sjj's - Rented List

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High above the clouds a British test pilot has a tough decision to make. It's a decision that could change his life forever and the lives of others. His engine has burst into flames and the passengers have been parachuted to safety.

Ground-control has ordered him to bail out immediately and eject from the plane. Should he follow orders and let the newly designed plane be destroyed? Or should he follow his instincts and try and land it, risking his life? Time is running out and a decision needs to be made.

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Dr. Alithea Binnie (Tilda Swinton) is an academic - content with life and a creature of reason. While in Istanbul attending a conference, she happens to encounter a Djinn (Idris Elba) who offers her three wishes in exchange for his freedom. This presents two problems.

First, she doubts that he is real and second, because she is a scholar of story and mythology, she knows all the cautionary tales of wishes gone wrong. The Djinn pleads his case by telling her fantastical stories of his past. Eventually she is beguiled and makes a wish that surprises them both.

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Ghosts and gags galore in this charming double-bill of horror-comedies starring Bob Hope and Paulette Goddard.

The Cat and the Canary (1939)

A decade after the death of an eccentric millionaire, his remaining relatives gather for the reading of the will at his abandoned mansion set deep in the Louisiana bayous. His niece Joyce (Paulette Goddard) is named the sole inheritor, but under the condition that she does not go insane within the next 30 days. The timid Wally (Bob Hope) vows to protect Joyce who must spend the night in the haunted mansion along with her jealous relatives, a creepy maid and a homicidal maniac who has just escaped from a nearby sanitarium.
The Ghost Breakers (1940)
Larry Lawrence (Bob Hope), sought in connection with a murder he did not commit, eludes New York police by hiding in a steamer trunk. Soon the trunk (and Larry) are aboard a ship bound for Cuba, where the trunk's owner, pretty Mary Carter (Paulette Goddard), is sailing to take possession of a recent inheritance: a "haunted" castle. Sensing that Mary is in danger, Larry and his valet precede her to the island, which is inhabited by a ghost, a zombie and perhaps even a flesh-and-blood fiend. There's romance, comedy and chills as Hope and Goddard contend with earthly and un-earthly foes - and try to keep from ending up as ghosts themselves.

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Get up, get on, and get ready for the ride of your life! it's Christmas Eve, and you're about to roller-coaster up and down mountains, slip-slide over ice fields, teeter across mile-high bridges and be served hot chocolate by singing waiters more astonishing than any you can imagine.

You're on The Polar Express! Tom Hanks stars in and Robert Zemeckis directs this instant holiday classic filmed in dazzling performance-capture animation that makes every moment magical. "Seeing is believing", says a mysterious hobo who rides the rails with you. You'll see wonders. And you'll believe. All Aboooooard!

Big game hunter, Bob Rainsford (Joel McCrea), barely survives a shipwreck in shark infested waters and washes ashore on the private island of Count Zaroff (played with a delightful zeal by Leslie Banks). Zaroff fancies himself an accomplished hunter also - only his preferred quarry, is man!

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"Moonage Daydream" is an immersive cinematic experience; an audio-visual space odyssey that not only illuminates the enigmatic legacy of David Bowie but also serves as a guide to living a fulfilling and meaningful life in the 21st Century.

Told through sublime, kaleidoscopic, never-before-seen footage, performances and music, 'Moonage Daydream' is the first officially sanctioned film to explore Bowie's creative, musical and spiritual journey, guided by Bowie's own narration.

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"Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris" tells a humorously heartwarming tale about a London housecleaner Ada Harris (Lesley Manville), who thinks her lonely life might turn around if she can become the owner of a Christian Dior gown.

Saying goodbye to friends like Archie (Jason Isaacs) won't be easy, and neither will be winning over elite people in Paris from Madame Colbert (Isabelle Huppert) to idealistic accountant André (Lucas Bravo). But Ada's irrepressible charm just might end up saving the whole House of Dior in this uplifting story of how an ordinary woman becomes an extraordinary inspiration by daring to follow her dreams.

Academy Award winners George Clooney and Julia Roberts reunite on the big screen as exes who find themselves on a shared mission to stop their lovestruck daughter from making the same mistake they once made in this romantic comedy about the sweet surprise of second chances.

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"Brian and Charles" follows Brian (David Earl), a lonely inventor in rural Wales, who spends his days building quirky, unconventional contraptions that seldom work. Undeterred by his lack of success, Brian attempts his biggest project yet.

Three days, a washing machine, and various spare parts later, he's invented Charles (Chris Hayward), an artificially intelligent robot who learns English from a dictionary and has an obsession with cabbages. What follows is a humorous and entirely heartwarming story about loneliness, friendship, family, finding love, and letting go.

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Korda's first contribution to the War Effort of 1939 - 1945 was 'The Lion Has Wings '. It appeared just a few months after the outbreak of the Second World War and was unashamedly a propaganda weapon.

By skilful use of documentary footage, Korda builds up a heart-rending picture of the situation at the outbreak of the war. He shows a Germany of steel, armed and united in a wave of hysteria created by the spell of a fanatical madman, and contrasts this with the peaceful, golden villages of England. It portrays the everyday lives of the British people who are prepared to sacrifice everything for the greater good. Korda uses some of his best known and loved stars: Ralph Richardson stars as a Squadron Leader of the Royal Air Force, representing the courage of the men whose duty was to fight; Merle Oberon as his wife and June Duprez as her friend, representing the women who uncomplainingly work, wait and hope that their men will return safely; Brian Worth is the young Canadian airman representing the allies without whom Britain would have been in trouble.

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Based on a true story, 'The Flemish Farm' tells the story of the demise of the Belgian Air Force in the spring of 1940 and the amazing resilience of the fighter pilots who were forced to abandon their country and continue the war against the Nazis from England.

As German forces sweep across France and Belgium, the remains of the Belgian Air Force are ordered by their government to surrender. The regimental colours are honourably buried, rather than surrendered to the Germans before the few remaining pilots escape to England. Following the Battle of Britain one of the pilots Jean Duclos (Clifford Evans), returns to Belgium, now under Nazi occupation, to recover the colours from the farm where they were buried. Will Duclos's dangerous mission restore some pride to his suppressed countrymen or end in tragedy?

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'They Flew Alone' (known in the USA and presented on this video as 'Wings and the Woman') is a stirring British biopic based on the life of the pioneering aviatrix Amy Johnson (Anna Neagle), who won the hearts of the British public in the 1930s with her record-breaking solo flights around the world.

Her fiercest rival is a fellow British pilot named Jim Mollison (Robert Newton), who after meeting Amy falls helplessly in love with her. They marry but Jim is hiding a serious drink problem and Amy's fame takes a toll on her marriage to the fellow flyer, who chafes at being overshadowed by his wife.

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An early horror classic drawn from Mexico's rich tradition of folklore, 'La Llorona' recounts the chilling tale of the 'wailing woman' who kills herself and her child before returning to haunt the living.

Expressionistic, lyrical and atmospheric, Ramón Peón's film draws on the influence of Universal Pictures' contemporaneous horror cycle and incorporates elements of period melodrama and romance.

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Set in a remote Buddhist monastery in 16th Century China, 'Raining in the Mountain' deals with a power struggle that ensues when the Abbot of the Three Treasures Temple announces his imminent retirement.

The ageing Abbot invites three outsiders to advise him on the critical choice of appointing his successor: Esquire Wen, a wealthy patron of the monastery, General Wang, commander-in-chief of the local military, and Wu Wai, a respected lay Buddhist master. Within the monastery, several disciples aspiring to the position begin to collude individually with Esquire Wen and General Wang. But these two invited advisers have come with seditious intent, scheming to obtain the priceless scroll housed in the monastery: the scriptural text of "The Mahayana Sutra", hand-copied by Tripitaka. Meanwhile, convicted criminal Chiu Ming has arrived at the monastery to atone as a monk. He is assigned to safeguard the scroll at the house of scriptures, and encounters thieving rivals White Fox who poses as Esquire Wen's concubine and General Wang's fearsome Lieutenant Chang, who originally framed Chiu Ming for the crime he did not commit.

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After more than thirty years of service as a top naval aviator, Pete "Maverick" Mitchell (Tom Cruise) is where he belongs, pushing the envelope as a courageous test pilot.

Yet, Maverick must confront the ghosts of his past when he returns to Top Gun to train a group of elite graduates and comes face-to-face with Lt. Bradshaw (Miles Teller), the son of his former wingman, "Goose". Bitter rivalries ignite as the pilots prepare for a specialised mission, which will require the ultimate sacrifice from those chosen to fly it.