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SMB Film Thread 2026


The Tall Target (1951) 6/10
A detective stripped of his badge boards a train to Washington DC to attempt to thwart an assassination attempt against Abraham Lincoln, who has just been elected President. As with most train-based thrillers, it struggles to balance the plot with the confined setting.
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Il Sorpasso (The Easy Life) (1962) 8/10
A law student stumbles into a road trip across Italy with a wild playboy. One of the 1960s Italian films that created a youthful, glamorous image for the country. Some of the attitudes have dated badly. (A black woman asks for a lift and is told by the hero: 'Get lost, paleface.')
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Remarkably Bright Creatures (2026) 7/10
A saccharine story told from the point of view of a captive octopus (voiced by Alfred Molina). Not exactly a classic, but features a wonderful performance from Sally Field.
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jarramackem said:
The Good Boy (2025)
Didn't even know this exsisted until I saw something about it on Facebook.

Stephen Graham outstanding as always and a good, original storyline. 9/10

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Watched that a few weeks back. Slightly disturbing film, the whole family are wierd in very different ways.
 
Obsession (2026)

Bit of a mad one, like a long Twilight Zone episode. Good acting performance from the main lass who is essentially batshit crazy and obsessed with the main lad (against her will) after he makes a wish. Fun to watch.

7.1/10
 
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Boinger said:
Folllowing my "Filums of Denzel I've nivver seen"...

Taking of Pelham 123.

Very enjoyable, Denzel being Denzel (great), and kudos to Travolta playing a very good turn as a pyscho.

7.8/10.

Edit: Tonight I'll be trying Deja Vu.
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It's a decent watch but not a 7.8, even the original wasn't a 7.8.
 
When Gangland Strikes (1956)

The title sounds great. The film isn’t. It’s about a prosecutor who gets blackmailed to throw a case. Slim Pickens plays a fella called Slim Pickett. That’s the only remarkable thing here, really. There’s a strangely timeless small town America feel to the whole thing, which is canny, but everything is so low stakes and subdued.

I didn’t think it was a terrible film. It’s alright for the forgiving fan of 50s cheap cinema. I enjoyed it on a basic level, but with a title like that, I expected a riot of Scarface-esque shootouts.

4/10

The Set-Up (1949)

Directed by Robert Wise (who has a great CV), this stars Robert Ryan as a washed up boxer determined to win a fight, and Audrey Totter as his wife, who just wants him to jack it all in.

Ryan has been so bad that even his own manager takes money for throwing the fight from a gangster backing his younger opponent. So sure is Ryan’s own manager of his inevitable defeat, that he doesn’t even tell Ryan about the set-up. He just presumes he’ll get hammered.

The film is set in real time, over the course of 70-odd minutes. Ryan is terrific, showing his desperation to give everything in what might be either a good payday, or the final nail. The lighting is excellent, using shadow and mood very effectively. The boxing venue and streets around it are bustling with smoke, grime and nastiness. The boxing scenes are surprisingly good for the era. Wise uses a lot of quality camera angles and movements, really immersing you in the situation.

Good film.

8/10
 
Doogie Hauser said:
When Gangland Strikes (1956)

The title sounds great. The film isn’t. It’s about a prosecutor who gets blackmailed to throw a case. Slim Pickens plays a fella called Slim Pickett. That’s the only remarkable thing here, really. There’s a strangely timeless small town America feel to the whole thing, which is canny, but everything is so low stakes and subdued.

I didn’t think it was a terrible film. It’s alright for the forgiving fan of 50s cheap cinema. I enjoyed it on a basic level, but with a title like that, I expected a riot of Scarface-esque shootouts.

4/10

The Set-Up (1949)

Directed by Robert Wise (who has a great CV), this stars Robert Ryan as a washed up boxer determined to win a fight, and Audrey Totter as his wife, who just wants him to jack it all in.

Ryan has been so bad that even his own manager takes money for throwing the fight from a gangster backing his younger opponent. So sure is Ryan’s own manager of his inevitable defeat, that he doesn’t even tell Ryan about the set-up. He just presumes he’ll get hammered.

The film is set in real time, over the course of 70-odd minutes. Ryan is terrific, showing his desperation to give everything in what might be either a good payday, or the final nail. The lighting is excellent, using shadow and mood very effectively. The boxing venue and streets around it are bustling with smoke, grime and nastiness. The boxing scenes are surprisingly good for the era. Wise uses a lot of quality camera angles and movements, really immersing you in the situation.

Good film.

8/10
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I absolutely love The Set Up
 
Doogie Hauser said:
The Set-Up (1949)
8/10
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Cracking film.

All You Need Is Kill [2025] 6/10
Anime version of the novel that was made into Edge of Tomorrow with Tom Cruise. Decent but still not faithful to the book.
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undertone [2025] 8/10
Creeped the sh*te out of me. Didn't help I watched this in bed late at night. *Note to self - watch unsettling horror films in broad daylight.
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The Sheep Detectives. Really lovely film. Just warm and cuddly. Not many in the cinema in Wuhan, China. Western movies are mostly down the shitter here. Will see how The Mandalorian plays next week.
 
Doogie Hauser said:
I really liked the way that some of the crowd seemed to have real characters, like the big bloke troughing throughout the whole thing, the bloodlust-screaming woman, and the blind man. It’s such a tight, focused film, completely confident in its own purpose and atmosphere.
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What an interesting career the director Robert Wise had as well:

The Set-Up
The Day The Earth Stood Still
Run Silent Run Deep
West Side Story
The Haunting
The Sound of Music
The Andromeda Strain
Star Trek: The Motion Picture
 
Good Boy 2026 - Stephen Graham plays a strange fella that kidnaps a naughty kid.
Bit strange and expected more twists than it ultimately delivered. 6/10
 
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