SMB Film Thread 2025

[Monty Pigeon]

Alfred Hitchcock's The Wrong Man (1956) starring Henry Fonda and Vera Miles. I watched this as part of my year long Hitchcock project as part of my homework for @Cockney Mackem podcast. Very different film for Hitchcock because it's the only film which is based on real events. Henry Fonda gives a superb performance as Christopher Emmanuel Balestero, a down on his luck musician was mistakingly accused of a crime. Balestero world starts to spiral out of control. Vera Miles (who I have say bares a striking resemblance to Grace Kelly) also put in a superb performance as Balestero's wife, who ends up suffering a mental breakdown and is institutionalised. Very bleak film, and is one of the few films Hitchcock's to make me frustrated at what I was watching. If you haven't seen definitely worth watching. Also one of the few films where Hitchcock decided to forgo his usual cameo. 9/10

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Always been one of my Hitchcock favourites. Love seeing Anthony Quayle in it. I met him at York Theatre Royal in the 80s, though the encounter was very much wasted on the teenage me. The questions I'd ask him now!

Supposedly Harry Dean Stanton appears as an officer in one of the prison scenes, though I've never spotted him.

 

[natinnam]

Land of Bad - Put it off for a while due to the film title, sounds naff, but I see it got a SMB thumbs up from someone, so stuck it on. Decent enough watch, few heart pounding moments, some ott stuff and the ending was a little iffy, but overall, I enjoyed it. 6.5/10

 

[Drexl]

70 million dollar opening weekend for Weapons, that’s very good. Box office has been a lot healthier this year, great to see!

 

[Amokachi]

Why are so many people going to see the new Jurassic Park?
Unless bringing kids or something you couldn't pay me enough to watch it.
Looking forward to Weapons.

 

[Mousehold Mackem]

The Day of the Locust (1975) 6/10
The seedy side of Hollywood in the 1930s. Donald Sutherland (as 'Homer Simpson') is miscast - he should have played the male lead. Very long and never particularly engaging, though John Schlesinger rated this one of his favourites of his own films.

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The Cameraman (1928) 8/10
Buster Keaton's first film for MGM, which heralded the end of his creative independence. Some good sequences, but some way short of his best.

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Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) 10/10
The greatest Western ever made.

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Loved DOTL. I thought Sutherland was superb in the part.

 

[PhilY]

We went to see The Naked Gun on Saturday night at the (very nice) Omniplex.

The film was beautifully daft with some genuine, laugh out loud, slapstick moments.

8/10

Top tip for those who go to see it - wait for all of the credits.

(On a side note, I was really impressed with the Omniplex. Not only were the seats really good, even the popcorn seemed a bit better than the usual and the missus (no) said that the cocktails were better than most pubs).

 

[errant]

70 million dollar opening weekend for Weapons, that’s very good. Box office has been a lot healthier this year, great to see!

audiences quite like original content movies it would seem, who knew!

 

[Drexl]

audiences quite like original content movies it would seem, who knew!

Just goes to show if you have a great premise you don’t have to give away the entire story in the trailer, people will naturally be intrigued and pay to see it.

 

[Speakeasy]

Bringing Up Baby (1938) - iPlayer

Classic Howard Hawks screwball comedy, one of the finest of the genre. An absolutely relentless pace of sharp one-liners and physical comedy, the sort of thing that could only have been pulled off by two gifted lead actors working in perfect harmony, with impeccable timing. A riotously silly load of old nonsense, a joy from start to finish.

9/10

 

[Batdad]

Off to see Weapons tonight hopefully. Quite excited - not sure what to expect.

 

[Doogie Hauser]

Weekend in Taipei (2024)

Luke Evans tries to nail a rich criminal in his spare time.

I don’t know. There’s too many coincidences and contrivances for it to feel more than amateur in the narrative department. Yet it tries to be so professional in some of the action bits. Which makes some of the other failings so annoying. It could have been so much better with a tighter script, a more consistent tone and a bit of flair where it mattered. Evans isn’t bad at all, but it speaks volumes that when he is fighting in a cinema, I was paying more attention to the scene showing on the screen (from House of the Flying Daggers).

4.5/10


The Man with a Gun (1958)

Another Merton Park B movie with Lee Patterson as an insurance investigator assessing the claim of nightclub owner John LeMesurier. Rona Anderson provides the love interest. An early Michael Winner screenplay, directed by the low budget maestro Montgomery Tully.

Tight, effective, predictable and an affable little time capsule of 50s second feature British.

6/10

 

[Drifter]

Barbie - now on prime. Enjoyed it, some very good lines, particularly the “note to filmmakers, don’t cast Margot Robbie….” one. Not completely sold on the quality of the songs.
7.88/10

 

[SAFCOldie]

Love this thread. I'm not particularly bothered about the more modern films, my young nephew chews my lugs off about them but the rest of the recommendations I'm loving.

 

[zebediah]

Just watched Barbarian on Film4, not my type of film in general, but pretty decent.
Is Weapons similar fair or a completely different genre?

Sympathy bump

 

[mikem]

Barbie - now on prime. Enjoyed it, some very good lines, particularly the “note to filmmakers, don’t cast Margot Robbie….” one. Not completely sold on the quality of the songs.
7.88/10

Just finished it now, at my daughter’s insistence, taking to 2 the number of films I’ve seen from the IMDB’s ‘50 top-rated movies since 2020’ list. I won’t be watching it again.

 

[Batdad]

Sympathy bump

Haven't seen it mate but just got back from Weapons and it was really good. Lived up to the hype, great cast, laugh out loud moments and interesting original script. 8.5/10

 

[xmfd]

28 Years Later (2025) - 3/10 - Full disclosure, I only watched about 20 minutes of this pap before turning it off. Absolute clichéd shite. Ooh, there's a zombie crawling around eating guts, oh I'm terrified. Now, they're running at me, shoot then with an arrow and make this head explode, champion! Lots of camera cutting and shaking to attempt to make things terrifying/interesting. Thought Danny Boyle might have more about him than this rubbish. Couldn't be arsed with it. Looked very low budget.

Can’t imagine watching the first 20 minutes of this film and turning it off like What were you expecting?

Going to see Weapons on Thursday which I’m looking forward to.

 

[zebediah]

Just finished it now, at my daughter’s insistence, taking to 2 the number of films I’ve seen from the IMDB’s ‘50 top-rated movies since 2020’ list. I won’t be watching it again.

My lass had to explain all the in jokes to me

 

[Shack]

Can’t imagine watching the first 20 minutes of this film and turning it off like What were you expecting?

Going to see Weapons on Thursday which I’m looking forward to.

I was hoping it might not be clichéd shite. Unfortunately it ticked all the zombie horror boxes and realised it was going to be no different from the hundreds of other similar movies.

 

[xmfd]

I was hoping it might not be clichéd shite. Unfortunately it ticked all the zombie horror boxes and realised it was going to be no different from the hundreds of other similar movies.

The funny thing is, the second half of the film is absolutely miles off what you’ve said and nothing like cliche zombie films imo…. For better or for worse!