2004 Top 10 - #8
December 23, 2004#8: Sideways : Sideways represents the most mature film to-date from director Alexander Payne, whose impressive resume already includes Election and About Schmidt. By turns poignant and hilarious, Sideways follows the misadventures of two mismatched buddies as they embark on a Bachelor's Party trip through California's wine country. It's a tough thing to effectively mix drama and comedy, yet Payne makes it seem effortless. He is also blessed with an amazing cast: Paul Giamatti (in a performance that should earn him an Oscar nomination), Thomas Hayden Church, Virginia Madsen, and Payne's wife, Sandra Oh. Sideways was one of the best films I saw at 2004's Toronto International Film Festival, and I was no less impressed and entertained when I subsequently saw it twice around the time of its opening. It's currently playing in theaters in many markets, so, if you haven't seen it, rush out and give yourself a treat.
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Pirates of the Cinema - "What", "Where", "When", and "How"
When it comes to Asian piracy, the biggest sellers are DVD titles. In a way, these can be the hardest to crack down on, because all the pirates are doing is taking a legitimate title and making illegal copies. And, because the DVD covers are done ...
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By the Numbers
In the wake of my recent statement that IMO 2007 was the worst year for movies since I started reviewing, I received a reader's challenge asking if I could come up with numbers to support that assertion. So I spent a few hours this past weekend ...
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Opening Today
It's a busy weekend at the multiplex, in part because several films that have previously opened in only a few theaters are going wider. Two of those are Starting out in the Evening, an affecting tale of the relationship between an aging writer and a...
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