Tag Archives: Chris Pine

BOTTLE SHOCK

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Alan Rickman, Chris Pine, Bill Pullman, Rachael Taylor Every performance is excellent.

I had no idea whether this story is true – Chateau Montelena was about to go under at the time it won first prize for its Chardonnay at the Judgment of Paris, 1976. The truth may have made a better story, but for the film these facts fit well.

The scenery (miles of vineyards) is authentic. Having bought, drank, aged in storage, and sold wine, the movie is a delight to see as much activity, enthusiasm and dedication to growing, crushing, aging, bottling and selling wine. Wine perfection is a slow process. This movie does not show all that time. The tasting in Paris took wine near the end of the aging stage into bottles, and tested one wine against another.

One point should not be overlooked, which the movie shows. Many French wines fit the delicacy and exquisiteness of France’s culinary output. The movie shows Americans make wine that go with hamburgers, fried chicken and guacamole.

SMALL TOWN SATURDAY NIGHT

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Chris Pine, Bre Blair

This is a terrific film about showing the unhappy steps needed to choose the pursuit of happiness. In a small-town crooner and song writer (Pine) wants to go to Nashville for happiness and prosperity. He has lived in the small place, Prospect, his entire life and has ties there, including a thriving romance with Blair. Pine will take Blair and her child with him.

She gets last-minute cold feet, wondering if leaving is the best move. Ex is a deputy sheriff, who is Pine’s subordinate in the Sheriff’s Department.

The writing and scenes describes many small town lives in a cadre of characters, glimpses of incidences, days all the same in a known environment, hours seem repeated and familiar, every day feels the same for each person. Residents know and appreciate that anyone with talent must leave e.g. the meeting between Pine and the Ex in the final scene: Take care of Bre and the kid. Put the town on the map.

A lot of is going on in the 36 hours that the film presents. There’s no big scene between Pine and Bre. Throughout that day something happens and Pine asks, What am I doing here? Every situation she experiences reinforces her decision to say.

Pine doesn’t sing much, except a song near the end. He doesn’t convincingly venture and guess and put together words and concepts when he is alone, at home, in the car, at work. He says he has a melody in his head, but viewers never hear it. This artistic input obviously was not in the script. A story point is missing: How does an artist in a familiar environment originate while being bombarded with impediments of the known and mundane.