griggs's - Rented List
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"The Crimson Kimono" stars Glenn Corbett and James Shigeta as Korean War army buddies, working side by side with the LA homicide squad. When stripper Gloria Pall is murdered, Corbett and Shigeta are sent to investigate. Both are smitten by the lovely Victoria Shaw, who is implicated in the crime. Corbett becomes jealous of Shigeta, who is deeply hurt, feeling that Corbett's animosity is borne of racism. Their friendship, and the central romance, is resolved after the detectives bring the murderer to heel in Los Angeles' Little Tokyo. Samuel Fuller's love of oriental exotica is never more pronounced than in the climactic sequences, staged before the backdrop of the Japanese New Year celebration. - Director:
- Samuel Fuller
- Cast:
- Victoria Shaw, Glenn Corbett, James Shigeta
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Spring in a Small Town (1948)Xiao cheng zhi chun
Regarded as the finest work from the first great era of Chinese filmmaking, Fei Mu's quiet, piercingly poignant study of adulterous desire and guilt-ridden despair is a remarkable rediscovery, often compared to David Lean's 'Brief Encounter'. After eight years of marriage to Liyan (Yu Shi) - once rich but now a shadow of his former self following a long, ruinous war - Yuwen (Wei Wei) does little except deliver his daily medication. A surprise visit from Liyan's friend Zhang (Wei Li) re-energises the household, but also stirs up dangerously suppressed longings and resentments. Director Fei Mu's deft use of locations, dissolves and camera movements makes for a fraught, febrile mood of hesitant passion, entrapment and ennui. - Director:
- Mu Fei
- Cast:
- Chaoming Cui, Wei Li, Yu Shi
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Blood for Dracula (1974)Dracula Cerca Sangue di Vergine / Dracula / Andy Warhol's Young Dracula
The ailing Count Dracula (Udo Kier) and his conniving aide, Anton (Arno Juerging), journey to Italy in pursuit of virgin blood. Their path leads them to the decaying mansion of the indebted Marchese Di Fiore (Vittorio De Sica), who's keen to wed his daughters to wealthy suitors. Yet, what awaits are not chaste maidens, but rather incestuous lesbians tainted by impure blood. - Director:
- Paul Morrissey
- Cast:
- Joe Dallesandro, Udo Kier, Vittorio De Sica
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The Dance of Reality (2013)La danza de la realidad
From the mind of the legendary cult filmmaker, Alejandro Jodorowsky, comes an epic imaginary autobiography depicting both the wonders and the hardships of existing in the substance we all call reality. True to form, Jodorowsky takes us on a strange, mystic, fantastic and deeply surreal journey that no one else could, except this time the subject is his own early life, being raised by his strict, Stalin-adoring father who has plans to assassinate the right-wing Chilean president. - Director:
- Alejandro Jodorowsky
- Cast:
- Brontis Jodorowsky, Pamela Flores, Jeremias Herskovits
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An incedendiary array of stars - including Ben Affleck, Andy Garcia, Ray Liotta, Jeremy Piven, Ryan Reynolds, Alicia Keys and Common - make Smokin' Aces the most explosive action DVD of the year, from Joe Carnahan, the acclaimed director of Narc. When a Mob boss takes out a million dollar hit on Buddy 'Aces' Israel - a sleazy Vegas showman turned FBI snitch - the Feds place Buddy in protective custody at a penthouse hide-out. While Buddy kills time with hookers, booze and drugs, an outrageous rogue's gallery of ultra-violent mobsters, smoking hot assassins and ruthless hit men are bring chainsaws, grenades, shotguns, knives and more to the hunt to rub out Aces and collect that cool million bucks. - Director:
- Joe Carnahan
- Cast:
- Jeremy Piven, Ryan Reynolds, Ray Liotta
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The Wild Pear Tree (2018)Ahlat Agaci
Sinan (Dogu Demirkol) returns from his studies in the city of Canakkale to his parents' home in the small rural town of Can. He hopes to publish a book of essays and short stories (or what he describes as a "quirky auto-fiction meta-novel"). But his teacher father Idris (Murat Cemcir) is an addictive gambler, so much so that his mother and sister have become reluctantly accustomed to making do without food or electricity. And so Sinan, with his writing dreams, worrying that we will be reduced after army service to teaching in the remote East, wanders around town, visiting his grandparents, encountering old friends, all the while looking for funding for his book. - Director:
- Nuri Bilge Ceylan
- Cast:
- Murat Cemcir, Bennu Yildirimlar, Dogu Demirkol
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Something hideous is changing law-abiding citizens into monstrous, hyper-violent psychopaths. A series of bizarre, inexplicable robberies and murders have L.A. police detective, Tom Beck (Michael Nouri) totally baffled. And it doesn't help when mysterious FBI agent, Lloyd Gallagher (Kyle MacLachlan) tells him that a demonic extraterrestrial creature is invading the bodies of innocent victims - and transforming them into inhuman killers with an unearthly fondness for heavy-metal music, red Ferraris and unspeakable violence. - Director:
- Jack Sholder
- Cast:
- Kyle MacLachlan, Michael Nouri, Claudia Christian
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Nikita (1990)La Femme Nikita
After being convicted of killing a cop, street-tough Nikita (Anne Parillaud) must choose between her own execution or training with a top-secret government agency to become an assassin. Given a new identity, new skills, and a new life by her mentor Bob (Tcheky Karyo), Nikita becomes "Josephine", a seductive, sophisticated knockout who's also a brutally efficient killing machine. - Director:
- Luc Besson
- Cast:
- Anne Parillaud, Marc Duret, Patrick Fontana
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Gozu (2003)Gokudô kyôfu dai-gekijô: Gozu
Senior Yakuza, Ozaki, appears to be going mad. What began as minor eccentricities have become major problems endangering not only himself but also members of his brotherhood. There is only one option left to the boss - to dispose of him. He orders Minami to take Ozaki to the Yakuza disposal dump in Nagoya and to report him once the job is done. On the way to Nagoya, Ozaki is killed accidentally. After Minami reports the news to his boss, he returns to the car to find that the body has gone. From here, we enter a surreal world of bizarre characters and unnatural goings-on, where the only people stranger than the lactating inn owner and the autistic spiritual medium are the mysterious cow-headed demon and the Yakuza who can't make love without a strategically placed ladle for added stimulation... If you thought you'd seen it all - think again. - Director:
- Takashi Miike
- Cast:
- Yûta Sone, Shô Aikawa, Kimika Yoshino
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Trick 'r Treat (2007)Trick 'R Treat / Trick or Treat
"Trick 'r Treat" takes the Creepshow/Tales from the Crypt approach to wicked new depths with four interwoven tales set on Halloween night: a high school principal (Dylan Baker) moonlights as a vicious serial killer; the quest of a young virgin (Anna Paquin) for that special someone takes a gruesome turn; a group of teens carries out a cruel prank with disastrous consequences; and a cantankerous old man (Brian Cos) battles a mischievous trick-or-treating demon. - Director:
- Michael Dougherty
- Cast:
- Anna Paquin, Brian Cox, Dylan Baker
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Miriam Blaylock (Catherine Deneuve) collects Renaissance Art, Ancient Egyptian pendants, lovers, souls. Alive and fashionably chic in Manhattan, Miriam is an ageless vampire. "Vampire" is not a word you'll hear in this movie based on the novel by Whitley Strieber. Instead, debuting feature director Tony Scott stakes out a hip, sensual, modern-gothic makeover. Catherine Deneuve readiates macabre elegance as Miriam, blessed with beauty, cursed with bloodlust. David Bowie is fellow field and refined husband John. In love, in life, in loging they are inseparable. But when John abruptly begins to age and turns to a geriatrics researcher for help; Miriam soon eyes the woman as a replacement for John. 'The Hunger' is insatiable. - Director:
- Tony Scott
- Cast:
- Catherine Deneuve, David Bowie, Susan Sarandon
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James Stewart stars as the good-natured Elwood P. Dowd, whose constant companion is Harvey, a six-foot tall rabbit that only he can see. To his sister, Veta Louise (Josephine Hull), Elwood's obsession with Harvey has been a thorn in the side of her plans to marry off her daughter. But when Veta Louise decides to put Elwood in a mental hospital, a hilarious mix-up occurs and she finds herself committed instead. It's up to Elwood to straighten out the mess with his kindly philosophy, and his "imaginary" friend. - Director:
- Henry Koster
- Cast:
- James Stewart, Josephine Hull, Peggy Dow
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The Last Boy Scout (1991)El último Boy Scout
Bruce Willis and Damon Wayans star as a seedy detective and a disgraced quarterback, teaming to dodge ambushes, fire off one-liners and bust chops. When the going gets tough, they get tougher. And funnier. They came to play. And to settle a score in this raging fireball where bigger is better, hits are harder and bad guys end up deader. - Director:
- Tony Scott
- Cast:
- Bruce Willis, Damon Wayans, Chelsea Field
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Based on the acclaimed novel by George V. Higgins, "The Friends of Eddie Coyle" follows an aging gunrunner's troubles at the peripheries of the local mob once he finds his options split disastrously between the threat of a fresh prison sentence or police cooperation. One of the best, most unexpected gangster films of the 1970s, 'The Friends of Eddie Coyle' is a gripping tale of low-lives and loyalties, presented with the director's trademark authenticity and naturalism, and an extraordinary array of performances, led by a never-better Mitchum. - Director:
- Peter Yates
- Cast:
- Robert Mitchum, Peter Boyle, Richard Jordan
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Two years after his star-making role in Five Easy Pieces, Nicholson reunited with director Bob Rafelson for this gritty story of small-time losers and big-time dreamers. Dern co-stars as Nicholson's older brother, a scam artist who's all style and no substance, and Burstyn excels as an aging beauty who has prostituted herself for an elusive shot at happiness. - Director:
- Bob Rafelson
- Cast:
- Jack Nicholson, Bruce Dern, Ellen Burstyn
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