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DVDs and Films You Have Watched Recently 3 - The Final Insult


Devon Malcolm

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Sideways is one of my favourite films, everything about it is note perfect.  The leads are quite horrible people but played with such endearment that you can't help but like them.  I have at some point in my life been both Miles and Jack.  I was going to go to a screening that served the wine mentioned in the films but had the note "At the request of Miles, merlot will not be available".

I haven't drank Merlot since seeing Sideways and always think of that line when I see it.  Sideways is an absolute treasure of a film.

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Looking through the list of films available on Catch-Up, I see Sky Cinema have put up the entire Rocky series, including Balboa, although Creed doesn't appear to be up yet.

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1 minute ago, Carbomb said:

Looking through the list of films available on Catch-Up, I see Sky Cinema have put up the entire Rocky series, including Balboa, although Creed doesn't appear to be up yet.

That's still five films to watch, though.

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5 minutes ago, Onyx2 said:

I love Pulp Fiction @Tommy!. Can't tell you how many times I've seen it, and watched it again only this past September. It's just so cool, funny and interesting. 23 years old too, which blows my mind now.

I've tried it a few times and always switched it off. I'm glad I tried one more time. I think the other thing is I used to be surrounded by people who lauded it as the best film ever and quoted from it a lot. I guess I'm also now enough years removed from that I guess I can actually enjoy it. 

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20 hours ago, Scott Malbranque said:

I appreciate and relate to our Mossy's persistence with Pulp Fiction, and I have tried the same approach with Goodfellas but unfortunately have only ever arrived at the thought of "This is still gik! What's wrong with me?"

 

I've tried to watch the Royal Tannenbaums 3 times and never made it through. I can probably count on one hand the amount of films I've given up on partway through as well, just something about it I can't get on with. Unlike Tommy I almost certainly won't be trying again, it's had its chance.

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So I found Sideways on Catch-Up last night. What a great little film! I knew Paul Giamatti was good, but he was excellent in this; his character, Miles, is a guy who's having real problems dealing with his situation, and appears to find refuge in wine-tasting as a way of avoiding reality for as long as possible, and Giamatti really does portray that - the way the wine-tasting and discussion of wine seems to virtually throw a switch and he lights up from this nervous, insecure wreck to become an urbane, outgoing, and actually quite likable guy that you end up rooting for, it's a seriously good performance from him.

Also loved the portrayal of wine-country California as this golden vineyard paradise with its easygoing lifestyle; again, it's shown in the contrast with the few scenes where they're back in humdrum San Diego as this refuge for Miles.

Virginia Madsen's always worth a watch, and it's weird how she hadn't physically changed much by this film in 2004 from when she was quite young in Dune in the 80s. She turns in a good performance as being this woman you can instantly imagine being the perfect partner for Miles, with her own deep knowledge of wine that causes her to wax poetic on the subject, and I found myself really wanting them to get together in the end. 

Thomas Haden Church is funny as Miles' friend Jack, a man-child about to get married, yet determined to get laid on this bachelor trip to wine country. Sandra Oh was intriguing; every time I've seen her, she's played authoritative, slightly staid characters, but in this she was a flirty sex-pot, and convincing with it.

Overall, it's a lovely film, lots of great humour, well paced, and all the characters have real depth. I guess one criticism would be that the characters, particularly the main two of Miles and Jack, are slightly too comical to be realistic, but it doesn't hurt the film at all. Thoroughly enjoyable.

EDIT: Was going to mention that there was a bit that really sold me on Giamatti's ability as an actor where

 

he meets his ex-wife and her husband at Jack's wedding. He'd only just found she remarried a while back, and she hits him with the news she's pregnant. As he smiles and congratulates her, you can see his anguish and his eyes full of tears; it's heart-breaking. The smile never reaches his eyes.

Incidentally, the woman who plays his ex-wife also played Gretchen in Breaking Bad. Can't help but wonder if that's the sort of thing she normally gets cast for, "the one that got away".

 

Edited by Carbomb
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@Carbomb Glad you enjoyed it.  With regard the part spoilered, she also was in Friends as the woman Ross's wife left him for!  What I thought about Miles and Jack was it was like they were back being roommates at college and had that chemistry that only old friends could have.  Such as their opening bit about the rewrite of Miles's novel and Jack clearly hadn't read it. "Maybe all the new bits made it feel like a brand new ending"  "Oh yeah, that'd be it!" (Giamatti's face is perfect in the delivery, and you're right about the spoilered bit, superb acting)

It also has M.C. Gainey running bollock naked down the street and an absolutely perfect final shot.  An absolute treasure.

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