The scene between Paul Giamatti and Virginia Madsen where they talk about why they love wine is still one of my favorite scenes in any film.

Sideways

Yeah, this is a pretty good film. I'm a sucker for these type of well-written indie movies that are not about anything particular but usually feature drama regarding relationships and what-not - sort of like other Payne features, About Schmidt and The Descendants. I remember Sideways was up for awards (it may even have won some) in the year of its release, but I did not find anything particularly moving about it. I guess because it has this wine tasting theme throughout, and that's as far away from anything that I am interested in, I found it difficult to really love the film. I mean, I cannot relate to hating Merlot or loving other wines. Being a novelist is also something I care little for. But it was funny and well written (the characters are perfectly written), and in general I just love watching this type of film. I don't usually like Thomas Haden Church but he was pretty good here, and Paul Giamatti is fine as usual, however I do find these two actors to be quite smug, which again made it difficult to love the film (unlike something like La La Land where I love the leads). Oh, and Sandra Oh only got the part because she was married to the director, but she did a good job.

B

This had been on my shortlist to see for a long time, and finally decided I wanted to catch this first before seeing Payne's The Holdovers. It's excellent all around, the story and script and the acting meet each other perfectly. But just everything about it is great, the topic of wine, the characters and the cast playing them, the cinematography and score, the drama and humor, loved the experience of watching this.
Unlike many I also really liked Downsizing, but this is definitely a higher level and makes me want to catch more of Payne's work.

A-

I've just seen Holdovers which is great but this may be a tad better (though i'd need to rewatch it).

Stuffp - Descendants, About Schmidt and Election are worth seeing.