Best British Films of 2013

I saw nearly 20 British films in 2013, many of them of an excellent quality. I love a bit of homegrown cinema and wish more of our talent felt that they could stay in the UK and make the films they want to make. It seems that the Brits pretty much rule Hollywood anyway but imagine if all our stars, directors and all the rest of the talent that bugger off to Hollywood continued to make films for the British industry, I'm damn sure we could rival the American industry.

Superman, Spiderman and the last Batman were all British. Harry Potter was British. Why isn't the British industry as wealthy as Hollywood? Well that's a debate for another time. But thankfully because there isn't as much ludicrous amounts of money flying around, we get to make some gritty and challenging films that often reflect the ugliness and occasionally the beauty of this fair isle.

Sometimes we want to make crowd pleasers and sometimes it seems our directors are actively trying to put people off from seeing their films. I think my top 10 of the year shows a very healthy and diverse British film industry at work.

The only films that I suspect I should have seen before making this list are: The Selfish Giant, Philomena and About Time.


The films that nearly made this list include: Summer in February, Song For Marion and Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa. 

And now on to the main event. If I have reviewed the film, then please click the title to be magically transported! Here is my top 10 British films of 2013:

10. The Look of Love 

'The Look of Love is the rise and fall of an exploitative entrepreneur. Raymond may not be overly likeable but his relationship with his daughter can be touching and provides evidence of a misguided heart beneath the brash exterior perfectly played by Coogan.'

9. Trance 

'Trance may not have the propulsion or the life affirming joy of Danny Boyle’s greatest films, but as a modern noir and an intriguing psychological maze of a film, it leaves most recent thrillers as distant fading memories.'

8. Sunshine On Leith 

'If nothing else Sunshine on Leith should have you singing along to many of the tunes and confirms Dexter Fletcher as a diverse director to watch. It is a sunny delight!'

7. In Fear 

'In Fear is simplicity itself for much of its running time before running out of gas and resorting to conventional psycho killer thrills by the final scenes. The story may lack much that is new but the execution is brutally efficient.'

6. The Liability 

'The Liability comes loaded with two smoking barrels worth of humour and warmth. While it does not match the very best of British, it is a sharp shooting hitman thriller nonetheless.'

5. I Give it a Year 

'Taking awkward comedy to new levels of cringe worthiness, I Give It A Year will make you squirm in your seat more than a Saw film. Give it ninety minutes of your life.'

4. How I Live Now 

 'Adapted from the novel by Meg Rosoff, it really treats its audience as adults containing mild incest, plenty of swearing, a dash of sex and some shocking moments of violence. It is admirable for not toning down the brutality of war (hello Hunger Games) or the language and lust of its protagonists (goodbye Twilight).'

3.Filth 

'With a sensational soundtrack and putrid performance from McAvoy, Filth is far more fun than it should be. Wallow in it…'

2. Broken 

'Broken is at its best with its wonderful characters and their beautifully observed relationships. The film is filled with outstanding performances that will make audiences smile, laugh and maybe even cry. There are minor issues but nothing in urgent need of repair and Broken will likely be fixed in your mind long after the credits roll.'

1.The World's End

 'The World’s End is like a perfectly poured pint. Golden, bubbly and with an excellent head on it; it tastes so good, you hope that there will be more flavours to the so-called Cornetto trilogy. Instantly quotable and with some of the best profanity ever written, The World’s End is a great way to spend your last night on Earth.'

What were your favourite British films of 2013?

Why don't you stay awhile? More 2013 lists from I Love That Film:

TV in 2013: Breaking Bad, Dexter, The Walking Dead, Homeland and more

World Cinema in 2013

Best books I read in 2013

Top Documentaries of 2013

2013 List of Shame or 25 films I should have seen this year

2013 Top 10 Horror, Fantasy and Science Fiction

2013 Top 10 So Far (written in July)

Top 25 Films to see in 2014

THE LOOK OF LOVE Review

The subject of The Look of Love, Paul Raymond (Steve Coogan), became the richest man in Britain because he recognised the demand for entertainment featuring naked women. Constantly pushing at the boundaries of taste with his striptease stage shows and magazine Men Only, he built an empire of sleaze with a diminishing veneer of respectability, all the while deflecting accusations of degrading women with a smile and a joke.

Steve Coogan successfully pulls off the trick of making Raymond occasionally likeable but more often than not, a cold and callous businessman. That anyone would want to sit through this man’s story could be down to a couple of reasons. Firstly Raymond’s relationship with his wayward and spiraling into tragedy daughter and secondly the gratuitous flesh liberally put on display.

 

Like the recent Spring Breakers, The Look of Love has more female nudity than your average men’s magazine. Unsurprisingly given the nature of Raymond’s business, breasts are jiggling everywhere. Full frontal nudity is on stage, in beds and splashed across the pages of Raymond’s increasingly daring magazines. It’s all part of the allure of the entrepreneur’s lifestyle that he is constantly surrounded by half or completely naked women, many of which end up in his luxurious penthouse bed under the stars, often more than one at a time.

But the appeal of the casual, coked up and boozy swinging sixties and seventies sex is always tempered by the flash forwards to Raymond’s later life as he sits in front of the television, watching his daughter give a revealing television interview before tragedy struck.

The Look of Love is above all a cautionary tale, much more so than the similarly debauched and loaded with excess Spring Breakers. Raymond is a tragic figure, though it is hard to fully sympathise with him. A man who clearly had or could have had anything he wanted, spoiled his daughter, treated his wives and lovers like disposable goods and ended up sad and alone, his wealth and empire meaning little after the loss of his daughter. The women in his life, most notably daughter Debbie (Imogen Poots) and wife Jean (Anna Friel) are excellent in roles that could have easily been one note and unsympathetic.

The names and faces of British comedy pop up thick and fast, some in blink and you’ll miss them cameos, others for longer stretches. Chris Addison is excellent as coked up associate and bad influence on Raymond’s daughter Tony Power. David Walliams, Matt Lucas, Simon Bird and Stephen Fry are completely underused in small and often utterly trivial roles but add to the star power of this Brit glitz and grime caper.

The seedy underground clubs, lavish shows and all night party living all clearly take their toll on Raymond but Winterbottom captures the decades of decadence with an excellent eye for production design. The sets, locations, costumes, hair and make-up all make for a wonderful whirling kaleidoscope of colour and kitsch. At some points the montages feel like seedy Austin Powers outtakes with their funky editing, music and scantily clad women in various states of seductive posing.

The Look of Love is fascinating in its study of a man with plenty of desire for the opposite sex but little regard for their emotional well being. Paul Raymond is an enigma; keen to exploit the flesh of young women but also protective of his own daughter. He is both caring and doting and father and also completely and utterly useless at protecting Debbie from the wrongs of the world in which he introduces and launches her. Raymond is a man with little respect for women, a complete disinterest in his own son and who literally spoiled his daughter to her demise but Coogan makes him eminently watchable and bordering on sympathetic as he sits alone in his old age.

After Winterbottom and Coogan’s previous collaborations on 24 Hour Party People, A Cock and Bull Story and The Trip, The Look of Love appears both tremendously ambitious and extremely conventional. It might not push the boundaries quite as much as 9 Songs in terms of on screen sex but it does have plenty for pervs in the way of the female form.

The Look of Love is the rise and fall of an exploitative entrepreneur. Raymond may not be overly likeable but his relationship with his daughter can be touching and provides evidence of a misguided heart beneath the brash exterior perfectly played by Coogan.

Here's the trailer:

On Amazing Radio and Marlow FM Talking Movies

Tomorrow (26th April) I'll be on digital station Amazing Radio with Ruth Barnes and local radio Marlow FM talking about the big releases of this weekend. You can listen to me discussing Iron Man 3, Bernie, The Look of Love and The Lords of Salem on Amazing Radio from soon after 12pm by going to the Amazing Radio website here. Then soon after 5pm I will be appearing on Marlow FM to talk about the same films and even if you don't live anywhere near Marlow, you can listen to Marlow FM here.

I now have a weekly slot on Marlow FM talking about new releases and have to pre-record about five minutes of just me all by myself talking about films which they then play during rush hour when hopefully lots of people from Marlow are listening and thinking about what they might like to see at the cinema over the weekend.

I'm also on Amazing Radio fairly frequently with about one or two appearances per month. This one does not need pre-recording and I actually get to chat with presenter Ruth Barnes who always knows her stuff about film, helping to keep me on my toes!

I've reviewed three or the four films out this weekend so far and my review of The Look of Love is also coming soon. I hope you might listen to my short radio chats tomorrow if you're near a computer or digital radio!

I have reviewed Iron Man 3 for Filmoria and you can read the review here and watch the trailer below:



I have reviewed Bernie here and this is the trailer:



I'm still in the process of writing my The Look of Love review but it will be up soon. Here is the trailer:



My The Lords of Salem review is at Filmoria here and the trailer is below:



I hope you will tune in and have a listen to me on the radio tomorrow

Upcoming Screenings: Evil Dead, Olympus Has Fallen, The Look of Love

Over the next three Mondays I have three screenings I'm very excited for; the Evil Dead remake, Die Hard in the White House Part 1 Olympus Has Fallen and Steve Coogan in The Look of Love.

Evil Dead should be a nightmare for fans of the original trilogy but with the likes of Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell producing this remake, this was looking good from the start. Juno and Young Adult fans will be pleased to note Diablo Cody is on writing duties and anyone who has seen the trailer will immediately be able to tell if this film is for them or not. The red band trailer below is certainly not for the squeamish. It looks absolutely mental, keeping a similar if perhaps slightly more serious tone to the original and whizzing tracking shots through the menacing woods still intact. Here is my review of Evil Dead at Filmoria. Check out the trailer:



Olympus Has Fallen is the first of two Die Hards in the White House of this year with Roland Emmerich's White House Down to follow later.This one has Gerard Butler as the one man army out to save Aaron Eckhart as his President. Next up by the way if you haven't already heard is Channing Tatum protecting President Jamie Foxx if that pairing takes your fancy. Either way, both of these sound like the ultimate movies for my 10-16 year old self. If no one dives in front of the Commander in Chief, saving them from a bullet while yelling NOOOOOOOOOOOO Mr Presideeeeeeeeeeeeeent, then I'll be sorely disappointed. Even Air Force One had a pilot throwing his plane in the way of a missile to save President Harrison Ford's own plane. I hope this is fun, check out the trailer:



A fortnight on Monday, I will be seeing Brit flick biopic The Look of Love starring Steve Coogan as controversial sleezebag entrepreneur Paul Raymond. It's got a pretty cool cast and is directed by Michael Winterbottom so could be good but it's probably the least of these three I'm looking forward to. Here's the trailer:



Any of these take your fancy?