Movie Tagline: Once in a lifetime you get a chance to do something different
Summertime is upon us once again. For all you tan, social, outdoorsy types, that means two things: beer and baseball. Luckily for you, the pasty, red-eyed, ghoulish folks here at Cinemarone have got the perfect pairing for the summer. We have the hilariously heartwarming, female empowering, Geena Davis starring, feel-good movie of 1992, A League of Their Own, paired up with the smooth, refreshing, peachy goodness that is O'Fallon Brewery's Wheach, or Peach Wheat Beer. A League of Their Own is a quintessential summer movie. It is arguably director Penny Marshall's best movie (the only real contender for that title would be Big, another Tom Hanks movie) and it must have seemed like a breath of fresh air in a year that saw such dark and/or heavy movies as Unforgiven, Bram Stoker's Dracula, Basic Instinct, Alien 3, The Crying Game, Candyman, Malcolm X, Bad Lieutenant (the original, not the Ridiculous Cage one), and A Few Good Men. To paraphrase: There's no bloody final shootout in baseball. There's no Ice Pick Killer in baseball. There's no surprise penis in baseball. You get the picture. But, in case you don't: There's no "We didn't land on Plymouth Rock, Plymouth Rock landed on us" in baseball. There's no "You can't handle the truth" in baseball. Okay, now that I've got that out of my system, let's continue. A League of Their Own tells the story of the first year of the AAGPBL, which came about because of World War II. With so many able-bodied men fighting in the war, there weren't enough of them left to put together a proper season of baseball. The obvious solution: the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. While the movie treats the idea of an all-women baseball league as something that took the unwashed masses a while to get used to, in reality the AAGPBL was a huge hit from the outset. But that's a minor difference that only helps to add another dimension to the story, so it's hard to fault the screenwriters for it. All in all, the movie is a fairly accurate depiction of the events as they took place. Many of the characters were either inspired by or directly based on real people. The women who played in the league were actually required to attend charm and beauty school. Tom Hanks is a notorious urinater. All of these things are real. And the Rockford Peaches, which the movie follows, are the inspiration for this pairing. Because nothing says summer like a peach. And there's no better peach beer than O'Fallon Wheach. Wheach is a smooth, clean wheat beer in its own right. The fresh peach flavor is an added bonus. It is a light and refreshing brew, with a moderate amount of carbonation, making it good for any occasion. But summer is when this one really shines. Its crisp, fruity flavor and low bitterness make this one so good on a hot day, especially when you are floating down the river sipping it out of a can. Or when you are watching the Rockford Peaches win people's hearts and minds as they climb to the top of the standings. If you love women's baseball, Wheach is the beer for you. Unless you're a Racine Belles fan, in which case you can go straight to hell.
0 Comments
Movie Tagline: Love is desolate. Romance is temporary. Sex is forever.
Catherine Breillat is probably the most controversial female filmmaker ever. Actually, no, Catherine Breillat is definitely the most controversial female filmmaker ever. Her 1976 film debut, A Real Young Girl (Une Vraie Jeune Fille), was banned from theaters until the year 2000 because it depicts the sexual awakening of a 14-year-old girl in graphic detail. This frank treatment of sexual themes permeates her entire filmography, as does a focus on gender politics, intimacy, violence, and sibling rivalry. It would be impossible to select her most controversial movie, as they all offend people in one way or another. Fat Girl (À ma sœur!) has an extended scene where a man coerces a teen into anal sex. Anatomy of Hell (Anatomie de l’enfer) shows a man drink tea made from a used tampon. The list goes on and on. But we've decided to focus on a different Breillat effort, 1999's Romance (Romance X). Romance is about a young woman, Marie, and her search for intimacy. Her boyfriend refuses to have sex with her, which leads her down a path that includes random sexual encounters, a series of relationships, and a sadomasochistic engagement with a much older man. She eventually gets her boyfriend to have sex with her, whereupon she gets pregnant. But this doesn't repair the rift between the couple, and she eventually leaves him in spectacular fashion. Romance is an odyssey of sexual awakening, which makes it sound like it belongs on a premium cable channel's late-night lineup (we're looking at you, Cinemax). But it is told firmly from the point of view of the female protagonist. This movie is in no way filtered through the male gaze. It is very true to its feminine sensibilities. And that's not to say it's "girlie". This is a very adult movie, in case you couldn't tell by now. But Breillat is not interested in a masculine point of view. Cinema (and, indeed, the world at large) doesn't need any more insight into that. In her own words: "There is no masculine psychology in my cinema. There is only the resentments and desires of women. A man should not attempt to recognize himself in my male characters. On the other hand, he can find [in the films] a better understanding of women. And knowledge of the other is the highest goal."
Breillat's movies are graphic in their depictions of sex and, to a lesser extent (though she may argue they go hand in hand), violence. But she is not a pornographer, as many have tried to label her. She uses frankness, sometimes to an almost clinical degree, to explore women and their understanding of their own sexuality. She shows us how women are made (by men, usually, but not exclusively) to do things they don't want to do. How they are made to hate their bodies for not being perfect. How they are afraid to voice their displeasure with something for fear of being labeled a difficult woman. A shrew. A bitch. They are marginalized and abused, but if they try to take back control over their bodies they run the risk of being labeled as loose. A tramp. A whore. Breillat tackles these topics head-on, and she is not afraid to rattle a few cages in getting her message across. Her films are bold and distinctive. Once you are familiar with her work, you can tell right away when you are watching a Catherine Breillat movie, which goes to show that she is a true auteur.
To be honest, it can easily be seen as an insult to pair this dense study of feminine sexuality with a beer called "MILF". But the reality is that Mother's Brewing has created a supremely dense, complicated beer that has all the nuance of a Catherine Breillat movie and still manages to be emotionally explosive (also like a Catherine Breillat movie). Lots of care and thought was put into this beer. Brewed with cocoa nibs and raisins before being aged in rum, sherry, bourbon, brandy and whiskey barrels, this massive beer takes on the flavors from the spirit and wood of each and every barrel. The smell of this dark beauty is fruity, spicy, boozy; amazingly complex. The taste is even more complicated, with flavors melding from one to the next with wild abandon. Every drink of this beer is different. Every time it touches your tongue you pick up something else. In lesser hands, this beer could have been a mess; a hodgepodge of disparate flavors competing for dominance. But it isn't. Every aspect works in harmony to create something truly unique. So, with this in mind, hopefully we can be forgiven for the seemingly insensitive nature of this pairing. Just like Breillat's films being called pornographic by people who can't handle their graphic nature, MILF might be too extreme for some people's tastes, but that doesn't make it any less of a towering artistic achievement.
Movie Tagline: There are two sides to every lie
How can two beers have the same name? Furthermore, how can two beers that share a name be so different? Is one of them an imposter? And, if so, which one? This week's pairing brings with it a slew of questions, as you can see. Questions about identity, dark family secrets, a web of lies, and possible foul play. That's because we're talking about the 2012 documentary The Imposter, which centers around French serial imposter Frédéric Bourdin, also known as "The Chameleon". In 1997, Bourdin assumed the identity of missing Texas teen Nicholas Barclay, first by impersonating a Spanish police officer who claimed to have found the child, and later by pretending to be Nicholas himself. Despite having brown eyes and a French accent (Nicholas had blond hair and blue eyes), he was taken in by the boy's family. He lived as Nicholas for nearly five months, even attending high school as him. All of which begs the question: How did this family not realize this wasn't Nicholas? The movie provides some answers. Those, naturally, lead to even more questions. There is closure, but no definitive proof of what really happened to Nicholas. But the movie is not about Nicholas. Not really. It's about the imposter. What could possess a man to do such a thing to a family that has lost someone? Is he being sadistic? Exploiting their grief? What does he get out of all this? Again, more and more questions. Here is what could be the most important question: What beer could possibly be paired with such a tale? What beer could conceivable match the complexity, the twists and turns, the drama of The Imposter? The answer, my friends, is Alter Ego. The problem, my companions, is choosing which Alter Ego. Should you go with the hazy, citrusy goodness of Tree House, or the dark, foreboding hoppiness of 4 Hands? How can you ever know that you have chosen the right one? Let's break it down, piece by piece, beginning with the Tree House offering. Basically a super citrusy Julius (thanks to the Mosaic and Amarillo dry hopping), this one pours a hazy golden color with a nice, fluffy head. The smell is like citrus overload, but in the best way. The taste follows suit, with a bitter backbone that holds it all together. This is a perfect example of the new and improved East Coast IPA, which is all about turbidity and dry hopping. They all smell amazing and look like a swamp. Anything could be lurking in those murky depths. But if you want true darkness, you have to go with the 4 Hands version. A Black IPA, this one isn't so much murky as it is completely dark and opaque. No light is getting through this one. You can definitely taste the dark malt in here, despite the prevalent piney hop characteristics and the faint notes of citrus. While medium bodied, it still finishes very dry and bitter. So, there you have it. Two beers. One name. Thankfully, they both go well with The Imposter and they are both very tasty, so you can't really go wrong. It's not like one of them is an imposter bent on erasing all trace of the other so it can more easily slide into its place, taking over its existence, until all memory of the original is forever lost in the ether of the past. I'm sure that's not the case at all. |
AboutThis is the page where the pairings live. They are over there, to the left of what you are currently reading. I don't know how you missed them. Archives
August 2016
Categories
All
|