There are plenty of very good British films. To be honest, it's very often down to the distributors not believing that an American audience will get into some of them so don't release them there. But there are plenty of very properly British films that don't pander to any international audiences - e.g. Trainspotting, Hot Fuzz, Secrets and Lies etc. And if you find a British film with an American actor in it then you know they're pandering to a US audience.
Hmmm. I can see what you are saying. Our television shows - and by our, I mean us British - are exceptionally hard hitting, gritty, and purely brilliant. But, though I say that, I have never really enjoyed a British movie as much as I enjoy our television dramas. So you definitely have a point there.
From the 1970's up until the 90's Britain used to make more hard hitting types of films such as the long good friday, lock stock and two smoking barrels, a clockwork orange and many others. Over the past 20 years however, there have been very few movies that fit that category. Maybe this is partly due to political correctness or possibly it's just a reflection of changing times. Maybe film producers will only make films they think will make large profits, the other thought i have is that possibly there just aren't the actors around that can convey these grittier parts effectively.
I personally love British films, but you have to understand their humor for it to really be funny. British people are drier and more sarcastic rather than blatantly hilarious. British comedies are way over the top, and definitely more ridiculous than anything made here. But their action flicks are just as good, and their dramas are better. Overall, I prefer British films and TV to things that are made in America.
I don't think British movies are bad, I actually find most of them really brilliant. On the other hand, Hollywood nowadays makes good trailers, but bad films.
Being from england I might be slightly biased but I'd have to say that British movies tend to be a lot better quality than ones from Hollywood. I think the writing and the acting tends to be a lot better, i don't know if this is because we don't make a great deal of movies so the ones we do make we put a lot more time and care into them? As for British people have a unique style of humour, I totally agree with that. Sarcasm is pretty much the standard for comedy over here and not just on the screen, in day to day life as well. I don't tell jokes, I make jokes out of people and situations. That's what British comedy is all about.
This is not a movie but a TV Series, an old one at that, that I really like. It is dark and sad but I like the character. The series is Case Histories, Jackson Brodie, it is in Scotland not Britain. The guy is hard but he gets the job done. I see it on Masterpiece when they show it which is not often.
I think both the UK and the US have both produced some brilliant and some terrible movies. One of my favourite movies (28 days later) is a British movie. I am from the UK and I love UK and US cinema, some is good, some not so much but hey are both very different and should be appreciated as different rather than comparing.
Britain is great at making dark films, but Britain generally doesn't make many movies anymore, most of the ones they do make are the type of ones they're good at, so personally I wouldn't say that British films are necessarily bad but they really don't make too many of them to even class them as good or bad.
