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.