Critics’ Favorites: Wine Country Road Movie + Incendiary Political Documentary

Wine Country road movie Sideways with Paul Giamatti and Thomas Haden Church: Life lessons, picturesque views of California’s Santa Ynez Valley, and the (sexist) portrayal of adult men as overgrown babies are all found in this crowd- and critics-pleaser.

Southern California Wine Country road movie Sideways is U.S. critics’ top pick

So far this awards season, Alexander Payne’s coming-of-middle-age, Southern California Wine Country-set road movie Sideways is – easily – U.S. critics’ favorite 2004 release. (A more detailed list of winners can be found further down this post.)

Based on a Rex Pickett novel (that also came out this year), Sideways traces the miraculous emotional awakening of two fortyish friends (Paul Giamatti, Thomas Haden Church) as they travel through the myriad vineyards of the Santa Ynez Valley Wine Country, about a couple of hours northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Virginia Madsen and Sandra Oh (Payne’s real-life wife) are the two women they meet along the way.

To date, this crowd-pleasing comedy-drama has been named the Best Film of the year by the following critics groups:

• Boston Society of Film Critics.
• Chicago Film Critics Association.
• Florida Film Critics Circle.
• Los Angeles Film Critics Association.
• New York Film Critics Circle.
• San Francisco Film Critics Circle.
• Southeastern Film Critics Association.
• And in Canada, the Toronto Film Critics Association.

Alexander Payne singled out in two categories

In the Best Director category, Alexander Payne has been singled out by the Los Angeles, San Francisco, Southeastern, and Florida film critics. Payne was also the Best Director runner-up in Boston.

Additionally, Sideways earned Payne and co-screenwriter Jim Taylor Best Screenplay honors in Chicago, Florida, Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco.

In the (more specific) Best Adapted Screenplay category, Sideways was the selection of the Southeastern Film Critics, the Phoenix Film Critics Society, the San Diego Film Critics Society, and the Washington DC Area Film Critics Association.

Award-winning Sideways cast – but Sandra Oh left out

As the whiny wine connoisseur trying to find his way through both life and the Santa Ynez Valley vineyards, Paul Giamatti was named Best Actor in Chicago, New York, San Francisco, and Toronto. Giamatti was also the Boston, Los Angeles, and Southeastern film critics’ runner-up.

Virginia Madsen, Giamatti’s serene Sideways love interest, was the year’s Best Supporting Actress according to the Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Southeastern, and Toronto film critics.

As the film’s big, horny, middle-aged man-child, Thomas Haden Church was voted Best Supporting Actor – even though his role is about as large as Giamatti’s – by the Boston, Chicago, Florida, Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Francisco, and Southeastern film critics.

And finally, Sideways won the Best Ensemble citation in Boston and Phoenix. In a manner of speaking, these are Sandra Oh’s only Sideways-related acting recognitions to date, as Oh, playing Church’s emotionally abused and physically abusive Wine Country paramour, has been otherwise bypassed by the various critics groups.

Wine Country road movie at the Oscars

Needless to say, Alexander Payne’s Wine Country road movie is a shoo-in for the 2005 Academy Awards in various categories, especially Best Picture, Director, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress (Virginia Madsen), and Adapted Screenplay.

Paul Giamatti is a strong Best Actor contender as well, but competition is going to be fierce. That includes Don Cheadle (for the Toronto Film Festival winner Hotel Rwanda), Leonardo DiCaprio (The Aviator), Liam Neeson (Kinsey), Javier Bardem (The Sea Inside), Clint Eastwood (Million Dollar Baby), and Jamie Foxx (Ray).

Critics’ Best Film exceptions

Below are the five Best Film exceptions – i.e., movies other than Sideways – so far this awards season:

• Marc Forster’s never-never version of the relationship between Peter Pan author/playwright J.M. Barrie and the Llewelyn Davies family topped the National Board of Review (NBR; admittedly, not actually a “critics group”).
• Martin Scorsese’s Fantasyland Howard Hughes biopic The Aviator topped Phoenix.
• Mike Leigh’s 1950s-set family/socially conscious drama Vera Drake topped San Diego.
• Clint Eastwood’s sentimental boxing drama Million Dollar Baby topped the Seattle Film Critics.
• Michel Gondry’s offbeat romantic comedy-drama Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind topped Washington.

Wine Country movie Sideways with Paul Giamatti and Thomas Haden Church: A few glasses of Pinot (gris or noir), two willing younger (or younger-looking) gals, one irate cheated-on husband, and one broken nose make Sideways’ two men-babies do some fast growing up.

Michael Moore’s incendiary anti-George W. Bush documentary Fahrenheit 9/11 is U.S. critics’ top choice

Now we travel from the grape-flavored Santa Ynez Valley Wine Country to bomb-scarred Iraq: Among the many other winners this awards season, the preeminent title is undoubtedly Michael Moore’s controversial documentary blockbuster Fahrenheit 9/11, which succeeds in being, all at once, anti-Iraq War, anti-George W. Bush (the year’s scariest movie villain) and his Republican administration, and anti-U.S. media cravenness.

Fahrenheit 9/11 topped the following critics groups: Chicago, Florida, New York, Phoenix, San Francisco, and Southeastern. Moreover, Moore’s documentary was the runner-up in Los Angeles.

Curiously, two other Best Documentary winners also have an (at least partial) Asian setting: Zana Briski and Ross Kauffman’s Born Into Brothels: Calcutta’s Red Light Kids (Los Angeles, NBR), which takes place in Calcutta’s red-light district, and Jehane Noujaim’s Control Room (Boston, Seattle [tied with Kevin Macdonald’s Touching the Void]), about Qatar-based news network Al Jazeera.

Three-way Best Actress race

Below are several other critics’ favorites so far this awards season:

• Best Actress: Imelda Staunton (Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, San Diego, Seattle, Toronto, Washington) for her portrayal of a sweet-natured abortionist in 1950s England in Mike Leigh’s Vera Drake; Annette Bening (NBR, Southeastern) for her temperamental stage actress – shades of Bette Davis in All About Eve – in another period piece, István Szabó’s comedy Being Julia; and Hilary Swank (Boston, Florida, Phoenix) for her fierce and fiercely loyal boxer in Million Dollar Baby.
• Best Supporting Actress: Laura Linney (Florida, NBR, Phoenix), as sex researcher Alfred Kinsey’s supportive wife Clara in Bill Condon’s Kinsey; and Cate Blanchett (Washington), as Hollywood actress Katharine Hepburn in The Aviator.
• Best Actor: Jamie Foxx (Boston, Florida, NBR, Phoenix, Seattle, Southeastern, Washington) for his performance as another real-life celebrity, singer Ray Charles, in Taylor Hackford’s Ray. In Washington, Foxx was also named the year’s Best Supporting Actor for his work in the Michael Mann thriller Collateral.
• Best Supporting Actor: Clive Owen (New York, Toronto), who plays Julia Roberts’ husband in Mike Nichols’ psychological drama Closer.
• Best Director: Clint Eastwood (Chicago, New York, San Diego, Seattle) for Million Dollar Baby. In addition, Eastwood’s score topped the Best Music category in San Diego.
• Best Animated Feature: The Incredibles (Florida, Los Angeles, NBR, New York, Phoenix, Seattle, Washington), Brad Bird’s action-comedy about a family of suburban superheroes.

Diverse Best Foreign Language Film winners

Below are five – remarkably diverse – Best Foreign Language Film winners, some of which have also topped other categories.

• Zhang Yimou had no less than two titles, both Chinese-/Hong Kong-made period epics: House of Flying Daggers / Shi mian mai fu (Los Angeles, Boston) and Hero / Ying xiong (Phoenix, Toronto) – the latter an Oscar-nominated 2002 release. In Boston, House of Flying Daggers also topped the Best Director and Best Cinematography (Zhao Xiaoding) categories. Hero also earned Christopher Doyle the Best Cinematography award in Chicago (tied with Robert Richardson for The Aviator), New York, and San Diego (tied with John Mathieson for The Phantom of the Opera).
• A U.S./Colombia co-production, Joshua Marston’s largely Spanish-language Maria Full of Grace (San Francisco, Seattle, Southeastern, Washington) stars Berlin Film Festival winner Catalina Sandino Moreno as a drug mule. It was also named Best First Film in New York and earned director Marston and star Sandino Moreno Los Angeles’ New Generation Award.
• A French-American co-production, Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s World War I drama A Very Long Engagement / Un Long dimanche de fiançailles (Chicago, Florida) stars Audrey Tautou, Gaspard Ulliel, and Marion Cotillard.
• Alejandro Amenábar’s Spanish right-to-die drama The Sea Inside / Mar adentro (NBR, San Diego) stars Venice Film Festival winner Javier Bardem as a tetraplegic fighting to get legal assistance to end his life.

Wine Country movie Sideways with Paul Giamatti and Thomas Haden Church: There’s nothing like a broken nose to make a self-centered, perennially horny man-child discover the wonders of love, marriage, and monogamy.

Critics’ awards season winners

Below is the full list of winners of the critics groups mentioned further up. (The Los Angeles and New York film critics awards have their own individual posts. See links at the beginning of this article.)

Boston Society of Film Critics Awards

Best Film: Sideways.

Runner-up: Before Sunset.

Best Foreign Language Film: House of Flying Daggers.

Runner-up: A Very Long Engagement.

Best Director: Zhang Yimou, House of Flying Daggers.

Runner-up: Alexander Payne, Sideways.

Best Actress: Hilary Swank, Million Dollar Baby.

Runners-up (tie): Annette Bening, Being Julia; Kim Basinger, The Door in the Floor.

Best Supporting Actress: Sharon Warren Ray & Laura Dern, We Don’t Live Here Anymore.

Runner-up: Cate Blanchett, The Aviator.

Best Actor: Jamie Foxx, Ray.

Runner-up: Paul Giamatti, Sideways.

Best Supporting Actor: Thomas Haden Church, Sideways.

Runner-up: Clive Owen, Closer.

Best Ensemble: Sideways.

Runner-up: The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou.

Best Screenplay: Alexander Payne & Jim Taylor, Sideways.

Runner-up: Charlie Kaufman, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

Best Documentary: Control Room.

Runner-up: Touching the Void.

Best Cinematography: Zhao Xiaoding, House of Flying Daggers.

Runner-up: Bruno Delbonnel, A Very Long Engagement.

Best New Filmmaker: Jonathan Caouette, Tarnation.

Runners-up (tie): Nicole Kassell, The Woodsman; Joshua Marston, Maria Full of Grace.

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Chicago Film Critics Association Awards

Best Film: Sideways.

Best Foreign Language Film: A Very Long Engagement.

Best Actress: Imelda Staunton, Vera Drake.

Runners-up: Hilary Swank, Million Dollar Baby; Kate Winslet, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind; Catalina Sandino Moreno, Maria Full of Grace; Annette Bening, Being Julia.

Best Supporting Actress: Virginia Madsen, Sideways.

Best Actor: Paul Giamatti, Sideways.

Best Supporting Actor: Thomas Haden Church, Sideways.

Best Director: Clint Eastwood, Million Dollar Baby.

Best Documentary Feature: Fahrenheit 9/11.

Best Screenplay: Alexander Payne & Jim Taylor, Sideways.

Best Cinematography (tie): Robert Richardson, The Aviator; Christopher Doyle, Hero.

Best Original Score: Howard Shore, The Aviator.

Most Promising Filmmaker: Zach Braff, Garden State.

Most Promising Performer: Catalina Sandino Moreno, Maria Full of Grace.

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Florida Film Critics Circle Awards

Best Film: Sideways.

Best Foreign Language Film: A Very Long Engagement.

Best Documentary: Fahrenheit 9/11.

Best Actress: Hilary Swank, Million Dollar Baby.

Best Supporting Actress: Laura Linney, Kinsey.

Best Actor: Jamie Foxx, Ray.

Best Supporting Actor: Thomas Haden Church, Sideways.

Best Director: Alexander Payne, Sideways.

Best Screenplay: Alexander Payne & Jim Taylor, Sideways.

Best Animated Film: The Incredibles.

Pauline Kael Breakout Award: Zach Braff, Garden State.

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Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards

Best Film: The Aviator.

Best Foreign Language Film: Hero.

Best Actress: Hilary Swank, Million Dollar Baby.

Best Supporting Actress: Laura Linney, Kinsey.

Best Actor: Jamie Foxx, Ray.

Best Supporting Actor: Thomas Haden Church, Sideways.

Best Ensemble: Sideways.

Best Director: Martin Scorsese, The Aviator.

Best Original Screenplay: Charlie Kaufman, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

Best Adapted Screenplay: Alexander Payne & Jim Taylor, Sideways.

Best Animated Film: The Incredibles.

Best Cinematography: Robert Richardson, The Aviator.

Best Editing: Valdís Óskarsdóttir, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

Best Original Score: Rolfe Kent, Sideways.

Best Original Song: “Accidentally in Love,” by Counting Crows, from Shrek 2.

Best Production Design: Dante Ferretti, The Aviator.

Best Costume Design: Sandy Powell, The Aviator.

Best Visual Effects: Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.

Best Makeup: Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events.

Best Performance by Youth in a Leading or Supporting Role – Female: Sarah Steele, Spanglish.

Best Performance by Youth in a Leading or Supporting Role – Male: Freddie Highmore, Finding Neverland.

Best Live Action Family Film: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

Best Use of Previously Published or Recorded Music: Ray.

Breakout of the Year – Behind the Camera: Zach Braff, Garden State.

Breakout of the Year – on Screen: Paz Vega, Spanglish.

Overlooked Film of the Year: Stage Beauty.

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San Diego Film Critics Society Awards

Best Film: Vera Drake.

Best Foreign Language Film: The Sea Inside.

Best Actress: Imelda Staunton, Vera Drake.

Best Supporting Actress: Natalie Portman, Closer.

Best Actor: Jim Carrey, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

Best Supporting Actor: Phil Davis, Vera Drake.

Best Director: Clint Eastwood, Million Dollar Baby.

Best Original Screenplay: Mike Leigh, Vera Drake.

Best Adapted Screenplay: Alexander Payne & Jim Taylor, Sideways.

Best Animated Film: The Incredibles.

Best Documentary Film: Tarnation.

Best Cinematography (tie): Christopher Doyle, Hero; John Mathieson, The Phantom of the Opera.

Best Editing: Valdís Óskarsdóttir, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

Best Production Design: Dante Ferretti, The Aviator.

Best Score: Clint Eastwood, Million Dollar Baby.

Body of Work Award: Don Cheadle for The Assassination of Richard Nixon, Hotel Rwanda, and The United States of Leland.

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San Francisco Film Critics Circle Awards

San Francisco, it should be noted, is located in the vicinity of California’s Wine Country, but not the particular one (Santa Ynez Valley) shown in Sideways.

Best Film: Sideways.

Best Foreign Language Film: Maria Full of Grace.

Best Documentary: Fahrenheit 9/11.

Best Actress: Julie Delpy, Before Sunset.

Best Supporting Actress: Virginia Madsen, Sideways.

Best Actor: Paul Giamatti, Sideways.

Best Supporting Actor: Thomas Haden Church, Sideways.

Best Director: Alexander Payne, Sideways.

Best Screenplay: Alexander Payne & Jim Taylor, Sideways.

Marlon Riggs Award (for courage & vision in the Bay Area film community): Anita Monga, former programmer for the Castro Theatre.

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Seattle Film Critics Awards

Best Film: Million Dollar Baby.

Runner-up: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

Best Foreign Language Film: Maria Full of Grace.

Runners-up: Hero & Blind Shaft / Mang jing.

Best Actress: Imelda Staunton, Vera Drake.

Runner-up: Catalina Sandino Moreno, Maria Full of Grace.

Best Supporting Actress: Virginia Madsen, Sideways.

Runner-up: Laura Dern, We Don’t Live Here Anymore.

Best Actor: Jamie Foxx, Ray.

Runner-up: Jeff Bridges, The Door in the Floor.

Best Supporting Actor: Thomas Haden Church, Sideways.

Runner-up: Clive Owen, Closer.

Best Director: Clint Eastwood, Million Dollar Baby.

Runner-up: Martin Scorsese, The Aviator.

Best Original Screenplay: Charlie Kaufman, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

Runner-up: Mike Leigh, Vera Drake.

Best Adapted Screenplay: Alexander Payne & Jim Taylor, Sideways.

Runner-up: Paul Haggis, Million Dollar Baby.

Best Documentary (tie): Control Room & Touching the Void.

Best Animated Feature: The Incredibles.

Runner-up: Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence / Inosensu: Innocence.

Best Cinematography: Christopher Doyle, Hero.

Runner-up: Dion Beebe & Paul Cameron, Collateral.

Best Music: Howard Shore, The Aviator.

Runner-up: Clint Eastwood, Million Dollar Baby.

Special Citation: Brian Jamieson and Richard Schickel for the restoration of Samuel Fuller’s The Big Red One.

Living Treasure Award: Henry Bumstead.

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Southeastern Film Critics Association Awards

Best Film: Sideways.

Runners-up:
Million Dollar Baby.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
Kinsey.
The Incredibles.
Finding Neverland.
Ray.
The Aviator.
Hotel Rwanda.
Before Sunset.

Best Foreign Language Film: Maria Full of Grace.

Runner-up: A Very Long Engagement.

Best Documentary: Fahrenheit 9/11.

Runner-up: Super Size Me.

Best Actress: Annette Bening, Being Julia.

Runner-up: Imelda Staunton, Vera Drake.

Best Supporting Actress: Virginia Madsen, Sideways.

Runner-up: Laura Linney, Kinsey.

Best Actor: Jamie Foxx, Ray.

Runner-up: Paul Giamatti, Sideways.

Best Supporting Actor: Thomas Haden Church, Sideways.

Runner-up: Morgan Freeman, Million Dollar Baby.

Best Director: Alexander Payne, Sideways.

Runner-up: Clint Eastwood, Million Dollar Baby.

Best Original Screenplay: Charlie Kaufman, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

Runner-up: Bill Condon, Kinsey.

Best Adapted Screenplay: Alexander Payne & Jim Taylor, Sideways.

Runner-up: David Magee, Finding Neverland.

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Toronto Film Critics Association Awards

Best Film: Sideways.

Best Foreign Language Film: Hero.

Best Actress: Imelda Staunton, Vera Drake.

Best Supporting Actress: Virginia Madsen, Sideways.

Best Actor: Paul Giamatti, Sideways.

Best Supporting Actor: Clive Owen, Closer.

Best Director: Michel Gondry, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

Best Screenplay: Charlie Kaufman, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

Best Documentary: The Fog of War.

Best Animated Film: The Triplets of Belleville / Les Triplettes de Belleville.

Best Canadian Film: The Triplets of Belleville.

Best First Feature: Maria Full of Grace.

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Washington DC Area Film Critics Association Awards

Best Film: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

Best Foreign Language Film: Maria Full of Grace.

Best Documentary: Fahrenheit 9/11.

Best Actress: Imelda Staunton, Vera Drake.

Best Supporting Actress: Cate Blanchett, The Aviator.

Best Actor: Jamie Foxx, Ray.

Best Supporting Actor: Jamie Foxx, Collateral.

Best Ensemble: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

Best Director: Michel Gondry, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

Best Original Screenplay: Charlie Kaufman, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

Best Adapted Screenplay: Alexander Payne & Jim Taylor, Sideways.

Best Animated Film: The Incredibles.

“Critics’ Favorites: Wine Country Road Movie” notes

Boston Society of Film Critics website.

San Francisco Film Critics Circle website.

Thomas Haden Church and Paul Giamatti Sideways movie images: Fox Searchlight.

“Critics’ Favorites: Wine Country Road Movie + Incendiary Political Documentary” last updated in April 2023.