The Nerdery Movie Night #214: M3GAN & Hot Buttered Rum Popcorn

Another booze-inspired popcorn to accompany GenZ Chucky.

Hot Buttered Rum Popcorn

Dave: Joe tried to explain it to me, but I don’t quite get the broad gay appeal of M3gan. It combined the wooden, one-dimensional characters of a soap opera, the earnest campiness of an after school special, the mediocre acting of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and the ridiculous fashion from an off-brand Project Runway. Well, now that I’ve put it that way, the gay appeal almost makes sense. Still, despite a few amazing scenes and a creepy AI-driven terrifying premise, M3gan fell a bit flat for me. Rather than being artful, the movie’s themes were about as subtle as M3gan hitting someone upside the head with a hammer. Creepy technology, innocent children, blah blah blah. (️️️⭐️⭐⭐)

It’s getting a bit chilly, so I decided to make a seasonal popcorn. After I ruled out pumpkin spice (yuck) and Thanksgiving dinner (double yuck), I thought about a seasonal drink inspiration. Hot buttered rum is not only a seasonal favorite, but also the title of a dreary Christmas song by everyone’s favorite sad singer-songwriter Mary Chapin Carpenter. And also we had all the ingredients to make it. The spiced rum and extra spices (cinnamon and nutmeg) gave the caramel a dark, nutty flavor, though I could have also cooked the caramel a smidge too long, or it picked up on the slightly smoky notes in the barely-overcooked microwave popcorn that we poured the caramel over. I was really firing on all cylinders as a chef tonight, folks. Still, this was a pretty great concoction and I’ll gladly try it again when we have holiday guests over! (️️️️⭐️⭐⭐⭐️1/2)

Joe: New gay icon just dropped. Well, she dropped in January, but we at the Nerdery are only just seeing it. M3GAN is everything I love about the genre: it's got a fairly believable storyline (especially in the emerging world of AI which is itself its own menace), it has solid acting, and it combines humor and horror. Frankly, though, M3GAN leans way more into the humor. The film isn't particularly scary, but it is quite funny, which may or may not be intentional. The kills are mostly off-screen, which is a bit disappointing, but necessary for its PG-13 rating - with one death bearing a close resemblance to a great scene in Child's Play 2. Anyway, we gays love high camp*/** and M3GAN delivers it in spades. Slay, queen. Literally. (⭐️⭐⭐⭐️)

The first time I had hot buttered rum was in grad school, and I found it a bit much. Butter in hot liquor? Weird. But I think, perhaps, that we were young and dumb (well, my friends were young, I was already 30) and didn't know how to do it properly. When Dave & I lived in Ohio, I made hot buttered rum occasionally because winters in Ohio are awful. When Dave announced that he was making a popcorn inspired by it, I was a bit suspicious. But I shouldn't have been because this is Dave and he's a magician. This was appropriately buttery and deliciously caramel-y. I did not taste the rum, but it didn't matter at all. (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2)

Popcorn recipe from: Dave's brain (💅🏻) with a little help from this.

M3GAN on IMDB.

* I do not speak for all gays, obvs, but I'd be disappointed in my people if they didn't embrace this with open rainbow arms.

** Annnnnnnd I just read Dave's review (since we do not discuss movies after watching them, and write our reviews in cones of silence), and in our 8+ years together, I've never been more disappointed - which is saying something since he doesn't like Kylie Minogue. I must really love him, you guys.