Sideways?

Posted: 11/28/04 at 3:13pm

Has anyone else seen this movie? I watched it last night and omg...I was blown away. I loved it.

[laactress]

Posted: 11/28/04 at 3:15pm

I F*@KING LOVE this film! OMG!

[ShbrtAlley44]

Posted: 11/28/04 at 3:20pm

What's it about? No spoilers, please!

Posted: 11/28/04 at 3:40pm

YES! Someone knows what I'm talking about! It's about two men who(not gay) who try to find out about love and life through wine. Excellent film!

LAACTRESS, you're my new favorite friend :) When'd you see it? And I never understood why it was titled "Sideways".
Sideways on IMDb Updated On: 11/28/04 at 03:40 PM

[broadway86]

Posted: 11/28/04 at 6:24pm

I saw this movie a few hours ago. I loved it. One of the best films I've seen all year. Great writing, great peformances. The last scene was very powerful.

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 11/28/04 at 6:28pm

Made me glad I'm a lesbian!

[NYadgal]

Posted: 11/28/04 at 6:39pm

Excellent movie. Any movie with a tagline that includes "in search of wine" has to be good...

[Mythus]

Posted: 11/28/04 at 6:42pm

I have to admit, this wasn't what I expected the thread to be about.

[mabel]

Posted: 11/28/04 at 9:13pm

Saw it this weekend, along w/ the second Bridget Jones and Finding Neverland, and it was definitely my favorite of the three (also enjoyed FN, but thought BJ:TEoR was REALLY bad). Great writing, wonderful performances (gotta love Paul Giamatti!!!)...excellent all the way around! I would highly recommend it!

Posted: 11/28/04 at 11:24pm

Yay for my thread, um...I dont understand the title. Anyone want ot explain it to me? Updated On: 11/28/04 at 11:24 PM

[Auggie27]

Posted: 12/23/04 at 5:57pm

I'm late to the SIDEWAYS party, because I'd found the trailer uninteresting (despite my love of Alexander Payne). But what a treasure this movie turned out to be. Giamatti is a revelation -- who knew he could sustain a whole film? What bold casting. And I personally hate movies about failed writers, and this one breaks the mold to find something totally fresh in the conceit. I'd always found Haden church to be creepy in extreme (GEORGE OF THE JUNGLE, and hundreds of sitcom appearances) -- but here he uses all his idyosyncratic tics (the dry lip pursing, strutting around, showing off his strange aging hustler physique) to maximum good use, playing a 40ish dude who can't face giving up any trappings of the frat boy life, despite his aching urge to do so. Even that description makes the premise sound cliched, when it's anything but.

My favorite scene -- no a spoiler, really -- is the quiet one when Giamatti and Madsen discuss why they like wine. When's the last time you saw a 40ish woman in a film act like a ... well, just a grown-up woman? No Hollywood cuteness, and all realities in place about owning who you are. This movie has high comedy (the penultimate beat involving a waitress at a ribs joint is quite a 3rd act) and much, much tender feeling. It's a buddy movie that isn't a buddy story per se, and one of the most original and endearing things out there. Anyone else put off by the bland trailer (too much washed out cinematography and scenes at vineyards) should put impressions aside and go.

As for the meaning of the title, isn't it a spin on suicide? The Giamatti character makes a couple of reference to killing himself, albeit in a comic, acid way.

Updated On: 12/23/04 at 05:57 PM

[EvelynNesbit1906]

Posted: 12/23/04 at 7:26pm

I also really enjoyed it. Giamatti deserves an Oscar nomination for Best Lead Actor - at least over Johnny Depp, who sleeps his way through Finding Neverland. I think Haden Church will easily get in for Best Supporting Actor and be a real threat for the win if the Academy doesn't think that giving Sideways the Best Original Screenplay award is enough.

Btw, Haden Church is also incredibly attractive and removes his shirt a number of times in the film. That was a bonus for me. Many of the wine metaphors went over my head, but it was obvious that if I really tried to follow, there would have been something of substance there. This is no lazily-written film.

Did anyone else jump at the end of the scene involving the wallet recovery (ahem)?

[EvelynNesbit1906]

Posted: 12/23/04 at 7:34pm

I also think it would be great if Paul Giamatti upset Jamie Foxx for the win. He has had a distinguished career in small roles that would adequately back that up. Additionally, awarding a short, potbellied man would arguably be more of a big deal for the Academy in 2004 than showing that an African-American win won't be a once in a generation thing (as with Denzel Washington). This is not to say that Foxx isn't deserving, but rather that Giamatti is really more of the underdog here and probably more likely than Foxx to pursue demanding roles beyond 2004.

[ReederWI]

Posted: 12/23/04 at 9:17pm

Hi Captain. I looked up an interview that Thomas Hayden Church gave. The reporter asked him about the meaning of the film's title. He said that the title's meaning was talked about a lot. He mentioned that it means...
1.)you walk through a door sideways and the portals in life cause you to walk through them sideways
2.) The little wineries in Santa Ynez are sideways to the 101.

Interesting stuff.

[sabrelady]

Posted: 12/24/04 at 12:00pm

I really liked this film. Intelligent w/out pandering to the need to have happy endings & tie every thing up neatly. Didn't Sandra Oh look Fabbu? Pays to marry the director! (lol) Seriously this was one of the best written films I've seen this year.

And speaking of good film I just saw Stander about the S.A. who was a captain in the police force & robbed banks. The accent is a bit sticky but still great performances, well written brilliantly shot! I reccommend it for those of u who like adult dramas.

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 12/24/04 at 12:11pm

The best film of the year, IMO.
As for the title...Wine is stored SIDEWAYS and it is not until you stand it up, open it and let it breath that it has any life. It is a metaphor for the main character. He is "sideways" and needs to open up and breathe.

And yes, Auggie, the scene with Madsen and Giamatti on the porch is classic.

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 12/24/04 at 12:26pm

It's all around good film making, but it did not thrill me. I thought it had beautiful writing and performances. It just didn't grab me--I feel like the hype is causing it to feel over rated. I do not understand why Madsen is getting Oscar buzz--but maybe as Auggie said, "When's the last time you saw a 40ish woman in a film act like a ... well, just a grown-up woman? No Hollywood cuteness,".

I was left with the same feeling I did for In The Bedroom (also a huge critics winner in its year). Yes, it is good film making, but I'm not excited about it.

Oh well, throw me in the minority on this one. :)

[CanWeTalkBroadway?]

Posted: 12/24/04 at 12:27pm

Auggie, the only way they could improve that movie is if the Virginia Madsen character had been a 13 year old girl trapped in a 40 year old's body. (Kidding!)

Sandra Oh was my favorite. I liked the movie a lot, I think the people creating the Best Of lists for 2004 are doing some bandwagon jumping and it's getting a little over the top, but it's a smart grown up movie and how often can we say that?

[Auggie27]

Posted: 12/24/04 at 3:10pm

You're right, Canwetalk, and your spin made me LOL.

I also liked Ms. Oh, particularly in her smaller scenes. And didn't you love the complexity of her family? She was clearly adopted, and had an African-American daughter. And none of it was "explained." She was a together woman (like Madsen) who controlled her own fate. And the fact that both women were so smart and informed and their savvy was simply a part of their lives -- they weren't yuppies or type folks dreaming of becoming THE APPRENTICE. For my generation, they reflected a very different sensibility in terms of what constitutes happiness. Niether woman apologized for, or was restricted by, being middle-class. I felt nostalgic for the 60s, which both women had a flavor of.

[EvelynNesbit1906]

Posted: 12/24/04 at 3:38pm

Auggie, I agree completely. The fact that the women were so independent and that none of the characters made an issue out of race made the film all the more refreshing for me. But looking at the daughter in a photograph, I assumed that she was biracial - African-American and Asian.

[Auggie27]

Posted: 12/24/04 at 4:23pm

Evelyn: Yes, yes, and the way the Haden Church potential in-laws were also not traditional caucasian uptight "marrying into" types. Overdue in American film making, this Payne sensibility. There are some directors I would follow anywhere -- whatever journey he opts to take us on -- and he's become one. I trust his sense of humanity. He likes people, and even when he's gently riduculing their foibles (Kathy Bates' family in SCHMIDT), he has great affection for them. Look at how beautifully SIDEWAYS briefly captures Giamatti's mom, the delightful Burke of NY theater. There is something so poignant about her serving leftovers with her overly made-up face, in honor of her son's unexpected arrival. And the way she passes out in front of the TV all night. He found the humor in her predicament, but also the pathos. She's far from pitiful, but she's sad, wanting her family gathered on her birthday.

[Jon]

Posted: 12/24/04 at 4:34pm

Doesn't Thomas Hayden Church remind you of Nick Nolte 15 years ago?

At the very least, this movie proves that you can take the old odd couple/buddy formula, mix in the road movie formula, and still come up with something completely fresh and new.