How's that for a slice of fried gold?

[Barry Shnikov]

Sorry, folks, didn't spot this before, but it's on TV now. Possibly the best British film ever made...

If you haven't seen it, tape it, watch it, get the DVD. Your laughing gear will thank you for the rest of your life.

What is it?

Shawn of the dead.

[Stuart M]

Sorry, folks, didn't spot this before, but it's on TV now. Possibly the best British film ever made...

If you haven't seen it, tape it, watch it, get the DVD. Your laughing gear will thank you for the rest of your life.

What is it?

Shawn of the dead.

I watched Shaun of the Dead last night, it's pretty good too...

Seriously, it's the first time I've watched it since seeing Hot Fuzz. I'd forgotten that Shaun uses a kiddy trampoline at one point to get over a garden fence to rescue his Mum, this is then riffed in the Hot Fuzz garden fence scene. Among other little mickey takes.

Roll on the final part of the "Three Flavors Cornetto Trilogy".

Though Simon's record regarding Spaced Series 3, and his burgeoning Hollywood career, doth not bode well for that.

[straycat]

I agree that Shaun is a great film, and I bought the DVD on the strength of that.

But 'Possibly the best British film ever made'? Mmmm - personally, I'd say no - not by a long shot.

[Dreadful Scathe]

best zom-com ever made buy a long shot

the winding on of the camera sound as the zombie gets up - i nearly died laughing

[Stuart M]

But 'Possibly the best British film ever made'? Mmmm - personally, I'd say no - not by a long shot.

And what would you nominate perchance, he asks, thus setting off the "Thread Branching Potential" alarms at David James' Skull Island HQ ("moohoo hah, moohoohahaha...etc)?

[Double Trouble]

Has anyone seen 'Run Fat Boy Run' yet? It's had mixed reviews.

[straycat]

best zom-com ever made buy a long shot

the winding on of the camera sound as the zombie gets up - i nearly died laughing

Well - Evil Dead 2 was pretty much hilarious throughout.... but yeah - I think Shaun is up there with the best in the comedy horror category.

And what would you nominate perchance, he asks, thus setting off the "Thread Branching Potential" alarms at David James' Skull Island HQ ("moohoo hah, moohoohahaha...etc)?

Well - that's more like the 'I dare David James to branch this thread' gauntlet you've just thrown down there.... maybe we need to start a thread where every single post is on a completely different topic to any of the others, just so we can watch his brain explode.... (sorry, DJ, but it would be quite a scientific coup to be able to do that under lab conditions)

Ahem.
Anyway. I can't even claim to have seen the best British film ever made, since I've missed quite a few classics along the way, but from the meagre selection I have seen, ones that I thought were as good as or better than Shaun (in no particular order)

Room with a View
Sense and Sensibility
Mr Bean Dies Horribly In The First Five Minutes (OK - so I have a sinking feeling that I simply dreamed that one - but what an inspirational dream it was)
Brassed Off
The Full Monty
The Ladykillers
Trainspotting
Mona Lisa
Brazil
The Killing Fields (actually - I was surprised to find out this was a British film)
Man in the White Suit
The Commitments
A Fish called Wanda
Life of Brian
The Day of the Jackal
Get Carter
Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
Orville Dies on Hunger Strike (see above - actually that must've been a pretty good dream)
Dougal and the Blue Cat

[Dreadful Scathe]

hmm not sure about some of your choices being better than Shaun...but i will concur with "The Ladykillers" and "Life of Brian" being substantially better.

I have not seen Brazil, The Killing Fields or a few others...to my eternal shame...

Brassed off ? Is that the Euan McGregor trumpet tat ?

[Beowulf]

but it's on TV now. Possibly the best British film ever made...

Shawn of the dead.

Was a bit confused.. obviously i was on the wrong channel or the right channel at the wrong time.. or combination thereof.

I ended up watching "28 days later" instead.

right Genre.. totally wrong film.. (but still ace!)

[straycat]

hmm not sure about some of your choices being better than Shaun...but i will concur with "The Ladykillers" and "Life of Brian" being substantially better.

Well - all our tastes differ (otherwise the world would be a far less interesting place) - but I thought if I included enough films I thought were good in the list, there'd be something for most people.

I have not seen Brazil, The Killing Fields or a few others...to my eternal shame...

And to mine, I've not seen Brief Encounter, Laurence of Arabia, The Madness of King George and various others that might be on some people's lists....

Brassed off ? Is that the Euan McGregor trumpet tat ?

Apart from the 'tat' bit, yeah...

Gloria: Do you want to come up for a coffee?
Andy: I don't drink coffee.
Gloria: I haven't got any.

Wonderful film...

[Dreadful Scathe]

I agree (despite your misspelling ) that that is particularly good dialogue. However I did see this a looong while ago and thought it was a bit "by the numbers" despite sexy Tara whatshername being in it. I did enjoy it more than "the full monty" though.

[straycat]

However I did see this a looong while ago and thought it was a bit "by the numbers" despite sexy Tara whatshername being in it.

I wonder - if I were to say I thought the only downside of the film was that the ever-wonderful Tara Fitzgerald kept her clothes on throughout**, would that make me a bad person?

**Unlike, say, in The Camomile Lawn, or Hear My Song

PS - what misspelling? :innocent-looking-smilie-of-someone-who-got-to-the-edit-button-in-the-nick-of-time:

[Stuart M]

hmm not sure about some of your choices being better than Shaun...but i will concur with "The Ladykillers" and "Life of Brian" being substantially better.

I'm one of those folk who thinks Holy Grail is a better film than Life of Brian. Like both but prefer Grail. It satirises its basic subject matter much better, and it takes the mick out of the whole concept of "epic" movies more successfully at the same time, in a post-modern way - Brian almost suffers sometimes because it looks like it's had money spent on it. Also, Grail doesn't rely so much on cheap speech impediment gags. OK, the "wewease Bwian" scene's funny, but you could replace Palin, Cleese and Idle with Williams, Bresslaw, and James, call it "Carry on Pilate" and no-one would really notice, would they?
Brian basically relies on the subject of its satire being oh-soooo-daringly-controversial for its reputation IMO.

I have not seen Brazil, The Killing Fields or a few others...to my eternal shame...

Yes, these are glaring omissions from your movie education. But should Brazil really be called a British film anyway? OK, it has a largely British cast and the script's by two British writers, but American producer, money, and (most importantly here) director?

[Gav]

Sorry, folks, didn't spot this before, but it's on TV now. Possibly the best British film ever made...

If you haven't seen it, tape it, watch it, get the DVD. Your laughing gear will thank you for the rest of your life.

What is it?

Shawn of the dead.

Love the film, seen it many times, but "Possibly the best British film ever made..."??? Let's not get too carried away.

[straycat]

Love the film, seen it many times, but "Possibly the best British film ever made..."??? Let's not get too carried away.

This could be a glitch in the Matrix.... have they found us?

[Dreadful Scathe]

I'm one of those folk who thinks Holy Grail is a better film than Life of Brian. Like both but prefer Grail. It satirises its basic subject matter much better, and it takes the mick out of the whole concept of "epic" movies more successfully at the same time, in a post-modern way - Brian almost suffers sometimes because it looks like it's had money spent on it. Also, Grail doesn't rely so much on cheap speech impediment gags. OK, the "wewease Bwian" scene's funny, but you could replace Palin, Cleese and Idle with Williams, Bresslaw, and James, call it "Carry on Pilate" and no-one would really notice, would they?
Brian basically relies on the subject of its satire being oh-soooo-daringly-controversial for its reputation IMO.

Me thinkith you spouteth pith. Life of Brian is a complete film not an extended series of sketches and bit characters. And you cant say the whole "coconuts instead of horses" things smacks of anything other than "we never had money for horses", well maybe you can , but i disagree

Don't get me wrong, "Grail" is genius too but LoB if the better complete film> The subject matter is ripe for parody and I don't feel it relies on controversy at all; the controversy is unlikely to be given the time of day by either the makers of the film or its fans.

and the characters and dialogue are fantastic and memorable...

"they only hung me the right way up yesterday"

"people called Romanes don't go in the 'ouse"

"i was blind and now i can see"

"but its WORTH 20"

"welsh tart"

"not the messiah..."

"are there any wimmin here?"

"welease wodger"

"i may be a thome athithtance"

"found a spoon Sir"

"brought peace?"

"crucifixions a doddle"

"wolf nipple chips, get em while they're hot they're lovely"

"I'm Brian and so is my wife"

i could go on all day with quotes - nearly every line is priceless....no i did not look any of these up...

[straycat]

I'm one of those folk who thinks Holy Grail is a better film than Life of Brian. Like both but prefer Grail. It satirises its basic subject matter much better, and it takes the mick out of the whole concept of "epic" movies more successfully at the same time, in a post-modern way - Brian almost suffers sometimes because it looks like it's had money spent on it. Also, Grail doesn't rely so much on cheap speech impediment gags. OK, the "wewease Bwian" scene's funny, but you could replace Palin, Cleese and Idle with Williams, Bresslaw, and James, call it "Carry on Pilate" and no-one would really notice, would they?

Tastes differ, as I've said, and I love Holy Grail also - but I don't agree that Brian relies on controversy for its appeal and its satire - scenes that come to mind include the 'Yes! We must all think for ourselves' scene (in fact - the whole "I'm not the Messiah" thang, Roman poetry (having suffered Latin at school, I nearly died laughing at that one), the whole "People's front of Judea" parady on the nature of causes - the list goes on and on. Nothing Carry-onish about it in my book....

But should Brazil really be called a British film anyway? OK, it has a largely British cast and the script's by two British writers, but American producer, money, and (most importantly here) director?

Mr Gilliam is a British Citizen. When he made the film, he held dual nationality, but he renounced his US citizenship in 2006 (or so says the infallible Wikipedia). I would argue that if nothing else, Brazil feels quintessentially British (and most lists seem to agree it should be classified as a British film) - but even if we agree that it doesn't qualify here, there're plenty of others that do.

[straycat]

On a vaguely related note, here's an exellent interview with Terry Gilliam on the ideas behind Brazil.

[Gav]

This could be a glitch in the Matrix.... have they found us?

Love the film, seen it many times, but "Possibly the best British film ever made..."??? Let's not get too carried away.

[Stuart M]

Me thinkith you spouteth pith. Life of Brian is a complete film not an extended series of sketches and bit characters. And you cant say the whole "coconuts instead of horses" things smacks of anything other than "we never had money for horses", well maybe you can , but i disagree

This "Grail's just a sequence of sketches but Brian isn't" argument is bollox IMO - Brian is just "the manger sketch, followed by "the Sermon on the Mount" sketch, followed by the "People's Front of Judea" sketch, and so on. The story's completely linear and moves from sketch to sketch to sketch - it's just the fact that we're more acquainted with the subject matter (and the lack of Gilliam animations) that allows LoB to get away with it more. As to the coconuts thing, it's a prize example of necessity being the mother of invention - they got some great humour out of a budget restriction. Whereas in Brian there's hardly any joke derived from having lots of money - just lots of crowd scenes and decent location work.

Don't get me wrong, "Grail" is genius too but LoB if the better complete film> The subject matter is ripe for parody and I don't feel it relies on controversy at all; the controversy is unlikely to be given the time of day by either the makers of the film or its fans.

Maybe I just prefer Grail because it sends up the genre of "epic movie" as well as the subject matter, in the same way that Gogol's short story "The Nose" sends up the concept of a short story. LoB sends up organised religion brilliantly for the most part, but also tries to be a "proper epic movie" at the same time.

Also I just think speech impediment gags are, you know, lame - there's no real thought involved in it. If a standup comic stood on stage with a lisp expecting laughs just because he/she had a lisp, they'd get pelters and rightly so, wouldn't they? But Life of Brian gets away with it, and relies on that joke just a little too much IMO.