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SMB Film Thread 2025

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Lena, a young Polish immigrant working as a cleaner at an airport, is invited to the family home of a co-worker, which turns sinister quickly as the family intend to 'adopt' her. 5.9 on IMDB

7/10 from me as a horror fan. It remind's me of inside No.9.
 
Blue Moon (2025) 9/10
Probably being over-generous with the rating, but I loved this. Fantastic performance from Ethan Hawk - definite Oscar contender. It's like spending an evening hanging out at Sardi's with some of the biggest names of 1940s Broadway.
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Watched it last night. I'd give it 8/10.

Ethan Hawke was outstanding. Probably his best ever performance IMHO.
 
Troll 2 (2025)

A team discover a new troll underground. It goes on a bit of a rampage.

I didn’t mind this at face value. The mythology behind it all taps into my childhood enjoyment of Harryhausen and Godzilla. As a standard kaiju film, it was watchable.

What’s less forgivable is the mixed tone that doesn’t really land anywhere. Some of the lines are awful. They don’t work as serious dialogue, and they don’t amuse as parody. For this reason, it’s a dreary, frustrating watch.

4/10
 
The Invisible Guest [2016] 8/10
Spanish thriller full of bad decisions and worse consequences. I picked the twist early, so it loses a point.

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The Worst Person in the World [2021] 9/10

"I feel like a spectator in my own life." Brilliantly directed and acted. Gotta watch some more Joachim Trier.

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Rise of the Footsoldier: Vengeance (2023)

These films are a bit of a guilty pleasure for me, mainly because I find Craig Fairbrass so watchable. He’s utterly one dimensional, but really suits these (ahem) one dimensional lunkhead roles.

For all intents and purposes, it’s a cliched, low quality film. Not much of it makes sense, and it hides its clunkiness behind violence and cahnts. Yet, taken for what it is, I quite like it. It’s honest and doesn’t try to be something more profound. Loads will hate everything about it, but I’m not one of them.

4/10 as a film. 7/10 for enjoyment.
 
Train Dreams [2025] 7.5/10
It's beautifully shot, with good performances. I hoped for (and expected) more, though.

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Just watched this and thought it was brilliant. Like you said beautifully shot and a nice change of pace compared to most films these days.
 
Train Dreams (2025) - Netflix
Joel Edgerton, Will Patton, William H Macy
Story of a man's life working as a logger on the railways in the Pacific North West, beginning in the early 20th century, and his various adventures along the way. Quite a chilled watch with some great scenery and not too long at 1hr 43 mins

Mafia Inc (2019) - Amazon Prime
No big names, though have seen Marc-Andre Gronin in sports comedy Goon.
Canadian movie about the Montreal arm of the Sicilian mob. Loosely based on real life Montreal crime family the Rizzutos and their activities during the 1990s. Bit of a mix of old school, almost Godfather style, mob movie mixed with a more updated Gomorrah vibe. The dialogue has bits of Italian and French (the Canadian dialect of at least) as well as English, though didn't spoil it for me. Nearly 2 and a half hours long but didn't think it dragged at all. Some brutal violence along the way too. Only gets a 6.9 on IMDB but I'd rate it at least a 7.5, probably nearer an 8. Recommended if you like Gomorrah, Suburra, Romanzo Criminale genre
 
Eternity (2025) - OmniPlex

Romcom about how to choose which afterlife you want to spend eternity in. Elizabeth Olsen's character has to choose between spending it with her first husband who died at war, or her second husband of 60+ years. A fun concept with some really funny, sweet moments in there. Miles Teller is very good.

However, drags terribly about two thirds of the way through, and the British actor who plays the other love interest (Callum Turner) is very wooden. Decent enough Sunday afternoon movie, but could have been better.

6/10

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The Piano
(1993) - iPlayer

Haven't seen this since I was a teenager, so probably about 30 years. I remember being gripped by it as a kid, but on rewatching it I could hardly remember anything of the plot!

Terrific movie. Beautifully shot, great performances and of course great music. I'd forgotten how shocking and uncomfortable some parts of the film are; it's a still quite an unsettling watch in places.

9/10

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Orion and the Dark (2024) 6/10
Charlie-Kaufman-penned animation about childhood angst. Difficult to subvert a form that has already been subverted by the likes of Pixar. Kaufman attempts to do it by switching generations in the framing story, but it just compicates what is already a complicated narrative.
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The Family Way (1966) 9/10
Saw a snippet of this in the rereleased Beatles Anthology - Paul McCartney did the soundtrack. Turns out to be a superior kitchen sink drama. Hywel Bennett and Hayley Mills as newlyweds living under the same roof as his parents and having intimacy problems - which soon become the talk of the town. John Mills is outstanding as the father. Bit parts for the likes of Windsor Davies and Kathy Staff.
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Good News (2025) 7/10
Korean satirical thriller on Netflix. Early 1970s, the Japanese Red Army Faction hijack a plane and attempt to fly to North Korea. The South Koreans trick them into landing in Seoul - disguised as Pyongyang. Behind the scenes, the Japanese, South Koreans, and North Koreans are all vying with each other in order to save face. Not bad, but struggles to balance slapstick humour with scenes of violence.
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Rise of the Footsoldier: Vengeance (2023)

These films are a bit of a guilty pleasure for me, mainly because I find Craig Fairbrass so watchable. He’s utterly one dimensional, but really suits these (ahem) one dimensional lunkhead roles.

For all intents and purposes, it’s a cliched, low quality film. Not much of it makes sense, and it hides its clunkiness behind violence and cahnts. Yet, taken for what it is, I quite like it. It’s honest and doesn’t try to be something more profound. Loads will hate everything about it, but I’m not one of them.

4/10 as a film. 7/10 for enjoyment.
Same.
 
Blast of Silence (1961)

Written, directed and starring Allen Baron, this is a story about a hitman who scopes out a target over Christmas. He begins to realise a few things about the direction of his life.

Absolutely loved this. I was expecting bleakness and it didn’t let me down. The film was produced on a shoestring and didn’t apply for any filming licenses for location shots, so it has a very rough and ready feel about it, as they kept takes down to a minimum. As such, it’s got a raw and organic atmosphere, with places feeling genuine and not painstakingly controlled by a production crew. There’s a lot of tracking shots seemingly filmed out of vehicles. The end is filmed during an actual storm.

It’s got quite a savage tone, and nihilistic in its misery. There’s some great juxtapositions between the outdoor decorations and Christmas music, while the main character is only concentrating on finding a time and place to kill. The constant second person narration feels weird at first, but provides a framework for the action.

Won’t be everyone’s cuppa, but I found it memorable and fascinating,

8/10
 
I Swear - Great little British film on a Scottish lad with Tourette's, cover his life from developing it right through to present and wining the Queens award for bring awareness to the condition. Definitely makes you sit back and think, as I've been in same place as most public when around someone with it, head down and move away. That said, the scene in the car with the fellow sufferer is absolute gold. 8/10
 
Blast of Silence (1961)

Written, directed and starring Allen Baron, this is a story about a hitman who scopes out a target over Christmas. He begins to realise a few things about the direction of his life.

Absolutely loved this. I was expecting bleakness and it didn’t let me down. The film was produced on a shoestring and didn’t apply for any filming licenses for location shots, so it has a very rough and ready feel about it, as they kept takes down to a minimum. As such, it’s got a raw and organic atmosphere, with places feeling genuine and not painstakingly controlled by a production crew. There’s a lot of tracking shots seemingly filmed out of vehicles. The end is filmed during an actual storm.

It’s got quite a savage tone, and nihilistic in its misery. There’s some great juxtapositions between the outdoor decorations and Christmas music, while the main character is only concentrating on finding a time and place to kill. The constant second person narration feels weird at first, but provides a framework for the action.

Won’t be everyone’s cuppa, but I found it memorable and fascinating,

8/10
Where is this available?
 
Salvable. Amazon prime
Toby Kebbell, Shia Lebouf

Based in a shithole town the 80’s a retired boxer trying to pull his flick around for his daughter gets sucked back into a world of shit by his returning dodgepot pal.

Cracking performance feom Toby, canny from Shia in a curveball role.
Excellent score/soundtrack too.

Depressing and grim film I throughly enjoyed. Cobra gives this a 7/10
 
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