[TheDesolateOne]

With British movies making something of a comeback with the likes of Dog Soldiers, 28 Days Later, My little Eye ( No US distributor as far as I know ), Dirty Pretty things, Snatch, Lock Stock and Barrel, Once Upon a Time in the Midlands ( shot in my home town of Nottingham! yay! ) etc! etc! What as been your most memorable British movie of the last few years and why?


I am abit of a romantic, so I am going to add About A Boy, one for the ladies really, my wife forced me to watch and I rather enjoyed it. Then we have Bend It Like Beckham doing the rounds with some success, I am not a fan of Beckham, and no, I can't bend a ball like him, although growing up in England I always wanted too! Four Weddings gets knocked about abit but I quite like the movie, I think more so for the fact that Mcdowell is such a babe. Love Actually seems to be a good movie, though one as not seen it yet.


I have to admit my fave over the past few years as to be ' Dog Soldiers ' a dark, comedic horror movie that lasts right until the last bell. Kevin McKidd, Sean Pertwee, Liam Cunningham etc! makes for a good movie in my books. Some of the scenes were funny as hell. It is just refreshing to see that Horror movies of today are still alive and kicking even though this is British. I guess if you liked American Werewolf in London, then I reckon you will like this, I can only but highly recommend this wonderful film.


I am hearing good things about ' My Little Eye ' though available in the UK on DVD, I am somewhat of the understanding that no distributor as been found for this movie in the US at present, but definately one to look out for in the near future.


Mark

 

[FoxyMulder]

I don't think British movies are making a comeback, theyve always been around we just don't have the resources and the money you find in Hollywood to finance major big box office hits, every now and then ur hear about a brit film but we aren't exactly making huge worldwide box office hits, sure films like 28 days later make good money considering how much it cost to make but we still are not financing and making blockbusters.

 

[HTCrazy]

Agree with Foxy - with the dramatic tradition in Brittain, they've consistantly put out excellent films, but there's just no financing around for anything but American films. There's also been the same problem with many excellent Australian films. Good films - no distribution.


The one notable exception is the whole LOTR trilogy, but that was considered one of the biggest gambles in cinema history. It staggers the mind to think of all the great films we'd have if good projects around the world had the same access to capital as mediocre Hollywood films do.


Having genius directors like Terry Gillium wasting away trying to get movie deals that never come together is tragic - and he's American! There's a clear lack of desire for diversity or creativity on the part of Hollywood that some certainly equate with a sort of cultural imperialism.

 

[Shaded Dogfood]

I have always loved British films. One big fave of late was Sexy Beast.

 

[FoxyMulder]

Sexy Beast was a good film with some standout performances, british craftsmen and technical wizards and indeed directors are among the best in the world but we just don't have the major financial clout to fund our own big budget films and more importantly to distribute them and to make money which will come back into the UK (( and thus fund other films )) and not go directly to Hollywood and thats a pity, Australia is in a similiar situation to the UK there is good people and idea's there but a lack of funding.


I think perhaps the one exception is France, i love some of the french films and idea's and they are able to finance and distribute their own film's, one of my favourite french films of recent years was Brotherhood of the Wolf.

 

[HTCrazy]

The French films are still lower budget by Hollywood standards, but yes - with Canal Plus, they're able to finance all kinds of really worthwhile films and TV programming. The BBC used to work in a similar way, but I've heard their fundings been hacked pretty seriously lately.


Since a country's film output at the very least stimulates tourism, you'd think there would be something like a Canal Plus in many countries.

 

[FoxyMulder]

Don't get me started on the BBC its a shambles and here in the UK if we want a television set we must pay the BBC nearly a hundred and thirty pounds a year even if we don't watch or want their channels.

 

[kjroddy]

Having moved from England to the States more than seven years ago now I can confidently say that I would be more than happy to pay the license fee for the depth and variety contained on the five channels of British televison compared to the shallow bland sameness of the 150 or so channels I get here for about sixty quid a month.


I know how much we Brits love to moan about there being "nothing on the telly", but you don't appreciate how good it is until you haven't got it.

 

[FoxyMulder]

U miss the point ADVERTS pay for ITV stations the licence fee is for the BBC only and i can tell you i'm hard pushed to find much i wanna watch on the BBC these days and they even lost the new series of 24 to Sky television, my point is if you DON'T want to pay for a channel why should u have to ?


Every day on the BBC we get reality shows cheap reality shows because theyre popular and because theyre cheap or there is soap operas yuck i can tell you i wouldn't miss the BBC and its extortion to make people pay a licence fee just to own a television, indeed if you own a DVD recorder but do not own a television they still say you are in receipt of something which can record televsion and thus you must pay a licence. .

 

[ADU]

Unfortunately reality shows have taken over the airwaves in the US too. So you ain't alone, Foxy. I blame the Brits for this though since it started with things like Millionaire, American Idol and The Osbournes. (Could you guys come over and take Simon back, please?!)


Getting back on topic though... If by "rennaissance", you mean penetration in the US market, then I think there has been one under way recently. Back in the 80's there was the New Wave. I think this latest wave of interest in imports began with the success of Miramax and it's brilliant marketing of some smaller and foreign products, and also the interest in Hong-Kong action pictures. After Miramax's success many of the major Hollywood studios also began to pay a bit more attention to smaller and foreign films, and in many cases actually helping finance them through boutique divisions like Fox Searchlight, Fineline (formerly a division of Newline), Universal Focus (now Focus Features), Paramount Classics, etc. because the investment is small, while the potential rewards are very great. Article


I'm not a particularly big fan of the latest wave, but about 3/4 of all the DVDs in my collection (mostly horror/sci-fi/fantasy/action) are British productions from the 50's, 60's and 70's. And I do dig many of the recent foreign shot/produced action pictures. It's hard to tell the exact pedigree on some of these, but Ronin, The Bourne Identity, The Transporter, LXG, Taffin, the Mad Max pictures, and yes, even Dog Soldiers were all pretty enjoyable. Nobody does action and car chases quite like the Europeans. The Crying Game and My Beautiful Laundrette weren't too bad either.


Other fairly recent imports that come to mind as reasonably successful in the US: The Full Monty, Trainspotting, Billy Elliott, Bridget Jones Diary, Shakespeare in Love, Possession, The English Patient, Moulin Rouge, Amelie and all the Merchant-Ivory, Hopkins, Cain, Dench and Mirren films... and we mustn't forget, Crocodile Dundee. Of course it don't hurt if you've got a major Hollywood star like DeNiro, Paltrow, Brosnan or Kidman in the mix.


I don't know if you can trust my mom, but she enjoyed Calendar Girls, which just recently opened in some areas.

 

[ADU]

There's one rather disturbing trend I've noticed lately though: American actresses doing British accents. I know why this is happening (because big American names are easier to market in the US). But I think it's a very bad idea (and might even qualify in the Monumental Mistake category). And I cringe every time I hear Gwenyth Paltrow, Renée Zellweger or even Kate Beckinsale in Underworld trying to pull off some cockney or other accent.

 

[Shaded Dogfood]

?? But Kate Beckinsale is British.

 

[ADU]

Are you sure about that?

 

[ADU]

And why does her accent sound so weird in Underworld then?

 

[mrmike]

Quote:

Originally posted by ADU Are you sure about that?

Born in London and still lives there AFAIK.

 

[FoxyMulder]

She's the daughter of Richard Beckinsale who played a major part in a well loved british comedy show called Porridge.


Kate's cute i loved her in Pearl Harbor (( i admit i loved Pearl Harbor am i the only 1 ? ))

 

[ADU]

?? Then why does she sound like Madonna tryin to pull off a British accent in Underworld? (Somebody please back me up on this.)

 

[mrmike]

Quote:

Originally posted by ADU Then why does she sound like Madonna tryin to pull off a British accent in Underworld?

Maybe she was trying to do a different accent? Kiwi or Aussie or something? Dunno.

 

[TheDesolateOne]

Foxy ( Porridge ruled by the way ), I totally agree with you about the BBC, but unfortunately if you don't pay the license they do you, which is pathetic really. Getting back to my origina point - I know we have always been around, but recently we have been seeing more of an influx of movies hitting the cinema's, far more than usual.


We do have some great directors, the Scott brothers, Mendes, to name but a few, but financing is a major problem indeed. You would be hard pressed to find funding for a playground in my home city, never mind movie making. How about some of the bigger football clubs putting aside a percentage to help out British culture?! Sounds wonderful in theory, practically don't think there is a hope in hell..


KJroddy - I could not agree more, I have been in Australia for four years, and I wish I could turn on the TV and actually see a re-run of Grange Hill or even Byker Grove, that is how bad the TV is here. And I must apologise to the US for the glut of totally rubbish reality shows we haved passed your way over the years..lol


Mark

 

[ADU]

Quote:

Maybe she was trying to do a different accent? Kiwi or Aussie or something? Dunno.

Maybe. Or perhaps she was just trying to tone it down a little for American audiences.