February 28, 2016

Final 2015 Oscar Predictions

February 28, 2016/ Matt

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.

February 14, 2016

CineDrunk: Best of 2015 - Top Ten Lists

February 14, 2016/ CineMunch

It's that time of year! We've seen more than one hundred 2015 movies, so it's high time we rank them--unmercifully.

Just kidding, we're as giddy as BB-8 to talk about this impressive crop of films. And we do just that in our latest CineDrunk podcast. Without further ado, our long-awaited top ten episode in which we are drunk on movies, lists, and celery martinis. Cheers!

Celery Martini
(adapted from Saveur)

2 oz London Dry Gin
1.5 oz lemon juice
1.5 oz dry vermouth
celery salt
lime wedge
celery hearts

Rim a martini glass with lime wedge and celery salt. Fill a cocktail shaker with ice and add gin, lemon juice, and vermouth. Shake vigorously and strain into rimmed glass. Garnish with a celery heart.

Watch the blog in the coming days for our full write-ups on the films that were most special to us in 2015. Want more? You can't possibly, but there's more anyway! Below is a short (we promise!) bonus podcast where we discuss even more films we loved from last year, though not quite enough to make any of our lists. Spiked hot chocolate is involved.

Also listen and subscribe to CineDrunk via iTunes.

January 13, 2016

Final 2015 Oscar Nominations Predictions

January 13, 2016/ Matt

The day we've all been waiting for has arrived! Or maybe just me and a handful of other nerds, I guess. The 88th Annual Academy Awards nominations will be announced Thursday morning in two batches beginning at 8:30am ET (you can view both announcements live at the Oscars website or the second announcement on most major news programs at 8:38am ET). The nominees will be announced live in all 24 categories by directors Guillermo del Toro and Ang Lee, actor John Krasinski, and Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs.

2015 delivered an abundance of quality films (we here at CineMunch will have our top ten lists and year-end superlatives ready for the public early next month), and I'm hopeful this year's crop of nominees reflect that quality. Knowing the Oscars though, they probably won't (I'm looking in your direction, Helen Mirren). Some of this year's categories are the most fluid and difficult to predict I've ever encountered in my 15+ years of prognosticating (Best Supporting Actor is wildly competitive), so there are bound to be some surprises.

Unlike my impressive performance last year (where I placed first on awards betting site GoldDerby out of more than 3,000 participants and experts), I expect to do considerably less well this year. I'll predict my overall prediction accuracy rate is somewhere around 72%. Look at me predicting my own predictions - someone stop me! Read on for my final nominations predictions.

September 13, 2015

2015 Fall Movie Preview: Most Anticipated Films

September 13, 2015/ CineMunch

The summer movie season has nestled in for its brief hibernation (we crowned our favorites of the summer that was in our latest podcast), so with the heat and superheroes behind us, we eagerly turn to the promise of fall and all the riches it has to offer us at the cinema. Sticking with a glass half full (of gin) optimism, we've doubled the list of films from the ten titles we most anticipated last fall -- a list that included a few gems like Birdman, and some stinkers (*cough Big Eyes cough*). Below you'll find the twenty movies we're most excited for this year (ten for each of us, in order by US release date), plus one sequel that you might possibly be familiar with. Clicking on a film's title takes you to the movie's trailer.

July 06, 2015

CineDrunk: Summer Movies 2015 So Far

July 06, 2015/ CineMunch

Now that we're heading into peak summer season it's time to evaluate which movies have hit that sweet-spot of nostalgia and originality. So in our latest podcast we consider the movies that have topped the box office so far this summer movie season (except you, Tomorrowland). (Also, Mad Max didn't get to #1, but it's still a success...so, whatever.)

Easy summer livin' calls for an easy drink. Behold:

Photo bomb. #cinedrunk #gin #rosemary #catsofinstagram

"Photo bomb. #cinedrunk #gin #rosemary #catsofinstagram"

Rosemary Gin Fizz

1/2 oz. rosemary-infused simple syrup
1.5 oz. fresh lemon juice
1.5 oz gin
club soda

Add 4 sprigs rosemary to a small pot. Add 1 cup each water and sugar and heat until sugar is dissolved. For each cocktail, muddle rosemary in the bottom of a glass with simple syrup and lemon juice. Add gin and top with club soda.

Scout was a fan (as seen to the right)!

This episode sees the debut of our new rating system: How many of what type of alcoholic drink do you need to consume before viewing this film? Before listening, see if you can match up how we rated each of the six films we discussed: