Sideways Review

I wrote a review of the film "Sideways" recently for Artdish.com, a Seattle-based "forum on visual art," so please check it out (see link below). Today they announced the Golden Globe nominations (precursor to the Oscars), and "Sideways" led the pack with seven nominations including Best Musical or Comedy, Best Director (Alexander Payne), Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy (Paul Giamatti), Best Supporting Actor (Thomas Haden Church), Best Supporting Actress (Virginia Madsen), Best Screenplay (Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor), and Best Original Score (Rolfe Kent). I'm a big advocate for this film because I thought it was truly funny and poignant and smart, all at the same time. So I hope it wins as many awards as possible. The actor Paul Giamatti deserves every accolade he can get for his work in this role, as well as last year's "American Splendor." Director Alexander Payne ("Election" and "About Schmidt") will likely continue to become one of the most important American directors over time.

This is fast becoming a film review blog, but I'll probably revert back to things literary soon. I just haven't been to any good readings lately. I'm currently reading "The Adventures of Augie March" by Saul Bellow because Aleksandar Hemon recommended it as the true great American novel. Of course, he lives in Chicago and the book is set in Chicago, so he may have a slight bias there, but I do think the writing is very vivid and rich, somewhat akin to a more modern-day Dickens. Charles Baxter said the last American writer to really take on describing the human face in detail was Saul Bellow, and I think this is clearly a good example of what Baxter meant. Bellow even goes so far as to say of one character that "her mouth's corner hairs were minutely apparent."

Link