fmj's - Rented List

Show moreShow less

Newly arrived in Bath, highly ambitious Londoner DCI McDonald (Tala Gouveia) intends to lake the city's police force by storm.

But when she's partnered with veteran Sergeant Dodds (Jason Watkins), the unlikely pair must find a way to work together as their different approaches to policing - and to life - come to the fore, Together, in two new feature length episodes, they investigate intriguing crimes, set against the backdrop of the contemporary changing face of Britain's most traditional city. From the secret lives of the rich and entitled, to the undercover world of addiction treatment clinics, McDonald and Dodds come to realise not all is at it seems in the seemingly sleepy city of Bath.

Show moreShow less

In this funny, uplifting tale based on an actual lie. Chinese-born, U.S.-raised Billi (Awkwafina) reluctantly returns to Changchun to find that, although the whole family knows their beloved matriarch, Nai-Nai. has been given mere weeks to live, everyone has decided not to tell Nai Nai herself.

To assure her happiness, they gather under the joyful guise of an expedited wedding, uniting family members scattered among new homes abroad. As Billi navigates a minefield of family expectations and proprieties, she finds there's a lot to celebrate: a chance to rediscover the country she left as a child, her grandmother's wondrous spirit, and the ties that keep on binding even when so much goes unspoken. With 'The Farewell', writer/director Lulu Wang has created a heartfelt celebration of both the way we perform family and the way we live it, masterfully interweaving a gently humorous depiction of the good lie in action with a richly moving story of how family can unite and strengthen us. often in spite of ourselves.

Show moreShow less

Jenny Bowman (Judy Garland), strong-headed, absent mother turns up in the lives of her ex-lover David (Dirk Bogarde) and their son, rocking the boat in these otherwise still waters.

Who can resist a showbiz mum who turns up at boarding school and charms everyone she meets; who sings her way into the heart of a nation. David knows he must, because with the best will in the world, this is a woman strong enough to build a mountain of love and bring it crashing down without looking back.

Show moreShow less

An elevator operator, a wife of a struggling concert violinist, a born-in-a-trunk vaudevillian: they're three different women on three different paths of life, yet they soon share one dream: to become a 'Ziegfeld Girl'.

Lana Turner, Hedy Lamarr and Judy Garland play the respective three trying for stardom in this sumptuous extravaganza. James Stewart adds to the star wattage, playing the jilted truck-driving beau of Turner's footlight diva. And legendary innovator Busby Berkeley brings his imaginative camerawork and pacing to numbers that include Garland's massively scaled and calypso-infused 'Minnie from Trinidad', plus a lavish, showgirl-revue finale that reprises the rhapsodic 'You Stepped Out of a Dream'.

Judy Garland is singer Esther Blodgett, an undeniable talent on the rise. She catches the eye of Norman Maine (James Mason), an alcoholic actor in career decline. Their intense love transforms them both. Only one will survive Hollywood's slings and arrows.

Plucky Penny Hale (Shirley Temple) is excited to return from boarding school to live with her widower dad (Charles Farrell), but when she learns that he's lost his real estate project, and they now live in a basement, she sets out to win over a crotchety real estate developer - whom she mistakenly believes is "Uncle Sam."

Show moreShow less

Adventure and romance come to Tommy Tomkins (Tommy Steele), a young British seaman, when he is stranded in Spain during the Feria, a local festival. He runs into every conceivable misadventure on his travels - chased by the police, accused of smuggling...

and tricked into the bull ring by a fast talking impresario! Will our hero be able to evade capture from the police, avoid a beating from a bull and still find time to bag the girl of his dreams?

Show moreShow less

One of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers' most career-defining movies for RKO Pictures, 'Flying Down To Rio' was released at the height of the Depression but was full of glitz and exotic locations.

Although they were not the main stars of this film it will always be remembered for the first ever pairing of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, who would become the greatest dance team in movie history. Aviator and band leader Roger Bond (Gene Raymond) is forever getting his group fired for flirting with the lady guests. When he falls for Brazilian beauty Belinha de Rezende (Dolores Del Rio) it appears to be for real, even though she is already engaged. His Yankee Clippers band is hired to open the new Hotel Atlantico in Rio and when performing the airborne production number to mark the Hotel's opening, Julio gets some intriguing ideas...

Show moreShow less

Wang Xiaoshuai's deeply moving and intimate drama traces the lives of two interconnected families over three decades of social and political upheaval in China.

The film charts the fortunes of factory workers Liyun (Yong Mei) and Yaojun (Wang Jingchun), a couple reeling from a devastating family tragedy during the tumultuous years between the 1980's and the 21st century. Constricted by the one-child national policy, their lives are gradually transformed under the impact of the country's changing identity, building to a heartbreaking revelation that exposes how political reality affects the fates of the family and the people around them. A cleverly poetic depiction of communist China, 'So Long, My Son' is a sprawling yet personal portrait of human resilience, featuring incredibly tender and award-winning performances from Mei and Jingchun.

Show moreShow less

After a late-night cup of coffee, vaudevillians Jo Hayden and Harry Palmer sit at a piano and work a song. Moments later, Jo realizes she's found exactly what she wasn't looking for: a partner. And with Judy Garland as Jo and Gene Kelly as Harry, the partnership isn't just ideal.

It's a film fan's dream come true. Kelly debuts and Garland dazzles in this Busby Berkeley-directed tale of a song-and-dance pair who take on tank towns, tough times and World War I while struggling for show-biz success. A hit parade of era tunes paces the film, including the wowser "Ballin' the Jack" and the sweetly harmonized title tune. Bursting with vitality and old-fashioned charm, "For Me and My Gal" is for the ages.

Show moreShow less

Winter 1968, and showbiz legend Judy Garland arrives in swinging London to perform in a sell-out run at The Talk of the Town. It is 30 years since she shot to global stardom in The Wizard of Oz, but if her voice has weakened, its dramatic intensity has only grown.

As she prepares for the show, battles with management, charms musicians, and reminisces with friends and adoring fans, her wit and warmth shine through. Even her dreams of romance seem undimmed as she embarks on a courtship with Mickey Deans (Finn Wittrock), her soon-to-be fifth husband. And yet Judy (Renée Zellweger) is fragile. After working for 45 of her 47 years, she is exhausted: haunted by memories of a childhood lost to Hollywood, and gripped by a desire to be back home with her kids. Will she have the strength to go on? Featuring some of her best-known songs, the film celebrates the voice, the capacity for love and the sheer pizzazz of "the world's greatest entertainer".

Show moreShow less

Vittles, songs and dance are amply ladeled out when Judy Garland headlines The Harvey Girls, a joyous musical slice of Americana celebrating the restaurants that brought extra helpings of civilization to Old West rail passengers.

Highlights include Garland holding saloon patrons at jittery gunpoint to retrieve stolen beefsteaks, Ray Bolger's loose-limbed comic hoofing. Virginia O'Brien's sure-shot comic timing, Angela Landsbury stylish wickedness as a saloon singer and the On the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe romp that's deservedly famous, one of the most triumphant sequences in screen-musical history.

A treasure trove of fun awaits when a Caribbean beauty (Judy Garland) with a mad crush on a legendary pirate meets a vagabond actor (Gene Kelly) who poses as the scoundrel. Vincente Minnelli directs, bringing his uncanny skill with color and design to this joyous romp set to Cole Porter tunes.

Show moreShow less

"In The Good Old Summertime" - a tale of squabbling music-shop clerks who don't know they're romantic pen pals - shares a celebrated movie lineage that includes James Stewart and Margaret Sullavan in 'The Shop Around the Corner' and Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan in 'You've Got Mail'.

In between those two, Judy Garland and Van Johnson had mail plus Gold Old tunes evoking an era of straw-boaters and silver moons. Sparked by Garland's comedic zest and musical appeal, this confection is "one of the sweetest, most unpretentious entertainments of 1949". It's also a nostalgic farewell and a sunny hello. Buster Keaton appears in his final film for the studio he first joined in 1928. And Liza Minnelli, all of 18 months young, makes her debut in the finale.

Show moreShow less

Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers are irrepressible in this enjoyable musical that features a fantastic score from Irving Berlin.

Fred and Ginger's talent as dancers is on prominent display here, from their explosive romp in "Let Yourself Go" to Astaire's blazing nautical tap in "I'd Rather Lead a Band". The highlight for many fans will come with "Let's Face the Music and Dance".