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SMB Film Thread 2026

H is for Hawk (2025) - 6.5/10 - Claire Foy stars in this true story of a daughter grieving the sudden loss of her father (played by Brendan Gleeson). She thinks back to her childhood falconry interest and decides takes on a goshawk to train. The subject matter has an obvious reference to Kes and whilst the falconry scenes provide a similar sense of awe the story differs in that the grief in this one is for a father's passing rather than the bird itself. It's maybe a little slow but I found it enjoyable enough.
 

Upcoming movies for April 2026 Digital Release. Not much there on the face of it

Wednesday 1st April 2026

Crime 101

Friday 3rd April 2026

Pizza Movie

Monday 6th April 2026

Bone Keeper

Tuesday 7th April 2026

EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert

The Bride

Undertone

Psycho Killer



Friday 10th April 2026

Outcome - (Starring Keanu Reeves and Cameron Diaz)

Thrash - (shark movie)

The Yeti

My Father’s Shadow



Tuesday 14th April 2026

Reminders of Him

The Highest Stakes

Thinestra

The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist

The Gentleman



Wednesday 15th April 2026

Balls Up - (Starring Mark Wahlberg and Paul Walter Hauser)



Friday 17th April 2026

The Napa Boys

Roommates

Ballistic - (Starring Lena Headley)



Tuesday 21st April 2026

Protector

To Barcelona, Forever

Friday 24th April 2026

Apex - (Starring Charlize Theron and Taron Egerton)

Desert Warrior


Monday 27th April 2026

The Neglected


Tuesday 28th April 2026

Project Hail Mary

Forbidden Fruits

No Ordinary Heist
 
Send Help (2026) 7/10
Watched this with a neurodivergent relative who really struggled with the comedy-horror and got very annoyed with everyone for laughing in the frightening bits. Interesting riff on Castaway/The Admirable Crichton, let down a bit by the CGI-ness of the island.
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Crime 101 (2026) 8/10
The same relative loved this, but my wife couln't be bothered with it and went to bed. Excellent twist on the heist genre, with a few nifty camera angles to satisfy cinephiles.
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Hoppers (2026) 7/10
High-concept cartoon from Pixar. Scientists devise a method of hopping their consciousness into animal robots in order to communicate with animals one on one. Interesting idea undermined by the redemption arc for the main villain.
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Expendables 4 (2023)

No.

I’ve enjoyed these as a guilty pleasure, with loads of stupid 80s cheese and death-defying idiocy. This is just feeble. Statham does his best to the extent of his limited abilities, but the rest of the cast are hamstrung by terrible dialogue and pacing.

Moments are written-in that are supposed to be poignant or satisfying, but aren’t, because there’s no real development going on, so they’re meaningless. The story doesn’t hang together, and scenes are a mess. The visual effects are abysmal. I’m shocked that some of the shots got the thumbs up. They’re just embarrassing. One of the finest martial arts screenfighters of the day, Iko Uwais, is utterly wasted. Tony Jaa fares a little better, but feels let down too. The rest of the cast are just ‘there’ and there’s little attempt to establish distinctive characters.

Pisspoor ending to a decent franchise.

2.5/10


Baby Face Nelson (1957)

Film about the notorious gangster and member of the Dillinger gang. Mickey Rooney does well, but there’s a lack of mood and sophistication that fails to press home the potential. Editing is choppy, and the scripting doesn’t punch like it should. It’s ok, but not exhilarating or engrossing enough. A missed opportunity.

5/10
 
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Cottage to Let (1941) - Encore

John Mills has been shot down and is taken to a requisitioned cottage to convalesce.
The cottage belongs to Leslie Banks and his wife. He’s a top weapon inventor with his assistant, Michael Wilding.
Alistair Sim turns up, claiming to have bought the place.
George Cole is an evacuee staying at the house.

It sounds terrible, but I enjoyed this a lot. The tone is a mix of obvious comedy and serious thriller, which jars in some places, but the overall atmosphere is self contained pleasantness. There’s a quintessential Englishness about the set-up, which is very easy to watch. The leads are all great - even Cole, whom I feared would be annoying at first. The ending impressed me a lot. Very decent.

7/10
 
The Vanishing (1988)

Dutch film. A woman goes missing without trace when a couple stop off while travelling on their holidays. The husband becomes obsessed with finding out what happened.

A film I’ve been meaning to get round to for quite some time, the horror is in the details rather than any gruesome murders etc. it’s a real slow burn. It was remade a few years later with a starry cast including Jeff Bridges.

7/10
 
Funeral in Berlin. 1966. Dir: Guy Hamilton. 7/10.
The second of Len Deightons spy novels to be filmed. Michael Caine is the books spy with no name given the Harry Palmer moniker for the fillums. The cheeky chappie cockney crook turned spy is sent to Berlin to arrange the defection of a Russian Colonel. Though the characters from Burnley in the novels.
The director was a Brit military intelligence officer in Germany in WW2 btw.

Route 9. 1998. Dir: David Mackay. 5/10.
I love a “found money” fillum as much as the next bloke but this one’s pretty weak stuff. Kyle Maclachans a small town cop and him and his cop partner stumble on the aftermath of a drug deal gone wrong. There’s seven bodies and $1.5m in $100 bills. Will they call it in or keep the money? Waddyamean you don’t know?
It’s no No Country For Old Men or A Simple Plan or even the one where Keith Allen kicks the bucket in his Edinburgh house share. Peter Coyote plays the cops boss.
 
Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die (2025) - 7/10 - Sam Rockwell stars in this comedy as a man claiming to be from the future who arrives at a diner hoping to persuade the customers to follow him to save the world. We see the lives leading up to this point of several of those who volunteer where tech has impacted them adversely. The mission is to prevent an event which will lead to AI accelerating beyond human control.

This has shades of various Black Mirror episodes and a Twilight Zone feel. It also reminded me of 80s teen movies like The Goonies. I thought Sam Rockwell was as eccentric as ever and perfect for the role. Although it's a comedy and far fetched there are some definite moments (like the BM stories) where you think this is starting to happen now!
 
Shack said:
Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die (2025) - 7/10 - Sam Rockwell stars in this comedy as a man claiming to be from the future who arrives at a diner hoping to persuade the customers to follow him to save the world. We see the lives leading up to this point of several of those who volunteer where tech has impacted them adversely. The mission is to prevent an event which will lead to AI accelerating beyond human control.

This has shades of various Black Mirror episodes and a Twilight Zone feel. It also reminded me of 80s teen movies like The Goonies. I thought Sam Rockwell was as eccentric as ever and perfect for the role. Although it's a comedy and far fetched there are some definite moments (like the BM stories) where you think this is starting to happen now!
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Watched it last week, good fun 👍
 
Special Delivery 1977, a good watch to be fair, niot hitting the heights but not below par In my mind. For the casual observer, get your arse into gear and star discovering the films, it's tremendous.
 
32nd of December said:
Watched it last week, good fun 👍
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Yeah, sometimes these movies miss the mark but I really enjoyed it. A lot of playing homage to many other movies (Toy Story, Terminator, The Matrix) but I think that's maybe where it was quite clever in that AI itself basically 'learns' from everything that's gone before and regurgitates into something 'new'. There's also the under current in this of whether any of it was real.
 
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