too-many-movies's - Rented List
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The year is 1984, and on the rural East Coast of New Zealand, Thriller is changing kids lives. Inspired by the Oscar nominated Two Cars, One Night, 'Boy' is the hilarious and heartfelt coming-of-age tale about heroes, magic and Michael Jackson. Boy (James Rolleston) is a dreamer who loves Michael Jackson. He lives with his brother Rocky (Te Aho Eketone-Whitu), a tribe of deserted cousins and his Nan. Boy's other hero, his father, Alamein (Taika Waititi), is the subject of Boy's fantasies, and he imagines him as a deep sea diver, war hero and a close relation of Michael Jackson (he can even dance like him). In reality Alamein is an inept, wannabe gangster who has been in jail for robbery. When Alamein returns home after seven years away, Boy is forced to confront the man he thought he remembered, find his own potential and learn to get along without the hero he had been hoping for. - Director:
- Taika Waititi
- Cast:
- James Rolleston, Taika Waititi, Moerangi Tihore
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May 1945: Stranded with her younger siblings after their Nazi parents are imprisoned during the dying days of World War II, the young Lore (Saskia Rosendahl) leads the remains of her family across war-torn Germany. Among the chaos of a defeated nation, Lore encounters Thomas, a young Jewish refugee who begins to follow and help them. Lore finds her fragile reality shattered by feelings of both hatred and desire for Thomas and, as the consequences of her parents' actions and beliefs slowly become apparent, she must begin to face the darkness within herself... - Director:
- Cate Shortland
- Cast:
- Saskia Rosendahl, Kai-Peter Malina, Nele Trebs
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Aspiring rock star Joby Taylor (Paul Dano) finally agrees to sign divorce papers with his estranged wife but discovers he is about to forfeit all custody of his six-year-old daugher Ellen. Even though he has never been in his daughter's life, Joby suddenly realises he's not ready to give up his right to fatherhood. Aided by his good-natured lawyer (Jon Heder) he sets across a wintry U.S. landscape to try and see her before it is too late. - Director:
- So Yong Kim
- Cast:
- Paul Dano, Margarita Levieva, Jon Heder
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Struggling with writer's block and a lacklustre love life, once-famous novelist Calvin (Paul Dano) creates a beautiful fictitious character named Ruby (Zoe Kazan) who inspires and liberates him. But not only does the creation of this character bring his work to life - it also brings Ruby to life - literally! Face-to-face with an actual relationship with his once-virtual girlfriend, Calvin must now decide whether to pen this love story or let it write itself. - Director:
- Jonathan Dayton
- Cast:
- Paul Dano, Zoe Kazan, Annette Bening
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I Wish (2011)Kiseki
In the wake of their parent's divorce, 12-year-old Koichi (Koki Maeda) and his younger brother Ryunosuke (Ohshiro Maeda, Koki's real life brother) have been split up against their will. Koichi lives with his mother and grandparents in Kagoshima, in the shadow of a constantly rumbling volcano. Ryunosuke lives a comparatively spirited life with his rock-musician father in Fukuoka. But when Koichi discovers that a new bullet train line is due to open connecting the two towns, he determines that the intense energy generated by two trains passing in opposite directions will work a miracle, and their wish to be reunited will come true. - Director:
- Hirokazu Koreeda
- Cast:
- Kôki Maeda, Ôshirô Maeda, Hiroshi Abe
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The King of Pigs (2011)Dwae-ji-ui wang
Businessman Kyung-min meets up with old school friend Jong-suk. They reminisce about their school days when cruel, privileged bullies, The Dogs', exercised a reign of terror over them, The Pigs' - their name for the poorer and powerless kids. Recalling the murky origins of their bond, Kyung-min also proves to be hiding an equally dark secret. An unmissable satire of class, violence and human debasement. - Director:
- Sang-ho Yeon
- Cast:
- Ik-Joon Yang, Jeong-se Oh, Hye-na Kim
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Bullhead (2011)Rundskop
Working on the fringes of the murky underworld and constantly pumped on steroids and hormones, the domineering Jacky (Matthias Schoenaerts) initiates a shady deal with a notorious mafioso meat trader. But when an investigating federal agent is assassinated and a woman from his traumatic past resurfaces, Jacky is forced to confront his demons and face the far-reaching consequences of his decisions. - Director:
- Michaël R. Roskam
- Cast:
- Matthias Schoenaerts, Jeroen Perceval, Jeanne Dandoy
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Hors Satan (2011)Outside Satan
Along the Cote d'Opale by the Channel, a mysterious drifter, played by the late David Dewaele, prays, poaches and occasionally deals with problems faced by the locals with extreme solutions or a variety of exorcism. He is a character beyond God or Satan, or perhaps showing that good and evil can be two sides of the same coin. Bruno Dumont's singular vision is presented in 'Hors Satan' at its most distilled, unsettling and powerful. - Director:
- Bruno Dumont
- Cast:
- David Dewaele, Alexandra Lemâtre, Christophe Bon
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Two brothers' loyalty is tested as their paths collide amidst a violent world of drugs and gangs. Mo is growing up in a traditional Egyptian household, but beyond the front door of the family's modest London flat is a completely different world - the streets of Hackney. The impressionable Mo idolizes his charismatic older brother and wants to follow in his footsteps. However, Rashid wants a different life for his brother and will do whatever it takes for him not to live the life he leads. Aching to be seen as a tough guy himself, Mo takes a job that unlocks a fateful turn of events that forces the brothers to confront their inner demons. - Director:
- Sally El Hosaini
- Cast:
- James Floyd, Elarica Johnson, Fady Elsayed
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Ray Harryhausen: Special Effects Titan (2011)Ray Harryhausen, le titan des effets speciaux
The remarkable career of the movie industry's most admired and influential special-effects auteur, the legendary Ray Harryhausen, is the subject of Gilles Penso's definitive documentary 'Ray Harryhausen: Special Effects Titan'. Leaving no doubt as to Harryhausen's seminal influence on modern-day special effects, the documentary features enlightening and entertaining interviews with the man himself, Randy Cook, Peter Jackson, Nick Park, Phil Tippett, Terry Gilliam, Dennis Muren, John Landis, Guillermo del Toro, James Cameron, Steven Spielberg and many more. These filmmakers, who today push the boundaries of special effects movie-making, pay tribute to the father of Stop Motion animation and films such as 'The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms', 'It Came from Beneath the Sea', 'The 7th Voyage of Sinbad', 'Mysterious Island', 'Jason and the Argonauts' and 'The Golden Voyage of Sinbad' - the films that enthralled them as children and inspired them to become filmmakers in their own right. - Director:
- Gilles Penso
- Cast:
- Ray Harryhausen, Peter Jackson, James Cameron
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Pauline (Annalynne McCord) is a frumpy teenage misfit, both at home and at school. Bullied by her peers, she escapes into a bizarre and vivid fantasy world full of bloody mayhem, horrifying amateur surgery and perverse sexual thrills. Delusional and desperate for attention from her disapproving and uptight mother (Traci Lords), Pauline's attempts to gain admiration escalate to a truly disturbing finale. - Director:
- Richard Bates Jr.
- Cast:
- Annalynne McCord, Roger Bart, Ariel Winter
- Formats:
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5 Broken Cameras (2011)Five Broken Cameras
Winner of audience prizes at festivals around the world, and long-listed for an Oscar, "5 Broken Cameras" is the story of Bil'in, a West Bank Palestinian village, whose inhabitants have long been mounting a resistance to the occupation and appropriation of their land for neighbouring Israeli settlements. It is told via the footage of local inhabitant Emad Burnat, who bought a camera to make home-movies about the growing years of his new-born son Gibreel, but soon started to document the daily acts of defiance against the provocations by the army, police and settlers. Over the course of several years his cameras are damaged, or even shot, but Emad, and Israeli film-maker Guy Davidi, have together shaped the hundreds of hours filmed into a compelling, stirring and moving document of the collective struggles that daringly meshes the personal essay with political cinema. - Director:
- Emad Burnat
- Cast:
- Soraya Burnat, Mohammed Burnat, Yasin Burnat
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Santa Sangre (1989)Santa sangre / Holy Blood
Santa Sangre is a temple torn down by bulldozers over the protestations of its leader Concha (Bianca Guerra); the wife of an unfaithful circus performer (Guy Stockwell) and the mother of Fenix (Axel Jodorowsky). The Church is built on a gruesome crime scene, the first of many primal scenes for the young Fenix which also includes the death of the beloved circus elephant, the surreal funeral which follows, and above all the hideous violence which separates him from his family and leaves him confined in an asylum till his adult life. When he finally escapes, Fenix's nightmares are ready to become awful reality. - Director:
- Alejandro Jodorowsky
- Cast:
- Axel Jodorowsky, Blanca Guerra, Guy Stockwell
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Tabu (2012)Tabou
One of the most critically acclaimed films of the year, 'Tabu' is a diptych starting off in present day Lisbon where Teresa Madruga gives a luminous performance as Pilar, a woman concerned about her neighbour Aurora's eccentricities. Finally Pilar meets Gian Luca, a figure from Aurora's past. He starts his story and the film jumps back in time to colonial Africa, where he and Aurora had a passionate love-affair. This second part is made as a quasi-silent film, with no dialogue, just music and voice-over. Former film critic Miguel Gomes both uses and slyly comments on all the techniques of cinema to make a truly virtuoso film. With a soundtrack that ranges from Lisztian piano music to cover versions of Phil Spector. 'Tabu' is just a delight. Not to mention the sad and melancholy crocodile... - Director:
- Miguel Gomes
- Cast:
- Telmo Churro, Hortêncílio Aquina, Américo Mota
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