Admittedly I saw >Bottleshock< at 11:30 p.m., after a long week of trudging through the snow & cold of Sundance. I usually don't go to movies after 7 p.m., because the whole thing quickly devolves into a $10 nap. (Picture sleep-deprived me in a soft velvet chair in a darkened room
) But I was out of time at ye olde film festival, and really wanted to catch this one.
>Bottleshock< scored its first cool points with me for something a (sucky) screen writing school I once attended calls "arena." This means that the setting of the film was a spot that I really enjoyed hanging out in for a couple of hours.
That spotactually two of themwas Napa and Paris. Though I've spent more time in the latter than the former, I've drunk more of the affordable fruits of Napa, never realizing that it's a relatively recent invention. In fact, the film is based on a true story about how Napa was nada before one day in 1976, when it proved its wines could be as oh-la-la as those of the French.
Charming and sweet, the story is roughly the tale of two oenophiles, who really just wanna matter. One is a California man (Bill Pullman, who quit his gig as a law-firm partner to see if he could cork a decent second career. The other is a fussy, small-time wine shop owner (Alan Rickman) in Paris, dying for un peu respect. And then it's about all these other things too: Slacker kids who turn out okay (Chris Pine); freeloaders who offer priceless advice (Dennis Farina); the groovy granola 70s (starring as themselves); being a Mexican immigrant promoted up the grape chain (Freddy Rodriguez); good love (Rachael Taylor), and bad hair weaves (that would be Pine again).
The adventure lifts us leisurely over the fruited hills of Napa, or sends us rushing vite-vite through the streets of Paris. Ultimately it's Rickman who tries to put himself on the map by getting out of his dusty shop and staging an international taste-off. Everyone assumes the multi-culti French, who gave us brie and fois gras and topless bathing, will take the grand prize. But it turns out to be the hang-loose-dude Californians, who gave us the salad bar, white after Labor Day and the power lunch.
>Bottleshock< is a fun film. I hope it comes to a theater near you. Or that you can queue it up in your Netflix, score some California wine and some runny French cheese, and enjoy it in the comforts of your casa.
Pamela K. Johnson
>Bottleshock< scored its first cool points with me for something a (sucky) screen writing school I once attended calls "arena." This means that the setting of the film was a spot that I really enjoyed hanging out in for a couple of hours.
That spotactually two of themwas Napa and Paris. Though I've spent more time in the latter than the former, I've drunk more of the affordable fruits of Napa, never realizing that it's a relatively recent invention. In fact, the film is based on a true story about how Napa was nada before one day in 1976, when it proved its wines could be as oh-la-la as those of the French.
Charming and sweet, the story is roughly the tale of two oenophiles, who really just wanna matter. One is a California man (Bill Pullman, who quit his gig as a law-firm partner to see if he could cork a decent second career. The other is a fussy, small-time wine shop owner (Alan Rickman) in Paris, dying for un peu respect. And then it's about all these other things too: Slacker kids who turn out okay (Chris Pine); freeloaders who offer priceless advice (Dennis Farina); the groovy granola 70s (starring as themselves); being a Mexican immigrant promoted up the grape chain (Freddy Rodriguez); good love (Rachael Taylor), and bad hair weaves (that would be Pine again).
The adventure lifts us leisurely over the fruited hills of Napa, or sends us rushing vite-vite through the streets of Paris. Ultimately it's Rickman who tries to put himself on the map by getting out of his dusty shop and staging an international taste-off. Everyone assumes the multi-culti French, who gave us brie and fois gras and topless bathing, will take the grand prize. But it turns out to be the hang-loose-dude Californians, who gave us the salad bar, white after Labor Day and the power lunch.
>Bottleshock< is a fun film. I hope it comes to a theater near you. Or that you can queue it up in your Netflix, score some California wine and some runny French cheese, and enjoy it in the comforts of your casa.
Pamela K. Johnson