Bring the Payne!!!

Director/Screenwriter Alexander Payne has emerged from his hibernation for the 1st time since 2004. It is about freaking time. My favorite movie of 2004 and one of my favorites of all time, Sideways (please see Trailer here, classic!) brought Payne his 1st Academy Award for best adapted screenplay. As we followed Miles and Jack across wine country for a bachelor weekend, you couldn't help but laugh at all that unfolds. You can't believe Jack's blind ambition to "score" and Miles' consuming inadequacy to function in general. Coupling with Sandra Oh (Payne's then wife) and Virginia Madsen, the story will make you smile, shake your head and even hurt from the raw reality of their lives. If you have never seen this movie, add it to your queue, NOW! Fair warning, it has some pretty crass/racy moments, but if Whitney can look past it and love this movie - anyone can!
Payne has re-united with long-term writing partner, Jim Taylor, to write the script for Downsizing. Much in the vein of Wes Anderson or M. Night Shamylan, Payne has pulled actors from his previous movies to star in this upcoming project. Paul Giamatti is back in the lead role (how can you not cast him? the academy's failure to even nominate him for Sideways after he WON nearly every award in every film critics circle will forever irk me! For another GREAT Giamatti performance check out Cinderella Man), and Reese Witherspoon is on board after carrying Payne's 1999 dark comedy, Election. The plot again is riddled with satire (shocker), and apparently Sacha Baron Cohen has a role playing some foreigner (yikes!). Whatever the end result may be, I am excited. I'm almost as excited as I am about GI Joe: the movie and Jeff Bridges in the upcoming Tron sequel. Whew!