rentables

can't think of what to rent? these days there is a dearth of hollywood product that makes renting movies frustrating and often fruitless endeavors. i have compiled a list of movies that you might have missed over the past years but are still worth seeing. i will continue to update this list as i find or think of movies to add, so keep checking this entry out as it gets pushed down the line into the archives due to newer blog new entries. feel free to offer suggestions of your own. i have organized my choices according to genre.

action
romeo is bleeding-1993- gary oldman (i love him!) plays a new york detective with questionable morals who makes questionable choices involving the mob, roy scheider, and 3 women- his wife, annabella sciorra, his mistress, juliette lewis, and an insane assassin, lena olin. very violent, very edgy, but very original.

boondock saints-1999-willem dafoe is genius as a detective determined to find out who's behind a spree of violence, and the irish brothers, sean patrick flanery and norman reedus, who unwittingly stumble into the mix and come out, well, saints.  i'm very much looking forward to the sequel this winter.

true romance-1993- awesome and fun shoot 'em up written by quentin tarantino and directed by tony "the only way i like women in my movies is naked or dead, preferably both" scott starring christian slater, patricia arquette, christopher walken, brad pitt, samuel l. jackson, gary oldman (love him!), val kilmer, dennis hopper, saul rubinek, james gandolfini, tom sizemore and bronson pinchot. with all the above how could you lose?

the professional-1994-gary oldman (still love him) is and an insane bad guy/cop/drug dealer hunting down a 12 year old witness(natalie portman) to a massacre who enlists the aid of a neighbor/professional assassin (jean reno). very violent and bloody. oldman really gets into this role and proves, once again, that he can sweat with the best of them.

i'm assuming you've seen reservoir dogs

action that goes in a lot of different directions but makes sense in a way you never saw coming in the end
lock, stock and 2 smoking barrels-1998- guy ritchie's first film and it's genius and violent- jason statham(love him!) in this british film about a high stakes card game that doesn't go as planned.

go- 1999- katie holmes, jay mohr, scott wolf, taye diggs and many more. different perspectives of a drug deal. comedy and violence.

shallow grave- 1994- ewan macgregor in a british film about how you never really know your roommates- violent and funny.

snatch- 2000-guy ritichie again, with brad pitt who needs subtitles- violent- not quite as good as his first, but few movies are as good as guy ritchie's first. includes jason statham, dennis farina and benecio del toro.

i'm assuming you've seen pulp fiction

comedy
you've probably all ready seen all the funny movies but this british one tickled

hot fuzz- 2007- simon pegg, martin freeman and bill nighy. an uptight city cop gets sent to a rural beat and chuckles ensue.

ghost town-2008- ricky gervais is a genius. this movie has some laughs so rent it why don't cha? tea leoni, greg kinear and various funny people star in a story about a dentist who doesn't like people and cherishes his alone time. after he dies for 7 minutes during a procedure, he is constantly surrounded by dead people who want him to finish their unfinished business for him. and he has to...

Costume/period pieces
age of innocence-1993-one of martin scorsese's best. edith wharton's story narrated by joanne woodward starring michelle pfeiffer, daniel day lewis and winona ryder. fits all my criteria for a good film- beautiful people in beautiful clothes and beautiful settings behaving not so beautifully (even the food is beautiful!)

the wings of the dove-1997- helena bonham carter, linus roache (love him), michael gambon, elizabeth mcgovern, and charlotte rampling. henry miller's tale of a dependent woman trying to have love and independence together no matter who it hurts until it hurts her. and then it's a matter of watching to see who cries uncle first.

portrait of a lady-1996-jane campion directs this henry miller book. nicole kideman, john malkovich, barbra hershey, martin donovan, johm geilgud, shelly winters, richard e. grant, christian bale, mary-louis parker, viggo mortenson and shelley duvall. this has one of my favorite lines, when describing viggo mortenson's character, mary louise parker's character says, "i've never seen an ugly man look so handsome." don't let the offbeat opening credits chase you away, watch it and then tell me what you think the ending means...

lady jane-1986-helena bonham carter and carey elwes play lady jane grey and gilbert dudley, the hapless children of dangerously ambitious parents during the scramble for power in post king henry viii's court. helena and carey were the same ages of the characters they played, 15 and 19. there are some historical inaccuracies (gilbert dudley was really a waste of space asshole who never redeemed himself) but since when does history get in the way of a good story?

an ideal husband-1999-oscar wilde's play starring rupert everett, jeremy northam, cate blanchette, julianne moore and minnie driver about secrets, lies and blackmail in the perfect (?) marriage and what it really takes to be the ideal husband.

white mischief- 1988- greta saachi, charles dance, joss ackland, sarah miles, geraldine page, and trevor howard star in this true story of a love triangle and murder in an affluent 1940's kenyan circle of british ex-pats. again, a perfect combination of beautiful people, beautiful settings, beautiful clothes, and bad, bad behavior...

i'm assuming you've seen all the jane austens-pride and prejudice (bbc and hollywood versions) sense and sensibility, mansfield park, emma and persuasion.

drama- lightish
the lookout-2007-joseph gorden levitt, jeff daniels and isla fisher. really good and not nearly as depressing as any synopsis would suggest: a high school star athelete is permanently brain damaged in an accident, becomes a janitor at a bank and finds himself in the middle of a robbery plot. and yet not depressing...

i've loved you so long-2008-kristin scott thomas in a french film, yes with subtitles, about a women who after serving a prison term goes to live with her sister. much lighter than it sounds and there is no cirque de soleil french film weirdness. it's quite entertaining.

dear frankie( aka the stranger)-2004- scottish film- gerard butler (love him). i suggest using the english subtitles because of the accents. sweet romanctic story of a little boy who believes in the existence of a loving yet absent merchant marine father because his mother writes letters and has them posted from around the world to him. and of course the day comes when pretend daddy's real ship comes to town.  the mommy, not wanting  her son to be disappointed, enlists the help of  "the stranger"(butler).  we never get to know his name, but what happens next is worth watching- well, the whole movie is worth watching.

what the ?- reality benders
donnie darko-2001-high school new boy in town jake gyllenhaal follows a rabbit down a hole and comes up with his own version of life. includes sister maggie gyllenhaal, drew barrymore, holmes osbourne, and mary mcdonnell.  i almost didn't adopt my cat because he looked too much like this spooky bunny...cult classic and a must see.

the lathe of heaven-1980- bruce davison plays george orr, a man who goes to a psychiatrist for sleep issues.  the doctor discovers that when george dreams, things happen.  he tries to use this power for good, but the results are often more than he bargained for. but then it's easy for us to say what's what, because we've seen the world after april...

brainstorm-1983- natalie wood's final film, in fact she died before principle filming was completed so they had to rewrite it.  i can't imagine what it was supposed to be becuase this version is pretty good.  also stars christopher walken (that's why he was on that boat with her, they were working together at the time) as her scientist husband who invents a virtual reality machine that proves to be too real.  louise fletcher and cliff robertston also star.

Documentary summer

there just hasn't been many good movies out there this summer. and the only ones i've enjoyed lately have been documentaries. i hope that doesn't mean i'm getting very old...nah, hollywood is just putting out a lot of crap. even good old standbys like harry potter were disastrous disappointments.

i have seen 2 very good documentaries, "it might get loud" and "the september issue" and am looking forward to two more, "good hair" and "capitalism, a love story".

it might get loud follows jimmy page, the edge and jack white and is totally worth the trip. put it on your rental list.

the september issue documents the creation of the largest vogue issue of the year from start to finish. it's the real devil wears prada and i will see it again.

good hair is by chris rock and he takes us into the world of black hair- what black women have to go through to get - good hair. watch the trailer, it's more entertaining than it sounds-. opening oct 2.

capitalism: a love story is by michael moore as he goes after aig. i love him and am looking forward to seeing his take on this economical disaster we're living through.  also opening oct 2.

love happens

'love happens' is mis-titled. it should be 'death happens' or 'bad movies happen.' this movie is classified as a dramedy- my friend called it a dramadary. so what i had in my head was an image of a camel trudging through the sahara throughout this long, bleak, nothing new, nothing interesting landscape of a film.

aaron eckhart and jennifer aniston literally bump into each other and the romance begins. this also signals the end of any hope of seeing anything original. he's the tony robbins of grieving encamped in a hotel for a weekend seminar and she's the hotel's florist who makes bad relationship choices. at one point her friend tells her that she's tired of watching her repeatedly date the same kind of guy while being disappointed that it never works out. i half expected the friend to break character, shake her, slap her and yell, "snap out of it, jennifer!!"

there were goofs (movie mistakes)- a badge was turned the wrong way but was magically righted in the next second, and jennifer's scarves were always re-adjusting themselves when the camera cut away from her. also aaron wore the same tie twice only in different colors. these are all details that would have gone unnoticed had there been anything else more interesting happening on the screen.

there are tears. there are sad stories of loss after all, but they are telegraphed as we are dragged through the seminar focusing on the story of the one familiar face in a sea of extras (john carroll lynch who played drew's brother steve in the drew carey show). he plays the participant who has to be talked into staying but gets the most out of the seminar and teaches others along the way. in the end of course, it's aaron's character who has the biggest breakthrough, in front of everyone, including his father (martin sheen) who's timing for showing up at this one moment is nothing short of miraculous.

unusual words play a key part in getting aaron and jennifer's characters together. she writes them behind pictures in his hotel and he finds them. the word that kept popping into my head was, mawkish, which means-sentimental in an nauseatingly insipid way.

don't go- don't rent.

it might get loud

it did get loud- and loving it.

davis guggenheim (an inconvenient truth) turned his camera to the world of music and the language shared by players of the electric guitar across 40 years. he was shocked to have his first three choices of guitarists agree to participate-jimmy page, who became a producer of this documentary, the edge, and jack white. in this film, guggenheim talks to all three separately in and about their hometowns searching for the spark that set each on his own particular musical bent. he then puts them together and we get to watch. not being particularly musical, i have always envied the special connection musicians have, that short hand they share- the way they can play together and not only make sense but make music. here, watching these strangers meet, it is beautiful and special to see. and the cool thing is, they know it too.

in the 70's, i was in college, discovered drugs and led zepplin. i had the best stereo with huge cerwin vega speakers- all woofer and mid range, no tweeter. we used to rip off the foam and watch the woofer crank, which it enthusiastically did to "when the levee breaks". their music was a personal experience. they were my led zepplin. i have all their albums still and was blessed to see them in concert twice in one month- indoors and out. led zepplin were gods. in this film, it was such a treat to see this god, jimmy page, pouring through his own album collection for that one 45 he bought as a teenager that sent him over the edge and the delighted expression on his face as he played it. the god has a god of his own.

the early footage of zepplin at headley grange while filming led zepplin 4, and the oh so bad footage of early u2 performances are worth the price of admission alone. there is also a lot of footage of those musicians who inspired each guitarist: skiffle(?), the ramones, and southern blues artists.

although guggenheim takes them back to england, ireland and chicago, we can see they were all on the same road. with all 3, it was just about getting what's in their heads out through their guitars. page's was a divine inspiration road to his craft. he really just had to get out of his own way. the edge's street was paved in modern technology, synthesizers and layering. white is of the perspiration school of music; it's all about challenging himself. if it isn't a struggle then he's not happy. each musician experiments to get that sound out there- page developed the double necked guitar so he could play stairway to heaven on stage or used a bow on his electric guitar, the edge surrounds himself with boxes that only he and his tech understand, and white has a harmonica mike installed on a retractable cord in his guitar. whatever it takes to get that sound out.

i found myself teary eyed reminiscing about much this music was a part of my life. how after john bonham died and led zepplin ended, it wasn't until a roommate brought home a record by an obscure irish band that i felt that void filled. my sister turned me on to the white stripes whose simplicity and clever lyrics made them an easy favorite. i can't say i feel as connected to jack white's music as i was to zepplin or u2, but i came away from this film impressed most by his talent. he's so bloody insane. i enjoyed seeing page on such a personal level. even my friend, who at the beginning of the film thought page was a poser, was impressed. my feelings about the edge stay pretty much the same. i didn't learn much of anything new but i still enjoyed hearing about the beginning of u2. i was a little concerned though, while hearing the edge talk i thought he was putting led zepplin down. but that fear was squashed when as after they were all put together and page stood up to play "whole lotta love", the edge rushed over to get a closer look - and he had that same look on his face that page had while listening to that one 45 of his youth. the edge was tickled pink. white too, was sitting in front of page holding his guitar by the neck reverently in front of him as if offering it in an 'i'm not worthy pose'. they were all on the same page (excuse the pun). you will want to watch the credits, as while they roll they all learn and play "the weight" together- it's f***ing great.

these are 3 men who had no choice but to be musicians. they were born that way. i admire that singularity of purpose and drive. john lennon said, " if i had the chance to do it over again, i'd be a fucking fisherman" and clapton was quoted once as saying the same. no way would any of these men even consider it. they just can't. they have to get that sound out of their heads. and it might get loud.

highly recommend. sadly in very limited distribution, i had to travel to see it. put it on your rental list for when it's released on dvd.