Hit Me With Your Best Shot: 'Paris Is Burning'

/

We're thrilled to participate once again in The Film Experience's long-running series Hit Me With Your Best Shot, in which the film blog masses choose their favorite shot from selected movies.

Cinemunch is still out of the country, but Nathaniel's pick for this round of HMWYBS left us with no choice but to participate. The timeless portrait of a sub-sub-culture Paris Is Burning reveals new layers with each viewing and continues to influence pop culture today (see RuPaul's Drag Race for the most obvious example).

By the end of the documentary's short running time, the concept of identity has been prodded, poked, and challenged, leaving us wondering who we are and what relevance that question even has to our lives. The movie also places firmly in Nathan's top five of all time. If you haven't seen this one, head over to Netflix to watch it now!

First Runner-Up

Vogueing on the piers. Pushed to the water's edge, the fringes of society. 

Best Shot

Venus Xtravaganza gets her chance to look us in the eye, her one shot at permanence in the midst of the setting sun and the winds carrying music out and away over the water.

Hit Me With Your Best Shot: 'The Sound of Music'

/

We're thrilled to participate once again in The Film Experience's long-running series Hit Me With Your Best Shot, in which the film blog masses choose their favorite shot from selected movies. 

I'm going to keep this short because the CineMunch team may or may not be out of the country. But away or not, we can't pass up the chance to weigh in on a movie musical that has enchanted generations of gay lads (and lads and lasses of all stripes) AND that made our top ten moments of this year's Oscars ceremony.

I associate The Sounds of Music with all things light and carefree. From songs on mountaintops to impromptu puppet shows to new play clothes fashioned from drapes, Maria always knew the way to a kid's heart.

And that's why this shot always stood out for me. As a child I missed the sense of dread in the first act, and I tuned out the adult characters' tiresome conversations.

Only here did I finally see that something in their world was very, very wrong.

Georg von Trapp's act of defiance tears the innocence of the film to shreds. This is no drape; it's a symbol he won't allow on his body.

A pity that just when everything came together for the children, their world was upended. But maybe Maria prepared them for that, too.

Top 10 Moments of the 87th Academy Awards

/
Top 10 Moments of the 87th Academy Awards

And that's a wrap!

A truly unpredictable awards season boiled down to two seemingly atypical choices for the Academy in Birdman and Boyhood, and, in the end, it was the film that most spoke to artists and those in the industry that prevailed, as Birdman was selected best of the year. Much like last year, most of the front-runners walked away victorious, but that didn't seem to help us with our predictions. Matt went 17/24 while Nathan ended with 13/24.

It was an inflated telecast that certainly dragged in spots (who on Earth only scheduled the show to take three hours? They had to know that was never going to happen), but many of the winners (and even some of the presenters - not sure what was up with Terrence Howard) gave emotional, candid speeches that enlivened the proceedings. And our Oscar menu never let us down. Never have we been happier to have three drink options. 

Before we put the 2014 film year to bed for good, let's count down our top ten favorite moments from the 87th Annual Academy Awards.

Read More

Final 2014 Oscar Predictions

/
Final 2014 Oscar Predictions

Greetings, Oscar geeks! It's been a thrilling and unpredictable year with lots of films and performances worth celebrating (see our top ten lists for the year here and here, and find out who among the nominees we'd vote for if we had a ballot). There are a handful of categories that seem locked up (congrats in advance Julianne Moore, J.K. Simmons, and Patricia Arquette!), but the vast majority of these races are true nail-biters. Including Best Picture!

Hunker down, pour yourself a beverage (we'll be starting with the Lemon Thyme Gin Sparkler), and follow along with our sure-to-be-inaccurate predictions below! For more detailed analysis have a listen to our final predictions podcast or click on each category header to be taken to that page.

Read More

If We Had a Ballot 2014

/
If We Had a Ballot 2014

What follows is a hypothetical scenario in which we are Academy voters who commit the ultimate sin of showing you our completed ballots.

Note: Like many Oscar voters, we could go through the motions of voting in all 24 races, but, for the sake of honesty (and what we hope the real voters practice), we'll abstain from the categories where we have yet to see all the nominees. So no Animated Feature, Foreign Film, or Documentary Short.

Check out who or what we're rooting for after the jump!

Read More

CineDrunk: Final 2014 Oscar Predictions

/

Oscar weekend is here! Listen in as we drunkenly babble on about our predictions and personal favorites in all 24 Oscar categories. With little consensus and lots of unpredictability, it's going to be an exciting year!

 
budapestdrink
 

CineDrunk: Romantic Comedy Showdown

/
Credit: Laura Sant for Saveur

Credit: Laura Sant for Saveur

Before Saint Valentine returns from beyond the grave to make us fall in love and buy greeting cards and feel all warm and fuzzy (two days left until no one's favorite holiday!), it's time to engage in some cinematic bloodsport.

That's right, it's time for another showdown (to the death, naturally), this one for the title of Best Romantic Comedy.

Join us for an episode full of romantic highs and lows and more than a few marital spats. And if you listen in on iTunes and like what you hear, spread the love (get it?) by rating the podcast. This will help our visibility immensely. Thank you, and enjoy! 

Elderflower Old Fashioned
adapted from Saveur

2½ oz. bourbon
½ oz. St. Germain
2–3 dashes Angostura bitters or 1-2 dashes      
     blood orange bitters
Strip of lemon zest, for garnish

Fill a martini shaker or large glass with ice. Add bourbon, St. Germain, and bitters and stir until very chilled. Strain into a rocks glass with a large cube of ice. Garnish with lemon zest.

ROUND ONE (Winner in bold)

#1: City Lights (1931) vs. #32: Silver Linings Playbook (2012)

#16: Clueless (1995) vs. #17: Chasing Amy (1997)

#9: Moonstruck (1987) vs. #24: Notting Hill (1999)

#8: The Princess Bride (1987) vs. #25: Bridget Jones's Diary (2001)

#4: The Philadelphia Story (1940) vs. #29: Knocked Up (2007)

#13: Sleepless in Seattle (1993) vs. #20: The Wedding Singer (1998)

#12: Groundhog Day (1993) vs. #21: There's Something About Mary (1998)

#5: The African Queen (1951) vs. #28: The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005)

#2: It Happened One Night (1934) vs. #31: (500) Days of Summer (2009)

#15: While You Were Sleeping (1995) vs. #18: My Best Friend's Wedding (1997)

#10: When Harry Met Sally (1989) vs. #23: 10 Things I Hate About You (1999)

#7: Annie Hall (1977) vs. #26: Love Actually (2005)

#3: His Girl Friday (1940) vs. #30: Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008)

#14: Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994) vs. #19: As Good As It Gets (1997)

#11: Pretty Woman (1990) vs. #22: You've Got Mail (1998)

#6: The Apartment (1960) vs. #27: 13 Going on 30 (2004)

Also listen and subscribe via iTunes.

Matt's Top 10 Films of 2014

/
Matt's Top 10 Films of 2014

For a while it looked like 2014 would go down as a very weak year in cinema. It took time for me to come down from the high of Gravity the year before, and the first half of the year didn't impress (save for a few sprinkles of quality here and there). Thankfully, the second half of 2014 offered up a feast of treats that were varied in flavor--some as nuanced as a bite of small-batch cheese, others as satisfying as chocolate chip cookies fresh out of the oven (this is CineMunch, we're allowed to use food imagery as often as we'd like). 

As is always the case, this list is incomplete and in flux (I just finished my 2013 list after all). I average 100 or so films any given calendar year, and, as you can see from our current list of films screened, I'm sitting at a (relatively paltry) 65. Simple statistics say that I have yet to see one or two films that will weasel their way into this top tier, but for now (or as of January 26th when we recorded our end-of-the-year podcast) these were the final ten.

But first, some necessary Honorable Mentions! 

Read More

Nathan's Top 10 Movies of 2014

/
Nathan's Top 10 Movies of 2014

It's that time. What were my top ten movies of 2014? Truthfully, I could use another few weeks to see some key titles and second-guess my opinions, but that's not going to happen. Plus, in two weeks we'll be out of the country celebrating Matt's 30th birthday. (Don't tell him I told you his age.)

So, now? Yes, now's a good time.

Overall, 2014 was full of solid movies, some that pushed the boundaries of the craft and many that stuck with me for other reasons. We saw Lupita Nyong'o and Julianne Moore fly non-stop, CGI apes give new meaning to the term emotional resonance, and a reclusive nanny gain posthumous fame.

Not surprising, then, that my second tier films for 2014 included scores of titles deserving of a shout out. For my own sanity I've whittled them down to just seven honorable mentions in addition to my top ten, but I'll never forget you, The Babadook, Edge of Tomorrow, and Obvious Child (among others).

Shall we begin?

Read More