Tag: drifter

On Swift Horses

Post author By Jeremy Clarke
Post date 5 September 2025
No Comments on On Swift Horses
Sticky post

Director – Daniel Minahan – 2024 – US – Cert. 15 – 119m

*****

A husband’s dreams are undermined in 1950s America by the separate lives and desires of his secretly racetrack-gambling wife and his reappearing, disappearing drifter-gambler brother – out in UK cinemas on Friday, September 5th

Lee Walker (Will Poulter from Warfare, Alex Garland, 2025; Detroit, Kathryn Bigelow, 2017; The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Michael Apted, 2010; Son of Rambow, Garth Jennings, 2007) returns home to the US from the Korean War to his adored wife Muriel (Daisy Edgar-Jones from Twisters, Lee Isaac Chung, 2024; Where the Crawdads Sing, Olivia Newman, 2022) who lives in the isolated house she inherited from her mother in the calm prairie lands up North. Their relationship is deeply carnal. And yet, something changes in that relationship dynamic the night Lee’s brother Julius (Jacob Elordi from Frankenstein, Guillermo del Toro, 2025; Priscilla, Sofia Coppola, 2023; Saltburn, Emerald Fennell, 2023) turns up, and she is instantly attracted to him. Of course, that can’t be, because she is with Lee.

Part of the attraction is that Julius, a drifter who turns up unannounced, is also an inveterate card sharp and gambler.… Read the rest

Tags 1950s, A-bomb test, America, American dream, attic, behind his back, betting on horses, book club, brother-in-law, brothers, Bryce Cass, buy property, California, card sharp, carnal, casino, character flaws, Daisy Edgar-Jones, Daniel Minahan, day job, desire, Diego Calva, dream, drifter, estate, exploit the system, fringe, gambling, gambling floor, gambling tips, gay hubs, gay relationship, home, housing estate, husbands and wives, illicit, inheritance, Jacob Elordi, Korean War, Las Vegas, LGBTQ, listens, making a killing, message board, motel room, mugged. Patrol, On Swift Horses, one-way mirrors, part-time, phone calls, poor judge of character, prairie, professional gamblers, prostitution, punters, racetrack, rent boy, San Diego, Sasha Calle, secret, security, selling the house, sex, Shannon Pufahl, single homeowner, underground gay scene, US, vanished, waitressing, Will Poulter

Features Live Action Movies

Weapons

Post author By Jeremy Clarke
Post date 8 August 2025
No Comments on Weapons
Sticky post

Director – Zach Cregger – 2025 – US – Cert. 18 – 128m

****

One night, all but one of the children in one class in the town school disappear into the dark, leaving the townsfolk baffled as to what happened to them… – Fortean-sounding mystery is out in UK cinemas on Friday, August 8th

One night at 2.17am, the 17 other kids in Alex’s class got up out of their beds, went downstairs, opened their front doors, and ran out into the night. As a child relates the incident, we observe it in flashback. The kids run with arms half outstretched at an angle, as if playing at being aeroplanes in the school playground. If you’ve seen the film’s poster, this strange angle of the arms is also apparent. As it also is in the film’s trailer, which starts with this flashback. But what is in the mind of these kids? Where are they going? To what purpose?

For that matter, why the title Weapons? I don’t think it’s a spoiler to say that you’ll know the answer once you’ve seen the film.

Thus begins one of the most intriguing cinematic mysteries of recent years. To unpack his prologue, writer-director Cregger opts for an astute, six-part, character-based structure.… Read the rest

Tags 17, 2.17am, addresses the meeting, Alden Erhenreich, Amy Madigan, angry, angry mob, assault, Austin Abrams, baffled, banging on her door, bar, beaten up, Benedict Wong, booze, break and enter, breaking and entering, builder, bully, business, car chase, catch, caught, character study, chase sequence, checking car doors, children, class, class teacher, classmate, Clayton Farris, confused, covered with newspaper, criminal, cutlery, dash cam, daughter of the boss, disappear, disappeared, domesticity, door paint, dream, drifter, drug addict, enigma, evening, family home, fantasy, father-in-law, fence goods, file a complaint, follow, Fortean, gang of kids, Gary Christopher, graffiti, Great Aunt, home, hordes of children, horror, human quarry, Information, interpersonal drama, into the dark, intrigue, Jennifer Garner, Josh Brolin, June Diane Raphael, kids’ rucksack, lipstick, liquor store, living room, low life, lucrative haul, Luke Speakman, missing children, missing kids, motionless people, mystery, newspaper, next fix, night, nightmare, obsession, offender, on foot, parents, parked cars, patrol, patrol car, perp, perpetrator, persons outside the house, plot the trajectory, point of view, police chief, police station, property, prying eyes, pursuing cop, pursuit, puzzle, queers his pitch, red herring, red paint, relationship, relentless, reward, reward money, rifle, rime? science fiction, school, school authorities, school. class, sci-fi, security video, sex, SF, small talk, small town, spokesman, spouse, street, swarming, Toby Huss, unperturbed, US, ushered out, vanish, Weapons, windows, witch, youth, Zach Cregger

Features Live Action Movies

Nightmare Alley
(2021)

Director – Guillermo del Toro – 2021 – US – Cert. 15 – 150m

****

A former carny gets deep into trouble using mind-reading trickery on a wealthy mark – out in cinemas on Friday, January 21st. Also available on Digital Wednesday, March 16th and on Blu-ray and DVD on Monday, March 21st

After burning a body in an isolated farmhouse, Stanton Carlisle (Bradley Cooper) gets work with travelling carnival showman Clem (Willem Dafoe) via midget The Major (Mark Povinelli) and strongman Bruno (Ron Perlman). He soon ingratiates himself with mind reader Zeena (Toni Collette) who lets him into some of the secrets of her trade, but romantically he’s more interested in Molly (Rooney Mara) with whom, despite opposition from her unofficial guardian Bruno, he runs away intent on working a lucrative act on a wealthier audience to make larger amounts of money.

One night, during a residency at a hotel, Stanton and Molly’s show is interrupted by a woman (Cate Blanchett) trying to expose him as a fraud. Successfully navigating her heckling, he convinces Judge Kimball (Peter MacNeill) that he is in contact with the Judge’s dead son. Going against Molly’s advice not to do “spook shows”, and offering to cut in the woman, psychoanalyst Dr.… Read the rest

Features Live Action Movies

Wendy

Director – Benh Zeitlin – 2021 – US – Cert. 12a – 111m

*****

A bold re-imagining of Peter Pan told through the eyes of Wendy which is unlike any other version of the story you’re likely to see – out in cinemas on Friday, August 13th

Her mother runs a fast and furious restaurant. Wendy (Tommie Lynn Milazzo) crawls along the long tables.

Boys play on trains on the nearby tracks outside.

Her brothers James (Gavin Naquin) and Douglas (Gage Naquin) come out to play on the jukebox, but quickly get thrown out for causing disruption. Through the night the goods trains pass. There’s a spark. Wendy, slightly older now (Devin France) sees something atop a train. A boy. She runs outside to chase the train. Her mother’s voice calls her back in.

The fast trains pass. One day she is on one, riding the rails. The boy (Dwight Henry) is in the freight car. He tells them to stand close to the open boxcar door. The train crosses a bridge over water. He pushes them out. They’re in the water.

Then they’re all in the boat, crossing the ocean to the island, Mother. They land. Beach. Forest. Geysers erupt.… Read the rest

Tags adults, BBFC, beach, belief, Benh Zeitlin, blade, blood brother, boat, boxcar, bridge, bridge over water, certification, children, crawl, decayed, Devin France, dream, drifter, Dwight Henry, eruption, fly, forest, freight car, Gage Naquin, Gavin Naquin, geysers, giant fish, goods trains, grotto, grow up, house, island, jukebox, man-made interventions, mother, natural world, never grow up, object, ocean, pirates, restaurant, riding the rails, rock, sea, section of pipe, table, tracks, train, US, used, volcano, water, weathered