Often been surprised by a movie after what a film critic said about it? Ever felt cheated out of big bucks on the recommendations of a punk 24-year-old? Or really loved the ones they panned? Well, you no longer need to feel out of step with the current movie review band. Different Drummer is for you. Read more about our take on the film world. And get ready to relive your favorite movies with the recipes that follow each review. You can find many other great recipes in Different Drummer’s own Appetite for Murder: a Mystery Lover’s Cookbook, too.
Think Father Brown time warped back about 8 centuries. Cadfael’s not a priest but a 12th century monk who solves medieval mysteries.
Read MoreIt starts out crass and cliched, but it ends subtle and sweet. Nothing like financial ruin to mend fences between an estranged father and son – not to mention a crumbling estate in sunny Italy that just might save them both.
Read MoreIf you loved Wind River, you might like this other frigid thriller from Netflix. Or maybe not.
Read MoreOk, Hunt for Red October it is not. And you might want to forego episode 3 altogether if you have children under 16 in the house, (or maybe even if you do not, since that episode is so poorly done.) But as a made for streaming Amazon Prime feature, John Krasinki’s Jack Ryan is pretty decent.
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Aquaman is like a trip back to the 80s, when we cut up mythology into a crazy quilt of colorful distortions and created new epics out of old cloth.
Read MoreWhat it lack is pizazz and polish, it makes up for in sweetness and sincerity. And that’s pretty good compared to the usual late summer comedies usually peppered with ridiculous plots and overreaching vulgarity.
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DVDS from the summer rental cabin that I somehow missed the first time around – the good, the bad, and the ugly. First Different Drummer has her say, then other critics – who may or may not agree.
2009 – An Education: Champagne Punch
An education… in the school of hard knocks, if you will forgive a somewhat salacious pun. Yes, for years older men have seduced teen-aged girls, but usually without the willing cooperation of their clueless parents.
“... attempts to impress audiences with its worldliness, but it comes off instead as an awkward, unformed teen fantasy run amok.” Jeremy Hellman
2008 - Flashbacks of a Fool: English Apple Traybake
Maybe the real fool is Daniel Craig, who cashes in his 2007 James Bond bona fides for this insipid vehicle produced by his best bud.
“An ambitious but disappointing, regret-filled psycho-drama.” Jeannette Catsoulis
2008 27 Dresses: Mexican Wedding Cakes
This sweet comedy makes you want to believe in love all over again. And 27 of the most bizarre wedding themes in all their over-the-top splendor provide the icing on the cake.
“27 Dresses is so flimsy it gives froth a bad name.” Peter Ravers Rolling Stone
2007 – P.S. I love You: Lamb Shanks Braised in Guinness Stout
Gifted veterans like Kathy Bates and Hillary Swank can’t bring this script back from the dead even with the assistance of Gerard Butler's ghost. The Irish clichés are as flat as day old Guinness.
“I hated every calculated second of it with a passion.” David Keyes.
2006 The Holiday: English Fairy Cakes
The ham-fisted Hollywood/British clichés fade with Jude Law’s textured sweetness, but it is 91-year-old Eli Wallach who steals the show.
“No amount of ironic gift wrapping can conceal the triteness within in this double-plotted festive chick flick that is too long by half, and too cloyingly sweet to be healthy.” Anton Bitel 
2006 The Devil Wears Prada: New York Appetizers
Merly Streep as the chic dominatrix of the fashion police relishes every stinging slap of her leather-barbed insults.
“An agreeably shallow comedy.” C.R. Jones
“The whole thing is humbug, a giant ad for the industry it affects to critique.” Ben Walters
1987 - 84 Charing Cross Road: Apple Brown Betty
As a love story it’s a near miss, but with legends like Anne Bancroft and Antony Hopkins as well as a nearly unrecognizable Judi Dench lending her hand, how can you resist?
“…such unrelieved genteelness that it makes one long to head for Schrafft'sfor a double-gin martini, straight up, and a stack of cinnamon toast from which the crusts have been removed.” Vincent Canby
Appetite for Murder: A Mystery Lover’s Cookbook
Also available here
by Kathy Borich
A tantalizing slant on cooking and crime. Relive your favorite classic detective stories and then whip up the food that caught the culprit.
A petition calls out the Austin Police and City officials for what it terms “a miscarriage of Justice,” hinting that there is something “darker at play” here, and accuses officials of treating the victims’ families “callously and without empathy.”
Victim’s family pleads against plea bargain for this Austin Serial Killer.
“I survived the Rainey Street ripper': Drugged man who plummeted 25ft off bridge believes 'serial killer' stalking Austin tried to drown him.” Daily Mail
Twelve bodies have been found in Lady Bird Lake and Colorado River since 2022
Police insist there is no serial killer but the mounting bodies sees rumor persist
Jeff Jones survived falling off bridge near river, thinks he may have been pushed
Smiley Face Connection: February 2024 Update: Another Body Found
The Serpent’s Tooth: A Texas Mystery
Austin is now the trendy number one city, but back in the eighties it was more laid back – not so many skyscrapers and urban hipsters. Just outside of town, you'd be likely to run into old cowboys, ranch hands, and a diamondback or two. And just maybe – an accidental death not as accidental as it seems…
Complete with Texas Recipes for the Oktoberfest Dinner where all is revealed.
An Illustrated Introduction to Classical Horsemanship: Concepts and Skills from A to Z
by Gary Borich
A comprehensive resource in a succinct alphabetical format that brings the beginning rider through every aspect of learning to train and ride for show and trail.
