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Really Rather Cool Britannia !!!Nov 02 '04 Write an essay on this topic.The Bottom Line Take any two of these with a big bowl of butter popcorn (or whatever you like!) and you'll have the remedy to regular TV blahs! It's been 3 years since I last tried to sway the world with 10 of my favorite Britflicks, so I figured time was ripe enough for me to come back and recommend another batch for you to check out at your leisure. As before, the films are put in no particular order, since they all have a place in my own personal DVD collection. So.....away we go ! About A Boy -2002 You gotta love any film which has Hugh Grant womanizing, cursing, drinking and generally being a glorious chauvinist pig of a man in it! It's a comedy, but done with some depth and intelligence. Hugh is a bachelor who 'invents' a son in order to meet single mothers. Rent it and take it from there.... Love Actually -2003 This here is a Christmastime romantic comedy - usually a powerful sedative to most red-blooded males - that is nothing short of brilliant. So many characters involved or trying to get involved in so many different ways that you almost need GPS and a census taker to keep track of who is where or with whom. Hugh Grant, who by British law MUST appear in EVERY British romantic comedy (or so it seems is on his game yet again in this one. My favorite characters are: the aging rocker on the comeback trail, the Prime Minister's assistant, and the young lad who goes to America looking for babes. Very funny and touching, too. Billy Elliot -2000 Set against the dreary backdrop of the 1984 Coal Miner's Strike in tough-as-nails Northern England, this is a quite wonderful story of a lad who wants to dance instead of dig. Ballet, no less! A wonderful 'diamond in the rough', 'against all odds' type story, with typical British bluntness and humour. The part of the father, particularly, is well acted. Bend It Like Beckham -2002 Throw in comedy, football(soccer to you Americans), strained family traditions, a little romance, and you've got your basically perfect British film! This one has a young Indian girl trying to 'Be Like Beck', but constrained by societal and traditional pressures. A really good film to sit back and enjoy. 28 Days Later -2002 The heyday of British horror films is long past. Hands up anyone who remembers the Hammer Films from so long ago. Well, director Danny Boyle obviously remembers, and may in fact be channeling the spirits from those truly spooky films. This is a zombie film quite unlike any other you have ever seen. Very nerve-wracking and frightening, particularly in the way that sparse and desolate locales lend atmosphere to this really well-made horror film. Keep the lights on! Othello -1995 I'm including this one because of the tireless work that actor Kenneth Branagh has done to revive/preserve interest in the works of the immortal William Shakespeare. This is one of his tragedies done up in suitably gloomy locales and with Branagh delivering a fantastically devious performance as Iago. Larry Fishburne is the warrior king Othello, who falls prey to Iago's twisted revenge. Shakespeare In Love -1998 This is kind of 'Shakespeare Lite', in that it is a wholly contrived romantic comedy built around Will's time spent in London. But when we get past that, we get Gwyneth Paltrow, Joe Fiennes, Judi Dench, Colin Firth, Ben Affleck, Geoffrey Rush, and others giving us a wonderfully imagined tale of the passionate inspiration that leads to Shakespeare creating 'Romeo and Juliet'. Although everyone is good in this film, Judi Dench (as Queen Elizabeth I)steals ALL the scenes she appears in without any effort! 7 Oscars really sums it up, I think! B.U.S.T.E.D -1999 (AKA Everybody Loves Sunshine) This is one that pretty much NOBODY in the United States will have seen. It is a small budget film about UK urban ganglife. Two cousins come home from jail and while one plunges right back into a life of crime, the other tries to play it straight. Unfortunately, this is seen as a betrayal by the criminal cousin and so a tidal wave of violence and retribution crashes over them all. look for David Bowie in a pretty good part for him. Snatch -2000 From the mind of Mr. Madonna - Guy Ritchie - comes his last good film. Hopefully he can escape his slump and regain the level of glory attained with 'Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels', and this, his second smash-hit - Snatch. Crowded with about a million characters, and almost as many intertwined plot-lines, this is a brilliant, fast-paced gangster comedy. Brad Pitt is amazing, Dennis Farina is hilarious, and everybody else is right on point. So on to my last recommendation....hmmmm....let's keep it light, shall we? Yes, let's! The Full Monty -1997 What more needs to be said about a British film that became a Broadway sensation? Much like Billy Elliot, but way more light-hearted, it's the story of a bunch of working-class guys who when in need of money decide to put on a strip show to rival the Chippendales experience. Only they decide they will go all the way - the Full Monty. Now all they have to do is learn how to dance...and strip! Very, very funny film. Robert Carlyle goes against the tide by not playing a psycho killer for a change. So that's 10, but I have to mention a film I saw just last week, and I will be buying the DVD as soon as I can - Calendar Girls -2003 which stars Helen Mirren and Julie Walters in a story very similar to The Full Monty, in fact. This film is based on the true story of a group of middle-aged Yorkshire housewives who posed nude for a calendar in order to raise money for charity after one of the women's husband is taken sick and eventually dies. The calendar makes celebrities of the women and far exceeds their projected goals, raising millions! Only the last part of the film, with the girls in Hollywood is a bit weak, but best of all (on the DVD) are the interviews and comments of the real Calendar Girls who inspired the film. Priceless and blissfully British! Go....Go now....Go to Blockbuster and rent a couple of British films - you'll be better for it, I promise.  |
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by cripper
