tony-at-the-movies's - Rented List
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Leonato, the governor of Messina, is visited by his friend Don Pedro who is returning from a victorious campaign against his rebellious brother Don John. Accompanying Don Pedro are two of his officers Benedick and Claudio. Claudio falls for Leonato's daughter, Hero, while Benedick verbally jousts with Beatrice, the governor's niece. A series of comic and tragic events continue to keep the two couples from truly finding happiness, but then again, perhaps love may prevail in the end! - Director:
- Joss Whedon
- Cast:
- Alexis Denisof, Amy Acker, Fran Kranz
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Caius Marcus renamed Coriolanus after his victorious attack on the city of Corioli, returns to Rome to become a Plebeian tribune. A warrior and not a politician, Coriolanus finds his pride and arrogance turning the citizens against him. As he seeks to wreak his anger on the city, it is left to his mother, Volumnia to prevent a bloody battle... - Director:
- Elijah Moshinsky
- Cast:
- Alan Howard, Joss Ackland, Irene Worth
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Shakespeare Retold (2005)Much Ado About Nothing / Macbeth / The Taming of the Shrew / A Midsummer Night's Dream
Inspired by the spirit of his original plays, these four unique and entertaining films bring Shakespeare to a 21st century audience.
Much Ado About NothingForced to share a studio sofa every night, regional news presenters Beatrice and Benedick appear to hate one another, but does their apparent hostility mark passions of a different kind?
Macbeth
Enticed by his ambitious but troubled wife, chef Joe Macbeth begins to discover the seductive possibilities of power. But to what lengths will he go to achieve it?
The Taming of the Shrew
Kate is an opposition MP who is instructed to find a husband to make her more electable. When the eccentric Petruchio bursts onto the scene, a very surprising romance unfolds.
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Set during a weekend in a holiday park, this is a romantic comedy about four warring couples, a donkey's head and a gaggle of fairies.- Director:
- Ed Fraiman
- Cast:
- Imelda Staunton, Rufus Sewell, Bill Patterson
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Exiled to Earth and now working for UNIT as their scientific advisor, the Doctor is summoned to an underground research centre at Wenley Moor to investigate a series of inexplicable power losses. Initially suspecting sabotage, he soon discovers that the nearby cave system conceals a colony of ancient reptilian race called the Silurians. Awaking from a hibernation which has lasted millions of years, they are now intent on reclaiming the Earth from Mankind... - Director:
- Timothy Combe
- Cast:
- Jon Pertwee, Peter Halliday, Caroline John
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Exiled to Earth in the late 20th century by his own people - the Time Lords - the newly regenerated Doctor arrives in Oxley Woods alongside a shower of mysterious meteorites. Investigating these unusual occurrences is the newly-formed United Nations Intelligence Taskforce - UNIT for short. Lead by Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, UNIT are soon called into action when people and meteorites start going missing. Most puzzling of all is the attempted kidnap of a strange hospital patient - a man with two hearts, who insists that he recognises the Brigadier.... The new Doctor soon joins forces with his old friend, UNIT, and the recently recruited Dr Liz Shaw, but time is running out... Irregular things are happening at a nearby plastics factory, while faceless creatures lurk in the woods. The Nestenes have arrived, and want to conquer the Earth... - Director:
- Derek Martinus
- Cast:
- Jon Pertwee, Caroline John, Nicholas Courtney
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World-renowned American scholar, Professor James Shapiro re-examines the work of the world's greatest playwright during the exciting but troubled reign of King James.
IncertaintiesJames Shapiro tells the intriguing story of popular uncertainty about this elusive and intellectual new king and a great writer's first efforts to get to grips with massive change. Puritans, plague, an extravagant gift to a Spanish diplomatic delegation and the production of a new British coin called the 'Unite', all figure in Shapiro's rich and fascinating history of a troubled time. Featured plays include 'Measure for Measure', 'Timon of Athens' and Shakespeare's first Jacobean masterpiece, 'King Lear'.
Equivocation
It's 1606 and in the aftermath of the Gunpowder Plot, the authorities are cracking down on Catholics. Shakespeare's 'Macbeth' captures the anxiety and obsessions of the time. King James continues to be focused on succession and legitimacy, while food riots in the Midlands create the climate for the gripping tragedy of 'Coriolanus'.
Legacy
Shakespeare's late plays, like 'The Winters Tale' and 'The Tempest', are often seen as mellow swansongs. James Shapiro gives us a different Shakespeare - a playwright still experimentin and alert to the troubled Jacobean world around him. And he closes the series reflecting on the legacies of king and playwright.- Director:
- Steven Clarke
- Cast:
- James Shapiro, Greg Hicks, Kelly Hunter
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Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017)Star Wars: Episode VIII
The Skywalker saga continues as the heroes of 'The Force Awakens' join the galactic legends in an epic adventure that unlocks new mysteries of the Force.- Director:
- Rian Johnson
- Cast:
- Frank Oz, Daisy Ridley, Tom Kane
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"Blake's 7" was the hit BBC space opera launched in the wake of Star Wars, though with a grittier sensibility and produced on a fraction of the budget. Over 13 episodes the first series introduced freedom-fighter Blake (Gareth Thomas) as he escaped from the Orwellian Federation, gathered a crew of low-life rebels, salvaged an alien starship called the Liberator, and began striking back against the forces of Supreme Commander Servalan (sultry Jacqueline Pearce). The effects were cheap, and alien planets were represented by a disused quarry or an industrial complex, but the strong characters and cynical storylines created by Doctor Who veteran Terry Nation remain involving. The perfect foil for Blake was Paul Darrow's Avon, a near psychopathic criminal mastermind who only fought to save his skin. The cowardly Vila (Michael Keating) was almost as memorable, while the female leads were Jenna (Sally Knyvette), a smuggler and pilot, and determined Auron telepath Cally (Jan Chappell). Also on board was Gan (David Jackson), inhibited from violence by a brain implant. With even the good guys being criminals, including murderers, this was a galaxy far, far away from previous screen space opera. Though undeniably dated, the show is still vintage TV SF, right from the opening three-parter "The Way Back / Spacefall / Cygnus Alpha" to the cliff-hanging shocker "Orac", which introduces the final member of the un-magnificent seven. - Director:
- Michael E. Briant
- Cast:
- Gareth Thomas, Peter Tuddenham, Sally Knyvette
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Long-awaited, long-overdue: 'The Professionals' as you have never seen them before. Bodie and Doyle need little by way of introduction but if the series had at all escaped you since its debut in 1977, their boss George Cowley, head of CI5 couldn't put it more succinctly than his opening gambit "anarchy, acts of terror, crimes against the public. To combat it I've got special men experts from the army, the police, from every service. These are The Professionals". Featuring the perfect ensemble cast of Martin Shaw, Gordon Jackson (completely against type here) and the much-missed Lewis Collins, the series ran for 57 action-packed episodes and made an immediate impact on British and then international audiences which has sustained 40 years. - Director:
- David Wickes
- Cast:
- Gordon Jackson, Martin Shaw, Lewis Collins
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Sylvester Stallone stars as Barney Ross, leader of The Expendables, a tight-knit team of skilled combat vets turned mercenaries. Hired by a powerful covert operator, the team jets off to a small South American country to overthrow a ruthless dictator. Once there, they find themselves caught in a deadly web of deceit and betrayal. Using every weapon at their disposal, they set out to save the innocent and punish the guilty in this blistering action-packed thriller. - Director:
- Sylvester Stallone
- Cast:
- Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li
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Dastardly Giles Wingate (Derek Aylward) appears in court accused of embezzling £30,000. However, Wingate's barrister argues that his client is actually the real victim, having been swindled out of his family fortune by nine beautiful ex-wives. The Judge takes pity on Wingate, who decides to open an exclusive finishing school in the English countryside. He gleefully teaches the fine art of financial extortion to a group of sexy delinquent girls, with often hilarious results! - Director:
- Pete Walker
- Cast:
- Derek Aylward, Rose Alba, Bob Andrews
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According to the sales brochure, Paradise Towers is a Utopian blueprint for community living, with its fabulous architecture and state-of-the-art facilities. The perfect place for Mel (Bonnie Langford) to take a leisurely swim, in fact. But when the TARDIS arrives, the Doctor (Sylvester McCoy) and his companion discover that the futuristic tower block has fallen into ruin, and a series of unexplained disappearances have the tenants living in fear. As gangs of teenage girls run wild in the hallways, a squad of bureaucratic Caretakers struggle to retain control. To keep the citizens of Paradise Towers safe, the Doctor must confront the resident evil lurking in the basement. - Director:
- Nicholas Mallett
- Cast:
- Sylvester McCoy, Bonnie Langford, Richard Briers
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Violently wrenched out of time, the Tardis is brought crashing down onto the planet Lakertya by the villainous Rani (Kate O'Mara). Caught within the maelstrom, the Doctor (Sylvester McCoy) is farced to regenerate...Imprisoning the Doctor in her stronghold, the Rani seizes upon his vulnerable state. By impersonating his friend Mel (Bonnie Langford), the Rani deceives the unwitting Doctor into helping her achieve her audacious plan - Just what is she up to? Why has she enslaved Albert Einstein and a host of geniuses? And as an asteroid composed of Strange Matter approaches Lakertya, can a weakened Doctor save the universe when he has little idea of who he really is? - Director:
- Andrew Morgan
- Cast:
- Sylvester McCoy, Peter Tuddenham, Bonnie Langford
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Cool It Carol! (1970)Cool It, Carol!
Naive young teenagers Carol (Janet Lynn) and Joe (Robin Askwith) leave behind their quiet lives in the countryside to seek their fortune in 'swinging' London. However, far from finding the streets paved with gold, they are drawn into a seedy spiral of drugs, porn and prostitution. Will the lure of hard cash destroy them or will they finally wake up before it's too late? - Director:
- Pete Walker
- Cast:
- Robin Askwith, Janet Lynn, Jess Conrad
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Lee Majors Returns as Colt Seavers, the rugged daredevil who leads the thrilling and dangerous life of a Hollywood stuntman... and that's his "safe" job. As one of America's top bounty hunters, Colt is thrust into one adventure after another, as he outwits criminal masterminds, dodges assassins, and even unravels a UFO mystery. - Director:
- Paul Stanley
- Cast:
- Lee Majors, Howard Cosell, Douglas Barr
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