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SMB Film Thread 2026

Amokachi said:
Halfway through Doctor Sleep.
Avoided it before because it looked crap but it's actually really good, albeit disturbing.
Don't watch if coming down from something I'd recommend.

But I'm not so 8/10 so far. Ending might disappoint, will update rating after.
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It's a very good film.
 

Anatomy of a Murder (1959) 10/10
Possibly the greatest courtroom drama of all time. James Stewart as a defence lawyer trying to get a not guilty verdict for the murderer he knows is guilty. Incredibly frank for its era, and morally ambiguous from start to finish. Otto Preminger at his best.
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The Human Factor (1979) 6/10
Preminger's final film, based on the spy novel by Graham Greene. Probably my favourite performance by Nicol Williamson (in a role initially earmarked for....Jeffrey Archer), but Imam - playing his wife - is completely wooden, and Robert Morley hams it up as a doctor. There's also Derek Jacobi doing his thing, in this case as a rather effeminate heterosexual lothario. Full movie here:
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Hardcore (1979) 8/10
George C Scott as a Calvinist from the Midwest searching the porn underworld of California for his missing daughter. Gritty, seedy film from Paul Schrader.
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Monty Pigeon said:
Anatomy of a Murder (1959) 10/10
Possibly the greatest courtroom drama of all time. James Stewart as a defence lawyer trying to get a not guilty verdict for the murderer he knows is guilty. Incredibly frank for its era, and morally ambiguous from start to finish. Otto Preminger at his best.
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The Human Factor (1979) 6/10
Preminger's final film, based on the spy novel by Graham Greene. Probably my favourite performance by Nicol Williamson (in a role initially earmarked for....Jeffrey Archer), but Imam - playing his wife - is completely wooden, and Robert Morley hams it up as a doctor. There's also Derek Jacobi doing his thing, in this case as a rather effeminate heterosexual lothario. Full movie here:
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Hardcore (1979) 8/10
George C Scott as a Calvinist from the Midwest searching the porn underworld of California for his missing daughter. Gritty, seedy film from Paul Schrader.
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Hardcore! In Schrader’s top 3 imo. Superb film. I think George C Scott may have been a bit lively behind the scenes :lol:
 
Great cast, middling film:

Heartburn [1986] 5/10
Mike Nichols, Nora Ephron, Jack Nicholson, Meryl Streep. What the f**k happened to the second half of this film?!
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The Choral [2025] 6/10
Given the subject matter this should have packed a bigger punch. Ralph Fiennes is good but it's not peak Alan Bennett.
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Ordinary People [1980] 7/10
Madness this won Best Picture, it's got very good performances, though.
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Fletch73 said:
Great cast, middling film:

Heartburn [1986] 5/10
Mike Nichols, Nora Ephron, Jack Nicholson, Meryl Streep. What the f**k happened to the second half of this film?!
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The Choral [2025] 6/10
Given the subject matter this should have packed a bigger punch. Ralph Fiennes is good but it's not peak Alan Bennett.
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Ordinary People [1980] 7/10
Madness this won Best Picture, it's got very good performances, though.
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Ordinary People is of course a very well-made film, but the reason it won all the awards is that Oscar voters look at the people in that film and see themselves. See also American Beauty
 
Contact (1997)

Enjoyed this when it first came out. Enjoyed it yesterday. I can see why some people find it too preachy or boring, and hate the ending. I don’t feel like that. At the time it came out, it was an oasis of vague intelligence in an ocean of genre films driven by explosions and gobshites and soulless effects, which seemed to put shallow spectacle above all else.

Foster’s shouty voice is grating as hell. The concept of SETI getting a signal is still exciting to me, so I liked this rewatch.

7/10


MI: Final Reckoning (2025)

Overlong and doesn’t hang together well. Somehow, the film doesn’t excite much, despite the world-ending premise. I think it’s because the antagonist is AI. It’s faceless and you can’t really hate it. It’s just there. The stakes are high, but the excitement low, because of the dragged out scenes and exposition.

I really hope this isn’t the last Cruise entry because it leaves a sour note after so many very good entries. The difference between those films and this one is profound. Final Reckoning didn’t grab me at all, and that’s due to the muddled and unengaging premise. The stunts were phenomenal, as usual, but even they couldn’t help things, because there’s no handle for the audience to hold onto. I didn’t really care about the outcome, because the villain is a faceless robotic shadow, and therefore the lack of the peril of failure made the stunts seems hollow.

I enjoyed some parts, but others were just too cold and distant to matter.

5/10
 
Yankee said:
Exit 8.
Japanese horror based on video game where a guy gets stuck in a loop walking through a train station corridor.
Good performance from the lead actor and only 90 minutes. 7/10.
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Would agree with this score. Interesting but runs out of ideas a bit by the end.
 
Get Out 4/10

Crap







A white lass dates black people just so her family and their cult can kidnap and brain wash them. Ridiculous plot you could see coming a mile off. Lazy stereo typing for this day and age

Wonder who is giving this 8 or 9/10?





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League Wan said:
Get Out 4/10

Crap







A white lass dates black people just so her family and their cult can kidnap and brain wash them. Ridiculous plot you could see coming a mile off. Lazy stereo typing for this day and age

Wonder who is giving this 8 or 9/10?





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A 4 is…erm…interesting…

A best picture nominee btw at the Oscar’s that year.
 
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Monty Pigeon said:
And Derek Jacobi....

I've just seen him in another film (review to come). How on earth is he acclaimed as one of our greatest actors? He always seems to play 'a great thespian doing a role', and is constantly trying to upstage everyone else. Typical tricks: when someone else is talking, Jacobi's character will notice a bit of fluff on his own sleeve and pick it off. Or he'll scratch his ear. Or move a pen on his desk.

Probably works on stage, but on screen it's just distracting.
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I can’t stand him. I was dragged along to see him do Shakespeare up the West End about 15yrs back. Emperors knew clothes stuff it was. It was more like a carry on play than serious theatre. The crowd going down the stairs afterwards seemed all in agreement with me anarl.
Fletch73 said:
Wasted my time on these two:

Righteous Kill [2008] 4/10
Pacino and De Niro collecting paychecks. Bizarrely edited.
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Dead Again [1991] 2/10
Kenneth Branagh directs himself and Emma Thompson doing American accents in a woeful attempt at neo noir. Also told in flashback to the 40's with them both playing other people.
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I think there’s decent ideas behind both of em but that got lost somewhere along the line. Mind I’ve not seen either since their initial cinema run.
 
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League Wan said:
Thought it was crap mate, never heard of it or seen anything about it.
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Also got the Oscar for Best Original screenplay.
Got to be honest, I thought it was over rated, but OK, probably a 6 or 7.
I much preferred Peele's second film "Us" but thought "Nope" was crap.

I'm going to offer up a differing opinion for Dead Again: I thought it was intentionally campy and melodramatic and had a good time with it when I saw it at the cinema years ago. I've not seen it since though, so might have to seek it out and see if I still feel the same.
 
Not really seen much of Jacobi. Vaguely remember quite liking the Cadfael episodes when I was younger, but that might be more the setting than anything else.

Although I can’t hate the bloke because he narrated Night Garden and the bairn loved it for years. Not going to betray the boy or I’ll get wrong. The soundtrack of a sleep deprived trip that lasted for about six months.
 
Fred Army said:
Also got the Oscar for Best Original screenplay.
Got to be honest, I thought it was over rated, but OK, probably a 6 or 7.
I much preferred Peele's second film "Us" but thought "Nope" was crap.

I'm going to offer up a differing opinion for Dead Again: I thought it was intentionally campy and melodramatic and had a good time with it when I saw it at the cinema years ago. I've not seen it since though, so might have to seek it out and see if I still feel the same.
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Yeah nope was pretty crap
 
Monty Pigeon said:
Anatomy of a Murder (1959) 10/10
Possibly the greatest courtroom drama of all time. James Stewart as a defence lawyer trying to get a not guilty verdict for the murderer he knows is guilty. Incredibly frank for its era, and morally ambiguous from start to finish. Otto Preminger at his best.
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That's a bold claim! Ive never seen Anatomy Of A Murder but it would have you go some way to beat 12 Angry Men. Will have to give this a watch some time.
 
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