10 Great Rentals When There’s Nothing To Rent

We’re at that time of year when the movie industry basically bows to the new television season.  The Women comes out this week, and though the reviews are better than lukewarm, it’s not exactly a sweeping demographic.  Burn After Reading is likely to almost live up to Coen Brother status, but the theater doors are not in much danger of collapsing under the strain.  Righteous Kill pairs DeNiro and Pacino, but throws them in with Producer-of-shlock turned Director-of-no-interest Jon Avnet.  There’s probably a good script there, but I’m not sure that at this stage of the game DeNiro and Pacino can play anything other than DeNiro and Pacino, especially when they are being led by Bob the Director, who I doubt they are going to care to listen to.

The week after that a bunch of limited engagements battle it out with Lakeview Terrace, a film that hopes you’re really stupid and watch a lot of Cops!… assuming there’s a distinction there.  Igor has a chance at something, but other than that there is precious little with wide appeal until at least October.

Rental releases are also quite slim this week, and the best bets are Forbidden Kingdom and The Fall.  Of course, Baby Mama is also out there, but if that works for you, this post isn’t really aiming at you.  Last week’s releases didn’t hold much too special either.  Married Life was quite good – and you can catch my review at CinemaBlend.com here – but Sirkian melodrama set in the 40s is not really covering all audiences either.  The DVD, for the few interested, has a great commentary track by Director Ira Sachs.

So, I put together a list of ten great films to fill up your screening over the next couple of weeks.  These are not only great films to rent, but they aren’t about to make the rounds of television airings either, and I don’t care what channels you get.  Links to fairly old reviews, which will probably eventually be revamped and put here follow each.

Happy Screening.

Mother Night –  Nick Nolte stars in the movification of a Kurt Vonnegut story about a man born in America, who has lived the majority of his life in Germany pre-WWII.  When the war comes he is uncertain how he feels about anything, and less certain what he should do about anything.  He is a popular playwright, and fairly upper-class, hobknobbing with German society’s bigger names.  He’s torn in several different ways, and may or may not become a spy and/or work for the Nazi propaganda machine.  Review here.

Big Night  –  Stanley Tucci and Campbell Scott direct Stanley Tucci and Tony Shalhoub in a story of two brothers who own an Italian Restaurant.  The business is failing, partially because of nearby, non-stuffy competition, but also because one of the brothers is caught up in competing with his brother.  The personality interplay is managed to perfection, and the subtle drama that is existing in one’s own skin is wonderful.  The immense complexity of not being comfortable with oneself.  The utter simplicity of self-acceptance.  Review here.

Pumpkin —  Nominated for a Grand Jury Prize at Sundance and then left for dead, Pumpkin stars Christina Ricci as a vapid, materialistic, and in all other ways completely normal teen who finds herself roped to a handicapped boy through a cheerleading “let’s feel good about ourselves” campaign.  The black as night comedy mockery takes shots at everything, and in the end the thing is completely brilliant.  Review here.

Waking the Dead  –  Director Keith Gordon’s effort following Mother Night, Waking the Dead stars Billy Crudup and Jennifer Connolly.  The two are lovers with severe clashes when it comes to political ideology.  Though Connolly has been missing, presumed dead, for several years, when Crudup runs for office he is haunted by her ghost… only maybe it isn’t her ghost… only maybe it is.  The psychological examination of love is wonderful, and Crudup gives an amazing performance.  Review here.

Lucky Break —  A fairly silly bit of fun from the Director of The Full Monty, and based on a book by Stephen Fry.  James Nesbitt, Olivia Williams, and Bill Nighy star in a wild, well-written look at escaping prison, but sort of as just a bit of a laugh.  Review here.

CQ — Roman Coppola directs Jeremy Davies and a host of other indie regulars (you may remember Angela Lindvall from Kiss Kiss Bang Bang) in a surreal story of an aspiring film director who tr
avels to Paris to make his mark.  The story wanders aimlessly, flip-flopping between his real life, and the early-70s-ish sci-fi movie he’s making (which smacks of Modesty Blaise).  Review here.

The Brotherhood of the Wolf —  A magnificent combination of action, mystery, and the really bizarre, Brotherhood is a masterwork of direction by Christopher Gans, who has unfortunately fallen to directing video games turned movies.  It stars Samuel Le Bihan, who was and is the hottest thing in France, as a naturalist employed by the King of France to investigate some mysterious murders.  The brilliance of the film is that it puts together several elements that can’t really work on their own, and makes a great film out of them.  It also includes a deleted scene on the DVD which is wonderful to see simply because it shows how one small scene could have made the entire movie completely different.  Review here.

Blow Dry  –   The writer of The Full Monty puts a spin on hairstyling competition, and the quirky folk that  might participate in same.  Alan Rickman, Josh Hartnett, Bill Nighy, Natasha Richardson, and Rachel Griffiths are among the list of names that can’t manage to get anyone to see this film.  The interplays are great, and the characters are a kind of deep and real rarely seen in little bits of comedy fun.  Rickman shines.  Review here.

Dinner Rush  –  Directors and Writers you don’t know, lead a cast you will probably refer to as, “Oh, who is that guy, he was in something,” and Danny Aiello, in a film about a restaurant owner and the mob (or mobbish) that wants to take it over.  Brilliant writing, and great dialog drive this small sleeper that puts a great deal of reality into the clearly unreal.  Review here.

The Legend of 1900 —  You probably know Tornatore, you ought to know Tim Roth, but you probably don’t know this film.  On the short list for best films ever, certainly the best story in a long time, and anyone who doubts it is one of the best performances ever just doesn’t know what they’re talking about.  Roth is born aboard a luxury cruise ship, and spends his entire life there.  His journey through life, and his attempts to undertand what it’s all about from this uniquely limited perspective is the story, and that’s pretty much it.  No one has looked at things precisely the way he does, because there has been no one who could.  On the other hand, he is completely unable to figure out why no one looks at things the way he does… and so am I.  Review here.

Just for fun, I’m including the trailer for The Fall, one of your choices that comes out this week.  It’s a very odd, surreal sort of fantasy.

Are You Screening?