Sideways

Well, it's been about 2 months since I saw this but I just noticed it was up for or won some awards. Very good and entertaining and worth seeing. Made me want to pack up and drive to California wine country.


sort of spoiler warning in effect -- I'm not really giving anything away but have a question for anyone else who has seen it. What did you think about the part when the soon-to-be-married guy comes back to the hotel room crying and begging for the wine guy's help? When I saw it, I thought he was truly upset and sincere. My mom thinks he was just doing a good acting job and didn't mean much of what he said, after all he sent the wine guy in to do his dirty work. Any thoughts?

[Auspicious]

Re: Sideways

What did you think about the part when the soon-to-be-married guy comes back to the hotel room crying and begging for the wine guy's help? When I saw it, I thought he was truly upset and sincere. My mom thinks he was just doing a good acting job and didn't mean much of what he said, after all he sent the wine guy in to do his dirty work. Any thoughts?

***Spoiler Alert***

I just saw it once but I thought the guy was upset and sincere. Sort of. I think he knew that marrying that woman was the only thing standing between him and a very pathetic future, so he was upset for himself. If I remember right, he wasn't like "I can't hurt Victoria, that would be undeserved and wrong and I've seen the error of my ways" he was more like "I can't lose Victoria" because it would be awful for him. And blah blah blah "I love her," and he thinks he does, but he really loves what she does for him and doesn't want to lose that.

So I thought he was upset and sincere and not just conning the wine guy, but he was still pathetic and dishonest in that, alas, his love was a love based on selfishness.

That's a good take on it. I couldn't quite accept that he would try to pull that over on the wine guy but given his prior actions questioned some of his sincerity. It's been a while since I saw it but now remember how he was upset about what it would mean for him, not her.

I agree with Julie's interpretation. His character wasn't a liar, he was just immature and selfish. Do you remember that part where Miles (wine guy) finds out that Jack's been telling that girl he's falling for her, wants to have a future together, etc. and Miles says something to the effect of "and I'm sure he thought he meant every word"? I thought that pretty much summed him up.

[migirl]

Well, maybe we're in the minority on this one but DH and I both thought this movie was ... ok. It was mildly entertaining, but I just don't get why all of the critics are falling all over themselves over it. We're just not that into wine, maybe that was part of it?

I liked it, but I certainly didn't think it's the best movie of the year. I don't think it has to do with the wine. I heard that one reason critics love it is that they identify with the loneliness and failure of Miles.

[Auspicious]

Last year, with Lost in Translation, I heard that there was a general trend that people who saw it early on loved it, and people who saw it after all the hype was out and/or after it was released on DVD were like "People loved that? What's the big deal?" That it was the kind of movie that really needed to take you by surprise. With a "small" movie like that it's kind of hard if you go in expecting some kind of profound spiritual experience.

I saw LiT early and loved it, and I saw Sideways after the hype and thought it was just good but not great, so I wonder if it's the same deal--the type of movie that needs low expectations for the full effect to be felt.

I enjoyed it but think that best picture is a bit of a stretch. Granted, I haven't seen any of the other films up for best picture, but from what I've heard, some others sound more deserving.

That's really interesting, Julie.

I kind of wonder if something similar will happen to Million Dollar Baby-- I saw it knowing absolutely nothing about it, and I think it would be a different experience seeing it after all this controversy and discussion of the ending.

[DCJenn]

Hated it. Seriously, I went up to bed because it did so little for me. I didn't think any of the characters were interesting or different or compelling or whatever. I loved the scenery but that's about it.

I hadn't heard much about it except that it was supposed to be fantastic.

Bleh-

Jenn

[SueC]

I enjoyed it, I also thought the scenery was beautiful and totally inspired us to want to take a trip out to the wine country. We've been jokingly acting like wine experts whenever we drink wine now (we like wine but we're totally stupid about about analyzing it like they do in the movie. We're the kind of people that when we eat at a nice restaurant and they give us a taste of the wine before pouring a full glass we go through the motions like we know what we're doing but we really don't, but I digress...).
As far as the scene where the guy goes back to the hotel room crying, I don't think he necessariy thinks he is acting, I think he thinks he is in love with whomever he is with at the moment.
Oh yeah, I forget to add, I was surprised by the full frontal nudity of the man. For those of you that haven't seen it, it was a very unattractive man, so if you went to see that, you would be very disappointed. It is just so rare to see the guy naked, usually it is the woman and the occasional flash of the guys butt.

[Auspicious]

Oh yeah, I forget to add, I was surprised by the full frontal nudity of the man. For those of you that haven't seen it, it was a very unattractive man, so if you went to see that, you would be very disappointed.

That scene is pee-your-pants hilarious in slow motion. . . . Uh, not that I would know or anything . . .

Sue's right though, it's so surprising and profoundly unsexy that you have to make this face:

[SueC]

Oh yeah, I forget to add, I was surprised by the full frontal nudity of the man. For those of you that haven't seen it, it was a very unattractive man, so if you went to see that, you would be very disappointed.

That scene is pee-your-pants hilarious in slow motion. . . . Uh, not that I would know or anything . . .

Sue's right though, it's so surprising and profoundly unsexy that you have to make this face:

Darn it if I didn't already send it back to Netflix! Is it worth re-selecting just to see the repulsive guy running slowly while naked?

[Auspicious]

Nah, it's probably only funny on days when your inner twelve-year-old is in charge of the remote.

[SueC]