trailer break: ‘Bottle Shock’

What, you didn't come all this way to drink fucking chardonnay?

Hahaah....I promise, no chardonnay! I happened to catch the movie at an audience screening a few weeks ago and though it's not sideways, it's a nice companion to it. It's a little more about the wine...and it's very entertaining and has a lot of hart. I was really rooting for our characters. Great soundtrack and acting too. I think it's a great date movie.

Chris Pine...Chris Pine...Chris Pine!!!!

No really, Chris Pine. He will replace Mr Ten-inch in your hearts by this time next year. You'll see. You'll all see...

Huh. This preview made me throwup a little in my mouth. The Mondavis out of Napa Valley are pretty much the quintessential giant evil American corporation, crushing variety and homogenizing wine worldwide. They ARE The Establishment, and now there's a movie attacking wine snobs, one of the last groups to resist Napa Valley, as if they aren't rich enough. To portray them as rebels in an underdog story (before buying up the very vineyards in France with whom they were competing) is kind of like a movie about rebellious, "play-by-their-own-rules" Nintendo programmers circa 1976, showing up a bunch of "snobby" librarians.

But that's just from the preview.

Ooops, sorry, I meant to include this link:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0411674/

Just like William Randolph Hearst is never mentioned by name in "Citizen Kane."

I probably overreacted and read a lot into the preview. Every Establishment starts out as a Rebellion. In fact, "Bottle Shock" may in the end be critical of Napa Valley's big players by contrasting their current hydra-state to their humble origins. I just get fed up when a heavily-moneyed Establishment tries to portray itself as still the put-upon little Rebellion, years and years later, as a way to drum up support. It happens in arts & entertainment when something enormously popular and wealthy likes to pretend its still a rebel because a tiny fraction of the critical world resists it (think fans of "Harry Potter") and it happens in politics on both ends of the political spectrum, often on the exact same issue.

But I'm rambling.