UK/Ireland Challenge (Official August 2019)

[clemmetarey]

Goal
Watch as many movies from UK/Ireland as you can from August 1, 2019 to August 31, 2019.


Rules
- Each feature film (over 40 minutes) counts as one entry.
- 60 minutes of short films counts as one entry.
- 120 minutes of TV episodes counts as one entry.
- 1 episode of any miniseries counts as one entry.
- Rewatches are allowed and are good for the soul.
- Please include year of release and director when listing your viewings.


Fair play (adapted from albajos/sol)
- Remember this is a community event, so participating is not only about listing titles. If you post early, this gives the other participants suggestions for their own viewings and it brings the community closer together.
- If you're in the top 5 please post at least once every three days.
- I will not allow anyone to enter the top 5 on the final day with their first post.

I reserve the right to exclude participants who intentionally number their viewings incorrectly. If you play the game, you're expected to play properly.


Official Lists
100 Best British films
BFI 100
UNESCO's Memory of the World: National Cinematic Heritage (358-375 are Irish)

Non-Official Lists
Total Film's 50 Best British Movies
Fifty Key British Films (Routledge Key Guides)
Barry Norman: 50 greatest British films of all time
The 100 Best British Films Ever (by Empire)
Top 250 British Films -Empire
A Personal History of British Cinema by Stephen Frears
Top fifty Irish films you must see

Films Watched for this challenge (add me as a friend, On hold due to a computer issue)

This Challenge has been run three times before :

2016 Challenge - hosted by HVM and won by Cippenham with 42 points
2013 Challenge - hosted by HVM and won by brokenface with 34 points
2012 Challenge - hosted by mightysparks and won by Kasparius with 74 points

Participants

Rank	iCMer	Total Watches
1	albajos	150
2	jdidaco	112
3	RogerTheMovieManiac88	102
4	Traveller	71
5	sol	46
6	Coryn	41
7	jeroeno	39
8	ABC537	30
9	blocho	27
10	peeptoad	25
10	3eyes	25
12	sebby	24
13	vortexsurfer	23
14	flavo5000	21
15	frbrown	19
15	ororama	19
15	maxwelldeux	19
15	Lonewolf2003	19
19	mathiasa	15
20	hurluberlu	13
21	ChrisReynolds	12
22	cinephage	7
22	zzzorf	7
24	shugs	3
25	Obgeoff	2
25	VincentPrice	2
27	allisoncm	1
27	Cinepolis	1
27	morrison-dylan-fan	1
27	nimimerkillinen	1

[albajos]

I'll be gone for most of the month so I think will only have time for the Poirot episodes I have left after the Mystery challenge nefore I return them to the library

[Traveller]

I guess - not focusing on anything special, just going through the backlog.

[clemmetarey]

So what kind of fun stats would you guys want ? A decade/year breakdown? A list of all the films watched? A director count?

[albajos]

All british dialects covered :p

[jeroeno]

This won't be my main focus this month but I still have a couple of seasons of Monty Python's Flying Circus as well as some other backlog and for some reason I've been thinking about rewatching the Harry Potter movies this last month so I might do that.

[peeptoad]

In. I'm going to try to knock off a few more Hammer films...

[peeptoad]

So what kind of fun stats would you guys want ? A decade/year breakdown? A list of all the films watched? A director count?

decade/year, director, genre, ... country? maybe

[3eyes]

So what kind of fun stats would you guys want ? A decade/year breakdown? A list of all the films watched? A director count?

decade/year, director, genre, ... country? maybe

region (England, Scotland, Wales, N Ireland, Eire)? I guess that would lay it on us to distinguish, though, as IMDb sure doesn't.

In, goody goody.

Oh, and clemmetary, you seem to have duplicated the results of the 2013 challenge for 2012.

[clemmetarey]

Thanks 3eyes.

If participants includes the country or region I can keep track of that.

[hurluberlu]

I have Brexit on my watchlist

[peeptoad]

So what kind of fun stats would you guys want ? A decade/year breakdown? A list of all the films watched? A director count?

decade/year, director, genre, ... country? maybe

region (England, Scotland, Wales, N Ireland, Eire)? I guess that would lay it on us to distinguish, though, as IMDb sure doesn't.

In, goody goody.

Oh, and clemmetary, you seem to have duplicated the results of the 2013 challenge for 2012.

Ah, good point. I didn't realize there wasn't a distinction on IMDB. Ok, scrap that one.

[RogerTheMovieManiac88]

I've been eagerly anticipating this challenge for months! I'll certainly try to watch a number of British films but I'm going to attempt to focus primarily on Irish cinema. Happily I've got quite a few intriguing efforts recorded from TV and some others stashed away on DVD, so I'll have plenty to dip into and savour throughout the month.

Thanks for hosting, clemmetarey. Really looking forward to my August!

[3eyes]

I've been eagerly anticipating this challenge for months! I'll certainly try to watch a number of British films but I'm going to attempt to focus primarily on Irish cinema. Happily I've got quite a few intriguing efforts recorded from TV and some others stashed away on DVD, so I'll have plenty to dip into and savour throughout the month.

Thanks for hosting, clemmetarey. Really looking forward to my August!

Not Irish cinema and doesn't count for challenge, but worth checking out:
(Mein Leben für Irland)

Nazi film about the evil British.

[RogerTheMovieManiac88]

Thanks for that suggestion, 3eyes. Yes, that propagandising film has been on my horizon for a number of years. I first learnt of it by watching rather an interesting RTÉ documentary series hosted by the wonderful Cathal O'Shannon about those with Nazi links who ended up in Ireland after the war. I really should get to it some time soon! I am intrigued by Nazi-era cinema.

[maxwelldeux]

Thanks for that suggestion, 3eyes. Yes, that propagandising film has been on my horizon for a number of years. I first learnt of it by watching rather an interesting RTÉ documentary series hosted by the wonderful Cathal O'Shannon about those with Nazi links who ended up in Ireland after the war. I really should get to it some time soon! I am intrigued by Nazi-era cinema.

Rumor has it there's another challenge next month that this film would qualify for...

[RogerTheMovieManiac88]

Thanks for that suggestion, 3eyes. Yes, that propagandising film has been on my horizon for a number of years. I first learnt of it by watching rather an interesting RTÉ documentary series hosted by the wonderful Cathal O'Shannon about those with Nazi links who ended up in Ireland after the war. I really should get to it some time soon! I am intrigued by Nazi-era cinema.

Rumor has it there's another challenge next month that this film would qualify for...

Clicking onto the film's page, I see that it sports a current IMDb rating of 5.0. Don't even need to wait until next month, haahaa...

[flavo5000]

I may try to finish those two British official lists (I'm 21 away from 100 Best and 10 away from BFI so shouldn't be too hard).

Also, here's a decent Best Irish Films list you could add to the OP since the only Irish-specific list represented up there is the obscure UNESCO stuff: https://www.independent.ie/entertainmen ... 64107.html

[VincentPrice]

In

[clemmetarey]

I'll be keeping track on all the films watched for this challenge.

Happy august everyone!

[sol]

It starts! First in.

1. Yesterday (2019)



A whimsical comedy from Richard Curtis and Danny Boyle with a cute idea with lots of fun to be had in his song covers and some of the baffled reactions to lyrics that he cannot explain. Himesh Patel makes for an appealing lead too and there are some fun supporting turns from Kate McKinnon and an unrecognisable Robert Carlyle. The film only has the most obvious of messages though and a pretty dry romance. The story's internal logic did not really work for me either, with a lot of other iconic things other than The Beatles disappearing simply for the sake of a few cheap laughs here and there.

[vortexsurfer]

in

1. Distant Voices, Still Lives (Terence Davies, 1988)

[Traveller]

01. Oliver! (1968) - 4/10

Do you want/need the director(s) included somehow in the listing?

[Coryn]

1. The Bridge on the River Kwai (David Lean, 1957)

[clemmetarey]

Do you want/need the director(s) included somehow in the listing?

That would be appreciated yes, thank you for suggesting it. I added a line in the op.

[albajos]

01. Carry on Cruising (1962) Gerald Thomas, UK 170 checks [triple]
02. Carry on Cabby (1963) Gerald Thomas, UK 153 checks [triple]
03. Carry On Jack (1964) Gerald Thomas, UK 138 checks [triple]


!seen 3

[frbrown]

1. The Intimate Stranger (1956, Joseph Losey)

[3eyes]

1. Operation Oman (UK 14, Tristan Ofield) - [double]

2014 British documentary on the Dhofar war in the 70s. Only had it in my queue because of my son's Oman connection - I could have done with less of old geezers doing a play by play account of every battle.
My son's comment: Was very telling, how self absorbed their view of the whole thing was. I’m sure they all knew plenty of Baloch soldiers.




btw Clem, that link on post #20 about keeping track of movies tells me Access denied (403).

[maxwelldeux]

1. Get Carter (1971, Mike Hodges)
The overall plot didn't do a lot for me, but the editing and tension-build did. This was great - I felt the build in the film up to a pretty damning climax. I found myself glued to the screen and interested in the camera work in a way I rarely am. All in all, this was a pretty enjoyable experience.

[clemmetarey]

btw Clem, that link on post #20 about keeping track of movies tells me Access denied (403).

That's because it is set to be seen by friends only, I sent you a friend request.

Also next time could you please include the name of the director to your viewings?

[peeptoad]

1. Sid & Nancy (1986, Alex Cox) 8*

*rewatch

[3eyes]

btw Clem, that link on post #20 about keeping track of movies tells me Access denied (403).

That's because it is set to be seen by friends only, I sent you a friend request.

Also next time could you please include the name of the director to your viewings?

I misunderstood about the link, thought it meant all films seen by us, not you.

As for including director: well, I'll try but it's an extra step for me.

[AB537]

This will be my primary focus for August. Lots of great British content to watch or re watch.

1. A Bridge Too Far (Richard Attenborough, 1977) 7/10

[Traveller]

02. Howards End (1992, James Ivory) - 6/10
03. My Left Foot: The Story of Christy Brown (1989, Jim Sheridan) - 7/10

[jeroeno]

01. The Elusive Pimpernel (Powell & Pressburger, 1950)

[albajos]

04. Supervized (2019) Steve Barron, Ireland | UK 2 checks [double]
05. Follow That Camel (1967) Gerald Thomas, UK 136 checks [triple]
06. Carry on Loving (1970) Gerald Thomas, UK 131 checks [triple]
07. Carry on Henry (1971) Gerald Thomas, UK 171 checks [triple]
08. Carry on Girls (1973) Gerald Thomas, UK 147 checks [triple]
09. Sing As We Go! (1934) Basil Dean, UK 3 official lists 50 checks [double]
10. 9 Songs (2004) Michael Winterbottom, UK 2 official lists 1 502 checks [double]

Bargain bin at PoundlandShow

01. Carry on Cruising (1962) Gerald Thomas, UK 170 checks [triple]
02. Carry on Cabby (1963) Gerald Thomas, UK 153 checks [triple]
03. Carry On Jack (1964) Gerald Thomas, UK 138 checks [triple]

!seen 10

[Coryn]

2. Rebecca (1940)

[peeptoad]

2. In Bruges (2008, Martin McDonagh) 8

oi!Show

1. Sid & Nancy (1986, Alex Cox) 8*

*rewatch

[sol]

For England, James?Show

1. Yesterday (2019, Danny Boyle)

2. Exam (2009, Stuart Hazeldine)



A mystery thriller that has been aptly compared to Cube. While it is highly questionable whether a company would really go to such extremes to hire a candidate, Exam is fascinating to watch throughout as the characters switch between cooperating and trying to undermine one another, with the overall film presenting a fascinating look at human beings struggling under pressure. The performances vary, but every character is interesting here.

[3eyes]

2-5. The way we live now (UK 01, mini, 4 eps, David Yates) - triple

David Suchet, whom I'd only seen as Poirot, is a revelation as Trollope's swindler (anticipating current POTUS).