Technology, taste and time let me blend two of my favorite activities during Oscar season. Technology — whether streaming or renting — provides access to most of the nominated films and the chance to watch them again. Taste, inspired by long-ago nominee Sideways and its celebration of pinot noir, also means I enhance the process by combining an appropriate drink while watching. As for time, 10 nominees mean I need many hours. I set this weekend’s itinerary alphabetically, springing off from last week’s first five movies.
King Richard, a solid feel-good biopic, goes with anything anytime, and I lean toward sauvignon blanc.
Licorice Pizza as a dish creates a challenge for wine, but P.T. Anderson’s whimsical memories of 1970s southern California suit the spicy fun of the state’s zinfandel.
Nightmare Alley and its film noir themes fit something dark and red like a petite sirah.
The Power of the Dog takes a plot hinge from leather, a descriptor often used for cabernet sauvignon.
West Side Story comes with an array of classics, from Shakespeare to Bernstein to Spielberg, making a traditional French Burgundy an appropriate match.
As for Oscar night celebrations, Reno’s Cordillera International Film Festival offers a shindig at the National Automobile Museum, complete with red carpet. The CIFF webpage provides details.
Robin Holabird is KUNR’s entertainment reviewer, author, and former film commissioner for the Nevada Film Office. You can browse a full archive of her reviews here.
