Americans make "movies," but the English make "films." Brit flicks have a unique style to them, combining a slower pace with in-depth analysis of characters and their psychologies. Are these films better or worse? We don't have the answer. All we can do is share our list of our favorite British movies.

1. BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (1991)

We've all made promises to a higher power when placed in a nasty situation. About to get a test back that you think you flunked? Praying that your parents won't murder you when they see the dent you put in their car? Crossing your fingers that the little stick will turn out to have a picture of a blue minus, not a pink plus?

The End of the Affair is a riveting film about such promises. Maurice Bendrix (Ralph Fiennes) and Sarah Miles (Julianne Moore) are having an adulterous affair, when a bomb falls. Sarah promises God that if He saves Maurice's life, she'll stop having an affair with him. What results are fascinating moral analyses of the repercussions of a promise to people in high places.

Julianne Moore does quite a job of resembling an English woman, right down to the boring yet proper shoes. But the electricity of this film is more intriguing between Fiennes and Stephen Rea, who plays the ill-treated Mr. Miles. Their penetrating dialogues are simultaneously brutal and endearing.

This movie skirts on edge of film noir, but its story dictates that it should be a dark tale: stolen love in the middle of the battle of Britain. With bombs dropping through the roof from time to time, emotions manage to penetrate even those stiff English shells, culminating in outbursts of true emotion over decorous behavior. This film captures that breakdown and unveils it for all to see.

Notes:

  • Nominated for 2 Oscars: Best Actress (Moore) and Cinematography

  • Nominated for 10 BAFTAs (those are British Academy Awards)

2. FANTASIA (1940)

American romance movies are not complete without the obligatory sex scene; heck, American trash bag commercials aren't complete without the obligatory sex scene. So with all the rush to jump in the sack, it's often a real treat to return to Victorian standards and secrets to discover that it is tension, not flesh, that lies at the heart of every truly enjoyable love story. With Merchant and Ivory, you're guaranteed oodles of tension to make up for all those covered limbs, and Howard's End is no exception.

Howard's End is a beautiful blend of passion and restraint, emanating from the central motif of a family home (aptly called Howard's End) and its thematic representation of family unity and harmony. And most of the credit goes to a ridiculous parade of leading English actresses, including Emma Thompson, Vanessa Redgrave, and Helena Bonham Carter.

Accompanying the elegant portraits of these characters is a vibrant backdrop that includes gorgeous views of North Wales, which is mercifully devoid of today's coal mines and smoke stacks, and other country homes. Of course, the comeuppance twist at the end is a particularly satisfying plot twist in a genre of book and film that so often leaves the audience frustrated at the inequities of an age where the abiding theme was grin and bear it for England, my dear.

This movie deservedly cleaned up at Oscar time with nominations galore and a fitting win for Emma Thompson as best actress. This movie is an artistic triumph independent of the novel whence it springs, notwithstanding Forster's great work. We fully recommend it in any preparation for a visit to the Old World.

Notes:

  • Nominated for 9 Academy Awards (including Best Picture)

  • Won 3 Academy Awards: Best Actress (Thompson), Art Direction, and Screenplay

  • Nominated for 11 BAFTA awards, winning two: Best Film and Actress

3. ONE HUNDRED AND ONE DALMATIANS (196

This movie was originally called The Madness of King George III, but U.S. distributors were worried that average American audiences wouldn't go, thinking that they already missed Part I and Part II. Audiences still mostly passed, but they shouldn't have.

This movie has everything an Anglophile could want: fantastic costumes, funny comedy, gripping drama, impressive sets-all adding to the fact that it is based on a true story. This story dramatizes the insanity of King George III during his reign, and his cure. However, the real gems are in the supporting performances from such latter-day stars as Rupert Everett, Helen Mirren, and Rupert Graves. Watching the viscous inanity of these family members, it doesn't take much to imagine why poor George lost it. The only real surprise is that he was able to get well again in a world without Prozac.

To write this film off as a cheap laugh is to completely misunderstand our point. The movie is funny, but in the same way that life is funny; in a wry and bittersweet fashion. Nigel Hawthorne (as the king) and Ian Holm (as his physician) are struggle to retain dignity in brutal circumstances, but there's not much they can do.

Notes:

  • Nominated for 4 Academy Awards, including Best Actor (Hawthorne) and Best Supporting Actress (Mirren)

  • Won 1 Academy Award: Best Art Direction

  • Nominated for 14 BAFTA awards and won three: Best Film, Makeup, and Actor

4. TOY STORY & TOY STORY 2 (1995/1999)

Anthony Hopkins delivers one of his greatest performances as the stoic and loyal butler, Stevens, in this encapsulation of the tension between duty and love. In many ways, this movie is the perfect complement to The English Patient, in which the protagonists eschew the external bonds of duty for their own private love. In Remains of the Day, Stevens subjugates all - including his affection for Emma Thompson's Miss Kenton - for the service he owes his somewhat undeserving master, Lord Darlington.

Merchant and Ivory have again captured the essence of a great work of literature, in this case the novel by Kazuo Ishiguro. As you might expect, the sets and costumes are perfect. The imposing British manors and breathtaking dcor are enough to make you forget, for just a brief moment, the shambles that is The Empire today (the English Empire, not the Star Wars Empire).

This movie surfaces all the regret you may have ever felt in your life, and then it makes a mockery of it. Stevens has squandered his whole life in soul-crushing obeisance not so much to Lord Darlington as to his own notion of what it means to be the perfect gentleman's gentleman. The movie makes clear that Stevens is the consummate butler, revealing his almost clairvoyant capacity to anticipate what will be needed of him at all times.

Throughout the exposition of Stevens's skills, we see the affection between him and Miss Kenton flicker and then sputter, unattended. The ending is a poignant passage that is sure to jerk a tear or two; or it should if you care about your date going well.

Notes:

  • Nominated for 8 Academy Awards, including Best Picture... and won none

  • Dj vu! Nominated for 5 BAFTA Awards and won none

5. WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT? (1988)

Surprise! Another Merchant-Ivory film.

In Room With a View, author E.M. Forster has stopped off on one of his journeys between the homeland and the colonies, and we're treated to the lovely vistas of Florence. The film focuses on the romantic adventures of Miss Lucy Honeychurch - who we know as the lovely Helena Bonham Carter - and her suitors under the Mediterranean sun. The stark differences in her admirers, George Emerson and Cecil Vyse, reflect the changes of the times, with George embodying the liberal and modern style of the fashions that threaten Cecil and his Victorian dictates.

Evidently, you're meant to be rooting for George in this little mnage, but with Daniel Day-Lewis brilliantly playing Cecil as a complete fop, you can't help but enjoy his scenes more than any other in the film. George is the carefree youth unleashing barbarian screams from Italian treetops, while Cecil is the starched bore reading poetry at the tennis court at English country homes. On paper, Cecil always loses, but he's so amusing in his ridiculousness that you can understand Lucy's difficulty in her choice.

Lucy's options embody the enduring options of following the heart or the mind, and the story is propelled by the drama of her choice. Because it is the proper thing to do, she has been engaged to Cecil and we must follow her through the process of determining whether that is the right decision. Along the way, we are treated to a pantheon of great performances from characters in supporting and scene-stealing roles.

Notes:

  • Nominated for 8 Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Supporting Actress (Maggie Smith)

  • Won 3 Academy Awards: Best Art Direction, Costume Design, and Screenplay

  • Nominated for 12 BAFTA awards, of which it won 4