Wine country

Two wine country movies today and an old favourite.


Bottle shock

Englishman Alan Rickman (always worth watching) sets up a blind wine tasting of French and Californian wines. Based on a true story, set in lovely country north of San Francisco, some nice stories, a minor movie but quite watchable. Look out for Freddy Rodrigues (Carla's brother in "Scrubs") as a young Mexican winemaker. A nice movie.


Sideways

Another wine movie - you will learn some about wine tasting - set in lovely country south of San Francisco. Good looking Jack and depressed, divorced Miles go on a stag party road trip in the week before Jack gets married. Miles is a wine afficionado, Jack more of a rutting stallion with charm and no scruples. Miles has a relaxed week of wine-tasting and golf planned, Jack is out for a final fling. We see some of that "flinging". So it is a man-angst road trip buddy movie with both love-interest and sex. The story is really about morose Miles who hasn't got over his divorce and can't get his book published. It's a good story, Jack is laddish and apparently amoral, Miles is buttoned-up and introspective. The "dinner with the girls" scene is rather nice, a swirl of good wine, good food and good company.There is a great deal of imbibing and plenty of driving, obviously Ponch and Jon (CHiPs - google it) were busy elsewhere that week. Driving drunk - bad idea.

I heard, from someone who would know, that merlot sales dropped considerably after this movie was released. That's because Miles has a little tantrum about not going out to dinner if they are going to drink merlot. It's a movie, folks! It's about a guy who has a preference for (or maybe an obsession with) a specific grape variety. I'm here to defend merlot. A good merlot is very satisfying. As with all wines, there are good and not so good, ones you like, ones you don't, different styles. This is a GOOD thing. We do not want standardised cookie-cutter wines. Vive la difference. Shop around and find a merlot you like, don't judge all labels by the first one you try.



You've Got Mail

I'm sure you guessed this movie would come up. Once again that magic pairing of Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. They are both so gauche and adolescent, but the on-screen chemistry is undeniable. They meet in a chatroom and start an innocent email relationship, not realising they are business rivals. It's very sweet. Even the breakups with their partners are not traumatic. The excitement they both show in their eagerness to get online when their partners are not around emphasises the importance of the sympathetic stranger in their lives. A happy ending of course. Now I am going to tell you something that intrigued me when it was pointed out to me and has me watching the screen intently. Meg Ryan, whom I adore, has really big hands. Now you will be watching out for that too. I hope Hanks and Ryan team up again in a movie.


Scrubs

Funny, clever, emotional, farcical hospital comedy television series. Comic genius abounds - JD, Turk, Carla, dippy Elliot, the janitor, Dr Cox, the wonderfully mean Jordan, Bob Kelso, and the rest, all of them are stars. I haven't watched past season 8 and I believe some of the cast has changed. JD and Turk singing about man love, Rowdy the stuffed dog, Michael J Fox and the toilet on the roof, the janitor's meetings with his army of stuffed squirrels - it's all very funny and engaging.



Here is a nice scenic webcam for you to look at:

www.taranakivista.co.nz

Click for the larger pic and watch the changing moods of the mountain. If you first tune in on a cloudy day, please be assured that there is a mountain there, quite a large snow-covered one, and it is occasionally visible. Think of it as a challenge - spot the mountain.

Another sunny day in the desert. Have a good one.