Sideways

Pros: Excellent performances from Giamatti and Madsen
Cons: Much like About Schmidt; somewhat lacking in character development

Miles and Jack have been best friends since college. They've seen each other through a lot of times, both good and bad. Neither has come even close to achieving the career goals they have sought. Miles (Paul Giamatti) wanted to be a novelist, but makes ...

Pros: Entertaining, not "heavy" film.
Cons: A bit too much profanity for my taste.

My son and I attended a movie premiere late this afternoon in Santa Barbara. I had no idea we were going to this event. I wore shorts. I thought we were going to see a screening. Boy, was I red-faced. It turned out to be quite interesting. The movie ...

Pros: Some hilarious moments; Paul Giamatti
Cons: Dragged in places; overrated

I’m a pretty sensitive person. In fact, there are those who are closest to me who would fall over laughing at that great understatement. Oddly enough, however, is that nature seems to have bestowed upon me selective sensitivity. I can take ...

Pros: acting, script, direction, humor
Cons: too long, main characters unlikable

By the time I got around to seeing Sideways, it had garnered so much praise that I was bound to be disappointed. Alexander Payne’s script (adapted from the novel by Rex Pickett) and direction are excellent, but the film is about twenty minutes too ...

Pros: The directing; Thoughtful story
Cons: Slow pacing; Where's the beer???

What is a middle- aged man to do if he is getting married in a very short time and wants a final taste of freedom? Most would opt for the usual bachelor party celebration, some casual drinking, and perhaps a visit to a girlie bar. But there are other ...

Pros: Church's breakout performance, lots of cool wine info
Cons: Characters are not appealing

Have you ever heard a song that had some well-written lyrics but the tune and melody just weren't very appealing? That's how I think of this movie. There isn't much appealing about the main characters although the story itself is kind of interesting. ...

Pros: adult storyline, funny moments, honest story and honest emotions, great performances, cool ideas
Cons: terrible cinematography, not as funny as reported

I'm probably the last person in North America to review this film, but I wanted to add my two cents, and do it briefly (since I'm longwinded to begin with). Sideways is a much-celebrated dramedy about two middle-aged men, out on a lark, to celebrate ...

Pros: Sandra Oh, Thomas Haden Church, the rest of the cast
Cons: Annoying , depressing and completely unnecessary

I watched this once a few months ago and was singularly unimpressed. I decided to wait awhile and see if it might be better the second time. To my surprise, it was more tolerable-probably because I knew when the few good things were coming. Otherwise, ...

Pros: Story, direction, script, acting (especially Giamatti), complex and delicious humor.
Cons: Fairly derivative (of Dave Brubeck) jazz score adds little life to the film.

How incredibly refreshing it is to see an Alexander Payne film. A director of hilarious, intelligent, and often equally poignant comedies, Payne has trained his camera on the places, and more incisively, the people of America that somehow exemplify the ...

Pros: Payne's Directing, Script, Score, Look, Production, & Cast.
Cons: Nothing I Can Think Of.

Since his 1996 feature film debut for the abortion comedy Citizen Ruth, Nebraska filmmaker Alexander Payne brought a mix of Americana and irreverent offbeat humor to many of films often based on books that he and longtime co-writer Jim Taylor ...

Pros: Giamatti, the thoughtful way it deals with people and their baggage
Cons: A bit sitcom-y in moments, a touch long

Alexander Payne has a knack for dissecting those very specific times that are common to everybody's lives. In "Election" he gives us a gaggle of teenagers battling through adolescence, while the newly-minted adults around them battle with the fact that ...

Pros: Intriguing plot, great acting, breathtaking scenery-it's all here.
Cons: Looking for a hero or even a sympathetic character in this film? Don't bother.

I'm generally not much for "critically acclaimed" movies. Laugh all you want, but the flicks I like generally either consist of a) sh*t blowing up or b) something that makes me laugh till I pee myself. Hey, I make no apologies for my lowbrow tastes. ...

Pros: Superb acting all round; a perfectly nuanced and balanced script; laidback, finesse directing
Cons: Might be too raunchy for some

One of the piquant pleasures of experiencing an Alexander Payne film is the refreshing way with which the director expresses ordinary human behavior. Who can forget the uproarious scene in Payne's underrated masterpiece "Election"--as close a model of ...

Pros: Giamatti, script
Cons: I liked it more after it was over

He’s one of us. A middle school English teacher and failed novelist, he is going through a mid-life crisis on a weeklong road trip through the wine country in California. His best friend, a college buddy and almost polar opposite (most friendships ...

Pros: Relaxed pace, female characters...
Cons: Male characters, a general lack of imagination...

Sideways, an Alexander Payne film (the director of ‘About Schmidt’), is adapted from a novel by Rex Pickett… Miles and Jack are best friends, and have been ever since they became freshmen roommates in college. Miles (Paul ...