sjj's - Rented List

Starring Academy Award-winning actresses Reese Witherspoon and Nicole Kidman, "Big Little Lies" is a subversive, darkly comedic drama that weaves a tale of murder and mischief as it explores society's myth of perfection and marriage, sex, parenting and friendship.

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Maya, a barrister in London, is at the very top of her profession. She is about to become the first black Director of Public Prosecutions. But just as her life comes under intense public scrutiny, Maya discovers that her husband Nick has been lying to her for 20 years.

At the same time a case that has dominated her career is about to reach its conclusion. Rudy Jones, a black man in America wrongly convicted of murdering a white politician, is to be executed. As she fights to save Rudy and discovers more about her husband's past, Maya begins to realise there are bigger forces at work. An intricate web of corruption involving members of the police, the press and politicians unfolds.

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From acclaimed director Mike Leigh comes this epic portrayal of events surrounding the infamous 1819 'Peterloo Massacre' in Manchester, when armed government forces charged into a crowd of 60,000 peaceful protesters who were desperate for greater democracy and improved working conditions.

Featuring stellar performances from Maxine Peake and Rory Kinnear, 'Peterloo' is an explosively visceral retelling of a defining moment in British history.

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From Academy Award Winner Steve McQueen, the director of '12 Years a Slave', and from Gillian Flynn, the writer of 'Gone Girl', comes a powerful thriller with a stellar cast, including Oscar Winner Viola Davis, Michelle Rodriguez, Elizabeth Debicki and Cynthia Erivo.

Four women - with nothing in common except a debt left by their dead husbands' criminal acts - conspire to take fate into their own hands. Also featuring Colin Farrell, Robert Duvall and Liam Neeson, Widows delivers explosive action and gripping suspense!

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Set in the volatile arenas of intelligence and global politics, an elite CIA operative (Mark Wahlberg) is aided by a top-secret tactical command unit as they are tasked with smuggling a mysterious police officer carrying highly classified information out of South East Asia.

On this 22 mile mission, the team soon realise they're not just against the clock, but against the city's gangs, police and military too, who are dead set on reclaiming the renegade officer and the information he carries.

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Bohemian Rhapsody is an enthralling celebration of Queen, their music, and their extraordinary lead singer Freddie Mercury (Rami Malek), who defied stereotypes and convention to become one of history's most beloved entertainers.

Following Queen's meteoric rise, their revolutionary sound and Freddie's solo career, the film also chronicles the band's reunion, and one of the greatest performances in rock history.

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When her estranged rabbi father suddenly passes away, Ronit (played by Oscar-winner and co-producer Rachel Weisz) returns from New York to the north London Orthodox Jewish community that rejected her years previously after a scandalous transgression.

Ronit's presence immediately courts further controversy when she runs into Esti (Rachel McAdams), the wife of her strictly religious cousin Dovid (Alessandro Nivola) and the woman for whom she shared an illicit attraction in their childhood. This happy reunion soon reignites the two women's burning, long-unrequited passions, an act of defiance that could alter the course of their lives forever. 'Disobedience' is a timely and emotionally powerful tale set at the crossroads of tradition and modernity, of personal desires and the demands of faith.

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While his girlfriend Annie (Meera Rohit Kumbhani) is out of town, Dave (Nick Thune) decides to build a fort in his living room from cardboard boxes - only to be become trapped in a world that he himself created.

It's up to Annie and an oddball group of friends to rescue him, avoiding booby traps, giant human-eating Tiki faces, a bloodthirsty Minotaur and fatally painful puns along the way.

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Based on Kevin Kwan's best-selling novel, "Crazy Rich Asians" follows New Yorker Rachel Chu (Constance Wu) as she accompanies her longtime boyfriend, Nick Young (Henry Golding), to his best friend's wedding in Singapore and meets Nick's family for the first time.

It soon becomes clear that the only thing crazier than love is family.

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In the ruins of post-war Poland, Wiktor (Tomasz Kot) and Zula (Joanna Kulig) fall deeply, obsessively and destructively in love. As performing musicians forced to play into the Soviet propaganda machine, they dream of escaping to the creative freedom of the West.

But one day, as they spot their chance to make a break for Paris, both make a split decision that will mark their lives forever. Pawel Pawlikowski follows his Oscar-winning 'Ida' with the stunning 'Cold War', an epic romance set against the backdrop of Europe after World War II. Sumptuously shot in luminous black and white, it spans decades and nations to tell a love story that is as tragic as it is moving, and as transportive as it is honest.

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Fiona Maye (Emma Thompson) is an eminent judge in the Family Division of the High Court, making daily decisions about complex family issues. But her workload is heavy, and her marriage to American professor Jack (Stanley Tucci) is at breaking point.

In this moment of personal crisis, Fiona is asked to rule on the case of Adam (Fionn Whitehead), a brilliant and beautiful teenager who is refusing on religious grounds the blood transfusion which will save his life. Wanting to hear from Adam before making her decision, Fiona goes to his hospital bedside. Their extraordinary meeting releases strong emotions, with momentous consequences for both of them as Fiona decides whether Adam should live or die.

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Holly Martins (Joseph Cotten) a naive writer of pulp westerns, arrives in Vienna to meet his old friend Harry Lime (Orson Welles) but finds that Lime has apparently been killed in a suspicious accident.

Martins, too, curious for his own good, hears contradictory stories about the circumstances of Limes' death and as witnesses disappear he finds himself chased by unknown assailants. Complicating matters are the sardonic Major Calloway (Trevor Howard), head of the British forces, and Limes' stage actress mistress, Anna (Alida Valli). Will Martin's curiosity lead him to discover things about his old friend that he'd rather not know?

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Director Damien Chazelle and star Ryan Gosling reteam for the riveting story behind the first manned mission to the moon, focusing on Neil Armstrong and the decade leading to the historic Apollo 11 flight.

A visceral, intimate account told from Armstrong's perspective and based on the book by James R. Hansen, the film explores the triumphs and the cost on Armstrong, his family, his colleagues, and the nation itself for one of the most dangerous missions in history.

Anne (Rose Byrne) is stuck in a long-term relationship with Duncan (Chris O'Dowd) - an obsessive fan of obscure rocker Tucker Crowe (Ethan Hawke). When the acoustic demo of Tucker's hit record of 25 years ago surfaces, its release leads to a life-changing encounter with the elusive rocker himself.

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Rosa Luxemburg (Barbara Sukowa), a dedicated Marxist and pacifist, is arrested in 1905 for her political activities. Determined to stick to her principles, she goes on to be repeatedly convicted and imprisoned for her protests and speeches.

In 1915, growing disillusioned with the German Social Democrats when they endorse World War I, she founds the Spartacist League, later the Communist Party of Germany. Despite the many men in her life, Rosa remains focused on social justice.