CineDrunk: Emmys & the Best of Television 2016

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With TV's glitterati set to honor themselves at the Emmy Awards this coming Sunday, we recently gathered the CineDrunk crew for another (indulgent) TeleDrunk extravaganza/eleganza. 

In an (unsuccessful) effort to avoid inane predictions and meandering discussion, we each crafted a trio of top five lists: our favorite nominations, our favorite performances, and our favorite shows from the 2015-2016 TV season.

Credit: Bee Raw

Our drink of choice this time 'round comes from the master mixologists at Bee Raw (a company to which we have no affiliation, we swear). Their guide to honey cocktails has made us regulars at the liquor store and given us a new favorite for everyday drinking: the Bee's Knees.

With ingredients this simple, we recommend buying the best quality you can afford. (At the very least squeeze your lemons fresh.) Your tastebuds will... buzz with approval.

Bee's Knees
recipe from Bee Raw

4 parts London Dry Gin
1½ parts lemon juice
1½ parts Bee Raw Honey simple syrup

1. Combine gin, lemon juice and honey simple syrup in a cocktail
mixing glass.
2. Fill halfway with ice and stir until well chilled, about 30
seconds.
3. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
4. Garnish with lemon twist.
5. Get your buzz on.

The Creative Arts Emmys were held over the weekend (where Nathan's fifth favorite AND most favorite nomination from this year became a winner), while the main event airs this Sunday, September 18 on ABC. Matt's final predictions to come!

CineDrunk: Favorite Actors Without Oscar Nominations

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Credit: Elizabeth Perrin

Credit: Elizabeth Perrin

Another month, another random match-up to determine our favorite... something. This time, it's our favorite actors who have yet to receive an Oscar nomination.

Our criteria: actors must be alive and working, and have come close to an Oscar nomination in the past or at least been in the awards conversation at some point in their career. Many were considered, but to narrow the field we had to leave a great many talented folks off the list (sorry, Kevin Bacon, Lisa Kudrow, and Gugu Mbatha-Raw).

Our 32 finalists are listed below. Have a listen to discover who emerged victorious!

Modified Martinez
adapted from Saveur

2 oz gin
2 oz dry vermouth
3/4 oz Luxardo maraschino liqueur
a splash of Unicum

Measure all ingredients into a cocktail shaker over ice. Shake vigorously. Strain into a martini glass and enjoy.

Jamie Bell • Maria Bello • Gael Garcia Bernal • Paul Bettany • Emily Blunt • Jim Carrey •
Jeff Daniels • Julie Delpy • Cameron Diaz • Kirsten Dunst • Colin Farrell • Richard Gere •
Jeff Goldblum • John Goodman • Hugh Grant • Oscar Isaac • Allison Janney •
Scarlett Johansson • Michael B. Jordan • Steve Martin • James McAvoy • Ewan McGregor • Catherine O'Hara • David Oyelowo • Guy Pearce • Sam Rockwell • Meg Ryan • Andy Serkis • Martin Sheen • Donald Sutherland • Kristen Wiig • Shailene Woodley

2016 Emmy Nominations Predictions

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2016 Emmy Nominations Predictions

Nominations for the 68th Annual Emmy Awards, honoring the best of the best in television, will be announced tomorrow, July 14th. While the television academy rarely strays from their well-tread path of favorites in selecting their nominees, there were enough departing series (namely Mad Men) or shows that didn't air new episodes during the past year (like Louie) to free up at least one slot in almost every category - meaning there's still room for Frasier or The West Wing to nab a nomination or two! ...I'm mostly kidding. Below are my last-minute predictions in 16 of the top categories.

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CineDrunk: Best & Worst of 2016 So Far

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The year is half over, which is as good an excuse as any to dust off our ball gowns, fill the champagne flutes and hand out some awards. Oh, first-six-months-of-2016, we barely knew ye.

In the podcast that follows we recount our favorite and least favorite films we've seen so far, and we cook up some new superlatives like Most WTF Moment, Best Ass, and the Goofy Granny Award. (Hint: the winner is one of America's bushiest.) Listen in as we crown the jewels of Winter/Spring with our favorite libations in hand.

CineDrunk: Favorite 90s Kids' Movies Showdown

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We're baaaaaaack! And we're joined by some special guests for this special edition of CineDrunk! Welcome, Nora and Cameron--fellow '90s kids who experienced no small part of their childhoods at the multiplex.

When nostalgia hangs in the balance, a vote against your favorite film can feel like a shot to the heart, so our showdown of '90s kids movies got extra heated. We chose our 32 contenders by popular vote, excluding films already allocated to other brackets. (Home Alone, you went too far in our Holiday Film Showdown. Sorry, Space Jam - hope to see you in our Sports Movies Showdown this summer!) And somehow a 1989 release slipped into the mix, but we'll skip over that in the hopes you won't notice or mind...

Our drink, of course, was an adult Shirley Temple. Lemon/Lime soda, grenadine, and a generous shot (or three) of gin. Like adults do, we got a little rowdy, so apologies for the audio quality near the end (blame a bag of candy someone thought was best to place right next to the microphone). Mix yourself a drink and listen in!

The 32 finalists were: Angels in the Outfield, Beethoven, Blank Check, Casper, Cool Runnings, Dennis the Menace, Dunston Checks In, First Kid, Fly Away Home, Free Willy, Harriet the Spy, Heavyweights, Hocus Pocus, Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey, Honey I Shrunk the Kids, Hook, The Indian in the Cupboard, It Takes Two, Jumanji, A Kid in King Arthur's Court, The Little Rascals, Matilda, The Mighty Ducks, MouseHunt, Mrs. Doubtfire, The Parent Trap, Richie Rich, Rookie of the Year, The Sandlot, 3 Ninjas, Tom & Huck, and The Witches.

Also listen and subscribe via iTunes.

Final 2015 Oscar Predictions

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Final 2015 Oscar Predictions

The time has come, Oscar geeks! Pencils down, ball gowns on! 2015 was a great year in film (see our top ten lists for the year here), and we're excited to put a bow on it and celebrate with the 88th Annual Academy Awards tonight on ABC. It has been one truly exciting and unpredictable Oscar season with lots of films and performances worthy of attention...and some not (find out who among the nominees we'd vote for if we had a ballot). As usual, there are a few sure things (congrats, Leo!) and some tight battles (Costume Design, the Sound categories), but the most thrilling race of all will be decided with the final envelope, as this just might be the craziest Best Picture race I've seen in my almost 20 years of prognosticating!

Hunker down, pour yourself a beverage (we'll be starting with a glass of Scotchlight), and follow along with our sure-to-be-inaccurate predictions below! For more detailed analysis, have a listen to our final predictions podcast or, for full rankings, click on each category header below.

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If We Had an Oscar Ballot 2015

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If We Had an Oscar Ballot 2015

What follows is a hypothetical scenario in which we are Academy voters who commit the ultimate sin of showing you our completed ballots. Never mind that ballots were due several days ago - we're professional procrastinators.

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 (though Inside Out might get a vote from us anyway), Foreign Film (where we'd possibly cast a vote each for Son of Saul and Mustang), or Documentary Short.

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