Video blog

While passing through the town of Bannock, a bunch of drunken, trail-weary cattlemen go overboard with their celebrating and accidentally kill an old man with a stray shot. They return home to Sabbath unaware of his death. Bannock lawman Jered Maddox later arrives there to arrest everyone involved on a charge of murder. Sabbath is run by land baron Vince Bronson, a benevolent despot, who, upon hearing of the death, offers restitution for the incident. Maddox, however, will not compromise even though small ranchers like Vern Adams are not in a position to desert their responsibilities for a long and protracted trial. Sabbath’s marshal, Cotton Ryan, is an aging lawman whose tough reputation rests on a single incident that occurred years before. Ryan admits to being only a shadow of what he once was and no threat to stop Maddox. Maddox confides to Ryan that Bannock’s judicial system is weak and corrupt, and while he’s doubtful that anyone he brings back will suffer more than the price of a bribe, he will not be deterred in his unrelenting pursuit of his duty. Initially Bronson appears willing to make concessions, but when his oldest friend Harvey Stenbaugh is killed after deliberately picking a fight with Maddox, Bronson digs in his heels with the rest of the town to resist the relentless lawman.

Roland Rat, Margaret Thatcher; Rubik’s Cubes, the Royal Wedding; aerobics, skinheads… It’s 1983, and the schools are breaking up for summer. Shaun is 12 and a bit of a loner, growing up with his mum in a grim coastal town, his dad killed fighting in the Falklands War. On his way home from school where he’s been tormented all day for wearing flares, he runs into a group of skinheads, who against expectations turn out to be friendly and take him under their wing. Soon Shaun discovers parties, girls and snappy dressing, and finds some role models in Woody, Milky and the rest of the gang. But when an older, overtly racist skinhead returns home from prison, the easy camaraderie of the group is broken, and Shaun is drawn into much more uncomfortable territory. Based largely on his own experience as a youngster, this is Shane Meadows’ most mature and fully realised film. Handling the complexities of masculinity, violence and race with sensitivity and a lightness of touch, it’s hard to imagine a film that would better capture the mood of the time, or that could have any greater an understanding of the allure of being part of a gang.

Fifth grader Jesse Aaron’s hopes of becoming the fastest runner in his class are dashed when new girl Leslie Burke outruns everybody, including him. However, Jess and Leslie soon begin a friendship, and create a magical kingdom in the forest, where the two of them reign together as king and queen.

John Rambo is a disoriented Vietnam Vet. He is hitchhiking from town to town to see friends from the war. A sheriff tries to make him leave town and when he refuses, arrests him for vagrancy. While in jail, a deputy takes delight in abusing him. Rambo escapes showing his old Vietnam fighting skills and takes to the woods as the sheriff and deputies try and find him in his element. Things get out of hand as Colonel Trautman Rambo’s old commander appears to shed light on the situation.

An inksetter in New York, Quoyle returns to his family’s longtime home, a small fishing town in Newfoundland, with his young daughter, after a traumatizing experience with her mother, Petal, who sold her to an illegal adoption agency. Though Quoyle has had little success thus far in life, his shipping news column in the newspaper “The Gammy Bird” finds an audience, and his experiences in the town change his life. Then he meets the widow Wavey…

1960, small town France. Vianne Rocher and her pre-teen daughter move into town and open a chocolate shop just as lent is beginning. The town’s small-minded mayor can’t accept this and does his best to shut her down, but her warm personality and incredible chocolates manage to win over many townsfolk. Things get shaken up even more when a group of river drifters, led by Roux, stop into town (to the even greater distress of the mayor) and Vianne takes up with him. Meanwhile, she’s been helping Josephine out of her abusive marriage and her equally freethinking landlord, Amande Voisin, get together with her grandson, Luc, whose mother doesn’t approve of Amande’s ways.