parttimer
Winger
2/10 for me, just for the beginning which did make me laugh. The rest was awful.
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SMB Film Thread 2025
- Thread starter Fletch73
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riffraff
Striker
It’s the worlds first 10/10 for me then.
Doogie Hauser
Midfield
Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye (1950)
James Cagney leads an escape from a prison farm with his mate. His mate gets shot, but his mate’s sister and her friend are on hand to take Cagney to safety. JC gets roughed up by corrupt police, but uses the situation to his advantage, blackmailing them, and getting info on local hoodlum businesses to take over. Meanwhile, he falls for the daughter of some powerful toff.
Well, it had to happen. Narratively, this is a mess, unless I’m reading into it in the wrong way. It seems to be a film about some getting deeper into and out by making questionable choices. But my God, it’s hamfisted and jilted.
By way of subtext, I picked up on various criticisms of things like HUAC. The satirical look at spiritual conmen was quite amusing. But these moments just added to the lack of focus presented by a messy narrative.
At face value, this film didn’t work for me in several respects. Firstly: the romances. Something about the relationship with the rich woman felt absurd and wasn’t grounded. I thought it was Cagney manipulating people, but nope. Then we have the 50s S&M undertones of Cagney’s relationship with the sister of his killed mate. Which was just plain weird.
Then the story beats themselves. The story flitted between absorbing and WTF? The getaway was great. The opening court monologue was engaging. The blackmailing bit was great. The rest felt like a load of scenes thrown together where Cagney’s character seemed to change attitude and motives constantly. There was no consistency in him. Maybe that was the point, I don’t know? However, for a pleb like me, it didn’t work. You need a character to be real, even if they’re abhorrent. In The Roaring Twenties he was a nice lad who turned to crime but didn’t become swallowed by evil. In White Heat he was pure psychotic evil. Consistency. In this, he seemed to jump around in terms of character motive and approach. I really thought the romance plot and him refusing a payoff was a grand criminal mastermind plan, but it didn’t seem to be. It made very little sense.
Cagney is engaging to watch as usual. He’s at his best when his character makes sense. In this, he’s good, even though his character doesn’t make sense at all. It shows that he’s better than this material. Best in Show here though goes to corrupt lawyer Luther Adler, whose character IS consistent - all calm and focused, with a hint of menace.
Still plenty to enjoy, but a disappointment.
5/10
James Cagney leads an escape from a prison farm with his mate. His mate gets shot, but his mate’s sister and her friend are on hand to take Cagney to safety. JC gets roughed up by corrupt police, but uses the situation to his advantage, blackmailing them, and getting info on local hoodlum businesses to take over. Meanwhile, he falls for the daughter of some powerful toff.
Well, it had to happen. Narratively, this is a mess, unless I’m reading into it in the wrong way. It seems to be a film about some getting deeper into and out by making questionable choices. But my God, it’s hamfisted and jilted.
By way of subtext, I picked up on various criticisms of things like HUAC. The satirical look at spiritual conmen was quite amusing. But these moments just added to the lack of focus presented by a messy narrative.
At face value, this film didn’t work for me in several respects. Firstly: the romances. Something about the relationship with the rich woman felt absurd and wasn’t grounded. I thought it was Cagney manipulating people, but nope. Then we have the 50s S&M undertones of Cagney’s relationship with the sister of his killed mate. Which was just plain weird.
Then the story beats themselves. The story flitted between absorbing and WTF? The getaway was great. The opening court monologue was engaging. The blackmailing bit was great. The rest felt like a load of scenes thrown together where Cagney’s character seemed to change attitude and motives constantly. There was no consistency in him. Maybe that was the point, I don’t know? However, for a pleb like me, it didn’t work. You need a character to be real, even if they’re abhorrent. In The Roaring Twenties he was a nice lad who turned to crime but didn’t become swallowed by evil. In White Heat he was pure psychotic evil. Consistency. In this, he seemed to jump around in terms of character motive and approach. I really thought the romance plot and him refusing a payoff was a grand criminal mastermind plan, but it didn’t seem to be. It made very little sense.
Cagney is engaging to watch as usual. He’s at his best when his character makes sense. In this, he’s good, even though his character doesn’t make sense at all. It shows that he’s better than this material. Best in Show here though goes to corrupt lawyer Luther Adler, whose character IS consistent - all calm and focused, with a hint of menace.
Still plenty to enjoy, but a disappointment.
5/10
riffraff
Striker
Yeah. It seemed like 3 or 4 half different ideas for stories that weren’t strong enough to build a book/film around squeezed into one film. It’s a great great title though.
The book didn’t work for me either and I read it in the late 80s alongside a carrier bag of the black box thriller collections picked up for next to nowt in Camden market iirc including his best known novel They Shoot Horses Don’t They? which I also wasn’t too keen on. That was filmed in the late 60s with Jane Fonda and I think it’s being remade atm.
Some of those Black Box Thriller collections are now listed on eBay for £50-£100……..and I gave mine away to a charity shop after dragging them around one too many London flat share moves.
This is disappointing, been waiting 7 years for Gareth Evans to do another film
Drexl
Striker
Still going to give this a go but had heard it wasn’t the best. Hardy’s working a lot at the moment but it’s all a bit meh.
Fletch73
Midfield
One of my problems was it takes place at night and the action scenes are so kinetic I was struggling to make out what was happening half the time and tuned out.
This was shot in 2021. However, it needed re-shoots and because of the pandemic/scheduling/strikes these weren't done until last year. Re-shooting a movie 3 years later is never a good idea.
Speakeasy
Full Back
Warfare
I think the word that best sums it up is "intense". Real life, real time story of a group of US soldiers under siege from a group of insurgents in the Middle East. Fast paced, claustrophobic with a constant sense of underlying menace from start to finish. Worth seeing in the cinema as opposed to at home, as the sound design is incredible. With a full cinema Dolby Surround experience some of the gun fire, IEDs and grenade sounds were brutal - like having your head inside a bass drum!
8/10
I think the word that best sums it up is "intense". Real life, real time story of a group of US soldiers under siege from a group of insurgents in the Middle East. Fast paced, claustrophobic with a constant sense of underlying menace from start to finish. Worth seeing in the cinema as opposed to at home, as the sound design is incredible. With a full cinema Dolby Surround experience some of the gun fire, IEDs and grenade sounds were brutal - like having your head inside a bass drum!
8/10
Doogie Hauser
Midfield
I really wanted to like that film. But it was a mess in places. I was disappointed. It’s annoying because at its best it’s engaging, strong work.
Mackemansj1
Striker
He’s becoming a bit of a parody ain’t he. Always got the feeling especially when he did Batman that he was in the mould of good character actors that out there all into their roles. He was great as bane, dunno if it’s just badly chosen roles but he seems like he plays the brooding hard man almost exclusively now. I mean it’s not that he’s acted badly far from it mobland is a good watch but it’s all just cookie cutter the brooding hard man that deep down is a broken but decent at the core.
Drexl
Striker
Come to think of it, what was his last truly great role? Dunkirk in 2017? Before that The Revenant or Fury Road in 2015?
Since then it’s been Venom etc. He was fine in the Bikeriders…
Mackemansj1
Striker
Even bike riders he played the brooding hard man. Not saying those roles he’s not done well he pulls that off really well. Just feels like he’s been choosing very similar roles lately.
He was good in Peaky Blinders but it's slim pickings apart from that
Monty Pigeon
Striker
Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960) 8/10
Kitchen sink drama with Albert Finney as a young factory worker having an affair with a married woman. Intended to expose the grim reality of working class lives, now there's a stark beauty in the industrial vistas.
Hell Drivers (1957) 8/10
UK's answer to The Wages of Fear. Cy Endfield directs a cast full of familiar faces (Stanley Baker, Herbert Lom, Patrick McGoohan, William Hartnell, Sid James, David McCallum, Sean Connery) as truck drivers working for a corrupt company that requires them to take ridiculous risks. It's halfway to being a classic. The driving scenes are great, but some of the melodrama falls flat.
If... (1968) 9/10
Lindsay Anderson's brilliant satire of life in an English public school.
Kitchen sink drama with Albert Finney as a young factory worker having an affair with a married woman. Intended to expose the grim reality of working class lives, now there's a stark beauty in the industrial vistas.
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Hell Drivers (1957) 8/10
UK's answer to The Wages of Fear. Cy Endfield directs a cast full of familiar faces (Stanley Baker, Herbert Lom, Patrick McGoohan, William Hartnell, Sid James, David McCallum, Sean Connery) as truck drivers working for a corrupt company that requires them to take ridiculous risks. It's halfway to being a classic. The driving scenes are great, but some of the melodrama falls flat.
You must be logged on to see media items
If... (1968) 9/10
Lindsay Anderson's brilliant satire of life in an English public school.
You must be logged on to see media items
Doogie Hauser
Midfield
Hell Drivers I found the same. Great, but lacking something in the overall narrative. I remember thinking that the scenes partly worked, but felt off-key as a whole.
Albay3037
Striker
Orca (aka Orca The Killer Whale) - 1977. An Orca seeks seeks revenge on Richard Harris after he kills its mate & unborn calf. I can remember watching this as a kid and being horrified at the scene where Harris callously disposes of the foetus in front of the Orca, This film is unfairly considered to be a poor man’s Jaws. But while it doesn’t have the same jump scares as Jaws it still packs an emotional punch with a strong performance from Harris. 6.5/10
Speakeasy
Full Back
Sinners
Absolutely terrific. Action/horror film with a deeply political undertone, with first rate performances and great music throughout. (Think From Dusk Til Dawn, but not shit.) Might well be the film of the year so far.
(Hint: make sure you stay for the little extra bit during/after the credits, especially so for guitar fans, as it adds another little layer to the story)
9.5/10
Absolutely terrific. Action/horror film with a deeply political undertone, with first rate performances and great music throughout. (Think From Dusk Til Dawn, but not shit.) Might well be the film of the year so far.
(Hint: make sure you stay for the little extra bit during/after the credits, especially so for guitar fans, as it adds another little layer to the story)
9.5/10
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