helken's - Rented List

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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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In this gently probing family drama, 40-year-old Ryota (Hiroshi Abe) arrives with his wife and stepson at the home of his elderly parents to commemorate his older brother, who drowned some years earlier.

Hirokazu Koreeda's most Ozu-influenced film is a subtle, moving account of family tensions that delves deep into the differing assumptions and value systems of its generations. This was the director's first film to feature veteran actress Kirin Kiki, who would become a regular collaborator.

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From writer-director Martin McDonagh (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri) comes a unique film starring Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson.

Although Padraic (Farrell) and CoIm (Gleeson) have been lifelong friends, they find themselves at an impasse when one abruptly ends their relationship, bringing alarming consequences for both of them.

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Hollywood 1927. George Valentin (Jean Dujardin) is a silent movie superstar. The advent of the talkies will sound the death knell for his career and see him fall into oblivion. For young extra Peppy Miller (Bérénice Bejo), it seems the sky's the limit major movie stardom awaits.

The Artist tells the story of their interlinked destinies.

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This stylish black-comedy thriller stars Ralph Fiennes as Harry, a vicious London crime-boss, who send his two hit-men to the picturesque Belgian City of Bruges - to lay low and wait for orders.

While Ken (Brendan Gleeson) is happy just to sight see (!), his fast-talking partner, Ray (Colin Farrell) sets out for an adventure. Before long, Ray is experiencing hilariously surreal encounters with tourists, skinheads, dwarves and prostitutes! When, at last, the call comes from Harry, the fun turns to a life-and-death struggle of darkly comic proportions.

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Adapted by acclaimed playwright and screenwriter David Rudkin, this stunning television production dramatises a fourteenth-century Arthurian poem that has captivated and intrigued since its rediscovery two centuries ago.

Starring Malcolm Storry as the otherworldly Green Knight, Jason Durr as the youthful Sir Gawain and Marc Warren as King Arthur, the drama presents one of British literature's greatest tale of magic, honour, romance and temptation. The story begins at the court of King Arthur one Yuletide, when a mysterious knight garbed in green appears and challenges anyone present to strike off his head with an axe - on the condition that he may return the blow in exactly one year's time. Sir Gawain is alone in accepting the challenge, decapitating the towering stranger's head with one strike. The Green Knight then picks up his severed head, climbs back upon his horse, and rides out of Camelot. The following winter, Gawain dutifully sets off on his solitary quest for the Green Knight...

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Louka, a middle-aged Czech cellist, is a skirt-chasing bachelor who enjoys a lifestyle free of responsibilities. When he finds himself strapped for cash, he agrees to a marriage of convenience. But after his new bride skips town, Louka is left to father her five-year-old Russian son, Kolya.

Neither could be more unhappy with their predicament, especially since they don't even speak the same language. It'll take time and patience for the cultural barrier between this unlikely father-son duo to fall, but when it does, an unbreakable bond forms in its place.

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Passionate about dance, young Merab (Levan Gelbakhiani) has trained at the National Georgian Dance Ensemble since childhood. His sole aim in life; to join the Main Dance Ensemble, break free from the confines of Georgian society and travel the world.

When a dancer in the main ensemble is disgraced and his place becomes available, Merab's ambitions finally feel within reach. When Irakli (Bachi Valishvili), a virile, talented male dancer unexpectedly joins his group, Merab fears the newcomer is the only thing standing between him and his dreams. Charismatic and carefree, Irakli, has an effect on Merab that he can't quite explain. As they compete, Irakli becomes both Merab's fiercest rival and strongest desire, a desire that, in conservative Georgian society, threatens to throw his dance career, livelihood and family into turmoil. With a breath-taking central performance from breakout star Levan Gelbakhiani, Levan Akin's luminous 'And Then We Danced' explores forbidden desire, ambition and liberation set against the backdrop of traditionalist Tblisi.

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Alexander Mackendrick's last Ealing comedy and certainly one of the best, William Rose received an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay. Sir Alec Guinness stars in one of his most vivid disguises, in this killingly funny black comedy gem.

The villains plot to kill the old lady who discovers their robbery. But the pensioner is not as harmless as she seems! A rare colour film from Ealing in the '50s, it was premiered in 1955 at the end of the Ealing Green period.

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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.

Silent movies are giving way to talking pictures - and a hoofer-turned-matinee idol (Gene Kelly) is caught in that bumpy transition, as are his buddy (Donald O'Connor), prospective ladylove (Debbie Reynolds) and shrewish costar (Jean Hagen).

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Assistant District Attorney, Adam Bonner (Spencer Tracy) loves his wife Amanda (Katharine Hepburn), but doesn't care much for his opposing counsel in a sensational attempted-murder trial - an opponent who happens to be Amanda.

Spencer Tracey and Katharine Hepburn were never more evenly matched than when they brought their sharpened wits and prickly affection to this George Cukor-directed comedy written by Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin. Judy Holliday co-stars as the woman whose shooting of her philandering spouse becomes a feminist cause for Amanda. Hepburn generously saw Holliday's' work as a screen test for casting the film of Holliday's stage vehicle Born Yesterday. Hepburn's ploy worked. So does this fine, funny movie.

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Stars Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant and director George Cukor bring their timeless talents to this delectable slice of 1930s romantic-comedy perfection.

Grant is at his charismatic best as the acrobatically inclined free spirit who, following a whirlwind engagement, literally tumbles into the lives of his fiancee's aristocratic family, setting up a clash of values with her staid father while firing the rebellious imagination of her brash, black-sheep sister (Hepburn). With a sparkling surface and an undercurrent of melancholy, 'Holiday' is an enchanting ode to nonconformists and pie-in-the-sky dreamers everywhere, as well as a thoughtful reflection on what it truly means to live well.

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The funniest, fastest honeymoon ever screened! Ellen Arden (Irene Dunne) has been shipwrecked for seven years but returns to discover her husband Nick (Cary Grant) has had her declared dead and remarried.

She wants her man back and makes him jealous over Stephen (Randolph Scott), a man with whom she was shipwrecked. After all these years can true love still find its way? 'My Favourite Wife' puts the wide-ranging comedic talents of Grant and Dunne to hilarious use.

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Take a hilarious ride with the Hoovers, one of the most endearingly fractured families in comedy history. Father Richard (Greg Kinnear) is desperately trying to sell his motivational success programme... with no success.

Meanwhile, "pro-honesty" mom Sheryl (Toni Collette) lends support to her eccentric family, including her depressed brother (Steve Carell), fresh out of the hospital after being jilted by his lover. Then there are the younger Hoovers - the seven-year-old, would-be beauty queen Olive (Abigail Breslin) and Dwayne (Paul Dano), a Nietzsche-reading teen who has taken a vow of silence. Topping off the family is the foul-mouthed grandfather (Alan Arkin), whose outrageous behaviour recently got him evicted from his retirement home. When Olive is invited to compete in the "Little Miss Sunshine" pageant in fat-off California, the family piles into their rusted-out VW bus to rally behind her - with riotously funny results.