Matcollis This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.

Phonearl Good start, but then it gets ruined

Reptileenbu Did you people see the same film I saw?

Ginger Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

larry.launders This is very much worth watching! And you don't really even need to know anything about wine to enjoy it.A wonderful story and well made film, it sets the tone early on, and gives every character a chance to tell their story, one way or another. It does very well about not going into great depth about the how and why winemakers/vintners and judges go about what they do, but you see and hear just enough about it to satisfy any curiosity.Coupled with a very good cast, this movie is also easy to watch, which adds to the enjoyability. The costuming seems to be done quite well, and a standout of the 'set dressing' to put you into 1976 is well done - particularly with the vehicles!

oscar-35 *Spoiler/plot- 2008, A unsuccessful wine connoisseur and wine shop owner in Paris hears rumors that Californian wines maybe better that classic French ones. He goes to California to investigate and taste the wines of that area. He is impressed. He sets up a media covered blind wine tasting between the two wine regions for best in the world. The Californian wines are judged superior and enter the world's attention during the USA Bicentennial year.*Special Stars- Chris Pine, Alan Rickman, Freddy Rodriquez, Bill Pulman.*Theme- Promotion is the key to success.*Based on- On a true historic event in 1976.*Trivia/location/goofs- Shot at Château Montelena winery in Napa Valley and France. Château Montelena and Stag's Leap vineyards are the two world-class wines of interest to this story.*Emotion- A somewhat more informative and dramatic winery based film than another wine film, "Sideways'.

ladyshoes Being a huge fan of Alan Rickman, I queued this movie up in Netflix as soon as I saw it. Rickman, is, of course, spot on with a subtle and wonderful performance as the British wine snob. I was also surprised to see so many other great actors in this movie such as Bill Pullman, Freddie Rodriguez and Chris Pine. The cast is great and the story is compelling. I literally found myself on the edge of my seat during some of the scenes, not normally something I would suspect from a movie of this sort.I was also impressed at how this movie told the true story of Napa Valley's emergence into the wine community as a true contender. I wasn't familiar with the history of California wines so this movie was very educational. I think this is a great movie for wine enthusiasts but even those who don't care for wine will be entertained.

FilmRap We finally caught up with this movie that we had been wanting to see since we missed it at the local movie theaters. As new Californians the pride we have in California wines is nothing compared to the passion that Napa valley vintners had in their local wines which 35 years ago were hardly recognized world wide as compared to French wines.This movie, which is based a true story, centers on Steven Spurrier (Alan Rickman) a Brit living in Paris who had a wine store there and his pal and confidant (Dennis Farina). Spurrier decided that he would stimulate interest in buying wine by showing that in the 1976 bicentennial anniversary year, the upstart Americans still could not make wine, which could hold a candle to the established French products. He travels to America and meets Jim Barrett (Bill Pullman) owner, but deeply in debt, of the Montelena Château and his son Bo (Chris Pine) as well as a group of other California vintners. He convinces 12 of them to give him two bottles each to enter into a French wine tasting event in which the wine would be blindly judged. The California group knew that "if one wins, they all would win." As they say, the rest is history. There are a few subplots which include Sam (Rachel Taylor) the beautiful graduate student wine intern, Bo, Barrett's son who gets boxed around by his father and Gustavo (Freddy Rodriquez), the Mexican-American farm hand who is owner of a small wine maker operation with his father (Miquel Sandoval). The movie also stars the beautiful green California grape yards, the spirited Napa Valley Wine growers and the very French wine guys in Paris. There is the expectable dramatic blind wine tasting contest in Paris which has subsequently come to be known as Judgment in Paris. There were no big surprises although you do come away from the movie feeling good and also having learned an important history lesson about a product many people love and revere. (2008) ***