Best British Films of 2014

I've been dragging my feet about making this list because I wanted to write a little something about each film. It seems that I am just never going to have the time to do this properly though, so instead I'm just going to plunge in by posting this up as a quick list. It's February 2015 already and this list is long overdue.

Don't get me started on what makes a film 'British' because I could go on and on about this until we finally get rid of the Royal Family. I'm pretty sure it's fair to say that most of these are definitely British. Without further ado, here are my top 10 favourite British films of 2014:

10. Under the Skin

9. Belle 

8. Jimmy's Hall

7. The Double

6. What We Did On Our Holiday

5. Locke

4. Calvary

3. '71

2. Starred Up

1. Pride

Watch the trailer for Pride:



What were your favourite British films of 2014?

Why I Love Jack O'Connell: Top 5 Films

When an actor has been picked by director Shane Meadows to feature in a film like This is England, you know they are bound to be special. Strangely though, the15 year old Jack O'Connell only had a very minor role in that British classic before getting to really show his skills in later films like Eden Lake and many more. So even though This is England is possibly the best film on O'Connell's CV, you will not find it on this list of his five finest performances.

With Angelina Jolie's Unbroken on the verge of release and likely to see O'Connell's star go stratopheric, here is a look back at what I consider to be his best five performances so far. Expect Unbroken (in which he plays Olympian and POW survivor Louis Zamperini) to be the film to send this guy straight to super stardom.

5. Eden Lake

The first of O'Connell's properly nasty little shits. He seemed to savour the nastiness with every line spat and every smirk and sneer coming naturally to this swaggering young actor. Tormenting Kelly Reilly and Michael Fassbender to death, Brett is a hooded terror; the Daily Mail's worst nightmare. 

4. Tower Block

O'Connell delivers a towering performance in a pretty decent low budget British sniper thriller. He's an awesomely unlikeable anti-hero who steals the limelight from the cast around him.

3. The Liability

O’Connell might have been in danger of being typecast, with his wide-boy posturing becoming a little familiar here but he manages to keep Adam very sympathetic, aided hugely by a strong script and some great banter with Tim Roth. It is another of his sure to be star making turns with Adam being a laugh out loud presence in the film.

2. '71

O’Connell has far less of his usual swagger here; more of a limp actually. It’s arguably his best performance, turning that usual confidence into a cowering, wounded and terrified boy out of his depth. Gone is the hard lad, replaced with something more sincere and though the camera is often pinned to his face, he rarely speaks and gives little away. In fact, by the end of ‘71, we still know little of Gary Hook, but enough to care that he gets home.

1. Starred Up

Jack O’Connell is frequently a Jack-the-Lad type character and this is never more true than in Starred Up. He even has 'Jack the Lad' tattooed on his arm and his sneer, swagger and savagery all attest to the boy’s unflinching desire to do damage. After being brought in to an adult prison, he is stripped and processed. Silent for the first ten minutes of the film, he might appear an unproblematic prisoner. But alone in his cell, he goes about setting himself up with makeshift (and terrifying) weapons and ensuring that when he is attacked, he will be ready. He is a caged animal; cornered, grunted at by the guards, dismissed or threatened by other prisoners but totally unafraid to fight his way out of any corner by any means necessary. O'Connell is riveting and it is one of the best performances of 2014. It will be interesting to see if he can top it with Unbroken.

What is your favourite Jack O'Connell performance?

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The Rise and Rise of Jack O'Connell: From This is England to Unbroken

In case you hadn’t noticed, Jack O’Connell is about to go mega-star massive. His next film appearance will be in Angelina Jolie’s second film as director, Unbroken. This is the true story of Louis Zamperini, an Olympic athlete turned military man and plane crash survivor who then survived years of torture as a prisoner of war. Zamperini is an incredible man with an unbelievable life story and Jolie has plucked the relatively unknown (at least in the US) O’Connell to bring Zamperini to life in a film that is sure to gobble Oscar nominations in 2015.

I’ve had my eye on Jack O’Connell for a while now, even if his career to date had been filled with an alarming amount of tough guy thugs. I can’t say I noticed him or paid any particular attention to him way back in one of my favourite films This is England but he is there and the performance is notable as O’Connell’s Pukey isn’t his usual brand of wideboy. O’Connell’s character has a particularly terrifying encounter with Stephen Graham’s menacing racist Combo when O’Connell dares to challenge his beliefs.

O’Connell had many roles in British TV from The Bill through Waterloo Road, Wire in the Blood and Skins but it was the double whammy of Eden Lake and Harry Brown that cemented his status as a go-to-geezer for low-budget British filmmakers. In both these films, but particularly Eden Lake he got to play terrifyingly horrible little bastards; becoming incredibly memorable as the kind of hooded monster that the media was always banging on about as the use of the word ‘chav’ became acceptable in the tabloid press. Banging heads with Michael Fassbender and Michael Caine, Jack O’Connell managed to easily hold his own with these older and more experienced acting greats.

Eden Lake clip

O’Connell was then given bigger parts in the likes of little known films such as Tower Block and The Liability. They may be small films but O’Connell’s swaggering performances were bigger and better than the films he was in. Playing the hoodlum was a speciality and O’Connell could have easily been stuck by typecasting positioning him as a loudmouth loutish lad for life but then he was delivered a couple of really interesting roles to start flexing his acting muscles with.

Tower Block Trailer

The Liability Trailer

While a small but notable role in 300: Rise of an Empire allowed him to show off a six pack and likely take a tidy paycheque, it was his performances in the excellent Starred Up  and '71 that should really have seen him become a massive star in 2014. As young convict Eric Love in Starred Up , O’Connell got to face off with Ben Mendelsohn as his jailbird father but also show a fascinating vulnerability beneath the bravado. Similarly, in '71 his usual swagger was replaced by a limp as O’Connell’s soldier spends most of the film injured, scared and running for his life from the IRA in Belfast.

Starred Up Trailer

I’d recommend any of these films, particularly just to watch O’Connell at work. His rise to the top has been filled with great performances but Unbroken looks set to be the one that really puts him on the international map. 2014 has already been an exceptional year for the star but it will be crowned by the true life story of horror and hope that Jolie has in bringing to big screens on Boxing Day. Don’t be surprised if O’Connell is up for Best Actor in 2015 awards season. He’s already earned it.

Unbroken Trailer

Still here? What is your favourite performance from Jack O'Connell?

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London Film Festival 2014

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My Top 10 of the London Film Festival 2014

Quick disclaimer: some of these I saw at Cannes earlier this year but they were still playing at the LFF so I have included them here even if I didn't get a chance to see them again. I should also mention that I didn't get to see loads of films at the LFF such as The Imitation Game, It Follows, Whiplash or Men, Women and Children to name a few. Sounds like Whiplash may be many people's favourite of the festival but I'm afraid I will have to wait to see it like everybody else!

Anyway, here is my top 10. Click the titles for my reviews:

10. A Hard Day

9. Son of a Gun

8. Timbuktu

7. '71

6. Fury

5. Foxcatcher

4. A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night

3. Monsters: Dark Continent

2. Wild Tales

1. White God

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London Film Festival Day 2: A Hard Day, White God, 71, El Nino

Why am I starting my daily London Film Festival diaries on day 2 you may ask? What happened to day 1, Wednesday 8th October? Well after getting up at ridiculous o’clock to take my dog for a walk in the pitch black of an Autumn morning, I got to Bracknell train station to find that National Rail are basically wallet rapists.

After purchasing a ticket, I discovered that I’d bought a still unreasonably priced ‘any permitted’ ticket. So £25 ain’t good enough for that time in the morning apparently. I was then informed that I had to pay for a full price £32 ticket if I wanted to get into London before 9am. Frankly I felt shafted and a severe stab of sympathy for those who have to travel to London every day just to get to work. National Rail are truly bending the good working people of this country over and having their merry way with them. 

Ho hum, I got over it eventually. So I missed out on seeing The Imitation Game with Benedict Slumberpatch and Ikea Knightley and also didn’t get to attend the press conference afterwards. I can live with that. As I had to get back for my (paid) day job in the afternoon, I wouldn’t have got round to seeing anything else on Wednesday. So I told National Rail to stick their £32 ticket, got a refund on my useless £25 ticket and went home, to the delight of my puppy.

But Thursday is another day. Moan over. It’s a day when I don’t have other work commitments and can stay in London as long as I like. I’m still determined to not let National Rail have non-consensual sex with my wallet every day so I decided to skip the morning screening of Men, Women and Children starring Adam Sandler and directed by Jason Reitman. It’s a shame as I’m very interested in seeing it. But not interested enough to let National Rail rob me of £32. Sorry, moan really over now.

So  on Thursday I had lined up: A Hard Day, White God, ’71 and El Nino. My reviews will be up at Starburst Magazine as soon as possible and I will update this post with links when that happens. For now, here are the trailers:

A Hard Day: Korean corrupt cop thriller in which a detective is involved in a hit and run while being investigated by internal affairs.

White God: A teen girl is forced to give her  up her beloved dog. As she descends into rebellion, her mutt Hagen go through hell at the hands of humans before taking his bloody revenge.

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’71: A British soldier in Belfast 1971 gets separated from his regiment and has to survive a night in the divided city, stuck between warring factions.

El Nino: In the Gibraltar Straits, two young men become involved in drug dealing between Morocco and Europe. The obsessive cop on their tail is closing in as their business grows into the big time.

I’ve already seen White God at Cannes and I have an interview lined up with the director Kornel Mundruczo and writer Kata Weber on Monday. This was one of my two favourite films at Cannes 2014 and I can’t wait to talk to these two about the movie.

Also Jack O'Connell and 71 director Yann Demange turned up to introduce the film which was cool.

Day 3 of the festival is a day I have to work at the day job unfortunately and on Saturday I’m celebrating my wife’s 30th birthday (and my birthday) so my next update will be on day 5 of the festival, Sunday 12th October where I intend to see at least Kung Fu Jungle and A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night. Stay tuned for more and please check out my reviews so far atStarburst Magazine.

I’m also going to try and do a short video diary each day from the festival:

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