Joan Scheckel Movies
- 2009
A winemaker is coached by a wise spirit in this fantasy set in the early 19th Century, based on a novel by Elizabeth Knox. Sobran Jodeau (Jeremie Renier) is a poor but hard-working man who helps the Comte de Vully (Patrice Valota) grow grapes but hopes to some day oversee his own vineyard and make world-class wine. Sobran is also deeply in love with Celeste (Keisha Castle-Hughes), a lovely women whose family has been touched by emotional instability. One night, Sobran is visited by Xas (Gaspard Ulliel), a guardian angel who offers to help him with his dream of becoming a vintner; Xas pledges to visit Sobran one every year to sample his wine and give him advice. However, Xas warns Sobran that like great art, great wine often is the product of sacrifice and suffering, and with the passage of time Sobran is visited by both kind and cruel fate. Sobran and Celeste are wed, and after the death of the Comte de Vully, his heir the Baroness Aurora de Valday (Vera Farmiga) puts Sobran in charge of the winery. But Sobran's skill alone doesn't produce exceptional wine, and it's not until he's touched by tragedy that he is able to produce a vintage that speaks of a full life. The Vintner's Luck received its world premiere at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
When a pudgy, bespectacled seven-year-old, Olive (Abigail Breslin), voices her desire to take home the coveted Little Miss Sunshine crown at an upcoming beauty pageant, her wildly dysfunctional family sets out on an interstate road trip to ensure her a clear shot at realizing her dreams in former music video directorial team Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris' quirky feature debut, starring Greg Kinnear, Steve Carell, and Toni Collette. Despite early career success as an outspoken motivational speaker, family patriarch Richard (Kinnear) continues to cling to his "Refuse to Lose" philosophy, much to the chagrin of his increasingly annoyed spouse, Sheryl (Collette). Add into the mix a Nietzsche-reading teenage son (Paul Dano) who has taken a vow of silence until he finds his fate as a fighter pilot; a horny, heroin-happy grandfather (Alan Arkin) with a penchant for creative profanity; and a suicidal genius (Carell) and Proust scholar still reeling about losing both his male lover and his MacArthur Foundation genius grant -- and the stage is set for a road trip in which sanity is sure to take the back seat. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Greg Kinnear, Toni Collette, (more)
