Sideways

[CtznCane]

We saw the movie a week ago and found it just plain entertaining and worth a lot laugs as well as a fun subject. I'll drink to that!

[Really Nice!]

I finally saw this movie last week and found it to be worthy of a movie rental, nothing more. I'm surprised at all these nominations. A couple of things that didn't work for me were:

Miles taking the money out of his mother's dresser. It neither set a precedence for his character development nor did the film makers allow him to redeem himself at the end of the film. To me this served no purpose.

Miles also disses cabernet franc early in the film, yet his most cherished prize in his wine collection is the '61 Cheval Blanc, a wine that's about 65% cabernet franc.

[Coop]

I don't think anyone is claiming this is an epic bit of filmwork. A decent story about how two wierd guys with their own obcessions end up spending a week together in a nice bit of wine country. I actually thought Payne's first movie Election told a little better story.

[jbonne]

not to diminish the ironic glee of Miles' fondness for Cheval Blanc, but i did want to pass on one possible reason why the '61 Cheval Blanc may be the object of Miles' covetousness. (his desire being quite another issue.)

Lettie Teague in her "Educating Peter" series in Food & Wine, quotes Peter Travers describing the Cheval as Alexander Payne's favorite wine:

"I found a 1985 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Romanée-Conti for $6,500. That's Sean Connery's favorite wine," he said. "We could have that." I shook my head. "How about the '61 Cheval Blanc?" he countered. "It's only $1,550 a bottle." This wine, according to Peter, is a favorite of Alexander Payne, who directed Election, About Schmidt and Sideways. "Why don't you have a look at the market list instead?" I suggested.

could it be that Payne simply subbed in his own favorite bottle as Miles'? just speculating.

[Carolyn Tillie]

Maybe I missed something -- on many boards, folks are equating Miles' owning a 61 Cheval Blanc as being "his beloved," "most cherished," "prized possesion" wine and complaining that it is not a Pinot, but a CabFranc/Merlot blend.

I'm trying to remember exactly how it came up in the dialogue, but I seem to remember Virginia Madsen asking what he had that was rare -- not necessarily his favorite. Am I missing something?

I have wines in my cellar that are certainly more rare and valuable than those I truly adore -- it doesn't make them my "most prized" or "most cherished," just economically the most valuable.

[jbonne]

I'm trying to remember exactly how it came up in the dialogue, but I seem to remember Virginia Madsen asking what he had that was rare -- not necessarily his favorite. Am I missing something?

could well be. what ever happened to the grand old days of scripts posted online (in flagrant copyright violation) post-haste?

the IMDB quote page is no help at all, either.

[Really Nice!]

I'm trying to remember exactly how it came up in the dialogue, but I seem to remember Virginia Madsen asking what he had that was rare -- not necessarily his favorite. Am I missing something?

I have wines in my cellar that are certainly more rare and valuable than those I truly adore -- it doesn't make them my "most prized" or "most cherished," just economically the most valuable.

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According to Rolling Stonethey conversation is about that 'special occasion' wine.

"I think the day you open a '61 Cheval Blanc, that's the special occasion."

We can quibble all we want about interpretting and evaluating the qualities of "most cherished prize" vs "the most valuable"; but I still see a disconnect in the continuity.

Just an observation.

[Rebel Rose]

not to diminish the ironic glee of Miles' fondness for Cheval Blanc, but i did want to pass on one possible reason why the '61 Cheval Blanc may be the object of Miles' covetousness. (his desire being quite another issue.)

Lettie Teague in her "Educating Peter" series in Food & Wine, quotes Peter Travers describing the Cheval as Alexander Payne's favorite wine:

"I found a 1985 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Romanée-Conti for $6,500. That's Sean Connery's favorite wine," he said. "We could have that." I shook my head. "How about the '61 Cheval Blanc?" he countered. "It's only $1,550 a bottle." This wine, according to Peter, is a favorite of Alexander Payne, who directed Election, About Schmidt and Sideways. "Why don't you have a look at the market list instead?" I suggested.

Sharp eyes, jbonne!

I can imagine the head screenwriter: "We need, we need . . . something authentic . . . yeah. That's it, dude. Whaaat? No buts here, missy. Let's do it, let's do it! We need," snap, "authenicity! You got it the change? All right all right, you're cute, let's do lunch, right?" To someone else, "Whaddya mean, Minnie Driver said no!?"

[CtznCane]

I find it nice that (and I"m not a big book reader) that the movie is getting so much acclaim and good notices when the book (from what I gather) was not too well thought of. A case of the movie better than the book alone appeals to me.

Again we found it to be just a delightful and fun movie. Of course I liked the characters in the movie too, but then again I'm strange also.

[jbonne]

more in the "weird and curious" category.

in one scene in "About Schmidt," which we finally saw this weekend, the main character (Warren Schmidt) drives past a movie marquee that lists the theater's two screens. the first: closed for renovations. the second: "Sideways."

note that "About Schmidt" came out in 2002. has been noted in the usual Internet circles.

[MaxH]

BTW, if you want to read ultra wine geeks analyze this flick -- go to the thread on Mark Squires forum. Very, very funny.

indeed. but my favorite part is the usage faux-pas in the page nav: "This topic is comprised of pages: 1 2"

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jbonne, all word people are with you on that. (It's not the only one on that site, if I remember.)

Not having read the review on ERP yet, I was curious what is an ultra wine geek. Would this be one of those very eager people these days who introduce themselves online with "I've been interested in wine for more than a year, and written 2000 postings on the subject" or the ones who say "Life is too short to drink a wine rated under 90 points?" (I Did Not Make Either Of Those Up.) Or the ones who do own a Vinotemp?

About that last issue, unless they live in places that stay misty and cool all the time, I believe that time will demonstrate to most wine geeks, if they are interested, that they do need good storage. Though some of them are resolutely uninterested in hearing this (I've seen people spend years rationalizing away their lack of adequate storage, and I've tasted the consequences). But it doesn't have to be a home cellar or wine refrigerator: US metro areas have firms that will sell you small amounts of temp-controlled warehousing, well insulated. In the SF Bay Area the running rate for small amounts of storage has long been around a dollar a bottle a year. If you do accumulate any long-term wines, not spending that much on them may be a false economy.

[DonRocks]

The sex scene between the waitress and the tow-truck driver was underrated and more subtle, nuanced and tender than people give it credit for.

[winesonoma]

The sex scene between the waitress and the tow-truck driver was underrated and more subtle, nuanced and tender than people give it credit for.

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I loved it when he ran out to the car and tried to stop them.

[dknywbg]

PSA for New Yorkers: I got an email the other day from the Museum of the Moving Image:

"Saturday, January 8th at 7:00 p.m. Moving Image will present a special screening of SIDEWAYS, the film that swept the New York Film Critics Circle Awards, winning four major awards including Best Picture. After the screening, stars Paul Giamatti (Best Actor), Virginia Madsen (Best Supporting Actress), and Thomas Haden Church will participate in a Pinewood Dialogue moderated by David Schwartz, the Museum's Chief Curator of Film. This screening is part of the Museum’s annual New York Film Critics Circle series.

"This event will take place on Saturday, January 8, 2005, at 7:00 p.m. at the Directors’ Guild Theater, 110 West 57th Street in Manhattan. Admission is $18 for the public and $12 for Museum members. Tickets go on sale Wednesday, December 22 at 10:00 a.m. Call (718) 784-4520 to reserve yours now."

[Chantilly Bob]

[Also very true about the bucket dump... A true wine geek, no matter how emotionally or personally destitute, would never stoop to consuming from a dump bucket.

Edited December 30, 2004 by Chantilly Bob (log)

[winegeek]

"Are you chewing gum??????"

I thought that was a classic line. While I did enoy the movie, I thought both Jack and Myles had very few likeable qualities about them.

[adoxograph]

Saw this movie yesterday and was surprised to see the theater packed at 2 pm on New Year's Day in suburban Chicago..

I know the Chicago Tribune did a pinot noir survey inspired by the movie (they couldn't find all the wines, so added some others) and gave the 2002 Byron Pinot "the highest aggregate score since the Uncorked column began" but I'd like to hear if anyone else has tried some of the wines mentioned?

[andiesenji]

My friend and I saw this movie on Thursday, early matinee and there were only about 40 people in the theater. Apparently many of them were wine geeks because most of them got the "in" jokes. There was a lot of giggling and outright laughter all the way through the movie and we enjoyed it.

We both know people like both of these guys. During my years of working as a personal or private chef I had several encounters with both types.

One who fancied himself a knowledgeable oenophile had a problem in that he could just not make up his mind about what to serve with a particular course or dish.

He would come into the kitchen with an armful of bottles and ask me and I couldn't answer him because I did not drink wine or anything else containing alcohol.

He did keep a journal of the wines he had tried and I reminded him that he should go through the journal and look for wines he had consumed when out at a restaurant and served a similar meal.

This was prior to the computer boom and a few years ago I did hear from him when he stumbled across my web page. He had moved to the Santa Barbara area in the early 90s and was apparently still enthusiastic about wines and was collecting an extensive "cellar".

Fortunately I don't think he was as much of a womanizer as Jack. Much safer that way.

[Rebel Rose]

From my stash of Ultimate Wine Geek stories:

A few years ago we lost a dear friend and a good man in the local wine industry. We hosted a memorial gathering at our winery (which at the time was in a rented farmhouse with more space than we have now). It was attended by about 100 winery and vineyard people, who brought wine of course. It was an evening affair and we had a separate glass-enclosed porch with tables for the catered food, wine and glasses. The porch was candlelit and relaxing.

The purpose of the evening was to share happy memories of our friend and to assure his widow and son, who was being thrust unprepared into the role of winemaker, that we would help them in every way possible. Much of the actual speech-making was happening in the brighter main farmhouse room, where we also had food and wine.

I went into the sunporch at one point to check on the candles, cheese trays, etc. and here is this one gentleman, who is always pretty geeky anyway, working his way studiously through all the wines, while everyone else is sharing speeches in the main room. He's got a pad and a pen and he's swirling, sniffing, dumping and taking copious notes.

I couldn't believe it. Our hearts were breaking, everyone's crying, and he's just there to take wine notes? He's a sweet guy, and I like him anyway, but in a "he-can't-help-it" kind of way.

[Carolyn Tillie]

...here is this one gentleman, who is always pretty geeky anyway, working his way studiously through all the wines, while everyone else is sharing speeches in the main room.  He's got a pad and a pen and he's swirling, sniffing, dumping and taking copious notes. 

I couldn't believe it.  Our hearts were breaking, everyone's crying, and he's just there to take wine notes?

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And you didn't call him on it when you came upon him doing such a thing? You are much nicer than I would have been in a similar situation...

[KatieLoeb]

...here is this one gentleman, who is always pretty geeky anyway, working his way studiously through all the wines, while everyone else is sharing speeches in the main room.  He's got a pad and a pen and he's swirling, sniffing, dumping and taking copious notes. 

I couldn't believe it.  Our hearts were breaking, everyone's crying, and he's just there to take wine notes?

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And you didn't call him on it when you came upon him doing such a thing? You are much nicer than I would have been in a similar situation...

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Carolyn:

Thanks for saying what I was thinking. Sheesh! I'd have ripped the guy a new one.

"Sorry Chum, the wine tasting is next week. Tonight we're here for a MEMORIAL YOU INSENSITIVE GOON!!! Or didn't the other roomful of sad and mournful people clue you in???"

Mary - you are far kinder than I am as well. This kinda goes past my "he-can't-help-it" limits. I can shrug off that sort of "passive asshole" stuff most of the time. This crosses the line into "active asshole" for me.

[Rebel Rose]

No, I was huffin' and puffin' over that for months afterward. I finally mellowed out. But then his wife kept asking me if she could work in the tasting room, and as she heads up a tasting club in a nearby town, I decided to give her a try.

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!

Needless to say, I did not ask her to return. I wonder what the monthly wine tastings are like.

Edited to get sort of back on topic: Truth is stranger than fiction.

[chezcherie]

No, I was huffin' and puffin' over that for months afterward.  I finally mellowed out.  But then his wife kept asking me if she could work in the tasting room, and as she heads up a tasting club in a nearby town, I decided to give her a try.

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!      

Needless to say, I did not ask her to return.         I wonder what the monthly wine tastings are like.

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i'm almost afraid to ask how you found out...?

Edited January 3, 2005 by chezcherie (log)

[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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[mike volker]

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

Best,

Mike