A classic thriller paired with a popcorn that has... mayonnaise... on it...
As many (but more likely, most) of you know, a few weeks ago, Dave and I finished all 50 “gourmet” popcorn recipes from the Food Network. Facing outcry from our stalwart fans, we decided to pursue popcorn recipes from other sources and continue our Friday night tradition.
For the foreseeable future, we will seek out popcorn recipes from a variety of sources, appropriately citing them (because we are good librarians), all in the name of providing you, gentle reader, with more Nerdery Movie Nights.
Enjoy.
Dave: This film was a little like a TV fishing show: you pretty much know how it’s going to end, but the fun is watching it happen. It’s a murder mystery with very little mystery, really, but it was riveting. I do kind of wish the female lead had done something besides cry and swoon, but it was delicious watching the villain’s murder cover-up slowly fall apart. In a slightly unrelated note, I also wish I could speak in that lovely clipped continental accent everyone uses in movies from this period. I always end up reverting to a clowny unconvincing Cockney instead. (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2)
Move over Food Network, and hello random food blogger who wrote a popcorn cookbook! I was at first apprehensive about a popcorn that combined mayo and Mexican spices, but this was delicious and had the added bonus of not being soggy and wet, like many of our previous saucy popcorns. We finished the entire bowl before the murder in the movie even happened I think - that’s how delicious it was. (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2)
Joe: Movies like this just aren’t made any more (although 2016’s Fences came awfully close): one setting, plot divined entirely from dialogue, and a gradual unraveling of tension. Incredible how effective those elements are. That this is a Hitchcock film ups the ante even more. Sure, it’s evident that everything will work out fine, but the mounting tension is unbelievably suspenseful - and Grace Kelly’s act of violence is deliciously surprising, turning the whole film upside down. A marvelously entertaining film, even sixty years after it was made. (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2)
As longtime followers will know, we have yet to solve the “wet popcorn” dilemma - that is, popcorn that is compromised by toppings that reduce the crunch. The worst offender was buffalo popcorn, though I’d argue that this recipe pulls a close second. The sauce itself is delightful - in fact, after making it, I couldn’t stop dipping my fingers in and tasting it. However, once applied to the popcorn, two things happened: 1.) the popcorn lost its crunchy body and became soppy (*shudder*) and 2.) the flavor lost its punch. Like, I didn’t even recognize it as the same sauce. That didn’t stop us from plowing through the entire bowl. But man, I wish we could find a way to keep the popcorn from getting mushy. (⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2)
Popcorn recipe from: Party Popcorn by Ashton Epps Swank. (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2014).
