daniel-phillips's - Rented List
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Slacker (1990)Richard Linklater's Slacker
Linklater's breakout second film is an utterly unique series of loosely interweaved episodes shining a delightfully off-beat light on a parade of socially disconnected, overly educated, and barely motivated citizens in Austin Texas. In coffeehouses, clubs, bars, apartments, stores, and streets of the college town, life's strange quirks, odd foibles and disruptive inanities come astonishingly to life. Linklater's film remains a cult sensation that launched a thousand imitators. But none of the effusive 20-somethings littering the casts of 1990s US independent cinema can hold a candle to those of this hilarious and vibrant true original. - Director:
- Richard Linklater
- Cast:
- Richard Linklater, Robert Jacks, Rudy Basquez
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Spirits of the Dead (1968)Histoires extraordinaires
Three titans of European cinema team up for a stylish film based on the works of macabre author Edgar Allen Poe. Roger Vadim, Louis Malle and Federico Fellini direct Jane and Peter Fonda, Brigitte Bardot, Alain Delon, and Terence Stamp in three separate stories of souls tormented by their own phantasmal visions of guilt, lust and greed. Vadim directs the first segment, 'Metzengerstein', with Jane Fonda portraying the spoiled, vicious Frederique. Malle takes the middle slot with 'William Wilson', featuring Alain Delon as the troubled hero, a man who has been haunted since childhood by a man with his exact name. Fellini's segment, 'Toby Dammit', features Terence Stamp as a disheveled drugged and drunk English movie star who nods acceptance in the Italian press and his producers fawn over him. 'Spirits of the Dead' is a real gem for those who enjoy the surreal and grotesque. - Director:
- Federico Fellini
- Cast:
- Jane Fonda, Maurice Ronet, Brigitte Bardot
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La Dolce Vita (1960)The Sweet Life
Perhaps his most famous film, La Dolce Vita slices into the decadent amoral core of Roman society with Fellini's trademark attention to detail and spectacular photography. Marcello Mastroianni plays a gossip columnist (the term 'paparazzi' derives from the in a film) who aspires to be a more serious writer but knows he never will be, because like society, he is fascinated by the decadent hedonist pursuits which are seemingly everywhere. The Vatican was appalled by the film, but the public adored it, relishing the images Fellini fed them, most notably the now infamous scene of Mastroianni and Anita Ekberg frolicking in the Trevi Fountain. - Director:
- Federico Fellini
- Cast:
- Marcello Mastroianni, Anita Ekberg, Anouk Aimée
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A Scanner Darkly (2006)Una mirada a la oscuridad
What does a scanner see? Into the head? Into the heart? From the novel by Philip L. Dick - the sci-fi legend whose works-to-film include 'Blade Runner', 'Total Recall' and 'Minority Report' - comes 'A Scanner Darkly', brought to the screen by filmmaker Richard Linklater with an edgy graphic-novel look. The time: just beyond now. The place: suburbia. The story: a twisted, funny tale of people hooked on Substance D. And of a government that cheerfully destroys its citizens - their rights, their relationships - in order to save them. Robert Downey Jr., Woody Harrelson, Winona Ryder and Rory Cochrane play strung-out friends terrified of each other and of spies. Keanu Reeves plays a spy who's also one of the friends... until his two personalities begin to split. Enjoy the paranoia. Nobody's watching you. Really. - Director:
- Richard Linklater
- Cast:
- Keanu Reeves, Sean Allen, Cliff Haby
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Juliet of the Spirits (1965)Giuliette Degli Spiriti
Giulietta Masina gives a superb performance as the bored, timid, frumpy and ultimately unfilled housewife who suspects her husband is being unfaithful. In an effort to escape the hurtful reality of her situation she enters a surreal fantasy world of her own by conjuring up spirits who lead her into a world a world of sensual pleasure. The images that Fellini creates become more and more dazzling and hypnotic in their effect. Much of the fantasy involves Juliet's fabulously outgoing and sexually liberated neighbour Suzy (Sandra Milo), but are they part of plot or is Fellini exploring his own desires? - Director:
- Federico Fellini
- Cast:
- Giulietta Masina, Sandra Milo, Mario Pisu
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Richard Samuels (Zac Efron) is a 17-year old kid from New Jersey- He's bored of school and dreams of making it big in the dazzling world of the New York theatre. His dreams are realised when he meets a youthful Orson Welles (Christian McKay) and lucks a place in his legendary production of Julius Caesar. Over the course of a magical week, Richard makes his Broadway debut, finds romance, and experiences the dark side of genius after daring to cross the brilliant Welles. Richard has to grow up fast... - Director:
- Richard Linklater
- Cast:
- Zac Efron, Claire Danes, Christian McKay
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Waking Life (2001)Despertando a la vida
Join Wiley Wiggins as he searches for answers to life's most important questions in world that may or may not be reality.- Director:
- Richard Linklater
- Cast:
- Ethan Hawke, Trevor Jack Brooks, Lorelei Linklater
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Il Bidone (1955)Il bidone
Augusto (Broderick Crawford), Picasso (Richard Basehart) and Roberto (Franco Fabrizi) are small-time conmen who play elaborate tricks on the poor and the credulous. But their cruelty and lack of morality is tested when Augusto is reunited with his estranged daughter and Picasso is faced with his loving wife's disapproving patience. Featuring excellent performances from Crawford, Basehart and Giulietta Masina against a colourful backdrop of sharply observed characters this sincere social drama is by turns comic, bitter and tragic. - Director:
- Federico Fellini
- Cast:
- Broderick Crawford, Richard Basehart, Giulietta Masina
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Four directors tell tales of Eros fit for a 1970's Decameron. Working-class lovers, Renzo (Germano Gilioli) and Luciana (Marisa Solinas), marry but must hide it from her employer; plus, they need a room of their own. A billboard of Anita (Anita Ekberg) provocatively selling milk gives a prudish crusader for public decency more than he can handle. The wife of a count whose escapades with call girls make the front page of the papers decides to work to prove her independence, but what is she qualified to do? A buxom carnival-booth manager who owes back taxes offers herself for one night in a lottery: a nerdy sacristan and a jealous cowboy make for a lovers' triangle. In each, women take charge, but not always happily. - Director:
- Vittorio De Sica
- Cast:
- Anita Ekberg, Sophia Loren, Romy Schneider
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Dazed and Confused (1993)Dazed & Confused
America, 1976. The last day of school. Bongs blaze, bell-bottoms ring, and rock and roll rocks. Among the best teen films ever made, 'Dazed and Confused' eavesdrops on a group of seniors-to-be and incoming freshmen. A launching pad for a number of future stars, the first studio effort by Richard Linklater also features endlessly quotable dialogue and a blasting, stadium-ready soundtrack. Sidestepping nostalgia, 'Dazed and Confused' is less about "the best years of our lives" than the boredom, angst, and excitement of teenagers waiting...for something to happen. - Director:
- Richard Linklater
- Cast:
- Jason London, Wiley Wiggins, Matthew McConaughey
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La Strada (1954)La strada
Sold by her impoverished mother to Zampano (Anthony Quinn), a brutish fairground wrestler, waif-like Gelsomina (Giulietta Masina) lives a life of drudgery as his assistant. After taking to the road with a travelling circus, a budding relationship with II Matto/The Fool (Richard Basehart), a gentle-natured, tightrope walking clown, offers a potential refuge from her master's clutches. Trapped by her own servile nature, Gelsomina waivers, and Zampano's volcanic temper erupts with tragic consequences. Characteristically mingling elements of biography with metaphor and symbolism, 'La Strada' also combines an easygoing charm with a far harder edged realism in the form of domestic violence and decaying, desolate towns. Masina - Fellini's wife - is astonishing in the central role and what with the evocative Nino Rota score and Otello Martelli's ravishing photography, it's little wonder that 'La Strada' was the winner of the first official Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. - Director:
- Federico Fellini
- Cast:
- Anthony Quinn, Giulietta Masina, Richard Basehart
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Based on a true story set in Carthage, Texas, the local funeral director Bernie Tiede (Jack Black) was one of the town's most beloved residents. Everyone loved Bernie, so it came as no surprise when he befriended Marjorie Nugent (Shirley MacLaine), a wealthy widow known for her sour attitude, though when he killed her, he went to great lengths to create the illusion that she was still alive. - Director:
- Richard Linklater
- Cast:
- Jack Black, Shirley MacLaine, Matthew McConaughey
- Formats:
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Joint Security Area (2000)JSA / Gongdong gyeongbi guyeok JSA
Gunfire breaks out in the demilitarised zone between North and South Korea, leaving two North Korean soldiers dead while a wounded South Korean soldier (Lee Byung-hun) flees to safety. With the tenuous peace between the two warring nations on a knife-edge, a neutral team of investigators, headed by Swiss Army Major Sophie Jean (Lee Young-ae), is dispatched to question both sides to determine what really happened under cover of darkness out in no-man's land. - Director:
- Chan-wook Park
- Cast:
- Yeong-ae Lee, Byung-hun Lee, Kang-ho Song
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A two-fisted adventure tale set in South America, feature stars Cary Grant as the tough-talking head of an air-freight service operating in the dangerous Andes Mountains. Jean Arthur co-stars as a vacationing showgirl competing with Rita Hayworth for Grant's affections. A potent combination of humor, romance and action... - Director:
- Howard Hawks
- Cast:
- Jean Arthur, Cary Grant, Richard Barthelmess
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Scarface (1932)Scarface: The Shame of the Nation
Generally regarded to be the best of the classic gangster films, 'Scarface' tells the exciting story of organised crime's brutal control over Chicago during the Prohibition era. Paul Muni gives an electrifying performance as Tony Carmonte, an ambitious criminal with a ruthless drive to be the city's top crime boss. Directed by the legendary Howard Hawks, 'Scarface' was a groundbreaking film which established both Paul Muni and George Raft as major Hollywood stars, while influencing all gangland films to follow. - Director:
- Howard Hawks
- Cast:
- Paul Muni, Ann Dvorak, Karen Morley
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