No one really bothered her at LAX waiting for a flight to MSP. I said hello to her as I passed her first class window seat in 3A. I had a much cozier seat in 23B.
I liked him in The Illusionist.
“He won an Emmy for best lead actor in the HBO series about John Adams.”
John Adams was excellent but PG mumbled throughout the whole series.
I liked sideways because of th acting. It was the first time I saw Sandra Oh and I became a fan.
I loved Sideways. Loved the ending. A very memorable last scene.
How do I figure @gonoles? Because my family has been in the business one way or another for 75 years and it’s the truth. Things still have not recovered since the financial crisis in 2008 when funding all but dried up completely. And no, not “everyone and his mother” has an indie production company.
Sideways was great for the tourist business here! But, it’s nice that it was 10 years ago, so it’s now possible to get into certain restaurants again.
“I’m not drinking any (bleep)ing Merlot!”
This is an odd topic 10 yo movie. I loved it though and recently was trying to see if I could screen it for my friend on one of the services we get without extra charge. I’ve seen it 2 or 3 times and think it is hilarious. It isn’t depressing to me remotely.
PG is always playing basically himself. His look and voice are so distinctively his that no matter whether he is on Downton Abbey, or Sideways, or John Adams, you can never for even a moment escape the realization that you are watching Paul Giamatti. Barbra Streisand is the same way - no matter how theoretically varied the role it’s always Barbra.
Sam Waterston and Steve Buscemi are the same I think.
If you like PG, you owe it to yourself to see Love and Mercy (we’ve talked about the movie on CC several times). He plays Brian Wilson’s (of the Beach Boys) whacked out 24/7 psychiatrist (Eugene Landy) who exploits him unbelievably.
^^But he does it so very well!!! Buscemi, too.
Loved Buscemi as the slimy paparazzo in “Delirious,” a film seen by a total of 10 people, maybe.
Santa Barbara County used to pass out “Sideways” tour brochures pointing out the sites where the movie was filmed.
I loved it. It didn’t depress me at all. I enjoyed the acting and the quirkiness of the film. I also felt that way about Little Miss Sunshine. DH and I were laughing so hard at the end tears were just gushing out of our eyes.
I didn’t see Sideways, but something about the Giamatti brothers ( Paul & Marcus) I always found a bit depressing anyway.
If you really want to see a depressing movie whose director has even been called sadistic,[url= <a href=“http://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/surviving-amour/%5DAmour.%5B/url”>http://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/surviving-amour/]Amour.[/url]
I feel compelled to make it clear that although I thought Sideways wasn’t a feel-good movie, I thought it was great. 
S’s 15-yr-old insight that impressed our fellow movie-goers was that when PG describes what he loves about pinot noirs, he is describing himself.
Funny, I don’t remember the ending. I’ll have to watch it again.
Musicamuscia,
I think we are talking about two different things. The credit crisis of Oct 2008 made it harder for the studios to finance films and certainly reduced the number of movies released by the studios and PC’s with distribution deals with the studios. However, anyone with a GoPro camera can make a movie nowadays and these micro budget movies are not dependent on distribution deals or syndicates of investors.
The NY Times did a Jan 2014 article about it titled “Flooding Theaters isn’t good for filmmakers or filmgoers.” You can Google it if you want. The Vanity Fair article of 2013 is even better. That article is titled “When the Spec Script was King” The first article points out that when Indie films flood the market they crowd each other out making it nearly impossible for the film to recoup it’s investment which isn’t good for filmmakers or filmgoers, hence the title of the article. Streaming has replaced the “straight to video” market but if a movie doesn’t get much publicity, and most don’t, they won’t get much of an audience or get noticed. They just die.
Food for thought.
Back on topic, Bottle Shock isn’t nearly as loved by audiences as Sideways, based on Rotten Tomatoes rankings, but I went to YT and watched the trailer and it looked really good.
As far as PG, I haven’t really followed his career. I have a hard time picturing him not talking about how much he hates the $%^#$$% merlot now, to be honest. He was so pathetic in that movie and so fragile. Sneaking off to call his ex, when drunk, and then devastated to find out she was remarrying and having a child. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. And his friend, THC, was disgusting really. I am still surprised his last scene was just going home again. They left him at the door step of his house, metaphorically, I suppose. The scene where he cries his eyes out about how much he needs his fiancé despite all his horn dog behavior was more of the depressing honesty you don’t usually see in movies built to glamorize things and shoot for mass audiences.
That is the word that came up over and over in the comments about Sideways. It was honest. There was none of the usual Hollywood gloss. It was a really honest film. Funny at time. Sad at times. Yeah, now that I look back on it one day and 10-years later, I really liked it. It was a great way to deal with a rainy Sunday.
Add me to the “loved it” list. I have the DVD and watch it about 1x/year. It has a mix of unpredictable plot and complex characters that are the common theme of the movies I like the most.
For the guys, if you have a thing for Sandra Oh she was a dancer in “Dancing at the Blue Iguana,” surprisingly complex for a gratuitous exposure film.
@Consolation That is really perceptive of your son. I will have to listen for that the next time I watch it. The funny ending I was talking about was Little Miss Sunshine, not Sideways.