For roughly the same period of time as I’ve been doing Drink of the Week, I’ve been attending a series of soirees held about twice every summer and hosted by the Southern California Drive-In Movie Society and ol’ blogging chum, Dennis Cozzalio of the noted cinephile hang, Sergio Leone and the Infield Fly Rule. Don’t tell anyone but, against the rules of drive-ins everywhere, I’ve been smuggling hooch into every single event that I’ve attended.

Now, since I prefer my booze in cocktail form, this presents a bit of a problem. Yes, you can try to make a Manhattan at a drive-in, if you’re prepared for messing around with a cocktail shaker out of the back of a car. Even if you do, however — and I was once crazy enough to give it a go — how are you going to properly serve them to several people? Since my definition of “proper” includes a chilled glass made of actual glass, it doesn’t really come together.

Instead, I’ve mostly preferred to find a drink that can be easily transported in a thermos or other container and then enjoyed from a plastic cup, with maybe just an the addition of ice or perhaps some canned or bottled soda water. The Cliquet was one such drink, but this year I decided to try something new. And so we have a creation, for better or worse, of my very own. It borrows the American title, circa 1981, of George Miller’s hugely popular second entry in the “Mad Max” series because, well, movies and portability. (Also, I first contemplated the drink when I thought I’d be watching “Mad Max: Fury Road” at this summer’s earlier get together, which I tragically was forced to miss.)

I’m still perfecting the Road Warrior, which is definitely tiki influenced, but still perhaps a bit too heavy on the sweet. It’s a work in progress, but enough excuses. Let’s see what I can do to make this thing work.

The Road Warrior

1 ounce white rum
1/2 ounce 151 rum
1 ounce pineapple juice
1 ounce apple juice
1/2 teaspoon maraschino liqueur
1/2 teaspoon cassis
1/2 teaspoon limoncello
1/2 teaspoon grenadine or raspberry syrup
Soda water to top (optional)

Combine all the ingredients in a glass. You can also, of course, multiply the ingredients many times over and prepare the thing in a large thermos or other container and later pour it into whatever sort of cups or glasses are available. Next, stir with plenty of ice and maybe keep stirring. If it’s still too sweet for you, add a few splashes of club soda or seltzer. Prepare for a drink that may or may not taste good, but which should at least improve you enjoyment of an evening of drive-in movie entertainment.

****
In terms of my hard liquors this week, I pretty much stuck to the basics. My 80 proof white rum was Bacardi; my 151 was Trader Vic’s. (So cheap on sale!) The other ingredients were pretty much what I had on hand. Luxardo for the maraschino and limoncello (switching over to Maraska’s maraschino made no real difference). Similarly, using higher end Myers light rum didn’t make a big dent one way or the other. What did make for a very significant improvement was trading up from Dole’s canned pineapple juice to Trader Joe’s extremely tasty not-from-concentrate in a carton.

In a very real sense I won’t consider this week’s drink anywhere near completion until I try it out on the friendly folks at this week’s event at the Mission Tiki Drive-In. I will say that I’ve been dosing a willing guinea pig who is not, however, a dyed-in-the-wool cocktail person. The test subject prefers the drink sans soda and enjoys both the sweetness and the undeniable kick-assyness that the 151 adds, but at this point I still find that adding a bit time seltzer/club soda spritz helps a great deal.

Stay tuned. On Sunday I promise to report back with a brief update on the reaction and my semi-final verdict on the Road Warrior.

UPDATE: It’s Sunday early afternoon as I write this. And, while I insist that Dennis Cozzalio’s delicious home made breaded chicken and cous-cous was much tastier than the Road Warrior, Dennis and few other people seemed very happy with the drink indeed. Notably, however, they all took my advice and had it with a few splashes of soda water. I’m still unconvinced the drink is a flat-out success but who am I to argue?

I will say that I found myself enjoying “American Ultra” more than I might have expected, I did find myself nodding off during “The Man from UNCLE,” despite some obviously gorgeous filmmaking (from Guy Ritchie???) and crackerjack performances.  Alcohol and cinema make great companions, but there can be a price!

Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Topher Grace, Connie Britton, Walton Goggins, John Leguizamo

Nima Nourizadeh

After making his directorial debut with the totally distasteful and juvenile found footage comedy, “Project X,” it wouldn’t have been surprising if Nima Nourizadeh never worked in Hollywood again. But someone clearly saw something in the filmmaker that warranted giving him another chance, and while he doesn’t exactly redeem himself with the action-comedy “American Ultra,” it does prove that he’s at least somewhat competent behind the camera. That’s hardly a ringing endorsement, and deservedly so, because although the movie boasts a talented cast and intriguing premise, it never amounts to more than a mildly amusing end-of-summer distraction that squanders its considerable potential under the indecisive direction of Nourizadeh.

Jesse Eisenberg stars as Mike Howell, an unambitious stoner who’s perfectly content with his mundane life in West Virginia alongside his live-in girlfriend, Phoebe (Kristen Stewart). Mike is completely in love with her, and even plans a romantic getaway to trip in order to propose, but for some reason, he keeps having panic attacks that prevent him from leaving town. Unbeknownst to him, his crippling anxiety is actually a side effect from an experimental government program he volunteered for that wiped his memory and turned him into a CIA sleeper agent. When the program’s architect, Victoria Lasseter (Connie Britton), learns that bureaucratic brownnoser Adrian Yates (Topher Grace) plans to terminate all the subjects from the abandoned project, she decides to activate Mike using a secret code phrase and give him a fair shot at survival. But it doesn’t work as expected – that is, until Yates sends a pair of assassins to kill Mike and he snaps out of his daze, dispatching them with only a spoon and a cup of ramen. Marked for death and forced to go on the run, Mike must utilize his new abilities to rescue Phoebe when she’s kidnapped by Yates and his team of programmed killers.

Read the rest of this entry »

James Ransone, Shannyn Sossamon, Robert Daniel Sloan, Dartanian Sloan

Ciarán Foy

Director Scott Derrickson’s “Sinister” remains a chilling movie. It’s a quietly effective horror film that’s anchored by a solid lead performance from Ethan Hawke. Though Derrickson has returned for “Sinister 2,” it’s not behind the camera, but rather as a screenwriter alongside his co-writer from the first film, C. Robert Cargill. Taking over helming duties instead is Irish-born director Ciarán Foy (“Citadel”), and although his sequel doesn’t reach the bar set by its predecessor, it comes close at times.

Deputy So & So (James Ransone) is haunted by the events from the first film, believing he could’ve done more to help Ellison Oswalt (Hawke) and his family. No longer an active deputy, So & So now spends his time tracking down the evil spirit Bughuul. He’s dedicated his life to preventing the demon from harming more families, which brings him to Courtney Collins (Shannyn Sossamon) and her 9-year-old twins, Dylan (Robert Daniel Sloan) and Zach (Dartanian Sloan), who could potentially be Bughuul’s next victims. On the run from the law and her sons’ abusive father, Courtney hides away in an abandoned house, unaware that it’s haunted, which prompts Bughuul and his pack of possessed kids to lure the boys in by showing them 8mm films of grisly killings.

Much like the first movie, the 8mm footage is truly unsettling, except it’s lacking this time around. Part of the reason why the footage was so horrific in “Sinister” was because we were experiencing it from the point of view of a flawed, human and believable protagonist. We weren’t just watching seemingly senseless murders; we were also seeing the toll it was taking on Ellison. Those 8mm films played a role in his arc, as he was so obsessed in regaining his success as an author that he continued watching the murders. In the case of the sequel, the 8mm films don’t serve as substantial of a purpose, and they’re not pleasant in the way they’re probably intended to be. Since the footage doesn’t carry the same weight as they did in the first movie, it becomes a little tiresome watching people killed over and over again.

Read the rest of this entry »

It’s not always the best idea to be swayed by a particular make or model of vehicle just because you happen to like it. Most people buy vehicles on emotion – the color strikes an emotional chord, they get wrapped up in the engine specs, or they have an emotional attachment to the manufacturer.

But, most of the time, it works out better if you choose a vehicle that suits your lifestyle. Here’s how to get the right vehicle without paying a premium for non-essential emotional “features.”

Read the rest of this entry »

Historically, the typical bachelor party involved meeting up with friends and family on the eve of the wedding, drinking copious amounts of alcohol before being rather worse for wear the next day. Although some individuals still follow this tried and trusted trend, however, the majority of modern bachelors take advantage of the far wider range of options that now exist in the world.

Read the rest of this entry »