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SMB Film Thread 2025

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League Wan said:
Is it just me or is the film industry knackered? There just doesn't seem to be any great films coming outz nothing that I seem to like. It's almost like everything has already been done and all that's left is milking franchises. Seems like series is the way to go, far better series coming out these days
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Yep, 2025 so far has been the worst year I can remember for films so far. Hardly any worth watching.

There’s seems to be so much crap now, rarely watch something that I think is decent. Most films try to be too clever or portray some sort of message.
 

Paper Moon (1973) 9/10
Peter Bogdanovich's homage to John Ford. The distinctive look of the b&w cinematography was apparently Orson Welles's idea - he suggested using a red filter. Ryan O'Neal is a small-time conman on a road trip with newly orphaned 8-year-old Tatum O'Neal, who turns out to be more skilled than he is.
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What's Up, Doc? (1972) 10/10
Didn't intend to see this again, but dipped in and ended up watching it to the end - for the umpteenth time. The greatest screwball comedy ever made.
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Oh, Mr Porter! (1937) 6/10
Barry Norman rated this one of the top 100 movies of the 20th Century. Will Hay's pretty funny in it, though it's a style of comedy that hasn't aged well. But from this you can see why the likes of Francois Truffaut were so dismissive of English cinema. The train sequences are amateurish. Just a year later in France, Jean Renoir was making La Bete Humaine - a train movie that's never been surpassed.
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Sleeping Car to Trieste (1948)

A couple of society-comfortable spies (Jean Kent and Albert Lieven) steal a diary from an Embassy containing sensitive information. They throw it to accomplice Alan Wheatley who betrays them as does a runner. They all end up in the same train, with a collection of random passengers unwittingly entering the situation.

It’s all a bit fluffy in style, and hasn’t aged well, but my enjoyment of it depended on the character work. And it’s good. The ensemble is great: Rona Anderson, Finlay Currie, David Tomlinson, Michael Ward and Bonar Colleano. Tomlinson and Ward are particularly enjoyable as a good time Charlie and a bird expert respectively. It’s not much of a thriller or mystery, but I liked the various eccentricities.

6/10
 
AFRAID
Blumhouse horror about a super duper home AI system.
At less than 90 mins it flies by, but possibly feels to rushed.
Watchable if instantly forgettable
5/10

Mufasa: The Lion King
Another Disney prequel no-one asked for.
Credit where credit is due the animation is incredible, with near photo realistic animals only this time they've allowed the animators licence to give a bit of expression and movement in the faces, which was noticeably absent in the earlier re-make. Sadly the visuals are let down by a bog standard standard story and more crap songs from Lin Manuel Miranda which is a shame.
Kids will probably enjoy it though, and in the end they're who the film is aimed at.
5/10
 
Probably not someone that many will know, but Richard Norton died today at 75. A major figure in 80s Asian cinema, he shared the screen with some of the finest in various martial arts films, and worked with a load of Hollywood A Listers as a fight co-ordinator.
 
Max. 2002. 7/10.
John Cusack is an armless Jewish German WW1 veteran from a well to do family who is barely scraping by in Berlin 1918 as an art dealer. A skint WW1 veteran with dreams of being a successful artist brings his portfolio around in the hope of being represented by Cusack…………I think you can guess where it’s going.

Children Of Men. 2006. 8/10.
Clive Owen is a former political activist now shirking as a civil servant in a distopian 2027 London turned upside down by civil war, terrorism, multiple pandemics, a 20yrs old human fertility crisis and the mags winning a UEFA recognised first class trophy. He’s asked by his ex wife to fix some travel permits for a journey from London-Bexhill so that a young lass can see where Spike Milligan used to live and have a go on a rowing boat.
TBH it looked as if we were seriously heading this way just a few years back when I saw it last.
 
The cast for the upcoming action thriller The Amateur seems to have been assembled to my tastes which is very nice of them. Rami Malek, Laurence Fishburne, Holt McCallany and Jon Bernthal. I’m praying it’s good.
 
Drexl said:
The cast for the upcoming action thriller The Amateur seems to have been assembled to my tastes which is very nice of them. Rami Malek, Laurence Fishburne, Holt McCallany and Jon Bernthal. I’m praying it’s good.
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I watched the trailer a while back. It was one of those that gave away the entire linear plot of the film. 🙄
 
riffraff said:
Children Of Men. 2006. 8/10.
Clive Owen is a former political activist now shirking as a civil servant in a distopian 2027 London turned upside down by civil war, terrorism, multiple pandemics, a 20yrs old human fertility crisis and the mags winning a UEFA recognised first class trophy. He’s asked by his ex wife to fix some travel permits for a journey from London-Bexhill so that a young lass can see where Spike Milligan used to live and have a go on a rowing boat.
TBH it looked as if we were seriously heading this way just a few years back when I saw it last.
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The book, Children of Man is excellent and worth a read.
👍
 
The Dead Zone (1983)
A lot of disappointing adaptations have been made out of Stephen King novels. This is one of the few times where everything clicked. Directed by David Cronenberg and starring Christopher Walken, The Dead Zone was marketed as a horror film but it's more a character study about loss and the emotional turmoil that arises from a broken heart. Chilling, harrowing and incredibly sad. What would you do if you could change the future?
 
Gladiator 2: Wasn't as bad as I'd expected it to be with comments from here, actually wasn't going to watch it at all, but run out of stuff, so stuck it on. Aye it's daft, and Denzil plays a Roman Denzil, the lead was ok, couldn't fill Crowes shoes, also Pedro wasn't at his best. This was another film that the more you watched, the more you wished you stuck on Gladiator original on. Standalone 6.5/10, knowing that you seen the original film, 5.5/10
 
Fletch73 said:
Black Bag [2025] 8/10
Soderbergh, Fassbender, Blanchett. Intelligent, stylish, sexy. More films should be 90 minutes long.

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Was deciding between this and Opus.
Despite Opus having poorer reviews AND me loving Soderbergh movies, I plummed for Opus. Just hope it’s worth it haha
 
Megalopolis - I only watched it because it was slated and looked utterly terrible, thought I had to see for myself. It's mindbogglingly awful! Terrible CGI, hilarious acting, the worst script I've heard in a major budget film. It's shocking. Some unintentionally funny scenes though and Aubrey Plaza is lush.
 
Nee reviews for snow white yet? I have no interest like neither have the kids but I've seen it's got the most bizarre ratings in IMDB, 1.6/10 but that's because theres loads of 1s and the obviously a lot less people are giving it 10/10
 
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