‘Sideways’ takes columnist by surprise
Posted: 26 Dec 2004, 15:15I'll admit I don't always find myself on the same side of the fence as this columnist, but on this movie, I agree 100% - Sideways is great!
Source: http://www.qctimes.com/internal.php?sto ... 22,1042257
‘Sideways’ takes columnist by surprise
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WASHINGTON — When it comes to music, my wife is oracular. Every so often she puts on a CD of some little-known artist and says, “This is interesting, you’ve got to listen,” and six months later Diana Krall is the toast of the Grammys.
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Sadly, I have never been able to cash in on my wife’s uncanny prescience.
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But I have tried to hone a similar (and equally unremunerated) talent in my own preferred field: film.
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I had one early success, discovering Bogart (for myself) long before he was cool. The discovery was entirely accidental. I was 15, and my older brother and I set out halfway across Long Island to see “Harper,” the new Paul Newman private eye flick. It was a double feature and the B picture was something called “The Big Sleep.”
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Never heard of it. Never heard of anybody in it. But when we walked out of the theater, “Harper” was not on my mind. Bogart was. It was not until I moved to Cambridge, Mass., a decade later that I discovered that my fascination with Bogart was no private fixation. My eccentricity had gone mainstream.
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Generally, however, the movie gems I have discovered — “Lies My Father Told Me,” “The Stranger” (the Mastroianni version of the Camus novel) — have remained private secrets, so unremembered that not even Steve, the maestro of my local video store, has ever heard of them.
.
Last month I thought I had stumbled on another secret gem. It was Thanksgiving. My son was home from college and we decided to go to a movie.
.
I had done some online perusing earlier in the day, looking for a film I knew nothing about. I wanted to be surprised — a rare event these days with newspapers, TV and the Internet telling you everything there is to know about a movie before you reach the ticket booth.
.
So this time I picked something I had never heard of, “Sideways,” playing at the local art house. The theater is just about empty. The movie is sublime, all the richer for being a surprise from beginning to end.
.
My first reaction upon seeing it is gratitude. With so many mindless movies around, one is simply grateful for any movie this intelligent. “Sideways” is so delightful at every turn that you wish you could see it fresh — and be surprised again like the first time.
.
That being impossible, I did the next best thing. I started proselytizing. First I took my wife, then friends, vicariously reveling in their surprise and delight.
.
I began noticing something: the theater was filling up. Originally near-empty, it was half-full my second time, sold out my third. That is when I realized how out of it I was. My little secret movie then is named best picture of the year by the New York and Los Angeles film critics, and receives more Golden Globe nominations than any other movie.
.
Some secret. You realize that I told you very little about “Sideways.” I want you to see it fresh and be surprised. Don’t read up on it. Trust me on this one. See it.
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Contact Charles Krauthammer at letters@charleskrauthammer.com.
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NOW SHOWING
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“Sideways” shows at 1, 3:30 and 6 p.m. today, and 5 and 7:30 p.m. Monday through Wednesday at Quad-City Brew and View, 1611 2nd Avenue, Rock Island.
Source: http://www.qctimes.com/internal.php?sto ... 22,1042257
‘Sideways’ takes columnist by surprise
.
WASHINGTON — When it comes to music, my wife is oracular. Every so often she puts on a CD of some little-known artist and says, “This is interesting, you’ve got to listen,” and six months later Diana Krall is the toast of the Grammys.
.
Sadly, I have never been able to cash in on my wife’s uncanny prescience.
.
But I have tried to hone a similar (and equally unremunerated) talent in my own preferred field: film.
.
I had one early success, discovering Bogart (for myself) long before he was cool. The discovery was entirely accidental. I was 15, and my older brother and I set out halfway across Long Island to see “Harper,” the new Paul Newman private eye flick. It was a double feature and the B picture was something called “The Big Sleep.”
.
Never heard of it. Never heard of anybody in it. But when we walked out of the theater, “Harper” was not on my mind. Bogart was. It was not until I moved to Cambridge, Mass., a decade later that I discovered that my fascination with Bogart was no private fixation. My eccentricity had gone mainstream.
.
Generally, however, the movie gems I have discovered — “Lies My Father Told Me,” “The Stranger” (the Mastroianni version of the Camus novel) — have remained private secrets, so unremembered that not even Steve, the maestro of my local video store, has ever heard of them.
.
Last month I thought I had stumbled on another secret gem. It was Thanksgiving. My son was home from college and we decided to go to a movie.
.
I had done some online perusing earlier in the day, looking for a film I knew nothing about. I wanted to be surprised — a rare event these days with newspapers, TV and the Internet telling you everything there is to know about a movie before you reach the ticket booth.
.
So this time I picked something I had never heard of, “Sideways,” playing at the local art house. The theater is just about empty. The movie is sublime, all the richer for being a surprise from beginning to end.
.
My first reaction upon seeing it is gratitude. With so many mindless movies around, one is simply grateful for any movie this intelligent. “Sideways” is so delightful at every turn that you wish you could see it fresh — and be surprised again like the first time.
.
That being impossible, I did the next best thing. I started proselytizing. First I took my wife, then friends, vicariously reveling in their surprise and delight.
.
I began noticing something: the theater was filling up. Originally near-empty, it was half-full my second time, sold out my third. That is when I realized how out of it I was. My little secret movie then is named best picture of the year by the New York and Los Angeles film critics, and receives more Golden Globe nominations than any other movie.
.
Some secret. You realize that I told you very little about “Sideways.” I want you to see it fresh and be surprised. Don’t read up on it. Trust me on this one. See it.
.
Contact Charles Krauthammer at letters@charleskrauthammer.com.
.
NOW SHOWING
.
“Sideways” shows at 1, 3:30 and 6 p.m. today, and 5 and 7:30 p.m. Monday through Wednesday at Quad-City Brew and View, 1611 2nd Avenue, Rock Island.
