, I recently had the pleasure of trying the Ava Gardner Goddess Blend coffee from Breakfast at Dominique’s, and I loved it so much that I decided to use it in a cocktail! Strong and complex, this drink is Ava in a nutshell. While watching Mogambo, I recommend drinking an Espresso Martini.

Espresso Martini

2 oz Vodka

1 oz freshly brewed Espresso, cooled

½ oz Kahlua coffee liqueur

½ oz simple syrup

2-3 dashes Fee Foam (optional)

Coffee beans (garnish)

Combine all ingredients except the beans in a shaker with ice, shaking vigorously for a full minute. Strain into a coupe glass, and garnish with coffee beans.

*Note, I tried making this with cold brew, but I couldn’t achieve that signature foam on top. To get it frothy, I instead made it with a freshly brewed shot of espresso and added a few dashes of Fee Foam.

The quality of the coffee you use in this martini has a big impact on the final flavor. One sip of the Ava Gardner Goddess Blend, and I immediately realized I’d never had great coffee until that moment. Now, I’m drinking it every chance I get! Honestly, the caffeine is probably a good thing out on the safari. You never know when you’ll run into a panther, or a trigger-happy Grace Kelly. Cheers!

Action/Adventure/Heist · Comedies

Ocean’s Thirteen

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Image credit: Ocean’s Thirteen, 2007

If you’re in the mood to watch a greedy, orange-tinted thug finally experience some consequences, you could certainly watch the evening news, OR you could watch the delightful finale to Soderbergh’s Ocean’s trilogy, Ocean’s Thirteen (Disc/Download). Campy and colorful with plenty of late-1960s style cues, this movie takes a lot of twists and turns but pulls it together by the end. From this crew, I’d expect nothing less.

After taking Europe by storm, Ocean’s guys head back to Las Vegas for a job that’s less about profit, and more about revenge. King of the Strip—aka King of Big Glasses—Reuben (Elliott Gould) has suffered a heart attack brought on by the evil dealings of rival casino boss Willy Bank (Al Pacino), and the group is on a mission to make sure Willy’s big opening is an epic fail. Utilizing their entire arsenal of tools (scent gags, fake noses, fake mustaches, bed bugs, food poisoning, earthquakes, loaded dice, minor explosions, slot machine-hacking, etc.), Ocean’s team pulls off both an elaborate heist and a giant f-you to Bank. It’s probably no coincidence that the film also features a labor dispute at a Mexican plastics factory because this entire trilogy has always been about redistribution of wealth. Whether it’s Terry Benedict, or The Night Fox, or Willy Bank, the common villain is a man with too much money and power who needs to be taken down a notch. Or, millions of notches.

Speaking of the plastics factory, I hate to see a perfectly good bottle of tequila sacrificed as a Molotov cocktail, when it could have been used in a real cocktail! Let’s get that gold cocktail glitter back out this week to mix up a drink that’s perfect for Bank’s gilded palace. While watching Ocean’s Thirteen, I recommend drinking a No Dice cocktail.

No Dice*

1 oz Blanco Tequila

1/4 oz Yellow Chartreuse

1/4 oz Cointreau

1 oz Lime Juice

1/2 oz Simple Syrup

1 egg white

Edible Glitter (for garnish)

Combine Tequila, Yellow Chartreuse, Cointreau, lime juice, simple syrup, and egg white in a shaker without ice. Shake well to combine, then add ice. Shake again for another 15-20 seconds, then strain into a chilled coupe glass. Dust with edible glitter.

*Adapted from a recipe in Tequila Cocktails by Brian Van Flandern

These Ocean’s movies are so satisfying because the good guys always come out on top, and they always take care of the people who helped them along the way. There are major and minor players, but each of them gets a fair cut. And the bad guys? Well, they never really suffer too much, but they’re certainly unhappy and inconvenienced by the end. I’d still count that as a win. Cheers!

Action/Adventure/Heist · Comedies · Uncategorized

The Nice Guys

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Image credit: The Nice Guys, 2016

If you like the comedy of The Big Lebowski, the 1970s So-Cal production design of Inherent Vice, and the heat between Russell Crowe and Kim Basinger in L.A. Confidential, then you’ll adore The Nice Guys (Disc/Download) as much as I do. A movie that made it onto my Top 5 List several years ago, it’s only gotten funnier and better with age.

Starring Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe as private investigators in Los Angeles circa 1977, this Shane Black film is the neo-noir buddy cop movie I never knew I needed. Gosling and Crowe are hilarious together, and though the plot meanders (as it does in most noirs), the chemistry between these two makes you want to keep watching. March and Healy are on a quest to investigate the death of porn star activist Misty Mountains, which takes them from rollicking sex-fueled parties in the Hollywood Hills, to a fabulous airport hotel bar (sign me up for a drink at the Flight Deck!), to an auto show full of Detroit’s finest land sharks. The period details in this film are fantastic, and you can almost taste the smog and polyester through the screen. This isn’t Bogey’s LA, or even The Dude’s—this city belongs to a couple of guys just trying to do right by the little old ladies and teen girls who need their help.

There’s nothing like a car crash in the first five minutes to pull me into a story, and this one has a doozy. As Misty lays sprawled over the crash site, boobs akimbo, gasping, “How do you like my car, big boy?” the tone is officially set. Let’s celebrate this stellar opening with a Scotch Mist cocktail.

Scotch Mist

½ cup Crushed Ice

2 oz Scotch

Lemon twist

Pack the ice into a glass, and pour the scotch over the ice. Twist a lemon peel across the top, then drop in.

Classic film fans will probably recognize this as Lauren Bacall’s drink of choice in 1946’s The Big Sleep, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be enjoyed in the 1970s. After all, strong cocktails and private dicks are two things that’ll never go out of style on the big screen. Cheers!

P.S.- if you’re looking for more Film Noir cocktail pairings, be sure to order a copy of Eddie Muller’s fantastic book, Noir Bar!

Action/Adventure/Heist · Holiday Films

In Bruges

LizLocke8 Comments

Image Credit: In Bruges, 2008

Since 2022 is officially the year of “The Christmas That Wasn’t” (or as it’s sometimes called in my house, “Christ-maybe next year“), I’m officially making the switch to movies that take place around the holiday season but have very little to do with Christmas. In other words, I want to see my current life situation reflected back at me. Sure, there are twinkle lights as I’m driving down the street, but my house remains as dark and unfestive as this week’s pick In Bruges (Disc/Download).

Featuring the acting team of Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson, and directed by Martin McDonagh, In Bruges is about two hit men on assignment in the medieval Belgian city of Bruges over the holidays. Sent by their boss (Ralph Fiennes) to murder a priest, things go awry when gunman Ray (Farrell) accidentally shoots someone he’s not supposed to. His mentor Ken (Gleeson) is then tasked with killing Ray, but he wrestles with questions of morality and the concept of redemption. Does Ray really deserve to die because of an accident? It’s a question that propels this dark comedy forward through strange encounters, strange accents, and a lot of Belgian beer.

Speaking of Belgian beer, I cracked open a bottle for this week’s drink and ended up pleasantly surprised by its versatility. I haven’t had a Lindemans Framboise lambic in ages, but as a cocktail topper, it’s aces. Think of it as a tart alternative to Prosecco or champagne. While watching In Bruges, I recommend drinking an Alcove.

Alcove

4 1/2 oz Lindemans Framboise

1 1/4 oz Gin

3/4 oz Cointreau

3/4 oz Ginger Liqueur

3/4 oz Lime Juice

Lime Wheel Garnish

Combine gin, Cointreau, ginger liqueur, and lime juice in a shaker with ice. Shake until chilled, then strain into a coupe glass. Top with Lindemans Framboise and stir gently.

Coincidentally, the Farrell/Gleeson/McDonagh team is back this year with The Banshees of Inisherin, a film I sadly did not enjoy. Maybe the bar was set too high with In Bruges, or maybe I just prefer movies that have a plot. I’m thrilled Colin Farrell is back on everyone’s radar, yet I can’t help but be puzzled by how he ever left. He’s always been great! He was great in Tigerland, he was great in A Home at the End of the World, and he was great in In Bruges. Can we all just forget about Phone Booth and give this man, and his eyebrows, their well-deserved Oscar? Cheers!

Action/Adventure/Heist

The Mummy

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Image credit: The Mummy, 1999

As we enter the era of the Brendan Fraser comeback, it feels appropriate to watch the blockbuster that put him in every multiplex across the country, spawning several sequels (and several operations) for this workhorse actor. The Mummy (Disc/Download) was not exactly my cup of tea when it was released, and honestly, it still isn’t. But nevertheless, I think it’s fascinating to examine it next to the other big action movie of the year, last week’s The Matrix.

On the surface, these two films have a lot in common. They’re both filled with numerous battle scenes, both rely heavily on special effects, and both feature wafer-thin romances that seem like nothing more than marketing afterthoughts. I know, I know, romance fans have clung to The Mummy‘s feisty librarian heroine Evelyn Carnahan (Rachel Weisz) like she’s the second coming of Elizabeth Bennet, but in truth she shares precious few swoon-worthy moments with Fraser’s Rick O’Connell. Most of this movie is taken up by gun fights and swirling sand as these adventurers go searching for treasure and instead find a pissed-off mummified priest and flesh-eating scarabs that burrow under the skin. Maybe I’m biased after too many scorching Texas summers, but this just seems like the least romantic setting on earth.

When American adventurer Rick O’Connell is asked about Hamunaptra, the city of the dead, he explains that he and his French Foreign Legion cohorts found nothing there but blood and sand. Coincidentally, this is also the name of a classic cocktail inspired by a 1922 Rudolph Valentino film. While watching this 1999 iteration of The Mummy, I recommend drinking a Blood and Sand cocktail.

Blood and Sand

3/4 oz Scotch

3/4 oz Sweet Vermouth

3/4 oz Blood Orange Juice

3/4 oz Cherry Heering

Orange peel

Dried Blood Orange slice

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake until chilled, then strain into a glass. Flame an orange peel over the top to release the oils, then garnish with a dried blood orange slice.

The visual effects of The Mummy seem impressive… until you watch The Matrix. Interestingly, both films handle a bug-under-the-skin rather well, making me lose my dinner (and my drink) in the process. This might be the final 1999 movie in my series, but rest assured, there are plenty of others I’ve already covered on Cinema Sips. Was it the greatest movie year ever? Well, that depends entirely on your tastes. But one thing I can say about this seminal year, there was definitely something for everyone. Cheers!

Action/Adventure/Heist · Sci Fi

The Matrix

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Image credit: The Matrix, 1999

I’ll be the first to admit—I am decades late to The Matrix party. When this movie (Disc/Download) came out in 1999, to me it was only a poster on a wall, hanging in the video store where I worked after school. I must have glanced at that picture of Keanu Reeves in a trench coat a thousand times, restocked the tape boxes triple that amount, but never felt tempted to see what all the fuss was about. Well, let’s just say my indifference ended this year thanks to pandemic boredom, a reboot, and one exceptionally good trailer.

The trailer I’m referring to is that of The Matrix: Resurrections, the most recent installment of this franchise which enjoyed a buzzy streaming release last winter. One whiff of a Jefferson Airplane song and the gracefully aging face of Keanu Reeves, and I was hooked. I wanted to see what these red and blue pills were all about. But to do that, I had to watch the original Matrix, a movie I’d successfully avoided for the past twenty-three years. So… I watched it. And I got lost. And then more lost. And then I gave up around the time Joe Pantoliano was gulping his wine. “What the hell is happening in this movie?” I shouted. “What is even real???”

My husband urged me to watch it again, this time with no distractions and my smart phone out of reach. And you know what? He was right. With nothing dividing my focus, I finally understood it. In the world of The Matrix, robots have taken over, sucking energy from humans, placing them in a weird dream state while they power the grid. A few humans have broken out of the Matrix, but then they go back in, but must escape again before either their real version or their Matrix version gets killed. There are also some giant robotic squids attacking a ship at one point??? Oh, hell, maybe I still don’t get it. But the pleather costumes are glorious.

There are a lot of references to Alice in Wonderland in The Matrix, so if you’re having a watch party, it might be fun to make White Rabbits with red and blue rimming sugar. Let your guests decide which one they want!

White Rabbit

1 ½ oz Gin

¾ oz Amaretto

¾ oz Vanilla non-dairy creamer

¼ oz Lemon cream liqueur

Red and blue rimming sugar

Run a lemon around the edge of a glass, then dip in rimming sugar. Add gin, Amaretto, creamer, and lemon cream liqueur to a shaker with ice. Shake until chilled then strain into prepared glass.

This might feel like a slightly heavy cocktail (in truth it tastes like a lemon meringue pie!), but this is a heavy movie in my opinion. It plays on our fears that we are doomed to be cogs in the machine, urging us to rise up and make a change; to be “The One” in our own lives. To believe we have the power to stop bullets and stand up to those who see us as nothing more than an expendable vessel.

I think.

Action/Adventure/Heist · Children's

The Goonies

LizLocke1 Comment

Image credit: The Goonies, 1985

As a child of the 1980s, I feel a certain responsibility to honor the inexplicable love my generation has for The Goonies (Disc/Download). I may have come along too late to really understand why this movie was and is such a big deal (I was only two when it premiered), but nevertheless, people still go nuts for this group of extremely loud kids and their Pacific Northwest pirate adventure. Let’s pour one out and deconstruct.

Conceived by Steven Spielberg, directed by Richard Donner, and written by Chris Columbus, this movie was practically guaranteed to be a blockbuster. These guys know storytelling. The fact that the plot is 100% ludicrous doesn’t really matter—we must keep watching to see if these kids can find the pirate treasure hidden under an Italian restaurant, escape the criminals trying to murder them, and save their family homes from foreclosure. Where things unfortunately fall apart for me is with the character of Sloth, which seems like a lame excuse for special effects and makeup in a movie that doesn’t really need them. I would even argue that we don’t need the Fratelli family at all—there’s enough action surrounding the booby-trapped treasure hunt to keep things exciting. The whole movie is one giant Rube Goldberg machine full of adventurous production design that makes you feel like you just played a game of chutes and ladders, under a steady PNW drizzle.

Having never seen this before in its entirety (I know, I KNOW!!), I was delighted to find so many tiki influences. The pirate ship, Chunk’s Hawaiian shirt, all the skulls and buried treasure—it’s like Don the Beachcomber died and went to Oregon. On that note, let’s try a cocktail that’s perfect while counting your doubloons, the Pearl Diver.

Pearl Diver

1 ½ oz Gold Puerto Rican Rum

¾ oz Demerara Rum

½ oz Gold Jamaican Rum

1 tsp Falernum

¾ oz Lime Juice

1 oz Orange Juice

¾ oz Gardenia Mix (people with more time on their hands might want to make their own. I am not that person)

1 cup ice

Fresh orchid (for garnish)

Combine all ingredients in a blender. Blend for about 15 seconds, then strain through a wire mesh into a Pearl Diver glass filled with fresh crushed ice. Garnish with orchid.

Even though I don’t hold an abiding love for The Goonies like a lot of people my age, I recognize its impact. It was a movie that appealed to the youth market, but adults could feel comfortable enjoying it too. Perhaps that’s what’s given it so much staying power— ‘80s kids may have grown up, but we’re still looking for an adventure. Cheers!