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SMB Film Thread 2025

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The Dyatlov Pass Incident (2013)

Found footage film. Nine Oregon hikers explore "The Devils Pass" in the Ural's to find out what happened to the 9 hikers who died there in 1959. This incident did actually happen but not in the way the film portrays. The Oregon students are first seen enjoying their time before the journey. But afterwards various news channels report on the disappearance of the students leading us to believe they are about to meet and unfortunate ending. The students arrive at a hospital where an original member of the expedition is being treated for a nervous breakdown. He feel ill prior to the journey and had to turn back. The doctors meet the team outside and tell them to go away and when they explain who they are there to see the doctors say he had died - but a man is seen with a placard with a sign. In a bar they are served drinks that the expedition had drunk the night before the hike. There they meet Sergei who says his Aunt was part of the rescue team. Outside the bar the students ask him to translate the sign which they write in the snow and Sergei tells them it means "stay away". His Aunt tells the students that a mysterious machine was found along with two further bodies - bringing the total to 11 not 9. Both has mysterious injuries.

What ensues is an horrific experience and a battle for survival on the mountain involving a mysterious creature, an attack by Russian soldiers posing as a rescue team, an abandoned bunker of unknown purpose and origins, frozen and mutilated body of a soldier missing his tongue (his tongue was found earlier), teleportation equipment with files relating to The Philadelphia Experiment, an altercation with teleporting mutants which results in the surviving two (one male "Jensen" and one female "Holly") finding a tunnel wormhole which takes them to the entrance of the bunker - but in 1959.

The end sees Russian soldiers chase a younger version of Sergei's Aunt who finds two mutated bodies by the entrance. Fully operational, the commanding officer orders the bodies to be hung up. One clearly Holly since the body has on it's neck the same tattoo she has on her neck. But the bodies soon revive.
 
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Fierce Creatures (1997) 5/10
A sort of sequel to A Fish Called Wanda. Don't know why it's taken me so long to see it - it was partly filmed in a former workplace of mine, and some of my old colleagues were extras. The film is so-so, though there are some funny moments. (There's one scene featuring a girl in a swimsuit cavorting with sea lions. Thought she looked familiar. Looked her up. It's the only film role for Lisa Hogan, Jeremy Clarkson's 'actress' girlfriend.)
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Becket (1964) 9/10
Great script, great acting from Richard Burton & Peter O'Toole. My only criticism is that it's directly on the through-line of the historical epics of the 40s and 50s, and looks dated. If it had been made a few years later, after, say, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, it could have pushed some cinematic boundaries.
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The Departed (2006) 9/10
Partly based on the Hong Kong film Infernal Affairs. Boston's Irish Mafia have a mole in the police, the police have a mole in the Irish Mafia. They each need to take down the other. One of Scorsese's best. There's a homage to The Third Man near the end. (One shortcoming of the 4K version - some of the backdrops are very obviously paintings.)
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Monty Pigeon said:
Fierce Creatures (1997) 5/10
A sort of sequel to A Fish Called Wanda. Don't know why it's taken me so long to see it - it was partly filmed in a former workplace of mine, and some of my old colleagues were extras. The film is so-so, though there are some funny moments. (There's one scene featuring a girl in a swimsuit cavorting with sea lions. Thought she looked familiar. Looked her up. It's the only film role for Lisa Hogan, Jeremy Clarkson's 'actress' girlfriend.)
You must be logged on to see media items

Becket (1964) 9/10
Great script, great acting from Richard Burton & Peter O'Toole. My only criticism is that it's directly on the through-line of the historical epics of the 40s and 50s, and looks dated. If it had been made a few years later, after, say, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, it could have pushed some cinematic boundaries.
You must be logged on to see media items

The Departed (2006) 9/10
Partly based on the Hong Kong film Infernal Affairs. Boston's Irish Mafia have a mole in the police, the police have a mole in the Irish Mafia. They each need to take down the other. One of Scorsese's best. There's a homage to The Third Man near the end. (One shortcoming of the 4K version - some of the backdrops are very obviously paintings.)
You must be logged on to see media items
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The Departed is probably one of the only western remakes of Asian cinema that’s any good.

I take that back, Star Wars is class.
 
Bad boys ride or die (2024)

Switch your brain off and take it for what it is (much like the others to be fair)

Enjoyable enough but hope they don't make anymore.

6/10
 
Moonrise (1948)

Frank Borzage directs this backwater noir, about a man who has been bullied since a very young age because his father killed someone and was executed for the crime. He becomes obsessed with the idea that he has ‘bad blood’, made worse when he brays Lloyd Bridges (one of his persistent tormentors) to death over a woman. As the panic sets in, he wrestles with his conscience, while also losing his grip on himself, as the dogs of justice close in.

This is a fantastic visual feast for fans of the genre. Dane Clark is excellent as the protagonist. There’s several scenes where you can sense his elevated panic as those around him piece together the facts. Gail Russell just about carves an independent character for the love interest - in one scene she playfully enters an almost trancelike state, with different movements and voices to show the playful side of the character. The sheriff and the dog handler are good characters, too.

What really impressed me, though, was the use of shadow, lighting and angle. There’s some excellent work as Clark descends further into flight mode, when his face is obscured entirely in shadow. The opening hanging sequence is very powerful, there’s great use of darkness and weather to add drama (such as the car ride), and there’s some super cuts and pans made in a ferris wheel bit. The use of visual metaphor to establish comparison and mood is highly-impressive. The shower scene cinematographer who worked on Psycho - John Russell - was in charge of the efforts here, and you can tell it’s a man who thinks carefully about his craft.

This film worked for me on many levels. Namely: visual, thematic, auditory, pacing, acting and camera movement. It’s a well-constructed piece of classic noir melodrama.

8/10
 
Fetch Fletch said:
Ash.

Yet more proof that Aaron Paul cannot act.

Made on a 500k budget. It does show. But despite being derivative of pretty much every sci fi thriller of the last three decades, it manages to be not even half as interesting as any of them.

Do yourself a favour, turn the lights off, turn your iPhone video camera on and run around the house a bit with synth music on.

I think this Flying Lotus fella needs to give up. I hate this new fad of directors with brand names - Radio Silence, I’m looking at you!
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:cry:
 
April stats:

Watched 38
Current watchlist 368

Highlights:
All That Heaven Allows [1955] 9/10
Hannah and Her Sisters [1986] 9/10
The Girl With Needle [2024] 9/10
Alias Nick Beal [1949] 9/10
Hell Drivers [1957] 9/10
Black Bag [2025] 9/10
 
I have just seen the weirdest film ever ever ever.

The Nudist Story on Talking Pics.

Seriously........I am still paralysed in disbelief.
.

Sorry forgot to say. Made in 1960....still staring at the telly in disbelief even tho it finished 5 mins ago.
 
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