"Unforeseeable, that's what you are."

A few weeks ago I had to write an analysis of a movie for one of my classes at uni. We were given a few choices and I picked In The Loop (2009) written and directed by Armando Iannucci, which had been on my must-see-movie-list for a while anyway.

And I discovered a gem.

Peter Capaldi.

And his character in the film Malcolm Tucker.

As I was watching the movie I thought, 'wait a sec this guy has a scottish accent, and a pretty strong one as well, he must be from Glasgow!', and so I IMDb'ed that "S-star-star-T". (I'm determent to make IMDb a verb like Google.)

And low and behold he is. I do apologise though for my lack of knowledge of this little fact before.

So I introduce to you Peter Capaldi.

He was born and brought up in Glasgow and went to Glasgow School of Arts. While studying there he got his breakthrough role in the film Local Hero (1983). He did a bunch of other films, including Soft Top Hard Shoulder (1993) and won a BAFTA Scotland for his performance in it, but he mostly had roles on TV shows.

In 1995 he directed and wrote the short film Franz Kafka's It's a Wonderful Life, which won him an Academy Award for best short film (live action).

But then he did the role he was born to play. Malcolm Tucker, the foul-mothered communications manager, in the series The Thick of It (which In The Loop is based on).

I cannot even begin to explain how much I laughed when I was watching the film and how much I laugh every time I remember a quote. It's just hilarious and I can't even imagine how funny the series must have been. If you haven't seen the film yet, I suggest you do so right away because you're missing out big time. Also watch it with english subtitles you don't wanna miss any jokes.

I can only compare Malcolm Tucker to two other TV characters that have ever existed, the 'legend-wait for it-dary' Sue Sylverster (of Glee) and Ari Gold (of Entourage). If you're not watching either of these shows you're missing out just because of these two characters alone.
I mean the writers that come up with the stuff these characters say must be disturbed, but hey, it's still entertainment.

Malcolm Tucker (Click here for his awesome quotes)

Sue Sylvester (Click here for some of her awesome quotes)

Ari Gold (Click here for some of his awesome quotes)

Can you imagine the awesomeness if they all joined forces together. It would just be too epic.

Clicky for even more awesomeness.

Jamesy Boy

why, hello there.

Continuing my posts about Glaswegian actors. Next up: James McAvoy.

He was born and lived in Glasgow until he was 20, then he moved to London.

I've seen almost all of his movies and he's definitely one of my Top 5 favourite actors of all time.
So buckle up cause this is going to be a long one.

In my opinion his first break came when he did a part in the film Wimbledon (2004). After that he had a small part in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005).
But his real big break was in The Last King of Scotland (2006) when he portrayed the Ugandan dictator Idi Amin's (Forest Whitaker) physician. He got a lot of critical acclaim for that part, including a BAFTA nomination (he also won the Rising Star Award that year) and a BAFTA Scotland win.

Jamesy Boy in
Atonement

He went on to star in movies like Penelope (2006) opposite Christina Ricci (<-- love him in that movie), Starter for 10 based on David Nicholls' novel with the same title and Becoming Jane opposite Anne Hathaway, the Jane Austen biopic, where he showed us what classic fictional heroes like Mr. Darcy and Edward Ferrars were based on.

But my favourite role of his and arguably one of his best is in Atonement starring opposite Keira Knightley and directed by Joe Wright, one of my favourite directors. The film is based on the novel by Ian McEwan, and is also one of very few movies that actually managed to be properly adapted from a book, also on that list Pride & Prejudice (2005) (incidentally also directed by Wright. Coincidence? I thing not.) Just thinking about that movie makes me tear up. Such a sad and beautiful story. And even McAvoy himself said that the script for Atonement was the best he had ever read.

Clicky for more. Do it.