MetaFilter posts tagged with british and movies

4K digital restoration of "Lawrence of Arabia" in theaters October 4

Egg Shen — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 15:10:14 -0800

On October 4 you will have the cinematic opportunity of a lifetime to see David Lean's Lawrence of Arabia on the big screen in a new 4K digital restoration.

Tobe Hooper's "Lifeforce"

Trurl — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 21:49:44 -0800

... it’s no exaggeration to say that LIFEFORCE tosses everything in but the kitchen in an attempt to entertain you. Actually, scratch that, it tosses everything including the kitchen sink. By the time the movie is complete, you may have to watch it again just to verify that you actually saw what you just saw. The movie is a mess of enormous proportions which I absolutely loved.* (previously) The unforgettable Mathilda May has worked steadily in French film and television to the present day. Here she performs her self-described "funk" single "If you miss..."

Julien Temple's "Absolute Beginners"

Trurl — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 19:55:16 -0800

[Absolute Beginners] has a glossy immediacy, and you can feel the flash and determination that went into it. What you don't feel is the tormented romanticism that made English adolescents in the 70s swear by the novel the way American kids had earlier sworn by The Catcher in the Rye. - Pauline Kael The musical numbers included Sade's "Killer Blow", David Bowie's "That's Motivation", Ray Davies' "Quiet Life", and Slim Gaillard's "Selling Out". The famous opening shot is nowhere on the Web that I can find. But its flavor can be sampled in director Julien Temple's music video for Janet Jackson's "When I Think Of You".

Peter Greenaway's "Prospero's Books"

Trurl — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 20:47:18 -0800

Peter Greenaway's "Prospero's Books" (NSFW) is not a movie in the sense that we usually employ the word. It's an experiment in form and content. ... The books, their typography, calligraphy and illustrations, are photographed in voluptuous detail. ... "Prospero's Books" really exists outside criticism. ... It is simply a work of original art, which Greenaway asks us to accept or reject on his own terms. - Roger Ebert

David Lean's "Lawrence of Arabia"

Trurl — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 18:42:09 -0800

Lawrence of Arabia is a 1962 British film based on the life of T. E. Lawrence. It was directed by David Lean... with the screenplay by Robert Bolt and Michael Wilson. The film stars Peter O'Toole in the title role. It is widely considered one of the greatest and most influential films in the history of cinema. The dramatic score by Maurice Jarre and the Super Panavision 70 cinematography by Freddie Young are also highly acclaimed.

Don Levy's "Herostratus"

Trurl — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 20:27:50 -0800

Hidden away in vaults and out of distribution for over forty years, Herostratus was in its own time largely misunderstood. After only a handful of initial screenings it virtually disappeared from public view altogether, remaining all but forgotten to this day. Yet while admittedly flawed, the film does offer a compelling critique of the failure of 1960s postwar idealism in Britain, an ideal portrayed as having degenerated into neurotic self-gratification. It is also of note as Dame Commander Helen Mirren's first credited screen role. (not safe for those sexually aroused by Helen Mirren) Later critics would remark upon Herostratus's apparent influence on Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange (1971). Levy was undoubtedly highly respected by many important contemporary British directors, including Richard Lester, but Herostratus's failure to find an audience in Britain persuaded him to leave for America, where he would teach and experiment with many subsequently abandoned projects. He would never make another feature again. While Levy is more celebrated for his innovative short documentaries in the early 1960s, Herostratus is the only intensely personal statement he ever publicly exhibited.

Is Byyuudua-pessst fahhh?

miss lynnster — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 07:41:09 -0800

Some movie villains aren't necessarily bad, they're just accented that way. But what criteria do we use to determine a truly, uniquely bad film accent? Obviously, it helps if an actor or movie annoys you to begin with, but some bad accents are simply indisputably painful to watch. Kind of like a mashup of everything in The Speech Accent Archive with a little bit of Received Pronounciation thrown in here and there. Yes it's true, even the average American enjoys trying to rock a ridiculously fake British tone once in a while (there are dialects?). But believe it or not, there are average people in this world actually trying to learn how to sound American too! OK well, on second thought, it's more likely that they're just trying to sound less "foreign" while they're here so we don't mock them.

Now here's the obligatory Fun Quiz portion of the post: what American accent do YOU have? Previously.

Bixby23 — Mon, 02 Sep 2002 19:56:51 -0800

The British Empire in Colour -- a three-part documentary series from the producers of the BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) award-winning Britain at War in Colour will air this month. The series is supposed to include "a treasure-trove of early colour movies filmed before 'technicolour' transformed film making in the 1930s. Unique colour footage of the Edwardian splendour of 1906 British India, soldiers of the First World War and class divided Britain in 1926 as seen for the first time by a modern visually sophisticated audience." Apparently, it also includes Horrifying footage of last days of Raj.