In the Loop *****
It is surprising that this is Armando Iannucci’s first foray into feature film making. As the genius behind pretty much all of the best UK comedy since Blackadder, including The Day Today, Alan Partridge, and The Thick of It; you would have thought that highly paid Hollywood would snap him up to add gags to the latest Renee Zellwegger vehicle.
It is fortunate then, that his first cinematic outing has been all his own work. In The Loop is a big screen companion piece to the critically acclaimed The Thick of It, which was a sort of cross between Yes Minister and The Office. Hapless Simon Foster (Tom Hollander) the (fictional) Secretary of State for International Development accidentally declares the likelihood of war in the middle east as “unforeseeable”. This slight slip up, sees Foster becoming a political piggy in the middle between war mongers and peacenicks in London and Washington, and gives us an excuse for some excellent set pieces, and hilarious one liners.
Peter Capaldi once again steals the show as Malcolm Tucker, the foul mouthed spin doctor and manipulator of souls employed by the Prime Minister. His insults and digs at his opponents are so wince inducing cruel that it is of no surprise to see a ‘swearing consultant’ credited. Chris Addison excels as the everyman caught up in the whirlwind of political spin, and there are some standout cameos – no name actors stealing the cameo show from Steve Coogan, clearly doing a favour for his mate.
I doubt this will play well in the states, and the 2009 release seems a little like shutting the gate after the horse has bolted, hoever, this film will be battling it out with Sasha Baron Cohens Bruno for most quoted of the summer.
Seriously, see this film.
Showing posts with label film. Show all posts
Showing posts with label film. Show all posts
Tuesday, 14 April 2009
Chase reviews YES MAN
Yes Man ***
The concept is simple – if you are open minded, and say ‘yes’ to every opportunity that comes your way, the universe will make sure good things happen to you. That was the premise of Danny Wallace’s book, and it seems to have worked out well for him – his premise has granted him a bestselling novel and a major Hollywood movie, starring none other than Jim Carrey himself. But is it something you should say yes to?
Well it is a charming film, but it also has some major flaws. The main one being that it is a Hollywood movie. Wallace’s book was (reportedly) non-fiction, so there was interest in finding out whether this London layabout’s life would be changed. In Hollywoodland, however, things are different. Were we really expecting Jim Carrey not to end up with the girl and become a better person by the end of the film?
Carrey plays Carl, a bank worker who is stuck in a rut. He doesn’t do much except sit in and watch DVD’s (and we all know how bad that is, right) and can’t even be bothered to get off his ass to go to his best friend’s engagement party. A chance meeting (is there any other kind?) ends up with him at a self help seminar which encourages him to make the most of life and say yes more often. Carl reluctantly agrees to try this new outlook on life.
This new outlook on life allows Carl to meet the kooky Allison (Zooey Deschanel’s Allison is the definition of Hollywood kooky. She rides a moped. She sings in a prog rock band. She’s got crazy hair! Look up ‘kooky’ in the Hollywood dictionary, and Zooeys picture will be right there.), go bungy jumping, get really drunk, and learn Japanese. However, when Allison finds out about his experiment, she gets angry and doesn’t answer her phone. Not exactly the high stakes of an international thriller.
However, this isn’t actually the point of the movie. The point of the movie is so that Jim Carrey can convince the world that at 47, he is still the rubberfaced pratfaller we fell in love with in Dumb and Dumber. Some of his falls are terrific, but the sight of a 47 year old Carrey with his 20-something contemporaries, is a little disconcerting. Also the minute you see him in a hospital smock, you know there’s going to be a middle aged ass on your screen within ten minutes. But with no one on the scene to usurp him as clown in chief, he is still the person you want slipping on that banana peel.
The concept is simple – if you are open minded, and say ‘yes’ to every opportunity that comes your way, the universe will make sure good things happen to you. That was the premise of Danny Wallace’s book, and it seems to have worked out well for him – his premise has granted him a bestselling novel and a major Hollywood movie, starring none other than Jim Carrey himself. But is it something you should say yes to?
Well it is a charming film, but it also has some major flaws. The main one being that it is a Hollywood movie. Wallace’s book was (reportedly) non-fiction, so there was interest in finding out whether this London layabout’s life would be changed. In Hollywoodland, however, things are different. Were we really expecting Jim Carrey not to end up with the girl and become a better person by the end of the film?
Carrey plays Carl, a bank worker who is stuck in a rut. He doesn’t do much except sit in and watch DVD’s (and we all know how bad that is, right) and can’t even be bothered to get off his ass to go to his best friend’s engagement party. A chance meeting (is there any other kind?) ends up with him at a self help seminar which encourages him to make the most of life and say yes more often. Carl reluctantly agrees to try this new outlook on life.
This new outlook on life allows Carl to meet the kooky Allison (Zooey Deschanel’s Allison is the definition of Hollywood kooky. She rides a moped. She sings in a prog rock band. She’s got crazy hair! Look up ‘kooky’ in the Hollywood dictionary, and Zooeys picture will be right there.), go bungy jumping, get really drunk, and learn Japanese. However, when Allison finds out about his experiment, she gets angry and doesn’t answer her phone. Not exactly the high stakes of an international thriller.
However, this isn’t actually the point of the movie. The point of the movie is so that Jim Carrey can convince the world that at 47, he is still the rubberfaced pratfaller we fell in love with in Dumb and Dumber. Some of his falls are terrific, but the sight of a 47 year old Carrey with his 20-something contemporaries, is a little disconcerting. Also the minute you see him in a hospital smock, you know there’s going to be a middle aged ass on your screen within ten minutes. But with no one on the scene to usurp him as clown in chief, he is still the person you want slipping on that banana peel.
Chase reviews KNOWING
Knowing is the new film starring Nicholas Cage, so you know the formula. Nic has to save the world from BLANK by running around with a flashlight and using BLANK to BLANK. In this case the missing words are The Sun, Maths and SPOILER.
I can’t reveal what the last blank stands for, as it would not only be a huge spoiler, but it would also deprive you of one of the most unintentionally hilarious plot twists in recent memory. I’ll give you a hint – its right up there in the obvious plot twist directory, and its not ‘its all a dream.’
Having said that, it’s a Nic Cage movie, so we know exactly what obvious character traits and plot twists to expect. Nic is a single father with an alcohol problem, emotionally distant parents, and most shockingly of all he doesn’t believe in God. If you have no idea whether or not he reunites with his parents, ends up believing in God, or spends the whole film shouting “Where is my son?” then you clearly have never seen a Nic Cage film.
The premise is an interesting one. In the fifties, a spooky little girl; scribbles a string of numbers on a piece of paper and puts it in a time capsule, along with her classmates drawings of spacemen and hover cars. In the present day, the numbers fall into the hands of Astrophysicist Nic Cage who uses his astrophysicist training to put the numbers into google. He realises that the numbers predict major disasters across the world (although we are only really concerned with the ones on American soil.)
So far, so Shyamalan, but unfortunately the film descends into a sort of sub-par Twilight Zone as we move from (impressive) set piece to set piece, following Cage and his trusty flashlight.
All in all it’s a ridiculous Nicholas Cage film, so if you enjoyed national treasure, Bangkok Dangerous or the unintentional comedy of the Wicker Man, then it isn’t a bad way to pass a couple of hours. Think about it for more than fifteen seconds though, and plot holes and inconsistencies start to poke holes in Nic Cageworld.
I can’t reveal what the last blank stands for, as it would not only be a huge spoiler, but it would also deprive you of one of the most unintentionally hilarious plot twists in recent memory. I’ll give you a hint – its right up there in the obvious plot twist directory, and its not ‘its all a dream.’
Having said that, it’s a Nic Cage movie, so we know exactly what obvious character traits and plot twists to expect. Nic is a single father with an alcohol problem, emotionally distant parents, and most shockingly of all he doesn’t believe in God. If you have no idea whether or not he reunites with his parents, ends up believing in God, or spends the whole film shouting “Where is my son?” then you clearly have never seen a Nic Cage film.
The premise is an interesting one. In the fifties, a spooky little girl; scribbles a string of numbers on a piece of paper and puts it in a time capsule, along with her classmates drawings of spacemen and hover cars. In the present day, the numbers fall into the hands of Astrophysicist Nic Cage who uses his astrophysicist training to put the numbers into google. He realises that the numbers predict major disasters across the world (although we are only really concerned with the ones on American soil.)
So far, so Shyamalan, but unfortunately the film descends into a sort of sub-par Twilight Zone as we move from (impressive) set piece to set piece, following Cage and his trusty flashlight.
All in all it’s a ridiculous Nicholas Cage film, so if you enjoyed national treasure, Bangkok Dangerous or the unintentional comedy of the Wicker Man, then it isn’t a bad way to pass a couple of hours. Think about it for more than fifteen seconds though, and plot holes and inconsistencies start to poke holes in Nic Cageworld.
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