What to Stream While Drinking Alone in Your Apartment This Weekend: US Airways Edition
Each week Yahoo Tech’s Alyssa Bereznak will help you pick the best streaming movies online. She will also recommend drink pairings. Please note: Any pairing can always be substituted with a large bottle of wine.
Here’s to hoping you’ve all recovered from our brief foray into old-fashioned drinking last time. As you may recall, US Airways had a tough week. It’s probably just going to sit around and eat Ben & Jerry’s in its sweatpants all Saturday night long. So to comfort the forlorn airline, I’ve dug up some of the best airplane-based films online. Ready your martini glasses; we’re ready for takeoff.
1. Airplane! paired with a smoky old-fashioned.
Though this 1980 spoof on plane disaster films is certainly dated at times, its sight gags and deadpan acting still make it one of the most cheaply entertaining things you can watch. Plus, it’s fun to reminisce about a time when weirdo religious folk were allowed to roam around airport lobbies; when airlines gave you a choice between chicken and fish; and when “smoking” seating options still existed.
To honor the visual puns and traditions past, match this one with a smoky old-fashioned, which consists of sugar, Angostura bitters, bourbon and — wait for it — ACTUAL SMOKE.
2. Snakes on a Plane, paired with a snakebite.
A little social media crisis is nothing compared with, say, a plane full of venomous, cracked-out snakes. That is essentially the whole plot of this 2006 cult classic. In fact, prerelease, the B-movie’s title was changed from Pacific Air Flight 121, back to its working title, Snakes on a Plane, per lead actor Samuel L. Jackson’s request.
And what goes best with ultra-camp? A gimmicky English pub drink, of course! Wash this flick down with a snakebite, a beer mixture that’s equal parts hard cider and lager with a dash of black current liqueur. Rumor is it’s so easy to drink, some bartenders refuse to serve it. Good thing you’re streaming from (a hopefully snakeless) home!
3. Top Gun, paired with an angel’s wing.
Sigh. There’s no one like ’80s heartthrob Tom Cruise, what with his snug blue jeans, San Diego tan, and devil-may-care attitude toward authority! In this 1986 classic, Tom Cruise plays an elite fighter pilot — excuse me, naval aviator —fighting to prove he’s the best of his class. Along the way, we are blessed with cinematic plane porn, melodramatic monologues (“I just don’t want anyone to know that I’ve fallen for you!”), and a soundtrack that can only be described as … inspirational.
A movie that takes itself so seriously deserves a drink like the Angel’s Wing, a mixture of white creme de cacao, brandy, and light cream. How do you think Cruise grew up to be such a hunky All-American maverick, huh? Lots of milk cocktails, obviously.
Just be careful your thirst doesn’t write a check your body can’t cash.
4. Air Force One, paired with a canned Bloody Mary.
In this 1997 film by Wolfgang Petersen, a band of terrorists hijack the plane carrying the president of the United States (Harrison Ford) and his family on their way back from Moscow. Ford relies on the impressive skills he gained as a soldier to fight for control of the aircraft.
Though it’s impossible to imagine an actual politician ever solving problems so efficiently, Ford is quite believable as a ruthless, Kazakhstani-fighting leader of the free world. Maybe it’s all those pilot lessons!
Enjoy this one with a Bloody Mary made with that canned mix airlines always hand out. Make it strong enough, and you’ll feel like you’re at 30,000 feet, flying right beside our hunky, fictitious president.
5. The Aviator, paired with the Aviation.
What is it about Leonardo DiCaprio and tragic, era-specific antiheroes? Before he played Jay Gatsby or Jordan Belfort, he shined as ambitious American business magnate Howard Hughes in this 2004 Martin Scorsese-directed production. The glitzy biopic follows the young millionaire’s career as he jumps from designing drill bits to producing Hollywood blockbusters to running TransWorld Airlines, where he pushed the limits on commercial aeronautical technology and made many an enemy. Cate Blanchett, Kate Beckinsale, and Alec Baldwin show up, too, all dressed as glamorous movie stars and executives.
It’s easier to watch this particular DiCaprio character collapse under his own hubris if you’re drinking the Aviation, a cocktail invented in the 1910s that’s made of gin, lemon juice, and maraschino liqueur. Add a few dashes of crème de violette, and the classic drink will turn a pale blue — just like the color of the sky or Leo’s dreamy eyes. Serve it in a martini glass for dramatic effect.
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