Movie Review In the Loop

In the Loop (2009) 

Directed by Armando Ianucci 

Written by Armando Ianucci 

Starring Peter Capaldi, Tom Hollander, Chris Addison, Anna Chlumsky

Release Date January 22nd, 2009

Published November 29th, 2009

The inexorable march to war is cataloged with black humor and stinging satire in “In the Loop” a film follow up to the popular British mini-series “The Thick of It.” Chronicling the days leading up to Colin Powell's speech before the United Nations, the unofficial kick off of the war in Iraq, “In the Loop” delivers a devastating satire of the bullies and cowards who pushed and yielded us into war.

Peter Capaldi is the black beating heart of “In the Loop” as Malcolm Tucker, the F-word spouting force of nature, secretary to British Prime Minister Tony Blair. He's a hatchet man who would carry an actual hatchet if he were allowed. When the PM makes a decision it is Malcolm's job to force it into happening.

Blair made the decision to support President Bush's war in Iraq and pit-bull Tucker will move heaven and earth to make it happen. Standing in his way, unintentionally, is a cabinet secretary named Simon Tucker (Tom Hollander). In an interview with the BBC Simon is asked about war in Iraq and says that war is not inevitable.

A rather innocuous quote, it would seem, until a US Diplomat named Karen Clark (Mimi Kennedy) jumps on Simon's quote as an indication that the British government may not support the march to war. Thus begins an unstoppable collision between the bullies looking to start a war and the cowards who talk of opposing war but allow themselves to be pushed along by the tide.

Along for the ride is Simon's new assistant Toby (Chris Addison), a good natured dimwit who keeps stumbling into gaffes of massive proportion and Liza (Anna Chlumsky), an assistant to Karen Clarke who keeps seeing her paper detailing the lack of real intel on Saddam's weapons kicked up the chain of command, much to her apoplectic disbelief.

If the real march to war in ....Iraq.... was anything like what we see in “In the Loop” we are truly doomed. The film posits, not far from reality, that we were essentially bullied into war by bureaucrats looking to polish their resumes by adding the title 'war planner.' The bullies win by simply changing the rules. They make decisions and then change the facts to justify the decision.

The good people stand by and offer comments on the bullies and complain but they are powerless to stop them. James Gandolfini is the most interesting of the opposition. Though he knows the whole war is based on B.S intelligence his willingness to stick his neck out to stop it mimics perfectly the 2007 conversion of real life General Colin Powell.

The factions in “In the Loop” are a perfect corollary to the right and left wings of American politics. The Republicans wanted war and went to all extremes to bring it about. The Democrats knew it was all crap but allowed themselves to be bullied when their patriotism and toughness were questioned.

”In the ..Loop” is at once entertaining and appalling. Tom Hollander is riotous as the bumbling under-secretary who is kind of against the war but doesn't have the backbone to make a decision. He and Chris Addicott are an effective comic team along with Gina McKee, the secretary's other more practical assistant who simply rolls her eyes and covers her ass.

Pete Capaldi offers what may be the best performance of the year. Malcolm Tucker is a fearsome character who seems coiled toward violent rage at all times. His use of the F-word is as effective as a dagger. I'm told Tucker has become something of an icon in England where his bile spitting image is on t-shirts due to the popularity of the mini-series “The Thick of It” where the character Malcolm Tucker originated.

The old saying about liking sausage and not wanting to know how it's made applies well to “In the Loop.” This is allegedly how the sausage that was the Iraq War came about and it is an appalling vision. The bullies triumph while the good people sulk to the finish line and plot press releases for ass-covering purposes. “In the Loop” is stunning, sad and darkly absurd, and one of the best movies of 2009.

Movie Review Paddington

Paddington (2014)

Directed by Paul King

Written by Paul King 

Starring Hugh Bonneville, Sally Hawkins, Julie Walters, Jim Broadbent, Peter Capaldi

Release Date November 24th, 2014

Published November 23rd, 2014 

The trailer for “Paddington” is among the worst I have seen in some time. Based on the trailer one would not be incorrect in the assumption that “Paddington” will be another in a series of insulting takes on beloved children’s properties such as “The Chipmunks,” or “The Smurfs.” The trailer features gross out humor, bad slapstick and, worst of all, not one, single, solitary laugh.

That was just the first trailer. The second trailer only seemed to pile the dirt higher on the film’s grave. The follow up trailer introduced Nicole Kidman as the film’s villain, a taxidermist determined to make Paddington the next prize in her museum collection. Ms. Kidman’s career has been on a steady decline for some time now and her status, plus the general awfulness of both trailers seemed to signal doom for “Paddington.”

So, imagine my surprise when upon seeing “Paddington” I did not find a steaming pile of Smurf like offal. Imagine, in fact, expectations so lowered by awful marketing that I found myself delighted by “Paddington.”  Yes, the lowered expectations helped, but truly “Paddington” is really quite unexpectedly good.

“Paddington” features the voice of Ben Whishaw as the titular bear, a rare breed from deepest, darkest Peru who learned to talk from his grandparents who were visited by an Englishman in some timeless realm. The Englishman invited the bears to come visit him in England any time and when poachers begin poking around the forest, Paddington is sent off to England for safe keeping.

During World War II as London was besieged by German bombers, children were evacuated from the city. Some of the children were orphaned by the bombings and to give them a new life in a new town they were often given only a cardboard sign around their neck asking that someone please take care of them. Knowing this story, Paddington is given a similar sign upon his arrival in London.

Found by the Brown family, including mother Mary Brown (Sally Hawkins), father Henry Brown (Downton Abbey’s Hugh Bonneville) and their two children, Judy (Madeline Harris) and Jonathan (Samuel Joslin), Paddington quickly finds a new home while also beginning his search for the Englishman who once invited his family to England.

A rather convoluted backstory introduces Nicole Kidman as Millicent, the film’s villainous Taxidermist. That the role is not a complete embarrassment to the one time box office star and Academy Award Winner is something of a triumph. You can sense from the beginning that this is a movie Kidman made so her children could see her and yet the compromise somehow doesn’t harm the performance. Kidman hams it up to surprisingly good effect in “Paddington.”

First time feature director Paul King makes “Paddington” work by creating a very simple, pleasant tone. The film is gentle and sweet and, aside from the abysmal bathroom sequence seen in the trailer, avoids being simpleminded and pandering. Smartly no effort is made to make Paddington hip or modern, the film exists in a time warp, it’s very own universe with familiar rules, save for the fact that bears can talk.

Aside from the bathroom scene from the trailer, the fact that no one in England finds a talking bear odd is the film’s biggest flaw. I hate it when a movie makes the fantastic seem common place. Aliens, superheroes, and talking bears are something to marvel at if they’ve never been seen before. Avoiding how unusual a talking bear is plays like a joke that only the filmmakers found funny.

I generally don’t care for movies that are described as ‘Gentle’ or ‘Pleasant’ but I didn’t mind it so much in “Paddington.” Something about the plushy “Paddington” invites ‘Gentle’ and welcomes ‘Pleasant.’ Had the marketing campaign played up the gentle and pleasant aspects of “Paddington” rather than the one, outlying scene of misguided antics, I might have even more appreciation for “Paddington.”