"Rent It Or Relent It"

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RIORI Presents Installment #185: Jonathan Frakes' "Thunderbirds" (2004)

The problem of getting something done right the first time is that no one understands how difficult it was. "Rent It Or Relent It" has never suffered that problem.

The Players…

Bill Paxton, Brady Corbett, Anthony Edwards, Soren Fulton, Sophia Myles, Vanessa Hudgens and Ben Kingsley, with Deobia Oparel and Ron Cook.

The Basics…

If there’s a local emergency you call the first responders. Fire fighters, police officers, EMTs. If there’s a national emergency you call on FEMA, the National Guard, the Red Cross. But who do you call when it’s a globalemergency…

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RIORI Presents Installment #184: Josh & Benny Safdie's "Good Time" (2017)

Right now, a nine-year-old with a YouTube channel documenting the history of DigiMon is making more money than "Rent It Or Relent It."

The Players…

Robert Pattinson, Benny Safdie, Buddy Duress, Taliah Webster and Jennifer Jason Leigh.

The Basics…

When Connie’s clever bank heist goes all pear-shaped, his special needs brother Nicky accidentally takes the fall. So from jail to the bail bondsman to the company of strangers Connie tears around New York burning lean tissue into the night to secure Nicky’s bail…

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RIORI Presents Installment #183: Michael Lehmann's "Because I Said So" (2007)

Never take Ambien and Ex-Lax on the same night. "Rent It Or Relent It" can't sleep for shit.

The Players…

Diane Keaton, Mandy Moore, Gabe Macht, Tom Everett Scott, Lauren Graham and Stephen Collins, with Piper Perabo and Ty Panitz.

The Basics…

All Daphne wants is her youngest daughter Millie to settle down with the right guy. Millie’s sisters are already in fine relationships and have been for almost as long as baby sis has been adrift.

Mom’s no matchmaker, so she sneakily gets all…

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RIORI Presents Installment #182: Jonathan Mostow's "U-571" (2000)

RIORI Presents Installment #182: Jonathan Mostow’s “U-571” (2000)

  The Crew…

Matthew McConughey, Harvey Keitel, Jon Bon Jovi, Jake Weber and Bill Paxton, with

The Briefing…

In the heat of World War II, Germans ruled the seas with their U-Boats. Cutting off Allied supply lines and destroying the Naval fleet by stealth and torpedoes. It’s not a matter of firepower to take out the Nazi submarine corps. It takes brains before brawn.

The Flap…

Not sure why,…

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RIORI Presents Installment #181: Judd Apatow's "This Is 40" (2012)

If you think about it, electric lights in video games really do run on electricity. "Rent It Or Relent It" blows a fuse.

The Players…

Leslie Mann, Paul Rudd, John Lithgow and Albert Brooks, with Megan Fox, Jason Segel, Chris O’Dowd, Maude Apatow, Iris Apatow, and a special appearance by Graham Parker.

The Basics…

Middle age creeps into the lives of Pete and Debbie and certain things aren’t so certain anymore. Then again, on the brighter side, some things always are.

The tough stuff? Financial woes, naturally.…

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ROIRI Presents Installment #180: Robert Eggers' "The Lighthouse" (2019)

The problem with this world is not enough people are taken away in strait jackets. "Rent It Or Relent It" keeps gnawing at its straps.

The Players…

Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson.

The Basics…

In the late 1800’s on a remote New England island, two USLS employees begin their post as lighthouse keepers for a four-week tour. It’s a straightforward assignment: maintain the facility and keep the light burning. Nothing remarkable. Standard operating procedure.

But when a violent, almost ungodly storm sweeps the island, cuts off…

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RIORI Presents Installment #179: Barry Sonnenfeld's "RV" (2006)

If you're not supposed to put metal in the microwave how come all microwaves are made of metal? "Rent It Or Relent It" burns the popcorn again.

The Players…

Robin Williams, Cheryl Hines, Joanna “JoJo” Levesque and Josh Hutcherson, with Jeff Daniels, Kristin Chenoweth and Will Arnett.

The Basics…

A classic scenario. An overworked dad needs to reconnect with his family and plans a vacation. You know, to relax and get away from it all. To the perfect vacation spot to chill and definitelyget away from it all. But the very reason Dad…

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RIORI Presents Installment #178: Stacy Peralta's "Dogtown And Z-Boys" (2001) / Catherine Hardwicke's "Lords Of Dogtown" (2005)

I'm O.K. You're so-so. It's got nothing to do with "Rent It Or Relent It" if one can grasp it.

The Players…

Stacy Peralta, Tony Alva, Jay Adams and the voice of Sean Penn / John Robinson, Emile Hirsch, Victor Rasuk, Michael Angarano and Heath Ledger.

The Basics…

Illustrating the time in the mid-70s LA where surfing met skateboarding come two movies. One, a documentary featuring the icons and nobodies of those halcyon days of skate that set the standard for the sport we know today. Two,…

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RIORI Presents Installment #177: Brendan & Emmett Malloy's "Out Cold" (2001)

Is it okay for a vegan to bite their own fingernails? "Rent It Or Relent It" chews that over.

The Players…

Jason London, Zach Galifianakis, Derek Hamilton, AJ Cook, Flex Alexander, David Koechner and Lee Majors, with David Denman, Caroline Dharvernas, Thomas Lennon, Victoria Silvstedt and Willie Garson.

The Basics…

Once again it’s a story of a venerated mom ‘n’ pop business being shoved aside by some upstart, fancy-schmancy, “better” version, threatening the local, maybe too…

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RIORI Presents Installment #176: Javier Aguirresarobe & John Hillcoat's "The Road" (2009)

If you think about it, lasagne is no more than spaghetti cake. Mangia "Rent It Or Relent It!"

The Players…

Viggo Mortensen and Kodi Smit-McPhee, with Charlize Theron, Guy Pearce, Garret Dillahunt, Micheal K Philips, Molly Parker and Robert Duvall.

The Basics…

A planetwide catastrophe has destroyed Earth’s ecosystem, and like the ancient dinosaurs humanity is gradually circling into extinction.

Fate means nothing to a desperate father doing his damnedest, by wit and grit, to protect…

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RIORI Presents Installment #175: Harmony Korine's "Spring Breakers" (2013)

The rougher the neighborhood, the better the burritos. ¡Olé "Rent It Or Relent It!"

The Players…

Selena Gomez, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Benson and Rachel Korine, with Gucci Mane and James Franco.

The Story…

Spring break. It’s when all the lucky college kids get cut loose from their classes for an idyll on some sunny seashore drenching each other in suntan oil, alcohol and semen. Good, wholesome entertainment to let the pent up collegiate steam loose. If you can afford such…

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RIORI Presents Installment #174: Jessie Nelson's "I Am Sam" (2001)

The following statement is true. The preceding statement was false. "Rent It Or Relent It" is perfectly clear about being confused.

The Players…

Sean Pean, Michelle Pfeiffer, Dakota Fanning, Dianne Weist and Laura Dern, with Brad Silverman, Joe Rosenberg, Stanley DeSantis and Doug Hutchinson.

The Story…

Fatherhood is often deemed as second-rate parenting compared to the benighted world of Mommy-dom. On the other side, however singlefatherhood is an altogether different matter. Such a role is regarded as strong, brave and…

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RIORI Presents Installment #173: David Gordon Green's "Your Highness" (2011)

"Rent It Or Relent It" has two tickets to paradise. Pack your bags full of unmarked 20s and stash it in a locker in at the bus station then leave. Tonight.

The Stars…

Danny McBride, James Franco, Natalie Portman, Zooey Deschanel and Rasmus Hardiker, with Justin Theroux, Damien Lewis, Toby Jones, Simon Farnaby, Deobia Oparel and Charles Dance.

The Story…

Sibling rivalry. Anyone who’s had one often shares the oys and joys about the black sheep competing for attention and praise with the white knight. So to speak.

Prince Thadeous has always been…

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RIORI Presents Installment #172: Kasi Lemmons' "Talk To Me" (2007)

Gravity: it's the law! "Rent It Or Relent It" has achieved terminal velocity.

The Stars…

Don Cheadle, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Cedric The Entertainer, Taraji P Henson, Mike Epps, Vondie Curtis Hall and Martin Sheen.

The Story…

Besides the free three hots and a cot, the best thing about being in prison is you are free to speak your mind. No one will listen. No one will listen, of course unless you cause a scene. Start a ruckus. Make you realize that you are indeedimprisoned.…

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RIORI Redux: Francis Lawrence's "I Am Legend" Revisited

Your stomach thinks all potatoes are mashed. "Rent It Or Relent It" prefers roasting.

The Players…

Will Smith, with Alice Braga, Dash Mihok, Charlie Tahan and…Abbey.

The Story…

When a contagion spreads across the planet and turns the human race into bloodthirsty mutants, civilization’s last hope for survival lies with scientist Robert Neville, the last normal man on Earth.

The Rant (2013)…

Richard Matheson’s writing has never been regarded as “subtle.” In fact, his work has…

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RIORI Redux: Noah Baumbach's "The Squid And The Whale" Revisited

Tastes great, less filling. "Rent It Or Relent It" is neither. Cheers!

The Players…

Jeff Daniels, Laura Linney, Jesse Eisenberg and Owen Klein, with Stephen Baldwin.

The Story…

This is a story with an insightful look at the crumbling marriage between a self-centered novelist (whose career is on the wane) and his up-and-coming writer wife. In the meantime, the warring couple’s two sons get caught in the crossfire, which is where, as always, things get complicated.

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RIORI Redux: M Night Shyamalan's "After Earth" Revisited

RIORI Redux: M Night Shyamalan’s “After Earth” Revisited

The Players…

Jaden Smith, Will Smith, Zoe Kravitz and Sophie Okonedo.

The Story…

A thousand years in the future, Earth has been abandoned, its populace fleeing environmental degradation. Humanity sets up shop elsewhere, its home world forbidden and eventually all but forgotten. However because of a disastrous interstellar voyage, one General Cypher Raige and his young son, Kitai, are forced…

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