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SMB Film Thread 2025

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Challengers [2024] 8/10
Tennis coach Tashi has transformed her husband into a Major champion. On a losing streak, she signs him up for a “Challenger” event where he finds himself up against his former best friend and Tashi’s former boyfriend.

I didn't plan on watching until I realised it was directed by Luca Guadagnino. Glad I did as it was electric. Great score by Reznor/Ross

Anora [2024] 6/10
Anora, sex worker, meets and impulsively marries the son of an oligarch. Once the news reaches Russia, her fairytale is threatened as the parents set out for New York to get the marriage annulled.

Liked the first half, the second was just unlikeable people screaming for an hour. Mikey Madison is a whirlwind.
 

RIP George Armitage. Director of two of anyone with a bit of tastes favourite fillums Grosse Point Blank and Miami Blues. He also did the second of the two dreadful The Big Bounce attempts but the least said about that the better. RIP.
 
Two of a Kind (1951)

Bizarre. It’s sort-of a noir and sort-of a crime melodrama. Lizabeth Scott hunts down orphan-turned loser Edmond O’Brien and offers him a deal. A downpayment of cash and a portion of future earnings if he chops the tip of his finger off and does as he’s told.

He agrees and enters three months of rehab at a beach house before she explains the wheeze. He is to masquerade as the long lost son of a businessman, becoming a beneficiary of the will which will be split amongst the gang installing him into position.

O’Brien has some great dialogue but the character is weird. He develops a conscience, yet the way he pursues women and has such a cocksure attitude isn’t massively sympathetic. Although, the finger-chopping bit is unpleasant. Nothing is shown, it’s just slightly shocking how quickly he goes along with it. Chemistry with Scott isn’t great. The tone of the film is all over, and the logical flaws of the plan are slightly irritating.

I really like Ed O’Brien but this isn’t one of his best. His character is just too gittish. I was entertained most of the time, and enjoyed certain sequences, but it is firmly in the 5-6/10 range.
 
The Monkey

Darkly funny horror gorefest loosely based on a Stephen King short story. An absolute hoot of a film, great fun from start to finish as long as you don't try and take it too seriously. Hard to believe it was the same director who last produced that turgid dud of a film Longlegs.

8/10
 
Doogie Hauser said:
Two of a Kind (1951)

Bizarre. It’s sort-of a noir and sort-of a crime melodrama. Lizabeth Scott hunts down orphan-turned loser Edmond O’Brien and offers him a deal. A downpayment of cash and a portion of future earnings if he chops the tip of his finger off and does as he’s told.

He agrees and enters three months of rehab at a beach house before she explains the wheeze. He is to masquerade as the long lost son of a businessman, becoming a beneficiary of the will which will be split amongst the gang installing him into position.

O’Brien has some great dialogue but the character is weird. He develops a conscience, yet the way he pursues women and has such a cocksure attitude isn’t massively sympathetic. Although, the finger-chopping bit is unpleasant. Nothing is shown, it’s just slightly shocking how quickly he goes along with it. Chemistry with Scott isn’t great. The tone of the film is all over, and the logical flaws of the plan are slightly irritating.

I really like Ed O’Brien but this isn’t one of his best. His character is just too gittish. I was entertained most of the time, and enjoyed certain sequences, but it is firmly in the 5-6/10 range.
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It’s got Lizabeth Scott in it man. How can it be a 5-6/10 fillum?
 
RIP Genevieve Page. You know her, always plays the French lass. She was in Forrin Intrigue with Bob Mitchum which I think I may watch today actually in tribute. She was also Catherine De Neuves gaffer when she went on the game in Belle DJoure (Beautiful Woman Of The Day……..ish). Did far more stage stuff in France than owt else as the constant stop start of the movie lark got right on her décolletage.
 
Grand Theft Hamlet [2024] 7.5/10
Documentary about two unemployed friends who decide to stage Shakespeare’s ‘Hamlet’ inside the ultra-violent video game Grand Theft Auto.

Good fun.

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riffraff said:
RIP George Armitage. Director of two of anyone with a bit of tastes favourite fillums Grosse Point Blank and Miami Blues. He also did the second of the two dreadful The Big Bounce attempts but the least said about that the better. RIP.
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Big fan of Grosse Point Blank. RIP George.
 
High Plains Drifter (1973) 8/10
A seriously strange Western. Clint Eastwood is the stranger who rides into town. The town is hiding a collective secret, and Eastwood is there to dispense justice - through rape, murder, and fire.
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The Ox-Bow Incident (1943) 9/10
An interesting companion to the previous film. The citizens of a Western town go searching for the murderers of a cattle farmer, intent on serving instant justice. The three men they catch swear they're innocent. Will they get a fair trial, or will they be lynched?
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Some Came Running (1958) 9/10
Frank Sinatra as a GI who wakes up on a bus as it pulls into his home town. Drunk, he'd been put onto it by companions in Chicago who presumed it's where he was heading. A floozy, played by Shirley MacLaine, is also on the bus, having followed him. A love triangle ensues, complicated by the past Sinatra was trying to escape. Excellent melodrama based on the book by James Jones, who also wrote From Here to Eternity.
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Biographical drama film
"Back to Black" 2024

Marisa Abela plays Amy Winehouse very believably.


Focuses more on Amy's relationship with her husband and Dad than the tv documentaries did.
I really enjoyed it.
8/10 for me
 
Vivarium (2020) Run Time: 94 minutes HORROR/SCI-FI

British film staring Jesse Eidenberg who is the lead actor in this surrealistic mind bender. Tom (Jesse) and Gemma (Imogen Potts) buy a property on a brand new estate called Yonder and sold by Prospect Properties. They met Martin who takes them to the estate and shows them round No.9. All properties are identical in colour and style with no sign of any habitation. The pavement, gardens and road are immaculate. Before they have finished the tour Martin disappears. The couple drive away only to come back to No.9. They drive for hours and always mysteriously arrive back. What ensues for many months and years after is a series of very weird and inexplicable events.
 
ShieldsBlackCat2015 said:
Vivarium (2020) Run Time: 94 minutes HORROR/SCI-FI

British film staring Jesse Eidenberg who is the lead actor in this surrealistic mind bender. Tom (Jesse) and Gemma (Imogen Potts) buy a property on a brand new estate called Yonder and sold by Prospect Properties. They met Martin who takes them to the estate and shows them round No.9. All properties are identical in colour and style with no sign of any habitation. The pavement, gardens and road are immaculate. Before they have finished the tour Martin disappears. The couple drive away only to come back to No.9. They drive for hours and always mysteriously arrive back. What ensues for many months and years after is a series of very weird and inexplicable events.
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Any good?
Monty Pigeon said:
There's a good book about it.

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Wow love Geoff Dyer...think he wrote about Stalker. Loved it.
 
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Elevation (2024)

Post apocalyptic thriller with characters so thinly drawn it's hard to identify with the last remnants of the human race. There are aliens. Or maybe robots. Or maybe alien robots. Lots of action takes place in the dark.

Luckily the world is saved by American civilians with long guns.

Shit.
 
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