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SMB Film Thread 2025

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Fletch73 said:
'Kinell Monty!
Saying that, I've never watched Spinal Tap.
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In my defence, I collected photonovels as a kid in the early 80s. Before VHS was affordable, that was the only way to own movies to enjoy at your leisure. Alien was one of them, so I knew it frame by frame. Trouble is, it undermined the incentive to watch the actual film. I always intended to get round to it - just took me forty-odd years.

(Just seen how much the photonovel is worth now. Shit. Don't remember ever consciously getting rid of my collection, just know I don't have any of the them now.)

Alien: The Movie Novel: Amazon.co.uk: Anobile, Richard J.: 9780708816882: Books

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I was off work sick last week and couldn't get out of bed for much of it. I watched a few films but in my fevered state I don't remember them all sadly. One was The Forgotten Battle, a Dutch WWII film that wasn't too bad. Sisu was another, an insanely violent Finnish war film about an ex Finn commando taking on a load of gold stealing nazis at the end of the war. Oh, and Das Boot, the theatrical cut version. Hmm, they are all WWII films I realise. Odd.

I also re-watched the entire Wolf Hall just because it's utterly superb and I had time.
 
craigypants said:
The Thursday Murder Club. 2025. Worst film I've ever seen. The lanky prick who wrote the books has got money for nowt. Abominable shit. 0/10. And I guess they got actor discounts for the cast of Mobland. DO NOT WATCH OR READ THIS MIDDLE ENGLAND OUT OF DATE SHITE!
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tell us what you really think!! :lol:

I like the books for the easy throwaway reads that they are. Will prob watch this later but after seeing a few minutes of it I know Pierce Brosnans dodgy accent (again!) is gonna do my nut in. He's horribly miscast here.
 
jacko100 said:
tell us what you really think!! :lol:

I like the books for the easy throwaway reads that they are. Will prob watch this later but after seeing a few minutes of it I know Pierce Brosnans dodgy accent (again!) is gonna do my nut in. He's horribly miscast here.
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Its soooo long as well....my God I miss Agatha Christie! Never thought I'd say that.
 
Ageing Grey Mackem said:
I was off work sick last week and couldn't get out of bed for much of it. I watched a few films but in my fevered state I don't remember them all sadly. One was The Forgotten Battle, a Dutch WWII film that wasn't too bad. Sisu was another, an insanely violent Finnish war film about an ex Finn commando taking on a load of gold stealing nazis at the end of the war. Oh, and Das Boot, the theatrical cut version. Hmm, they are all WWII films I realise. Odd.

I also re-watched the entire Wolf Hall just because it's utterly superb and I had time.
Click to expand...

My two favourite film watching experiences from my sick bed are Lawrence of Arabia and The Outlaw Josey Wales
 
The Killing of Two Lovers [2020] 7.5/10
80 intense minutes about a father (not) dealing with being separated from his wife and kids.
A deeply unsettling, repetitive score, long takes and 4:3 aspect ratio gives the whole film an air of impending menace.

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Eddington (2025) - 6/10 - Well, this was definitely a movie of two halves! Set in the titular small American New Mexico town during COVID lockdown, there are old grudges stirring up between the Mayor (Pedro Pascal) and the sheriff (Joaquin Phoenix) as both have differing ideas on getting through the pandemic and what the future may bring. It's all very slow paced but the rumblings of a divided and frustrated society come to the foreground leading to a pretty crazy second half of the movie. Some interesting observations and views of those mad times in all our lives but it felt a bit disjointed and it tipped over the edge of silliness I thought.
 
Buried (2010)

Ryan Reynolds is a truck driver in Iraq who’s been taken hostage and buried alive in a coffin, where the entire movie takes place

Im not even claustrophobic and it made me clammy. Very good .
 
Children of Men.

Bit of a thought provoker, not the "human race sterile" angle, but the treatment of immigrants.

6.5/10
 
Palm Springs.

Like starting to watch Groundhog Day halfway through and from Andi McDowell's point of view.

It wasn't bad - I almost felt something several times - apart from the gigantic plot hole regarding J.K. Simmons' character. Why is he at the wedding in the first place?

7.
 
Fletch73 said:
Another Woman [1988] 8/10
Gena Rowlands looks back on her life in Woody Allen's most Bergman movie. Is it also his best written?
Gena is amazing and it certainly benefits from Ian Holm playing her husband rather than Allen. It could have done with more Gene Hackman and Martha Plimpton.

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One of the few Woody Allen films I didn’t like. When his films become totally serious without a hint of humor I think they become dull and upper class masturbatory slogs
 
Monty Pigeon said:
Superman (2025) 7/10
Better than I expected, though as with all action movies these days it's hard to get invested in obviously CGI set-pieces. Can see why the storyline drove the right-wing nuts.
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Purely a personal opinion and I should be shot with sh!t for even watching it, but Superman is as you alluded to a collection of CGI “action” scenes joined together, 1/10 for me……….never again.
 
Another selection of random viewings.

The Gold Express (1955)

A gang of wrong uns plan to throw a load of gold/loot off a train. An eclectic mix of passengers complicates things. Vernon Gray, Delphi Lawrence and Sam Kydd feature.

A total mess narratively, and the script is pretty poor. Oddly likeable, though.

4/10


The Break (1963)

A convicted felon being transported by train kills an officer and jumps to freedom. He holes up in a farmhouse hotel, being looked after until he can flee the country. He is joined by his sister, travelling on the same coach as two genuine holidaymakers.

I quite liked this. It’s very rough around the edges, but there’s some nice location work and cinematography. There’s a very decent chase scene and the cast are solid. Better than I expected.

5.5/10


711 Ocean Drive (1950)

Noir which charts the rise of radio engineer Edmund O’Brien, from company lickspittle to major player in the bookies racket.

This is smooth and confident filmmaking, anchored by a fantastic performance by O’Brien, who progresses from a meek and sociable good guy, to an opportunistic sleazebag who takes everything he wants and acts with impunity.

A good quality period piece about organised crime and how it surfed the chances offered by new tech. Nicely filmed and paced. A winner.

7.5/10
 
This Property is Condemned (1966) 6/10
Robert Redford arrives in a Mississippi town to lay off railroad workers, and falls for the local floozy, Natalie Wood. Screenplay by Tennessee Williams, direction from Sydney Pollack. Not the best work of any involved.
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Suzhou River (2000) 8/10
Chinese indie film set in Shanghai, loosely inspired by Hitchcock's Vertigo. Lots of atmospheric handheld camerawork.
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Shattered Glass (2003) 7/10
True story of Stephen Glass, a journalist for a conservative magazine who was exposed as a serial fabricator. It was one of the first big journalism scandals. There've been others since, but the guilty parties (eg Johann Hari, Jayson Blair) made successful media careers out of their notoriety.
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