How can one be "sympathetic" to, um, beer? Well, in this very straightforward good guy versus bad guy documentary, the Big Three (Miller, Coors and Anheuser-Busch/InBev) are set up as the Goliath to the microbrewers' David, including Dogfish Head's charming Sam Calagione.
Of course, the Big Three are now just the Big Two, but that small detail didn't stop this Brooklyn audience from engaging in a rowdy shout-down over the course of the film -- a distinctly one-sided vehicle with a chipper bespectacled narrator. Vintage ads and interviews with "Bad Beer" millionaires in polished boardrooms are interspersed with folksy, homey interviews with Calagione and Rhonda Kallman, the woman behind caffeinated brew MoonShot. Various microbreweries also snagged cameos. (Pennsylvania's Yuengling received rousing cheers).
The most telling parts of the film came when the camera zoomed into the refrigerated aisle of grocery stores and placed big red boxes around beers clearly dear to audience members' hearts. It was with a collective gasp that suds-lovers realized their beloved Stella was connected to Anheuser-Busch.
Fret not, Southern beer drinkers: While the region's craft beer scene has gone and grown up, its fans (if a newly released documentary is any indication) show no signs of maturing.
"Beer Y'all," billed as "rock-and-roll road trip across North Carolina," follows a scruffy septet of wannabe homebrewers on a nine-day pilgrimage to 27 microbreweries across the state. Like any great epic, the film has a hero (the guy in Allegheny County who lets the travelers crash on his couch); obstacles (drunken ping-pong); encounters with inscrutable seers (brewmasters who mumble about keg conditioning) and a moral that inspired the industry crowd at last night's world premiere screening to hoist their pitchers in appreciation: Beer shouldn't be taken too seriously.
While the dudes filmmakers marvel politely at the tanks their hosts show off, they have little patience for academic discussions of wort and hops. They'd rather get drunk and watch "Lethal Weapon 2." They like to nap. It takes 48 minutes before anyone in the film mentions how the ales taste, which leaves plenty of time for backyard volleyball playin', lazy guitar pickin' and mongrel dog scratchin'. That's Southern beer, y'all.
"Beer Y'all" will be screening in parts of the Tarheel State this summer.
Remember back in October when I posted about the independent movie, King Corn? The movie wasn't in wide release when we first mentioned it, and so a number of you expressed interest in seeing it, but weren't able to find a screening anywhere. It's gotten wider distribution over the last six months, but for those of you who haven't been able to find the time or place to see it, I've got partially good news for you. A twenty minute clip of the film is now available on AOL video site, which means that I can embed that chunk of the movie here, for your viewing pleasure.
I've been to movie theaters with upscale food before. The Landmark theater near my house serves fancy cheesecakes and local beer. However, here's one that is new to me - movie theater seats with a button to call a waiter.
Village Road Show Gold Class Cinemas is set to open 50 theaters in the US in the next 5 years. Tickets to see movies at these theaters will cost $35 - no food included. However, for your big bucks, you will get the privilege of lounging in a comfortable recliner, pressing a button, and having someone serve you made-to-order meals (including sushi).
I wonder if the waiters will serve during the movie or only before. A waiter standing in front of me as the Titanic sinks sounds worse than that tall guy with the big head who always sits in front of me.
Would you pay $35 for the gold class movie experience?
We at Slashfood absolutely love movies and food, whether it's a quiet night in with take-out and a DVD, a date night out in a restaurant followed by a movie, matching food to movies, movies about food, or talking about foods that might come up in movies.
Premiere.com also like food movies, since this year, there are at least three movies that involve it: Keri Russell in Waitress, the Pixar film Ratatouille that has every good foodie clamoring for eggplant, zucchini, and tomatoes, and No Reservations, the movie that came out this past weekend. In honor of these food movies, Premiere.com lists the 20 Most Mouth-watering Movie Moments, which I'm re-printing here (after the jump). Your favorite food movie or food scene in a movie not listed? Tell us!
We've been waiting for some time now for Fast Food Nation, the theatrical version of Eric Schlosser's popular book from about 5 years ago, to hit theaters. Fortunately, we don't have to wait much longer as the release date is November 17th.
The Washington Post has an interview with Schlosser and director Richard Linklate, who co-wrote the loosely adapted and fictionalized screenplay with Schlosser. Instead of only taking questions from an interviewer, however, they opened the floor to some curious readers from around the country so that they could ask their own questions about what went into making the film and what issues Schlosser has had to deal with since writing the original book. For example, one wants to know how many lawyers they needed to "cover-their-ass," while another wants to know if Schlosser has seen any big changes since the first publication of the book.
The interview doesn't offer as much food for thought as the book, but it's still enough to whet the appetitie for the movie's premier.
It's a common scene in the movies. The family leaves the kitchen or dining room unguarded, distracted by some meaningful event, such as a proposal, death, natural disaster or mental breakdown - whatever constitutes "meaningful" in the movies these days - and returns to find most of dinner missing and Fido licking his chops on the floor.
Unless you have a big dog with quick reflexes, it's more likely that your pup or your cat will snag a bite or two of food than a whole meal. And just about everyone who has owned an animal has caught them red-pawed at one time or another. Now, that's not my kitten in the picture and I probably would have shooed him away before thinking to snap a photo, but that is an extremely cute shot that brings up the question of what "people foods" do your pets tend to go for when they have the chance?
Personally, I've had a cat that would go for macaroni and cheese if I wasn't looking and neighbor whose dog would watch for unguarded egg dishes (making brunch a tricky meal to enjoy).
I'll be keeping a closer eye out the next time I make waffles, just in case.
This isn't about the food you take into the movies, but about the food you see in the movies. Rebecca Epstein has complied a list of movies that prominently feature food in some way, from the obvious, but classic Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory to the "dining etiquette and culinary xenophobia" of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. The list is the most comprehensive that we've seen to-date and it is growing all the time, as Epstein continues to add relevant films from all over the world. Will the list eventually capture every foodie moment? Perhaps, although there are so many food movies that it might take the work of a full-time staff just to check every movie.
Not that that's a bad thing, mind you. Just pass the popcorn and sign us up to help out!
Earlier this month, we saw "Snakes on a Cake." Now a man in Wellington, Florida, has burned the Snakes on a Plane insignia into a piece of toast, according to the Sun-Sentinel. One can't help but be reminded of the Ft. Lauderdale woman who found the Virgin Mary burned into her grilled cheese sandwich several years ago. Like her, snake toast artist Gregg Prior is going the same route and listing his toast on eBay. So far there have been 31 bids and the current price is $160. "Snakes on a Plane, I thought what better a way to show the world what I can put on toast," Prior told local NewsChannel 5. Indeed, a noble medium for a noble subject.
In the movie Grease, Danny Zuko gets stranded at the drive-in theater when Sandy storms out on him. As he sings a strange advertisement for the snack stand rolls on the screen behind him, complete with dancing sodas and trick-trained hot dogs. The song is great, but it is hard to tear your eyes away from those anthropomorphized snacks. I saw this video of about one of those snacks, giving a little backstory and spinning out a rather clever little tale of what happened to Jerome, the Marching Gumdrop, when he left "The Lobby Gang" - featuring Pops Corn, Bonnie Bon Bon, Smokey (a pack of cigarettes isn't exactly refreshing, but whatever), Hot Doggy and Sodey Pop - and struck out on his own.
It's strange, it's funny and, as if that weren't enough, it stars a talking gumdrop.
"At 30,000 feet, snakes aren't the deadliest thing on this plane"... not if there's a cake involved, anyway. The picture shown here is small, but this birthday cake is based on Samuel Jackson's upcoming movie, Snakes on a Plane (due to potentially offensive language, the full cake is after the jump). Somehow, "snakes on a cake" has more of a ring to it than the original title, though it is clear that the movie would have to be much shorter - on account of a cake being much smaller than a plane and able to accommodate fewer snakes. This is a great choice of birthday cake for a movie buff.
Cinematical has just reported that Burger King is planning to make a feature length feature film that will, of course, advertise the fast food restaurant.
Take a moment to let that sink in.
According to an article in Advertising Age Magazine, the company is in the process of developing a script for a situation comedy that takes place in an apartment above a Burger King. Working with the ad firm Crispin Porter & Bogusky, the movie "will be a cross between Napoleon Dynamite, Garden State, Raising Victor Vargasand What's Eating Gilbert Grape?, intentionally avoiding the kind of dumb comedy featured in another fast-food-advertisement of a movie, Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle. "
Huge mistake. Well, the movie at all is a huge mistake, but the reason that the White Castle flick was so surprisingly successful was because it was silly. It didn't take itself seriously. And, clearly, the Burger King people are dead serious about this.
Burger King isn't planning to have the King in the film, but with the crack team of ad wizards that work for BK, who knows what they'll end up churning out even without including him.
Yesterday's New York Times featured an article about food movies past, present and future. Of course, there's talk of the usual suspects like Tampopo and Big Night, but the gist of the article is that there are plenty more food movies to come, especially from American filmmakers. Of note are a remake of Mostly Martha, starring Catherine Zeta-Jones, and an adaptation of Julie Powell's blog-based book Julie & Julia. The latter is to be written and directed by Nora Ephron (Sleepless in Seattle, Bewitched) for Columbia Pictures. Anthony Bourdain even weighs in on Adam Sandler's performance in Spanglish.
Fast Food Nation, the movie, is due to hit theaters nationwide this fall and after the tremendous publicity it has received, as well as both positive and negative press, I'm sure you're all dying to see the preview. Well, here it is. It doesn't give away much, but it does give you a tiny taste of what the movie is going to be like. The cast includes Greg Kinnear, Patricia Arquette, Luis Guzmán, Ethan Hawke, Kris Kristofferson, Avril Lavigne, Esai Morales, Wilmer Valderrama and Bruce Willis. For more information, check out the official site, and for more video clips, head over to the Fast Food Facts site.
It looks like the famous 1976 Paris wine tasting could be made into a movie. A Los Angeles production firm bought the movie rights to George Taber's book on the blind tasting, in which the California wines Stag's Leap Wine Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon 1973 and Ridge Montebello 71 beat the favored First Growths Chateau Mouton-Rothschild 70 and Haut Brion 70. The studio says that they plan to focus on the interaction between Steven Spurrier, the wine mastermind who arranged the tasting, and the Californians, who will be portrayed as the underdogs.
The film sounds like it will be an interesting one. The studio has already suggested Jude Law and Hugh Grant for the role of Spurrier, who wanted someone British and young to play him, as he was 34 when he organized the tasting. He objects to both choices of actor, claiming that "they are far too old."
I should note here that Jude Law is actually only 33, so it's not entirely clear if Spurrier knows who the actor is or how young he wants to look in the film. He could always call up Stephen, 24, from Top Chef, if he wants someone really young. I bet he could do a British accent.
I've been to movie theaters with upscale food before. The 
We've been 
It's a common scene in the movies. The family leaves the kitchen or dining room unguarded, distracted by some meaningful event, such as a proposal, death, natural disaster or mental breakdown - whatever constitutes "meaningful" in the movies these days - and returns to find most of dinner missing and Fido licking his chops on the floor. 
This isn't about the food you 
Earlier this month, we saw "
"At 30,000 feet, snakes aren't the deadliest thing on this plane"... not if there's a cake involved, anyway. The picture shown here is small, but this birthday cake is based on Samuel Jackson's upcoming movie, 
Yesterday's New York Times featured an 
It looks like the famous 
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