Rate Mike Leigh's Films
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miran_kor — 18 years ago(July 10, 2007 04:14 AM)
Thank you very much for your rates. Much appreciated, as always.
"Excellent director!"
It really seems so. Nice to see that most people here agree about that.
vivaLuis
http://www.imdb.com/board/bd0000007/thread/65804534 -
miran_kor — 18 years ago(June 03, 2007 06:21 AM)
Thank you very much for stopping by. Your rates (and comments) are always much appreciated.
"I obviously rate his films quite highly"
And I'm really happy that you do. That's VERY promising. I'm really looking forward to see more of his films.
vivaLuis
http://www.imdb.com/board/bd0000007/thread/65804534 -
superfurryandy — 18 years ago(June 18, 2007 12:52 AM)
Vera Drake (2004) - 8/10
All or Nothing (2002) - 9/10
Topsy-Turvy (1999) - 8/10
Career Girls (1997) - 7/10
Secrets & Lies (1996) - 9/10
Naked (1993) - 9/10
Life Is Sweet (1990) 8/10
High Hopes (1988) - 9/10
Bleak Moments (1971) - 6/10
Plus:
Meantime - 9/10
Nuts in May - 8/10
Abigails Party - 8/10
Send the BNP back to the gutter:
http://www.hopenothate.org.uk/index.php?getPage=link5h -
Nriks — 18 years ago(December 05, 2007 08:10 AM)
Naked (1993) 10
Life Is Sweet (1990) 10
All or Nothing (2002) 9
Vera Drake (2004) 9
Topsy-Turvy (116d0999) 8
Secrets & Lies (1996) 8
Hard Labour (1973) 7
Nuts in May (BBC Play for Today, 1976) 7
Meantime (1983) 6
Grown-Ups (1980) 6
Abigail's Party (BBC Play for Today, 1977) 6
Bleak Moments (1971) 6
High Hopes (1988) 5
Career Girls (1997) 5 -
RabidAnchovy345 — 17 years ago(January 18, 2009 01:49 PM)
I finally just got into Leigh. While I find his films always interesting, most of the ones I've seen so far never quite come together; the whole is not as great as its parts. The acting is almost always top-notch, though. Maybe second viewings will amend this. Any way, of the films I've seen so far:
- "Happy-Go-Lucky" (the first film of his I saw and still the one I like the best)
- "Naked" (this one really jerks you around a lot, la Cassavetes)
- "Career Girls" (don't know why people rank this lower than most of his othersb68 I liked these girlsand kudos to Andy Serkis' scene-stealing performance)
- "Vera Drake" (very solid but left me hoping for a little more)
- "All or Nothing" (became rather unbalanced after Rory's near-heart attack; the other 2 families completely disappeared)
- "Topsy-Turvy" (perhaps his most accessible film; Serkis was hilarious in this [as the bouncy, balding choreographer] as well)
- "Secrets and Lies" (I have to admit Brenda Blethyn's incessant snivelling started to annoy me a bit; everything else was good, though)
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somesunnyday — 17 years ago(January 19, 2009 09:43 PM)
Vera Drake (2004) - 7/10
All or Nothing (2002) - 8/10
Topsy-Turvy (1999) - haven't seen
Career Girls (1997) - haven't seen
Secrets & Lies (1996) - 8/10
Naked (1993) - 9/10
Life Is Sweet (1990) - 8/10
High Hopes (1988) - 8/10
Bleak Moments (1971) - 1016d0/10
plus!
Meantime - 10/10
Hard Labour - 10/10
Nuts in May - 8/10
Happy Go Lucky - 8/10 -
grchereck — 17 years ago(March 12, 2009 12:46 PM)
Vera Drake (2004) - 10/10
All or Nothing (2002) - 7/10
Topsy-Turvy (1999) - 9/10
Career Girls (1997) - 7/10
Secrets & Lies (1996) - 9/10
Naked (1993) - haven't seen
Life Is Sweet (1990) - 10/10 (my #1 favorite)
High Hopes (1988) - 10/10
Bleak Moments (1971) - haven't seen
Plus:
Happy Go Lucky - 8/10 (just saw this one on DVD)
Abigail's Party - 8/10
"I know I'm not normal but I'm trying to change!" ~ Muriel's Wedding -
podwilliams — 16 years ago(April 26, 2009 02:23 AM)
For me, of those Leigh films looked upon favourably among fellow fans, 10 in particular tend to crop up in conversation. Of those,
Bleak Moments
,
Naked
,
Secrets and Lies
and
Happy-Go-Lucky
are my favourite features (with an honourable mention for
High Hopes
). Of his TV work,
Nuts in May
,
Abigail's Party
and
Meantime
are essential viewing. Of those I haven't seen,
Hard Labour
and
The Kiss of Death
(both made for the
Play for Today
strand) are top of the list.
The lion and the calf shall lie down together, but the calf won't get much sleep. -
grchereck — 16 years ago(September 12, 2009 03:06 PM)
"Of his TV work, Nuts in May, Abigail's Party and Meantime are essential viewing."
I haven't seen Meantime yet (I hope to do so soon), but I would agree with the first two.
I've finally gotten to see:
Hard Labour 7/10
Nuts In May 9/10 (hysterical, easily Mike's funniest work)
The Kiss Of Death 8/10
Who's Who 8/10
Grown-Ups 9/10 (probably my favorite of the TV projects)
Home Sweet Home 8/10
"I know I'm not normal but I'm trying to change!" ~ Muriel's Wedding
Alice Army -
grchereck — 16 years ago(September 19, 2009 05:39 PM)
Cool.

I just got to see "Meantime." Rather depressing (the parents especially drove me crazy), but I loved Tim Roth (so adorable) and Phil Daniels as the brothers, and Gary Oldman was great as the skinhead friend.
"I know I'm not normal but I'm trying to change!" ~ Muriel's Wedding
Alice Army -
podwilliams — 16 years ago(September 24, 2009 06:46 AM)
Meantime
deserves its status as a classic, I think (even if does reveal the problems I have with much of Leigh's work - which I've highlighted here:
http://www.imdb.com/board/20005139/board/flat/30592998
).
I've seen
Who's Who
now (thanks to 'Lovefilm' and the Mike Leigh Box Set). Excellent - brilliant performances all round. I was especially taken with Phil Davis, who creates the kind of articulate, 'ordinary' character that I hadn't come to expect from him, as he tended to play more lugubrious, less articulate characters later on.
The lion and the calf shall lie down together, but the calf won't get much sleep. -
grchereck — 16 years ago(September 24, 2009 05:58 PM)
You've got some good points.
I think the point Leigh often makes in his films about social climbers is that they do so at the expense of their own humanity the higher-up in the world they go (or try to go), it seems the more selfish and arrogant they become (the character of Alan in "Who's Who" is a great example), whereas the least well-to-do characters seem to care the most about other people. That may be true a lot of the time in the real world, but to suggest that that's always they way things are is like saying that upward mobility is a bad thing in itself that arrogance and stupidity are natural by-products of it (rather than character flaws that anybody can have).
(I love your sig quote, by the way
)
"I know I'm not normal but I'm trying to change!" ~ Muriel's Wedding
Alice Army