Author Archives: rarefilm

Tarzan and the Lost City (1998) Carl Schenkel, Casper Van Dien, Jane March, Steven Waddington, Action, Adventure, Family

Tarzan and the Lost City (1998)
In 1913, on the night before Jane Porter’s wedding to John Clayton (also known as Tarzan), her bridegroom receives a disturbing vision of his childhood homeland in peril. Much to Jane’s distress, Clayton leaves for Africa to help. The educated explorer Nigel Ravens is seeking the legendary city of Opar, to plunder its ancient treasures. But then Jane decides to follow her fiancé, and he must protect her while trying to stop Ravens and his men.
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Awake (2007) Joby Harold, Hayden Christensen, Jessica Alba, Terrence Howard, Crime, Mystery, Thriller

Awake (2007)
While undergoing surgery, a young man (Hayden Christensen) experiences intraoperative awareness. He becomes fully alert – but paralyzed – and therefore cannot tell his doctors that he is not sedated and is enduring the whole process. Meanwhile, his wife (Jessica Alba) wrestles with demons of her own while her husband suffers through his ordeal.
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Y tu mamá también / Et même ta mère (2001) Alfonso Cuarón, Maribel Verdú, Gael García Bernal, Daniel Giménez Cacho, Adventure, Comedy, Drama

Y tu mama tambien
Mexican-born, New York-based filmmaker Alfonso Cuarón directed this Mexican box-office smash hit about a pair of randy upper-class buddies that sparked some controversy for its frank depiction of drug use and sexual exploration. With their respective girlfriends away in Europe, Julio (Gael García Bernal) and his upper-class friend Tenoch (Diego Luna) are looking forward to a summer full of drink, drugs, and cheap meaningless sex. During a wedding, they meet Luisa (Maribel Verdú) – the 28-year-old wife of Tenoch’s scholarly cousin – and try to convince her to go on a road trip to Heaven’s Mouth, a made-up beach paradise the two claim is on the Oaxacan coast.
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The Crying Game (1992) Neil Jordan, Stephen Rea, Jaye Davidson, Forest Whitaker, Crime, Drama, Romance

The Crying Game (1992)
An unlikely kind of friendship develops between Fergus, an Irish Republican Army volunteer, and Jody, a kidnapped British soldier lured into an IRA trap by Jude, another IRA member. When the hostage-taking ends up going horribly wrong, Fergus escapes and heads to London, where he seeks out Jody’s lover, a hairdresser named Dil. Fergus adopts the name “Jimmy” and gets a job as a day laborer. He also starts seeing Dil, who knows nothing about Fergus’ IRA background. But there are some things about Dil that Fergus doesn’t know, either…
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The Prophecy II (1998) Greg Spence, Christopher Walken, Russell Wong, Jennifer Beals, Fantasy, Horror, Thriller

The Prophecy II (1998)
Gabriel returns to Earth to prevent the birth of a child conceived by one of his kind (the Angel Danyael) and one of God’s “monkeys” (a human woman – Valerie). The coming of this child has been prophesied by a monk, Thomas. When the Angel Danyael kills members of Gabriel’s army of angels, Gabriel instead employs the assistance of a teenage girl (Izzy) who has just committed suicide. Gabriel keeps her alive to assist him in his war against Danyael and the other angels which climaxes in a battle in Eden.
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The Big Country (1958) William Wyler, Gregory Peck, Jean Simmons, Carroll Baker, Romance, Western

The Big Country (1958)
Retired, wealthy sea Captain Jame McKay arrives in the vast expanse of the West to marry fiancée Pat Terrill. McKay is a man whose values and approach to life are a mystery to the ranchers and ranch foreman Steve Leech takes an immediate dislike to him. Pat is spoiled, selfish and controlled by her wealthy father, Major Henry Terrill. The Major is involved in a ruthless civil war, over watering rights for cattle, with a rough hewn clan led by Rufus Hannassey. The land in question is owned by Julie Maragon and both Terrill and Hannassey want it.
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Tommy (1975) Ken Russell, Roger Daltrey, Ann-Margret, Oliver Reed, Drama, Musical

Tommy (1975)
Nora Walker is told that her British fighter pilot husband is missing in action and presumed killed in World War II. On V.E. Day, Nora gives birth to their son, who she names Tommy. While Tommy is an adolescent, Nora marries Frank, a shifty camp counselor. Shortly thereafter, Tommy suffers an emotionally traumatic experience associated with his father and step-father, which, based on things told to him at that time, results in him becoming deaf, dumb and blind, a situation which several people exploit for their own pleasure. As Nora tries several things to bring Tommy out of his psychosomatic disabilities, Tommy, now a young man, happens upon pinball as a stimulus. Playing by intuition, Tommy becomes a pinball master, which in turn makes him, and by association Nora and Frank, rich and famous. Nora literally shatters Tommy to his awakening, which ultimately leads to both the family’s rise and downfall as people initially try to emulate Tommy’s path then rebel against it.
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Ni d’Eve ni d’Adam (1997) Jean-Paul Civeyrac, Guillaume Verdier, Morgane Hainaux, Frédérique Gagnol, Drama

Ni d'Eve ni d'Adam (1997)
Gabrielle is 14. She struggles to love Gilles but he ceaselessly wrecks his own life along with other people’s. He steals money from Gabrielle and humiliates her so much that she doesn’t want to see him again. At school, he hits his education supervisor. As a result, his father throws him out of the house. Gabrielle refuses to put him up. The families of his friends want nothing to do with him. So Gilles ends up in the street like a stray dog. By causing turmoil, he soon becomes the neighbourhood’s scapegoat… In the end, Gabrielle is the one who saves him. They flee together and seek refuge in the country, in an abandoned barn. And there they learn to love each other. To get further away, they need money. But the robbery that carry out in a farm goes badly. The police are hot on their heels. What’s the sense in running anymore ?
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The Seventh Seal (1957) Ingmar Bergman, Max von Sydow, Gunnar Björnstrand, Bengt Ekerot, Art-house, Drama, Fantasy

The Seventh Seal (1957)
Disillusioned and exhausted after a decade of battling in the Crusades, a knight (Max von Sydow) encounters Death on a desolate beach and challenges him to a fateful game of chess. Much studied, imitated, even parodied, but never outdone, Bergman’s stunning allegory of man’s search for meaning, The Seventh Seal (Det sjunde inseglet), was one of the benchmark foreign imports of America’s 1950s art-house heyday, pushing cinema’s boundaries and ushering in a new era of moviegoing.
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Gosford Park (2001) Robert Altman, Maggie Smith, Ryan Phillippe, Michael Gambon, Drama, Mystery, Comedy

Gosford Park (2001)
Maverick American filmmaker Robert Altman takes a witty and absorbing look at the foibles of the British class system in this intelligent murder mystery set in the early ’30s. Sir William McCordle (Michael Gambon) and his wife Lady Sylvia (Kristin Scott Thomas) are a pair of wealthy British socialites who have invited a variety of friends, relatives, and acquaintances to their mansion in the country for a weekend of hunting and relaxation…
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