Sideways

[Carolyn Tillie]

You left coast people seem to have more fun than we do out here.

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Part of why we live here!

[Carolyn Tillie]

Paul Giamatti was on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. He is shocked how well the movie is doing. He knew nothing about wine when he did the film. It was hilarious to watch. Giamatti is self-debasing which Stewart fed right into and vice versa.

Then they brown-nosed each other. Quite enjoyable.

[geo t.]

She reps some arcane line of beauty products and at the end of the day I discovered she had been trying to sell vaginal stimulation cream (can I even say that here?) to my customers!     

I'll take two!

[jrufusj]

She reps some arcane line of beauty products and at the end of the day I discovered she had been trying to sell vaginal stimulation cream (can I even say that here?) to my customers!      

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West Coast palate??

Jim

[Carolyn Tillie]

She reps some arcane line of beauty products and at the end of the day I discovered she had been trying to sell vaginal stimulation cream (can I even say that here?) to my customers!     

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West Coast palate??

Jim

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Well..... yeah!?!?!

and your point is?

[Rebel Rose]

She reps some arcane line of beauty products and at the end of the day I discovered she had been trying to sell vaginal stimulation cream (can I even say that here?) to my customers!      

West Coast palate??

Jim

Oh, now that's just painful!!!! So unfair!

[KatieLoeb]

At the Golden Globes:

Best Picture, Musical or Comedy

Best Screenplay

Not too shabby.

[Natalie MacLean]

here's a tidbit that appeared in Decanter recently:

The wine world has already started cashing in on the success of wine-geek film Sideways with winebid.com putting wines from the film up for auction.

The wines on offer, including the legendary 1961 Cheval-Blanc, '88 Sassicaia and '95 Opus One, are either drunk in the multi-Golden Globe winner or directly mentioned by the protagonists.

Most wines seen or mentioned are covered by the auction – other gems include Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Richebourg, Dominique Laurent Pommard and a wide range of Santa Barbara wines.

[jbonne]

The wine world has already started cashing in on the success of wine-geek film Sideways with winebid.com putting wines from the film up for auction.

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the Winebid auctions found here. more on the biz impacts tomorrow. i'll post here (though may be Friday before i can post it.)

(hey Natalie!)

[pam claughton]

I just got back a while ago from seeing this movie. I do not remember the last time i laughed so hard and so often at a movie. I am also a writer, and this movie was just a delight from start to finish. It works on so many levels, and I think especially because these characters have so many flaws, but Miles really does grow and change for the better, and the scene where he is enjoying the heck out of his 61 cheval in the fast food restaurant is just perfect.

I hope it does well at the Oscars.

I also saw Miles/Paul Giamatti on Jay Leno the other night, and he was hysterical. The guy knows nothing about wine, and says he just visited a few wineries, got familiar with the swirly motions and went with it. He also said he likes wine, and as long as he can catch a good buzz, the wine works for him. Obviously a good actor!

:) Pam

[jbonne]

some extra bits and pieces of 'Sideways' backstory in this week's column. (apologies for the late post. i've been stuck in Boston, watching snow vortices.)

... Many movies inspire fans to visit locations they see on screen, but only a small handful -- I'm thinking here of how "Field of Dreams" transformed Dyersville, Iowa, and how "Amélie" magnified the appeal of Paris' Montmartre -- have made the scenery such a compelling, trip-worthy player in the film.

"Sideways" is on that list too. Director Alexander Payne hatched a compelling combination: a road-trip movie that exults in its destinations, and a reliance on real-world locations that already had a following in the wine world. ...

[Susan in FL]

I wish this movie would show up in our area. I don't go often, but I've been on the lookout for this one. I hope I didn't miss it. Does anyone know... is it still playing in theatres?

[winesonoma]

I wish this movie would show up in our area.  I don't go often, but I've been on the lookout for this one.  I hope I didn't miss it.  Does anyone know...  is it still playing in theatres?

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Still playing downtown in Sonoma.

[pam claughton]

I wish this movie would show up in our area.  I don't go often, but I've been on the lookout for this one.  I hope I didn't miss it.  Does anyone know...  is it still playing in theatres?

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Susan,

Not only is it still playing, but it only just went into wide release here in MA, and just got to our local theatres on Friday. It still might come your way.

Pam

[ludja]

I wish this movie would show up in our area.  I don't go often, but I've been on the lookout for this one.  I hope I didn't miss it.  Does anyone know...  is it still playing in theatres?

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Susan,

Not only is it still playing, but it only just went into wide release here in MA, and just got to our local theatres on Friday. It still might come your way.

Pam

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Seems likely with the additional promo of winning the Golden Globe; even more so if they pick up any Oscars...

[Susan in FL]

Thanks, All. I feel better now.

[MaxH]

... I also saw Miles/Paul Giamatti on Jay Leno the other night, and he was hysterical. The guy knows nothing about wine, and says he just visited a few wineries, got familiar with the swirly motions and went with it.

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That's pretty usual when career actors handle specialized activities. A good example for any of you old enough to remember it is the popular US TV show Sea Hunt from the late 50s and early 60s, with Lloyd Bridges -- which popularized SCUBA diving overnight in the US, and also at the time scared the beejeebers out of a few million young kids including me -- Lloyd Bridges became identified to the public with SCUBA. Yet in an interview that I read much later, he admitted that he and the other actors were not divers at all, they relied on professional divers off-camera who practically held their hands throughout, and directors who would tell them, for example, to struggle as if fighting underwater, and make a lot of bubbles. It worked.

[Brad Ballinger]

Going to be a bit pre-emptive here...

Okay, the film got nominated for an Oscar. So did it's director. So did Thomas Haden Church. So did Virginia Madsen. Paul Giamatti did not.

Regardless how you feel (good or bad) about any of these things, remember that this forum is about wine and not about movie making or movie criticism. So I'm asking that continuing posts be fitting for a wine forum.

BTW, nothing I've read has made me post this. Like I said, I'm being pre-emptive, not reactive.

[winesonoma]

So what did they drink and which wineries did they visit? I did not take notes.

[ludja]

The first winery they went to was Sanford; been there quite a few times. It looked like it was actually filmed in their tasting room

[jbonne]

The first winery they went to was Sanford; been there quite a few times.  It looked like it was actually filmed in their tasting room

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it was. see ref: here.

[Rebel Rose]

Like I said, I'm being pre-emptive, not reactive

Let's consider Brad's warning a gentle reminder to stay "on task" as my retired kindergarten teacher MIL reminds me.

Brad is probably thinking the same thing I am . . . Max, your comments are insightful, but now I can't stop thinking about SeaHunt!

Discussions of how the movie relates to your wine experiences are fine, as is the very interesting fact that they're going to auction off some of the wines mentioned, and I love the behind-the-scenes info, but let's not stray too far off the path. And the path is, wine!

[turophile]

winesonoma  Posted Jan 25 2005, 05:21 PM

  So what did they drink and which wineries did they visit? I did not take notes.

The movie website has a map that shows everywhere they went

Link to map

http://www2.foxsearchlight.com/sideways/sideways-map.pd

[pattimw]

I finally saw this yesterday! The scene where they are sitting on the hill, overlooking vineyards and picnicing (sp?)

Although I will admit that I almost got a headache watching the amount of wine consumed.

my favorite scene, though, is where Virginia Madsen's character talks about what she loves about wine. I thought it was poetic.

[Susan in FL]

I finally saw this yesterday! The scene where they are sitting on the hill, overlooking vineyards and picnicing (sp?)

Although I will admit that I almost got a headache watching the amount of wine consumed. 

my favorite scene, though, is where Virginia Madsen's character talks about what she loves about wine. I thought it was poetic.   

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I finally saw this, too, and one of my favorite scenes was that as well. She put how I feel about wine in such poetic terms. My love of wine is much more like hers than Miles's. (Duhhh. Of course that is true for all of us. ) I know I am not a wine geek and don't really want to be.

Count me among those who really enjoyed this movie. I thought it was very well done, and it's a film that is enjoyable to talk about afterwards. I agree there were those flaws that were pointed out in this thread, but like someone mentioned, it's not an epic in film making. I thought it was an excellent job of wine (and food) as the backdrop for a pretty good story. Then again, the wine was also part of the story.

I cringed a bit when Miles got too drunk, had the hangovers, and especially when he demanded a full glass of wine at the tasting bar and then threw the fit and poured the wine over himself. I guess I didn't like a wine enthusiast being portrayed like that. Aside from that, I liked it a lot and when I left, I felt like driving around to find the best glass of Pinot Noir in the Daytona Beach area.

A trivial question... When Miles ripped open the bottle of wine with his mouth to go running through the vineyard with it, do you suppose that was a screw top or were the film makers trying to make the viewers think he pulled the cork out with his teeth?