Tag: movie cocktail

Comedies

Summer School

LizLocke2 Comments
Image credit: Summer School, 1987

Congrats to all the teachers out there for making it through another school year! It hasn’t been an easy one (certainly not here in Gilead… er, Texas), but hopefully, you’ll be spending the summer sipping cocktails or mocktails in a Hawaiian shirt and not teaching remedial English like Mark Harmon in this week’s pick, Summer School (Disc/Download).

A movie that was on heavy television repeat during my formative years, Carl Reiner’s Summer School effectively scared me into getting good grades. If the alternative was taking summer classes with jocks, strippers, and a guy named “Chainsaw”, I’d keep that GPA up.  Even as an adult, the scene with the rabid bunnies is horrifying. Nevertheless, being married to a teacher has made me appreciate the heart behind the movie. Mr. Shoop thinks he just has to do the bare minimum in order to keep his gym teacher job, but in the end, all he really wants is for these kids to succeed. Success is not about teaching them to ace the final exam; it’s about helping them become better humans. Getting them to focus and study is part of that, but teachers do so much more. They are therapists, career counselors, surrogate parents, and sometimes, Lamaze coaches. Teachers may get summers off, but it’s because they’re burnt out from doing at least five other jobs throughout the rest of the year.

I’m slightly in love with Mr. Shoop’s beach bungalow, and totally in love with all his Hawaiian shirts. He may not have gotten to take that dream Hawaiian vacation, but he still lives an enviable life by the ocean. Lean into those summer beach vibes with this SoCal Spritz.

SoCal Spritz

1 oz Malibu Coconut Rum

2 oz Pineapple Juice

½ oz Lime Juice

2 oz Prosecco

1 oz Soda Water

Dried Pineapple Slice (Garnish)

In a shaker with ice, combine Malibu rum, pineapple juice, and lime juice. Shake to combine and chill, then strain into a hurricane glass filled halfway with crushed ice. Top with Prosecco and soda water, and garnish with dried pineapple slice.

I like to think Chainsaw and Dave became cinema darlings after attending Mr. Shoop’s summer school, eventually making their own horror masterpiece. Maybe they bonded with Guillermo Del Toro. Maybe Dave still wears that leopard beret. Maybe those bunnies are going to haunt me until my final breath. Cheers!

Classic Films · Comedies

A New Leaf

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Image credit: A New Leaf, 1971

After a recent read of Carrie Courogen’s Miss May Does Not Exist: The Life and Work of Elaine May, Hollywood’s Hidden Genius, I’ve been working my way through all the creative breadcrumbs Miss May left throughout her time in Hollywood. Some, we’ll probably never know about until after her death. But others, like this week’s film A New Leaf (Disc/Download) are a smorgasbord of dark humor and wit, meant to be watched again and again.   

Written and directed by Elaine (her first time in the director’s chair), she also stars as botanist Henrietta Lowell, the target of broke playboy Henry (Walter Matthau) who is in search of a wealthy wife—a wife he also plans to kill, once her money becomes his. May’s Henrietta is sweet, trusting, and most importantly to Henry, the sole heiress to an immense fortune. If you like the movie Arthur, you’ll probably enjoy Matthau’s performance as a shameless snob who can’t imagine a world in which he can no longer afford lunch at Lutèce or custom-tailored suits. Yet there’s a heart under that elitist nonsense, one he doesn’t discover until he finds someone who’s even less capable of navigating the real world than he is. Henrietta has more money than she’ll ever need, but no desire or knowledge of how to manage it. And in that respect, they’re a perfect match. What one lacks, the other provides. All Henrietta needs to do is stay alive long enough for Henry to realize she’s the heart and purpose he’s been missing all these years.

Henrietta’s lack of life skills extends to the cocktail arena as well. When her suitor offers her a drink, she requests something called a Malaga Cooler, which is Mogen David kosher wine, lime juice, and soda. If you forget the recipe, it’s right there on the bottle! I’ve never had kosher wine before (it’s extra-sweet reputation precedes it), but I’m willing to give this a go. While watching A New Leaf, I recommend drinking a Malaga Cooler.

Malaga Cooler

2 oz Morgen David Wine

1 oz Lime Juice

1 oz Topo Chico sparkling water

Blackberry + Mint (garnish)

Combine wine and lime juice in a shaker with ice. Shake, and strain into a coupe glass. Top with sparkling water. Garnish with a blackberry and sprig of fresh mint.

I’m serving this up, the way they do in the movie, however if I were to make this again, I’d probably serve it over ice with a higher ratio of sparkling water. If Elaine has taught me anything, it’s that films and cocktails are never really finished. There’s always more tweaking to be done, at least until the studio sues for control, forcing you to go on the lam with the film canisters… but that’s a story for another time.  Cheers!

Action/Adventure/Heist · Uncategorized

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

LizLocke2 Comments
Image credit: Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, 1984

A much-anticipated trip to experience the Indiana Jones Adventure at Disneyland prompted this week’s watch; the second installment of Spielberg’s Indy trilogy that I’ve always referred to as “the gross one”: Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (Disc/Download). As a child, I couldn’t get past the monkey brain scene, but as an adult, I made it all the way through pits of fire and creepy crawlies, and a sprawling underground city of child slave labor. When I tell you I have earned that trip to Disneyland, believe it.

Although my favorite Indiana Jones movie will always be Last Crusade, the sheer weirdness of Temple of Doom bumps it up to second place in my eyes. Imagine, you create a character that looks like he came straight from the Golden Age of Cinema, a hero adults and children can all rally around, and then you… send him into a whirlpool of black magic and voodoo cults. You serve him eyeball soup and raw beetles. You give him a heroine who, while stylish and beautiful, is fairly annoying throughout the entirety of the film. If not for Short Round and the fabulous production design, there wouldn’t be much to recommend in this movie. However, the relationship between adventurer and precocious child is every bit as fun as the one between adventurer and precocious old man in Last Crusade. This movie takes the viewer on a circuitous, bizarre ride, but it manages to keep Harrison sweaty and shirtless for a satisfactory amount of time. And at this particular moment in my life, that’s enough for me.

Make no mistake, the banquet scene is still gross. It helps if you have a cocktail and a blindfold, and preferably an empty stomach. While watching Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, I recommend drinking this Temple ‘Tini.

Temple ‘Tini

1 1/2 oz Dark Spiced Rum

1/4 oz Banana Liqueur

1/4 oz Vanilla syrup

3/4 oz Cold Brew

3 dashes Ginger Bitters

Gummy snake (garnish)

Combine ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake to chill, then strain into a chilled coupe glass. Garnish with a gummy snake.

Although the Disney Imagineers built a ride inspired by the production design of Temple of Doom, I really wish they had instead focused on the Shanghai nightclub where this story begins. Like Rick’s Café, Club Obi Wan looks like the perfect place to sip a cocktail amid the chaos of war, or crowds of screaming children. A missed opportunity, Disney. Cheers!

Classic Films · Foreign · Musicals

The Young Girls of Rochefort

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Image credit: The Young Girls of Rochefort, 1967

If you need a little cinema help to fight the grey skies of winter, then you’ll definitely want to check out this week’s pick, the 1967 French musical The Young Girls of Rochefort (Disc/Download). With a color palette straight out of my fantasies (so much pink!!!!!), fun choreography, and even the inclusion of classic Hollywood musical star Gene Kelly, this confection of a movie will have you longing for French fries, cocktails, and candy-colored days in France.

Starring real-life sisters Catherine Deneuve and Françoise Dorléac as singing twins Delphine and Solange, Jacques Demy’s follow-up to The Umbrellas of Cherbourg is the perfect antidote to that bittersweet tragedy. These girls are fun, carefree, and want nothing more than to go to Paris, fall in love, and pursue their artistic ambitions. Delphine wants to be a dancer, Solange a composer, and unfortunately Rochefort is just too small of a pond. They can’t spend all their days in caftans, gazing out the windows of their pink apartment, lamenting their boredom.  They’ve got to put on matching hats and dresses and get out into the big, bright world! Luckily, Gene Kelly arrives, ready to make Solange’s dreams come true, while Delphine pines for a painter she’s never actually met. Truthfully, this film is full of near misses, right up to the very end. It keeps me yearning for that happy ending, almost as much as I yearn for their wardrobes. And boy, do I yearn.

One of the highlights of this movie, for me, is the twins’ mother’s French fry stand. It sits in the center of the town square, designed with gorgeous Mid-Century Modern details, and by all appearances seems to serve nothing but French fries, coffee, and cocktails. If someone gave me an unlimited amount of money and told me to go make whatever I wanted in the world, I would build an exact replica of this French fry stand. My city would cheer, and I’d be a hero. Unfortunately, I do not have an unlimited budget, so I’ll have to settle for frozen fries and this Gemini Gimlet in my “nice, but not Young Girls of Rochefort Girls nice” Mid-Century Modern home.

Gemini Gimlet

2 oz Pink Gin

1 oz Elderflower Liqueur

½ oz Lime Juice

½ oz Simple Syrup

Lemon Twist

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

You could certainly make this drink with your favorite clear gin, but I think Beefeater’s Pink Strawberry gin gives it a little more of a Demy flair. I could absolutely picture Delphine sipping one of these at an outdoor table while she fends off the advances of traveling carnies and speculates about the town serial killer. Besides, if you’re the kind of person who dreams, wouldn’t you rather do it in color? Cheers!

Comedies · Dramas

Let Them All Talk

LizLocke1 Comment
Image credit: Let Them All Talk, 2020

I often lament that the years 2020 and 2021 were a movie desert. And I get it; we were in a pandemic, most of us were too scared to go to a theater, so naturally studios put everything decent on hold. But there was one incredible 2020 release that was my shining exception: Steven Soderbergh’s poignant, humorous, wonderfully female-centric film Let Them All Talk (Disc/Download).

I lament the pandemic years, but frankly, my problem with new releases started long before the word “coronavirus” entered our lexicon. For some time, I’ve felt like nobody’s making movies for me. Movies rich in storytelling and character development, low on special effects, featuring fascinating female characters. Thank heaven for Steven Soderbergh, Meryl Streep, Dianne Wiest, and Candice Bergen, who gave me just what I wanted in this tale about a literary icon crossing the Atlantic on the Queen Mary 2 with her college friends. Her nephew (Lucas Hedges) is also along for the trip, and though he’s certainly the odd man out in terms of gender and age, watching him interact with this group of complex mature women is a true joy. As these characters rehash old wounds and old times, trying to connect after decades of separation, their individual personalities create more drama than an explosion or gun fight ever could. It’s a travesty that Candice Bergen didn’t score an Oscar nom for her salty gold digger character Roberta, but frankly, Dianne and Meryl were robbed too. These women are all fantastic. I could watch them talk for hours, and the fact that they’re doing it on a beautiful cruise ship with elegant cocktail lounges and a library to die for? This is a movie for me.

Speaking of elegant cocktail lounges, a lot of champagne gets served on this ship. It definitely makes me want to enjoy a sparkling beverage while I watch, and why not celebrate my favorite feisty Texan Roberta with a margarita version of a French ’75? While watching Let Them All Talk, I recommend drinking a Champagne Margarita.

Champagne Margarita

1 ½ oz Tequila

¾ oz Orange Liqueur

¾ oz Lime Juice

4 oz Champagne

Coarse Salt

Lime Twist

Rub a lime wedge around the rim of a champagne flute. Dip the rim in salt, then set aside. In a shaker with ice, combine tequila, orange liqueur, and lime juice. Shake until chilled, then strain into prepared flute. Top with champagne. Garnish with lime twist.

Naturally, I love the literary aspect to this film, particularly the contrast between Meryl Streep’s Pulitzer Prize-winning character and a commercial mystery writer also on the ship. I can only dream of a future where people are so eager for my next manuscript my agent would tag along on an ocean voyage to spy on my progress, but you never know what the next thirty years will bring. Maybe I’ll be wrapped up in shawls and ego soon enough. Cheers!

Dramas

Before Sunrise

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Image credit: Before Sunrise, 1995

I have to apologize. There’s just no excuse for the bizarre oversight of excluding Before Sunrise (Disc/Download) from this blog for so many years. Sure, I’ve mentioned the trilogy as a whole. I’ve written about it in my favorite film zine Moviejawn. I’ve recorded a podcast episode about it (releasing in a few days from the folks who brought you Dazed and Confused 33 1/3!). I even wrote a novel inspired by the concept of two lovers meeting in a faraway place, never knowing how or when they’ll see each other again (Follow the Sun, coming out June 6th 2023 from Random House Canada). In short, I love this movie. I’m obsessed with this movie. And finally, at long last, I’m ready to talk about it over a cocktail!

In looking at the Before trilogy as a whole, my current favorite film out of the three is Before Sunset. I say “current” because I believe these films grow and change as their viewers do. That’s what’s so magical about them. Now that I’m smack dab in the middle of my life’s journey, some triumphs and setbacks under my belt, but still a vast unknown up ahead, it feels comforting to watch a film about a writer who’s still trying to make sense of the past while figuring out how he wants to move forward into the future. Boy, do I get that. But back when I was seventeen, watching Before Sunrise for the first time, there was no “past” to reckon with; there was only anticipation. It was all in front of me: love, career, passion, a home. Watching Jesse (Ethan Hawke) meet Céline (Julie Delpy) on a train to Vienna felt like the answer to life’s great puzzle. Connection was the root of happiness, even more so than love. We connect with cities and occupations just as we do with people. I connected with this movie because it conveyed so much of what I was feeling at the time, and I connect with it still because of the memories of what those “firsts” felt like. The first time you felt a mutual attraction. The first time you kissed someone new. The first time you understood how big a role fate and timing play in our lives. The first time you truly didn’t want the sun to rise after one perfect night. Maybe I’ll never have some of those “firsts” again, but this movie reminds me that I did, once. And I’ll have other ones, in time.

If you’re going to spend all night walking around a foreign city, talking about philosophical theories and encountering a random collection of poets, palm readers, and players (I still want to know how things ended up for Wilmington’s cow!), then you’re going to need some caffeine. While watching Before Sunrise, I recommend drinking the popular Viennese sipper, the Café Maria Theresia.

Café Maria Theresia

1 Tbsp. Sugar

3 Tbsp. Cointreau

8 oz Fresh-brewed Coffee

Whipped cream

Orange Zest

Combine sugar and Cointreau in a cup, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Add coffee and stir gently to combine. Top with whipped cream and orange zest.

If you’d asked me prior to 2004 whether Jesse and Céline really met up again in Vienna six months after they said goodbye, I would have said yes. Unequivocally, yes. You see, I believe in happily ever after’s, and I don’t want to live in a world where these two people can’t make it work. We may have come to the end of their onscreen journey with Before Midnight (unless Linklater decides to pull another rabbit out of his hat), but my views on this couple are unchanged. They may find themselves separated over and over again by fate and circumstance, but in my mind they will always make their way back to each other.

On that note, I’d like to give a quick plug once again for Follow the Sun because if you like the anticipation and romance of Before Sunrise, you’ll probably enjoy these elements in my book. To read an early copy, be sure and sign up to receive the Cinema Sips weekly posts via email before March 1st 2023 (you’ll find the sign-up field on the right-hand side of the screen on the Cinemasips.com desktop site, and if you’re a mobile user, scroll up/down until the “Follow” button appears at the bottom). My publisher has graciously agreed to send NetGalley links for an advance copy of the e-book to my loyal followers since so many of you have told me how excited you are to read it. Of course, if you’d rather wait and throw the final print version in your beach bag this summer, pre-orders are always an option, and deeply appreciated!! Cheers, and thanks to all my current and future readers for getting off the train with me 😊.

Dramas

The Sixth Sense

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Image Credit: The Sixth Sense, 1999

Cinema Sips has gone back in time to cover 1967, 1976, 1985, and now <drumroll please> I’m ready to party like it’s 1999! In my opinion, I’ve saved the best for last on my mini journey through late-20th century cinema. Maybe this is my favorite movie year because I was sixteen and impressionable at the time, or maybe it’s because the movies were SO DAMN GOOD. I’ve already covered many of my favorites (The Talented Mr. Ripley, Notting Hill, 10 Things I Hate About You, etc), but now I’m turning my attention to a few other films that made a hell of a lot of money, started a lot of conversations, and represented what audiences were most looking for at the time. Kicking things off is M. Night Shyamalan’s thriller, The Sixth Sense (Disc/Download).

I saw this movie with my dad during its initial theatrical release, and I remember him being decidedly pissed off by the ending. It was a bait-and-switch, overturning everything we thought we were watching for the last two hours. I believe his direct quote was, “Those JERKS!” But it was this very ending that made people keep talking about the movie, giving it box office staying power beyond any other psychological thriller at the time. Similar to Hitchcock’s Psycho, this movie about a young boy who sees ghosts lives and dies by its final ten minutes, and if anyone spoiled the twist before you had a chance to see it, I hope only bad things have happened to them over the ensuing twenty-three years. I’m not going to go into it here in case you’re very young or have been living under a rock, but what I will say is that Bruce Willis gives a career-highlight performance as the child psychologist tasked with helping a scared little boy (an adorable Haley Joel Osment), and Toni Collette has somehow aged backwards in the last several decades?? This goes to show that a dark lip color and heavy eye makeup did us no favors in the late ‘90s.

The thing about the ghosts in this movie is that they don’t actually know they’re dead. Similar to its charming rom-com counterpoint Ghost Town, spirits between worlds come to Haley Joel Osment in crisis, and he has to fix their problems in order to set them free. I know what you’re thinking—how do they not know they’re dead? Well, this is conveniently explained away as “they only see what they want to see.” I guess one of the things they turned a blind eye to was their obituary, but I’m not making the same mistake. While watching The Sixth Sense, I recommend drinking a classic Obituary cocktail.

Obituary

2 oz Gin

¼ oz Dry Vermouth

¼ oz Absinthe

Lemon twist

Pour ingredients into a mixing glass filled with ice. Stir until well combined, the strain into a chilled martini glass. Garnish with a lemon twist.

I previously featured this cocktail as a pairing for Who Framed Roger Rabbit, but it’s just as lethal now as it was then. You need something strong and spirit-forward for this movie (see what I did there??) because you don’t want to end up like my dad, angry and bitter that M. Night Shyamalan pulled a fast one. Instead, you want to ease into this psychological mind-bender on a cloud of absinthe fumes, ready to be spooked and surprised. Cheers!

Holiday Films · TV Movies

Switched for Christmas

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Image credit: Switched for Christmas, 2017

Whether you consider it a Christmas miracle or pandering gimmick, you can’t deny Hallmark set the bar high with a film featuring not just one, but TWO Candace Cameron Bures. Back when she was D.J. on Full House, crimping her hair and developing a one-day eating disorder before Kimmy’s pool party, this actress made me feel seen.  And now that she’s starring in all these Christmas movies, making cookies and wearing cute outfits, I feel seen all over again. I love planning parties, hanging with my nieces, and petting my rescue dog, so naturally I had to check out this week’s Cinema Sips pick, Switched for Christmas (Disc/Download).

I went into this expecting a standard brain-swap plot a la Freaky Friday, but was pleasantly surprised to find that no, it was just twin sisters who enjoy deceiving their friends and family. One sister likes fancy, fussy parties, while the other likes homey, sentimental parties. Each thinks the other has it easier, so they decide to switch places for the Christmas season. Because it wouldn’t be a Hallmark movie without a bland romance, the twins each find love interests, and there’s a confusing bit of name explaining at the end. I admit, I had difficulty keeping the characters straight, especially when both Candaces started dressing well and wearing their hair long and loose. Would a ponytail or side bun have been so hard??

One of the main plots involves Schlubby Candace planning a Christmas party for Fancy Candace’s real estate development firm. She enlists the help of a hunky architect (who is WAY too excited about Christmas parties), and together they make an intricate gingerbread village. Let’s enjoy a little taste of the Hallmark holidays with this Gingerbread White Russian. 

Gingerbread White Russian

2 oz Whole milk

2 oz Vanilla Vodka

2 oz Kahlua

1 1/2 tsp. Molasses

1/8 tsp Ground Ginger

Cinnamon

Sugar

Gingerbread Man Garnish

Mix the cinnamon and sugar together, and pour onto a plate. Wet the rim of a glass and dip in cinnamon/sugar. Fill with ice, and set aside.  Combine milk, vodka, Kahlua, molasses, and ginger in a shaker with ice.  Shake until chilled, then strain into prepared glass.  Top with gingerbread man.

Ultimately, I liked this extended Balsam Hill ornament commercial a whole heck of a lot.  It wasn’t too sweet or sentimental, Candace looked great (as always), and we got the added casting bonus of a Center Stage alum. I call that a win, win, win.  Cheers!

Children's · Musicals · Uncategorized

Beauty and the Beast

LizLocke3 Comments
Image credit: Beauty and the Beast, 2017

Ask any female bookworm who grew up in the ’90s what her favorite Disney movie was, and you’d probably get the same answer- Beauty and the Beast (Disc/Download). Smart, shy girl doesn’t fit in with the people in her small town, longs for the type of adventure she’s only read about in stories, but feels resigned to a quiet future with her dad and his gadgets. Then, a gruff hero comes into her life and woos her with a library and fancy soup. To say that I idolized this character in 1991 would be an understatement. I had Belle dolls, Belle posters, Belle Halloween costumes, and even a prized Belle Trapper Keeper gracing my desk. I also had a Beast doll you could pull the head off of to make him magically transform into a human (which, looking back on it, was a little creepy). In short, I was A FAN. I was skeptical that a live action version of this tale could ever work, but I should have known Disney would make all my adult Belle dreams come true too.

I remember the first time I saw this adaptation in the theater a few years ago. Emma Watson opened her mouth to sing “Little town, it’s a quiet village….” and reader, I got goosebumps. These songs were so ingrained in my memory that I could recall every word and note with perfect precision. It was like a trip back to childhood, where movies seemed completely wondrous, and characters lived in your head in a way they simply don’t when you’re an adult. I loved A Star Is Born, but let’s just say I don’t have Jackson or Ally dolls in my bedroom.

Taking place in a small French village, and featuring a magic rose that slowly drops its petals, this movie deserves the kind of cocktail you could enjoy sipping for hours in a gigantic library by the light of a talking candelabra. While watching Beauty and the Beast, I recommend drinking a Rosewater Gimlet.

Rosewater Gimlet

2 oz Gin

1 oz Lime Juice

¾ oz Simple Syrup

½ oz St. Germain Elderflower Liqueur

3 drops Rosewater

Rose Petal garnish

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake until chilled, then strain into a coupe glass containing an ice ball. Garnish with a rose petal.

Although there are some new tunes added to this version, the standout song is still “Tale as Old as Time”, sung here by Emma Thompson instead of Angela Lansbury. Really, this is the perfect anthem, for what’s more classic than an enemies-to-lovers story featuring a plucky girl and a gruff hero with a heart of gold? Thirty years later and it’s still bringing me as much joy as it did when I was eight. Cheers!

Dramas

Me Without You

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Image Credit: Me Without You, 2001

I love a film that feels like a really great book, especially when it falls under my favorite “women’s fiction” umbrella (and yes, I still HATE that publishing term). Me Without You (Disc/Download) is exactly this type of movie, full of complex characters, pitch perfect style, and the realistic portrayal of a toxic female friendship. Written and directed by Sandra Goldbacher, this one will have you itching for a cozy night in bed with your books and fingerless gloves while the world outside feels like a cocaine-fueled underground party in the ’80s. (And yes, you can probably already tell which of the two women pictured above I most relate to. Although, to be fair, Anna Friel’s leopard coat IS fabulous.)

Holly and Marina (Michelle Williams and Anna Friel) are childhood friends, growing up next door to one another in an English suburb. Holly’s the shy one, Marina the bold one, and their codependent relationship carries them through thirty years of bad boyfriends, wild fashion fads, and family drama. At first we feel sorry for Marina, coming from a house where mom (Trudie Styler) likes to drink gin & tonics in her shag-covered sunken living room while dad is out cheating with anything that moves, but her constant betrayals of Holly become almost too much to bear. Sabotaging any chance her friend has for happiness, over and over again, we start to see how manipulative and needy this girl really is. Honestly, if I were Marina, I’d have been done with this relationship the second my “friend” fashioned an unflattering dress out of a garbage bag on their way to hang out with The Clash, but that’s just me.

Shot in Surrey and along the coast of the Isle of Man, this movie is extremely British. Therefore it calls for one of my favorite British exports, Sloe Gin. A simple drink gussied up with a little edible glitter, I can almost imagine Marine and Holly mixing this on their endless afternoons when they’re so bored. Frankly, until they’ve experienced a pandemic lockdown, these girls don’t know “bored”. While watching Me Without You, I recommend drinking a Sloe Gin Mule.

Sloe Gin Mule

2 oz Sloe Gin

3/4 oz Lime Juice

6 oz Ginger Beer

Pinch of edible glitter

Lime Slice

Build drink over ice, stirring gently to combine. Top with lime slice, and a pinch of edible glitter.

With a fantastic soundtrack, gorgeous costumes, and stellar production design, this movie completely immerses the viewer in the decades of the late 20th century. It may not have been based on a novel, the likes of which Holly would love to write, but Me Without You still feels perfectly literary to me. Cheers!