With the exception of White Zinfandel, Merlot may be the most-maligned wine in a couple of decades. In the 2004 movie Sideways, Miles, the main character and Pinot Noir lover, repeatedly trashes Merlot as the Worst. Grape. Ever. Somehow the wave caught on, and Pinot Noir sales soared while Merlot staggered along.

Of course Miles was right, to a point. The U.S. was awash in mediocre Merlot, most of which didn't even come close to realizing the potential of the grape. (Now we have the same problem with Pinot Noir, but I digress.) Merlot does have its merits, and I ask you to give it--or rather, certain bottlings of it--a chance.

Compared to Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot tends to be softer, less tannic, and fruitier. Its flavors range from cherry to black plum and a hint of herbaciousness. In Bordeaux, Merlot is one of the two main varietals (along with Cabernet Sauvignon) and on the Right Bank is the dominant varietal.

Read my Merlot recommendations after the jump.

I'm just barely old enough to remember my Mom and her girlfriends having Tupperware parties at our neighbor's house. Given that I was about five or so, I found it strange that a bunch of ladies would gather to kvell over and then purchase sets of air-tight storage containers. I must admit, however, that with their bright primary colors, radially patterned lids and burping seals, the containers seemed pretty neat at the time.

While I don't collect vintage Tupperware, I can almost understand people who do. What blows my mind is that not only is there an upcoming play about Tupperware, there's also a movie in the works. Both are timed to coincide with what would have been the 100th birthday of Earl Silas Tupper (1907-1983) who invented the plastic containers in 1945.

The play, Sealed for Freshness, a comedy by Doug Stone, opens in New York City next month. It takes place in the 1960s and involves five Midwestern women whose "airtight lives unravel during a sidesplitting Tupperware party gone awry."

Tupperware!, which is just about to start filming, takes a more serious approach tracing the genesis of the air-tight containers from leftover Dupont plastic to household word. Who knows, it might not be half bad. After all it comes from the pen of Jim Taylor of Sideways fame. Although it's sure to be the most comprehensive movie about Tupperware it's not the first to feature it. Apparently Tupperware Party and Love, Marriage & Tupperware started the genre.

The last thing on your mind once you slowly slip into a food coma after the Big Feast tomorrow is getting up and doing anything active. In my family, it invites all kinds of things like the same stories from relatives, arguments, and questions from Mom and Dad about each of our plans for our futures. The best thing for my sanity, then, is to pop in a DVD to keep everyone quiet and entertained. While there are plenty of movies out there, we at Slashfood are, naturally, particularly fond of movies that have to do with food. Blogger Sean Timberlake has compiled a list of his favorite food movies, some of which are pictured above (each box links to Sean's review).

There are a few more on his list, but what are your favorites? Or are we just overdoing it a little, since the last thing you want to do after stuffing yourself is watching someone else do it on the screen for another two hours?

As many Slashfood readers must know by now, I truly love a good beer. I also enjoy good films, which is probably while I'll be skipping Beerfest.

In honor of that film, which seems to be in the same traditionof such classics as American Pie, The Miami Poetry Review, just posted a list of the "10 Greatest Beer Movies Of All Time." Without further ado:

1. The Fatal Glass of Beer (1933)
2. Three Little Beers (1935)
3. The Lost Weekend (1945)
4. Leaving Las Vegas (1995)
5. National Lampoon's Animal House (1978)
6. Blue Velvet (1986)
7. Smokey And The Bandit (1977)
8. Beer (1985)
9. American Beer (2004)
10. Sideways (2004)

Anyone spot a bottle of Turnbull Wine Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon in HBO's Six Feet Under? Or how about a Clos du Val Cabernet in the movie "The Terminal," in which Tom Hanks orders a bottle for a romantic dinner?

Me neither, not that I actually watched much SFU. Haven't seen the Hanks film either come to that. Still, wine product placement is becoming a booming industry with several companies specialising in getting wine in front of the camera. Unlike big names, Coca-Cola for example, which are instantly recognisable on the screen wine labels are not. Wineries of course do not have the big budgets to actually pay for their wines to be displayed instead they tend to support show biz events and celebrity parties.

Wine film Sideways of course had plenty of wine plugs but these were products and places were not pitched but were actually what the film makers enjoyed.