Sideways

Pros: Entertaining, not "heavy" film.

Cons: A bit too much profanity for my taste.

The Bottom Line: Entertaining adult situations and story, this is not appropriate for children.

Review: 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...

Pros: acting, script, direction, humor

Cons: too long, main characters unlikable

The Bottom Line: It's a good year for Sideways.

Review: 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...

Pros: Excellent performances from Giamatti and Madsen

Cons: Much like About Schmidt; somewhat lacking in character development

The Bottom Line: Life doesn't stop at a certain age. Make age just an attitude.

Review: 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...

Pros: The directing; Thoughtful story

Cons: Slow pacing; Where's the beer???

The Bottom Line: This is a good movie but the slow pacing could put some viewers to sleep.

Review: 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...

Pros: Some hilarious moments; Paul Giamatti

Cons: Dragged in places; overrated

The Bottom Line: I thought it was overrated, and not worth the money I paid to see it.

Review: 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: Sandra Oh, Thomas Haden Church, the rest of the cast

Cons: Annoying , depressing and completely unnecessary

The Bottom Line: This coming of middle age tale resonates with yuppie despair, is pretentious and boring at the same time. The moments of real comedy are not enough to save it.

Review: 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...

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.

The Bottom Line: More required reviewing from one of the great American directors of our time, Alexander Payne. Something for the loser in all of us.

Review: 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...

Pros: Giamatti, the thoughtful way it deals with people and their baggage

Cons: A bit sitcom-y in moments, a touch long

The Bottom Line: The Bottom Line has been drinking a lot of Riesling lately. But don't ever order Merlot in its presence.

Review: 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...

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.

The Bottom Line: Taking the slightly lighter side of midlife crises than most films, "Sideways" should be the "buddy film" of choice for adults too old for "Road Trip".

Review: 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: Relaxed pace, female characters...

Cons: Male characters, a general lack of imagination...

The Bottom Line: Could have been a lot better...

Review: 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...