Movie Tagline: The true story of a real fake
From Steven Spielberg's unofficial "running man" trilogy of the early '00s comes Catch Me If You Can, the story of Frank Abagnale Jr, a con artist who has been called the most famous imposter ever. Before being caught at age 21, Abagnale had impersonated a physician, lawyer, airline pilot, and a teaching assistant, to name a few. He was also an expert at forging checks. After being caught in France in 1969, Abagnale spent five years in various prisons in a number of countries. Upon his release, he eventually founded a firm that advised companies on issues of fraud. He took his criminal knowledge and used it for good. Catch Me If You Can has a lot of fun with Abagnale's ability to dupe people. He is never made out to be a bad guy; just someone who doesn't follow the rules. He never harms anyone, not physically, anyway. He breaks some hearts along the way, but that will happen when you're being played by Leonardo DiCaprio.
But, overall, he is presented as a good person. He just likes to get into mischief. To trick people. To be elusive. That's what we like to call a segue.
The brewers of Elusive IPA, from Public House Brewing, also seem to be having fun. With so many new breweries popping up all over the country, what's becoming elusive is finding a solid lineup of beers from a small local brewery. Not that there aren't new breweries that make good beer; there are just way more who make one or two decent beers and then a bunch of mediocre ones. The market is so saturated right now that it's hard to wade through all the new offerings to find the good stuff. The diamonds in the rough, if you will. And Elusive is one of those. Well-balanced, with the sweet malt backing up the grassy hoppiness, it has a complexity of flavor that is sorely lacking in a lot of the new, local beers I have tried of late. And while Elusive was my favorite of the Public House lineup, it is by no means their only good beer. They also make an award-winning Cream Ale, a traditional German Hefeweizen, and a solid Dry Stout; all of which are unexpectedly complex and rewarding in their own ways. Now, I'm not saying the brewers at Public House are the Steven Spielbergs of beer brewing. That would be 1.5 units of hyperbole. But I will say that they are expert craftsmen who don't need to kick out whalez (possibly my least favorite beer nerd term) to demonstrate their abilities; just like Señor Spielbergo doesn't have to reinvent the wheel every time he makes a movie. He just makes it, and his abilities shine through even if the material isn't the best. His directing prowess elevates the work. A similar compliment is due to Public House, whose brewers take the time to craft solid products instead of kicking out as many beers as they can to scoop up some of that craft beer craze money as fast as they can, quality be damned.
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Jim Koch, founder of the Boston Beer Company, has had a rough go of it for the past couple of years. At least, as rough a go as a white, male billionaire can have. You see, his Sam Adams beers no longer get the respect they deserve (in his opinion). Many craft bars don't carry them, mostly because many serious craft beer lovers don't drink them. Sam Adams has an image problem. Yes, they were one of the pioneers of the craft movement in the early 80s. And yes, they remain the second-largest craft brewery in the US. But here's the thing: their beer isn't that great. It isn't bad by any stretch, but it takes more than that to survive in the current beer market. At this point, Sam Adams is getting by on ubiquity alone. They don't have a big event beer, like a Dark Lord or a Hunahpu (unless you count Utopias, which you really shouldn't). They don't have a seasonal beer that people wait all year for. And they don't have a solid year-round lineup. Their year-round lineup is mediocre at best, with their flagship being the tried and true Boston Lager.
Which brings us to our pairing beer: Sam Adams Rebel IPA. Now, I don't have a problem with this beer per se. It is well-balanced, easy-drinking, hop-forward; everything an IPA should be. It was also a long time coming, as IPAs have been the beer style of choice for craft drinkers for years now, and Sam Adams never had one in their rotation. The reason for this is simple: Jim Koch doesn't like IPAs. Fair enough. But after years of refusing to make a wildly popular style of beer because he personally didn't like it, and years of his people telling him that IPAs were in high demand, Jim Koch finally caved in to popular demand and kicked out a line of IPAs he (unironically) called Rebel IPAs. And therein lies my problem. A rebel is someone who stands up against the establishment, who goes against the tide to fight for what they believe in. A Rebel IPA is a cash-grab in which Jim Koch forgoes his principles and does something for purely financial gain. He is a late-comer to the IPA trend, but he insists on making it seem like he is at the forefront. The only thing Rebel IPA is rebelling against is Jim Koch's taste. Which brings us to Frozen, which is the highest-grossing animated film of all time and is largely regarded as one of the best Disney movies ever. Maybe you have heard of it before. A big part of its success (the part that isn't "Let It Go") is due to the supposedly progressive storylines of the two leads, Elsa and Anna. But, unfortunately, Frozen is about as progressive as Sam Adams is rebellious. Take, for example, Anna. She is beautiful in that homogeneous Disney princess way. But she is also clumsy, because she isn't fully developed enough as a character to have any real flaws. And she doesn't really have any other defining characteristics. Her main goal seems to be finding true love. She isn't far removed from being a Manic Pixie Dream Girl. Elsa, on the other hand, is a repressed sociopath who can't deal with the abuse she suffered as a child, so she refuses any help and runs away from her problems. She isn't an empowered individual who owns her sexuality; she is a dangerous social outcast who, once she "lets it go", dresses like a horny cosplayer with stiletto heels made of ice. I don't think progressive is the right word for that. Anyway, that's a lot of ranting for two things that I really don't mind. There's no reason you can't enjoy a cold Rebel IPA while singing along with a pathologically antisocial ice queen. It's not the movie or the beer that I have issues with; it's the surrounding storylines they are a part of that make me cringe. But, if you can look past the hype and the spin and enjoy these two for what they are, I think you will find a lot to like with them.
Movie Tagline: This summer a man will face his destiny. A hero will be revealed.
Historically (that is, since the mid-90s), Fourth of July weekend has been the preferred time for Hollywood studios to release their heavy-hitters. Even since Will Smith's storied run of holiday weekend hits, Hollywood has tried to replicate that level of success. Michael Bay's shiny Bayhem noise orgies known as the Transformers franchise have had some success, most notably with the first and third installments. But in recent years, movies have struggled putting butts in seats in record numbers. Not since Despicable Me 2 have we had a movie gross nearly $100 million on its opening weekend. And it's not going to happen this year, either. This isn't a bad thing, as opening weekend box office gross is likely the least relevant statistic to use when gauging whether a movie is good or not, but it is interesting to look back on a time when July Fourth movies were such an event. And while we recognize that Will Smith is and always will be the king of the July Fourth weekend, we are going to focus on a movie that is suspiciously devoid of any Fresh Prince action. No, we are going to talk about what many consider to be the best superhero movie ever made: Spider-Man 2. The highest grossing Fourth of July weekend release of all time, Spider-Man 2 is an amazing feat of genre storytelling. This is a superhero movie through and through, but it is one that is equally thrilling, intense, melancholic, frightening, romantic, and silly. Not only this, but it is emotionally satisfying. The scary bits are effectively creepy. The romantic bits are believable, not sappy. The melancholy is earned, not shoehorned in for dramatic effect. With this movie, Sam Raimi successfully performs a juggling act that few other directors would even attempt. And it is a joy to watch him work. With a director like Raimi at the top of his game, who needs Will Smith anyway? Surly Brewing Co. has the perfect beer to go with such a spectacle. It's called #MERICA!, and it is as American as beer gets. AB InBev is currently trying a gimmick where they have renamed Budweiser "America" for the summer. Well, this is a beer that actually earns the title. A pre-Prohibition American Lager (one of the few beer styles to originate in America), #MERICA! uses corn as an integral ingredient, and the flavor really comes through. A little sweet, a little floral, and a little grassy, this crisp, straw-colored lager is what a Budweiser should taste like if they are going to start calling it "America" all of a sudden. Yes, the link between Spider-Man 2 and #MERICA! is thin at best, but it's in what the two things represent that the real connection lies. Both are celebrations of America; it's good tendencies and its bad ones. It only takes one look at the label to know that #MERICA! is a tongue in cheek name. With its hashtag and exclamation point and aggressively red white and blue color scheme, this beer is maybe being a little bit ironic with its packaging. But it is also a stellar representation of a beer style that was conceived in America. It is silly, but it is also proud of its heritage. And Peter Parker's journey in Spider-Man 2 can be seen as a metaphor for America in 2004. He is Spider-Man, but the weight of that reality is so much for him to bear that he starts to slip. His schoolwork, his personal relationships, even his responsibilities as Spider-Man; it all pulls him in different directions. He doesn't know what he should do. America itself was finding its way during this same stretch of time. With the War on Terror in full swing, no one knew who to trust or how far we would go to regain a sense of control. Some of our ideals were sacrificed, our alliances were tested, and our moral center started to slip. Anyway, to reign this line of thought in, Spider-Man 2 is complicated. But #MERICA! is easy. Just pop one open and drink it down while watching a conflicted superhero do his thing. |
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