response 270 of 342:

Feb 20 19:10 UTC 2006

re #260 I thought the two main characters in Sideways were both 
sympathetic and likeable.  These are two guys who are swallowed up in 
their own neuroses (one guy has an inferiority complex, the other is a 
narcissist) and because of that may always ultimately fail at every 
relationship they have.  By the end of the movie, you know Haden 
Church's impending marriage is never going to last because his 
narcissism will never allow him to be faithful.  Giamatti's character's 
relationship with the Virginia Madsen character probably won't last 
either, because he-- like his friend-- is too self obsessed, albeit in 
a different way.

But there is one relationship which will not fail, which has not 
failed, and that is the one they have with each other.  When we first 
see Haden Church's character, he is in a roomful of his soon-to-be 
inlaws and he lights up when he sees Giammati's character.  You can 
sense immediately that he's closer to this guy than he is to his 
fiancee or to anybody else in that room.  There is a great deal of 
tenderness in their relationship, you can see they really care for each 
other, and if that doesn't make those characters sympathetic, what 
will?  No matter what happens in their lives, even if they get 
swallowed up in their neuroses, they will always have each other.

There is an allegory in the wine storyline, because wine changes with 
age, gets better.  The Giammati character relates to wine, because 
while he has his inferiority complex and failed at his first marriage, 
he hopes that he-- like wine-- can and will get better with age.  
There's a scene where he describes why Pinot Noires are his favorite, 
because pinot noir grapes have a difficult early life and require a 
great deal of caring, and if they survive, end up making great wine.  
Pinot Noir grapes, he also points out, have a limited timespan where 
they are of great quality, before they go downhill.  Again an allegory 
for a man in a middle age crisis wondering if he'll ever get in another 
relationship before his time passes and he's aged too much and goes 
downhill.

There's a sad scene where the Haden Church character, having had the 
crap kicked out of him by one girl, picks up a waitress in a restaurant 
almost immediately, and he tells Giamatti that he isn't going to hang 
out with him, that he's going to wait for her to get off work.  There's 
a sadness in Giamatti's eyes as Haden Church's character says, "I have 
to do what I have to do"  His character is trapped in his neuroses and 
will never escape from it.

The movie ends on a hopeful note because we see Giamatti's character 
going back to Madsen's apartment and knocking on the door.  A poignant 
moment because it signals that maybe, just maybe, he will escape his 
neuroses and be able to commit to another person again.  Maybe, like a 
good pinot noir grape, his time has come.   

response 272 of 342:

Feb 20 20:06 UTC 2006

ELECTION-- This is another really good movie I just watched on dvd.  
Matthew Broderick plays a high school teacher having a midlife crisis. 
He's the advisor to the student council and has to monitor the upcoming 
elections.  The problem is he can't stand the girl running for 
president, a conceited type-A resume-obsessed student played by Reese 
Witherspoon.  So he decides he wants her to lose, and secretly recruits 
another student, the airhead former star quarterback, to run against 
her.  Then this guy's lesbian sister also decides to run, on 
an "abolish the student council" platform.  As the election nears, and 
Broderick's feud with Witherspoon's character gets worse, he slowly 
cracks up.  This is a terrific "dark comedy", and Broderick and 
Witherspoon-- who alternate narrating-- create memorable characters.  
Witherspoon deserved a nomination for this in fact, but it came out too 
early in the year.  I liked the final scene, which takes place a couple 
of years after the "election, when Broderick's character-- having had 
his life utterly destroyed by the earlier events, is in Washington D.C. 
as a tourist, and sees Witherspoon getting into a limo with a 
congressman, and he chucks his soda cup at the back window as they 
drive off.    

response 274 of 342:

Feb 20 20:28 UTC 2006

re #273 yes! I was wondering if anyone would pick up on that.  I 
rented "Election" because Alexander Payne wrote it, he is the same guy 
who wrote "Sideways".  Good for you Edina, you know your screenwriters.

response 276 of 342:

Feb 20 22:15 UTC 2006

He also directed them and is/was married to Sandra Oh, who is in "Sideways".

response 278 of 342:

Feb 21 14:49 UTC 2006

My wife and I watched "Garden State" over the weekend. We both enjoyed it. 

response 280 of 342:

Feb 21 18:36 UTC 2006

I *love* "Under the Tuscan Sun".  

response 282 of 342:

Feb 21 19:07 UTC 2006

I think it should've been named "Menopause with Vodka Marinara"
I didn't like the WASP broad digging into everyone's private business.  Had
she been a loyal neighbor, she would have put the father of Chiara into the
loop.  Instead, she meddled and lied.  No, no..I didn't like that movie.

response 284 of 342:

Feb 21 20:13 UTC 2006

 re #279:
 > Under the Tuscan Sun had some subtle references to that movie.

 "subtle references"?  It's mentioned several times by name.  One of
 the characters re-enacts a scene from the earlier movie, for goodness'
 sake.  What part of that is "subtle"?

response 286 of 342:

Feb 21 20:48 UTC 2006

> Society would not accept the relationship of Romeo and Juliet

Uh, wrong:  It was about what the Montagues and Capulets wouldn't accept,
not "society".  West Side Story was about inter-racial/cultural,
BM is about intra-gender.

response 288 of 342:

Feb 21 23:24 UTC 2006

ooh raw!

response 290 of 342:

Feb 22 16:08 UTC 2006

No, they were two dueling families- had either married anyone else it
would have been perfectly fine.

response 292 of 342:

Feb 22 18:45 UTC 2006

re #290 I was talking about metaphorically