Topic: Sideways (the movie, not the forum member) (Read 12934 times)

Inlander · « **on:** 25 Jul 2005, 22:15 »

I'm curious to know what other people think of this film. All the critics I usually trust, both here and overseas, fawned over it like you wouldn't believe - four and a half, five star ratings everywhere. But I absolutely despised it. Like seriously, not just being bored but actually actively disliking the characters and everything else about the film. So much so that it gave me a psychosomatic headache while in the cinema.

What did other people think of it?

Sythe · « **Reply #1 on:** 25 Jul 2005, 22:18 »

I only saw part of a pirated copy... That copy became a frisbee pretty quick.

heretic · « **Reply #2 on:** 26 Jul 2005, 06:14 »

i saw most of it, and i must say it was bizzarr and stupid.
http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=sideways

Inlander · « **Reply #3 on:** 26 Jul 2005, 06:23 »

Yeah, I remember hearing about that. A lot of people are fuckwits. I like Merlot, and the fact that the main character in that god-forsaken movie dislikes it make me like it even more!

heretic · « **Reply #4 on:** 26 Jul 2005, 06:30 »

i'm more into white wine, and that's just cause i really like a glass or two or three before bed

happybirthdaygelatin · « **Reply #5 on:** 26 Jul 2005, 09:03 »

I fell asleep somewhere before the middle.

heretic · « **Reply #6 on:** 26 Jul 2005, 09:06 »

it was pretty funny when the main character had to retrieve the wallet for the douchebag who left it in that woman's house

Valrus · « **Reply #7 on:** 26 Jul 2005, 11:07 »

I thought it was funny and enjoyable, not The Best Movie Ever, but certainly a good evening's entertainment. The characters were sometimes really unlikeable, but they were pretty realistic, and I liked the story okay too.

The wine-as-metaphor thing was kind of pushed a little too hard, but then again some moviegoers probably need it to be. And the scene where the main character opened his prized bottle of wine in the fast food restaurant was fucking killer, the payoff that made the whole overblown wine-is-life thing worthwhile.

I hate maddox, although I have to agree that people who saw Sideways and decided they wanted to go wine tasting in Cali are fuckwits.

heretic · « **Reply #8 on:** 26 Jul 2005, 11:10 »

all people who hate maddox are Nazis

Sythe · « **Reply #9 on:** 26 Jul 2005, 19:19 »

Maddox is always right. I'm a big fan of the Retrogressive Party.

FruitKat · « **Reply #10 on:** 27 Jul 2005, 01:43 »

Meh, I didn't think it was THAT great.
I tend to force myself to enjoy a movie no matter how bad it is, because if I'm gonna sit there for a few hours, I might as well be having fun.
That being said, I had to force myself to be entertained by it a whole lot more than normal.
(I didn't see it long ago and I can't REALLY remember the end. So I'll say it wasn't very memorable

)
Oh yeah and heretic I agree with you about the funny part. But that was kinda IT.
I didn't really care about the characters either way, and I hate it in movies how just because they're the main character everything turns out well. I still think he's a bit of a dick...
Also, Valrus, its funny you mention pushing the wine-as-metaphor thing TOO HARD, because I didn't even notice it through the whole movie. Just shows how much attention I paid... Although maybe I'm just one of 'those' moviegoers

.

Menzallol · « **Reply #11 on:** 27 Jul 2005, 02:32 »

I thought the jiggly-naked-man-slammed-up-against-car part made it slightly enjoyable, but the rest of the movie was just blah. It was supposed to make me feel miserable, but I just felt bored.

Valrus · « **Reply #12 on:** 27 Jul 2005, 05:33 »

Quote from: heretic

all people who hate maddox are Nazis

I am a grammar nazi, so I suppose I at least peripherally satisfy your jackass generalization.

Basically I think the guy would be okay if he was funny, but I don't think he is. So to me, he's pretty much just an arrogant, self-aggrandizing cock.

Your opinion may vary, of course, and that's fine, but just so you know that not everyone takes his word as gospel.

heretic · « **Reply #13 on:** 27 Jul 2005, 05:57 »

all people who don't take maddox's word as the gospel are communists

ASturge · « **Reply #14 on:** 27 Jul 2005, 07:49 »

And we all know what happens to Communists....

heretic · « **Reply #15 on:** 27 Jul 2005, 08:27 »

kittens flush them down the toilet?

ASturge · « **Reply #16 on:** 27 Jul 2005, 09:09 »

Yes

Also, the stock market!

Valrus · « **Reply #17 on:** 27 Jul 2005, 09:21 »

I could take those kittens.

happybirthdaygelatin · « **Reply #18 on:** 27 Jul 2005, 09:25 »

My summary of Sideways:

Dickhead upper middleclass cock 1: Blagh blagh blagh midlife crisis.

Dickhead upper middleclass cock 2: Blachg claghaghagh ostantatious cockheaded wine snobbery.

Me: passes out after drinking beer too quickly because movie was borring as all fuck.

heretic · « **Reply #19 on:** 27 Jul 2005, 09:30 »

good synopsis; except for me replace "drinking beer" with "smoking blunts"

i'm guessing it hold more significance if you're middle aged, but it was still stupid

deborah · « **Reply #20 on:** 27 Jul 2005, 09:34 »

i liked sandra oh in that film

after my boyfriend and i saw it in the theater, we both scratched our heads and wondered whether the makers of the movie were trying to present the wine slo...er, snob as haha he's an alcolohic isn't that funny or say, he's got some poignantly funny and darkly humorous moments in the midst of his alcoholism a la leaving las vegas
because it looked like they couldn't make up their minds

also, that movie was about an hour too long. they should have stuck with the slapstick humor and made it like a wes anderson film or something.

Inlander · « **Reply #21 on:** 27 Jul 2005, 15:16 »

Quote from: deborah

i liked sandra oh in that film

That's one of the things that really gave the shits about it: it has this awesome female character, but she gets completely fucked around (fair enough, happens in real life) - but then the film-makers completely forget about her. She just drops out of the film altogether. So suddenly it's like she's not actually a human being at all, just a device to propel the two main characters along, and when the character's no longer useful she's ditched like an old carboard box. I thought that was pretty objectionable.

But I think actually that's the thing I really find unpleasant about Alexander Payne's films: he doesn't seem to actually like people, at all.

La Creme · « **Reply #22 on:** 27 Jul 2005, 16:50 »

Quote

good synopsis; except for me replace "drinking beer" with "smoking blunts"

i'm guessing it hold more significance if you're middle aged, but it was still stupid

Actually, I saw it with my parents, and they thought it blew cockchunks too. Except my mom doesn't swear, so she said it was "bad". I'm pretty sure I remember my dad saying something about cockchunks though...

I just realized something... parents in their mid-40's aren't exactly middle-aged. Fuck.

Inlander · « **Reply #23 on:** 27 Jul 2005, 16:55 »

Why not? Are they planning to live to 150 or something?

thew · « **Reply #24 on:** 27 Jul 2005, 19:25 »

Yikes, looks like I'm alone in liking this movie, I better hide.

chupones · « **Reply #25 on:** 27 Jul 2005, 21:00 »

I'll admit I like the movie for Paul Giamatti and Virginia Madsen, but I really didn't care for the Thomas Haden Church character. After viewing all the Payne films, you do wonder if he needs an antidepressant.

Tinjessla · « **Reply #26 on:** 28 Jul 2005, 03:53 »

Quote from: thew

Yikes, looks like I'm alone in liking this movie, I better hide.

Don't worry! I liked it too. It wasn't fantastic, but i enjoyed it, even if it was a bit too long.

The Wombat · « **Reply #27 on:** 28 Jul 2005, 13:41 »

Quote from: thew

Yikes, looks like I'm alone in liking this movie, I better hide.

I loved this film.

I thought they did a good job of showing how there is no such thing as a good person, and how much life ****s everyone over.

And with a comedy at that.

Faker · « **Reply #28 on:** 02 Aug 2005, 09:11 »

I enjoyed it, I do think both it and About Schmidt are overrated but I certainly wouldn't tell anyone to avoid those films.

That said you gotta love any film with the line

"Her husband works a night shift or something, and he comes home and catches me on the floor with my cock in his wife's ass."

Tinsel_Shine · « **Reply #29 on:** 10 Sep 2005, 09:55 »

Meh. The film was okay. It wasn't stunning or anything, but I wasn't all "hatehatehatehatehate". The happy ending seemed kinda tacked on though, it would have been much better without it. Plus the girl who ended up with the balding brown haired one (was he called Miles? It's ages since I watched the film, I can't really remember any names) could have done so much better. The male charactors were both arseholes actually, especially that one who was planning to get married then went and slept around all over the place (the other one was more just irritating and not at all like-able).

Quote from: heretic

all people who don't take maddox's word as the gospel are communists

Pfft. Lies. I don't take maddox's word for gospel, and I haven't been a communist for at least the last few weeks. Socialism all the way.

Kid Modernist · « **Reply #30 on:** 10 Sep 2005, 12:28 »

I thought it was okay, a tad on the boring side. It was worth a watch, but I don't think it deserved Best Picture at all.

beckrokk · « **Reply #31 on:** 11 Sep 2005, 00:36 »

I thoroughly enjoyed Sideways. I may only be 19, but I really understood the main characters plight somehow. I'm pretty over-stressed myself. I never saw how slow the movie was because I paid attention to what was going on with the characters. Their desperation to have a good weekend was overwhelming, and the myriad ways that it gets muddled along the way is fantastic. I loved the cliffhanger ending. It's good when a film lets your imagination fill in the rest of a story.

Not the best film ever, but a damn fine one.

THESE FORUMS NOW CLOSED (read only)

Author Topic: Sideways (the movie, not the forum member) (Read 12934 times)

heretic

heretic

heretic

heretic

Menzallol

heretic

ASturge

heretic

ASturge

heretic

deborah

La Creme

thew

Tinjessla

The Wombat

Tinsel_Shine

Kid Modernist

beckrokk