I see a lot of movies every year. A
ton. But this year I’ve decided I don’t see enough movies, so one of my
New Year Resolutions was to simply see more. And to write about them.
See, that’s the other half of the equation: I see a ton of movies, but
I write about comparatively few of them. There are a lot of reasons,
but they mainly boil down to the fact that I feel the  need to do long
form reviews, and sometimes – like in the midst of Sundance – I just
don’t have the time.

And
so was born this new blog! I aim to make an entry for every single
movie I see in 2010. Some entries may be very short, some may be
lengthy. Entries may take a couple of days to be posted. Let’s see how
long this lasts.

One
last  thing: one of my main objectives this year is to rewatch more
movies. I know this sounds like a strange goal, but there are films I
haven’t seen since high school, which means it’s been almost a lifetime
since I saw them. Recently I rewatched Black Christmas for the first
time since the 1980s, and I might as well have been seeing the movie
for the first time. I’m interested in getting a look at some movies I
loved or hated twenty or even ten years ago and seeing how I feel about
them now.

Let’s begin…

#15 In the Loop
2009
d. Armando Ianucci

I didn’t review this movie last year. I’m not sure why, as I loved the hell out of it. Some films just fall through the cracks sometimes. It did end up making my top ten for 2009, though (and Nick’s as well).

In the Loop is almost punishingly funny, just an incredible work of stunning hilarity. And what’s great about it is how smart the comedy is, and how almost all of it is verbal. While the movie features many Americans, there’s something about the modern British comedy that American filmmakers can’t quite seem to nail – it’s why The Office (UK) is so classic while The Office (US) is just another sitcom. I think Americans need too much softness in their characters.

Anyway, I watched In the Loop on Blu-Ray and I have to say that the half hour of deleted scenes are amazing. No hyperbole: they’re funnier than most of the comedies released in the 00s. Just brilliant stuff, some of which should have been in the film. What was interesting was seeing how many of the deleted scenes are just different versions of other scenes, and I’m not just talking about Apatovian riffing and ad libbing. The scene where Malcolm tells Simon he’s going to the UN is done in two different locations, with vastly different set ups and jokes. I would have liked more behind the scenes stuff talking about how Ianucci put the picture together, but all we get is a fairly bland IFC Channel bullshit reel.

“Difficult difficult, lemon difficult.”

By the way, In the Loop is a movie spin-off of a British show called The Thick of It, which I have  not seen. But I have learned that one of the stars of that show – who didn’t make it into the film – was arrested for downloading kiddie porn. Sort of the UK’s Jeffrey Jones.