The best British films… where to start? Of course this list is far but exhaustive, but these are some recent films you definitely shouldn’t miss!
- New British movies in 2018
- Best British movies of 2017
- 2010-2018: Must-watch British movies on Netflix or DVD
New British movies in 2018
Top movies up for release in 2018Peterloo
DIRECTOR: Mike Leigh CAST: Maxine Peake, Rory Kinnear, David Bamber
On 16 august 1819, 80.000 demonstrators gathered in Manchester, demanding political reforms. A film about the Peterloo Massacre. Read more
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Amazon | All Release dates On Chesil Beach
DIRECTOR: Dominic Cooke CAST: Saoirse Ronan, Emily Watson, Samuel West
1962, a young couple spends their honeymoon night at the British coast. Read more
RATING: 82/100
Netflix | Amazon | All Release dates In Fabric
DIRECTOR: Peter Strickland CAST: Gwendoline Christie Sidse Babett Knudsen Marianne Jean-Baptiste
British cult director ('Berberian Sound Studio', 'The Duke of Burgundy') returns with another vintage horror tale. 'In Fabric' takes place in a department store during a cold winter and evolves around a cursed dress. Read more
RATING: 85/100 Netflix | Amazon | All Release dates
Netflix 
Amazon Best British movies of 2017
Top rated 2017 British moviesKing Arthur: Legend of the Sword
DIRECTOR: Guy Ritchie CAST: Charlie Hunnam Hermione Corfield Katie McGrath
Brilliant British filmmaker Guy Ritchie (Snatch, Lock Stock) took on the job of directing an adaptation of Shakespeare legendary epic. Sounds interesting, even more so because with this project, Ritchie seems to move away from his comfort zone. Read more
RATING: 78/100
RELEASE DATE: May 12th, 2017
Netflix | Amazon | All Release dates The Levelling
DIRECTOR: Hope Dickson Leach CAST: Ellie Kendrick David Troughton Jack Holden
This debut feature film about a young vet (Ellie Kendrick, Game of Thrones) returning to the village of her childhood after the tragic death of her brother stirred critics and audiences alike at several festivals. Shot in the flat, bleak surroundings of Somerset, this story about neglected family ties in an unforgiving rural setting is easily one of the best movies in 2017. Read more
RATING: 88/100
RELEASE DATE: June 1st, 2017
Netflix | Amazon | All Release dates God’s Own Country
DIRECTOR: Francis Lee CAST: Josh O'Connor Alec Secareanu Gemma Jones
A beautiful gay romance between a tough young farmer from the north of England and a shy, Romanian migrant worker. Read more
RATING: 77/100
RELEASE DATE: June 1st, 2017
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Best British movies on Netflix or DVD in 2018
2010's best rated British movies out on DVD, Bluray or streaming on VOD (Netflix, Amazon).I, Daniel Blake
DIRECTOR: Ken Loach CAST: Dave Johns Hayley Squires Sharon Percy
With 'I, Daniel Blake', social-realist director Ken Loach won his second Palm D'Or last spring. And deservedly so; 'Daniel Blake' is a heartfelt and poignant film about the hardships that fall upon the incapacitated in the UK. Read more
RATING: 80/100
RELEASE DATE: October 21st, 2016
Netflix | Amazon | All Release dates Weekend
DIRECTOR: Andrew Haigh CAST: Tom Cullen Chris New Jonathan Race
We already discussed this one earlier, but Weekend is simply too good to leave it out here. The set up is simple and brilliantly effective. Two gay guys meet each other and fall in love over the course of a weekend. Russell is an introvert guy, who still hasn’t completely come to terms with his sexuality while Glen is outgoing and slightly rebellious, but somehow the chemistry is enormous. The sad thing is however, Glen leaves for the United States after the weekend. Weekend is achingly beautiful and provokes a feeling so strong you can almost taste it. Read more
RATING: 77/100
RELEASE DATE: November 4th, 2011
Netflix | Amazon | All Release dates Philomena
DIRECTOR: Stephen Frears CAST: Judi Dench Steve Coogan Sophie Kennedy Clark
Philomena stole the hearts of many last year. At one point, it even seemed to have a serious chance at winning the Best Foreign Film oscar. It didn’t, which is a good thing, considering the films it was competing with. Still, Philomena is a really enjoyable and moving film. Steve Coogan, who seems to become a better actor every year, is brilliant as a cocky politician turned journalist who’s determined to unravel a simple Irishwoman’s (even more brilliantly and atypically portrayed by Judi Dench) past. Read more
RATING: 76/100
RELEASE DATE: November 27th, 2013
Netflix | Amazon | All Release dates Tyrannosaur
DIRECTOR: Paddy Considine CAST: Peter Mullan Archie Lal Jag Sanghera
Another promising debut film marking a bright future for British cinema. Tyrannosaur can be placed in a long English tradition of social-realist drama, the films Ken Loach and his followers have patented. It tells the unlikely story of Joseph, a lower class widower with some serious anger issues and Hannah, a devote Christian who has her domestic problems of her own. Both wounded souls in their own respect, Joseph and Hannah find comfort in each others’ company. Considine shows that these typical raw British lower class stories never wear out, providing that you tell them craftfully. Read more
RATING: 76/100
RELEASE DATE: October 7th, 2011
Netflix | Amazon | All Release dates Broken
DIRECTOR: Rufus Norris CAST: Charlie Booty Lily James Tim Roth
And yet another debut. And again a book adaptation; family drama film Broken is loosely based on Harper Lee’s masterpiece To Kill a Mockingbird. Broken‘s tone is a lot darker, but it shares the book’s core. Skunk is an eleven year old girl who, like in so many coming of age stories, loses her innocence during a summer, after she’s confronted with a fair amount of injustice. Director Norris succeeds wonderfully in translating a classic Southern Gothic tale to a modern day story in England, but the films’ greatest asset is young Eloise Laurence, who portrays Skunk in such a nuanced way. Read more
RATING: 73/100
RELEASE DATE: August 22nd, 2012
Netflix | Amazon | All Release dates Submarine
DIRECTOR: Richard Ayoade CAST: Craig Roberts Sally Hawkins Paddy Considine
Before directing his debut film Submarine, Richard Ayoade was a recognisable face in Britain already, albeit as an actor. He was part of the cast of popular cult comedy series The Mighty Boosh and The IT crowd, which made his directorial debut all the more anticipated. Submarine, an adaptation of the novel with the same name is an excellent, off beat coming of age dramedy about a young Welsh boy who’s destined to lose his virginity and to save his parents’ marriage. Arctic Monkey’s frontman Alex Turner was asked to write an original score for the film, which lifts the film to an even higher level. Read more
RATING: 73/100
RELEASE DATE: March 18th, 2011
Netflix | Amazon | All Release dates Another Year
DIRECTOR: Mike Leigh CAST: Jim Broadbent Ruth Sheen Lesley Manville
Mike Leigh is certainly no stranger to directing honest films, inhabited by utterly real people. At the centre of Another Year is an elderly couple blessed with a large circle of friends. Friends with all sort of problems, who all, to a greater or lesser extent depend on them. You don’t need to expect big plot twists here. Another Year follows a group of friends in the autumn of their lives during four seasons. Nice things happen, awful things happen. There aren’t that much directors, however, who are able to make that worth your while. Another impressive achievement by one of England’s most beloved directors. Read more
RATING: 73/100
RELEASE DATE: February 4th, 2011
Netflix | Amazon | All Release dates Never Let Me Go
DIRECTOR: Mark Romanek CAST: Keira Knightley Carey Mulligan Andrew Garfield
‘Read the book first’, is what people always say when you’re about to watch an adaptation of a novel. I’m not quite sure if that goes for British-Japanese novelist Kazuo Ishiguro’s works too, as Remains of the Day is a much better film than a book. Never Let Me Go, based on a Ishiguro novel too, is quite impressive, which makes me wonder how much I’ll like the book. It’s a dystopian romance story, set in a boarding school in an alternate time. It would be a waste to spoil the unexpected twist in the plot, but lets say it gives you a clear idea of the horrific ‘side effects’ of cloning. Read more
RATING: 72/100
RELEASE DATE: October 15th, 2010
Netflix | Amazon | All Release dates Locke
DIRECTOR: Steven Knight CAST: Tom Hardy Olivia Colman Ruth Wilson
Locke isn’t the first film that takes entirely place in a single space. Recently we’ve seen Buried (a coffin) and All is Lost (a yacht). In Locke, we follow Tom Hardy in a power house role as Ivan Locke, a construction foreman determined to come to terms with something he did in the recent past. The entire film takes place in a car and the only thing we see and hear is Locke making phone calls via his speakers which unravels his recent past and his current plan bit by bit to the viewer. A single location film is always tricky, as it either becomes a gimmick or just plain boring. Stephen Knights’ clever and economically written script however, makes this British film a standout in the subgenre. Read more
RATING: 71/100
RELEASE DATE: April 11th, 2014
Netflix | Amazon | All Release dates Bridget Jones’s Baby
DIRECTOR: Sharon Maguire CAST: Renée Zellweger Gemma Jones Jim Broadbent
Expectations were low, but 'Bridget Jones's baby' is truly a triumphant return. Older, but definitely not wiser, in this part our heroine gets knocked up. But by whom? Read more
RATING: 67/100
RELEASE DATE: September 15th, 2016
Netflix | Amazon | All Release dates Sightseers
DIRECTOR: Ben Wheatley CAST: Alice Lowe Kenneth Hadley Steve Oram
Even though Wheatly is still a new kid on the block in English cinema, it feels he’s already an established name. Given the years he has been active as a film maker, his output has been quite high. Which is a good thing, because his dark yet fresh films are quite something. We could easily have chosen any of his other features from the 2010’s, but picked Sightseers, as it embodies what Wheatley stands for the best. A darkly humourous, twisted film about a seemingly ordinary couple in a camper on a rampage through England. Please make sure to check his other films too! Read more
RATING: 65/100
RELEASE DATE: May 10th, 2013
Netflix | Amazon | All Release dates The Double
DIRECTOR: Richard Ayoade CAST: Jesse Eisenberg Mia Wasikowska Wallace Shawn
Again Richard Ayoade. Well, you could easily say he’s our favorite new British director. With The Double, which is loosely based on Dostoyevski’s famous novella,he’s in for something entirely different than Submarine. The result is daring and fascinating and ultimately better. Jesse Eisenberg, who is going through somewhat of a renaissance after a few disappointing roles, is Simon James, a colorless employee of a nondescript Soviet-like workstation. The events take a surprising turn when all of a sudden his doppelgänger, James Simon (played by Eisenberg as well) shows up. James is his, however, his opposite in literally everything, which makes Simons’ life even harder than it already was. The Double is both visually stunning and dazzling story-wise. A British film for which the word ‘kafka-esque’ seemed to be invented. Read more
RATING: 65/100
RELEASE DATE: April 4th, 2014
Netflix | Amazon | All Release dates Shell
DIRECTOR: Scott Graham CAST: Chloe Pirrie Michael Smiley Joseph Mawle
Out of nowhere came Scott Graham, a young and very promising Scottish director. Shell is a small, intimate coming of age story about a girl who lives with her lonely, surly father in a secluded area somewhere in the Scottish Highlands. They own a gas station and the passing drivers are about the only people who connect her to the world outside theirs. Dialogues are sparse in this film, as father and daughter merely communicate without talking, fastknit but opressive as their relationship has grown. Read more
RATING: 64/100
RELEASE DATE: March 15th, 2013
Netflix | Amazon | All Release dates The Woman in Black
DIRECTOR: James Watkins CAST: Daniel Radcliffe Janet McTeer Ciarán Hinds
Nobody seemed to expect much of Daniel Radcliffe’s acting skills upon finishing the Harry Potter series. In The Woman in Black, he proved he is pretty solid and he actually keeps on proving it in all the latest features he is in. The Woman in Black (produced by legendary horror company Hammer!) is a nice, old-fashioned haunted house tale about a young widowed lawyer who has to arrange the sale of an old house, located on a remote island. This film doesn’t really offer anything new, but James Watkins’ atmospheric gothic flick proves that a horror film full of cliches and archetypes can still be scary as hell. Read more
RATING: 64/100
RELEASE DATE: February 3rd, 2012
Netflix | Amazon | All Release dates Light Years
DIRECTOR: Esther May Campbell CAST: Sophie Burton James Stuckey Mike Wright
A charming, little coming of age film about a young girl trying to reunite her estranged family during a hot summer day. A dreamy and visually overwhelming debut. We're very much looking forward to what director Esther Campbell will do next! Read more
RATING: 63/100
RELEASE DATE: September 22nd, 2016
Netflix | Amazon | All Release dates Under the Skin
DIRECTOR: Jonathan Glazer CAST: Scarlett Johansson Jeremy McWilliams Lynsey Taylor Mackay
In 2004, Jonathan Glazer directed Birth, a reincarnation drama with Nicole Kidman which was met with mixed results. For years it was silent around Glazer, up to a point where it wasn’t clear whether he would ever shoot a movie again. Thank God he did. Under the Skin, which stars Scarlett Johansson in probably her most interesting role since Lost in Translation, is a small cinematic wonder. Johansson plays an alien seductress who preys on men in Scotland. Under the Skin is sexy, enigmatic and visually overwhelming. Please, make sure to watch this one on a big screen. Comparisons have been drawn to Stanley Kubricks’ work, which for once isn’t an overstatement. One of the more innovative and best British films of the last few years. Read more
RATING: 63/100
RELEASE DATE: March 14th, 2014
Netflix | Amazon | All Release dates Ginger & Rosa
DIRECTOR: Sally Potter CAST: Elle Fanning Alice Englert Annette Bening
There are a few pretty good films out there that show that the free (sexual) spirit of the sixties and seventies wasn’t always that great, like Lukas Moodyssons’ Together (2000) and Dorotheé van den Berghe’s My Queen Karo (2009). Ginger & Rosa is one of those films too. Elle Fanning impressively plays a young girl whose world is turned upside down when her best friend is starting an affair with her father. The film starts out as a mediocre coming of age film, but soon evolves into a poignant portrait of a time in which intellectuals could use the free spirit for their own benefits. Read more
RATING: 63/100
RELEASE DATE: October 19th, 2012
Netflix | Amazon | All Release dates Wuthering Heights
DIRECTOR: Andrea Arnold CAST: Kaya Scodelario James Howson Solomon Glave
Andrea Arnold left her mark with her previous efforts Red Road (2007) and Fish Tank (2009). Wurthering Heights, a remarkable take on the well known and often adapted book is something different, while at the same time Arnold maintains her distinctive raw and poetic style, reminiscent of Terence Malick’s best work. It’s daring how she made a so often told story her own. A refreshing little gem amongst that endless list of well crafted but often boring Brontë and Austen adaptations. Read more
RATING: 61/100
RELEASE DATE: January 21st, 2012
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