Liz Miller

Finally, Walt Disney Animation Studios is taking a page from Pixar's illustrious animation board. On Friday, November 2, it released Wreck-It Ralph in theaters nationwide, spurring Gut Check to make a trip to Ronnies 20 Cine (5320 South Lindbergh Boulevard; 314-843-4336) in south county to catch the flick in IMAX 3D.

And the movie reminded us of a beer we've been meaning to buy for awhile now, too: Kansas-based Tallgrass Brewing Company's 8-Bit Pale Ale.

The combination didn't disappoint.

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RIP, Patrick Swayze

While RFTmusic was youthfully gallivanting in the rain at Loufest last weekend, Gut Check retained our dignity, embarking on an indoor mini-film fest abetted by Netflix, Family Video and our BFF, Chuck. It all began after we watched Crazy, Stupid, Love, in which Ryan Gosling's womanizing character reveals his foolproof panty-dropper: He plays "(I've Had) The Time of My Life" and re-enacts the lift move from the final scene in Dirty Dancing. Cue the collective swoon.

Reflecting on this classic film, it's only natural that one's mind would turn to beloved late actor Patrick Swayze, who passed away in September of 2009. Ours did -- and the next thing we knew, Gut Check was knee-deep in a pile of Swayze classics: We had the time of our life re-watching P Swayz dance-bang Jennifer Grey in Dirty Dancing; we smashed a bottle for the gratuitous boobage and martial-arts stylings of mysterious bad boy Dalton in Road House; we sat through Ghost. But #swayzefest came to its natural conclusion with an evening screening of Point Break, remastered on Blu-ray for maximum radness.

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Evan C. Jones

The "Flying Pig" at Guerrilla Street Food.

Originally a trilogy starring Matt Damon as government-created super spy Jason Bourne, The Bourne Legacy appears to have been the brainchild of producers with dollar signs in their eyes. Other than a few pictures to provide some context for the film's back story, Damon's Bourne character is nowhere to be found.

Let's lay down some dots: The film follows Aaron Cross (Jeremy Renner), a product of "Operation Outcome" (which transpired via Bourne's successes in the "Treadstone Project") who possesses enhanced physical and mental capabilities courtesy of medication. Since Bourne is now running around the globe rogue and threatening to expose the government's black-ops projects, government officials call up retired United States Air Force colonel Eric Byer (Edward Norton), former head of all secret government projects. By this time, Cross has met up with one of the manufacturers of his medication, Dr. Marta Shearing (Rachel Weisz), which he needs continuing does of to retain his enhanced abilities.

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Evan C. Jones

A "Woofie Dog" at Woofie's: Deliciously 'merican, just like The Campaign.

In the very long and tiring journey that is the 2012 presidential election, it's easy to get swept away in the 24-hour news cycles, attack ads and mud slinging. Then again, that's tame compared to North Carolina's 14th Congressional District race.

The Campaign starts off with a scandal. Will Ferrell's Cam Brady, a four-time congressman who has run unopposed his entire political career, creates a major scandal as he mistakenly drunk dials his mistress and leaves a raunchy voicemail. Seizing the opportunity to unseat Brady are two wealthy brothers, who decide on the oddball son of a successful political strategist Marty Huggins (Zach Galifianakis).

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Liz Miller

In May, Gut Check kicked-off the superhero leg of this summer's blockbuster season by seeing The Avengers in 3D and wolfing down a "Super Hero Sandwich" at Planet Sub (1805 Maplewood Commons Drive, Maplewood; 314-781-5725). The next notch on our big-budget superhero movie belt was whittled this week at a viewing of The Amazing Spider-Man in 3D -- Marvel Studios' second release of the summer -- at the AMC Esquire 7 (6706 Clayton Road, Richmond Heights; 314-781-3806). Though the film pulls its name from the mainstream continuity of the Spiderman franchise, it more resembled in tone and personality Marvel's millennium Ultimate Spider-Man series.

In tribute to the pizza-delivering Peter Parker of Sam Raimi's 2004 film Spider-Man 2 -- we, after all, hadn't watched the reboot yet -- Gut Check scarfed down a hand-tossed New York-style cheese pizza at La Pizza (8137 Delmar Boulevard, University City; 314-725-1230).

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Chrissy Wilmes

All puns aside, look at the size of that thing.

Try not to get too jealous, now. But Gut Check spent our Friday night in a movie theater packed with a 90 percent female crowd in a sold-out theater at Galleria 6 Cinemas (Saint Louis Galleria, Richmond Heights; 314-725-0808) watching tan, sculpted, hairless male bodies gyrate and jiggle. Magic Mike, the quasi-memoir approximating Channing Tatum's pre-fame experiences as a stud in an all-male revue, lit up the screen. In fact, its release probably should have been delayed, considering we're in the middle of a drought and this film is out to start. some. fires.

See, the beauty of Magic Mike lies in its complete lack of subtlety. The film embraces its ridiculousness with a refreshing self-awareness, but it doesn't hold out on the goods, either. Sure, less than a minute after the opening credits, C Tates' impossible ass is on full display. But it still manages to tell a story and even has a moral. (Which can be boiled down to "Stripping's OK, just stay out the trap.")

For the film's first half, the mood is light and the characters likeable -- while Mike could've easily been a meathead oozing testosterone and machismo, he's instead simple, kind and fun. Sure, he's knee-deep in a tangle of lady limbs on account of his moves, but we'd like to see you resist that magic man after he gets down to some Ginuwine.

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Liz Miller

The four-piece chicken McNugget Happy Meal at McDonald's -- served, inexplicably, without a toy.

Adam Sandler's newest film about being a shitty dad hits theaters today, right in time for Father's Day -- for people who would like to treat Dad to a fate worse than patricide, Gut Check can only assume. No, it's not Big Daddy or Grown Ups or Click, though it will make you long for films of such caliber. It's called That's My Boy and finds Sandler playing Donny Berger, father of Han Solo Berger (played by Andy Samberg), the product of statutory rape. It's a comedy, in case that description was at all unclear. It's a comedy about how middle-school-age Donny was raped by his middle-school math teacher, who conceives a child because unprotected sex is the only way to rape a kid, obviously. And somehow that plot line isn't the film's most disturbing one.

What better meal is there, then, to accompany such a comedy of errors than a Happy Meal from McDonald's? If the narrative doesn't cry out for a Happy Meal -- check that; the narrative actually does cry out for a Happy Meal: about halfway through, to be more precise, Samberg's formerly obese (Surprise! They throw in some fat jokes, too!) character fixates on chicken nuggets.

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Liz Miller

The "Full Moon Marshmallow Pie" at Eclipse inside the Moonrise Hotel.

On May 25, Wes Anderson's seventh film, Moonrise Kingdom, was released in the U.S., and on June 8, it hits the Landmark Tivoli Theatre (6350 Delmar Boulevard, University City; 314-995-6270). Ever the fan of Anderson's winsome works, Gut Check caught the flick a few days before its local debut. Weaving elements of adventure and adolescent growing pains, at moments the film channels The Goonies or Stand By Me with intelligent, thoughtful, fleshed-out twelve-year-olds shining against a cabal of two-dimensional adults, all drawn with Anderson's storybook paintbrush.

Admittedly, choosing a food pairing for Moonrise Kingdom was a no-brainer: Could the "Full Moon Marshmallow Pie"at Eclipse (6177 Delmar Boulevard; 314-726-2222) inside the Moonrise Hotel fit a theme more perfectly?

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Liz Miller

The "Super Hero" sandwich at Planet Sub.

Summer blockbuster season is upon us and, as usual, that means a handful of new superhero movies -- and we ain't mad about it. The first of the flurry is, of course, Joss Whedon's The Avengers, released on May 4. In true curmudgeon style, Gut Check waited a week to see the flick, not because we weren't bursting with excitement, but because we hate crowds among other old-crank concerns. We were also resolute to pair our movie night with a hero sandwich, which proved much harder to pinpoint than we expected.

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Liz Miller

Pineapple-flavored Jamaican soda at De Palm Tree.

On April 20 Marley, a documentary about the life and work of Rastafarian reggae musician Bob Marley, debuted in select theaters nationwide. Though it opened that day in St. Louis at the Landmark Tivoli Theatre (6350 Delmar Boulevard, University City; 314-995-6270), Gut Check was busy buying Visine and eating sandwiches. When the smoke cleared and we remembered that Marley was showing at the Tivoli, we immediately wanted to do four things: extend our quest for enlightenment toward Jah beyond 4/20; eat Jamaican food; see Marley and...something else? Sorry, we had it, and, to be blunt, we lost it.

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