Chungking Express es la cuarta película dirigida por el director hongkonés Wong Kar-Wai. Se estrenó en el festival internacional de cine de Locarno en agosto de 1994. Argumento de la película Chungking Express recorre a ritmo de sonidos electrónicas, blues melancólicos y rock and roll, dos historias relacionadas sutilmente entre sí. Clasificación [ CM DVD 00055] Disponible en DVD, 4 Piso BJB)
Harold and Maude es una película de 1971 dirigida por Hal Ashby y con Ruth Gordon y Bud Cort como actores principales. Sinopsis Joven, rico, y obsesionado con la muerte, Harold se encuentra cambiado para siempre cuando conoce a una septuagenaria en un funeral. Clasificación [ CM DVD 00056 ] Disponible en DVD, 4 Piso BJB)
Chungking Express es la cuarta película dirigida por el director hongkonés Wong Kar-Wai. Se estrenó en el festival internacional de cine de Locarno en agosto de 1994. Argumento de la película Chungking Express recorre a ritmo de sonidos electrónicas, blues melancólicos y rock and roll, dos historias relacionadas sutilmente entre sí. Clasificación [ CM DVD 00055] Disponible en DVD, 4 Piso BJB)
Ese oscuro objeto del deseo es una película franco–española, la última dirigida por Luis Buñuel. Se trata de una muy libre adaptación de la novela de Pierre Louys La mujer y el pelele (La femme et le pantin). Argumento En el curso de un viaje en tren, Mathieu Faber cuenta a sus compañeros de compartimento su historia sentimental con Conchita, una seductora mujer a la que tratará de conquistar. Sin embargo, ella siempre consigue eludir sus devaneos, a pesar de darle esperanzas. Clasificación [ CM DVD 00057 ] Disponible en DVD, 4 Piso BJB)
The China Syndrome is a 1979 American thriller film that tells the story of a television reporter and her cameraman who discover safety coverups at a nuclear power plant. It stars Jane Fonda, Jack Lemmon and Michael Douglas, with Douglas also serving as the film's producer. While visiting the (fictional) Ventana nuclear power plant outside Los Angeles, television news reporter Kimberly Wells (Fonda), her cameraman Richard Adams (Douglas) and their soundman Hector Salas witness the plant going through an emergency shutdown (SCRAM). Shift Supervisor Jack Godell (Lemmon) notices an unusual vibration while grabbing his cup of coffee which he had set down. He then finds that a gauge is misreading and that the coolant is dangerously low (he thought it was overflowing). The crew manages to bring the reactor under control and can be seen celebrating and expressing relief. Richard surreptitiously films the incident, despite being requested to not film the control room for security purposes. Kimberly's superior at work (Donat) refuses to permit her to report what happened or show the film, disgusting Richard, who steals the footage. He shows it to experts, who conclude that the plant came perilously close to the China Syndrome in which the core would have melted down into the earth, hitting groundwater and contaminating the surrounding area with radioactive steam. During an inspection of the plant before it's brought back online, Godell discovers a puddle of radioactive water that has apparently leaked from a pump. Godell pushes to delay restarting the plant, but the plant superintendent denies his request and appears willing to let nothing come in the way of the scheduled restart of the plant. Godell investigates further and finds that a series of radiographs supposedly taken to verify the integrity of welds on the leaking pump are identical – the contractor simply kept submitting the same picture. He believes that the plant is unsafe and could be severely damaged if another full-power SCRAM occurs. He tries to bring the evidence to plant manager Herman DeYoung (Brady), who brushes off Godell as paranoid and states that new radiographs would cost at least $20 million. Godell confronts D.B. Royce, an employee of Foster-Sullivan, the construction company who built the plant, as it was Royce who signed off on the welding radiographs. Godell threatens to go to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, but Royce threatens him; and later a pair of goons from Foster-Sullivan parks outside his house. Clasificación [ CM DVD 00553] Disponible en DVD, 4 Piso BJB)
Ridicule (French pronunciation: [ʁidikyl]) is a 1996 French film set in the 18th century at the decadent court of Versailles, where social status can rise and fall based on one's ability to mete out witty insults and avoid ridicule oneself. The story examines the social injustices of late 18th century France, in showing the corruption and callousness of the aristocrats. The film begins in 1783 with the Chevalier de Milletail (Carlo Brandt) visiting the elderly Monsieur de Blayac (Lucien Pascal), confined to his chair. He taunts him about his past prowess in wit and reminds him of how he humiliated him, naming him "Marquis de Clatterbang" when he fell over while dancing. He then urinates on the helpless old man. The film then shifts to the Dombes, a boggy region north of Lyon. The Baron Grégoire Ponceludon de Malavoy (Charles Berling) is a minor aristocrat and engineer. He is one of the few aristocrats who care about the plight of the peasants. Horrified by the sickness and death caused by the mosquitoes that infest the swamps, he hopes to drain them; he goes to Versailles in the hope of obtaining the backing of King Louis XVI (Urbain Cancelier). Just before reaching Versailles, Ponceludon is robbed and beaten. He is found by the Marquis de Bellegarde (Jean Rochefort), a minor noble and physician. As Ponceludon recuperates at the marquis' house, Bellegarde takes him under his wing, teaching him about wit (l'esprit), the primary way to make one's way at court. At first, Ponceludon's provincial background makes him a target at parties and gatherings, even though he proves himself a formidable adversary in verbal sparring. At one such party, he catches L'abbé de Vilecourt (Bernard Giraudeau) cheating at a game of wits, with the help of his lover, Madame de Blayac (Fanny Ardant), the beautiful and rich recent widow of Monsieur de Blayac, who was to have been Ponceludon's sponsor at court. Blayac repays his generosity in not exposing them by arranging for the certification of his lineage—thereby allowing his suit to proceed. Despite his success, Ponceludon begins to see that the court at Versailles is corrupt and hollow. Clasificación [ CM DVD 00551] Disponible en DVD, 4 Piso BJB)
Manny, el recluso más duro de una remota cárcel de Alaska, elabora un audaz plan y consigue evadirse con su compañero Buck. En un tren de mercancías, Manny y Buck van camino de la libertad; pero, de repente, el maquinista sufre un infarto y muere. Entonces los dos fugitivos se sienten atrapados, solos y lanzados a toda velocidad hacia una muerte segura. Hasta que descubren a un tercer pasajero: una hermosa ferroviaria que está tan desesperada y decidida a salvarse como ellos. Clasificación [ CM DVD 00550] Disponible en DVD, 4 Piso BJB)
The Passion of Joan of Arc (French: La Passion de Jeanne d'Arc) is a 1928 silent French film based on the actual record of the trial of Joan of Arc. The film was directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer and stars Renée Jeanne Falconetti as Joan. It is widely regarded as a landmark of cinema, especially for its production, Dreyer's direction and Falconetti's performance, which has been described as being among the finest in cinema history. The film summarizes the time that Joan of Arc was a captive of England. It depicts her trial and execution. After having led numerous military battles against the English during the Hundred Years' War, Joan of Arc is captured near Compiegne and eventually brought to Rouen, Normandy to stand trial for heresy by French clergymen loyal to the English. On 30 May 1431 Joan is interrogated by the French clerical court. Her judges try to make her say something that will discredit her claim or shake her belief that she has been given a mission by God to drive the English from France, but she remains steadfast. One or two of them, believing that she is indeed a saint, support her. The authorities then resort to deception. A priest reads a false letter to the illiterate prisoner supposedly from King Charles VII of France, telling her to trust in the bearer. When that too fails, Joan is taken to view the torture chamber, but the sight, though it causes her to faint, does not intimidate her. When she is threatened with burning at the stake, she finally breaks and allows a priest to guide her hand in signing a confession. However, the judge then condemns her to life imprisonment. As the jailer shaves her head, she realises she has been unfaithful to God. She demands that the judges return and she recants her confession. As more and more around her begin to recognise her true faith and calling she is permitted a final communion mass. She is then dressed in sack-cloth and taken to the place of execution. She helps the executioner tie her bonds. The crowds gather and the fire is lit. As the flames rise the women weep and a man cries out "you have killed a saint". The troops prepare for a riot. As the flames consume Joan the troops and crowd clash and people are killed. Joan is consumed by the flames but they protect her soul as it rises to heaven. Clasificación [ CM DVD 00549] Disponible en DVD, 4 Piso BJB)
Heat is a 1995 American crime film[2] written, produced and directed by Michael Mann, and starring Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, and Val Kilmer. The film was released in the United States on December 15, 1995. De Niro plays Neil McCauley, a professional thief, while Pacino plays Lt. Vincent Hanna, a veteran L.A.P.D. robbery-homicide detective tracking down McCauley's crew. The central conflict is based on the experiences of former Chicago police officer Chuck Adamson and his pursuit in the 1960s of a criminal named McCauley, after whom De Niro's character is named. Career criminal Neil McCauley (Robert De Niro) and his crew, Chris Shiherlis (Val Kilmer), Michael Cheritto (Tom Sizemore) and Trejo (Danny Trejo), hire new recruit Waingro (Kevin Gage) and commit an armored car heist, stealing $1.6 million in bearer bonds belonging to money launderer Roger Van Zant (William Fichtner). However, Waingro impulsively kills one of the guards, forcing the robbers to kill the remaining two so as to leave no witnesses. An infuriated McCauley tries to kill Waingro afterwards, but he escapes. Afterwards McCauley's fence, Nate (Jon Voight), suggests they try to sell the bonds back to Van Zant, who agrees but secretly instructs his men to kill McCauley at the meeting. With backup from his crew, McCauley thwarts the ambush and vows revenge. Lieutenant Vincent Hanna (Al Pacino) of the LAPD leads the investigation of the heist and learns that McCauley's crew plans to rob a precious metals depository. Hanna and his unit—Sergeant Drucker (Mykelti Williamson) and Detectives Sammy Casals (Wes Studi), Mike Bosko (Ted Levine), and Danny Schwartz (Jerry Trimble), stake out the depository, but when an officer inadvertently makes a noise, McCauley is alerted and calls off the robbery, forcing Hanna to let the crew go. Despite becoming aware of the police surveillance, McCauley and his crew take on a final heist, a brazen bank holdup worth $12 million, to secure their financial futures. Hanna's unit investigates the murder of a prostitute by Waingro, putting them on his trail. Waingro later approaches Van Zant in search of work and revenge against McCauley. Clasificación [ CM DVD 00548] Disponible en DVD, 4 Piso BJB)
The Wages of Fear (French: Le salaire de la peur) is a 1953 French-Italian thriller film directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot, starring Yves Montand, and based on the 1950 French novel Le Salaire de la Peur (lit. "The Salary of Fear") by Georges Arnaud. Frenchmen Mario and Jo, Dutchman Bimba and Italian Luigi are stuck in the isolated Southern Mexican town of Las Piedras. Surrounded by desert, the town is linked to the outside world only by a small airport, but the airfare is beyond the means of the men. There is little opportunity for employment aside from the American corporation that dominates the town, Southern Oil Company (SOC), which operates the nearby oil fields and owns a walled compound within the town. SOC is suspected of unethical practices such as exploiting local workers and taking the law into its own hands, but the townspeople's dependence upon it is such that they suffer in silence. Mario is a sarcastic Corsican playboy, who treats his devoted lover, Linda, with disdain. Jo is an aging ex-gangster who just recently found himself stranded in the town. Bimba is an intense, quiet individual whose father was murdered by the Nazis, and who himself worked for three years in a salt mine. Luigi, Mario's roommate, is a jovial, hardworking individual, who has just learned that he is dying from cement dust in his lungs. Mario befriends Jo due to their common background of having lived in Paris, but a rift develops between Jo and the other cantina regulars because of his combative, arrogant personality. A massive fire erupts at one of the SOC oil fields. The only way to extinguish the flames and cap the well is an explosion caused by nitroglycerine. With short notice and lack of proper equipment, it must be transported within jerrycans placed in two large trucks from the SOC headquarters, 300 miles away. Due to the poor condition of the roads and the highly volatile nature of nitroglycerine, the job is considered too dangerous for the unionized SOC employees. Clasificación [ CM DVD 00547] Disponible en DVD, 4 Piso BJB)
