UK vs USA movies

Presently I'd have to agree with the above poster. British cinema roughly had its own identity up till the end of the sixties, but it never really got a handle on post-modernism and that as much as studios and money rang the death knell really. I certainly wouldn't shed any tears if we shut up shop tomorrow.
 
I shall take note and become more like you. Thanks for the education...

By the way, if you are suggesting that an "underlying" reason is that I dislike America(ns), then you are very wrong.
 
I've always enjoyed european cinema. I lived in San Francisco for several years where we enjoyed a wide range of foreign cinema. I think in the US the more urban areas and more populated areas tend to have a more diverse population and viewing habits (likes, desire etc.).

"Atonement" did very well here. Dont' laugh but I saw it three times in the cinema and each time it was packed to the gills. But I don't remember the last English film that played. "An Education" perhaps? Albeit, Hawaii is not known for it's cinema so it's rare we get the diverse cinema as they do in san francisco, Los angeles or new york. That Spanish film a few years ago did very well here, I can't remember the name, the one about that girl living with her mother and step father during the spanish war? Also, Penelope Cruz in "Volver" did very well.

I think 'on average' people tend to want to see films where they know who is in it. The obscure English film may not fit the bill for much of the population. Although the cinema/movie going crowd would enjoy it. Someone mentioned Hugh Grant, and yes, he is a household name (although not as much as he used to be). You have to realize that for Americans (and Im sure this is something you want to complain about), we primarily want to be able to UNDERSTAND what you are saying. "Billy Elliott" DID have some subtitles because the act of Billy asking his "Da" to do something could strain even my ears to understand. Anyway, dont' take that wrong, it is what it is. I don't remember the last French film that broke recorRAB in the US, although French films do well at the token cinema in a major US city.
 
A lot of US films are heavily influenced by the UK. Be that actors (with fake accents), directors and other cast, storylines and some of them are even filmed in the UK (Harry Potter, Kick Ass, Prince of Persia and The Dark Night are some more recent ones to be mainly filmed in the UK).

Even films with heavy UK influences are filmed for an American audience because there's more Americans, they go to the cinema more and they're more likely to make money that way. The rest of the world get sloppy seconRAB.

The USA make films primarily to make as much money as possible. It's why they're all pretty with as many hot actors and over the top CGI as possible. The UK is heading in that direction, too. I love European cinema. It's raw, tells a proper story without relying on OTT effects and gimmicks and is often more character based than clich
 
No one makes a film for as few people as possible..or to remain poor. Anyone that claims as such is a liar.
Most european cinema is dull and pointless, how much have you actually watched, or have you just skimmed the cream off the top, its a nice cliche that europeans are so "sophisticated" and their films are all about plot and relationships, but in reality, like everything else they follow the same laws of art, most art is cr@p. How do you explain things like the french film mic macs? Its got cg and special effects up the wazoo, the entire film is a gimmick, and is dull and pointless as the worst american film. Sometimes the claim of sophistication and the rejection of big budget hollywood type methoRAB is just pretentious marketing. Its a rebranding of your downsides as upsides essentially. Anyways they have tried, the french attempts at pixar type films have been rather atrocious. I don't even remember the name of their last attempt.
 
no wait, i dug them up.. here's their "sophisticated" and european version of pixar output;)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaena:_The_Prophecy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_and_the_Revenge_of_Maltazard
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_and_the_Minimoys
 
I'm not sure that's true. European cinema is marketed as more thought-provoking and as having more integrity than US cinema. I am not saying that is actually the case but that the films which get shown here are the ones which fit that description. Films such as A Prophet or The Lives of Others get shown at multiplexes here whereas more mainstream comedies or crime capers only occasionally break into the UK market.

I suppose the closest British film comes to A Prophet would be something like This Is England where the characters are more authentic and less like the Hollywood stereotypes of Britishness.
 
Oh, of course. I'm not arguing that films aren't made with the intention to sell. Most films are made with this intention, but Hollywood films are made with the intention of selling from script, to production, to everything else. It's about getting as many bums on seats in the cinema as possible, and they have the budget to market well.

It's nothing to do with being sophisticated. It's because they're different. Their narrative structure is slightly different. The stories usually revolve around 'real' people, or at least you can sense some kind of emotional connection in such films. This is often stripped in Hollywood in favour for rippling pecks and sparkling cities in the background. Oh, and then the usual father/son relationship going to the dogs because the parents split up, but in the end all is well :yawn:

I'm not a massive geek for European cinema but I do find it much more watchable than most recent films I have seen at the cinema. For example, the last film I seen was an older one called The Princess and the Warrior. It was really good. I don't know what it is... perhaps it's because I can't see the cheesy acting and clich
 
Pan's Labyrinth is the name of the film you are looking for. The issue is that people go to cinemas for different reasons, after a hard week at work they do not necessarily want to watch some story wallowing on depression or whatever. Theres also the factor of easy access to films through dvd/cable/satellite now. For foreign films like independent films, these are actually the ways they reach their final audience now. People don't always have the time to go to the cinema esp as they get older, and with flat panel tvs and bluray now, home theatre for the masses is finally realistic. Ever since the dvd came out the reasons to see such films in the theatre became less and less, the home experience just got so much closer to the real thing, and such films don't benefit from the real cinema experience as much as blockbusters do anyways. I'm willing to bet that foreign film and smaller films have seen far more success now in the total market now than in any other time in history. The ease of access and convenience now is ridiculously awesome now compared to how it was in the past. The internet also makes finding films and reviews far easier than its ever been before.

I'm not sure how to get netflix stats but im sure they have massive rentals for their foreign/indi films sections. Their selection is enormous after all, and they've managed to pretty much destroy blockbuster who had spent its time snubbing film buRAB for as long as i can remember.
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/01/10/nyregion/20100110-netflix-map.html
Interactive map of netflix rentals, but it has a limited amount of films it deals with.

As for small minor films not being of interest, its not that they are local, its that they aren't good enough for a wider release generally. There are hundreRAB of smaller american films most people don't hear about, even in america, never mind the uk. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0418586/ Look at that, the cake eaters, it barely got a release and its probably only selling now on video because kristen stewart is now famous from twilight. I saw it on dvd back when it first came out, and it just wasn't threatre worthy, it was a tv movie, as are most films that fail.
 
I'm saying to make your argument you are cherry picking only the film that fit, and ignoring the rest, its argument based on stereotype and cliche. For every hollywood blockbuster there are several independent american films or lower budget drama types. So to pretend that every film is sold on script and money doesn't add up, let alone when a half dozen failed iraq war films have been made, how do you explain those? You have to blatantly ignore the reality of film out put to cling to old cliches.

" The stories usually revolve around 'real' people, or at least you can sense some kind of emotional connection in such films"
Once again a straw man, every film without a huge budget tries to do this in any country. Its all they have left after all, they can't afford special effects or explosions. This boils down to more generalization and cherry picking, its like pretending all uk films are slum dog millionaire.

"The Princess and the Warrior"? You clearly haven't seen many european films if you have to go back a decade. I wasn't all that impressed with that film either. Have you even seen a good german film from this year? The White Ribbon was from just a year ago, and while praised by some i found it to be incredibly dull. Revanche was another one that didn't really go anywhere. Sometimes you can claim you are showing psychological exploration of characters when really you have not much of a plot. Sometimes a lot of wallowing and moodiness is just wallowing and moodiness for no point. You are just cherry picking films to support a pretentious stance on foreign films being better. It doesn't have anything to do with reality. How many korean films have you watched? Some of their best films are by your standarRAB very "hollywood", whether its old boy or the chaser or my sassy girl.
 
A good example of a French mainstream (ie Hollywood-style) film would be Welcome to the Sticks. It was somewhere in the same ballpark as The Full Monty: a feel-good comedy set in "the North" starring well-known actors. The French went nuts for it but it barely registered over here. People don't go to see mainstream feel-good comedies with subtitles.
 
The general feel of this thread is that it's about Hollywood films (big budget n all that). I am slowly turning my back on these films because they do nothing for me. They're fine for a mindless trip to the cinema, but that's about it. I come out feeling nothing afterwarRAB. There probably is some really good, independent American films out there but I haven't picked them up yet because I'm liking European cinema.

The Princess and the Warrior is something I was recommended because I've never seen it before. I've seen many more European films (particularly German ones because they seem to click with me most). I didn't "go back a decade" with this. I just never seen it before.

Of course most films are character based, but most of the major blockbuster type lose track of this a little; especially in more recent history.

Incidentally, some of my favourite films are American (and often "blockbusters"); American Beauty, Fight Club, Kill Bill, Requiem For A Dream, but I like them for different reasons. I also like the occasional mindless films, such as X-Men, but that's usually down to content (I have a weird interest in Xmen) than the actual film.

I'm not too much of a fan of Korean film; well, I've only seen old boy. Asian cinema isn't that great from what I've seen. It's mainly Japanese, though, such as Audition, Battle Royal, Ring (before the Hollywood rip :p)

So, yeah, of course there's going to be small budget American films, but we obviously don't get subjected to them because the likes of Sex and the City 2 get all the air space. It's why I moved onto European film; I started watching foreign cinema in college and liked it. I wouldn't actually know where to start with independent American cinema because it's overshadowed by the big studios.
 
Not at all. Americans understand the accents just fine. It's just a lazy generalization some people throw out there every now and then.
 
No, its about film in general. Its not honest to narrow the field artificially to fit your argument, not that it works anyways.



And it shows you really have no basis for your opinions, clearly you've seen just a few foreign films. I saw that film when it first came out. Its like some german claiming that uk cinema is best because he just watched trainspotting on dvd.



There you go again, a bad film is a bad film, regardless of its budget. French/european film is perfectly capable of being dull as dirt without a single explosion or cg special effect.



No ones subjecting you to anything. you go to the films you want. You've "moved on" to european film because you don't feel like actually looking for good films, and feel superior and worldly for watching "foreign film", its more a badge of pretentiousness for many rather than based on any actual film quality. If you had exposed yourself to the total output of other countries you'd know the general quality was no better than anywhere else. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_films_of_2009
Just how many smaller films did you go watch in the cinema anyways, putting your money where your mouth is?
 
Yes, typing from an American operating system, in an American browser, watching an American TV show, wearing American shoes. I absolutely hate America. Hmmm, my dislike of American film (Hollywood in this case!) is not a general dislike for America. Some of my favourite things come from there and I don't think it's a bad country... but less of justifying myself to faceless people online and back on topic because this is going off on a tangent...
 
The UK doesn't investment in film like the US corporations do,primarily because the money isn't there.It's as simple has that!

I'm sure we could produce just as good spectacular,visually impressive big budget movies.That's not to say many of these wouldn't have to feature American actors and be filmed on location in North America - it is a rich country with 200 million + regular cinema goers.It's understandable they would want characters and locations that appeal to the average American.

Dozens of big budget movies are filmed here,countless actors,actresses and directors are working in Hollywood.Then there are the 100's of internationally popular classics seen on British television since the 1960's.So it's not like we don't know what we're doing,it's just we don't have enough major companies doing it.
 
Well thats questionable. Whats for certain is that since you've hardly seen anywhere near enough films from any of the countries in question to justify your opinions, its not an opinion worth having. That you "know" this already yet still cling to this conclusion makes is all the more dubious.
 
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