January 2, 2005
Sideways
I’m so glad I’m not the only one who thinks all the hype about Sidways is nuts:
–A.O. Scott, discussing what he calles The Most Overrated Film Of The Year
The film lagged tediously in many places, and I couldn’t agree more about the characters–I hated them, possibly because the film refused to.
via Cinetrix
Postscript: More dissenters:
Alexander Payne has made a real show of talking about a revival of 1970s cinema aesthetics; his film, however, plays like a dumb sitcom. The spit bucket of wine over the head, the ramming of a car into a tree on purpose in order to stage a story about an accident, Virginia Madsen’s infantile sense of betrayal at the news of the wedding, and that extended, cruelly condescending episode about retrieving a lost wallet from a naked, overweight white trash couple while they are, of course, in the middle of humping vigorously—all of these amount to a movie that is blatant crap.
Filed by cynthia rockwell at 7:02 pm under Uncategorized
7 Comments
ah, nothing like the new york times to make my morning…
i really liked sideways and i thought it was a fun movie to watch, but definitely no masterpiece. so, yeah, if what he says is true – that all sorts of ‘film critics’ thought it was a shining diamond – then it is overrated.
that doesn’t mean that i don’t recommend watching it – it’s funny and moving and honest, and the acting is good in 80% of the scenes.
and compared to the pieces of shit that usually make it to oscar nominations, this one is actually worth the movie money.
i didn’t like sideways and found it moderately entertaining. but it’s true that most oscar-nominated films are shit, so this one wouldn’t be out of place there.
have you seen huckabees yet?
no, i still find it hard to get myself to watch a film that has ‘heart’ in its title.
saw a poster for a new wim wenders movie on one of the streets here. i wonder what it’s called in english..
‘don’t come knocking’?
huckabees (just pretend that’s the whole title, no *heart*) is playing at the cheap davis sq theater and if it’s still there when you get back i’m going to drag you there and buy your ticket.
yeah! i love assertive women– ok, if you drag me, i’ll go.
i actually think land
of plenty is a closer translation to the hebrew title i saw, and it’s also released 2004.
prepare to be dragged!
“…and that extended, cruelly condescending episode about retrieving a lost wallet from a naked, overweight white trash couple while they are, of course, in the middle of humping vigorously—all of these amount to a movie that is blatant crap.” Yeah.