john-t's - Rented List

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Many years in the making, this bold follow-up to Mark Cousins' 'The Story of Film' uses hundreds of film clips to show how movies are made.

Presented in thematic chapters, and narrated by the likes of Tilda Swinton, Debra Winger, and Jane Fonda, it asks questions like how a great opening shot is done, how to frame an image, how to introduce a character, how to film sex, dance and death, how work and love are portrayed in cinema, and how the genres of comedy, melodrama and sci-fi work. Uniquely, all these questions are answered using only clips from films directed by women. The famous female directors are included, but so are scores of forgotten women from every period in film history and from five continents. 'Women Make Film' is a revealing eye-opener, a celebration of the art and craft of cinema, and a j'accuse to film history.

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Divorced and disillusioned, Roslyn Tabor (Marilyn Monroe) befriends a group of "misfits", including an ageing cowboy (Clark Gable), a heartbroken mechanic (Eli Wallach) and a worn-out rodeo rider (Montgomery Clift).

Through their live-for-the-moment lifestyle, Roslyn experiences her first taste of freedom, exhilaration and passion. But when her innocent idealism clashes with their hard-edged practicality, Roslyn must risk losing their friendship... and the only true love she's ever known.

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Leni Riefenstahl is considered one of the most controversial women of the 20th century as an artist and a Nazi propagandist. Her films 'Triumph of the Will' and 'Olympia' stand for perfectly staged body worship and the celebration of the superior and victorious.

At the same time, these images project contempt for the imperfect and weak. Riefenstahl's aesthetics are more present than ever today - but is that also true for their implied message? The film examines this question using documents from Riefenstahl's estate, including private films, photos, recordings and letters. It uncovers fragments of her biography and places them in an extended historical context. How could Riefenstahl become the Reich's preeminent filmmaker and keep denying any closer ties to Hitler and Goebbels? During her long life after the fall of Nazism, she remained unapologetic, managing to control and shape her legacy. In personal documents, she mourns her "murdered ideals". 'Riefenstchl' represents many postwar Germans who, in letters and recorded telephone calls from her estate, dream of an organizing hand that will finally clean up the "shit-hole state". Then, her work would also experience a renaissance, in a generation or two this time could come - what if they are right? -

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After years behind bars, Max Dembo faces 'Straight Time'. He hopes it will mean a new life, a job, a place to call home, perhaps even a girl of his own. Instead, it's a one-way ticket to disaster.

Dustin Hoffman plays Max, a freed con trapped by an indifferent criminal system and his selfdestructive bent. Before and during the film's shoot, Hoffman apprenticed himself to Edward Bunker, the ex-con whose book No Beast So Fierce inspired the movie. The resulting experience is intensely real and superbly acted by Hoffman and a terrific ensemble (Theresa Russell, Harry Dean Stanton, Gary Busey, M. Emmet Walsh and Kathy Bates). As Newsweek's David Ansen wrote, 'Straight Time' "has an edgy, lingering intensity".

Washed-up revolutionary Bob (Leonardo DiCaprio) exists in a state of stoned paranoia, surviving off-grid with his daughter, Willa (Chase Infiniti). When his evil nemesis Colonel Steven J. Lockjaw (Sean Penn) resurfaces after 16 years, they must face Bob's past and run for the future.

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"Megalopolis" is a Roman Epic set in an imagined Modern America.

The City of New Rome must change, causing conflict between Cesar Catilina (Adam Driver), a genius artist who seeks to leap into a utopian, idealistic future, and his opposition, Mayor Franklyn Cicero (Giancarlo Esposito), who remains committed to a regressive status quo, perpetuating greed, special interests, and partisan warfare. Torn between them is socialite Julia Cicero (Nathalie Emmanuel), the mayor's daughter, whose love for Cesar has divided her loyalties, forcing her to discover what she truly believes humanity deserves.

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Charting the extraordinary life and monumental legacy of a twentieth century icon, this landmark documentary reframes its subject in all her incarnations: actor; business mogul; trailblazing activist; and rebel who rewrote the rules of fame, offering an intimate look into Taylor's journey from

child star to global celebrity. Featuring a stellar cast including Kim Kardashian, Sharon Stone, Paris Jackson and Dame Joan Collins, plus unprecedented access to Elizabeth Taylor's closest family and friends, and never-before-broadcast interviews with Taylor herself, this series views her story through a modern lens, offering rare insight into the woman both in and out of the spotlight, and revealing how the world's original influencer helped shaped the world as we know it today.

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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.

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When Carol (Cate Blanchett) walks into a New York City department store and meets Therese (Rooney Mara) an unlikely friendship sparks. Carol is an elegant socialite going through a bitter divorce while Therese is just starting out in life; unsure of who she wants to be.

Mesmerized by each other, they face a choice: deny their hearts desires or defy society's conventions but in doing so, risk life as they know it.

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Clint Eastwood directs and stars in this international intrigue action action thriller that takes place on the Swiss Alps.

Hemlock, a retired, professional assassin (Clint Eastwood), who has turned toward the calmer pursuit of art collecting, is suddenly forced out of retirement to hunt a deadly double agent, who murdered a close friend. The hunt takes Eastwood on a breathtaking journey up the Swiss Alps with a team of mountain climbers - one of whom is the man he seeks, though his identity is as yet unknown. This adrenaline-pumping action film, based on the novel by Trevanian, features some of the most exciting mountain climbing sequences ever filmed.

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Gloria Swanson as Norma Desmond, an ageing silent film queen, and William Holden as the struggling writer who is held in thrall by her madness, created two of the screen's most memorable characters in 'Sunset Boulevard'.

Winner of three Academy Awards, director Billy Wilder's orchestration of the bizarre tale is a true cinematic classic. From the unforgettable opening sequence through the inevitable unfolding of tragic destiny, the film is the definitive statement on the dark and desperate side of Hollywood. Erich von Stroheim as Desmond's discoverer, ex-husband and butler, and Nancy Olson as the bright spot in unrelenting ominousness, are equally celebrated for their masterful performances.

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The film that launched Brigitte Bardot on an unsuspecting world and changed the face of movies forever. Roger Vadim's directorial debut broke box office records the world over and showed St.Tropez to be the coolest place on the planet.

It featured a voluptuous and kitten-like Bardot with her pout, her curves and her stunning beauty to a very receptive audience. Bardot is Juliette, a young, gorgeous woman who is prone to nude sunbathing and flirting. She fancies fisherman Antoine (Christian Marquand) is being pursued by rich widower Eric (Curd Jurgens) but intstead she marries Antoine's younger brother Michel (Jean-Louis Trintignant). She tries to be good and faithful but gives in to her (now) brother-in-law's advances setting off fraternal conflict and tragic consequences. Full of zest and sex, mambo dancing and teasing glimpses of one of the worlds great beauties, this film is so cool it sizzles!

Based on the incredible true story of Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg (Cruise) and his ingenious assassination plot targeting Adolph Hitler, this engrossing thriller reenacts the daring operation to eliminate one of the most evil tyrants the world has ever known.

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In this classic six-part BBC series, John Byrne, creator of 'Tutti Frutti', explores the Scottish country music scene in an unsentimental portrait of Glaswegian life and culture. Local food and wine correspondent Frank McClusky falls in love with waitress Cissie Crouch.

Unfortunately for him, she's the wife of a convict, who is serving time for a crime he didn't commit. As Frank's life becomes more embroiled with Cissie's he goes on a mission to track down the guilty men.

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Dustin Hoffman gives an unforgettable performance as Ratso Rizzo, a scrounging, sleazy small-time con man with big dreams. Jon Voight is magnificent as Joe Buck, the good-looking, naively charming Texan 'cowboy' who is convinced that he is the salvation of many lonely, love starved New York Women.

These two characters are drawn together in this powerful and compassionate film.