CALL TO ARMS AGAINST GHOST BUSTERS 3

I say this as a true lover of the Ghostbusters movies (especially the first one the sequel wasn’t brilliant but then sequels never are and because of this it was good). What is wrong with leaving a franchise alone? Is there no dignity in the American film industry?

Not only is it bad enough that “Ghostbusters 3” is going ahead with the start of filming in 2012 but they haven’t even said if Bill Murray will be involved- what is Ghostbusters without Bill Murray? So basically I am expecting three straight men getting gunged in 3D by some well cgi monsters.

Doctor Who in an HOUR!!!

Doctor Who is on in an hour as Yoda would say (you may ask why Yoda and I shall tell you because Yoda is the godfather of non human characters e.g. Doby) EXITED I AM!

One Day

The Hour - Final

First of all I loved this series; total nice tepid sought of thriller that hurts no one is a way that is enjoyable and nice on a Tuesday afternoon.  Admittedly it is strange how much resonance the miniseries has had about today’s media, have we really moved on that much?

The Green Hornet - Review

Having read many horrific reviews of “The Green Hornet” at the time of its cinema release I decided to wait for DVD and don’t get me wrong I am glad I did. The thing I found with this film is that it was strangely ok.

Although set up a combination of Superbad (or films such as) with the more classical superhero films. I don’t know if this film achieved what it set out to achieve but I must admit from a point of view of someone who rented the film from LOVEFILM and thus didn’t have to pay for it that it was an insubstantially good film. In the sense that it had a few nice points and it wasn’t too serious.

Acting wise the film was good at not selling its souls to the stars (accept of course Seth Rogan). Stars such as Cameron Diaz and Christopher Wiltz could have been utilized through the sheer power of their star power into every single shot of the film but they didn’t. Seth Rogan meanwhile got away with being a slightly muted version of the characters he has played in Knocked Up and

The Amazing Spiderman ?

Do we need another Spiderman film?

Now don’t get me wrong the last Spiderman franchise was gut charmingly cheesy, but why not wait another five or ten years when we will no longer tats the bile of the mishaps of the original trilogy? It seems these films are more about correcting the image of Spiderman making him less weakling, annoying and cheeseballish as depredated by Tobey Maguire.

Instead we are left with Andrew Garfield who hot off the press from “The Social Network” and “Never Let Me Go” has been proven talented. Of course Garfield being English will have to be pitch perfect in his role as an American, although admittedly in “The Social Network” he seemed pretty good.

Admittedly I am unimpressed with the rest of the cast; I mean Emma Stone isn't exactly known for her acting capability. Rhys Ifans is at least a good actor and should be a good baddy. And I can’t say anything against Sally Field after watching her in ER.

Marc Webb as director is a very interesting indeed. Known manly for his television work etc. “The Office”, and films such as “500 Days of Summer” he has talent sure, and hopefully his presence could make the film different from the other more repetitive forms of superhero films that we seem inundated with at the moment.

It seems most of the writers involved in this film are trying to repent for the sins they made with the other Spiderman films.

Will this film lead to the repetition of the awkwardness I felt at?  

Torchwood

Is anyone else less than impressed with the new series of Torchwood?

Leaked Footage From Breaking Dawn

Two words about what you can expect from this film:

SOFT PORN

The Hour

“The Hour” has been slashed by many reviewers which I feel is unfair. Ok it shouldn’t have been billed as something compared to “Mad Men” because it's not American and thus it is going to contain some ugly people.  Also unlike “Mad Men” it has probably been made for a tenth of the price.

Ignoring the “Mad Men” comment I find “The Hour” a well acted, interesting programme that is nice enough, not special but nice which for the BBC at the moment is like saying it is a piece of Shakespeare (have you watched “Tonights the Night”?). It’s worth a watch when the only other thing on at ten in Britain is “Smallville”.

Please give us your verdict and give us a comment.



Mr Poppers Penguins

I saw a poster for “Mr Poppins Penguins” today and all I can say is- oh how the mighty fall. It seems that Jim Carrey's career is dead and buried and he himself by signing up to such crap film is simply digging himself a bigger hole.

Now don't get me wrong Jim Carrey can’t exactly be stated as being mighty or ever having been mighty.  In a way he is worse than Marmite because at least half of people “love it” where as Carey should simply be content with being liked in a few specific instances. Those that do like him may well not be annoyed with his okish performances in, for example, “Bruce Almighty” or the “Ace Ventura” films which were admittedly not his worst work (which says a lot about his career).  

Look at the past couple of years meanwhile and it seems that we are now left with Jim Carrey's name being on the strap line filling us with the same amount of certainty about the films credentials as if it was (for example) Jennifer Anniston’s name (this you can take as a reference to “Horrible Bosses”. Ergh!).

All I can say about this new film is it will surely add to Jim Carrey's collection of ever worsening films (I mean have you tried to sit through “Yes Men”?). The fact that this film has penguin’s means I am expecting “Alvin and the Chipmunks” crossed with “Happy Feet” and a splash of normal teeth grindingly, slice my neck open inducing Jim Carrey.   

The Avengers

Avengers excitement has reached fever pitch with the couple of second preview trailer recently released (I will let you find it on YouTube). Now with the film’s release just about a year away nothing but a few snippets have been giving away mainly because they are still filming but from the few shots that have been given all you really need to know is- Robert Downey Jr.

Now “Ironman” if you haven’t already watched is by far and without a shadow of a doubt (that’s a lie- the doubt being the major amount of political mumbo jumbo about terrorists and what have you) the greatest superhero film to date. Robert Downey Jr manages to  define the word “cool” with his fantasmic  portrayal of one of the more human superheroes (even though I would define him as a half god- he is that cool). I kind of think though it is going to be very easy for Robert Downey Jr's character to eclipse the more silent, brooding superheroes that make up the rest of The AVENGERS- unfortunately I do not care if this happens because I love the dude.

I hope that the producers behind “The Avengers” listen to me when they think about less is more. You see when it comes to trailers the most important thing is to give away just enough to excite but not enough to spoil the actual watching of the film. Of course I am speaking on death ears for this is going to be like every other American blockbuster and it is going to be sold for all its worth- but hopefully it retains some of the flare that “Ironman” and “Ironman 2” had, and doesn’t go the way of... lets call it the “large, green man film” (I think like actors with Macbeth or as they say “The Scottish Play” a great curse will befull anything involved with the “H” word).

Anyway I really cannot wait.

The Dark Knight Rises- First Thoughts

Having recently watched “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part Two” for the second time, on this occasion in the BFI IMAX- which coincidently is a must do- I have had opportunity to watch the first trailer for the final film in the DARK KNIGHT trilogy. All I can say is “The Dark Knight Rises” looks interesting.

It must be said that the word “interesting” is in this instance used to convey a polite confusion. I cannot be rude because of Christopher Nolan's past efforts when it comes to de-camping the history of Batman on screen.  Please pause for a moment to remember the tight brief pants Batman and Robin wear in the original tv series of the same title, then glimpse over the rest of the films in the Clooney, Burton, splattered history of the man who dresses up like a bat.

Nolan's films cannot be considered perfect though; no in fact quite the opposite can be said. “Batman Begins” was a troubling affair with the awkwardness of the over mythical and ideological sense of the entire piece. The film though was fair, in the sense that it was plain simple and earnest with a story line that was almost easy to follow.

“The Dark Knight” meanwhile was terrible, a mismatch of a story that was beyound confusing. The length of it made it dull. The fact that Katie Holmes couldn't be bothered to return to play her part as the love interest, Rachel Dawes said a lot. The only truly brilliant thing in the film was Heath Ledger as THE JOKER. Ledger was beyond brilliant and his premature death has given a legendary nature to this role and thus this film.

The problem is now we are left with a film three which cannot be bigger or better than those previous. Coming into the next film we have been left with the love interest having been killed off- so in comes Anne Hathaway who admittedly had her best role in “Princess Diaries”. The best, or should I say worst, villain has already dealt the blow- who can they get to be more menacing or indeed any more of a challenge than the ultimate super villain.

FINAL WORD

I am interested to see how Nolan manages to covey this shouldn’t but must be film.

Harry Potter - A Review

So the greatest film franchise has finally come to an end. Will it be the last we hear of the boy wizard, I doubt it.

The new film was quite possibly one of the finest out the series. David Yates managed to compose a film that was well flowing and less clunky than if he had simply followed JK Rowling’s description (no offence JK). The battle scenes made sense with most scenes stuck together beautifully. No major parts of the book were cut and I can find little complaint when looking at it in comparison to some of the lesser films of the series.

It was brilliant to see the vast array of cast that prove Britain makes em like no other: Maggi Smith who was beyond brilliant as per usual, Robbi Coltrane doesn’t do sobbery as well as he does comedy but who am I to complain for we all love Hagrid, Ralph Fiennes may have divorced River Song/Elizabeth Corday but everything is forgiven for this most brilliant portrayal of Voldy, Alan Rickman made me cry, Matthew Lewis is a wonderful Neville (although saw him in a play and the idea is to project your voice not shout), Tom Felton should have had his redeeming moment at the end and Draco should have stayed with the Hogwarts students, Gambon is a legend even if he’s playing a dead dude, Evanna Lynch has some weird accent going on but she is as much Luna as Rupert Grint is Ron,  Wawrick Davies does Flitwick and Griphook sublimely, Jason Issacs- I love you as much as Mark Kermode (if you don’t know who this is you are an idiot), Helana Bonham Carter you deserve an Oscar for your volume of work you are amazing in everything (including “Planet of the Apes” which no offence to your husband- if you read this which I doubt you will- is a pile of rubbish that should have been left well alone), I could go on but just look on IMDB for the list of cast and put “was brilliant” next to their name and  you get the picture.

I guess I will have to mention the trio so here goes: Daniel Radcliffe was better than in any of the other films (aka he did an ok job).  Rupert Grint was fantastic and I am very interested to see how his career progresses for I think he is going to have a good future. Emma Watson is Hermione it is hard to tell if she is acting or just playing herself but she did a good job.

The film did have some poor moments admittedly; the epilogue is one big gleaming example. The epilogue is by far one of the lesser points of the books, almost childish in the writing sense, being in the book I guess it was necessary to be included in the film so I can’t truly complain. I feel that Yates again did the best he could but I feel that the acting of Daniel Radcliffe and the fact that ageing him up just made him look twentyish failed the whole thing. I think it would have been less ruined if they had used forty year old actors to take their places. Luckily the scene was kept short and sweet and was a moment in which to stop crying before the cinema lights went on and embarrassment was thus avoided through cringing at Radcliffe.

Other slight faults include a little too much happiness at the end of the battle. If you had just lost your son, would you be prepared to smile and gleam at Harry Potter whether or not he had just killed Voldermort; Molly Weasly certainly beamed. Yates maybe could have understood the grieve of his characters slightly.

Also” Neville, Neville, Neville” you were standing right next to the snake with the sword but you felt it necessary to make a big dramatic talk when you could have just chopped off his head. Yates should have made the length between Neville and the snake greater if he wanted his chase sequence at the end any less annoying.

Lastly I shall mention Julie Walters who made my life complete with the line “Not my daughter you BITCH!” which resulted in her killing Belatrix Lestrange. It was my favourite moment in the book and it was my favourite moment in the film you will enjoy it.

LAST WORDS

A decent, excitable, fast paced, emotional rollercoaster film that will leave you crying and laughing in a jolly, nice goodbye, sort of way. Just bring a sick bucket for the epilogue.

Hangover 2 actually feels like a hangover

Now admittedly you already have to watch these sort with a pinch of salt, they are all about tongue in cheek, very obvious American humour all of which is out to shock you. Hangover (in the plural) was almost  brilliant because of this shock factor with the outlandish comments making up an almost plausible situation: men do go on bachelor weekend, they do go to Las Vegas, they may well get drunk, they may well get drugged and things may spiral out of control- this was a simple load of events which lead to the aftermath that was, first time round, so surprisingly funny and almost well thought out.

Second time round the story is boring. Boring first of all because everything feels like dejavu. The idea that again they are drugged, again the three main characters manage to ditch the lesser actor from National Treasure (although looking forward to seeing him in National Treasure 3). Again they lose someone. Again they wake up and they are faced with a animal and a baby of sorts- both rolled into one in the form of the monkey. They even include the fact of miss-identity.

The main fault with this film is that it has fundamental errors in the story. First of all why has the geeky, glasses wearing, somewhat ugly dentist managed to be in a position where he is getting married to a wealthy, beautiful women- I mean what does she see in him. Then there is the whole ending when Glasses wearing dude (as I shall call him not remembering or being bothered enough to find his name - it was that bad a film) being accepted by his Thai brides father because he has managed to add flavour to the metaphorical rice that he has been coined as by: getting drunk, getting a tattoo on his face, causing the son of his father-in-law-to- be to nearly bleed to death in an elevator, oh and by having sex with a transvestite.

Prudes beware this is a film that unlike number one shows you just about everything in a way that I found wrong and I am not even a that prudish.

Then there is the fact that the film is trying twice as bad to be funny and not managing it by a long shot. The film therefore becomes twice as racist, sexist, homophobic and generally upsetting to everyone that is not a white middle aged American man. People have told me though that I have looked too much into it, but when you find yourself questioning whether walking out of the cinema screen or face the embarrassment of throwing up and the disgusting parts or falling asleep at the boring asleep (I decided to stay, I had paid to watch it but I wish I hadn't bothered).
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Deleted Scene from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part One

First of all watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhS9Z13Gyac and then read this.


Now one of the questions that puzzled me dearly about the film was where were the Dursley's? Fair enough they did make an appearance of the briefest nature with the three figures getting into the car. Now with the book being split into two films it seems to me incredulous that they couldn't have extended the first film by one or two minutes to allow for the Dursley's to have a proper goodbye.

Not giving them long enough to explain themselves they couldn't even show Dudley because the actor Harry Melling has got so thin that it is no longer possible to tell who he is. Surely though they could have included that scene where Dudley and Harry share a moment, because it was a good moment.

Watching this deleted scene I am shocked that they didn't include it. Fiona Shaw is brilliant and Daniel Radcliffe is almost alright (which is an improvement believe me). This clip would also explain Pertunia's real feelings which is something that needs to be understood for what is to come in the Prince's  tale. Of course this is a sign that in the Prince's tale we won't be seeing much of Pertunia either, it shall instead simply be about Snape, which isn't too bad but still.

Anyway this clip has been uselessly discarded, I can't wait to see what else they've deleted, and I feel I shall be just as angry.

Battle of the Cake Shows

There has been an explosion of cake related programmes hitting our screens. The leading heads of these programmes happen to be: "Ace of Cakes", "Ultimate Cake Off", "Cupcake Wars" and "Cake Boss". I am not complaining, I mean who doesn't like cake.

Ace of Cakes paved the way in 2006 and has lead to this revolution of frosting covered cake perfection. This is a show that in makes every programme the focus of a week in the life of a specialised cake shop headed by Duff Goldman. The programme has a well groomed essence to it with ten seasons behind it, every year it does get better because it has to to get people to watch it, and this is great. I have lots of problems with the programme though, the main problem is the cakes- they aren't really that good: if you look up the price of them on the Internet they cost a couple of thousand pounds which is ridiculous for cake which is 50/ 50 when it comes to whether there amazing (R2D2 made out of cake sort of amazing), or simply a bodge job that barely gets a mention on the show. One of my biggest problems with the whole thing is Duff himself, at the start (in the first few seasons that I watched) he is bearable and you find him to be just the cake dude, but then after a while you get the picture that he is just this barrel of annoying, money grabbing ego obssesed geek who barely ever makes any of the cakes but still manages to get the glory.

Cupcake Wars is a lot more bitchy than the other cake programmes and at the same time it is the most boring. The idea that the teams in the programmes simply have to make a batch of cup cakes is just a bit unshocking and unamazing. Still its a good laugh and the competitive element is great.

Cake Boss is amazing in the sense that it is Ace of Cakes but ten times better. Cake Boss started in 2009 and it is about family run bakers that speacialises in amazing cakes run by Buddy Valastro. It is better in the way that the cake shop is a working bakery already and that they have been doing the same as Ace of Cakes for years. The cakes are ten times more amazing (in most cases) and the skill involved is ten fold. The way that it is family run is interesting to the programme because it creates a great comedy value that is not forced or weird like in Ace of Cakes.

Ultimate Cake Off beats hands down when it comes to the actual cakes because unlike those created in Cake Boss and Ace of Cakes the contestants don't have a matter of days to make a cake but instead they only have several hours. Of course the programme is contrived and even the judges, that are the same every week, have no real connection with the audience (something that could be changed by getting hold of John and Greg from Masterchef). Anyway that cakes are amazing and bringing them together in so short a time is also amazing. The best bits have to be when the cakes fall over.

Therefore I conclude if you want some original, slightly annoying cake fun watch Ace of Cakes. If you want to see competition watch Ultimate Cake Off or Cupcake Wars. Finally Cake Boss wins hands down, enjoyable fun with Buddy and all his family of cake makers.

Whats better The Matrix or Inception?

Some people say that two films: Inception (2010) and The Matrix (1999) are very similar in mind bending themes and so on. The two films may be separated by a decade or so and some would argue The Matrix is now dated but the comparison is still notable. It therefore falls to us to question what is the better of the two.

Having watched The Matrix several times I can honestly say that it may be slightly cheesy with the constant repetition at the end with:
Morpheus: He's the one!
Trinity: He's the one but I'm afraid
Weird guy on computer (didn't decide to come back for sequel- good call): He's the one (with eyebrow twitch)
Neo: I'm the one
- Ok I think you get the point. Anyway this poor sense of cheesy rubbish is eclipsed by the shear action that comes at the end and the gun totting/ leather clad/ machine gun wielding/ jumping over buildings/ karate/ hoover craft explosions etc. that comes with the film in general.

The Matrix also has the plus of having a much simpler story than Inception (the sort of story that you only have to watch the film twice to get). Inception meanwhile takes at least three or four times to truly understand. The Matrix also handles the clue-in (the part where the butch guy in the film fillls in another character and therefore the audience) in a much better way with a ten minute or so mush of well flowing plug in sessions which lets Morpheus explain the whole thing. In Inception meanwhile you've got Leonardo DiCaprio sitting in a cafe and fare enough the buildings around him explode but he doesn't exactly explain it all and it takes the rest of the film to divulge this confusing idea of dreams.

Inception has the better affects and is on a much larger scale. The whole Paris thing was pretty amazing. I also love Christopher Nolan's choice to film as many scenes as he could in real life sets that were then suspended to different angles. You could argue that The Matrix is just as accomplished for its day, it to excelled with the use of green screen to create action sequences which until then had been impossible.

The cast in both films are something to note. The Matrix went with a mix of established and unestablished actors that blended well, the main three Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne), Trinity (Carey- Anne Moss) and Neo (Keanu Reeves- who reminds me so much of Carter from ER) are especially good. In Inception meanwhile you have a mix of the greatest film stars of the decade and this makes it a bit wow! and for good reason.

I think the endings of the two films tell you a lot about their greatness. Inception has one of the best endings I have seen in a long while, the idea that you don't know if he is in a dream or not is fantastic for debates. The Matrix also has a great ending with the whole flying thing (the phone box thing being admittedly a little cheesy in dialogue), the music that then faced the credits really gave a punch of excitement (which made you forget the cheese). The difference between the greatness of both endings is that The Matrix's ending wasn't the end but the end of one film that would then lead on to two more. If the Wachowski brothers had been brave and stopped with The Matrix there would be a decent contest between it and Inception. 

As much as I want to say that Inception wins hand down I can't. Inception is a brutally cold film that needs a Carrie-Anne Moss figure because otherwise it should just say what it is a mans film  with action that is more substance than story. Even thinking about the two main women characters in Inception- one is  a pathetic student that doesn't even flirt with Leonardo DiCaprio's character (I mean its the perfect guy from Titanic), and the other is a psychotic French women, both hopelessly unrealistic and sexist (if you ignore my Titanic comment).

I personally, through much difficulty, admit that however cheesy and gritty The Matrix is, however bad its sequels are (and I mean Prince of Persia bad- ergh!), it is the better of the two. Of course I could be wrong so I suggest you comment on how much you now hate me for dissing one of the best 2010 films.  

A New Age of Chefs

To make it clear to everyone, two or three years I was not annoyed in the slightest by tv chefs. Jamie Oliver was simply cooking, Heston Blumenthal was a guest on a couple of cooking shows, Masterchef was a simple cooking programme, Ready Steady Cook was still amusing. Now bamb! its 2011 and all chefs think they're Gods.

First of all what is up with "Jamies 30 Minute Meals" it is a complete and utter farce! I mean if Oliver's being honest he should simply call the programme "Jamies not so thirty minute meals" because I tell you they are impossible to complete in anything shorter of at least two hours. When he's cooking in "his" kitchen he's got the bonus of everything already being prepped ready for him- if anyone else wanted to this they would have to spend an hour, cutting/ slicing/ dicing/ grating/ buying/ washing/ open packets etc. Also isn't it amazing how his oven warms up within minutes. I tell you what if you want to watch Jamie Oliver do anything that is remotely entertaining- watch the episode of Jamies Food Revolution in America when he realises no one cares about him and he begins crying. A few last words on the Jamie Oliver subject- Sainsbury Advert "Don't just eat food taste it", I could give him a few choice words in response to his.

This years Masterchef has also annoyed me no end. What is up with making it into an x- factor cook off thing. What was wrong with the old format, the viewer rating enough must have shown that this was popular. Where is the ingredients test? The BBC even realise its rubbish putting it on two days a week. The BBC are to blame though for selling it off in the first place! If it wasn't for John and Greg I would give up watching.

Then you've got snob of snobs Hugh Fearnly Whittingstall who takes up programme space beyond programme space with his wittering on about how he is better than normal people because he can afford to buy a whole cow and get a butcher round to talk to him about it. Why can't someone introduce this weirdo to a thing called- Tesco, no he has to pick his apples and eat the worms and all, then he's eating weeds.

But the evil of all super evil chefs is Heston Blumenthal. He has literally taken over the whole of a little picturesque village called Bray. He's already bought the villages only two pubs and restaurant- why doesn't he just stick a sign up saying "welcome to Blumenthal land". Then what is up with these programmes about changing restaurants menus- leave Little Chef alone it may sell rubbish food that tastes like eating cardboard but that's what you look for in a Little Chef, NOT SNAIL PORRIDGE.

Anyway I give up. I advise if you want  to watch something to do with food just watch the eating side of it- Man Versus Food. 

The Best of British

Now that the Oscar buzz has depleted with the same feeling that you get after Christmas, you got all your presents (this year they were the ones we wanted aka THE KINGS SPEECH winning everything, of course you did end up with an unwanted jumper from your aunty Violet aka. Natalie Portman winning best actress, but you can always forget about that) now you’ve got to face the months to come. In the months to it seems that there is going to be a tough ride of stormy seas for the UK Film Council which has practically keeping British film (or should I say decent British film) alive. Feeling troubled by what will become of the British Film Industry I decided to look at my top ten British films:

 

 

 

 

1. Kind Heart and Coronets (1949)

 

I decided to start with one of my personal favourites and one that deserves great consideration. This is one of the legendary Ealing comedies and by far one of the greatest. The film is also easily Sir Alec Guisness' finest work, him playing the entire D'Ascoyne family- all eight of them. Dennis Price plays the straight man that just happens to be a murdering psychopath. The story itself is something that is incredulous in the way that is amazingly clever, the idea that Price wants to become the next Duke of D'Ascoyne managing to murder all of them in ever more interesting ways. The whole thing is a load of twists and turns that make a lot of sinister comedy  aith a mild manor. Seriously ten out of ten stuff.

 

 

 

 

2. Wallace and Gromit (1989-2008)

 

Ok so this is a bunch of four short animated films and one feature length one but I don't think that the only true film gives justice to this truely amazing franchise that has but Britian on the map. Too get an essence of the simple story of a plastecine man and his dog you really have to watch them from the first to the last. I think they had to be on my list because Wallace and Gromit is the shear definition of all things British. (One question meanwhile is why Wallace and Gromit can't be the mascots for London 2012)

 

 

 

 

3. Passport to Pimlico (1949)

 

First of all this film contains many of the British comedy acting presence of its golden age and they are all shown off to their full brilliance: Hermione Baddeley, Stanley Holloway, Raymond Huntley etc. This is the film that best describes the British spirit- it may cause the most anti British fellow to start singing the national anthem.

 

 

 

 

4. Oliver! (1968)

 

I don't know if it is from watching this twenty thousand times that I have come to love this as the greatest musical of all time. This retelling of the classic Dickens tale is by far the best out of the hundreds that have been attempted. Carol Reed managed to create the vibrant life of Victorian London in all its glory. The simple fact that Oliver Reed and Ron Moody are in its cast makes it even better.

 

 

5. Educating Rita (1983)

This simple tale of university lecturer and his Open University student and their struggles to teach other something about life and English Literature. It is a bitter sweet tale that is from the pen of the legendary Willy Russel (Blood Brothers) which means great writing with some truly great lines. The two main characters also happen to be  played by Julie Walters and Micheal Caine doing possibly their finest work.

6. The Belles of St Trinian's (1954)

I don't think it can or will get better than this, the original St Trinians film that has inspired several sequals (some good, some so bad that they make you violently ill at the mere mention of them- I'm sorry for the reminder) and millions of school girls all round the world. A comedy that sets the bar way above the usual. The casual blend of British pompous humour with some of the greatest actors of any age: Alastair Sim (who plays a brother and sister), Joyce Grenfell, George Cole, Hermione Baddeley, Rene Houston, Irene Handl, Joan Sims etc. The idea that in an age where women were still thought of as quite submissive characters, compared to their current status, it is amazing how they have been portrayed. It may not be the type of laugh out loud comedy (although it has its moments) this is something that never becomes an issue and is still fantastically witty. This is a lot better than most comedy films of any age.



7. The 39 Steps  (1935)

Alfred Hitchcock is amazing- this is a simple fact that cannot and shall not be fogotten. He is able to bring together a film unlike any other director, he is the only one that is not overcome by a single element of his film instead he values: acting/ writing/ setting and so on as the same. The only thing that he ever values more than anything else is the story of the film and this is exactally how it should be. This film is one of his earlier films and therefore set in Britain and it is truly brilliant. The thriller/ mystery is amazing in its sweeping story that keep a brilliant pace right to the end. Staring Robert Donat who is good looking and an amazing actor. This is a  film that is maybe not the best Hitchcock film, but it is certainly great in its own right.

8. Harry Potter (2001-2011)

Ok say I am braking the rules again and this is again techniqually more than simply one film, it is infact eight. I couldn't ignore though the decade of hard work that has gone into making Britain's most significantly international film franchise to date. I have metioned the Harry Potter film franchise in earlier blogs so I won't go into to much detail but this is a franchise that I think will one day be attemptedly remade but to ever that person is I say "you idiot" because it will never have the same cast and crew through all seven books worth and it will never have the same hype- nor should it.

9. Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979)

A film that is clever and amazingly funny. Showing off the full extent of the Monty Python's  shear talent. The whole thing is strangely surreal and although rough and this adds to the comedy of the film. The main idea of the film is funny enough and the way they play with the story of Jesus is incredible, especially in the way that offends everyone and yet no one really cares for laughter.

10. The Kings Speech  (2010)

It can't be ignored- this is going to one of those films that is remembered as one of those films that will be rememberd as a combination of great British and Australian talent. Maybe it isn't historically correct but I really, really don't care. It's nice, sweet, clever, feel good and therefore brilliant. I'm not sure if it will be a legendarily remembered except for the amount of Oscars won but at the moment at least it deserves its posistion.