Sideways
 

The wife and I saw Sideways last night, and it was a fantastic movie experience. The line between Indy and Studio is getting more and more blurred.

As I watched this film, I was struck at how reliant I've become on typical movie gimmicks; when the guy and girl are having trouble, the girl will magically appear at his apartment door at precisely the perfect time, etc. Sideways presents relationships and situations without those gimmicks, and the deeper into the film you go, the more you realize you're not getting those gimmicks.

Very cool effect.

Thomas Hayden Church was definitely brilliant in portraying a difficult character. No matter what happened, you could never find yourself hating the schmuck, although you know you should.

The wife noticed subtle effects with the color of Giamatti's shirts and clothes.

I was not expecting the film to be mostly talking about how both the main characters enjoyed wine. I enjoyed the scene where Miles and Maya discussed their interests in wine, now that was a deep scene.

This movie was a triumph for me!

Not only was it humane, witty, warm and poignant, but it also restored my faith in the possibility of an end to the cycle of studio pap which began in the early eighties and perhaps the beginning of an era in which studios will embrace the medium of film as an art form as opposed to a business again.

Great film...

great movie; best i've seen in a while. had about 12 months of hype to live up to...no problem there. paul g. was featured in newsweek as part of the oscar roundtable discussion. guess he isn't sure what's wrong with merlot either.

yes, the line is becoming blurred. for one, sundance is a completely different festival these days. and did you see previews for some christopher walken film? i thought the studio was something like "fox independent films." thought it was funny.

What a great film.. I'm suprised Paul Giamatti's did not get an oscar nod for his performance. It's amazing how in just two roles, Sideways and American Splendor, he has become one of the top 5 male actors today.

I caught up with this one today and liked it a lot. I agree with MonomAnny regarding the scene where Maya is talking about her love for wine and the expression on Miles' face is just incredible. A seriously good...and funny film.

One of the things that I found delightful about this film (if I may return again to the thread), was Giamatti's performance. Over the past week, the more thought I gave to it, the more subliminal and all round brilliant it seemed. A lot of people will inevitably point to the scene Ella and MonomAnny referred to, but the film is liberally peppered with scenes of equal brilliance.
This film has really incubated on me. I find myself returning to it often, I think I'm going to go back for a second viewing.

You're right, Kostya. The two central characters played such contrasting roles, yet complimented each other perfectly. Giamatti was just so good in his role, yet was able to do the fun stuff, like the dash for the wallet.

Like the very next scene after Mia and him have that (frickin amazing) conversation about wines, when he comes out of the bathroom and tries to kiss her, and it all goes awry and she hugs him...

Man, that was so painful, and Giamatti played it perfectly.

That's what's so damn good about this movie, it flickers from poignant to funny in seconds, and then back again. Goddamn, this movie was fuckin great!

"If anyone orders Merlot I'm fucking leaving"

I love it!!!