Without Winger and MacLaine, this film would've been a real snoozefest. The popcorn kept us awake through the dull parts, though.
Dave: I think I’ve forgotten some important context for this movie. That context is films of the 1980s. Watching it now in the 2020s, it just feels like a jumble of mostly-unlikable characters being mean and snarky to each other. There are several largely unrelated storylines happening and the writers were too busy trying to make them all line up they forgot about…well…everyone except the characters played by Shirley MacLaine and Debra Winger. Winger is amazing and MacLaine might overact a bit, but is still fun to watch. Otherwise, perhaps this mess is what passed for a deep, slice-of-life movie in the 80s, but now it just feels directionless and overwrought. (️️⭐️⭐)
This was a “what do we have in the house?” popcorn creation. I know many folks remember ambrosia salad from childhood Thanksgivings that was made with Cool Whip, maraschino cherries, and marshmallows, but the original version was simply coconut and orange that folks allowed to sit and marinate with a bit of sugar. If the combination has been good enough for cooks since the late 1800s, I figured it was good enough for our popcorn blog. I basically made a caramel popcorn with hits of orange juice concentrate and coconut flavoring and added coconut to the final mix. Unfortunately, neither the coconut (which I took the liberty of toasting) nor the orange really came through. We got notes of both, but the sugar was pretty overpowering. Still, we’ve at least found a good and reliable caramel popcorn recipe! (️️️⭐️⭐⭐️1/2)
Joe: It's interesting that this won an Academy Award. It seems so... staid. Sure, the acting is uniformly excellent from the women. Shirley MacLaine sparks with an acerbic wit and a withering sideways glance. Debra Winger perfectly embodies the "all-American" girl, right down to her goofy laugh (although there's much to be said for her hypocrisy). The men? Jack Nicholson is creepy af, Jeff Daniels is Jeff Daniels. Danny DeVito is severely miscast. John Lithgow is John Lithgow. There's not much of a plot, but there are some welcome moments of light humor that punctuate the film's episodic structure. The final act is a curious affair that feels shoehorned in. Its final minutes feel beamed in from a different planet. (⭐️⭐⭐️)
Tonight Dave made the popcorn, and I must admit I was a little sus when he ran it by me. First of all, it was sweet - which felt a bit like the gentlest slap in the face. But if it's one thing I know about Dave: he knows flavor and he knows his way around the kitchen. While the marshmallowy dream of ambrosia is not replicated here, there's a wonderful toastiness in the coconut and orange caramel. The popcorn was well-balanced, never sliding into diabetic shock levels. I shouldn't have doubted his idea. We're adding this to our as-yet unpublished cookbook as a star pupil! (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
Popcorn recipe from: Dave Lewis 💅
Terms of Endearment on IMDB.
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