CineDrunk Episode 10: Holiday Film Showdown

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Happy Christmas (2014)

Oh, is it the holiday season? We're told that it is, which means another movie showdown is in order! In this installment, we pit our favorite holiday screen stories against each other in a battle to the death. Because, you know, the season of candles and trees and reindeer is also the season of family meals and frostbite and the Snowman House of Horror.

This time around we had a little help from our friends gin and tonic, along with a merry drink you can call on for those times when you just want to say "I've given up" without actually saying "I've given up." Behold, the power of Irish cream:

Bailey's Chocolate Cherry Martini

1.5 oz Vodka
2 oz Bailey's Chocolate Cherry

Measure ingredients, or don't. Shake with ice in a cocktail shaker. Pour into a martini glass. Start political arguments with fringe relatives about fringe issues.

Happy holidays, and happy listening!

ROUND ONE (Winners in bold)

#1: Meet Me in St. Louis (1944) vs. #32: Happy Christmas (2014)

#16: The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) vs. #17: The Santa Clause (1994)

#9: Die Hard (1988) vs. #24: About a Boy (2002)

#8: Gremlins (1988) vs. #25: Elf (2003)

#4: White Christmas (1954) vs. #29: The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe (2005)

#13: Home Alone (1990) vs. #20: Jingle All the Way (1996)

#12: National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989) vs. #21: How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)

#5: A Christmas Story (1983) vs. #28: Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)

#2: It's a Wonderful Life (1946) vs. #31: The Holiday (2006)

#15: The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992) vs. #18: Little Women (1994)

#10: Scrooged (1988) vs. #23: Bridget Jones's Diary (2001)

#7: Muppet Family Christmas (1987) vs. #26: Love Actually (2003)

#3: Miracle on 34th Street (1947) vs. #30: The Family Stone (2005)

#14: Batman Returns (1992) vs. #19: While You Were Sleeping (1995)

#11: When Harry Met Sally (1989) vs. #22: The Family Man (2000)

#6: Lethal Weapon (1987) vs. #27: Bad Santa (2003)

Also listen and subscribe via iTunes.

CineDrunk Episode 8: Horror Movie Showdown

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Not-So-Bloody Orange Cocktail

It may not be March but we're entrenched in our own brand of madness here at CineMunch. That's right, it's time for another movie bracket blowout. This time we sent to battle the greatest horror movies of all time (as judged by three 20-somethings and two 4-month-old felines).

Of course a battle of the spooks requires spooky drinks:

Bloody Orange Cocktail
(Adapted from Sam Henderson of Today's Nest, as posted on HGTV.com)
Yield: 4 servings

4 oz vodka
2 oz orange bitters
8 oz Orange Crush
2 cups fresh raspberries
1/4 cup sugar
Orange wedges for garnish

1. Puree 2 cups of fresh raspberries in a food processor. Press the puree through a fine mesh strainer. Discard seeds and any remaining pulp.

2. Place the puree in a small saucepan with sugar. Heat over medium-low heat, stirring frequently until thick and dark (about 10 minutes) and let cool.

3. Add vodka and bitters to a shaker with ice, and shake until very cold (about 20 seconds). Add Orange Crush and stir. Pour into iced glasses.

4. Artfully drizzle the raspberry syrup atop each drink and garnish with an orange wedge.


Liquefied Ghost (aka Hellacious Ghost)
(Adapted from Janelle Maiocco of TalkOfTomatoes.com, as posted at the Cooking Channel)
Yield: 4 servings

8 oz vodka
4 oz vanilla simple syrup
4 oz half and half
8 oz cream soda

1. Mix all ingredients in a cocktail shaker, then serve in chilled martini glasses.


After you mix your drinks, check out the Round One match-ups below, and listen to the full podcast to find out which was crowned greatest horror movie of all time!

ROUND ONE (Winners in bold)

#1: Psycho (1960) vs. #32: The Conjuring (2013)

#16: A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) vs. #17: April Fool's Day (1986)

#9: Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) vs. #24: The Others (2001)

#8: Halloween (1978) vs. #25: The Ring (2002)

#4: The Exorcist (1973) vs. #29: Drag Me to Hell (2009)

#13: Poltergeist (1982) vs. #20: I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997)

#12: The Shining (1980) vs. #21: Urban Legend (1998)

#5: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) vs. #28: Saw (2004)

#2: The Birds (1963) vs. #31: Insidious (2011)

#15: Children of the Corn (1984) vs. #18: The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

#10: Alien (1979) vs. #23: The Sixth Sense (1999)

#7: Carrie (1976) vs. #26: 28 Days Later... (2003)

#3: Rosemary's Baby (1968) vs. #30: Paranormal Activity (2009)

#14: Sleepaway Camp (1983) vs. #19: Scream (1996)

#11: Friday the 13th (1980) vs. #22: The Blair Witch Project (1999)

#6: The Omen (1976) vs. #27: Dawn of the Dead (2004)

Also listen and subscribe via iTunes.

Fall Movie Preview: Our Most Anticipated Films

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Fall Movie Preview: Our Most Anticipated Films

Now that we've returned from a little post-Labor Day getaway, it's time to accept that facts are facts. It's fall, y'all, and summer's not coming back.

While we may miss the sunny weather, carefree spirit, and hot garbage smells of the past few months, we're entering an even more exciting time for cinephiles: prestige film season! It's a problem that seems to get worse every year: studios release their awards ponies later and later in the year, until the last trimester is so full of must-sees that no one has time to see or make sense of them all. And when it comes time for awards voters to vote? It's that much harder to remember anything before early September. Final trimester films get the votes, and the cycle continues.

Despite our qualms about studios' release date shenanigans, a bevy of (mostly) quality movies is a bevy of (mostly) quality movies. AND WE SHALL SEE THEM ALL.

After the jump, check out our most-anticipated films for the remainder of 2014, and let us know what films are on your list!

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2014 Emmy Awards Predictions

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2014 Emmy Awards Predictions

Television's best will be celebrated tonight at the 66th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards (8pm ET on NBC). Below you'll find my predictions (in the probable order they'll be announced). The Emmys can either award the same performers and shows relentlessly for years on end or it can be notoriously difficult to predict just what they might like in any given year, so take these with a grain of salt (or several grains of salt surrounding a margarita glass filled with tequila). 

CineMunch will be live-tweeting our thoughts throughout the evening, so don't forget to follow along with us on Twitter @CineMunch.

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Where to See AFI Classic Movies on the Big Screen: The Ultimate List

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Where to See AFI Classic Movies on the Big Screen: The Ultimate List

Let's say you committed yourself, in a moment of insanity, to watching all 400 nominated movies from the most recent AFI 100 Years... 100 Movies list. If you were foolish enough to do this, you'd want to do it right. (Read: watching grainy videos downloaded from Sockshare on your cell phone during your subway commute doesn't cut it.)

These are classics. They're meant to be experienced on the big screen, where they can be not only watched but also savored, not only seen but felt.

Well, if you happen to live in NYC-area and are as crazy as us, you're going to want to read on.

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The AFI Challenge: The List Is Up!

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As promised, we've compiled a master list of the 400 films we need to watch to complete The AFI Challenge. It's a living list that we'll update frequently, and as we go we'll be adding links to reviews and other relevant posts.

Here's to watching ever more motion pictures! Have you attempted anything similar to this? Let us know how it went in the comments below!

Conquering the AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies Nominations List

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We're embarking on a new project here at CineMunch. With the realization that the third(!?) installment of the American Film Institute's Top 100 Films list is coming in less than three years*--and with it a few personal milestones of our own (the end of our 20sWHAT!?)--we've decided to buck up and take on the classic-movie challenge of all classic-movie challenges: watching all 400 nominated films from the AFI's 10th Anniversary list.

Call it Beach Body Insanity for the sedentary set.

We have our work cut out for us: 196 films as-yet-unseen by both of us, plus 64 more that only Nathan hasn't seen and 2 more (ha!) for Matt. All with a deadline of January 1, 2017. But we will persevere, because what is this life but an excuse to set arbitrary challenges for ourselves?

Of course this isn't entirely arbitrary. Yes, critics have perhaps rightly criticized the AFI's list for being too much of a popularity contest, and yes it's disappointing that every foreign film in the history of ever is by definition excluded. But we also know we have a long way to go in educating ourselves on movies from before our time (we tend to focus on what's here and what's now), and popularity contests have always helped reveal what makes a culture tick.

In any case, we encourage you to play along (stay tuned for the master list of films!), and we appreciate your words of encouragement, especially for the much-feared collection of Westerns (ugh) that await us.

First up is Gone With the Wind, a catch-up for Nathan, which we'll be watching for The Film Experience's brilliant series Hit Me With Your Best Shot. (We previously participated in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and L.A. Confidential.)

So there you have it. The declaration is public. The deadline set. Bring on the films.

*At least, everyone in the industry seems to agree that A) there will be another list and B) it will come out, like clockwork, in 2017. Let's hope that's the case.

Jim Carrey's 10 Greatest Performances

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Jim Carrey's 10 Greatest Performances

As we near the end of Eternal Sunshine Week here at CineMunch, I thought I'd take a moment to highlight who I think gives the best performance in the film (and this is a film featuring several 'best' performances): Jim Carrey as Joel Barish. Kate Winslet may get all the praise (and Oscar nominations), and, indeed, she turns in a stellar, uninhibited gem of a performance that even she agrees was a turning point in her career, but it's Carrey who grounds the film with his expressive face and beating heart. I fall for him every time.

Though I've always loved Jim Carrey. His ascendance in 1994 with Dumb & Dumber, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, and The Mask was catnip to my 10-year-old self. I watched The Mask on repeat, and I even dressed as Ace Ventura for Halloween that year (though at the last minute I decided I didn't like the mask that came with the costume and instead opted to be a butterfly -- the gay in me won out on that one, I guess). His exaggerated comedic style really clicked with me (as I'm sure it did with many young men), but as I aged, so did Carrey as an actor. 

His days as a titan of the box office are likely behind him, but over the years he's proved his worth as more than just a celebrity. He continues to pick interesting projects (though more I Love You Phillip Morrises than Yes Mans, please), and I have hope that one day he'll get the respect as an accomplished actor that I think he deserves (or at least an overdue tip of the hat from Oscar). 

Not to bury the lede, but we all know what #1 is. Join me anyway as we count backwards through Jim's ten best screen performances.

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The Defining Film of the 2000s

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1. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

This Wednesday, March 19, marks the 10-year anniversary of the release of one of the greatest films in the history of humans, and, for me, the film that most defines the first decade of this century. It's almost unfair how perfectly every element of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind comes together to create one of the most profound, stimulating, and moving pieces of art I'm likely ever to experience. From the mind of known genius Charlie Kaufman, the script alone would rank as one of mankind's greatest achievements, but when visionary director Michel Gondry put those words to the screen (with an incomparable cast led by two of my favorite actors of all-time, Jim Carrey & Kate Winslet), it was transcendent. I could never erase this film, these images, those characters, that music from my mind - Eternal Sunshine is a part of me.

So: Happy Eternal Sunshine Week! We'll keep the celebration going all week long with various features and commemorations, so stick around and cancel that appointment at Lacuna, Inc. 

Catch #10-#2 of the decade here.

My Top 10 Defining Films of 2000-2009

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My Top 10 Defining Films of 2000-2009

By the end of the year we'll be halfway through the second decade of the 21st century, so it's the perfect time to look back on the first decade, yes? Well, I'm going to anyway. Humor me. This list does not necessarily comprise what I think are the 10 greatest films of the decade, but rather the ten (plus) movies I think of when I think of the years 2000-2009. It was a defining decade for me: At its start, I was a freshman in high school; by its end, I had moved to New York City with the guy I would eventually marry (hey, Munch!). The films I saw in those ten years proved just as influential as my out-of-theater experiences and deepened my love of the cinema (and, for better or often worse, the Oscars). 

Again, if I were to compile a ranking of the "best" films of the aughts (have we decided that's what we're calling that decade or is this still up for debate? the 2000s?), it would look slightly different than the following in both the movies included and their placement on the list. And full disclosure that I'm totally cheating with numbers six, eight, and nine...but, my list, my rules.

First, several honorable mentions:

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