9 Good Movies to Rent Now
Looking for some good movies to rent now? If you can’t wait a few days to get something from an online movie rental chain like Blockbuster Online or Netflix, here are some suggestions that you should be able to find at your local video store. For this list, I’ve chosen to focus on good films from the last year or two, thus increasing your chances of walking away with a quality rental.
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Star Trek (2009) – J.J. Abrams reboots the Star Trek franchise in a big way, giving us younger faces, bigger explosions, and an overall product that doesn’t feel anything like an extended television episode. Chris Pine stars as James T. Kirk, a rebellious youth who joins Star Fleet Academy and must soon face the wrath of a Romulan from the future named Nero (Eric Bana), who also happens to be responsible for the death of Kirk’s father. Other cast members include Zachary Quinto (Spock), Karl Urban (Dr. McCoy), Zoe Saldana (Uhura), Simon Pegg (Scotty), John Cho (Sulu), Anton Yelchin (Chekov), and Leonard Nimoy as the Spock from the future.
Orphan (2009) – After a married couple’s third child is stillborn, they decide to adopt a charming nine-year-old Russian girl named Esther (Isabelle Fuhrman). But it’s not long before little Esther starts terrorizing her schoolmates and killing off witnesses. It takes the adoptive mother (Vera Farmiga) a while to get wise to the sinister events, and, meanwhile, Esther begins making the moves on her latest stepfather. There’s a twist near the end that explains Esther’s behavior, and kudos to you if you can figure it out beforehand.
Drag Me to Hell (2009) – Cute little Alison Lohman stars as a bank employee who shames an old gypsy woman and gets cursed in the process. Sam Raimi directs his first horror film in years, and the results are better than I expected. Highlights include a séance with a charismatic goat, a fistfight between a slight blonde and elderly gypsy, and plenty of bizarre humor involving bodily fluids and dentures.
Sin Nombre (2008) – A young girl (Paulina Gaitan) and a gang member (Edgar Flores) cross paths on a train heading from Mexico to the United States. A powerful film about people trying to outrun their past and start anew, Cary Joji Fukunaga received the Dramatic Directing Award at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival. My description may not sound that compelling, but, believe me, it’s definitely one of the good movies to rent now. It is a Spanish language film, however, so those of you adverse to foreign films should take note (although why anyone would shy away from foreign cinema is beyond me).
The Great Buck Howard (2008) – Fading mentalist Buck Howard (John Malkovich) takes on a new road manager in the form of law school dropout Troy Gable (Colin Hanks) in this comedy/drama from director Sean McGinly. As Buck dreams of once again being invited to appear on The Tonight Show, the duo travel to exciting destinations such as Akron, Ohio and Bakersfield, California. Ricky Jay, Emily Blunt, and Tom Hanks (playing the father of his real-life son’s character) co-star.
Rudo y Cursi (2008) – Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna star as brothers in this Mexican film about family and football (that’s soccer to all our American readers). When their skills at the sport transport them from their village to the big city, the brothers must deal with their ever-expanding rivalry and such temptations as women, gambling, and drugs. It all comes to a head during a dramatic game between their respective teams, and neither man’s life will be the same afterwards. Comedy mixed with drama and an interesting look at life in small-town Mexico. If you’re looking for good foreign movie to rent now, this is a fine choice.
Sunshine Cleaning (2008) – Two sisters (Emily Blunt and Amy Adams) join forces and get into the crime scene cleanup business. While one sister befriends the estranged daughter of a dead woman, the other tries to raise her eccentric son and escape the disappointments of her past. Co-starring Steve Zahn, Alan Arkin, and Clifton Collin, Jr. If you’re looking for drama mixed with your comedy, this is a good movie to rent now.
State of Play (2009) – When the mistress of a Congressman (Ben Affleck) dies mysteriously, a reporter (Russell Crowe) starts looking into the truth behind the incident. Based on an acclaimed BBC series, the film co-stars Helen Mirren, Rachel McAdams, Robin Wright Penn, Jason Bateman and Jeff Daniels.
I Love You, Man (2009) – With his wedding approaching, Peter Klaven (Paul Rudd) realizes that he doesn’t have a candidate for his best man. So he embarks to find a best male friend, much to the amusement of his fiancee, the lovely Zooey Rice (Rashida Jones). After being French kissed and nearly getting into a fight during his various “man dates,” Peter meets Sydney Fife (Jason Segal), a casual dude who loves Rush and masturbating to pornography. They immediately hit it off, but you just know a few complications are bound to arise in this good-natured comedy.
In addition to these good movies to rent now, we also have articles about good movies to rent online, good movies to buy, and so much more. Just take a look at the following links for a few examples.
This entry was posted on Thursday, December 17th, 2009 at 5:48 pm and is filed under Good Movies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Denis Mahon
Well done!. I’m reading up on the whole ‘rent to buy’ process over here in Ireland.