Good Movies to Rent

Good movies to rent are like good restaurants to eat at: you're always on the lookout for new ones. I've compiled a list of some 25-30 entertaining films to rent and watch with your friends, family and loved ones. I've tried to include new releases, but I've sometimes drawn on the past for some great movie rental ideas.

On this list of potential movie rentals, I've included five genres: horror movies, action movies, classics, romantic comedies and science fiction movies. You might not agree with my choice of sub-genres on one or two of these, but let's not argue. Go out and rent these great movies (or so-so movies that will be fun to watch).

Good Horror Movies to Rent

This is a selection of the good, the great and wonderfully awful horror movies you can check out from the video store. Several are brand new rentals and new releases you shouldn't forget, while a couple are a little older (one a lot older) from across the seas.

Drag Me To Hell - While the first Sam Raimi horror flick in 20 years or more doesn't exactly live up to expectations, I'll still recommend this for the movie rental list. Drag Me To Hell shows what happens when you're hot and you get cursed by a gypsy and your boyfriend is reliably skeptical about the hell you're going through.

Shaitan - One of those crazy French horror movies from the New Extremity genre, Shaitan features "Joseph", one of the unique horror movie characters of all time. If you ever wanted to see the killer help the kids get their car unstuck from the mud or how a psycho hooks guys up with his niece, this is the movie for you.

Sorority Row - Let's just admit it. We love to see hot sorority girls get what's coming to them. So when a group of college sluts mistakenly kill their friend and throw her corpse down a well, it's time for some payback, bitches.

Blood For Dracula - This is one of those movies you watch with a group of friends so you all can laugh at the wacky one-liners. Paul Morrisey and Udo Kier apparently made this movie when they came in under time and under budget on Flesh For Frankenstein, and it shows. Joe Dallesandro, reportedly a former male prostitute, stars as one of the freakiest protagonists ever.

Feast - This was one of the rare finds among horror movies I rented some years ago, so if you and you're friends have never seen Feast, it's time to make it one of the good movies you rent. Heck, if you like little people and their gross Spanish-speaking grandmothers, you might even like Feast II. The first Feast movie was great, though.

Good Classic Movies to Rent

This is a completely random selection, from great Hitchcock movies to westerns to a couple of movies dealing with racism. And no, I'm not some kind of James Stewart freak.

Rear Window - One of my favorite Alfred Hitchcock movies. Jimmy Stewart and Grace Kelly play in a movie about a wheelchair-bound photographer (broken leg) who watches his New York City apartment-dwelling neighbors a little too closely with his photo lenses. When Jimmy Stewart believes he sees a husband murder his wife, it's time for the photographer, his patrician girlfriend and his nurse to find out the truth - or die trying.

To Kill a Mockingbird - Gregory Peck at the height of his powers, playing a role made for him (not really), Atticus Finch, in this 1962 story about racism in the South and those of good conscience who will stand up and fight against injustice, regardless of race. Includes a very young Robert Duvall in a supporting role. Includes themes of race, sexual relations and the loss of innocence, based on the hit 1960 novel by Harper Lee.

Shenandoah - Another solid Jimmy Stewart effort, this time as the patriarch of a Civil War era family and their struggles with soldiers on both sides of the conflict. When Stewart's son finds a discarded Confederate cap while out fishing, he starts wearing it, which you just know is going to lead to trouble. Most lists mention High Noon, How the West Was Won or The Searchers, so I wanted to tout a great movie that's often overlooked.

Giant - Starring James Dean, Elizabeth Taylor and Rock Hudson, it's the story of Texas and oil and race relations way back in the 50s. Giant is one of the quintessential movies about Texas, so you have to expect a Texan to recommend Giant. Also one of the three films James Dean appeared in.

Harvey - Okay, I know this is starting to sound like a "Good Jimmy Stewart Movies to Rent", but this just such an odd and enjoyable little movie, that I wanted to point it out. As the story goes, Stewart saw Harvey performed on the stage and wanted to star in a movie adaptation, which is just what he did. When a city man begins to introduce people to his invisible 6' tall friend "Harvey", who also happens to be an anthropomorphic rabbit, his friends and family begin to think he's insane. Enter psychiatric doctors to complicate life a little bit, but not too much. Harvey is a comedy.

Good Romantic Comedies to Rent

If you're dating or married, you can never have enough great romantic comedy rental ideas. The following list tend to have been pretty recently released and most of them are a little bit off-the-wall. You might not even think a couple are romantic in the least, but hey, romance is what you make of it.

The Answer Man - Jeff Daniels plays a reclusive author who penned one of the great self-help books some 20 years ago, but who is now dealing with a bad back. The underused Lauren Graham plays the chiropractor who Daniels begins to date in a story about reassessment and reattaching to the world around you.

I Love You, Man - For the ladies out there, here's a bromance your boyfriends, fiances and husbands might actually sit down to watch with you (at least without you twisting their arms). The cast includes Paul Rudd, Jaime Pressly, Jason Segel, Rashida Jones and Jon Favreau.

Paper Heart - Michael Cera and Charlyne Yi star in this indie comedy movie about an eccentric and the actor she meets and makes her boyfriend. Nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival, Paper Heart takes on the now-familiar format of a documentary comedy.

The Wackness - If you ever wanted to see Sir Ben Kingsley get down with the younger generation, this is your chance. A story about a psychiatrist, a young drug dealer who pays for sessions in product and the two young women they fall in love with.

The Hangover - The surprise hit of last summer, The Hangover is only vaguely a romantic comedy, but guys can convince their lady friends that the story is all about trying to get to a wedding. Besides, this does involve hookups and potential hookups all over the place. While not as good as everybody said it was, The Hangover is still worth your time.

Zombieland - I know, you're thinking, "What in the hell is he talking about? 'Zombieland' is a romantic comedy?" Well, Zombieland is a comedy more than it's a horror movies. Sure, there are zombies in it, but you aren't going to find much that's terrifying in it. It's a comedy, more than anything else. Less than Shaun of the Dead, the zombies aren't really a big factor. And Zombieland is largely a story about boy-meets-girl and whether the two are going to hook up. Watch Zombieland and tell me if I'm wrong.

Good Action Movies to Rent

It seems like it's hard to find too many good action films here in the 21st century, so I've had to get a little creative with this list of rental options. If you don't like these movies, go back and rent something like Sin City and watch it again. Or heck, rent Diehard and watch it for the hundredth time. It's almost Christmas time and Diehard is a Christmas movie, you know.

Gran Torino - Clint Eastwood is grumpy and gruff and he'll kick your ass if you get out of line. You get it, right? Like most Clint Eastwood movies. Gran Torino plays on Eastwood's stature as a tough guy icon, going in new directions when he's an opinionated (read: bigoted) Korean War veteran living in a neighborhood where Asian-Americans movie in. When ethnic gang members turn up, you know somebody is getting a gun in the face.

The Watchmen - This one disappointed at the theater, but I found it to be highly entertaining. The fanboys thought it was too derivative of the graphic novel it was based on, but they would have complained if the movie had strayed from the story at all. This is a first-rate story about some seriously twisted masked men.

Fight Club - I watched this again recently and it was as terrific as it was the first time. This is one of those movies which defies classification, because it's so darned original. If you liked Fight Club the movie, check out the novel by Chuck Palahniuk.

Cloverfield - J.J. Abrams movie shot in first person about a giant monster loose in New York City. Fast-paced and full of thrills, Cloverfield seems to divide people into the "loved it" camp and the "hated it" camp, but it's only 84 minutes long, if you happen to be in the latter grouping.

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra - Dennis Quaid is back, and this time he's leading America's #1 military fighting force. Watch him as he fights Destro, the Baroness and Cobra Commander to the death. The G.I. Joe movie falls into the category of "not as bad as I thought it would be", which makes it a gem in this, the dark ages of the action movie.

Superman Doomsday - Okay, this is an animated movie, but what can I say, it was certainly better than Superman Returns. If you want to see a slightly more adult version of Superman, you get to see a pretty wild story about the death of Superman and what happens when you try to replace a great man. What do you expect me to recommend? The Spirit. If you're going to watch a movie about a comic book character, go all the way and watch Superman Doomsday instead.

Good Science Fiction Movies to Rent

There have been some pretty good sci-fi movie rentals come out recently, or which will be coming out around the Holidays. As I've always said, when science fiction is good, it's great. When science fiction is bad, it's absolutely freaking awful. Below are some of the good scifi movies rentals to pick up the next time you're at Blockbuster or Movie Gallery. Or better yet, just Netflix it.

District 9 - District 9 is a movie written, directed and acted by South African talent that focuses on South African issues. It works, though. In fact, since you've never seen any of these actors (unless you're reading this in South Africa), it pulls you into the world of District 9 even more, much more than if Tom Cruise was playing the lead role. A space ship turns up in South Africa and the authorities turn the alien community aboard, sick from some unnamed virus, into a ghetto. You'll end up cheering for the aliens in this one.

Star Trek (2009) - The relaunch of the Star Trek franchise is out on video now. J.J. Abrams brings a new energy to this old story with a complete retcon of the James T. Kirk story, so Star Trek isn't just for Trekkies anymore.

Pandorum - Dennis Quaid and Ben Foster are crewmen on a spacecraft who realize they have a strange gap in their memory, then realiZe they aren't alone out there in the cold of space.

Dark City - I recently saw this again on Blu-Ray and an HD tv and it's definitely worth a rewatch, because I liked it better than it did originally in the theater. A dark future controlled by weird creatures has a lot in common with The Matrix, which came out a year later, though this one doesn't have quite the action scenes The Matrix did.

The Island - Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johannson star as futuristic colonists who decide to escape their society when a shocking discovery about the island, supposedly the last place on Earth not contaminated, rocks their world.