Apr 13th, 2012 | Viewing | Comments

WHEN: 5:00pm EST, April 12th, 2012

WHERE: My apartment in Portland, ME (Isla Nublar)

FORMAT: Blu-Ray on a Vizio 32″ LED HDTV

COMPANY: Cinemanauts John and Ty, girlfriend Becca for the first 15 minutes

PHYSICAL AND MENTAL STATE: Pretty jazzed from hanging out with John and Ty all day, just watched High Fidelity and The Truman Show, chomping on one tasty sandwich

FOCUS OF THIS WEEK’S STUDY: What Does Top Gun Taste Like?

PREPARATION:

When John, Ty, and I discovered that we were all free on the same day for a change, we decided: Cinema 52 triple feature and delicious sandwiches from Big G’s, the famous deli in Winslow, Maine.

If you find yourself in Maine, find yourself here.

They’re known for their enormous bread and weird but scrumptious ingredient combinations, so we went in with one goal in mind: honor each of our movies with an appropriate sandwich of our own creation, to be consumed during our viewings.

Ladies and gentlemen, I present THE MAVERICK.

The Maverick is actually a modified Bullseye, a similar sandwich on the Big G’s menu that, honestly, already sounds like it’s a tribute to fighter pilots.

The Maverick consists of:

white bread , because it’s Tom Cruise

, because it’s Tom Cruise roast beef, in honor of all the volleyball-loving beefcake pilots

in honor of all the volleyball-loving beefcake pilots cream cheese, because the cheese in Top Gun practically oozes off the screen

because the cheese in Top Gun practically oozes off the screen onions , due to the sheer amount of crying that Maverick does throughout the film

, due to the sheer amount of crying that Maverick does throughout the film hot peppers, to represent Maverick’s wild side

The Bullseye contains identical ingredients except for hot peppers, which replace the original horseradish. Even this I found fitting with the movie; what is Maverick, really, besides a cowboy who traded in his horse for an F-14 Tomcat?

And now, our feature presentation.

REACTIONS OF NOTE:



My mouthful of cream cheese while Maverick said, “Jeez, I crack myself up,” was especially cheesy.

This is the first time I noticed that Slider is wearing headphones during the introductory TOPGUN briefing.

This is also the first time I noticed that Maverick has a Mayan lamp.

“It looks like an ape trying to eat an orange.” – Ty on Kelly McGillis’s make-out style

Iceman is the one who irresponsibly flew in front of Maverick’s plane. His jet wash is what started the chain reaction of events that led to disaster. Where’s his investigation? Who cleared him to fly?

Where’s his annoyingly distracting synthesizer music?

THOUGHTS:

Oh man. Maverick the character was meh this time around, but Maverick the sandwich was perfect.

Full disclosure: we all ate half of our sandwiches back at Big G’s, but really, look at the size of this monster:





The sandwich, not the Bill.

I had more than enough left to eat with Top Gun, even after giving Becca a few mouthfuls of Maverick. And both at home and in the booth, wow. Absolutely terrific. The cream cheese and hot peppers wage a battle in every bite, and the crispness of the onions offsets the mush of both. It all adds tremendous flavor to the tender beef… om nom nom all around.

I really need to stress how well the sandwich fits the movie. I wasn’t kidding in my Reactions of Note; I bit into that crunchy spicy cream cheese and thought, “Bring it on, you ridiculous movie. I accept every part of you as one irresistible whole.” I couldn’t help but laugh at the beefy, cheesy spitfire that is Lt. Pete “Maverick” Mitchell. Between great friends and great food, this week’s Top Gun viewing was excellent.

If I could, I’d have Big G’s and these guys on hand every week from here to the end of the experiment.

Promotional consideration? Kidding, kidding.