SMB Film Thread 2025

[Monty Pigeon]

Code Unknown (Code Inconnu) (2000) 10/10
Michael Haneke addresses what he predicted would be the defining issue of the 21st Century: people from poor countries moving to rich countries. Long takes, plenty of ambiguity. A masterpiece.

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The Lost Bus (2025) 7/10
Another shaky-camera recreation of a real-life incident by Paul Greengrass - this time the Camp Fire of 2018, the deadliest fire in California's history. The overuse of CGI diminishes the experience. When the camera swoops through smoke and flames, whose POV is it?

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Lenny (1974) 7/10
Lenny Bruce biopic. Dustin Hoffman and Valerie Perrine are both great, but I don't think the fragmented structure works, and it's hard to root for a comedian whose stand-up act was more about controversy than comedy. He paved the way for a generation of comedians, but his own work was severely limited.

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[riffraff]

The Taking Of Pelham One Two Three. 1974. 9/10.

Watched this one last night on the telly despite having it on dvd and seeing it dozens of times. I’m aware this threads regulars will have as well so there’s no point in adding owt else.
Apart from in between this masterpiece and the Travolta /Washington weaker effort there was another version in 1998 in which the feller who made the origami figures in the original Bladerunner took the Matthau part. Now I’ve got to try and find that one ffs.
There’s some decent stuff on the wiki page btw.
If you’ve not seen the 1964 version just get it watched. Now.

1964! Shaddup yer daft auld get.

 

[Boo]

Haven't seen the first 2 but Bill the Butcher single-handedly saves Gangs of New York from being total dross.

I remember being very struck, also, by that final scene. All that fuss and violence and for what?

The Last Showgirl

Melancholic look at the dying days of the old school Vegas showgirl performers starring Pamela Anderson, Dave Bautista and Jamie Lee Curtis. An interesting idea for a movie, beautifully shot and with some strong performances. However, everything just felt a bit half-baked.

There were loads of intriguing little interactions between characters that looked like they were going to be explored more, but they were just left hanging and weren't fleshed out at all. Film was only 1hr 25mins, so there was plenty of space to have dug into the characters with a bit more complexity. All just felt a bit unsatisfying in the end, as I think it could have been a much better movie.

6/10

Yes, the whole thing seemed very familiar, somehow and some scenes were entirely were long and devoid of content. I also found some bits to be plain absurd, including the daughter's arrival at the show and the apparently endless solo dance to Total Eclipse of the Heart (awful song, imo).
But I loved the score and the photography was excellent.

 

[Boinger]

Thursday Murder Club - A passable 6/10.

Unknown Number: The High School Catfish - Full length, true crime doc. - Bizarre story - 7/10.

 

[SAFCOldie]

The Taking Of Pelham One Two Three. 1974. 9/10.

Watched this one last night on the telly despite having it on dvd and seeing it dozens of times. I’m aware this threads regulars will have as well so there’s no point in adding owt else.
Apart from in between this masterpiece and the Travolta /Washington weaker effort there was another version in 1998 in which the feller who made the origami figures in the original Bladerunner took the Matthau part. Now I’ve got to try and find that one ffs.
There’s some decent stuff on the wiki page btw.
If you’ve not seen the 1964 version just get it watched. Now.

Link to the 1998 full film.

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[Reilhan]

Solaris. 2002. 7/10.

Dir & Scr Wr: Steven Soderbergh.
Prod: James Cameron and Jon Landau.

This has been on my “to be watched” pile for about ten years but somehow nivver got nearer than that to the dvd slidey in thing. It looks great but how could it not considering the two leads?
Reet then George Clooneys some sort of guilt ridden widowed psychiatrist in the future struggling to get ower the loss of his wife Natasha McElhone. An awful situation to be in for any bloke but by Christ it’s surely a thousand times worse if you’d been married to Natasha McElhone? He’s employed to visit a space station orbiting the planet Solaris on which people have been subject to strange phenomenons……
Daniel Day Lewis iirc was supposed to do the Clooney part but was busy with something else so Clooney as a part owner of the production company stepped in. Based on a Polish 1961 sci fi novel and this is its third filmed version. A bit artier than my normal viewing but hey it’s got Natasha McElhone in it. There’s a bit of a Lost In Translation vibe to it in that both are probably best not watched by older gadgys in regretful moods.
I liked it. It won’t be going into the charity shop bag but I doubt it’ll be regularly watched but then again it has got Natasha McElhone in it.

I'll keep it brief as this ain't the book thread but I'd definitely recommend the original novel, if you enjoyed either cinematic version of it.
I also preferred Soderbergh's version for what it's worth. I haven't seen Tarkovsky's for a long time but it felt really, really slow paced even compared to what I was expecting.

 

[Cockney Mackem]

I'll keep it brief as this ain't the book thread but I'd definitely recommend the original novel, if you enjoyed either cinematic version of it.
I also preferred Soderbergh's version for what it's worth. I haven't seen Tarkovsky's for a long time but it felt really, really slow paced even compared to what I was expecting.

I read somewhere that Stanislaw Lem (who wrote the original) thought Tarkovsky's film version was too much of a dumbing down of his book

Anyone who thinks Tarkovsky's dumbing down has set the bar very high

 

[Reilhan]

I read somewhere that Stanislaw Lem (who wrote the original) thought Tarkovsky's film version was too much of a dumbing down of his book

Anyone who thinks Tarkovsky's dumbing down has set the bar very high

I'm going to read the book and watch Tarkovsky's film again. I found the book really slippery to grasp, in a good way.

 

[riffraff]

Masked And Anonymous. 2003. 3/10.
Dir: Larry Charles.
Scr Wr: Bob Dylan and Larry Charles.

One of the worst films I’ve ever seen. A Dylan vanity project with a shitload of name actors a lot of who apparently worked for scale (union minimum rate) just to be able to call Dylan a marra. Dylan must’ve been pissing himself laughing at them when he got home every night.
Dylan’s an imprisoned singer bought out of jail to play a benefit concert during a North American civil war and we follow what happens in and around the concert. John Goodman, Jeff Bridges, Penelope Cruz, Jessica Lange, Val Kilmer, Micky Rourke, Bruce Dern, Angela Bassett, Ed Harris, Fred Ward, Chris Penn, Christian Slater and a few others should be ashamed of themselves getting involved in this shit.
Don’t bother.

 

[Cockney Mackem]

I'm going to read the book and watch Tarkovsky's film again. I found the book really slippery to grasp, in a good way.

I keep meaning to seek the novel out. "slippery to grasp" reminds me of Anathem by Neal Stephenson

Although I have just started Vinelands on the strength of One Battle After Another, that's going to be slippery as well, I can feel it in me bones

 

[Reilhan]

I keep meaning to seek the novel out. "slippery to grasp" reminds me of Anathem by Neal Stephenson

Although I have just started Vinelands on the strength of One Battle After Another, that's going to be slippery as well, I can feel it in me bones

I tried to read Vineland as a teenager and just couldn't comprehend it. Gave up. I don't think I was ready for him.

Re: Solaris it's a great book although apparently Lem wasn't happy with the English translation. I keep meaning to try more of his work as it's probably the best sci-fi (philosophy?) novel I've ever read, along with Slaughterhouse 5, although it's a very different book to that.

(Apols for drifting onto books.)

 

[riffraff]

Link to the 1998 full film.

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Cheers.
Watched. Far better than the Travolta version but not a patch on the original. Plots identical which Travolta wasn’t. The shrink from the Sopranos is one of two cops who take Matthaus role.

7/10.

 

[Cockney Mackem]

The shrink from the Sopranos is one of two cops who take Matthaus role.

The film definitely needed a world class sweeper

 

[Andy_Roker1983]

The Conjouring Last Rites
(2025) - Too long, boring for large parts I kept falling asleep.

I enjoyed 1&2. Id advise to not bother with 3&4.

Disappointing 4/10

The Lost Bus (2025)

Didn’t mind it but again it dragged on way too long.

6/10

 

[Missplaced Childhood]

Carrie 1976, was on BBC2 a few weeks back but just watched (may be on Iplayer) a classic that holds up well, Sissy Spacek masterful in the title role and Piper Laurie excellent as her unhinged religious mother, simply flies by at 96mins and a solid 8/10

The lost bus 2025, Apple TV, seen a few other reviews on here and pretty much echo them, pretty decent overall though and good enough for the missus to put down her kindle to watch, 6/10

 

[Select coaches]

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THE COFFEE TABLE - Subtitled. Very important to go in blind on this one. I swear I was in physical SHOCK when the end credits rolled.

Read up on it as I was curious, will most definitely not watch

 

[Boinger]

Wicked Little Letters.

From the trailer, I was hoping for a quaint English comedy, .. I was wrong.

A very disappointing 4/10.

 

[Daz965]

Jacob's Ladder (1990)
Watched this again last night after having seen it when it first came out. Excellent psychological thriller with great direction and acting. Tim Robbins is superb. Reminded me of the short story 'An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge' by Ambrose Bierce (1890) which was dramatised and later shown as a 'Twilight Zone' episode.

 

[SAFCOldie]

Jacob's Ladder (1990)
Watched this again last night after having seen it when it first came out. Excellent psychological thriller with great direction and acting. Tim Robbins is superb. Reminded me of the short story 'An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge' by Ambrose Bierce (1890) which was dramatised and later shown as a 'Twilight Zone' episode.

Both of those are tremendous.

 

[Sneech]

The Long Walk. Really enjoyed it but needed to go to the pub after for a couple of drinks as it's a right mood hoover. Very well acted and really felt for the lads. 8.5/10.

The new pictures is fcking awesome aswell. Shite having to come home and slum it on my own settee. Support it. The occasion was only spoiled by our lass lovingly going to get me a second pint of Moretti and a slice of pizza before the film started and proceeded to drop the hower just before getting to our seats.

It's a really good film, but one of the grimmest I've ever seen.