In The Loop

100 Greatest Movie Insults of All-Time

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: July 1st, 2010 at 9:53 am

The American Film Institute should’ve put together a list of the 100 Greatest Movie Insults.  Unfortunately for them but fortunately for us, the fine folks over at Pajiba already did it.  Editor Harry Hanrahan has put together a great compilation of insults of all shapes and colors.  From the subtle to the vulgar, to the sharp-witted barb to the epic throw-down of colorful adjectives—this is a video worth watching.

Hit the jump to check it out.

Daniel Day-Lewis May Head OUT THE WINDOW to Play Charles Dickens

by Brendan Bettinger    Posted: May 24th, 2010 at 11:54 am

It was recently announced that writer/director Armando Iannucci would follow up the uproarious Brit-comedy In the Loop with Out The Window, a recount of the secret love affair between renowned author Charles Dickens and actress Nelly Ternan.  It seems that it is merely the best of times, as the Victorian project is attracting some serious talent: The Observer reports Oscar-winner Daniel Day-Lewis (There Will Be Blood) is now the frontrunner to portray Dickens in the biopic, with Ben Whishaw (Bright Star) also in the running.

Iannucci will also take on scripting duties with co-writers Roger Drew and Will Smith, who wrote for the BBC series The Thick of It on which In the Loop was based. Slated for release sometime in 2011,  Out the Window is based on Claire Tomalin’s biography, The Invisible Woman.

IN THE LOOP Director Armando Iannucci Is Going OUT THE WINDOW

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: May 17th, 2010 at 1:13 pm

In the Loop was one of the best movies of last year.  If you haven’t seen it/didn’t like it, then you should be punched into paralysis.  Variety reports that director/co-writer Armando Iannucci’s next project will be Out the Window, which is slightly different than the hard-swearing, rapid-fire satire of In the Loop:

[The film is] an adaptation of Claire Tomalin’s bio tome “The Invisible Woman,” based on the hidden life of Charles Dickens.  It recounts the tragic story of the Victorian author’s affair with actress Nelly Ternan.

No word if lubricated horse cock will come into play.  Iannucci is co-writing the film with Will Smith (not the actor, but one of the writers of the BBC series The Thick of It, which was the origin of In the Loop) and Roger Drew.  Out the Window is scheduled for release sometime in 2011.

IN THE LOOP DVD Review

by Brendan Bettinger    Posted: January 29th, 2010 at 8:44 am

In the Loop is a creature of odd origin; the film is ostensibly a spin-off of BBC sitcom The Thick of It.  But while the two projects share a number of actors, only one character makes the crossover from series to film.  But my what a character he is!

Peter Capaldi, in a continuation of his Thick of It role as Director of Communications Malcolm Tucker, nearly runs away with the film through a series of foul-mouthed verbal tirades.  He fashions the destruction of souls into an art.

For my review of In the Loop, plus more information on the spring book release of Baby from Eraserhead: The Collected Insults of Malcolm Tucker, hit the jump.

BAFTA Nominees Announced; AVATAR, THE HURT LOCKER, and AN EDUCATION Lead with 8 Nominations

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: January 21st, 2010 at 8:11 am

The Brits certainly like our flicks with Avatar and The Hurt Locker scoring eight nominations each from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA).  However, they didn’t overlook one of their own accomplished films with An Education also grabbing eight nominations.  But what’s really impressive about the BAFTA nominations isn’t where they’ll most likely overlap with the Oscar nominations, but where they’re going to diverge.  District 9 has seven nominations and matches Avatar in every category except Best Picture and Best Director (but it also has a Best Screenplay nomination, while Avatar does not).  I am a little surprised that in their Best Supporting Actor category, they overlooked Peter Capaldi for In the Loop, but you have to love a country where Andy Serkis can get nominated for Best Actor (that’s not meant ironically; it truly is great–we should’ve nominated him in 2002 for Best Supporting Actor for The Two Towers).

Hit the jump for the full list of nominees.  Winners will be announced on February 21st.

WGA Nominees Announced; Nods for AVATAR, STAR TREK, and THE HANGOVER

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: January 11th, 2010 at 12:41 pm

The WGA has announced their nominees for Best Original, Adapted, and Documentary screenplays today and because so many great films were ruled ineligible, these nominees are kind of a joke.  Avatar is getting way more love for its spectacle than its story (protect the Hometree from the Sky People), (500) Days of Summer‘s structure is impressive but the characters and story are completely vanilla, Julie & Julia is half a good movie, and Crazy Heart is a two-hour commercial for Alcoholics Anonymous.

Now here’s a list of movies that were rule ineligible:  Inglourious Basterds, District 9, In the Loop, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Up, and A Single Man.  I suppose the only bright spot of all this is that The Hangover received a nomination, which is hilarious.

Hit the jump for the full list of nominees.  Winners will be announced on February 20th.

Peter Debruge’s Top 10 of 2009

by Peter Debruge    Posted: December 30th, 2009 at 11:08 pm

A rough year, you say? Maybe for your 401(k). Hollywood raked it in, enjoying record box office numbers, while the indie and foreign lineup (though spread between fewer companies perhaps) yielded an unprecedented number of treasures. To be honest, I can’t remember the last time I had such a hard time cutting my best-of list off at 10. Surveying my choices, I’m hard-pressed to find a common theme. In fact, if I didn’t know better, I might even wonder what kind of critic can love a G-rated Japanese-animated cartoon and Lars von Trier’s genital-mutilation opus in the same breath, or reconcile the esoteric with the popcorn populism of James Cameron’s Avatar. But there you have it. Of the 274 first-run and festival films I saw last year (that’s as many movies as qualified for Oscar consideration in 2009 – though not the same ones), the 10 best are listed after the jump:

Matt’s Top Performers, Director, Quotes, and Kills of 2009

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: December 30th, 2009 at 6:38 pm

The joy of list-making continues today as I’m running down who I thought gave the best performances of the year plus what I thought were the best quotes and kills of 2009.  Please keep in mind that regarding the performances, I haven’t seen a few key films that could have very well changed the winners and runners-up: Crazy Heart (Best Actor), The Last Station and Bright Star (Best Actress), and a few others.  If you think there was someone who clearly should’ve won or been nominated, shout out in the comments section and I’ll let you know whether I saw the film or not.

With this disclaimer out of the way, I present to you my picks for the best performers, directors, quotes, and kills of 2009.  Hit the jump to check them all out.

Matt’s Top 10 Trailers of 2009

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: December 29th, 2009 at 1:16 pm

Since it seems like I have to watch every trailer that comes out in a given year, I feel it only fair to highlight the ones that were worth my precious two-and-a-half minutes. A good trailer can throw a movie high on someone’s must-see list or change indifference into excitement. I hesitate to call them art not because I don’t believe the term technically fits (it does), but because “art” is such a loaded word. Still, when you forego Mr. Movie Voice, showing the entire movie, and edit together a piece that’s pretty damn cool in its own right, then you’re worthy of some attention.

Hit the jump to start the countdown.

Matt’s Top 10 Films of 2009

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: December 27th, 2009 at 7:45 pm

I’m so happy that 2009 was a front-loaded year.  Friends and family asked me on more than one occasion, “It’s the end of the year, so where are all the good movies?”  I responded that this year, for whatever reason, was different and some of the year’s best films had premiered as early as Sundance (The Hurt Locker technically debuted in 2008 with its premiere at the Venice Film Festival).  The scarcity of must-see year-end flicks worked out beautifully for me because I had the time to give more thought to films and have the opportunity to watch them more than once.  I feel confident in my Top 10 in a way that I’ve been uneasy about in years prior.  There was a wealth of great films to choose from this year and almost all of my favorites are now available to own or rent on DVD or Blu-ray.

If I had to sum up 2009 in films, I would say it was a year of surprises and disappointments.  Films I expected to enjoy like Funny People, Bruno, Public Enemies were letdowns, while films like District 9, In the Loop, and A Single Man, came out of nowhere to blow me away.  It’s also refreshing to see that movies like The Hangover, Paranormal Activity, and Avatar did so well at the box office despite not being adaptations or remakes.

I thought 2009 was a great year for film and while I seriously considered expanding this list to a Top 15 or even 20, I felt that ten was appropriate because while this is clearly a vanity project for me, I do hope it serves as a recommendation tool for people who can’t go see every movie.  If you only see ten movies from this year, see these ten.  Hit the jump to start the countdown.

John Waters Lists His Top 10 Films of 2009

by Ramses Flores    Posted: December 15th, 2009 at 9:30 am

Yesterday, we brought you Quentin Tarantino’s Top 8 Films of 2009 and today we have John Waters, another film buff/director, listing his best of the year. I always find anything that Waters writes or says to be entertaining and his thoughts on these ten films are no different.  Here’s what he thought were the Top 10 Films of 2009:

1. Import Export (Ulrich Seidl)
2. Antichrist (Lars von Trier)
3. In the Loop (Armando Iannucci)
4. World’s Greatest Dad (Bobcat Goldthwait)
5. Brüno (Larry Charles)
6. Lorna’s Silence (Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne)
7. Broken Embraces (Pedro Almodóvar)
8. The Baader Meinhof Complex (Uli Edel)
9. Whatever Works (Woody Allen)
10. The Headless Woman (Lucrecia Martel)

To read Waters’ thoughts on each film, head over to ArtForum.

Duncan Jones’ MOON Wins Best Picture and Best Debut Director at the British Independent Film Awards

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: December 6th, 2009 at 9:43 pm

One of the best sci-fi films of the past several years, Duncan Jones’ Moon took home both Best Picture and Best Debut Director at this year’s British Independent Film Awards.  The was also received nominations for Sam Rockwell for Best Actor, Duncan for Best Director (a category which included both debut and veteran directors), Nathan Parker for Best Screenplay, and two nominations in the Best Technical Achievement category with Clint Mansell getting a nod for Original Score and Tony Noble for Production Design.

Any victory for Moon is an important victory because while it received large critical acclaim, its June release may have left it slightly adrift in the minds of critics and societies compiling their Top 10 of 2009 lists.  I’ll admit that it is disappointing that Rockwell didn’t win, but he did lose to Tom Hardy’s universally loved performance in Bronson so it wasn’t like the BIFA made a grievous error.  What’s important for Moon is to just make sure people don’t forget about it.

Other big films at BIFA were Fish Tank (7 nominations, 2 wins), Nowhere Boy (6 nominations, 1 win), An Education (6 nominations, 1 win), and In the Loop (5 nominations, 1 win) Hit the jump for the full list of nominees and winners.

Fuckity-Bye! A Tribute to IN THE LOOP’s Malcolm Tucker and His Brilliant Swearing

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: August 18th, 2009 at 1:53 pm

“In The Loop” is easily one of the funniest and most scathing films I’ve seen this year.  The dialogue may fly at a mile-a-minute but that’s only more reason to see it again because it’s so memorable.  The most memorable dialogue comes from spin-doctor Malcolm Tucker, played by Peter Capaldi in a breakthrough performance.  Empire has collected some of his best swear-laden insults and compiled them into a must-see video which you can see after the jump.

“In The Loop” is currently playing in a limited release in the US and on some OnDemand networks depending on your cable provider.  If possible, see it now.

IN THE LOOP Trailer

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: May 15th, 2009 at 6:33 pm

I wasn’t really familiar with “In The Loop” but after seeing this trailer for the film, it’s shot up high on my must-see list.  While I think everyone is tired of films about the war, we can’t get enough of films that mock the bureaucratic nonsense that can get us into war and the ridiculous people who have too much power and no idea what to do with it.  The trailer sells the film as delightfully farcical with some nice bits of satire and British people talking and their accent is innately comic.  I don’t know why.

For those just tuning in, here’s a brief synopsis: The US President and UK Prime Minister fancy a war. But not everyone agrees that war is a good thing. The US General Miller doesn’t think so and neither does the British Secretary of State for International Development, Simon Foster. But, after Simon accidentally backs military action on TV, he suddenly has a lot of friends in Washington, DC. If Simon can get in with the right DC people, if his entourage of one can sleep with the right intern, and if they can both stop the Prime Minister’s chief spin-doctor Malcolm Tucker rigging the vote at the UN, they can halt the war. If they don’t… well, they can always fire their Director of Communications Judy, who they never liked anyway and who’s back home dealing with voters with blocked drains and a man who’s angry about a collapsing wall.

Check out the trailer after jump.  “In The Loop” will hit select theatres and IFC OnDemand on July 24th.

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