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SMB Film Thread 2025

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Warfare - Was an ok watch and made well to hype up the tension, but it was no Black Hawk Down or 13h in Benghazi. Being a tad critical, not much happened to probably an everyday occurrence in Iraq other than the IED going off, then they had back up, air support and APC's turn up. 6.5/10
 

Into the Night (1985) 6/10
Jeff Goldblum as an insomniac who, late one night in LA, bumps into Michelle Pfeiffer and gets caught in an international conspiracy. The plot is very silly, and the tone is all over the place, but it's worth it for the soundtrack by BB King and the cameos by John Landis's mates (including David Bowie and a host of famous directors).
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The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989) 8/10
Jeff and Beau Bridges as sibling piano players struggling to earn a living in Seattle hotels. They recruit a singer, Michelle Pfeiffer, and are forced to face reality. Cliches aside (including the mandatory audition montage), it's one of the better films of the 80s.
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L'été dernier (Last Summer) (2023) 6/10
Directed by Catherine Breillat. A female French lawyer embarks on an affair with her 17-year-old stepson. It tells the story without properly exploring the moral questions.
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Monty Pigeon said:
Into the Night (1985) 6/10
Jeff Goldblum as an insomniac who, late one night in LA, bumps into Michelle Pfeiffer and gets caught in an international conspiracy. The plot is very silly, and the tone is all over the place, but it's worth it for the soundtrack by BB King and the cameos by John Landis's mates (including David Bowie and a host of famous directors).
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The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989) 8/10
Jeff and Beau Bridges as sibling piano players struggling to earn a living in Seattle hotels. They recruit a singer, Michelle Pfeiffer, and are forced to face reality. Cliches aside (including the mandatory audition montage), it's one of the better films of the 80s.
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I didn't like into the night at all (Michelle Pfeiffer nakedness aside) and gave it 3/10.
Somehow, I still haven't watched Baker Boys.
 
Fletch73 said:
I didn't like into the night at all (Michelle Pfeiffer nakedness aside) and gave it 3/10.
Somehow, I still haven't watched Baker Boys.
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I was being generous with Into the Night, mainly - as I said - for BB King and the director cameos (Don Siegel, David Cronenberg, Jonathan Lynn (Yes, Minister), Jim Henson, Roger Vadim...). And Michelle Pfeiffer getting her kit off is definitely worth a point.

Fabulous Baker Boys is worth a watch. If it had resisted the cliches, it could have been a genuine classic. The dynamic between Jeff and Beau Bridges is terrific, and Michelle Pfeiffer is pitch perfect.
 
The remake of Speak No Evil with James McAvoy

Great film, nowhere near as bleak as the original Danish version but the build up in tension is amazing.

The protagonists are beyond frustrating to watch though. Although they do have a great portrayal of people who are uncomfortable with certain behaviours but will ignore it because of their own politeness and being people pleasers

6.5/10. Definitely worth a watch if you're into slow build tense thrillers and James McAvoy as always is fantastic
 
The Sex Thief (1973) 3/10
Probably being generous with that score as it’s absolutely low class smut without even the wit of Confessions. On the other hand the unbelievably fit Diane Keen is in it and lets it all hang out - the only reason it gets any points at all.
 
Dear Zachary: A Letter to His Son About His Father (2008)

The premise of the film was about a murder victim's best friend making a film about his life to show his then infant son when he grew up, but there are developments in the story whilst he is filming it that reframed the whole thing.

I burst into tears towards the end, and again at the end. A very depressing and infuriating documentary, with a twinge of hope. The parents/grandparents are absolutely admirable and inspirational people. Will stay with me for a long time.
 
natinnam said:
Warfare - Was an ok watch and made well to hype up the tension, but it was no Black Hawk Down or 13h in Benghazi. Being a tad critical, not much happened to probably an everyday occurrence in Iraq other than the IED going off, then they had back up, air support and APC's turn up. 6.5/10
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It's not an easy watch, but a great bit of film making. I watched it with my girlfriend, who grew up in Kosovo. There is a scene where they call for a "show of force" which has a jet fight fly low along a civilian street. In the early 80s she saw the Yugoslav air force do that in real life- fly a jet fighter down the main street of Pristina in response to Albanian seperatists
 
Larceny (1948)

John Payne and Dan Duryea are confidence tricksters, engineering big payouts then doing a runner. Shelley Winters is Dan’s moll, but she and Payne are having fling. The new assignment: tap up grieving war widow Joan Caulfield and convince her to build a big war memorial/youth centre. Payne has to convince her that he knew her husband from the army.

The whole premise is effective in the levels of bad taste it showcases - confidence tricksters bullshitting their way through to a heist and utterly terrifying exploiting the emotions of people and memories of the dead. There’s no line for these people - the end justifies the means.

Payne is effective as a ladies’ man, who begins to actually grow a conscience. Caulfield gets you onside quickly and represents what life should be like. Winters is an absolute whirlwind of selfish spite and desperation to get what she wants. Duryea is great as usual, but there’s not enough of him!

It’s a slow burner of a film that ramps up quite nicely without ever turning into something histrionic. It’s thoughtful without being preachy. Good stuff.

7.5/10
 
A few catch-ups. All British B-efforts.

A Stranger Came Home (1954)

Paulette Goddard has moved on after her husband (William Sylvester) vanished on a fishing trip to Portugal, presumed dead, four years ago. Then he returns, saying that one of his mates tried to kill him.

Decent Hammer film which I found quite absorbing, despite its cheapness. One review called it near-incomprehensible. Reviewer must be a thickie. It’s straightforward enough as long as you pay attention to the red herrings.

6.5/10

The Dark Light (1951)

Albert Lieven vehicle. A sailing party find a lighthouse abandoned and try to work out what happened to the crew. Ultra-cheap, with a couple of truly dreadful performances. The premise is ok, and has potential, but the execution is poor.

3/10

Account Rendered (1957)

Griffith Jones, Ursula Howells, Honor Blackman, Ewen Solon.

A bloke is accused of murdering his wife, who is found dead on a heath. His attempts reveal a far more complicated set of circumstances, including an infatuated artist, who has a psychotic love-hate thing going on for the wife. It sounds shit, but it peels back the layers of what happened effectively, and I enjoyed it far more than I thought I would.

6.5/10
 
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Danton (1983) 7/10
Morning after I watched this, Depardieu was convicted of sexual assault. One of his victims - Emmanuelle Debever - played his wife here, and committed suicide after speaking out against him. When this came out, Time magazine hailed Depardieu as they greatest actor of all time. Not sure I'd agree. It's a show-offy performance, and at times he's hamming it up. The film itself isn't helped by half the actors being dubbed into French from Polish.
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Wake in Fright (1971) 8/10
Legendary Aussie horror film directed by the recently RIP Ted Kotcheff. A schoolteacher in the Outback tries to go home for the holidays to his girlfriend in Sydney, but loses all his money and gets stranded in a remote town full of, well, Aussies.
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To Live and Die in LA (1985) 7/10
An LA cop decides to take down the counterfeiter who killed his partner. William Friedkin's attempt to translocate The French Connection to the West Coast. Not his best. Very 1980s, with a soundtrack by Wang Chung.
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