• The first stage of the forum upgrades has now been completed but they remain in a degraded state and are still being worked on. Normal posting/reading should now be possible.
    Please read this thread for more details.
    New user registrations are currently disabled.

SMB Film Thread 2025

Status
Not open for further replies.
A few catch up pocket reviews…

The Man Who Died Twice (1958)

Bloke dies in a car accident. His wife (Vera Ralston) identifies him. A short time later, she witnesses some goons fighting on the balcony of her apartment. The brother (Rod Cameron) of her dead husband shows up. She seems to think that people are looking for something in her flat.

Decent cheapie. Bit predictable but with some amusing heavies.
6/10


Behind Green Lights (1946)

Carole Landis vehicle. A body is left in a car outside a police building. Different characters enter the fray and reveal a story of red herrings, blackmail and corruption.

Pleasantly-brief and interestingly-plotted, it’s quite naive and old-fashioned in its approach, but I enjoyed it far more than the sum of its parts indicated that I should.

6.5/10


Night Train for Inverness (1960)

Danziger-produced Brit cheapie about an ex-con (Norman Wooland) who is seemingly ostracised by his wife and child. He hatches a plan with former girlfriend Jane Hylton to abduct his son (Dennis Waterman) and escape to Inverness on the overnight train, believing he’ll be less conspicuous travelling as a ‘family’. Unfortunately, he doesn’t realise that young Dennis has just been diagnosed as a diabetic, doesn’t have his insulin, and is either too stupid or too embarrassed to tell anyone, while he whomps down ice creams and chocolate drops.

Enjoyable and compact, it’s a decent hour of entertainment that contains several stupid plot points, but it doesn’t seem to matter, because it’s quite a tense little thriller. The doctor in the carriage is a great little character.

7/10
NB - Dennis Waterman neither writes nor sings the feem toon.
 

Black Box (Boîte Noir) - BBC iPlayer

Thriller/mystery film about a young air crash investigator with a gift of having incredibly accurate hearing and being able to decipher cockpit voice recorders better than anyone else. Stars the fantastic comic actor Pierre Niney in an uncharacteristically serious, straight role. Credit where it's due, he does it well.

Starts well but then lost momentum after 15mins and dragged on for an hour or so, before picking up again to the conclusion. Was with sticking with in the end, but was a bit of a slog in the middle.

6.5/10
 
Warfare - 7.8/10 - enjoyed it but after seeing a lot of people enthuse about it was expecting more, although I'm not sure what more I was expecting.

Thunderbolts/New Avengers 2/10 - wanted to go and see Sinners but was overruled by my niece - had heard this was somehow new and different - no, its the same old tired shite. 1.5 of the mark is for the opening segment where they are fighting each other, the other 0.5 is for Florence Pugh. Niece gave it 4.5/5 on Letterboxd though so maybe I'm not the target audience.

As an aside, was interested to see the trailers for the forthcoming summer blockbusters - the 3rd, 4th, 5th or whatever reboot of the Fantastic Four and The Thing looked shit, the fuck knows how manyth reboot of Superman who is the shittest superhero anyway, and a 'live action' remake of an animated film I took the bairn to see about 15 years ago. Fuck off.
 
Shattered Glass (2003) Amazon Prime.
True story about a Walter Mitty type journo who eventually gets caught making stories up. Real fake media!!
Recommended.
7.5/10.
 
Monty Pigeon said:
The Nile Hilton Incident (2017) 9/10
Brilliantly atmospheric police procedural set in Cairo. A singer is murdered at the Hilton, the evidence points to a well-connected businessman, the cover up begins. But one cop doggedly pursues the truth. Based on an actual case. (Bradshaw only gave it 3/5, but he seemed to think it was a satire - rather than a no holds barred expose of Egyptian corruption.)
You must be logged on to see media items

The Four Seasons (1981) 6/10
Recently remade as a Netflix TV series. Alan Alda writes, directs and stars in this account of three couples who get together four times in the course of a year. In the episodic structure, I think he was heavily influenced by Same Time Next Year, the play/film he starred in in 1978.
You must be logged on to see media items

Twilight's Last Gleaming (1977) 7/10
Burt Lancaster as a general framed and imprisoned for trying to expose US corruption re the Vietnam War. On release, still trying to get the story out, he takes over a nuclear silo and threatens to start a war unless his demands are met. A bit silly, but a good supporting cast, including Richard Widmark as Lancaster's nemesis, Charles Durning as President, Joseph Cotten as Secretary of State, and Cliff Clavin out of Cheers as a soldier.
You must be logged on to see media items
Click to expand...
Is “same time next year” the one where a couple meet up for a long standing affair OR is it the one where a couple having an affair every year die and their respective bairns come to collect the bodies and find out what’s been going on? Or are they both the same film?
BTW everyone I saw Mark Rylance at Blackfriars station yesterday night. Trilby, Tan Harrington, 501s, Loafers……I’m thinking hes fancying himself as a bit of a mod or someone’s remaking Quadrophenia guerilla film style.
 
Last edited:
riffraff said:
Is “same time next year” the one where a couple meet up for a long standing affair OR is it the one where a couple having an affair every year die and their respective bairns come to collect the bodies and find out what’s been going on? Or are they both the same film?
BTW everyone I saw Mark Rylance at Blackfriars station yesterday night. Trilby, Tan Harrington, 501s, Loafers……I’m thinking hes fancying himself as a bit of a mod or someone’s remaking Quadrophenia guerilla film style.
Click to expand...

It's the long-standing affair one. I saw it on stage with Robin Nedwell and Diane Keane - two stalwarts of ITV sitcoms - in the lead roles.
 
Sneech said:
Warfare - 7.8/10 - enjoyed it but after seeing a lot of people enthuse about it was expecting more, although I'm not sure what more I was expecting.

Thunderbolts/New Avengers 2/10 - wanted to go and see Sinners but was overruled by my niece - had heard this was somehow new and different - no, its the same old tired shite. 1.5 of the mark is for the opening segment where they are fighting each other, the other 0.5 is for Florence Pugh. Niece gave it 4.5/5 on Letterboxd though so maybe I'm not the target audience.

As an aside, was interested to see the trailers for the forthcoming summer blockbusters - the 3rd, 4th, 5th or whatever reboot of the Fantastic Four and The Thing looked shit, the fuck knows how manyth reboot of Superman who is the shittest superhero anyway, and a 'live action' remake of an animated film I took the bairn to see about 15 years ago. Fuck off.
Click to expand...
Just watched warfare tonight .
Dont know if I particularly enjoyed watching it as it was a stressful movie to watch, but acting / sound and cinematography were excellent.
A difficult watch , but a great movie (imo)
 
Jigsaw [1962] 8/10
Cracking whodunnit that zips along with clever editing and direction from Val Guest (Hell Is A City). Jack Warner plays the methodical detective.
Available on Youtube.

You must be logged on to see media items
 
Fletch73 said:
Jigsaw [1962] 8/10
Cracking whodunnit that zips along with clever editing and direction from Val Guest (Hell Is A City). Jack Warner plays the methodical detective.
Available on Youtube.

You must be logged on to see media items
Click to expand...
Absolutely excellent film. Engrossing for the duration. Loved it!
Cockney Mackem said:
Romancing the Stone - still class
Click to expand...
Just superb. I watched it a couple of years ago and it’s still hugely entertaining. Great one liners, memorable characters, a real sense of exotic adventure, beautiful locales, and just steeped in that 80s charm that is the right side of cheesy. It’s fun, and the four leads are great. Watching it as a kid, I wanted to go on that exhilarating adventure for riches, with the water slide, the jungle, the cave, the waterfall, etc. As a teenager, the opening ‘story’ scene was tremendous. As an adult, it’s a throwback, but still somehow feels fresh. It doesn’t get the respect it deserves in 80s film discussions.
 
Last edited:
Alien: Romulus 6.5/10.

Mmm, too much reference to other Alien films, in trying to be clever he is honouring events that haven't happened yet.

ignoring that major annoyance, it's ok, slow to get going, the "comic relief" is a shockingly bad actor from Coalville, and i f***ing hate east midlands accents laark, xenomorphs that seem to lose interest/disappear to enable escape. slick

Some clever plot devices and it is pretty slick and next time i may enjoy it more knowing the schtick quotient.
 
Joker: Folie a Deux
4/10

What a change of direction from the first one. Deeply disappointed with this follow up. Part musical, part courtroom drama, mostly shite- it seemed like a vehicle to show how good a singer SG is (she's really really good btw). I liked the court scenes however
 
Boys in Brown (1949)

Richard Attenborough makes one mistake too many and ends up in Borstal. He wants to go straight but the other lads are putting pressure on him to join their escape plan. Things are compounded when one of the lads who has been released (Jimmy Hanley) starts tapping up his lass.

Interesting film. Not as good as I’d hoped, considering the cast. But engrossing throughout. There’s a naivety to the problems and theories of reoffending that is very sweet and of its time. But it’s handled quite sensitively.

Hanley’s character looks about 30, and there’s a good scene where warden Jack Warner tracks down his birth mother and asks her to consider the future of her son, who lives in a shithole with a drunken foster parent. The film doesn’t explicitly judge via dialogue - instead the scene plays out in a way that the audience draws its own conclusions. So really, it’s an indictment of society without using a soapbox.

Some of the Borstal lads are beyond redemption - all posturing and aggro. Trainee career criminals with a hatred of authority who don’t want a second chance. So, does the system work, or does it compound and breed greater darkness? Attenborough is quiet and brooding, yet quite steely. Dirk Bogarde is creepily magnificent as a sleazy manipulator, pulling strings and avoiding blame. The cast is uniformly good - Thora Hird as Dickie’s mother is a highlight. It’s just hilarious how all the boys are in their mid 20s or older in real life.

I thought some scenes might play out longer, but they’re cut short abruptly and reported on. That was disappointing. But on the whole, I found it fascinating, and there’s a lot to think about, even through the 1940s soft lens (compared to something like Scum).

7/10
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top