Thoughs on the movie "Bottle Shock"?

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Permalink Reply by Liz Filoramo on February 17, 2009 at 3:32pm

I am a huge fan of Alan Rickman and loved the story of how CA found its place in the wine world. I am sure like most movies its not historically accurate but it was very entertaining and I did get caught up in the storyline. It was a feel good movie and the subject matter was right up my alley. I think there was no time to develop some of the characters and they were a bit flat. Alan Rickman as in every movie I have ever seen him in was awesome. For me its a movie I will watch again and again over the years.

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Permalink Reply by Eric Keating on February 23, 2009 at 8:06pm

The bar in the movie is definitely the Jack London Lodge in Glen Ellen (Sonoma Valley). That's my bar!
Furthermore, the town shots (the scene with the Toscano Hotel in the background) were on the Sonoma Square, and the vineyard scenes were in the hills owned by Kunde (near Kenwood in the Sonoma Valley).
I think the only Napa scenes were at Chateau Montelena and maybe some of the flyover scenes.
Also, whenever you see a movie in an area that you know, it is always different. You just have to overlook that stuff and realize that it doesn't take away from the movie for 99.9% of the population. Maybe the most famous "blunder" of geography was the chase scene throughout the city of SF in "Bullet" -- jumping around from neighborhood to neighborhood in seconds when they are actually 10-20 minutes apart.

As far as the movie goes, I thought it was pretty good. The subject matter is right up my alley; I love wine movies. But it was a little corny at times, the blind tasting at the bar was unrealistic (who has '47 Cheval Blanc at a bar, even in the 70's). But the soundtrack was decent (fitting that they had the Doobie Brothers, "China Grove", as the main song since they own BR Cohn Winery near Glen Ellen). I knew going in that it wasn't 100% accurate, e.g. Gustavo's wine wasn't in the contest. But it was actually closer than I expected it to be. Alan Rickman was fantastic. And the movie just had an overall good feel to it.

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Permalink Reply by Andrew on February 24, 2009 at 5:18am

I live around Baltimore and it's fun to ID the little snippets of Baltimore that are spliced into movies, a highly edited reality, which is the essence of movies. The weirdest thing I've ever experienced was, as a student in Paris, seeing a movie in a theater and realizing that a scene I was watching was actually shot outside that very theater [which, it was true, was on one of the main squares in Paris]. You could hear people in the theater realizing that. Don' t think I'll ever experience that at the local mall theater.

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Permalink Reply by Amanda / Administrator on February 24, 2009 at 9:15am

Unless you lived in San Pedro California and while watching the movie China Town with Jack Nicholson you notice the scenes at Walkers Cafe at Point Fermin Park. Walkers cafe is where I took my first born for ice cream cones after an afternoon in the sand box and watching the cliff hang gliders (while it was still legal).

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Permalink Reply by Andrew on February 24, 2009 at 10:55am

It's always interesting to see what set designers and directors/cinematographers can do with a location that you're familiar with. Besides the scene dressing they do for their purposes, the camera angles and point of view can radically alter one's perception of a space or place that one knows quite well.

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Permalink Reply by Chris Del Plato on April 14, 2009 at 7:29pm

I liked it, but then I'm also a sucker for underdog movies like Rocky, Billy Elliot, etc. Started a little slow for me, but by mid-movie, I was hooked. I could see how a non-wino would not be a fan. Definitely helps to know a bit of the history prior to watching.

Rickman is very good in it.
Snape does grapes.

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