john-t's - Rented List

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Writing at the dawn of the 20th century, Wells wrote over 100 short stories.These brilliant tales of the supernatural, the inexplicable and the macabre feature journeys into parallel worlds, stories of demonic possession and explorations of the boundaries of known-science.

"The Nightmare Worlds of H.G. Wells" is an anthology of four of these brilliant tales: 'The Moth' follows a professor who, after the death of his fiercest rival, descends into madness. 'The Late Mr. Elvesham' tells the story of a bright but poor student who unwittingly exchanges his youth for riches. Starring Michael Gambon. 'The Devotee of Art' is about an artist's obsession and the lengths he is willing to go to achieve artistic perfection. 'The Purple Pileus' is a horrific, hallucinogenic cautionary tale about marriage.

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A heartfelt documentary that puts centre stage a group of people who were intimately involved with a pop culture phenomenon. In 1976, the original Star Wars movie was shot in suburban North London. Nobody involved had any idea how big the film would become, many couldn't even remember the title.

Yet, for the extras and actors in smaller roles, their faces hidden behind masks and beneath helmets, this seemingly insignificant job would go on to colour their lives even four decades later. Filmmaker Jon Spira has tracked down a cross-section of these actors and extras, including David Prowse (Darth Vader) and Jeremy Bulloch (Boba Fett), to find out what it means to have been a part of the most beloved cinematic universe of all time.

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Brent is back! Twelve years on from the BBC mockumentary 'The Office' David Brent is now a travelling salesman with Lavichem, a cleaning and ladies' personal hygiene products company.

However, he hasn't given up on his dream of rock stardom and is about to embark on a self-financed UK tour with his band, 'Foregone Conclusion'. Assembling a group of session musicians who are just in it for the money, and talented rapper Dom (Ben Bailey Smith) in an attempt to gain street cred, Brent cashes in his pensions and takes unpaid leave in a bid to turn his dream into reality. Get ready to join David Brent on the road as he takes one last shot at fame and fortune.

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In 1962, Francois Truffaut persuaded Alfred Hitchcock to sit with him for a week-long interview in which the great British auteur would share with his young admirer the secrets of his cinema.

Based on the original recordings of this meeting—used to produce the seminal book "Hitchcock/Truffaut"—this film illustrates the greatest cinema lesson of all time and plunges us into the world of the creator of Psycho, The Birds and Vertigo. Hitchcock's singular vision is elucidated and brought vividly to life by today's leading filmmakers: Martin Scorsese, David Fincher, Arnaud Desplechin, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Wes Anderson, James Gray, Olivier Assayas, Richard Linklater, Peter Bogdanovich, and Paul Schrader.

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In 1962 four young men John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr came together to form the 20th century musical phenomenon known as, "The Beatles". The band stormed Europe in 1963, and, in 1964, they conquered America.

Their groundbreaking world tours changed global youth culture forever and, arguably, invented mass entertainment as we know it today. All the while, the group were composing and recording a series of extraordinarily successful singles and albums. However the relentless pressure of such unprecedented fame, that in 1966 became uncontrollable turmoil, led to the decision to stop touring. In the ensuing years The Beatles were then free to focus on a series of albums that changed the face of recorded music. Master storyteller and Oscar winner, Ron Howard, explores this incredible journey in his own unique way: How did The Beatles do this? How did they cope with all the fame and pressure? How did they not only survive, but go on to revolutionise popular music? With original interviews, footage, staggering live performances, and the intimate study of character that Ron Howard is known for, he puts us right inside this extraordinary adventure, answering the question everyone always wants to know: What was it like to be there?!!

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Spanning two decades at the start of the 20th century, "Jules and Jim" follows the lives of two inseparable friends - timid German, Jules (Oskar Werner), and gregarious Parisian, Jim (Henri Serre) - and their shared love of the beautiful, capricious Catherine, played in mesmerising, luminous style

by Jeanne Moreau. Overcoming the destructive rift of World War I the trio create a new life for themselves, away from the structures imposed by society. But as the idyllic menage a trois begins to succumb to jealousy and rivalry their idealised existence finds itself slowly buckling under pressure. Frequently hailed as one of the greatest films ever made, "Jules and Jim" is a dazzling, boldly original tale of love, friendship and the vagaries of history that combines romance, comedy and tragedy in breathtaking, near-perfect dramatic harmony.

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John Krish is one of British cinema's best-kept secrets: a master of post-war documentary filmmaking who repeatedly turned his works and commissions into truly stirring cinema.

This award-winning programme collects together four of Krish's most cherished films: The Elephant Will Never Forget (1953), a farewell to London's trams; They Took Us to the Sea (1961), a poignant record of a seaside outing for disadvantaged children; Our School (1962), charting the aspirations of the decade's young school-leavers; and I Think They Call Him John (1964), a deeply moving account of an elderly widower. Timelessly affecting and wonderfully entertaining, these long lost films are truly worthy of rediscovery.

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Yann Arthus-Bertrand, famous for "The Earth From Above", a photographic portrait of aerial shots of our planet, takes us on a sensational journey above 50 countries as seen from the sky and provides us with an unusual portrait of our Home.

Planet Earth is critically ill but another future is possible if we all decide to write it together.

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Justin Playfair (George C. Scott) is a retired New York judge who retreats into fantasy following the death of his wife.

Believing himself to be Sherlock Holmes, equipped with deerstalker hat, pipe and cape, he whiles away his days in a homemade criminal lab where he plots to foil the dastardly schemes of elusive arch-enemy Moriarty. When his brother Blevins (Lester Rawlins) tries to have him committed to a mental institution, Playfair is assessed by psychiatrist Mildred Watson (Joanne Woodward), who becomes absorbed by his delusions. In no time at all, Dr. Watson becomes the bogus fictional detective's constant companion. What follows is a playful exploration of individuality and insanity in an alienating world, in which phantom obsessions and shared mysteries can lead to true fellowship and romance. Adapted by James Goldman (The Lion in Winter) from his own stage play, 'They Might be Giants' is a captivating Quixote for modern times.

A lonely, unbalanced young butterfly collector (Terence Stamp) stalks and abducts a young art student (Samantha Eggar), keeping her imprisoned in a stone cellar as if she were one of his specimens.

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"Forbidden Planet" is the granddaddy of tomorrow, a pioneering work whose ideas and style would be reverse-engineered into many cinematic space voyages to come. Leslie Nielsen plays the commander who brings his space-cruiser crew to Planet Altair-4, home to Dr.

Morbius (Walter Pidgeon), his daughter (Anne Francis), a dutiful robot named Robby...and a mysterious terror. Featuring sets of extraordinary scale and the first allelectronic musical soundscape in film history, 'Forbidden Planet' is in a movie orbit all its own.

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Texas cowboy Ron Woodroof (Matthew McConaughey) sees bis free-wheeling life overturned when he's diagnosed as HIV-positive and given 30 days to live.

Determined to survive, Woodroof decides to take matters in his own hands by tracking down alternative treatments from all over the world by means both legal and illegal. After finding an unlikely ally in Rayon (Jared Leto), he establishes a hugely successful "buyers' club" and unites a band of outcasts in a struggle for dignity and acceptance that inspires in ways no one could have imagined.

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From the writer of Control, Nowhere Boy is the story of John Lennon's childhood... Liverpool 1955: a smart and troubled fifteen year-old is hungry for experience. In a family full of secrets, two incredible women clash over John (Aaron Johnson).

Mimi (Kristin Scott Thomas) the buttoned-up Aunt who raised him, and Julia (Anne-Marie Duff, The Last Station), the prodigal mother. Yearning for a normal family, John escapes into the new and exciting world of rock n' roll where his fledgling genius finds a kindred spirit in the teenage Paul McCartney. Just as John begins his new life, tragedy strikes. But a resilient young man finds his voice - and an icon explodes into the world.

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"The Tour: The Legend of the Race" sheds a new light on the last 100 years of the Tour de France, now considered one of the world's most popular sporting events. The Tour has lived through a century of rich history, with ups and downs, triumphs and scandals, continually evolving with the times.

Throughout it all one key characteristic has remained the incredible power of identification the public has with the Tour cyclists, mythical figures that seem accessible and inaccessible at the same time. In order to reflect this human dimension of the Tour, the film tells the story through a selection of its emblematic heroes. Emblematic of the Tour, but also emblematic of an era, embodying in the film their generation: Coppi, Bobet, Anquetil, Poulidor, Merckx, Hinault, Indurain, Armstrong... Fully archive-based and colourised, "The Tour" cleverly weaves together all these individual stories with the story of the Tour de France itself, with the goal of creating a timeless and epic sports saga.

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Korean War vet and retired autoworker Walt Kowalski (Clint Eastwood) doesn't much like how his life or his neighbourhood has turned out. He especially doesn't like the people next door, Hmong immigrants from Southeast Asia.

But events force Walt to defend those neighbours against a local gang that feeds on violence and fear.