More than 13 years after government minister Jeremy Hunt stood up in Parliament to announce the abolition of the UK Film Council (UKFC), the body held its first reunion.
Around 80 former staff members – who worked for the organisation at some point over its existence from creation by Tony Blair’s Labour government in 2000 to final unwinding in 2011 – came together at London’s Century Club on Wednesday evening (January 31).
A speech from John Woodward – who served as UKFC chief executive throughout its existence – gave the event its focal point. While wishing to avoid “nostalgia”, which he defined as a classical Greek word...
Around 80 former staff members – who worked for the organisation at some point over its existence from creation by Tony Blair’s Labour government in 2000 to final unwinding in 2011 – came together at London’s Century Club on Wednesday evening (January 31).
A speech from John Woodward – who served as UKFC chief executive throughout its existence – gave the event its focal point. While wishing to avoid “nostalgia”, which he defined as a classical Greek word...
- 2/2/2024
- ScreenDaily
Mark Kermode has struck again – he’s torn a film to shreds so much that people are now considering seeing it.
The film critic shared his review for new release Blackbird, which is a passion project by Lord of the Dance creator Michael Flatley.
Flatley writes, directs and stars in the film, which he has described as “a tribute to the golden age of cinema”. However, according to Kermode: “I think a session on the golden toilet of cinema is closer.”
The film, which Kermode called “mind-bendingly terrible”, follows a retired secret agent whose past comes back to haunt him after opening a nightclub in Barbados.
Reviews of the film have seen the film branded “fabulously bad” and “oddly entertaining” – but Kermode has gone out on a limb to call Blackbird “genuinely one of the worst films I have ever seen”, telling his followers: “As we all know, I’ve seen Oversexed Rugsuckers From Mars.
The film critic shared his review for new release Blackbird, which is a passion project by Lord of the Dance creator Michael Flatley.
Flatley writes, directs and stars in the film, which he has described as “a tribute to the golden age of cinema”. However, according to Kermode: “I think a session on the golden toilet of cinema is closer.”
The film, which Kermode called “mind-bendingly terrible”, follows a retired secret agent whose past comes back to haunt him after opening a nightclub in Barbados.
Reviews of the film have seen the film branded “fabulously bad” and “oddly entertaining” – but Kermode has gone out on a limb to call Blackbird “genuinely one of the worst films I have ever seen”, telling his followers: “As we all know, I’ve seen Oversexed Rugsuckers From Mars.
- 9/2/2022
- by Jacob Stolworthy
- The Independent - Film
Dan Cooper Oct 27, 2017
It's been a big year for British films, it seems. But just how British are they?
How indeed is the British film industry? Fire off this particular question into the vastness of cyberspace and you’d be forgiven for thinking that things have never been rosier. A great sprawl of articles tumble forth, spewing forth hugely impressive numbers, whilst also celebrating the talent of our actors and our crews. Unsurprisingly, the runaway success of franchises such as Bond, Harry Potter and Lord Of The Rings also dominate most search-engine results.
In a nutshell then, the British film industry is in a state of rude health and we should all congratulate ourselves by heading down to our local cinema to watch a British film, you know, to bask in that lovely glow of pride that naturally occurs when the place that you’re from becomes relatively good at something important.
It's been a big year for British films, it seems. But just how British are they?
How indeed is the British film industry? Fire off this particular question into the vastness of cyberspace and you’d be forgiven for thinking that things have never been rosier. A great sprawl of articles tumble forth, spewing forth hugely impressive numbers, whilst also celebrating the talent of our actors and our crews. Unsurprisingly, the runaway success of franchises such as Bond, Harry Potter and Lord Of The Rings also dominate most search-engine results.
In a nutshell then, the British film industry is in a state of rude health and we should all congratulate ourselves by heading down to our local cinema to watch a British film, you know, to bask in that lovely glow of pride that naturally occurs when the place that you’re from becomes relatively good at something important.
- 10/22/2017
- Den of Geek
There was only one vote that really mattered this week, namely which movie really is the greatest of all time? That was the tough choice facing readers of Empire magazine, who sought to publish a list of the top 100 films in their June edition. After a mammoth count-up it was none other than the 1972 classic The Godfather which came out on top.
The cult flick’s unique blend of historical Sicily, horses’ heads and Mafia violence saw it beat many a crowd favourite to the top spot, including its sequel, The Godfather: Part II, which finished in twelfth place.
Making up the rest of the top ten (in this order) were The Empire Strikes Back, The Dark Knight, The Shawshank Redemption, Pulp Fiction, Goodfellas, Raider Of The Lost Ark, Jaws, Star Wars and The Fellowship Of The Ring. Quite why Sex Lives of the Potato Men didn’t make the cut is anyone’s guess.
The cult flick’s unique blend of historical Sicily, horses’ heads and Mafia violence saw it beat many a crowd favourite to the top spot, including its sequel, The Godfather: Part II, which finished in twelfth place.
Making up the rest of the top ten (in this order) were The Empire Strikes Back, The Dark Knight, The Shawshank Redemption, Pulp Fiction, Goodfellas, Raider Of The Lost Ark, Jaws, Star Wars and The Fellowship Of The Ring. Quite why Sex Lives of the Potato Men didn’t make the cut is anyone’s guess.
- 6/10/2017
- by Dan Green
- The Cultural Post
Terence Davies’s lyrical version of the Scottish classic finds the veteran director at the height of his powers
Back in the dark days when the UK Film Council was merrily throwing money at the shameful Sex Lives of the Potato Men, British film-making legend Terence Davies was finding it impossible to fund a screen adaptation of Lewis Grassic Gibbon’s 1932 novel, Sunset Song, a hardscrabble tale of a young woman finding her identity – personal, national, spiritual – in rural northeast Scotland beneath the gathering clouds of the Great War. Despite the critical success of The House of Mirth, his 2000 adaptation of Edith Wharton’s novel, Davies feared he might never trouble our cinema screens again. It wasn’t until his superb, low-budget love letter to Liverpool, Of Time and the City, became the unexpected toast of Cannes in 2008 that the skies started to brighten for our pre-eminent auteur. Now, with...
Back in the dark days when the UK Film Council was merrily throwing money at the shameful Sex Lives of the Potato Men, British film-making legend Terence Davies was finding it impossible to fund a screen adaptation of Lewis Grassic Gibbon’s 1932 novel, Sunset Song, a hardscrabble tale of a young woman finding her identity – personal, national, spiritual – in rural northeast Scotland beneath the gathering clouds of the Great War. Despite the critical success of The House of Mirth, his 2000 adaptation of Edith Wharton’s novel, Davies feared he might never trouble our cinema screens again. It wasn’t until his superb, low-budget love letter to Liverpool, Of Time and the City, became the unexpected toast of Cannes in 2008 that the skies started to brighten for our pre-eminent auteur. Now, with...
- 12/6/2015
- by Mark Kermode, Observer film critic
- The Guardian - Film News
We chat to Mackenzie Crook about new comedy The Detectorists, Game Of Thrones, Pirates 5, and why he'd never do an Office reunion…
“I hate the word gentle” Mackenzie Crook tells us, “it just sounds like unfunny.” Reviews of The Detectorists, a new BBC Four comedy about a pair of metal-detecting enthusiasts written and directed by Crook, have relied heavily on the g-word.
It’s understandable in many ways. Crook’s series is difficult to pigeonhole. It rolls along the English countryside telling a low-key story about Andy and Lance’s preoccupation with searching for ancient objects - a search more likely to bring up 1980s ring-pulls than a hoard of Saxon gold. It’s no gag-fest, but it’s certainly not unfunny. The Detectorists’ sense of humour is wry, bathetic, and steeped in very British references. Where else would you find a hymn to William G. Stewart’s tenure...
“I hate the word gentle” Mackenzie Crook tells us, “it just sounds like unfunny.” Reviews of The Detectorists, a new BBC Four comedy about a pair of metal-detecting enthusiasts written and directed by Crook, have relied heavily on the g-word.
It’s understandable in many ways. Crook’s series is difficult to pigeonhole. It rolls along the English countryside telling a low-key story about Andy and Lance’s preoccupation with searching for ancient objects - a search more likely to bring up 1980s ring-pulls than a hoard of Saxon gold. It’s no gag-fest, but it’s certainly not unfunny. The Detectorists’ sense of humour is wry, bathetic, and steeped in very British references. Where else would you find a hymn to William G. Stewart’s tenure...
- 11/6/2014
- by louisamellor
- Den of Geek
Ricky Gervais has confirmed that The Office's David Brent will be heading to the big screen with his own movie, Life on the Road.
So as we anticipate what Brent has been up to since the end of the BBC hit comedy, here's what the cast have done since:
Ricky Gervais
Ricky Gervais played the lead role as David Brent - the embarrassing, toe-curling and cringeworthy boss of company Wernham Hogg, devoid of self-awareness but poised with an unwavering love for the paper merchants he manages.
Gervais went on to create comedy Extras with Stephen Merchant, which was co-produced by the BBC and HBO and aired between 2005 and 2007. Gervais played ambitious actor Andy Millman, afflicted with a useless agent played by Merchant. Guest stars have included Patrick Stewart, Samuel L Jackson, Ben Stiller and Kate Winslet.
In 2009, Gervais starred in, wrote and directed his feature comedy debut The Invention of Lying.
So as we anticipate what Brent has been up to since the end of the BBC hit comedy, here's what the cast have done since:
Ricky Gervais
Ricky Gervais played the lead role as David Brent - the embarrassing, toe-curling and cringeworthy boss of company Wernham Hogg, devoid of self-awareness but poised with an unwavering love for the paper merchants he manages.
Gervais went on to create comedy Extras with Stephen Merchant, which was co-produced by the BBC and HBO and aired between 2005 and 2007. Gervais played ambitious actor Andy Millman, afflicted with a useless agent played by Merchant. Guest stars have included Patrick Stewart, Samuel L Jackson, Ben Stiller and Kate Winslet.
In 2009, Gervais starred in, wrote and directed his feature comedy debut The Invention of Lying.
- 8/6/2014
- Digital Spy
★☆☆☆☆Just the kind of dross that constitutes a stunning indictment of the British film industry, Ben Cookson's Almost Married (2014) is a crushingly unconvincing sex comedy that may not surpass 2004's Sex Lives of the Potato Men in its grotesqueness, but certainly reminds you of it - which is bad enough. A film primarily about how hilarious it is to catch a sexually transmitted disease, but the only thing worse than sitting through Almost Married is finding out mid-way through you've contracted chlamydia just by process of visual osmosis. Kyle (Philip McGinley) is soon to be married, but on his stag do he's infected with an Std after a late night sojourn to a seedy brothel.
- 3/28/2014
- by CineVue UK
- CineVue
A country's independence is a matter of national identity, not esoteric economic argument
Every proud country has its trove of foundation myths, and Scotland is among the richest in national stories, from Robert Bruce's spider to Rob Roy, Flora MacDonald and Archie Gemmill in the 68th minute against Holland. But as yet no country, Scotland included, has rooted its national identity in the fiscal consequences of a dissolved monetary union – or any esoteric economic argument.
Standard Life, a pillar of the Scottish financial establishment, last week joined George Osborne and other London-based politicians in attempting to sway the Scottish electorate against independence with a warning over the volatility that would be unleashed by a vote to go it alone. The No campaign is a leaden mass of economic argument, backed by baroque thinktank papers and contributions from company bosses brave enough to put their heads above the parapet but...
Every proud country has its trove of foundation myths, and Scotland is among the richest in national stories, from Robert Bruce's spider to Rob Roy, Flora MacDonald and Archie Gemmill in the 68th minute against Holland. But as yet no country, Scotland included, has rooted its national identity in the fiscal consequences of a dissolved monetary union – or any esoteric economic argument.
Standard Life, a pillar of the Scottish financial establishment, last week joined George Osborne and other London-based politicians in attempting to sway the Scottish electorate against independence with a warning over the volatility that would be unleashed by a vote to go it alone. The No campaign is a leaden mass of economic argument, backed by baroque thinktank papers and contributions from company bosses brave enough to put their heads above the parapet but...
- 3/2/2014
- The Guardian - Film News
Visual effects firm Framestore is behind the acclaimed space movie, but is UK film making a giant leap, or is funding falling?
After picking up a galaxy of awards, the space thriller Gravity is tipped for further glory at the Oscars on Sunday. The film might look like classic big budget Hollywood, but has a starring role in the British film industry. Almost everything on screen, from the gorgeous images of light bouncing off the earth, the constellations of stars, down to the astronauts' space boots, was conjured up on computers at a studio in Soho. Stars George Clooney and Sandra Bullock filmed their space nightmare in deepest, darkest Buckinghamshire.
Tim Webber is the director of visual effects at Framestore, the studio behind Gravity's magical effects. Before he put Sandra Bullock in space, Webber created the rich worlds of Harry Potter and The Dark Knight. But Gravity was the...
After picking up a galaxy of awards, the space thriller Gravity is tipped for further glory at the Oscars on Sunday. The film might look like classic big budget Hollywood, but has a starring role in the British film industry. Almost everything on screen, from the gorgeous images of light bouncing off the earth, the constellations of stars, down to the astronauts' space boots, was conjured up on computers at a studio in Soho. Stars George Clooney and Sandra Bullock filmed their space nightmare in deepest, darkest Buckinghamshire.
Tim Webber is the director of visual effects at Framestore, the studio behind Gravity's magical effects. Before he put Sandra Bullock in space, Webber created the rich worlds of Harry Potter and The Dark Knight. But Gravity was the...
- 2/28/2014
- by Jennifer Rankin
- The Guardian - Film News
In an extremely tenuous nod to the release of Lars Von Trier's Nymphomaniac, this week's quiz topic is films about sex.
Specifically, four very different films with 'sex' in the title: Sex and the City; Sex, Lies and Videotape; Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex But Were Afraid to Ask; and, clearly best of the bunch, Sex Lives of the Potato Men.
Can you identify which sexy film each of these quotes about sex comes from? Continue reading...
Specifically, four very different films with 'sex' in the title: Sex and the City; Sex, Lies and Videotape; Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex But Were Afraid to Ask; and, clearly best of the bunch, Sex Lives of the Potato Men.
Can you identify which sexy film each of these quotes about sex comes from? Continue reading...
- 2/25/2014
- by Guardian Staff
- The Guardian - Film News
Johnny Vegas has said that he has no regrets about starring in 2004's flop British comedy Sex Lives of the Potato Men.
The comedian told Digital Spy that many people he spoke to were "desperate" to appear in the film on reading the script.
> Johnny Vegas on Johnny Vegas: 'I had no control'
"I didn't have any regrets about it. The film is what it is," Vegas said.
"It's not everybody's cup of tea, but I remember reading the script and it was one of the funniest scripts I've read in such a long time.
"There are a lot of people since who I've spoken to who have quietly said they read the script and were desperate to do it."
He continued: "It was on a bit of a hiding to nothing. It got caught up in a lot of politics with the Lottery Commission who put money in.
The comedian told Digital Spy that many people he spoke to were "desperate" to appear in the film on reading the script.
> Johnny Vegas on Johnny Vegas: 'I had no control'
"I didn't have any regrets about it. The film is what it is," Vegas said.
"It's not everybody's cup of tea, but I remember reading the script and it was one of the funniest scripts I've read in such a long time.
"There are a lot of people since who I've spoken to who have quietly said they read the script and were desperate to do it."
He continued: "It was on a bit of a hiding to nothing. It got caught up in a lot of politics with the Lottery Commission who put money in.
- 10/21/2013
- Digital Spy
With Oscar-winning style, the actor blames his co-stars for the cinematic catastrophe Run For Your Wife
A privileged glimpse into an actor's craft, now, as Danny Dyer is moved to address his recent turn in critically misunderstood film Run For Your Wife.
Danny, you will recall, took top billing in the Vicki Michelle-produced cinematic work, a Britflick of such radioactive awfulness that it took a mere £747 at the box office. "Rarely has a film aimed so low and missed its target so woefully," was the verdict of one reviewer, who had presumably also seen Mad Cows and Sex Lives of the Potato Men. "Perhaps never in the field of light entertainment have so many actors sacrificed so much dignity in the cause of so few jokes," ran another.
Lost in Showbiz had been wondering how Danny's agent would advise him to treat the opus should he find himself in the company of an interviewer.
A privileged glimpse into an actor's craft, now, as Danny Dyer is moved to address his recent turn in critically misunderstood film Run For Your Wife.
Danny, you will recall, took top billing in the Vicki Michelle-produced cinematic work, a Britflick of such radioactive awfulness that it took a mere £747 at the box office. "Rarely has a film aimed so low and missed its target so woefully," was the verdict of one reviewer, who had presumably also seen Mad Cows and Sex Lives of the Potato Men. "Perhaps never in the field of light entertainment have so many actors sacrificed so much dignity in the cause of so few jokes," ran another.
Lost in Showbiz had been wondering how Danny's agent would advise him to treat the opus should he find himself in the company of an interviewer.
- 4/4/2013
- by Marina Hyde
- The Guardian - Film News
Julia Davis is famous for creating some of the most uncomfortably bleak comedies of recent times. Now the star of Nighty Night is turning her dark powers to period drama in her new series Hunderby
The writer and performer Julia Davis is too good-natured to show it much, but she's plainly exasperated by descriptions of her work as "bleak" or "dark". They make it sound as if she's deliberately trying to be edgy, and this doesn't chime with her sense of herself. She enjoys watching old episodes of Friends, she insists; she's partial to 1980s movies and upbeat self-help books, and when she writes, she just writes what comes naturally. "I would never say, ooh, let's do something really dark," she says. Yet she is responsible for what are, without doubt, some of the most unsettling characters in contemporary comedy: smiling suburban sociopaths; meddlesome cold-eyed narcissists; horrifyingly mistreated spouses whose...
The writer and performer Julia Davis is too good-natured to show it much, but she's plainly exasperated by descriptions of her work as "bleak" or "dark". They make it sound as if she's deliberately trying to be edgy, and this doesn't chime with her sense of herself. She enjoys watching old episodes of Friends, she insists; she's partial to 1980s movies and upbeat self-help books, and when she writes, she just writes what comes naturally. "I would never say, ooh, let's do something really dark," she says. Yet she is responsible for what are, without doubt, some of the most unsettling characters in contemporary comedy: smiling suburban sociopaths; meddlesome cold-eyed narcissists; horrifyingly mistreated spouses whose...
- 8/10/2012
- by Oliver Burkeman
- The Guardian - Film News
You might not believe us without watching the trailer yourself, but Minnie Driver does an exceptionally good Welsh accent in her upcoming role in feel-good coming of age film Hunky Dory.Set in 1970s Swansea, it tells the tale of drama teacher Viv (Driver) as she tries to ger her students into sing, dance and act their way through an Elo and Bowie-inspired musical version of The Tempest.A large, relatively unknown ensemble cast of young actors fill the ranks, lead by shy Davey (Ironclad's Aneurin Barnard) and "town bike" Stella (Danielle Branch), creating what looks to be a happy-go-lucky tale of young love, sun-drenched summers and Bowie's musical genius.Take a look at the trailer yourself and let us know what you think - do we have another Billy Elliot on our hands? It's definitely not a Sex Lives Of The Potato Men... Plus, can you believe how good Minnie's accent is?...
- 1/30/2012
- EmpireOnline
Prime Minister David Cameron has said the UK film industry needs to match “the quality and impact” of international movies. Here’s Nick’s take on the matter...
It's hard to start without any other thought: that, once again, someone who doesn’t understand the film industry is meddling with it. In this case, though, it's not the kind of meddling that's easy to dismiss. It leads to the door of British Prime Minister David Cameron, and the government.
This has all come about as a result of comments from David Cameron on the state of the industry, and what needs to be done.
The British film industry just isn’t profitable enough for them, apparently, and so films must be more mainstream and more commercially viable. In fact, his exact words were that the industry should be “More dynamic and entrepreneurial” and “Rival the quality and impact of the best international productions”.
This means,...
It's hard to start without any other thought: that, once again, someone who doesn’t understand the film industry is meddling with it. In this case, though, it's not the kind of meddling that's easy to dismiss. It leads to the door of British Prime Minister David Cameron, and the government.
This has all come about as a result of comments from David Cameron on the state of the industry, and what needs to be done.
The British film industry just isn’t profitable enough for them, apparently, and so films must be more mainstream and more commercially viable. In fact, his exact words were that the industry should be “More dynamic and entrepreneurial” and “Rival the quality and impact of the best international productions”.
This means,...
- 1/11/2012
- Den of Geek
David Cameron is set to call for UK lottery funding to go to films with big box-office potential. But what will that mean for small-scale, independent cinema?
The plans to overhaul public funding of British cinema, which David Cameron will announce later today during a visit to Pinewood studios, has so far drawn divided reactions.
According to early reports, Cameron will call for lottery funding to be aimed at big-budget, commercially successful films, and away from small-scale, independent cinema. Citing the box-office and awards success of The King's Speech and Slumdog Millionaire, he said: "Our role should be to support the sector in becoming even more dynamic and entrepreneurial, helping UK producers to make commercially successful pictures that rival … the best international productions."
Iain Smith, the chair of the British Film Commission, an organisation also cited favourably by Cameron for its work in attracting overseas productions to shoot in the UK,...
The plans to overhaul public funding of British cinema, which David Cameron will announce later today during a visit to Pinewood studios, has so far drawn divided reactions.
According to early reports, Cameron will call for lottery funding to be aimed at big-budget, commercially successful films, and away from small-scale, independent cinema. Citing the box-office and awards success of The King's Speech and Slumdog Millionaire, he said: "Our role should be to support the sector in becoming even more dynamic and entrepreneurial, helping UK producers to make commercially successful pictures that rival … the best international productions."
Iain Smith, the chair of the British Film Commission, an organisation also cited favourably by Cameron for its work in attracting overseas productions to shoot in the UK,...
- 1/11/2012
- by Andrew Pulver
- The Guardian - Film News
Undercover cops in the activist spying operation will have dreamt of Point Break. It was deep cover with comedy pratfalls
'In 1978, the Us government waged a war against organised crime. One man was left behind enemy lines." That is the tagline for the movie Donnie Brasco, the story of an undercover FBI agent who infiltrated the mafia. How do you think the trailer for the movie of the Metropolitan police's calamitous undercover spying operation would run? "For decades, Scotland Yard waged a war against pro-cycling campaigners and people worried about where some bats would go if a wood was reduced in size. Several were left behind enemy lines. But what they didn't bargain on was falling in love!"
Your cinephile ear may have detected the gear shift there, between searing underworld thriller and the sort of misconceived screwball comedy that bears the lottery funding kitemark. Actually, that's unfair. If the...
'In 1978, the Us government waged a war against organised crime. One man was left behind enemy lines." That is the tagline for the movie Donnie Brasco, the story of an undercover FBI agent who infiltrated the mafia. How do you think the trailer for the movie of the Metropolitan police's calamitous undercover spying operation would run? "For decades, Scotland Yard waged a war against pro-cycling campaigners and people worried about where some bats would go if a wood was reduced in size. Several were left behind enemy lines. But what they didn't bargain on was falling in love!"
Your cinephile ear may have detected the gear shift there, between searing underworld thriller and the sort of misconceived screwball comedy that bears the lottery funding kitemark. Actually, that's unfair. If the...
- 10/21/2011
- by Marina Hyde
- The Guardian - Film News
Mark Kermode's polemic is both endearing and informative
Mark Kermode, history will relate, is a man with an appropriately cinematic origin: his name, look, and place in cultural life are clearly the result of a failed experiment with a matter transporter in which the genomes of Frank Kermode and Mark Lamarr were accidentally spliced. Here is an erudite critic with a proper appreciation of schlock; a celluloid-loving fogey who candidly prefers Breathless to À Bout de Souffle; and a man with the vanity to sport a quiff, yet who identifies himself as a jowly doppelgänger for Richard Nixon. This is the book of his mid-life crisis. If he's been a film critic for a quarter of a century (and, what's more, the "most trusted" in the UK according to a 2010 YouGov poll), what's the point of his existence when Sex and the City 2 is a smash hit?
Kermode's...
Mark Kermode, history will relate, is a man with an appropriately cinematic origin: his name, look, and place in cultural life are clearly the result of a failed experiment with a matter transporter in which the genomes of Frank Kermode and Mark Lamarr were accidentally spliced. Here is an erudite critic with a proper appreciation of schlock; a celluloid-loving fogey who candidly prefers Breathless to À Bout de Souffle; and a man with the vanity to sport a quiff, yet who identifies himself as a jowly doppelgänger for Richard Nixon. This is the book of his mid-life crisis. If he's been a film critic for a quarter of a century (and, what's more, the "most trusted" in the UK according to a 2010 YouGov poll), what's the point of his existence when Sex and the City 2 is a smash hit?
Kermode's...
- 9/8/2011
- by Sam Leith
- The Guardian - Film News
Though it’s the birthplace of Alfred Hitchcock and David Lean, and boasts masters such as Mike Leigh and Ken Loach still working at the top of their game, there’s also a rich tradition in British cinema of what one could politely call the “sex comedy”. It began with the light smattering of smut provided by the “Confessions...” series of the 1970s and evolved into the slap-and-tickle blarney of the “Carry On…” movies. In the 2000s, we thought it’d reached the summit of what the fetid sub-genre could achieve with the risible “Sex Lives of the Potato Men,” “Lesbian Vampire Killers,…...
- 8/9/2011
- The Playlist
What is needed is policy and a body which will support films that can secure European co-funding
The crowning of The King's Speech at the Bafta awards was indeed a bitter-sweet moment for the UK Film Council, which funded it and is now being axed. The council had its critics – it was too top-heavy, with a wage bill to match; it tried to compete with Hollywood instead of funding the sort of film that would never attract attention from the big studios; and besides, it picked its fair share of lemons. Anyone remember Sex Lives of the Potato Men? For all that, the goal of a "self-sustaining UK film industry", which was the council's brief when it was set up 10 years ago, remains as elusive as ever. The rolling caravan of British actors, scriptwriters, producers, cameramen, special effects wizards exists – but somehow never at the same time and in the same place.
The crowning of The King's Speech at the Bafta awards was indeed a bitter-sweet moment for the UK Film Council, which funded it and is now being axed. The council had its critics – it was too top-heavy, with a wage bill to match; it tried to compete with Hollywood instead of funding the sort of film that would never attract attention from the big studios; and besides, it picked its fair share of lemons. Anyone remember Sex Lives of the Potato Men? For all that, the goal of a "self-sustaining UK film industry", which was the council's brief when it was set up 10 years ago, remains as elusive as ever. The rolling caravan of British actors, scriptwriters, producers, cameramen, special effects wizards exists – but somehow never at the same time and in the same place.
- 2/15/2011
- The Guardian - Film News
The BFI's assumption of the UK Film Council's responsibilities continues a decades-long saga of chopping and changing in the British film industry
This morning's announcement by Ed Vaizey confirms the rumours that have been circulating from pretty much the moment that the UK Film Council was abolished: the British Film Institute will be picking up the reins of lottery-fund distribution to the film industry. What's remarkable is that, after over two decades of chopping and changing, we are back where we were in the late 1980s: the BFI is the only game in town.
It's especially extraordinary given the kind of rhetoric that accompanied the establishment of the UK Film Council in 2000. When John Woodward was appointed the UK Film Council's chief executive in 2000, an interview he gave to the Guardian was perceived to be a not-especially-coded attack on the kind of – largely experimental – film the BFI's production...
This morning's announcement by Ed Vaizey confirms the rumours that have been circulating from pretty much the moment that the UK Film Council was abolished: the British Film Institute will be picking up the reins of lottery-fund distribution to the film industry. What's remarkable is that, after over two decades of chopping and changing, we are back where we were in the late 1980s: the BFI is the only game in town.
It's especially extraordinary given the kind of rhetoric that accompanied the establishment of the UK Film Council in 2000. When John Woodward was appointed the UK Film Council's chief executive in 2000, an interview he gave to the Guardian was perceived to be a not-especially-coded attack on the kind of – largely experimental – film the BFI's production...
- 11/29/2010
- by Andrew Pulver
- The Guardian - Film News
David Morrissey has voiced his anger at the government's decision to pull the plug on the UK Film Council. The British actor, whose recent credits include Nowhere Boy and Centurion, told Digital Spy that the funding body only needed a change in its bureaucracy to function more effectively. "I'm a fan of the UK film industry, the UK Film Council," he said. "I think it needs some sort of change within its bureaucracy but I think its existence is really important - particularly for first-time filmmakers. Not just in front of the camera but all sides of the technical business that we're involved in." Morrissey added that he was disappointed to see the press use 2004 flop Sex Lives Of The Potato Men as an example of (more)...
- 8/4/2010
- by By Simon Reynolds
- Digital Spy
Updated through 7/28.
"I'm reeling from the shock," Mike Leigh tells the Guardian. "This comes totally from left-field." Mike Figgis, on the other hand, is "deeply disappointed but not that surprised — we were just waiting for the axe to fall." And fallen it has, on the UK Film Council. The Guardian: "Since it was created by Labour in 2000 the UKFC, with 75 staff, has been responsible for handing out more than £160m of lottery money to over 900 films. Successes range from Bend it Like Beckham to Gosford Park to Fish Tank with the occasional dud — notably Sex Lives of the Potato Men — along the way. Last August the Labour government began consultation on merging the film council with the BFI."...
"I'm reeling from the shock," Mike Leigh tells the Guardian. "This comes totally from left-field." Mike Figgis, on the other hand, is "deeply disappointed but not that surprised — we were just waiting for the axe to fall." And fallen it has, on the UK Film Council. The Guardian: "Since it was created by Labour in 2000 the UKFC, with 75 staff, has been responsible for handing out more than £160m of lottery money to over 900 films. Successes range from Bend it Like Beckham to Gosford Park to Fish Tank with the occasional dud — notably Sex Lives of the Potato Men — along the way. Last August the Labour government began consultation on merging the film council with the BFI."...
- 7/28/2010
- MUBI
UK Film Council one of highest-profile quangos to be cut
Mla also abolished in cull by culture secretary Jeremy Hunt
The UK Film Council became one of the highest profile quangos to be axed by the coalition government after culture secretary Jeremy Hunt unexpectedly announced its abolition.
In a raft of mergings, streamlinings and closures, Hunt also axed the Museums, Libraries and Archives council (Mla).
John Woodward, chief executive of the UK Film Council, briefed an unprepared staff about the decision at the council's central London headquarters this morning. No one had seen it coming. He said the decision had been taken with "no notice and no consultation".
In a statement Woodward called the proposal "short-sighted and potentially very damaging, especially as there is at present no roadmap setting out where the UK Film Council's responsibilities and funding will be placed in the future".
Film producer Tim Bevan, who chairs the council,...
Mla also abolished in cull by culture secretary Jeremy Hunt
The UK Film Council became one of the highest profile quangos to be axed by the coalition government after culture secretary Jeremy Hunt unexpectedly announced its abolition.
In a raft of mergings, streamlinings and closures, Hunt also axed the Museums, Libraries and Archives council (Mla).
John Woodward, chief executive of the UK Film Council, briefed an unprepared staff about the decision at the council's central London headquarters this morning. No one had seen it coming. He said the decision had been taken with "no notice and no consultation".
In a statement Woodward called the proposal "short-sighted and potentially very damaging, especially as there is at present no roadmap setting out where the UK Film Council's responsibilities and funding will be placed in the future".
Film producer Tim Bevan, who chairs the council,...
- 7/26/2010
- by Maev Kennedy, Mark Brown
- The Guardian - Film News
Although I enjoy reading lists and countdowns as much as the next guy, I've never been a big fan of "Worst Movie" lists, because they only tend to focus on big budget Hollywood screw-ups and not the low budget amateur crap. I obviously understand why; there's an infinite amount of the amateur stuff out there, and it's a lot easier to forgive. However, it's also probably about a thousand times worse. There's also the fact that most people tend to avoid movies that are really bad, and if you haven't seen them, you can't really include them on your list. At any rate, I suppose it's fun to argue over what's bad just as much as what's good, and Empire Magazine recently polled their readers to create a comprehensive tally of the 50 Worst Movies Ever. Just like the Razzies, most of the choices are pretty predictable, and sadly a lot...
- 2/3/2010
- by Sean
- FilmJunk
George Clooney's stint as the caped crusader has been named the worst film of all time by readers of Empire magazine
With its wooden performances and superhero nipples, Batman and Robin was the film that almost killed the DC Comics superhero franchise. Now readers of Empire magazine have voted the Joel Schumacher flick the worst film of all time in a new poll.
Featuring George Clooney as the caped crusader in one of his first major starring roles, and with Chris O'Donnell as his plucky sidekick, Empire said the comic-book movie had "become a byword for franchise-killing and bad movie-making". It garnered almost three times as many votes as the next placed film, the widely ridiculed Battlefield Earth, a John Travolta vehicle released in 2000, based on the book by Scientology founder L Ron Hubbard.
Third place went to Mike Myers's ill-conceived 2008 comedy The Love Guru, which saw the...
With its wooden performances and superhero nipples, Batman and Robin was the film that almost killed the DC Comics superhero franchise. Now readers of Empire magazine have voted the Joel Schumacher flick the worst film of all time in a new poll.
Featuring George Clooney as the caped crusader in one of his first major starring roles, and with Chris O'Donnell as his plucky sidekick, Empire said the comic-book movie had "become a byword for franchise-killing and bad movie-making". It garnered almost three times as many votes as the next placed film, the widely ridiculed Battlefield Earth, a John Travolta vehicle released in 2000, based on the book by Scientology founder L Ron Hubbard.
Third place went to Mike Myers's ill-conceived 2008 comedy The Love Guru, which saw the...
- 2/3/2010
- by Ben Child
- The Guardian - Film News
Can you hear a sort of whooshing and gurgling? That is the sound of Daniel Day-Lewis flushing his mystique down the toilet
Listen: can you hear a sort of whooshing and gurgling? That is the sound of Daniel Day-Lewis flushing his mystique down the toilet. He has mystifyingly taken the non-singing lead in a musical that is hideously naff, shallow, creepingly misogynist, badly acted and as phoney as a three-lire bill.
It is adapted from a 1980s Broadway musical, which in turn was loosely based on Fellini's classic 8½, about a movie director suffering from creative crisis and beset by anxieties and memories. Every scintilla of Fellini's subversion, anarchy and brilliance is utterly expunged by this crass dinner-theatre treatment, directed by Rob Marshall in the same unvarying and strident way he made Chicago.
Daniel Day-Lewis has a silly Italian-a accent-a, playing the great film-maker, surrounded by the women-a in his life-a.
Listen: can you hear a sort of whooshing and gurgling? That is the sound of Daniel Day-Lewis flushing his mystique down the toilet. He has mystifyingly taken the non-singing lead in a musical that is hideously naff, shallow, creepingly misogynist, badly acted and as phoney as a three-lire bill.
It is adapted from a 1980s Broadway musical, which in turn was loosely based on Fellini's classic 8½, about a movie director suffering from creative crisis and beset by anxieties and memories. Every scintilla of Fellini's subversion, anarchy and brilliance is utterly expunged by this crass dinner-theatre treatment, directed by Rob Marshall in the same unvarying and strident way he made Chicago.
Daniel Day-Lewis has a silly Italian-a accent-a, playing the great film-maker, surrounded by the women-a in his life-a.
- 12/17/2009
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Did the Mighty Boosh road-trip movie take you on a splendid journey? Or did it make you wish you'd stayed home?
The debut feature from Mighty Boosh director Paul King finds itself praised with one hand and damned with the other. Some compared its award-winning special effects work to the visual extravagances of Michel Gondry, while others dismissed it as another example of a big-screen Britcom failure to tack on the end of a long, long list. Somehow, this nervy road-trip comedy ends up being labelled both a wildly inventive, structurally adventurous piece of cinema, and a hugely disappointing damb squib whose screenplay could have done with a lot more work.
Bunny and the Bull centres on the uncomfortable-in-his-own-skin Stephen (Edward Hogg) as he recalls a disastrous trip across Europe in the company of his lothario best pal Bunny (Simon Farnaby), a journey so catastrophic our hero hasn't left his...
The debut feature from Mighty Boosh director Paul King finds itself praised with one hand and damned with the other. Some compared its award-winning special effects work to the visual extravagances of Michel Gondry, while others dismissed it as another example of a big-screen Britcom failure to tack on the end of a long, long list. Somehow, this nervy road-trip comedy ends up being labelled both a wildly inventive, structurally adventurous piece of cinema, and a hugely disappointing damb squib whose screenplay could have done with a lot more work.
Bunny and the Bull centres on the uncomfortable-in-his-own-skin Stephen (Edward Hogg) as he recalls a disastrous trip across Europe in the company of his lothario best pal Bunny (Simon Farnaby), a journey so catastrophic our hero hasn't left his...
- 11/30/2009
- by Ben Child
- The Guardian - Film News
The longest film ever made, all six days of it
What's that? The world's longest film.
How long is it? One hundred and fifty hours. That's six days. Or, if you prefer, six economy-size bags of Revels, three furtive bottles of gin, at least 12 trips to the loo, two sore buttocks, a pair of red eyes and one overwhelming sense of the utter pointlessness of human existence.
Not a date movie then? Don't be so sure. You could date, snog, get engaged, marry, conceive your first child, have a thing with someone else in row seven, divorce, have torrid make-up sex and settle in for the long haul with your original date all before the closing credits.
I'll bet it's French. Of course it is. Cinématon will be shown in Avignon later this month. Director Gérard Courant had the idea in 1978 and has spent 31 years making it. The film consists of three-minute,...
What's that? The world's longest film.
How long is it? One hundred and fifty hours. That's six days. Or, if you prefer, six economy-size bags of Revels, three furtive bottles of gin, at least 12 trips to the loo, two sore buttocks, a pair of red eyes and one overwhelming sense of the utter pointlessness of human existence.
Not a date movie then? Don't be so sure. You could date, snog, get engaged, marry, conceive your first child, have a thing with someone else in row seven, divorce, have torrid make-up sex and settle in for the long haul with your original date all before the closing credits.
I'll bet it's French. Of course it is. Cinématon will be shown in Avignon later this month. Director Gérard Courant had the idea in 1978 and has spent 31 years making it. The film consists of three-minute,...
- 11/16/2009
- The Guardian - Film News
Shaun of the Dead was good, Sex Lives of the Potato Men was bad. So how do you avoid a Britcom disaster?
Anywhere else, it would be a cause for celebration. Later this month, a debut feature is to be released by the director of one of Britain's most popular TV comedies. Bafta-nominated for his work on BBC2's The Mighty Boosh, Paul King is also an award-winning live comedy director – and his new film Bunny and the Bull was selected for both the Toronto and London film festivals. Here, then, is a cheering tale of a home-grown talent making his way in cinema, right? If only it were that simple. "There's a pack mentality with British comic films to go, 'What a heap of shit!'" says King. "Your worst nightmare is, 'Oh God, I just hope my film's not one of those …'"
One of those? Does he...
Anywhere else, it would be a cause for celebration. Later this month, a debut feature is to be released by the director of one of Britain's most popular TV comedies. Bafta-nominated for his work on BBC2's The Mighty Boosh, Paul King is also an award-winning live comedy director – and his new film Bunny and the Bull was selected for both the Toronto and London film festivals. Here, then, is a cheering tale of a home-grown talent making his way in cinema, right? If only it were that simple. "There's a pack mentality with British comic films to go, 'What a heap of shit!'" says King. "Your worst nightmare is, 'Oh God, I just hope my film's not one of those …'"
One of those? Does he...
- 11/13/2009
- by Brian Logan
- The Guardian - Film News
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