UK & Ireland Challenge (Official, September 2023)

[DudeLanez]

1. I Know Where I'm Going! (1945, Powell/Pressburger) 5,5/10 #England
2. Bleak Moments (1971, Mike Leigh) 6,5/10 #England
3. Ray & Liz (2018, Richard Billingham) 6/10 #England

[AB537]

4. Last Resort (Pawel Pawlikowski, 2000) 6.5/10 ... #England

[blocho]

3. The Snorkel (1958)
A solid britnoir with a scintillating opening scene and a delightful ending (though the final 30 seconds are a cop out). Everything in between is a bit rote.

I don't think I can put this in the bonus challenge because the entire movie is set in Italy and France.

4. Get Duked! (2019) #Scotland
A horror comedy with some old fogies stalking teens across the Scottish highlands, including a stoner subplot, a hip hop subplot, and some local Keystone Cops. It’s hit or miss overall, but there are some decent laughs.

[RogerTheMovieManiac88]

3. The Snorkel (1958)
A solid britnoir with a scintillating opening scene and a delightful ending (though the final 30 seconds are a cop out). Everything in between is a bit rote.

I don't think I can put this in the bonus challenge because the entire movie is set in Italy and France.

I'll leave the bonus challenge up to individual discretion. Feel free to include this if you want, blocho.

I quite liked 'The Snorkel'. An elaborate and twisted plan; one I wouldn't mind seeing again.

This piece of trivia from Wiki made me chuckle:
Of star Peter van Eyck, (director Guy) Green said that "he had to do a lot of difficult swimming and, one day after spending most of the morning manfully keeping up with a motorboat from which he was being photographed, Peter said, 'You never asked me if I could swim before giving me the part.' It was true. I didn't."

[sol]

Overall Leaderboard:


1. frwnk - 10 points
2. Mario Gaborović - 6 points
3. AB537 - 4 points
3. blocho - 4 points
4. DudeLanez - 3 points
4. sol - 3 points
5. AssonFire - 2 points
5. peeptoad - 2 points
5. pitchorneirda - 2 points
5. silga - 2 points
6. Lonewolf2003 - 1 point

Thanks for keeping the leaderboard up-to-date, Roger, but can you please change the formatting?

The convention in the Official Challenges when two scores are tied is to skip the next number, i.e. since two participants are ranked third, there is no fourth spot, and Dude and myself would then be ranked equal fifth. This sort of numbered listing is what gunnar will need when updating the overall challenge leaderboard at the end of the month.

In case you're unsure, this is how I think the leaderboard should look instead at the moment:

Spoiler

1. frwnk - 10 points
2. Mario Gaborović - 6 points
3. AB537 - 4 points
3. blocho - 4 points
5. DudeLanez - 3 points
5. sol - 3 points
7. AssonFire - 2 points
7. peeptoad - 2 points
7. pitchorneirda - 2 points
7. silga - 2 points
11. Lonewolf2003 - 1 point

Hope that helps. Thanks again for stepping up to host!

[RogerTheMovieManiac88]

I can bow to convention, sol. I just went with what made more sense to me, but I'm no mathematician. I'll format it the way you suggest when I update it next. Thanks for the suggestion/request.

[sol]

@Roger - no problem, glad to help. In other news:

Spoiler

1. The Man Who Haunted Himself (1970, Basil Dearden) UK #England REVISON
2. The Breadwinner (2017, Nora Twomey) IE #Ireland
3. My Old School (2022, Jono McLeod) UK #Scotland

4. The Souvenir: Part II (2021, Joanna Hogg) UK #England



This follows the first film's female protagonist as she tries to make a student film about her experiences in the earlier movie and the messy relationship that rocked her. It is an interesting idea, and like with the first film, the sequel is very strong when it is about the filmmaking process with Richard Ayoade terrific as a passionate young director waxing poetic about Scorsese and cut-outs (their above scene together is great). Also as with the earlier film though, the filmmaking aspect is never as prominent as it could have been and there are several lulls here as the protagonist goes through the stages of grief, etc.

[magnusbernhardsen]

1.The Angry Brigade: The Spectacular Rise and Fall of Britain's First Urban Guerilla Group (Carr, 1973) England

A fascinating subject, a very tedious documentary. It felt much longer than it is. Of cinephile interest: The script writer Ronan Bennett plays a part in the story, as an OIRA/INLA man who got involved with English Anarchists.

[pitchorneirda]

Spoiler

1. A Taste of Honey (1961, Tony Richardson) - 6/10
2. A Hard Day's Night (1964, Richard Lester) - 3.5/10

3. Meantime (1983, Mike Leigh) - 4.5/10

4. The Secret of Kells (2009, Tomm Moore & Nora Twomey) - 5/10

[frwnk]

1. I Know Where I'm Going! (1945, Powell/Pressburger) 5,5/10 #England

First film in "The List Magazine's Best Scottish Films" list but I'm not sure if it's a Scottish film or English. Is there any solution to find where it belongs?

[vortexsurfer]

1. In the Earth (Ben Wheatley, 2021)
2. Chicken Run (Nick Park & Peter Lord, 2000)
3. In Bruges (Martin McDonagh, 2008)

[RogerTheMovieManiac88]

1. I Know Where I'm Going! (1945, Powell/Pressburger) 5,5/10 #England

First film in "The List Magazine's Best Scottish Films" list but I'm not sure if it's a Scottish film or English. Is there any solution to find where it belongs?

You can count if for either one, as far as I am concerned.

[blocho]

5. The Quiet Girl (2022) #Ireland
A young girl is sent to spend the summer with her mother’s cousin, her own family not having enough money and interest to care for her. Soon after her arrival, the cousin tells her that there are no secrets in her new home because there is no shame in the home. Of course, there is a secret. And when it’s eventually revealed an hour into the movie, it provides an explanation for a lot of subtle but puzzling details from earlier in the narrative. This is a movie designed for maximum romanticism and maximum sentiment. There are a lot of sun-dappled, slow-motion shots of the girl running, of people holding hands, even of tea being poured into a glass. I found this a bit much, but the movie overall worked very well for me. It won’t for everyone, though.

The score was great, incidentally.


6. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969) #Scotland
The movies love unconventional teachers, usually without understanding that most of these unconventional teachers are, at best, not good at teaching. Sometimes they’re terrible. Sometimes they’re harmful to their students. This movie’s great virtue is recognizing these unworthy traits in its titular character and developing her onscreen with unusual psychological depth. I’ve rarely seen a more strident cinematic condemnation not only of one particular teacher but also, by implication, of the entire concept of formal education.

[AB537]

5. The Hit (Stephen Frears, 1984) 8/10 ... #England
6. Censor (Prano Bailey-Bond, 2021) 6/10 ... #England
7-11. Gangs of London season 2 (Sky Atlantic/AMC, 2022, 8 episodes) 9/10 ... 58 minutes carried over ... #England

[maxwelldeux]

1. In the Blood (2014, UK)
Gina Carano is on her honeymoon and her fiance is kidnapped. So she punches all the people to save him. It was nice enough to watch Gina Carano punch the ever loving shit out of people, but aside from that, the film was kind of a mess. Nice scenery, though.

2. Age of Heroes (2011, UK)
Here, we have the founding story of special forces in the UK, ish. Ian Fleming (yes, that one) puts together a squad to go on a daring mission in WW2 to retrieve state-of-the-art radar equipment. Decent enough action-war film to pass the time.

[gunnar]

1 - Monsters (2010) - 7.5/10 - Gareth Edwards - Large tentacled alien creatures started appearing in Mexico six years before the film takes place after a NASA probe crash landed there. A large part of Mexico is now quarantined as a result. A journalist is sent by his boss to find the boss's daughter in Mexico and get her clear of the infected area and back to the United States. This is easier said than done, but they start out on their journey. This was a nice low budget sf film.

2 - The Descent (2005) - 7/10 - Neil Marshall - A group of friend go spelunking and end up in an unknown cave system and have to find a way out. However, there are predators deep in the caverns. I thought this was kind of slow to really get going. It got more interesting during the second half when they were finally exploring the caves and ran into trouble, but it was kind of boring before that during all the setup.

3 - Twins of Evil (1971) - 6.5/10 - John Hough - Peter Cushing plays a puritanical man who leads a group of men who seem to enjoy burning young women at the stake, proclaiming them evil. His identical twin nieces come to stay with him and one of them falls under the spell of the nearby Count Karnstein who is evil, but holds the emperor's protection. This was okay.

[sol]

Spoiler

1. The Man Who Haunted Himself (1970, Basil Dearden) UK #England REVISON
2. The Breadwinner (2017, Nora Twomey) IE #Ireland
3. My Old School (2022, Jono McLeod) UK #Scotland
4. The Souvenir: Part II (2021, Joanna Hogg) UK #England

5. The Secret of Kells (2009, Tomm Moore; Nora Twomey) IE #Ireland



This boasts some amazing animated backgrounds, mostly notably a series of mazes late into the piece and the walls of the monastery, which are covered in mathematical chalk sketches and diagrams. I thought that the human character designs were borderline terrible though with excessively large ears and exaggerated facial features. I also found the story to be rather generic as a boy defies the adults who have raised him to save the day. There is a bit more going on plot-wise, but eh. I liked the fairy though and wanted more Alice in Wonderland forest adventures in focus rather than the young monk's quest.

[pitchorneirda]

Spoiler

1. A Taste of Honey (1961, Tony Richardson) - 6/10
2. A Hard Day's Night (1964, Richard Lester) - 3.5/10
3. Meantime (1983, Mike Leigh) - 4.5/10
4. The Secret of Kells (2009, Tomm Moore & Nora Twomey) - 5/10

5. Withnail & I (1987, Bruce Robinson) - 4/10

6-7. TV Episodes, total runtime 183min
Doctor Who: Planet of the Dead (2009, James Strong) TV Episode, 59 min
Doctor Who: The Eleventh Hour (2010, Adam Smith) TV Episode, 65 min
Doctor Who: The Vampires of Venice (2010, Jonny Campbell) TV Episode, 49 min

[Silga]

3. One Chance (David Frankel, 2013) 6/10 - #England
4. Shaun of the Dead (Edgar Wright, 2004) 7/10 (rewatch) - #England

Spoiler

1. Pierrepoint: The Last Hangman (Adrian Shergold, 2005) 7/10 - #England
2. Quartet (Dustin Hoffman, 2012) 5/10 - #England
3. One Chance (David Frankel, 2013) 6/10 - #England
4. Shaun of the Dead (Edgar Wright, 2004) 7/10 (rewatch) - #England

[gunnar]

4 - Tales from the Crypt (1972) - 7/10 - Freddie Francis - Five strangers meet during a catacomb tour and end up in a chamber where the crypt keeper relates to them how each will die. These are all adaptations of stories from EC Comics that I've read and they do a decent job. My favorite was the first tale with Joan Collins.

5 - Theatre of Blood (1973) - 6/10 - Douglas Hickox - Vincent Price stars as a Shakespearean actor who is thought to be dead. He uses a number of disguises to get back at critics that he thinks wrongfully denied him a major award. The humor didn't totally work for me and the film ended up being only mildly interesting.

6 - Vampire Circus (1972) - 7/10 - Robert Young - Villagers kill a vampire count who had been killing residents, including children. Fifteen years later, his relatives arrive in the form of a circus to take their revenge and to terrorize the villagers anew. They also want to bring the count back. This was more entertaining than I expected.

7 - Asylum (1972) - 7.5/10 - Roy Ward Baker - A young doctor shows up at an asylum for a job interview. He is given the task of meeting four patients, listening to their stories, and determining which of the patients was the doctor that he is replacing (who went insane). This anthology then proceeds with the four stories followed by an epilogue. I liked it more than the Tales from the Crypt anthology.

8 - Deathdream / Dead of Night (1974) - 7/10 - Bob Clark - A soldier named Andy dies in Vietnam. His parents receive a visitor with the telegram informing them of his death, but later that night they awaken to an intruder only to find that Andy has returned home, seemingly unhurt. He is changed, though, and may be connected to a couple of murders. The lead actor was good and the story was okay.

9 - Dracula: Prince of Darkness (1966) - 6.5/10 - Terence Fisher - Dracula is reborn ten years after his destruction. The resurrection scene around the midpoint of the film was pretty well done and the half of the film after that was more interesting than what came before.

Spoiler

1 - Monsters (2010) - 7.5/10 - Gareth Edwards
2 - The Descent (2005) - 7/10 - Neil Marshall
3 - Twins of Evil (1971) - 6.5/10 - John Hough

[blocho]

7. School Life (2016) #Ireland
My mother saw this documentary yesterday and recommended it to me, so I looked up the IMDb page, and then said in shock, “Mr. Dix?!” Yes, indeed, this movie features Dermot Dix, who was my homeroom teacher throughout high school. A couple of years after I graduated, I heard that he moved to Ireland. And here he is in this movie as the headmaster of an Irish boarding school. Mr. Dix is not the focus, though, which is instead on an elderly couple who have taught at the school for 45 years. One of the peculiarities of this school is the youth of the student. The age range seems to be about 7-14. I kind of understand boarding school for high schoolers, but I’m completely baffled why parents send young kids away to school. It’s ungenerous of me, but I can’t help thinking those parents just don’t want to spend much time with their kids.

Because of the youth of the students and the boarding school setting, what we see often appears to be more of a mix of school and summer camp, with plenty of dorm life and extracurricular activities. I’ve repeatedly complained in this forum that school movies avoid scenes of actual teaching. And that’s kind of true here. Academic subjects are shunted aside in favor of the arts. When the students are in class, they’re usually not studying. I guess even documentarians don’t think a math or literature lesson can possibly hold the audience’s attention.

The two veteran teachers are entertaining and sometimes charming, but unfortunately I don’t think the movie is particularly well-made. The editing is haphazard, presenting scenes that feel random instead of building a clear narrative.

[RogerTheMovieManiac88]

'School Life' sounds interesting, blocho. Strangely I hadn't heard of it before. Headfort School in Meath (the next County over from my own Westmeath) is a very famous Irish school. It's a preparatory boarding school, with primary care and extra-curricular activities playing a big part in school life.

[RogerTheMovieManiac88]

6 - Vampire Circus (1972) - 7/10 - Robert Young - Villagers kill a vampire count who had been killing residents, including children. Fifteen years later, his relatives arrive in the form of a circus to take their revenge and to terrorize the villagers anew. They also want to bring the count back. This was more entertaining than I expected.

Agreed. Eerie and entertaining. I thought the unsettling mood was conveyed very well through imagery and colour. Glad that you liked it.

[sol]

Spoiler

1. The Man Who Haunted Himself (1970, Basil Dearden) UK #England REVISON
2. The Breadwinner (2017, Nora Twomey) IE #Ireland
3. My Old School (2022, Jono McLeod) UK #Scotland
4. The Souvenir: Part II (2021, Joanna Hogg) UK #England
5. The Secret of Kells (2009, Tomm Moore; Nora Twomey) IE #Ireland

6. The Survivalist (2015, Stephen Fingleton) UK #NothernIreland



Set in a future where global famine has killed off most of humanity, this drama follows a lone man surviving on a tiny farm. The film is dull to begin with as we follow him performing menial farming duties. Things get quite interesting though as a mother and daughter wander in and beg him for food and shelter, offering carnal knowledge. The mutual mistrust in this section is very dynamic as he initially seems overly paranoid for being suspicious of the mother and daughter's motives, before we discover in side scenes that, well, it's best left unspoiled. An okay film, but I would have preferred more thriller-like pacing.

[AB537]

12. Veronica Guerin (Joel Schumacher, 2003) 6.5/10 ... #Ireland

[jdidaco]

Thank you for hosting, RogerTheNewbie ! You're doing great!

(...)
Hither-hence, my guest,
Blood and bone befriend, where you abide
Till withdrawn to share some timeless quest.
I am but the brain that dreamed and died.

(An excerpt from the poem "The Humbled Heart" by Siegfried Sassoon, the subject of both Terence Davies's 'Benediction' and Jack Gold's earlier 'Mad Jack')



1. Mad Jack (Jack Gold, 1970) 9/10 (#England)
2. The National Health (Jack Gold, 1973) 8/10 (#England)
3. Moments (Peter Crane, 1974) 8/10 (#England)
4. Un nos ola' leuad/One Full Moon (Endaf Emlyn, 1991) 9/10 (#Wales)
5. Gadael Lenin/Leaving Lenin (Endaf Emlyn, 1993) 8/10 (#Wales)
6-7. Operavox (1995) : Carmen (Mario Cavalli) 7.5/10, The Magic Flute (Valeriy Ugarov) 9/10, Rhinegold (Graham Ralph) 7.5/10, Rigoletto (Barry Purves) 10/10 (RV), The Barber of Seville (Nataliya Dabizha) 9.5/10, Turandot (Gary Hurst) 8/0 (Total: 183 min) (23 minutes carried below) (#Wales)
8. Akram Khan's Giselle (Akram Khan & Ross MacGibbon, 2018) 10/10 (#England)
9. Benediction (Terence Davies, 2021) 8/10 (#England)

A collection of shorts,

10-12. (23 min), The Visit (Jack Gold, 1959) 7.5/10 (35 min), Stranger in the City (Robert Hartford-Davis, 1961) 7.5/10 (22 min), The Six-Sided Triangle (Christopher Miles, 1963) 7.5/10 (30 min), Stop Laughing, This Is England (Douglas Hickox, 1963) 7.5/10 (20 min), Simon Simon (Graham Stark, 1970) 8/10 (30 min), Hofesh Shechter's Clowns (Hofesh Shechter, 2018) 10/10 (28 min) (Total: 188 min) (8 min carried over) (6x#England)

Two of the greatest pieces of dance on film in contemporary media, Akram Khan reinventing The Willis (from 'Giselle), for the English National Ballet, and the macabre engrenage from Hofesh Shechter's 'Clowns', in a commission for BBC,

[RogerTheMovieManiac88]

A collection of shorts,

10-12. (23 min), The Visit (Jack Gold, 1959) 7.5/10 (35 min), Stranger in the City (Robert Hartford-Davis, 1961) 7.5/10 (22 min), The Six-Sided Triangle (Christopher Miles, 1963) 7.5/10 (30 min), Stop Laughing, This Is England (Douglas Hickox, 1963) 7.5/10 (20 min), Simon Simon (Graham Stark, 1970) 8/10 (30 min), Hofesh Shechter's Clowns (Hofesh Shechter, 2018) 10/10 (28 min) (Total: 188 min) (8 min carried over) (6x#England)

Thanks jd. If it's OK I'll count the above collection of shorts as 3 points for England in the Bonus Challenge.

6-7. Operavox (1995) : Carmen (Mario Cavalli) 7.5/10, The Magic Flute (Valeriy Ugarov) 9/10, Rhinegold (Graham Ralph) 7.5/10, Rigoletto (Barry Purves) 10/10 (RV), The Barber of Seville (Nataliya Dabizha) 9.5/10, Turandot (Gary Hurst) 8/0 (Total: 183 min) (23 minutes carried below) (#Wales)

I take this to be 2 points for Wales? Hope this is correct.

[gunnar]

10 - The Plague of the Zombies (1966) - 7.5/10 - John Gilling - In 1860, an esteemed doctor travels to a small village in Cornwall with his daughter. his former student had written about some problems there. It turns out that a number of villagers have been dying recently due to a mysterious illness, but they are not staying dead. This had nice atmosphere, good acting, and was pretty entertaining.

11 - The Skull (1965) - 6/10 - Freddie Francis - Peter Cushing stars as a collector of occult items. He is offered the skull of the Marquis de Sade and becomes interested in it. The skull is possessed, though, and is a danger to its owner and those around it. Cushing isn't bad. The film itself is okay.

12 - The Devil Rides Out (1968) - 8/10 - Terence Fisher - Christopher Lee and friends battle a group of Satanists. I liked this one a lot.

Spoiler

1 - Monsters (2010) - 7.5/10 - Gareth Edwards
2 - The Descent (2005) - 7/10 - Neil Marshall
3 - Twins of Evil (1971) - 6.5/10 - John Hough
4 - Tales from the Crypt (1972) - 7/10 - Freddie Francis
5 - Theatre of Blood (1973) - 6/10 - Douglas Hickox
6 - Vampire Circus (1972) - 7/10 - Robert Young
7 - Asylum (1972) - 7.5/10 - Roy Ward Baker
8 - Deathdream / Dead of Night (1974) - 7/10 - Bob Clark
9 - Dracula: Prince of Darkness (1966) - 6.5/10 - Terence Fisher

[jdidaco]

A collection of shorts,

10-12. (23 min), The Visit (Jack Gold, 1959) 7.5/10 (35 min), Stranger in the City (Robert Hartford-Davis, 1961) 7.5/10 (22 min), The Six-Sided Triangle (Christopher Miles, 1963) 7.5/10 (30 min), Stop Laughing, This Is England (Douglas Hickox, 1963) 7.5/10 (20 min), Simon Simon (Graham Stark, 1970) 8/10 (30 min), Hofesh Shechter's Clowns (Hofesh Shechter, 2018) 10/10 (28 min) (Total: 188 min) (8 min carried over) (6x#England)

Thanks jd. If it's OK I'll count the above collection of shorts as 3 points for England in the Bonus Challenge.

6-7. Operavox (1995) : Carmen (Mario Cavalli) 7.5/10, The Magic Flute (Valeriy Ugarov) 9/10, Rhinegold (Graham Ralph) 7.5/10, Rigoletto (Barry Purves) 10/10 (RV), The Barber of Seville (Nataliya Dabizha) 9.5/10, Turandot (Gary Hurst) 8/0 (Total: 183 min) (23 minutes carried below) (#Wales)

I take this to be 2 points for Wales? Hope this is correct.

It's absolutely okay. You rule, I obey!

[pitchorneirda]

Spoiler

1. A Taste of Honey (1961, Tony Richardson) - 6/10
2. A Hard Day's Night (1964, Richard Lester) - 3.5/10
3. Meantime (1983, Mike Leigh) - 4.5/10
4. The Secret of Kells (2009, Tomm Moore & Nora Twomey) - 5/10
5. Withnail & I (1987, Bruce Robinson) - 4/10
6-7. TV Episodes, total runtime 183min
Doctor Who: Planet of the Dead (2009, James Strong) TV Episode, 59 min
Doctor Who: The Eleventh Hour (2010, Adam Smith) TV Episode, 65 min
Doctor Who: The Vampires of Venice (2010, Jonny Campbell) TV Episode, 49 min

8. Victim (1961, Basil Dearden) - 5/10
9. The Crying Game (1992, Neil Jordan) - 3/10

[OldAle1]

OK I'll play. Probably just a few, and probably mostly creaky early ones. We'll see.

1. The Green Cockatoo aka Four Dark Hours (William Cameron Menzies, 1937) #England

Looking at the list of people involved both behind (director Menzies, composer Miklós Rósza, writer Graham Greene) and in front of (John Mills, Robert Newton) the camera, one can be forgiven for hoping for something special, or at least significantly diverting. But this is a pretty early film in the careers of most of these luminaries - it's only the second feature, and first crime feature, based on a Greene story or scenario, and the fourth score for Rósza for example - and I guess they weren't all on their best games yet. It doesn't help that it was a fairly weak and low-res copy, diminishing some of the good night-time city streets and stairways that were undoubtedly influenced as much by the director (much better known as a production designer) as by others on his team - or that it's a fairly ordinary sort of wrongly-accused fugitive-on-the-run story. Rene Ray, for whom the word "winsome" could have been coined, is a young woman just come into London who literally sees a man who's just been stabbed (Newton) moments after she gets off the train, and, in trying to help him, is quickly accused of being the stabber, as she tries to find the brother (Mills) who the dying man sends her to. Much chasing, and a couple of decent fistfights result, but it's all pretty ordinary in the end.

2. The Open Road (Claude Friese-Greene, 1926) #England



Early color (the process named after it's inventor, the director's father) travelogue covering an automobile journey throughout Great Britain, covering spots like Blackpool, Cardiff (Wales), and several spots in Scotland, before heading to London. This was originally shown in 26 short parts in cinemas, I suppose along with other shorts, newsreels, etc, in front of features, and in 2005 edited into a short (65 m) feature by the BFI. While the color is reminiscent of 2-strip Technicolor or the later Cinecolor - it's limited in it's palette and heavily tilted to a salmon-pink and pale blue - it still does give these old scenes and people a bit more immediacy than b&w, and I liked the piano/violin score by Neil Brand and Günther Buchwald quite a bit. Though I've never been to the UK and likely never will have the chance, this had an odd sort of emotional effect on me in the end, like it was homey and personally relevant in some way - can't say why. In any case I ended up enjoying it quite a bit and it certainly seems to be a significant bit of British film history that anybody interested in that area should check out.

[AB537]

13. Small Axe: Mangrove (Steve McQueen, 2020) 8/10 ... #England ... very well done, covers some similar ground to Trial of the Chicago 7, made in the same year, but a far superior film

[sol]

Spoiler

1. The Man Who Haunted Himself (1970, Basil Dearden) UK #England REVISON
2. The Breadwinner (2017, Nora Twomey) IE #Ireland
3. My Old School (2022, Jono McLeod) UK #Scotland
4. The Souvenir: Part II (2021, Joanna Hogg) UK #England
5. The Secret of Kells (2009, Tomm Moore; Nora Twomey) IE #Ireland
6. The Survivalist (2015, Stephen Fingleton) UK #NothernIreland

7. Ask a Policeman (1939, Marcel Varnel) UK #England REVISON



Rewatched after more than a decade, this still stacks up as one of Hay's finest ventures. Beyond the hilarious verbal exchanges and perfect comic timing of Hay and co-stars Graham Moffatt and Moore Marriott, the film offers interesting food for thought with its central dynamic as the lack of crime in their area is held against the policemen, and yet surely having tons of arrests and fines would be worse? The film mounts some great horror-like moments involving a headless horseman too. His flaming carriage that is a sight to see, plus there are a whole bunch of eerie night-time chase sequences shot in low lighting.

[pitchorneirda]

Spoiler

1. A Taste of Honey (1961, Tony Richardson) - 6/10
2. A Hard Day's Night (1964, Richard Lester) - 3.5/10
3. Meantime (1983, Mike Leigh) - 4.5/10
4. The Secret of Kells (2009, Tomm Moore & Nora Twomey) - 5/10
5. Withnail & I (1987, Bruce Robinson) - 4/10
6-7. TV Episodes, total runtime 183min
Doctor Who: Planet of the Dead (2009, James Strong) TV Episode, 59 min
Doctor Who: The Eleventh Hour (2010, Adam Smith) TV Episode, 65 min
Doctor Who: The Vampires of Venice (2010, Jonny Campbell) TV Episode, 49 min
8. Victim (1961, Basil Dearden) - 5/10
9. The Crying Game (1992, Neil Jordan) - 3/10

10. The 39 Steps (1935, Alfred Hitchcock) - 3/10

11. Chicken Run (2000, Nick Park & Peter Lord) - 5.5/10

[blocho]

A bad cops double feature. Of the two, I think Filth is a little closer to the mark in term of cop behavior, at least as far I know it. I don’t know much about 5-0 in the UK, but as a friend of mine once said, cops are cops the whole world over.

8. The Sweeney (2012) #England
Pure copaganda. A good movie for people who think that cops should be more violent, treat people with less respect, brutalize more suspects, trample more rights, break more laws, and break those laws more egregiously. For all that, this becomes an effective action thriller by the second half, especially during a lengthy post-robbery street shootout scene clearly based on the one in Heat.

9. Filth (2013) #Scotland
Not a single bit of my six months living in Edinburgh back in 2005 included any of the depravity seen here, though I’m guessing that speaks more to the limitations of my own experience than any shortcomings in this movie’s authenticity. It’s based on a novel by Irvine Welsh, the man who also wrote the source novel for Trainspotting, and it’s easy to see the similarities between this movie and that: foul-mouthed Scots wandering about Edinburgh getting up to endless no good and fueled by abundant quantities of drugs. And like Trainspotting, Filth is funny and horrifying in equal measure. If the story eventually spins out of control, the overall result is still an exciting, compelling movie.

I should mention, as an aside, that it’s certainly a pleasure to see places I recognize from my own days in Edinburgh, both in this movie and in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, which I watched a few days ago.

[sol]

Spoiler

1. The Man Who Haunted Himself (1970, Basil Dearden) UK #England REVISON
2. The Breadwinner (2017, Nora Twomey) IE #Ireland
3. My Old School (2022, Jono McLeod) UK #Scotland
4. The Souvenir: Part II (2021, Joanna Hogg) UK #England
5. The Secret of Kells (2009, Tomm Moore; Nora Twomey) IE #Ireland
6. The Survivalist (2015, Stephen Fingleton) UK #NothernIreland
7. Ask a Policeman (1939, Marcel Varnel) UK #England REVISON

8. Only Two Can Play (1962, Sidney Gilliat) UK #Wales REVISON



Unappreciative of his loyal wife and doting daughter, a librarian tries to find a mistress in this Welsh comedy starring Peter Sellers. Revisited after more than fifteen years, the film feels icky in post-#MeToo times, especially with so much time spent on Sellers and a colleague ogling and commenting on female library patrons. The second half of the film gets decidedly more interesting though as Sellers settles on an extramarital partner, only to have his attempts to consummate the affair constantly interrupted. All of the nervousness that surfaces in the second half is great, including disapproving paintings.

[sol]

Spoiler

1. The Man Who Haunted Himself (1970, Basil Dearden) UK #England REVISON
2. The Breadwinner (2017, Nora Twomey) IE #Ireland
3. My Old School (2022, Jono McLeod) UK #Scotland
4. The Souvenir: Part II (2021, Joanna Hogg) UK #England
5. The Secret of Kells (2009, Tomm Moore; Nora Twomey) IE #Ireland
6. The Survivalist (2015, Stephen Fingleton) UK #NothernIreland
7. Ask a Policeman (1939, Marcel Varnel) UK #England REVISON
8. Only Two Can Play (1962, Sidney Gilliat) UK #Wales REVISON

9. My Father’s Dragon (2022, Nora Twomey) IE #Ireland



This boasts better human character designs than Twomey's previous two features and the story is engaging at first as a boy and his mother and forced to relocate and make do despite being penniless and out of work. His optimism is amazing, managing to sell rubber bands on the street and coming up against rough street performer kids who dislike him selling on their turf. All of this compelling gritty realism completely dries up though once the dragon angle begins and while the dragon itself is spunky, the quest they go on together feels decidedly second-rate with unexciting creatures and typical bonding. Eh.

[magnusbernhardsen]

2. Behind the Rage: America’s Domestic Violence (Khan, 2022)

Deeyah Khan escaped to London from Norway after raising the issues of honour culture etc in the Pakistani-Norwegian community. She has established herself as a very competent documentary film maker. This is her most recent one, where she talks to American men who have beaten or even killed women in their lives. It is well-made, and it is interesting to listen to these men coming to grips with what they have done, and why they did it.

3. The Browning Version (Asquith, 1951) #England

What a wonderful surprise this was. I really liked this story about the school master who has resigned to the fact that nobody really likes him, living in a dead marriage, squeezed out of his job. Then he is shown one act of kindness.

4. The Devils (Russell, 1971) #England

I loved this one, a quite bonkers retelling of the Loudun Possessions and the witch trial of Urbain Gradiner. A bit too heavy on the nunsploitation, perhaps, but I really enjoyed it. Great production design and crowd scenes.

Shorts: 7/80
a. The Airship Destroyer (Booth, 1909) #England
Very interesting imagined future of war. Partially animated.

Spoiler

1.The Angry Brigade: The Spectacular Rise and Fall of Britain's First Urban Guerilla Group (Carr, 1973) England
2. Behind the Rage: America’s Domestic Violence (Khan, 2022)
3. The Browning Version (Asquith, 1951) #England
4. The Devils (Russell, 1971) #England

Shorts: 7/80
a. The Airship Destroyer (Booth, 1909) #England
Very interesting imagined future of war. Partially animated.

[frwnk]

11. The Last King of Scotland (2006) - #Scotland
12. In Which We Serve (1942) - #England
13. Man on Wire (2008) - #England
14. The Ladykillers (1955) - #England
15. Local Hero (1980) - #Scotland
16. My Way Home (1978) - #Scotland
17. I Know Where I'm Going! (1945) - #Scotland
18. Dead Man's Shoes (2004) - #England
19. In the Loop (2009) - #England
20. Summerland (2020) - #England
21. Boiling Point (2021) - #England
22. Help (2021) - #England
23. Tyrannosaur (2011) - #England
24. Limbo (2020) - #Scotland

[RogerTheMovieManiac88]

Week 1 Summary:

17 contestants have combined for 119 points in total. frwnk leads with 24 points, followed by AB537 on 13 points, and hot on AB's heels are regular big-hitters gunnar & jdidaco on 12 points apiece.

Bonus-wise, 10/17 participants have logged a viewing from England, 4/17 for Ireland, 3/17 for Scotland, 2/17 for Wales, and sol has logged the sole bonus challenge point for Northern Ireland thus far.

frwnk leads for England and Scotland with 13 and 9 points respectively, sol leads for Ireland and NI with 3 and 1 point respectively, with jdidaco leading the pack for Wales with 4 points.

An interesting and fun opening week; thank you all for the participation, screenshots, reviews, ratings, etc.