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SMB Film Thread 2025

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Monty Pigeon said:
This Property is Condemned (1966) 6/10
Robert Redford arrives in a Mississippi town to lay off railroad workers, and falls for the local floozy, Natalie Wood. Screenplay by Tennessee Williams, direction from Sydney Pollack. Not the best work of any involved.
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Suzhou River (2000) 8/10
Chinese indie film set in Shanghai, loosely inspired by Hitchcock's Vertigo. Lots of atmospheric handheld camerawork.
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Shattered Glass (2003) 7/10
True story of Stephen Glass, a journalist for a conservative magazine who was exposed as a serial fabricator. It was one of the first big journalism scandals. There've been others since, but the guilty parties (eg Johann Hari, Jayson Blair) made successful media careers out of their notoriety.
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Have you seen Park Chan-Wook's Decision to Leave?
 

Just read the new Clint Eastwood biography (the unfortunate cover of which I posted on here a few pages ago). Not a great book, but provides a thorough overview of the man's career. There really isn't anyone comparable.

A Fistful of Dollars (1964) 9/10
Low-budget remake of Kurosawa's Yojimbo. Made without permission, which held up release in the US, by which time word-of-mouth had made it a hit in Europe. Revitalised Clint's stalled career and kickstarted the career of Sergio Leone (who was literally born in a cinema and died watching a movie on TV).
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Tightrope (1984) 6/10
The biography reckons this is an overlooked classic. Nah. Weird story about a misogynist cop with a thing for prostitutes hunting a misogynist serial killer with a thing for prostitutes. As with Dirty Harry, it's probably trying to blur the moral line between hunter and hunted, but it's dated badly.
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The Mule (2018) 8/10
Another film the biography rates highly. Based on the true story of an octogenarian horticulturalist who turns to drug running for a Mexican cartel when his business fails. Decent directing and acting from Clint. Not a masterpiece, but a solidly good movie. (I watched it in 4K, which shows every wrinkle in then-88-year-old Clint.)
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Joan Didion: The Centre Will Not Hold [2017] 7.5/10
Nothing hugely insightful - a pretty straightforward account of her life and career. Still, a fascinating person to spend 90 minutes with and I'll probably read one of her essay collections soon.

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Fletch73 said:
Joan Didion: The Centre Will Not Hold [2017] 7.5/10
Nothing hugely insightful - a pretty straightforward account of her life and career. Still, a fascinating person to spend 90 minutes with and I'll probably read one of her essay collections soon.

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Great writer. I recommend Griffin Dunne's memoir. Fascinating account of the triumphs and tragedies of their family.

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Inside Llewyn Davis - watched it when it came out and thought it was okay. Enjoyed it more this time around though. 8/10

Rashomon - I think I need to stop watching these classic movies. I never really enjoy them but can’t put my finger on why. i really want to like them. 6/10
 
Mosquito coast 1986.this was one of those films that as youngster gave me vibes of being a family adventure type filum so never bothered watching. Don't want to give too much away but a scientist bloke decides to move way from the chaos with his family to the Mosquito coast, a place with tribes folk and militia kicking about. He basically creates his own reality within this environment with emphasis on his scientist skills to solve everything. For me a solid 7/10.
 
Being Her Back (2025) - 6/10 - Horror with Sally Hawkins as a foster mother who takes in a brother and sister. They soon become aware of strange goings on as they are wrapped up in an occult ritual. If you're into horror movies you'll probably really enjoy this. Personally found it a bit daft and clichéd.
 
The Zone Of Interest (2023) Amazon Prime

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Brilliant, almost hypnotic piece of filmmaking. Quite adventurous and unique in style, the way it's filmed seems almost like a fly on the wall, voyeuristic documentary inside the household of the Auschwitz camp commandant and family. Completely different to the book (different characters, plot, far less graphic etc) yet somehow still captures the same mood of absurd, almost abstract horror of the circumstance.

9/10


Inside Llewyn Davies (2013) Amazon Prime

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Not seen this since watching it at the cinema. I recall enjoying it, but had the experience spoiled somewhat by my ex-wife complaining the whole way through about how shit and boring she thought it was!

Really good film, with an excellent central performance. A bit more low-key and less overly zany than a lot of Corn Brothers films, but still unmistakably one of theirs.

8/10


Au revoir là-haut (See You Up There) (2017)

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Adaptation of the first of Pierre Lemaitre's brilliant Les Enfants du Désastre trilogy of novels. Tells the wildly fanciful story of a couple of embittered WW1 veterans' attempts to swindle the state out of hundreds of thousands of francs. Directed by, adapted by and starring Albert Dupontel, he changes a few details from the novel but still managed to capture the mood characters exactly as I imagined them being. Still has the same surreal dark, deeply sardonic humour. Worth a watch, even if you haven't read the books.

8/10
 
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