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Post by hollandazed on Dec 5, 2008 19:45:22 GMT -5
I've always thought it'd be fun to go to Sundance, at least once.
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Post by beckettologist on Dec 5, 2008 23:38:00 GMT -5
I've always thought it'd be fun to go to Sundance, at least once. Did you see how expensive it is? OMG. Had I known that this would be happening a long time ago I might have planned it as an anniversary trip (it is Jan16) but we always book things too late for that because we forget it usually falls around the MLK holiday. I wonder if Tom will be there?
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Post by beckettologist on Jan 15, 2009 12:07:13 GMT -5
This is GOOD! (posted on ITL Facebook yesterday) In The Loop I didn't expect very much from Armando Iannucci's In The Loop, a Sundance '09 movie that I caught here last week. The notes made this low-budget British political comedy sound too ambitious and convoluted and cross-burdened. Except it's not. It's easily one of the funniest comedies about governmental inanity and media mis-speak I've ever seen. It also felt to me like one of the fastest laughers of this type since Billy Wilder's One, Two,Three. In The Loop director-writer Armando Iannucci And it has some absolutely wonderful insult humor. I'm talking one beautiful saber thrust and club-bludgeon after another. Suffice that my pre-viewing concerns evaporated almost immediately. The reason I didn't expect a lot going in is that I didn't know Iannucci -- he's a successful British-based comedian, writer, director, performer and radio producer -- or anything about his shows. I didn't know squat, for instance, about The Thick of It, a 2005 political satire for BBC Four that Iannucci devised, directed and largely wrote. Some of the British government characters in In The Loop originally appeared in The Thick Of It. In The Loop is basically about how the media can sometimes focus on a gaffe by an official or spokesperson and make it sound (via sheer repetition and obsession) to represent firm government policy concerning this or that major issue. In The Loop's major issue is a potential military conflict involving U.S. and British troops -- think Iraq in '02 -- but the humor is about how various second- and third-tier government types in London and Washington try to dodge, maneuver and counter-spin their way around an essentially meaningless statement by a British cabinet minister that war is "unforeseeable." Meaningless and yet strangely meaningful once the media gets hold of it. And the source of endless misery for many people. Some of the In The Loop-ers. "Wickedly sardonic and filled with secrets, lies, leaks, plugs, and faulty intelligence and walls, In the Loop leads us behind closed doors to reveal bungling bureaucrats entangled in petty rivalries, obsequious aides jockeying for favor, and the Keystone Cops of government," say the Sundance notes. Every cast member -- Peter Capaldi, James Gandolfini, Tom Hollander, David Rashe, Gina McKee, Chris Addison, Anna Chulmsky and Mimi Kennedy topline -- is clearly on the same Iannucci wavelength. They know they're working with great material, and so do we. What is unmistakable is that they're all having enormous fun with the material, although in a very assured and ultra-disciplined way. I was so taken with In The Loop that I asked to speak to Iannucci. He called from London last Friday or something. (Thursday?) Our discussion speaks for itself. I'm hoping to meet with him in Park City, along with Gandolfini and Kennedy. hollywood-elsewhere.com/2009/01/in_the_loop.php
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Post by beckettologist on Jan 15, 2009 12:08:06 GMT -5
This is going to be SO GOOD! (review from an "insider" posted on ITL Facebook yesterday) In The LoopI didn't expect very much from Armando Iannucci's In The Loop, a Sundance '09 movie that I caught here last week. The notes made this low-budget British political comedy sound too ambitious and convoluted and cross-burdened. Except it's not. It's easily one of the funniest comedies about governmental inanity and media mis-speak I've ever seen. It also felt to me like one of the fastest laughers of this type since Billy Wilder's One, Two,Three. And it has some absolutely wonderful insult humor. I'm talking one beautiful saber thrust and club-bludgeon after another. Suffice that my pre-viewing concerns evaporated almost immediately. The reason I didn't expect a lot going in is that I didn't know Iannucci -- he's a successful British-based comedian, writer, director, performer and radio producer -- or anything about his shows. I didn't know squat, for instance, about The Thick of It, a 2005 political satire for BBC Four that Iannucci devised, directed and largely wrote. Some of the British government characters in In The Loop originally appeared in The Thick Of It. In The Loop is basically about how the media can sometimes focus on a gaffe by an official or spokesperson and make it sound (via sheer repetition and obsession) to represent firm government policy concerning this or that major issue. In The Loop's major issue is a potential military conflict involving U.S. and British troops -- think Iraq in '02 -- but the humor is about how various second- and third-tier government types in London and Washington try to dodge, maneuver and counter-spin their way around an essentially meaningless statement by a British cabinet minister that war is "unforeseeable." Meaningless and yet strangely meaningful once the media gets hold of it. And the source of endless misery for many people. "Wickedly sardonic and filled with secrets, lies, leaks, plugs, and faulty intelligence and walls, In the Loop leads us behind closed doors to reveal bungling bureaucrats entangled in petty rivalries, obsequious aides jockeying for favor, and the Keystone Cops of government," say the Sundance notes. Every cast member -- Peter Capaldi, James Gandolfini, Tom Hollander, David Rashe, Gina McKee, Chris Addison, Anna Chulmsky and Mimi Kennedy topline -- is clearly on the same Iannucci wavelength. They know they're working with great material, and so do we. What is unmistakable is that they're all having enormous fun with the material, although in a very assured and ultra-disciplined way. I was so taken with In The Loop that I asked to speak to Iannucci. He called from London last Friday or something. (Thursday?) Our discussion speaks for itself. I'm hoping to meet with him in Park City, along with Gandolfini and Kennedy. Go HERE for the article with pictures (no Tom though) and HERE for the phone interview with Armando.
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Post by Prior Engagement on Jan 21, 2009 3:31:32 GMT -5
There are bits and pieces around the net from Sundance today but I don't have time to link them.....
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Post by Prior Engagement on Jan 23, 2009 4:36:08 GMT -5
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Post by beckettologist on Jan 23, 2009 19:42:17 GMT -5
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Post by beckettologist on Jan 23, 2009 19:47:42 GMT -5
And a great review: www.dailyfilmdose.com/2009/01/sundance-report-7-in-loop.htmlExcerpt: "...Tom Hollander brilliantly plays his Minister of International Development character like neurotic affable boob and his profane exchanges of ass-stripping insults with Peter Capaldi are almost Shakespearean in it’s elaborate verbology."
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Post by beckettologist on Jan 25, 2009 18:21:53 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Jan 25, 2009 18:35:48 GMT -5
WOOT WOOT! Heading there Right NOW!!....Thanks Deb!
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Post by Deleted on Jan 25, 2009 18:40:26 GMT -5
That was great!! Even just that little bit with James Gandolfini and the calculator was super funny!...I really truly can not wait for this film any longer...it's killing me!
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Post by beckettologist on Jan 26, 2009 0:53:57 GMT -5
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Post by beckettologist on Jan 31, 2009 14:44:46 GMT -5
Irene found this one...
January 21, 2009 Wednesday Edition 1 Dark satire old and new add up to modern classic BYLINE: Damon Wise
In the Loop Sundance Festival, Utah
Until a few years ago the Sundance Film Festival was strictly a home-grown affair, and its attempt to create a more international profile seemed optimistic. But although the event isn't anywhere near as global as Cannes, Sundance is starting to adopt a more cosmopolitan feel - and the British are the first to feel the benefit.
Building on last year's breakthrough, when a record number of British productions were screened, the 2009 festival is presenting a film that not only stands out in the Sundance selection, it might even be the best British film of the year. Written and directed by Armando Iannucci, In the Loop is the big-screen sisterpiece to his recent political TV series The Thick of It, which married the deadpan, old-school-tie satire of Yes Minister with the edgy laughs of The Office.
But although that formula could be seen as derivative and perhaps even inevitable in today's cynical world, the results are anything but. Like its small-screen sibling, this stark, foul-mouthed black comedy is an artfully written skit that combines pin-sharp characterisation with brutally effective one-liners.
There are no heroes, as such, in this world. Instead, the focus is the hapless Simon Foster (played by Tom Hollander), the fictional Secretary of State for International Development. Foster's political destiny is sealed from the start when, during an interview with BBC Radio, he is asked about the likelihood of war in the Middle East. He replies that the possibility of war is "unforeseeable".
This casual comment will result in Foster becoming a political piggy in the middle, a pawn in a game that, though farcical, chimes uncomfortably with recent events.
His apparent pacifism is seized on by Karen Clarke (Mimi Kennedy), a Washington diplomat who, together with the pacifist General Miller (James Gandolfini), is involved in a battle with US hawks intent on picking a fight with the Middle East. Foster is flattered, but despite pressure from the acid-tongued UK spin doctor Malcolm Tucker (Peter Capaldi), he decides to play both ends against the middle. The result is a classic British comedy reminiscent of the very best of old Ealing, a morality play in which the upper and lower classes clash, thinking that they're both above the Americans and their vulgarity, while achieving little except a pathetic show of vanity.
It's hard to settle on a standout element because it's all so outstanding, from the performances to the one-liners to the plot, which climaxes with a bathetic twist that seems chillingly possible in today's dog-eat-dog climate. But maybe the best thing about this hilarious, superb, black comedy is its use of language, veering from elaborate schoolboy profanity to exquisite wordplay and sublime parody of government doublethink. The latter is perfectly embodied in a climactic exchange between Tucker and Foster. "Whether it happened or not," hisses an irate Tucker, "it's true."
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Post by Prior Engagement on Feb 1, 2009 7:59:21 GMT -5
I notice the Facebook site says an April release in the UK. I think I should warn everyone that Optimum are notorious for changing their release dates and thus far the FDA don't even have it listed.
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Post by beckettologist on Feb 1, 2009 13:10:58 GMT -5
I notice the Facebook site says an April release in the UK. I think I should warn everyone that Optimum are notorious for changing their release dates and thus far the FDA don't even have it listed. I was reluctant to get excited about it too PE but Tom actually mentioned it too. Of course HE could be wrong as well. Fingers crossed. I figure it will be much later for US anyway. We will have to gnaw our fists and wait.
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