Tag: movie cocktails

Comedies

Chances Are

LizLockeLeave a comment
Image: Chances Are, 1989

When people ask me to name my favorite movie, I always have a hard time answering. How does anybody pick just one? But when it comes to naming my favorite movie genre, it’s easy: Interdimensional Romance. I credit the Criterion Channel with coining this term, which basically means romance that defies the laws of space, time, and even death. You may have heard the phrase: “Every love story is a tragedy if you wait long enough”. But in an Interdimensional Romance, love doesn’t end with death—it merely changes into a new form. Chances are, you probably haven’t heard of the movie Chances Are (Disc/Download), but if you believe in the idea that love can’t be limited by our brief human lifespans, you should give this reincarnation rom-com a watch.

Featuring an absolutely stacked cast (Robert Downey Jr., Cybill Shepherd, Ryan O’Neal, and Mary Stuart Masterson), Chances Are follows Washington DC lawyer Louis Jeffries, who dies on the night of his first wedding anniversary, leaving his new bride widowed and pregnant. Upon arriving in heaven, he desperately pleads with the bureaucrats in charge to send him back. They agree to return him to Earth in a new body, however they forget to erase his memories before he departs. That reincarnated baby eventually grows up to take the form of Robert Downey Jr., and through a series of coincidences, Louis finds himself back in his old Georgetown home, triggered by the memories from his past life. Things get weird when he enters into a love triangle with both his wife and his daughter, which then becomes a quadrangle when Ryan O’Neal starts bedhopping. I think this is what they call “high concept”.

If you want to remember Washington DC as it was, with its tasteful, elegant Reflecting Pool and people in suits doing the very important work of keeping our laws, our journalistic integrity, and our cultural institutions intact, then you’ll enjoy seeing the city as it was in 1989. I also love the addition of a cherry tree named George, so while you’re watching Chances Are, I recommend drinking this “George” cocktail.

George

2 oz gin

½ oz Cherry Heering

1 oz lime juice

½ oz simple syrup

2 oz sparkling wine

Cherry garnish

Combine gin, Cherry Heering, lime juice, and simple syrup in a shaker with ice. Shake to chill, then strain into a coupe glass. Top with sparkling wine, and garnish with a cherry.

I had another reason for watching Chances Are this week, and it’s not just my love of Cybill Shepherd’s power suits. You see, my book Follow the Sun recently got reincarnated with a pretty new cover and more marketing support:

I had to laugh, thinking about all the times over the last decade when I’ve said this book was dead. First, when a former agent sat on it for nearly a year, with no response to my emails. Then, when I tried to get a new agent, and again got no response to my queries. Then, when I finally got a great agent, but editors didn’t respond to the pitch (are you sensing a pattern yet?). Then, when I connected with a great editor, got a contract, and the book was finally being published, but marketing didn’t respond. At that point, I thought for sure I’d reached the end of the road. This book was officially deceased, buried under the millions of books published every year that you’ve also never heard of. But three years later, here we are—resurrected again, in a slightly different form. I used to call Follow the Sun my zombie book, but after watching Chances Are, I think I should call it my reincarnated book. Because the truth is, every time it dies and gets reborn, it comes back just a little bit better. This time, the words haven’t changed, but the packaging has improved. I don’t know if there’s another life in store for Follow the Sun after this, but if there is, I hope it’s a good one. I hope it finds the people who will love it. Cheers!

Classic Films · Musicals

Pal Joey

LizLockeLeave a comment
Image credit: Pal Joey, 1957

I’ve never been a fan of musical theater, so you’ll have to forgive me for being late to the Rodgers & Hart party. It wasn’t until I watched Richard Linklater’s Blue Moon that I realized how many of my favorite tunes were penned by this legendary songwriting duo. In this week’s film Pal Joey (Disc/Download), we get to watch them performed by three Classic Hollywood stars at peak hotness: Frank Sinatra, Kim Novak, and Rita Hayworth.

If you enjoy showbiz musicals, then you’ll definitely enjoy this one about a scheming singer (Sinatra) who romances a wealthy widow (Hayworth) to build his dream nightclub, all while secretly falling in love with his chorus girl neighbor (Novak). Novak appears aloof before lighting up the screen in numbers like “My Funny Valentine”, while Hayworth is a haughty firecracker from start to finish. She’s supposed to be the villain in this love triangle, but I can’t help but respect the former stripper who has landed the role of respectable Nob Hill society woman, and isn’t eager to give it up. Sure, she dangles the nightclub “Chez Joey” over Sinatra’s head to get him into her bed, but one gets the sense she’s spent plenty of time being the powerless one in a relationship and enjoys having the tables turned. Sinatra’s Joey could easily come off as a spineless louse, but he’s so charismatic in these musical numbers, and in the way he teaches his dog to dunk a bagel in coffee (not good for the dog, but still quite cute), that I’m instantly charmed. I want Joey to be my pal by the end.

Much of the movie takes place in a nightclub that references San Francisco’s bygone red-light district, dubbed The Barbary Coast. I’ve been wanting to try this Prohibition-Era cocktail of the same name for a while, so let’s give it a shake. While watching Pal Joey, I recommend drinking a Barbary Coast.

Barbary Coast

1 oz scotch

½ oz gin

¾ oz white crème de cacao

¾ oz heavy cream

Grated nutmeg (garnish)

Shake liquid ingredients with ice, then strain into a chilled Nick & Nora glass. Dust with grated nutmeg.

I’ve got a trip to San Francisco coming up this summer, and now Pal Joey has me even more excited to take a cable car up those hills! I’ll be humming Rodgers & Hart’s “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered”, next to my funny valentine. Cheers!

Classic Films · Musicals

The Bamboo Blonde

LizLockeLeave a comment
Image credit: The Bamboo Blonde, 1946

I’ve been looking for an excuse to put a terrific cocktail discovered in The Home Bar Guide to Tropical Cocktails on Cinema Sips, and a recent selection by the 2026 Turner Classic Movies Festival turned me on to the perfect pairing. Had I been able to attend the festival in person, The Bamboo Blonde (Disc/Download) would have definitely been on my watch list. But thanks to this drink, I may have had an even better experience at home!

I can always rely on the programmers at TCM to steer me toward delightful movies that don’t always get a lot of attention, and The Bamboo Blonde is the perfect example. Clocking in at just over an hour long, this film features a fun little romance between a nightclub singer (Frances Langford), and a secretly wealthy WWII bomber pilot (Ralph Edwards). In a lot of ways, it reminds me of the kind of picture Doris Day frequently made, where a (singing) woman falls in love with a man hiding his true identity from her. Langford assumes Edwards is merely a brave pilot she connected with one magical night in New York, but when she discovers he comes from a wealthy Bucks Co. family, she feels like she’ll never be good enough for him. She sabotages their relationship by performing a risqué number for the country club set, not realizing there’s nothing she could do to turn him off. He’s as smitten with the chanteuse as he is with the pin-up version painted on the side of his plane.

The Bamboo Blonde gets her stage name thanks to a bunch of horny sailors who could double as Mad Men. They come up with a catchy moniker for their new mascot, and soon the owner of her nightclub is selling every piece of branded crap he can stamp “Bamboo Blonde” onto. Let’s give her a toast with this Bamboo Splitter cocktail (from The Home Bar Guide to Tropical Cocktails).

Bamboo Splitter

1 ½ oz gin

1 oz honey syrup

½ oz Yellow Chartreuse

1 oz white grapefruit juice

3 muddled mint leaves

1 oz freshly squeezed lemon juice

Extra mint (garnish)

Muddle mint leaves in the bottom of a shaker with gin, honey syrup, Yellow Chartreuse, grapefruit and lemon juices. Add ice and shake to combine. Fill a lowball glass with fresh crushed ice, then strain drink into prepared glass. Garnish with fresh mint.

I’ll be sharing one or two more films I watched during my at-home TCM Fest this month, and though I had a fair bit of FOMO from seeing all my friends posting from Hollywood, it was admittedly great to have cocktails, food, and my dog with me through all these movies. Plus, no lines! If, like me, you’re on a budget, taking a weekend at home to watch a curated list of films is never a bad idea. Cheers!

Classic Films · Uncategorized

Dance, Girl, Dance

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Image: Dance, Girl, Dance, 1940

In an effort to watch more of trailblazing female director Dorothy Arzner’s work, I decided to check out the Lucille Ball-Maureen O’Hara showbiz farce Dance, Girl, Dance (Disc/Download). In this movie, there really is no star or stooge; only women trying to use whatever gifts they possess to get ahead in the cutthroat business of entertainment.

Even before the world fell in love with Lucy, Lucille Ball was already well on her way toward being the queen of physical comedy. As burlesque dancer Bubbles (later, Tiger Lily White), she uses her body to simultaneously turn men on and make them laugh. She has something special the other girls in her troupe don’t have, and whether you think her “oomph” should be overly valued or not is irrelevant. Society (read: men) have decided to place a high price on what Bubbles has. Even though Maureen O’Hara’s character Judy is technically more skilled, her skills don’t matter in this world where sex appeal is the currency. The same analogy could be made for all sorts of art forms (literary vs. commercial fiction, prestige drama vs. lowbrow comedy), and that’s how the movie stays relevant today. Creators either have “oomph” or they don’t, and if they don’t, they must carve out a niche where success comes from within, instead of from external validation. As someone who lacks “oomph”, I’ve learned this lesson the hard way.

A prime example of the difference between Ball and O’Hara’s characters occurs during the infamous hula scene. Their dance troupe is auditioning a for a New Jersey nightclub, and let’s just say the two women have very different interpretations of “hula”. The scene makes me want a Tiki beverage, but I can’t ignore the champagne cocktails imbibed throughout the rest of the movie. Let’s combine the two with this Tiny Bubbles cocktail!

Tiny Bubbles

1 sugar cube

6-7 drops Tiki bitters

5-6 oz champagne

Place a sugar cube in a coupe glass and soak with Tiki bitters. Top with Champagne.

Tiny Bubbles champagne cocktail

Maureen O’Hara has a great scene at the end where she finally gets fed up with a dance gig that isn’t bringing her an ounce of joy, and she tells off the leering men shouting during her performance. It’s a rare thing for a film of this time to call out misogyny and sexism, and I have to think this was Arzner’s influence. Surely this was the speech she wished she could give in person to studio heads and general audiences. Lucky for us, she put it on film so generations of women could sit back and applaud. Cheers!

Comedies · Sci Fi · Uncategorized

Men in Black

LizLockeLeave a comment
Image: Men in Black, 1997, Columbia Pictures

The nice thing about the lack of good movies being released in our current cinema death spiral is that I have time to go back and revisit the ones I missed when I was either too young or too cool in the 1990s. One of these is Men in Black (Disc/Download), which basically had its own wall at the local Blockbuster. Now that we have a newly iconic extraterrestrial in Project Hail Mary‘s “Rocky”, it seems like a great time to check out a flick about aliens and humans coexisting under the watchful eye of the MIB.

I’ll admit, I had zero interest in this movie as a teen. But as an adult, I can appreciate the stellar chemistry between alien-enforcers Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith. Buddy cops (or buddy alien police) need to hone their banter and timing just like all the best rom-com couples, and these two are basically another classic New York love story. Additionally, Men in Black, with its thirty-year-old tech, looks better than most of today’s AI slop , making me wonder why we’re depleting natural resources to make stuff that 1990s audiences would have scoffed at. The premise that aliens are hiding within plain sight under the skin of human hosts allows for some fantastic transformation sequences, as well as some gnarly deaths. Shooting those aliens was akin to being slimed on Double Dare; I feel bad for the production assistants tasked with clean-up.

Image: Men in Black, 1997, Columbia Pictures

My favorite Men in Black scene is the emergency squid birth along the side of the New Jersey Turnpike. The parents look normal, but then when the baby pops out, you realize they’re… a little different. While watching Men in Black, I recommend drinking this classic Octopus Tiki cocktail.

Octopus

1 ½ oz orange juice

¾ oz passion fruit syrup

¾ lime juice

1 ½ oz overproof rum

1 ½ chilled club soda

1 dash Angostura bitters

Mix all ingredients except club soda in a shaker with ice. Shake to chill, then strain into a Tiki mug or hurricane glass filled with fresh crushed ice. Top with club soda and stir gently. Garnish with an orange slice and orchid.

I was surprised to see Steven Spielberg’s name in the credits of Men in Black as a producer, though I guess I shouldn’t have been. Are there any major alien encounter movies from the last fifty years this man hasn’t been involved in? In checking my list of possibly-decent 2026 releases, I see I’ve got the next Spielberg flick Disclosure Day highlighted. The premise? Alien encounters. Of course. Cheers!

Classic Films

Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison

LizLockeLeave a comment
Image: Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison, 1957

The latest issue of MovieJawn has just hit my mailbox, and praise the lord, it’s all about nuns! Inside, you’ll find my cocktail pairing for The Trouble with Angels, but here on Cinema Sips, I wanted to celebrate one of my other favorite nun pictures: Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison (Disc/Download).

Thanks to its WWII South Pacific setting, this movie lends itself perfectly to a Tiki cocktail. Robert Mitchum plays Marine Corporal Allison, who washes up on a deserted island after being separated from his unit. Turns out, the island isn’t completely deserted because Sister Angela (Deborah Kerr) got there days before on a failed rescue mission. Her accompanying priest died, and now the marine and the nun are all alone. Just like Adam and Eve, as Mr. Allison drunkenly points out. There’s something about Deborah Kerr in a nun’s habit that tends to drive men wild (see also: Black Narcissus), and it doesn’t take long for Mr. Allison to fall hard. He professes his love for her, while she professes her love for Jesus. The kicker: she hasn’t even taken her final vows! She could chuck that purity ring off and get busy in the cave with Mitchum whenever she wants. I’m not religious (which perhaps makes me a biased heathen), but to me, there is no contest: I’d choose Mitchum, every time.

Watching Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison means getting swept up in all the “will they/won’t they” tension. Will Mr. Allison be this missionary’s downfall? Or will she resist? If you think it’s getting hot in that cave, better cool off with this Don the Beachcomber original, the Missionary’s Downfall.

Missionary’s Downfall

1 oz light rum

½ oz peach schnapps

½ oz fresh lime juice

1 oz honey syrup

¼ cup diced pineapple (I used frozen)

¼ cup fresh mint leaves, packed

¾ cup crushed ice

Combine all the ingredients in a blender. Blend until smooth, then pour into a coupe. Top with more fresh mint.

MovieJawn Spring 2026 issue w/ Missionary’s Downfall

Shot in Technicolor with a jaunty soundtrack, this John Huston picture would make a great double feature with Father Goose. It takes a heavy topic like war and shows us it’s possible to find love, friendship, and connection amid untold atrocities. I laugh when Mitchum keeps calling Sister Angela “ma’am”, but I also clutch my heart when he risks death to steal a few cans of food from the Japanese. Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison is exactly the kind of movie I want for a Tiki pairing because there’s nothing better than a frosty cocktail and a hot man on this mid-century version of Temptation Island. Cheers!

*To find out more about MovieJawn, including subscription and Patreon options, visit: MovieJawn.com

Dramas

One Battle After Another

LizLockeLeave a comment
Image: One Battle After Another, 2025

Another Oscar season in the books means another Best Picture winner crowned, and this year, the honor went to One Battle After Another (Disc/Download). It’s been a long time since I felt like the recipient of this award actually was the best picture of a given year, but leave it to Paul Thomas Anderson to deliver a movie critics, voters, and this jaded moviegoer can all agree on. This calls for a celebratory cocktail.

I’ve been a superfan of PT Anderson since Boogie Nights, and while Magnolia remains my favorite of his films, One Battle After Another is a worthy addition to the California canon. In this tense thriller/drama, Leonardo DiCaprio plays a stoned revolutionary who must balance fighting the forces of evil with raising his teenage daughter. He sacrifices the excitement of the cause, along with his libido, to be the stay-at-home dad she needs, until the day his peace is threatened by the vengeful Colonel Lockjaw (Sean Penn, quite obviously playing Greg Bovino). This sets off a chain reaction of good guys on the run, bad guys in Patagonia vests calmly plotting the next Holocaust, and great teachers like Sensei Sergio just trying to help the people of his community.

As soon as I heard the phrase “The French 75”, I knew I loved this movie. A bunch of badass female fighters named after my favorite cocktail? Heck yes! I’ve already done the gin version of this drink on the blog, but a recent trip to New Orleans proved to me that the classic cognac version is where it’s at. While watching One Battle After Another, I recommend drinking this Classic French ’75.

Classic French ‘75

1 ½ oz cognac

½ oz simple syrup

½ oz lemon juice

2-3 oz champagne

Lemon twist

Combine cognac, simple syrup, and lemon juice in a shaker with ice. Shake to chill, then strain into a cocktail glass. Top with champagne, and garnish with a lemon twist.

Screenshot

It’s pretty amazing when script development, shooting schedules, and studio timelines all align to give us the movie we need at the exact moment we need it. Who could have predicted that all the chaos and horror of the last fifteen months would be happening right when One Battle After Another releases and sweeps award shows? I guess many people knew; perhaps people smarter or more cynical than me. Hollywood tends to reward movies that project a certain image of what the film community wants to believe of itself, and by awarding the Best Picture Oscar to One Battle After Another, Hollywood has sent a clear message that they do not stand with ICE. They’re telling us to have faith that this regime will be defeated, by The French 75s, or The Whiskey Sours, or whatever mocktail name sober Gen Z wants to give their coming revolution. I’ll be ready with the shaker. Cheers!

Dramas

The Cutting Edge

LizLocke2 Comments
Image: The Cutting Edge, 1992

The Winter Olympics may have snuck up on me this year, but that doesn’t mean I’m not fully prepared with the perfect watch. The Cutting Edge (Disc/Download) has everything I want from a figure skating competition, without the constant commentary and commercial breaks. These non-negotiables include: sequined costumes, sexual tension, and laughably terrible music. Who needs NBC?

Starring Moira Kelly as a bratty figure skater and D.B. Sweeney as her cocky partner, The Cutting Edge has all the hallmarks of a great enemies-to-lovers romance novel: snarky banter, characters who are somehow both the best in their respective fields, drunken confessions, and an impossible goal. Kate has clashed with every partner she’s ever had, so now she needs an arrogant hockey player to come in and upset her perfect world. He teaches her to relax a little, she makes him rediscover his competitive spirit, and together, they manage to pull off a flawless Pamchenko Twist. Do they win the gold? Who knows? Who cares! The kiss is the payoff, not the medal (although, I actually would like to know if they won the gold medal).

During Kate’s first Olympics attempt, her partner drops her flat on the ice. Moira Kelly’s butt must have been so sore making this movie! Let’s sooth those aches and pains with a drink best served ice cold, the Tequila Lemon Drop.

Tequila Lemon Drop

2 oz blanco tequila

¾ oz lemon juice

½ oz simple syrup

Sugar (rim)

Lemon Twist

Run a lemon wedge around the rim of a coupe glass, and dip in sugar. Set aside. Combine blanco tequila, lemon juice, and simple syrup in a shaker with ice. Shake to chill, then strain into prepared glass. Garnish with a lemon twist.

I don’t typically watch the Olympics, but I always enjoy movies set in this world. The drama, the rivalries, the grudges, the hook-ups—all the stuff you don’t get on TV. Plus, thanks to The Cutting Edge, I’m now familiar with what a toe pick is. Perhaps, a little too familiar… Cheers!

Action/Adventure/Heist · Comedies

The Princess Bride

LizLockeLeave a comment
Image: The Princess Bride, 1987

One movie has been requested more than any other in the decade-plus that I’ve been writing Cinema Sips, and with Valentine’s Day approaching, it seems like a great time to watch what is apparently everybody’s favorite storybook romance: The Princess Bride (Disc/Download).

Directed by the late, great Rob Reiner, this is a movie with a little bit of everything: swashbuckling action, comedy, kissing (gross), and even a tender friendship between a Spanish swordsman and his Giant friend. Told as a story from a grandfather to his grandson, this construct helps the viewer understand that the medieval tale we’re about to see is actually coming from the imagination of a child. The production design alternates between cheesy backdrops and actual locations, and the plot seems to have a million different things going on because this is what it is to be a child—everything seems big and scary and important and exciting, all at once! Romance viewers will connect with Buttercup, the farm girl-turned-fiancé of the villainous Prince Humperdinck, and her true love Westley, who has become the Dread Pirate Roberts in the years since they parted. Westley must now rescue Buttercup from Humperdinck, but first he has to rescue her from a ragtag group of kidnappers, each with their own motivations and grievances.

In terms of alcohol, there’s a great scene involving poisoned wine, and while you’re welcome to open a bottle of your favorite red, I’m incorporating it into this frothy sour. While you’re watching The Princess Bride, I recommend drinking an “As You Wish”-key Sour!

“As You Wish”-key Sour

2 oz rye whiskey

1 oz lemon juice

¾ oz simple syrup

1 egg white

½ oz red wine

Pour the rye, lemon juice, simple syrup, and egg white into a shaker. Shake for thirty seconds, then add ice. Shake for another thirty seconds until chilled and frothy. Strain into a rocks glass filled with fresh ice. Slowly pour the red wine over the back of the bar spoon, to float on top of the drink.

Although this is admittedly not my all-time favorite movie, I can appreciate how much other people love it. I think it’s fantastic when any story connects with fans on such a deep level that they’re tattooing “Have fun storming the castle!” on themselves, or standing at the altar as a clergyman or friend proclaims, “Mawwwage is what brings us together.” Ultimately, it’s movies that bring us together, no matter what kind of fan you are. Cheers!

*NOTE: I highly recommend the Criterion edition of The Princess Bride, which contains special features I enjoyed even more than the film itself!

Comedies

The Weather Man

LizLockeLeave a comment
Image: The Weather Man, 2005

While Phil Connors might be THE prognosticator of prognosticators (or maybe it’s the groundhog…), there’s another cinema weather guy who happens to be just as skilled with the green screen: Dave Spritz in this week’s film The Weather Man (Disc/Download). If you watched Groundhog Day and thought, let’s do this again but make it darker, funnier, and more relatable, then you’re in luck: Gore Verbinski has given us a winter weather movie for everyone who feels stuck, though not necessarily in a time loop.

Starring Nicolas Cage as Chicago weatherman Dave Spritz, this film is less about meteorology and more about the small tragedies and triumphs of everyday life. As Dave tries (and fails) to predict the “Spritz Nipper” of the week, his family is falling apart. His son is being groomed by a pedophile, his daughter is walking around oblivious to her camel toe, his ex-wife has moved on with Joe Jr. from While You Were Sleeping, and his famous writer dad (played by Michael Caine) was just diagnosed with terminal cancer. Did I mention this is a comedy? In one of Nic Cage’s best performances, Spritz has to navigate his shortcomings as a husband/father/son along with his relative success as a weatherman. Every public interaction is potential for disaster—either he’ll disappoint someone asking for an autograph, or they’ll be mad about the forecast and throw fast food at him from a moving car. The guy can’t win, but that doesn’t stop him from trying.

One of my favorite food assaults comes when our beleaguered weatherman gets a McDonald’s apple pie thrown at him. If you’ve ever had one of these pies, you know the middle is incredibly sticky and tenacious. Dave is now forced to attend his dad’s living funeral with apple pie smeared all over his winter coat. Oddly, the pie smear follows him through multiple scenes, an indicator that he’s pretty much given up on life. While watching The Weather Man, conjure the flavors of McDonald’s apple pie with this Spritz Nipper.

Spritz Nipper

2 oz apple brandy

1 oz cinnamon syrup

1 oz lemon juice

3 oz hard cider

1 oz sparkling water

Cinnamon stick garnish

Build drink over ice, stirring gently to combine. Garnish with a cinnamon stick.

The Weather Man is a movie I always think about when our local guy is lamenting the nasty comments people leave on his social media channels after a big storm shifts track, or we don’t get the rain we so desperately needed. As Spritz learns, it’s all just wind. You can’t predict it with a hundred percent accuracy, and you certainly can’t control it. All you can do is live your life like a Bob Seger song—like a rock. Cheers!