Top 5 Thursday: Movies I Watched for My Challenge (January 2016)

The start of a new year, the start of a new challenge. To kick it off I did see some good movies, but also some real stinkers. What about “Neighbors”, the Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi movie, “The Lone Ranger”, and the terrible “I’ll Always Know What You Did Last Summer”. But we are not here to talk about shitty movies, I’m going to show you my five favorites for my movie challenge for the month of January.

5. The Informant!

The movie was better than I expected it to be and Matt Damon was hilarious. His character was so full of shit, the lies started to pile up and he stuck to his story anyway. Underrated and overlooked Matt Damon film.

 

 

4. The Hateful Eight

It’s not one of my favorite Quentin Tarantino movies, but I knew it was going to be good. It was “Reservoir Dogs” meets “Clue”, set in the wild west. Great performances and off course sharp dialogues.

 

 

3. Wreck-It-Ralph

Can Disney ever do something completely terrible? I don’t think so. “Wreck-It-Ralph” was such a heart-warming story, great animation, loved it. I just want to hug Ralph.

 

 

2. Sideways

I happen to love Alexander Payne movies. I liked “About Schmidt”, “Nebraska” and “The Descendants” and now I can add “Sideways” to that list. Who thought a film about wine tasting could be so interesting, funny and overwhelming?

 

 

1. Gravity

I never like it when people overhype films. That makes me NOT want to see a film. Like I did with “Avatar”, which is now one of my favorites and I still regret not seeing it in theaters. “Gravity” is also one of those film. People were raving about it and I didn’t see it in the cinema. Now I regret that, because this film was amazing. And it would be a ten times better on the big screen and with the full experience.

 

 

They almost made the top 5: The Croods, Princess Mononoke

100 Movie Challenge 2016 - # 6: Sideways

Director: Alexander Payne

Genre: Drama/ Comedy

Runtime: 124 minutes

Year: 2004

Starring: Paul Giamatti, Thomas Haden Church, Virginia Madsen, Sandra Oh

Description: Two men reaching middle age (Paul Giamattis, Thomas Hade Church) with not much to show but disappointment, embark on a week long road trip through California's wine country, just as one is about to take a trip down the aisle.

Review: When “Sideways” is released, director Alexander Payne is relatively unknown in Hollywood. He has made praiseworthy films “About Schmidt” and “Election”. “Sideways” is a great follow up. We follow two friends who spend a week in the Californian wine area. It’s a very simple set up, which results and a realistic and convincing film.

Jack is about to get married and takes his buddy Miles on a trip to the Californian wine area. It is his last week as a ‘free man’ and Jack takes that very seriously. The two are very different. Jack is an actor, mostly for commercials, a ladies man and someone who enjoys life to the fullest. Miles is a depressed newly divorced failed writer, who spends his days teaching English and enjoying wine.

As a real wine expert Miles wants to teach Jack to enjoy the perfect Pinot or Cabernet and protects him from cheap Merlot. Miles has it all planned out: a week of wine tasting, fine dining, a little golf and enjoying the nice weather. Off course the weekend goes a little different as planned, because Jack has set a goal to find a nice girl to have some fun with. And he wants Miles to do the same. They meet Maya and her friend Stephanie, both wine lovers as well. Jack and Stephanie have an instant connection, but Miles and Maya’s bond is of a different caliber.

“Sideways” is a beautiful drama, but also a delightful comedy. The balance between these two genres is perfect and none of it is overdone. A film that manages to make you feel for and with the characters for over two hours and you share their happiness and pain. “Sideways” is an endearing and honest film. Because the main characters are people you can relate to, so we’re all rooting for a happy ending. Director Payne manages to avoid certain clichés.

Paul Giamatti is great in “Sideways”. You just want to hug his character and tell him everything is going to be okay. Thomas Haden Church, Virginia Madsen and Sandra Oh all perform very well.

“Sideways” is in a way a coming of age film, but then with men that are a little bit older. A definite must see.

Rating: 4,5/ 5