I just finished watching Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels at lunch and have come to this conclusion: All British/English films (other than Snatch) filmed mostly in Europe with mostly British accents suck.

Trainspotting? Crap
Notting Hill? Surreal, but Crap.
The Royal Tenenbaums? Uber-Crap.
Mr. Bean? SOOOOO Much CRAP.
Sense and Sensibillity? Senseless Crap.

The same can be said for most all British TV series. I enjoyed Monty Python, but that one just slipped in there because of the talented actors. The rest is just crap.

How could it be? I guess I have not acquired a worldly view, a taste for the level of wit, or just the understanding of the current "Queen's" english and all it's slang (WTF is a "Wanker"?!).

I now look at most things British like I do the crazy bozo on Univision (Dios-Mio!). My sense of humour for things "merely foolish" or blatantly stupid just never developed; and the drama that comes out of Guy Ritchie and his clones is low budget un-linear crap at best. Am I the only way that thinks this way?



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If you can read this, thank a teacher.
If you can read this in English, thank a Soldier.

I am sure you aren't the only one who thinks that way.

But you and your friends are still wrong.

And the Royal Tennebaums isn't British.

I don't see how you can like Snatch, and yet not like Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrells. The premise is extremely similar, and they have almost the same feel to them. I personally thought the humor in LSaTSB was even better than that in Snatch.

I stand corrected about the tenenbaums.

I just hate ben stiller and, since I am talking about crap, felt like I should include him.

Did you just say that Sense & Sensibility was crap?

yes he did

the problem is, nothing blew up so he didn't like it

Snatch was ground into my head because my roomate Sr. year watched it 24/7 and my buddies quoted it a lot.

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If you can read this, thank a teacher.
If you can read this in English, thank a Soldier.

And lets just go ahead and say everything that Hugh Grant has done is crap.

Mickey Blue Eyes, which was the closest thing he has done to being non-crap was the crappiest mob film I have ever had the displeasure of watching.

Crap.

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If you can read this, thank a teacher.
If you can read this in English, thank a Soldier.

mr. beans original comedy specials are great.

"snatch" is great and i'm showing how secure i am with my feminine side, but i thought "notting hill" was a pretty good movie.

you are the first guy to say he hated Love Actually, which starred Hugh Grant

"Love Actually" is Hugh's one shiny spot in a career covered in CRAP. There were about 14 other actors in that movie that covered for him.

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If you can read this, thank a teacher.
If you can read this in English, thank a Soldier.

Be sure to mark down that opie03 hates British stuff in the "Journal of **** Nobody Else Cares About."

Thanks.

wrong

Personally, I loved "The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill and Came Down a Mountain" and "Four Weddings and a Funeral."

Both starred Grant.

And "Shaun of the Dead" was one of the best movies I saw last year (even better than that crapfest "Land of the Dead" from the Godfather of the genre himself George A. Romero).

And the new "Battlestar Galactica" series? It's British. It's filmed in England with half the cast being British.

The Long Good Friday is one of the best post-Godfather gangster movies made. Bob Hoskins' Harold Shand is one bad mofo.

Any of the Alec Guinness Ealing comedies is worth watching. The original Ladykillers, Lavender Hill Mob and Man in the White Suit particularly.

The Third Man is truly great. The primarily British made Bridge on the River Kwai and Lawrence of Arabia should be on anyones best movies list.

A couple weeks ago on BBC America I caught a new series called "Green Wing." Good stuff. It stars Tasmin Grieg from "Black Books," another excellent Brit-com.

I recommend checking it out.

Black Adder is one of the funniest tv shows I've ever seen.

Its official. Your taste in movies is terrible. Go watch Alien vs. Predator again.





Make the choice adventurous stranger, strike the bell and bide the danger
Or wonder 'till it drives you mad what would have happened if you had.

PS: This is what that part of the alphabet would look like if you removed Q and R

[This message has been edited by Whoop04 (edited 8/8/2005 4:30p).]

I've noticed that British movies tend to have too much male nudity. Never any women though. What is wrong with Brits!?

"Trainspotting? Crap"

Trainspotting is an excellent movie. You just have to watch it with the subtitles on so you can understand what the hell they're saying.

[This message has been edited by jm94 (edited 8/8/2005 11:14p).]

"Mr bean" is much funnier in black adder in my opinion. You should check out fawlty towers as well. And Monty Python is a comedy troupe...not actors. dil

shaun of the dead

You obviously haven't seen Shaun of the Dead.

The Third Man is my all time favorite movie. anyone who says "Every ____ is crap" is an idiot, in my opinion.

I hate to say it, but I am a Hugh Grant fan.

However, Colin Firth kicks his ass.

quote:

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But you and your friends are still wrong

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So you are the final arbiter of all that is deemed good or bad? It's his opinion, which apparently differs from your's.

oh i have seen shaun of the dead...i loved it

I saw Shaun of the Dead at the theater, and then rented it on dvd to see if there was something great about it that I missed. It was good, but I don't see what made it so "Great".

I'll probably rent it again in October.

i walked out of trainspotting. too crude.

quote:

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Mickey Blue Eyes, which was the closest thing he has done to being non-crap

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Did anyone else catch the fact that he said Mickey Blue Eyes was semi-good? Amazing.

Yes, you're entitled to your opinion.

Your taste in movies sucks. But that's MY opinion and I'm entitled to that too.

This news just in, some people like some movies and dislike others.



My thoughts:

I wouldn't expect Hugh Grant to make a convincing James Bond or Ron Burgundy, but in Cary Grant type roles he's cool and well-cast.

Those who don't want to bother with male vulnerability should certainly avoid all his movies and probably Hugh himself.

Instead, go enjoy rascally Vince Vaughn, loutish Will Ferrell and creepy Owen Wilson or, perhaps, stretch out by renting the original "Alfie" with a young, self-centered Michael Caine.

The guys they play are far, far beyond redemption and they really are a lot of fun to watch.

All these actors all do great jobs of playing various sides and shades of the same hilarious, but true to life, male stereotype.

Hugh Grant's strength, IMHO, is that he excels in those roles that require a more well-rounded portrayal of a cad and his comeuppance




The Ealing Studio's comedies are dry, thoughtful, veiled and a little slow, but that's much of their charm.



I appreciated "Shaun of the Dead" for doing as much as was humanly and inhumanly possible with a one-trick pony.

That movie was very good, albeit with much the same thing, variously reprised, being quite entertaining over and over again.

While watching it, I was favorably reminded of TV's "The Drew Carey Show," which I think is quite entertaining itself, because of the similar, recurring characters and situations found in both it and "Shaun of the Dead."

I've always thought "The Drew Carey Show" had a noticeable British vibe, even before that obnoxious English boss joined the cast.

There's that whole "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" across the pond/cross-pollination thing with Drew and Ryan Stiles in the mix.

And Mimi (Kathy Kinney) certainly wears as much scary makeup as any George Romero creation.



"Trainspotting" was very crude, but very believable.



All of Alec Guinness' movies are variously worthwhile to me: "Kind Hearts and Coronets," "The Bridge on the River Kwai," "Damn The Defiant!," "Doctor Zhivago," "Lawrence of Arabia," "Oliver Twist" "The Swan," "The Mudlark" and "Star Wars."

Some of these films might seem dated, but they become timeless if you choose to invest some of your's in watching.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000027/



"Sense and Sensibility" is not crap.

You just have to use both sides of your brain.

Even during my four years in the Corps at an all-male Texas A&M in the Sixties, I found that was possible, palatable, productive and pleasing.

But, to be honest, I probably didn't admit it very openly at the time.

One of the great post-Aggie graduation day joys of my youth was finally having the daily opportunity to explore and discover what made liberated, fascinating individuals of the opposite sex tick (and tickle) on a regular, reoccurring basis.

I understand there are a large number of girls on campus now.

What a learning opportunity!!

Male bonding (and maleness itself) is fun and cool, but ultimately limited.

Find a girl you fancy and see a movie she'd like to see, such as "Sense and Sensibility" or "Satisfaction" or "The Shop Around the Corner," which was remade as "You've Got Mail".

Perhaps start out with an easy one like "Bull Durham," a bona fide chick flick that's cleverly disguised as a baseball/buddy movie.

Pay attention to her and the screen; the lesson and the enjoyment includes watching both.

I always had a mother and a little sister, but the more interesting females that entered my life (girl friends, wife, mother-in-law, daughter, etc.) the more I've enjoyed good chick flicks.



Gig 'em, FAST FRED '65.

Before the world wide web, village idiots usually stayed in their own village.

[This message has been edited by FAST FRED (edited 8/9/2005 4:37p).]

You may not fully appreciate shaun of the dead if you arent into really cheesy zombie flicks.

snatch and shaun of the dead were both pretty decent.

I wasn't into cheesey zombie movies (or at least I didn't know it) until I saw Shaun of the Dead. But I absolutely loved it! It was my favorite movie of 2004, hands down.

The British used to do good action movies. Lawrence of Arabia was a thinking man's western set in the desert.

And Zulu, which is the answer to the question "what if the battle of the Alamo had been fought against Africans with spears instead of Mexicans with Brown Besses and the defenders had breech loaders instead of muzzle loaders?" Yes, I know, nobody ever asked that question, but what if they had? You'd know the answer!!

In addition to being one of the best films ever made, The Third Man also marks the high water mark for the use of the well tuned Zither in cinema.