KQ's Movie Reviews

Here are my latest picks and pans for movies in theaters, on DVD and on cable:

"SIDEWAYS"

Loved it, loved it, loved it! Movie about two 40something guys on a road trip through California wine country before one of them gets married. Paul Giamatti plays a melancholy middle school teacher with a love for vino and a longing for love. He was great. The mechanic guy from "Wings" plays his friend, the lothario. The fabulous Sandra Oh is a woman the "Wings" guy picks up along the way. This movie is about the struggle to make a connection, find love and mean something to someone (and to the universe) even if you are no longer gorgeous and 20something.

"THE RULES OF ATTRACTION"

Hated it, hated it, hated it. Watched it on cable. In the 1980s, I was VERY into Brett Easton Ellis novels. Perhaps I was sucked in by the hype about Ellis and about Jay McInerney. Perhaps I was curious about college kids my age who were doing drugs and having a lot of sex, because I sure as heck wasn't.

This movie finally got made recently, although it has an awesome '80s sountrack. That is the only thing it has going for it. Dawson from "Dawson's Creek" plays the lead and he is horrible and so is his character. They are all a waste of humanity and the movie is bitter and mean. Bleh.

"THE MAYOR OF SUNSET STRIP"

Loved it, although it was often painful to watch. A biography of Rodney Bingenheimer, an L.A. DJ and former stand-in for Davy Jones in the "Monkees" tv series. Bingenheimer was at the top of the A list in the music scene on the Sunset Strip in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. Now it seems that time has passed him by. He is still friends with lots of stars like Cher, Blondie and David Bowie. They all make appearances to talk about Rodney. He is a sad little guy though.