Win The Trip to Italy – Screening Passes in Philly

by Le Anne Lindsay, Editor

POST UPDATE 9/4/14 – 
Remarks on The Trip to Italy  

What does Alanis Morissette, Tom Hardy’s muffled voice as Bane in The Dark Knight Rises, sex with a female pirate, the poet Shelly being jealous of his Frankenstein birthing wife or dueling impersonation have to do with a foodie film about eating in some of the finest restaurants on Amalfi Coast, Rome, Liguria and other gorgeous Italian locales?

Absolutely nothing! But somehow the juxtaposition of so much pop-culture fodder, Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon’s semi-autobiographical characters set against travel porn, makes The Trip to Italy a randomly amusing and thoroughly breathtaking flick.  Not unlike the prequel The Trip.  The  difference being in this one Brydon is more the Lothario and Coogan is more along for the ride, where he was rather cantankerous and fought the whole thing in the first one.  He’s also so much better looking in this movie, he’s really at a terrific age for his face and I like the hair cut. – Le Anne Lindsay, Editor

T &T’s LAMB Score: 3.5 outta 5

Around the Web with The Trip to Italy

Before the food arrives at the various tables, director Michael Winterbottom (who also led Coogan and Brydon in the 2006 film A Cock and Bull Story) lingers in the kitchen, watching the clatter of pans and the exacting way in which a faceless chef paints a swipe of sauce on a plate just so. Unfailingly, the pair take a few bites of each and then utter inanities that mostly involve the word “good” before launching into an attempt to one-up each other with impersonations. A.J. Liebling it ain’t, but the glee with which Brydon pretends to be Al Pacino and the reluctant scorn with which Coogan inevitably joins in is why both The Trip and The Trip to Italy are so much fun. READ MORE Sophie Gilbert The Atlantic

Cenobio dei Dogi, Camogli
La Suvera, Pievescola
La Cantina, San Fruttuoso
Il Riccio, Capri
Villa Cimbrone, Ravello
Oliver Glowig, Rome

READ MORE Coogan & Brydon Eat Italy in The Trip Swide.com

While You’re Here

ORIGINAL POST 8/13/14 – Tix Giveaway

Michael Winterbottom’s Foodie/ RoadBuddy / Comedy sequel to 2010 The Trip starring Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon opens in Philadelphia on August 29th.

I have 20 (admit 2) screening passes to give away for the Preview Screening on Thursday, August 21, 2014 at Ritz 5 7:30pm

Enter using Rafflecopter below:
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Michael Winterbottom’s largely improvised 2010 film, The Trip, took comedians Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon—or semifictionalized versions thereof—on a restaurant tour around northern England. In this witty and incisive follow-up, Winterbottom reunites the pair for a new culinary road trip, retracing the steps of the Romantic poets’ grand tour of Italy and indulging in some sparkling banter and impersonation-offs. Rewhetting our palates from the earlier film, the characters enjoy mouthwatering meals in gorgeous settings from Liguria to Capri while riffing on subjects as varied as Batman’s vocal register, the artistic merits of “Jagged Little Pill,” and, of course, the virtue of sequels.

Winterbottom trains his camera to capture the idyllic Italian landscape and the gastronomic treasures being prepared and consumed while keeping the film centered on the crackling chemistry between the two leads. The Trip to Italy effortlessly melds the brilliant comic interplay between Coogan and Brydon into quieter moments of self-reflection, letting audiences into their insightful ruminations on the nuances of friendship and the juggling of family and career.

Tinsel & Tine (Reel & Dine): Philly Film, Food & Events Blog