Favorite Movies Set In The United Kingdom

Tomorrow my family is going on a ten day trip to London and Ireland, so I will not be posting during that time. Before I go, however, I thought I'd write about my favorite movies set in the United Kingdom.

CHARIOTS OF FIRE (1981)
Casablanca is my favorite movie and Chariots of Fire is my second favorite. It is the story of the British running team that competed in the 1924 Olympics. The story focuses mainly on two of the runners: Harold Abrahams, played by Ben Cross, and Eric Liddell, played by Ian Charleson. Abrahams, a Jew, is the victim of racism and doubt. He runs with a fierce determination to prove all his naysayers wrong. Liddell is a devout Christian who is torn between his passion for running and his devotion to God. His character is summed up in one of the greatest cinematic quotes of all time: "I believe God made me for a purpose. But He also made me fast. And when I run I feel His pleasure." Though I am not a runner and I know very little about the world of running Chariots of Fire never ceases to move me. It has profound themes of faith, duty to one's country, determination and acceptance.

 

MICHAEL COLLINS (1996)

This movie is the real-life story of Michael Collins, the man largely responsible for establishing the Irish Free State in the 1920s. Liam Neeson plays Collins in one of the greatest performances of his career. Collins was a mighty leader. I saw this movie for the first time tonight and I loved it. According to the historian who lives in my house the film is almost exactly historically accurate. The film also stars Alan Rickman as Eamon De Velara. The only weak link in the movie is Julia Roberts who is terribly miscast as part of the love triangle that included Collins and his best friend Harry Boland. Her accent is just awful. There are many actresses that could have played the part beautifully. Other than that, Michael Collins is a powerful film.

SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE (1998)

Shakespeare In Love is a fictional story about how William Shakespeare wrote Romeo and Juliet. The film stars Joseph Fiennes as Shakespeare and Gwyneth Paltrow as Viola, the young woman who pretends to be a man so she can be an actor. I'd say that Shakespeare in Love is part drama, part romantic comedy. The writing is so witty and the drama feels very real. The film is also about the beginning of show business and it makes fun of all the cliches of the biz. The movie won a whopping 7 Academy Awards.

THE DAMNED UNITED (2009)

The Damned United is the real-life story of Brian Clough, England's most famous football coach. (I'd call it soccer, but it just doesn't sound right.) Clough was the most successful football coach in history until he became the coach of Leeds United. He only lasted 44 days as coach of Leeds. Michael Sheen is one of my favorite actors and he captures the vanity and abrasive qualities of Clough, but also his gentler side and his insecurities. Before he became an actor, Sheen was on his way to becoming a professional football player and he gets to show off his skills in the movie. The film co-stars Timothy Spall as Peter Taylor, Clough's right-hand man. There aren't very many good movies about the football world, which is why The Damned United is such a gem. It's just an all-around great sports movie.

NOTTING HILL (1999)

My least favorite film genre is Romantic Comedy because there are SO many terrible rom-coms, but I just can't resist Notting Hill. It's a great movie about a normal owner of a bookstore who falls in love with a famous actress. Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant have great chemistry. A staple of romantic comedies is the group of quirky, strange friends and family members of the lead characters. I usually find these characters really annoying, but Will's circle of friends strike a nice balance between weird and loveable.

MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL (1975)

I love all the Monty Python movies, but The Holy Grail is by far my favorite. It's just downright hilarious and it's a wonderfully quotable movie. Whenever I need a good laugh I watch The Holy Grail. My favorite scene is the Holy Hand Grenade scene. "Though shalt count to three. No more. No less... Four thou shalt not count, neither count thy two, excepting that thou proceed to three. Five is right out."

FINDING NEVERLAND (2004)

Finding Neverland is the true story of J.M. Barrie and the family that inspired him to write Peter Pan. The film stars Johnny Depp in his greatest role, in my opinion. Kate Winslet plays the widowed mother of four boys. To put it simply, this movie is amazing. It is just beautiful. Of course Depp and Winslet are wonderful, but the kids who play the boys are fantastic as well. The boy who becomes closest to Barrie is Peter, played by Freddie Highmore. Highmore delivers a powerful, heart-breaking, and inspiring performance. The film also stars Dustin Hoffman as the owner of the theater that puts on Barrie's plays. The movie nabbed an Oscar nomination for Best Picture which is unusual for a movie rated PG.

And there you have it. A few of my favorite movies about the U.K.

Let me know your favorites in the comments :)

Snow White vs. Snow White

In Hollywood right now there are currently two different movies based on the story of Snow White in production.

Over the past few months I have been obsessively following this story and I can't get enough of it. It's just too good to be true: Two films based on the same story, each with talented casts, that are being released within less than 3 months of each other. It's like a more interesting, more sophisticated and more high-stakes celebrity feud.

First, here are the fast facts:

Snow White #1

Title:

Snow White and the Huntsman

Cast:

Snow White - Kristen Stewart

The Huntsman - Chris Hemsworth

Evil Queen - Charlize Theron

Production Company:

Universal Pictures

Release Date: 

June 1, 2012

IMDb Synopsis:

In a twist to the fairy tale, the Huntsman, ordered to take Snow White into the woods to be killed, winds up becoming her mentor and protector in a quest to vanquish the Evil Queen.

Snow White #2

Title:

The Brothers Grimm: Snow White

Cast:

Snow White - Lily Collins

Prince Andrew Alcott - Armie Hammer

Evil Queen - Julia Roberts

Production Company:

Relativity Media

Release Date:

March 16, 2012

IMDb Synopsis:

A dark twist on the classic fairy tale, in which Snow White and the seven dwarfs look to reclaim their destroyed kingdom.

Let's compare, shall we?

The Snow Whites:

Clearly the people behind Snow White and the Huntsman are going for an epic, Lord of the Rings feel, which is fine except that Snow White's armor looks almost exactly like the Gondorian armor from Rings. The tree on Snow White's shield is dangerously close to the Tree of Gondor design. The notion that imitation is a form of flattery does not apply to film-making in my opinion. It just comes across as sloppy and unoriginal. Anyway, that's not what I'm here to talk about.

 

Even when I was young I was never a fan of the Disney princess movies. I don't like damsel-in-distress stories, so I like that this Snow White is going to be a tough warrior princess. You would think that after the Twilight films no casting director in their right mind would cast Kristen Stewart as a princess, however, after seeing the direction this film is going to take, I like the idea. Stewart does romantic and happy quite terribly, but intense and serious quite well. However, there is more danger of being called a copy-cat because Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland did essentially the same thing: turning a classic storybook girl into a warrior. See the similarities?

The Brothers Grimm: Snow White is also being marketed as a "modern" and "dark" interpretation, however, the picture of Lily Collins as Snow White does not look very dark. She looks a bit like a porcelain doll. This is the first film in an intended series of films called The Brothers Grimm, so this movie has the difficult task of setting the tone for the rest of the series.

I actually really like all the color in this photo. Lily Collins is the daughter of singer Phil Collins and she has just burst onto the scene. Her breakout role was playing Collins Tuohy is The Blind Side. That role didn't give her much to work with so I have no idea how good of an actress she is.

The Love Interests

I fell pretty hard for Chris Hemsworth when he played George Kirk in Star Trek. It is so hard to find an actor who can be an action star, but can also play the intimate, emotional moments. With most action movies I feel like the star is usually one or the other, rarely both. That being said, I have full confidence that Hemsworth can be both. Come on, who didn't cry at his performance is Star Trek? And though I haven't seen Thor, he received rave reviews, so he's got the action part covered. So let's go down our checklist: Overwhelmingly handsome. Check. Acting ability. Check. Action star status. Check. Scruffy action hero beard. Check. Stoic, brooding facial expression. Check.

  

Playing the love interest in The Brothers Grimm: Snow White is Armie Hammer. Armie Hammer is another new face. He recently played Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss in The Social Network. According to Entertainment Weekly, the prince in this film is caught in a love triangle between Snow White and her evil step-mother. (That cannot be very good for their mother-daughter relationship.) Unlike Chris Hemsworth, Hammer has yet to be tested as an action star, however, I'm not sure how much action there will be in this film. I'm sure he will brandish a sword and ride a horse, but this film seems like it will be much less of an action movie than Snow White and the Huntsman. The picture of Lily Collins in The Bros Grimm is the only promo pic out right now, so we don't have a look at what the other characters will look like, but of course Armie Hammer will look the part once he's in costume.

The Evil Queens

And of course, you can't have a modern fantasy film without a sexy, evil villain. I am not a huge fan of Charlize Theron. My favorite movie that she's in is The Cider House Rules and even in that, she's not the stand-out actor. I don't really have much to say about her except that her costume is pretty amazing. Of the two Evil Queens, I think she definitely has the upper hand. Julia Roberts does not do sexy very well these days, but I think she could be great if she chooses to be passive-aggressive evil.

Neither of these films are on my list of highly-anticipated films of 2012, but I'm still looking forward to them. Who knows if either of them will be very good? In this year alone, there have been two films based on fairy tales that were both critical and box office disasters. The first was Red Riding Hood and the second was Beastly, which was based on Beauty and the Beast.

Whether the movies sink or swim, I will definitely be following this story to the end.

Favorite Movie Scores: "Charlie Wilson"

As I've said before, I LOVE movie scores. Currently, my iPod playlist titled Movie Scores has 512 songs, but it is constantly growing.

Music is an integral part of a film. Without music, a film feels incomplete. A piece of music can completely change the way a scene plays. The best movie scores are ones that don't force you to feel emotion. The movie's score should enhance the already existing emotion.

Because I love movie music so much, I've decided to regularly highlight a favorite piece of music. This probably won't be daily thing like my Fun Film Facts, but I'm going to do it as often as possible.

First up, the main theme from Charlie Wilson's War (2007) called "Charlie Wilson." If you haven't seen Charlie Wilson's War, here's a brief description. It's based on the true story of Charlie Wilson, a partying, womanizing, Texas congressman, who was the main driving force behind the covert war that helped the rebels in Afghanistan beat the Soviets in the 80s. The film's tagline reads "When the world wasn't looking, he changed it forever." Tom Hanks plays Wilson and Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams, and Julia Roberts costar. It's directed by Mike Nichols (The Graduate, Catch 22) and the script is written by Aaron Sorkin.

I really love this piece of music because it encompasses all the aspects of Charlie Wilson's character. It starts out sounding Middle Eastern and then shifts into that twangy electric guitar riff that sounds very Texan. At 1:15 it moves into a soft melody played by a solo instrument. That melody is then picked up by a number of violins. This change from a solitary instrument to many instruments symbolizes how Charlie's covert war started as just himself and an idea and then grew into this enormous historical moment. I find the violins incredibly beautiful. As this series of posts continues you'll find that I tend to enjoy pieces of score that heavily feature strings as opposed to other instruments.

If you haven't seen Charlie Wilson's War check out the trailer.

The movie is very relevant these days because of the War on Terror. There's a quote from Charlie Wilson in the movie that goes: "These things happened. They were glorious and they changed the world... and then we fucked up the endgame." It means that we helped Afghanistan drive out the Soviets and then we stopped caring about them and look what happened...