The Mad Doc's Favorite British Movies

Having a very warped sense of humor myself, it stands to reason that I would gravitate to British films, dunnit? I love the subtlety of most of their movies (Although Clockwork Orange is on this list too, and it is anything but subtle.)

As always, I cannot get these into a proper ranking. They all rawk hard. I'll let them speak for themselves....

Relative Values ~ Based on Noel Coward's play, This is the story of an English family with high standing, and what happens when the heir to the estate brings a wild Hollywood starlet home to meet his Mom just prior to their wedding. The kicker is that this scandal is compounded by the fact that Mom's personal maid is this trollop's sister and they've not seen each other since a violent split 20 years prior. Hilarity ensues. Colin Firth, Sophie Thompson, Billy Baldwin, and Julie Andrews get wonderfully snarky upside each other.

There are two Girl Guides in the shrubbery

Calendar Girls ~ Simply brilliant tale of aging women getting together to make a nude calendar to aid a local hospital. It's fun. It's poignant. It's well.... bloody brilliant! Helen Mirren, Julie Walters, Linda Bassett, and Annette Crosbie.

You're nude in The Telegraph, dear. Can you pass the bacon?

About a Boy ~ Hugh Grant plays a single playboy, Will, who lives on the royalties of a one-hit-wonder song his father wrote. He's quite happy being a shallow git and living for himself, until he hits on the idea to make-up a child and go to single parents meetings in order to seek out single females who may be in need of his temporary allure. heh. What I loved most about the scene with the meeting was one mother's t-shirt... it read: Lorena Bobbit for Surgeon General. Brilliant. Simply brilliant.

No. No, you're not a bad mother. You're just a barking lunatic.

The Full Monty ~ Mark Addy has become a favorite of mine since seeing him in A Knight's Tale. Here he is one of 6 steelworkers who find themselves out of a job and decide to become strippers. Hilarity happens.

Anti-wrinkle cream there may be, but anti-fat-bastard cream there is not.

Sense & Sensibility ~ Wonderful adaptation of of Jane Austen's most excellent novel. This comically romantic tale of two very different sisters and their predicament following the death of their father (which leaves them penniless) is just priceless. Kate Winslet, Tom Wilkinson, Emma Thompson, Hugh Grant, and Alan Rickman all give outstanding performances in this one.

And as for you, you have no right, no right at all, to parade your ignorant assumptions

Monty Python & The Holy Grail ~ Once in a lifetime a movie comes along that is unparalleled in it's genre. Monty Python and the Holy Grail is just such an endeavor. Nothing that came before it can hope to compare, nor anything since. This movie spurned sooo many catch phrases, phrases to which the mere allusion will bring folks to tears with laughter because of the images from the movie they invoke. Holy Grail is 91 minutes out of your life that you will never forget..or regret. Released in 1975, this is the comedy troupe's take on the story of King Arthur. You don't need to have seen Excalibur to get the humor, but it would probably help.

No, now go away before I taunt you a second time

Monty Python's Life of Brian ~ Once again we have the 6 warped troupers playing multiple roles. Timing is, as usual, spot-on perfect. This one has been lambasted in certain sectors for taking swipes at religion, but ignore that. Those folks are humorless and I pity them. Life of Brian is just that, the life of a poor chap name of Brian who has the luck to be born in the manger next door to Jesus on Christmas....yes, he is the one, the only, Brian of Nazareth.

How shall we fuck off, O Lord?

A Clockwork Orange ~ Being the adventures of a young man whose principal interests are rape, ultra-violence and Beethoven (imdb.com) This one is probably one of the best remembered works of director Stanley Kubrick. It is based on the book by Anthony Burgess, and it sent shock waves through the world. Once you read and/or see this one, you will never forget it, that's for sure. This movie was banned in many countries, and originally rated X in the US. After a bit of editing, the current version is now rated R. I read the book at age 13, and saw the movie when it came out at age 15 (pays to have friends working at theaters.. heh). I have not yet become a serial killer...

And the first thing that flashed into my gulliver was that I'd like to have her right down there on the floor with the old in-out, real savage.

A Man for All Seasons ~ I had to put a real classic in here, right? This one is the story of Thomas More during the time of King Henry VIII. Consummate performance by Paul Scofield as More. Also look for Orson Wells as Cardinal Wolsey. Outstanding costuming in this film.

They'll think that somewhere along your pedigree a bitch got over the wall

28 Days Later ~ It's hard to find a good horror flick these days. I think part of the problem lies in the film maker's concentration on special effects. Not so with Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later. This is pure story with little special effects. This is a pseudo-zombie flick done right. Where this succeeds is that it concentrates on the fear and horror of the situation rather than on trying to top the latest FX masterpiece. It tells it's story pretty straight forward and relies on us to use our imagination, to put ourselves in the same situation mentally. I wish more films would trust us enough to do this.

The end is extremely fucking nigh

~~~~~~~~ Honorable Mentions ~~~~~~~~~

The Madness of King George
Greenfingers
Elizabeth
Henry V
Snatch
Notting Hill
Shakespeare in Love
The Ladykillers (original)
The Wicker Man
East Is East
Love Actually
4 Weddings & A Funeral
Shaun of the Dead

(This was first posted at epinions.com under my pseudonym: DrDevience)