plastic-teaspoon's - Rented List

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Set in the German prison camps of WW1, the film stars Jean Gabin as Marechal, and Marcel Dalio as Rosenthal.

Like the charming aristocrat Captain de Boeldieu (Pierre Fresnay), these two French aviators were shot down and now spend most of their time escaping from German prison camps before inevitably being recaptured. Between escapes, they do what they can to amuse themselves, but after a tunnel they've dug is discovered, the three are sent to Wintersborn, a forbidding fortress of a prison commanded by former ace pilot Von Rauffenstein (Erich Von Stroheim). Von Rauffenstein cannot help but strike up a friendship with Captain de Boeldieu, a kindred spirit from the doomed nobility.

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Bergman's masterpiece of self-doubt, identity and eroticism is an audacious example of cinematic art. The notional story centres on newly mute actor Elisabet (Liv Ullmann) recuperating at her coastal holiday home in the care of a nurse, Alma (Bibi Andersson).

As tensions between the pair grow, their very selves seem to blur, chronology becomes uncertain and what is real and unreal loses significance. Yet the true impact of Persona goes beyond mere storytelling, touching, as Bergman said, 'wordless secrets that only the cinema can discover'.

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Welcome to a bittersweet world of episodic adventures and strange encounters. Welcome to a sordid, nocturnal world of ruthless, callous boyfriends and stray movie stars looking for seedy kicks.

Welcome to the harsh, unforgiving streets of a crumbling Rome where hope can still prevail and dreams cradle the lost. Welcome to the world of Cabiria, a feisty, loud, outspoken and somewhat naïve prostitute waiting for a miracle, and one of the most unforgettable and endearing characters of European cinema. Eventually remade in Hollywood as 'Sweet Charity', 'Nights of Cabiria' is a often humorous, poignant, unflinching and vivid portrait of one woman's picaresque existence and her perseverance through adversity. Starring Fellini's wife, Giulietta Masina, as the irrepressible protagonist, 'Nights of Cabiria' marked Fellini's last foray into gritty neo-realism before venturing into the surreal satire and dream logic of 'La Dolce Vita' and 'Eight and a Half'.

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At his grandfather's funeral, 30-year-old bachelor businessman Kawachi Daikichi encounters 6 year old Rin, who is shunned by his immediate family.

As he presses his relatives for information, he discovers Rin is the child of his grandfather's mistress, a secret which brought shame on their conservative family. Daikichi doesn't like children, but the cold attitude of his relatives towards her causes Daikichi to reconsider his stance and adopt Rin and raise her as if she were his own daughter. After all, she is blood...and endearingly cute! What kind of clothes to buy her? What to feed her? What to do about nursery school? Daikichi's new life raising a 6-year-old girl is an uninterrupted stream of bewilderment.

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No pennies??? No plot??? No problem!!! With innovation comes influence - and so it was that, in 1985, another group of backwoods filmmakers from the Lone Star State gave us another legendary Texas-set splatter-shocker: Nail Gun Massacre.

An icon of the VHS age, sleazier and cheesier than any of its contemporaries - and featuring more power tool plasma-spillage than you can shake a chainsaw at - Nail Gun Massacre introduces a motorcycle-helmet wearing psychopath with a range of amusing one-liners. This mysterious marauder gets their kicks from tracking down tempestuous teenagers and lowbrow locals so that they can be turned into human pin cushions. The motivation behind this macabre path of plasma-provocation may be linked to a psycho-sexual crime that took place years prior - although the local police force are understandably baffled as each new dead body turns up...

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June, -1945. Bay injured, her face destroyed, Auschwitz survivor Nelly (Nina Hoss) turns to Berlin.. Having barely recovered IMMA facial surgery, she sets out to find her husband Johnny (Ronald Zehrfeld).

Nelly's family has been murdered in the Holocaust - Johnny is convinced that his wife, too, is dead. When Nelly finally tracks him down he doesn't recognise her, but seeing a resemblance Johnny asks her to take on the identity of his 'late' wife in order to access her inherited fortune. Nelly agrees: she becomes her on imposter.

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F.W. Murnau, Carl Mayer, Karl Freund and Emil Jannings collaborated to produce 'The Last Laugh', one of the finest triumphs of the silent cinema.

This tragic-comedy of an elderly hotel doorman whose world crumbles when he is demoted to lavatory attendant bases its reputation on the dazzlingly fluid cinematography of Karl Freund, the virtuoso performance of Emil Jannings and the innovative, Expressionist direction of F.W. Murnau - all of which relentlessly explore the psychological disintegration of this "last of men".

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Marcello Mastroianni is (Fellini's alter ego) Guido, a successful filmmaker who, embarking on his next film, discovers he has a complete "director's block": he has no story to tell! Harassed by his producers, his mistress (Sandra Milo) and his wife (Anouk Aimee), while struggling to find the

inspiration for his film, he increasingly retreats in dreamy recollections of his life and lovers, until fantasy, memories and reality merge in the director's mind - and on screen, in an astonishing, masterful spectacle, culminating in an electrifying triumph of optimism. As Guido-Federico says at the end of 8 1/2: "Life is a party, let's live it together!"

The film is set against the impressive backdrop of Monument Valley in Utah and tells the story of a mixed group of travellers who are making their way across the country to Arizona. They are endangered by an Indian War Party and this, along with their personal histories, results in difficulties.

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Perhaps the crowning achievement of Bunuel's career, the film centres on an idealistic young nun named Viridiana (Silvia Pinal).

Before she is allowed to take her final vows, the Mother Superior requests that she visit her uncle Don Jaime (Fernando Rey), who has "selflessly" provided for the girl over the years. Having always considered him an unspeakable beast, she is surprised when he graciously welcomes her into his home. Just as graciously, he sets about to corrupt Viridiana beyond redemption - all because the girl resembles the wife that died on their wedding day.

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Meet Light Yagami, a brilliant but bored high school student whose life is changed when he finds the Death Note, a notebook dropped by a rogue Shinigami, or god of death, named Ryuk.

When Light discovers that any human whose name is written in the book dies, he vows to use its power to rid the world of evil. But every action has its consequences, and Light soon finds himself in a life or death battle of wits with the mysterious genius detective called L. Humanity itself becomes the battleground to determine what form of justice will prevail!

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Philandering concert pianist Stefan arrives home to find a letter which begins 'by the time you read this I may be dead'. So unfolds the story of Lisa, one of many woman with whom he had shared a brief encounter over the years and swiftly forgotten.

Her life has been spent loving him unfalteringly and now he would learn the truth about his past.

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Petra von Kant (Margit Carstensen), with two marriages behind her and an absent daughter, is a successful fashion designer.

She lives with her secretary, the repressed and subservient Marlene (Irm Hermann), who will form the second point in a tragic ménage à trois when Petra meets and falls hopelessly in love with a confident young model named Karin (Hanna Schygulla).

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Deep in Florida's darkest everglades, a brilliant scientist, Dr. Alec Holland (Ray Wise), and a sexy government agent, Alice Cable (Adrienne Barbeau), have developed a secret formula that could end world hunger and change civilization forever.

Little do they know, however, that their arch nemesis, Arcane (Louis Jourdan), is plotting to steal the serum for his own selfish schemes. Looting the lab and kidnapping Cable, Arcane douses Holland with the chemicals and leaves him for dead in the swamp. Mutated by his own formula, Holland becomes "Swamp Thing" - a half human/half plant superhero who will stop at nothing to rescue the beautiful Cable and defeat the evil Arcane...even if it costs him his life!

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Sam Bell (Sam Rockwell) is nearing the completion of his 3-year-long contract with Lunar Industries, mining Earth's primary source of energy on the dark side of the moon. Alone with only the base's vigilant computer Gerty as his sole companion, Bell's extended isolation has taken its toll.

His only link with outside world comes via satellite messages from his wife and young daughter. He longs to return home, but a terrible accident on lunar surfaces leads to disturbing discovery that contributes to his growing sense of paranoia and dislocation so many miles away from home.