Donnie Brasco [1997]

"In 1978, the US government waged a war against organized crime. One man was left behind the lines."

BASED ON A TRUE STORY

Director: Mike Newell
Writers: Joseph D. Pistone (book), Richard Woodley (book)
  Stars: Al Pacino, Johnny Depp and Michael Madsen

Storyline

This true story follows FBI agent Joe Pistone as he infiltrates the mafia of New York. Befriending Lefty Ruggiero, Pistone (under the name Donnie Brasco) is able to embed himself in a mafia faction lead by Sonny Black. Ruggiero and Pistone become tight as the group goes about collecting money for 'the bosses'. Eventually, the group become big time when Black himself becomes a boss, all the while Pistone collects evidence. However, the trials and tribulations of the undercover work become more than Pistone can bear. His marriage falls apart and to top it off, the mafia suspect a mole in the organization. The real dilemma is afforded to Pistone, who knows if he walks away from the mafia, Ruggiero will be the one punished.

From Hell [2001]

"Only the legend will survive. "

Director: Albert Hughes, Allen Hughes
Writers: Alan Moore (graphic novel), Eddie Campbell (graphic novel) 

Stars: Johnny Depp, Heather Graham and Ian Holm

Storyline

It is 1888 in London, and the unfortunate poor lead horrifying lives in the city's deadliest slum, Whitechapel. Harassed by gangs and forced to walk the streets for a living, Mary Kelly and her small group of companions trudge on through this daily misery, their only consolation being that things can't get any worse. Yet things somehow do when their friend Ann is kidnapped and they are drawn into a conspiracy with links higher up than they could possibly imagine. The kidnapping is soon followed by the gruesome murder of another woman, Polly, and it becomes apparent that they are being hunted down, one by one. Sinister even by Whitechapel standards, the murder grabs the attention of Inspector Fred Abberline, a brilliant yet troubled man whose police work is often aided by his psychic abilities. Abberline becomes deeply involved with the case, which takes on personal meaning to him when he and Mary begin to fall in love...

Godzilla [1998]

"Size Does Matter"

Director: Roland Emmerich
Writers: Dean Devlin (screenplay), Roland Emmerich (screenplay) 

Stars: Matthew Broderick, Jean Reno and Maria Pitillo

Storyline

A montage of French nuclear tests in the Pacific Ocean, observed by many marine iguanas. Then, in present days, a Japanese fishing ship is being attacked by an unseen monster; only one survived. Traumatized, he is later questioned in a hospital by a mysterious Frenchman and repeatedly says only one word --"Gojira". NRC scientist Niko "Nick" Tatopolous is called in to investigate the matter, and he quickly arrives at the conclusion that a giant, irradiated lizard known as Godzilla has been created by the explosions. Then Godzilla makes its way north, landing at Manhattan to begin wreaking havoc in the big city! Even with the combined forces of the U.S. military are going to destroy Godzilla at all costs, but will it ever be enough to save the people of New York?

Girl, Interrupted [1999]

"The crazy thing is, you're not crazy."

BASED ON A TRUE STORY

Director: James Mangold
Writers: Susanna Kaysen (book), James Mangold (screenplay)
  Stars: Winona Ryder, Angelina Jolie and Whoopi Goldberg

Storyline

Susanna is rushed to the hospital. Afterwards she discusses this with a psychiatrist. She had been having some delusions. She had also been having an affair with the husband of her parents' friend. The doctor suggests that combining a bottle of aspirin and a bottle of vodka was a suicide attempt. This she denies. He recommends a short period of rest at Claymoore. Claymoore is a private mental hospital full of noisy, crazy people. Georgina is a pathological liar. Polly has been badly scarred by fire. Daisy won't eat in the presence of other people. Lisa is a sociopath, the biggest exasperation for the staff - like Nurse Valerie - and the biggest influence on the other girls in the hospital. Lisa has a history of escapes, so gaining access to personal medical files is not a problem... Susanna's boyfriend Toby is concerned that she seems too comfortable living with her institutionalized friends...

Hackers [1995]

" Hack The Planet!"

Director: Iain Softley
Writers: Rafael Moreu 

Stars: Jonny Lee Miller, Angelina Jolie and Jesse Bradford

Storyline

A young boy is arrested by the US Secret Service for writing a computer virus and is banned from using a computer until his 18th birthday. Years later, he and his new-found friends discover a plot to unleash a dangerous computer virus, but they must use their computer skills to find the evidence while being pursued by the Secret Service and the evil computer genius behind the virus.

Gone Baby Gone [2007]

"Everyone Wants The Truth... Until They Find It."

Director: Ben Affleck
Writers: Ben Affleck (screenplay), Aaron Stockard (screenplay) 

Stars: Morgan Freeman, Ed Harris and Casey Affleck

Storyline

When 4 year old Amanda McCready disappears from her home and the police make little headway in solving the case, the girl's aunt Beatrice McCready hires two private detectives Patrick Kenzie and Angie Gennaro. The detective freely admit that they have little experience with this type of case, but the family wants them for two reasons - they're not cops and they know the tough Boston neighborhood in which they all live. As the case progresses, Kenzie and Gennaro face drug dealers, gangs and pedophiles. When they are about to solve their case, they are faced with a moral dilemma that could tear them apart.

Hot Fuzz [2007]

"In a town where nothing much goes on, a whole lot is about to go down"

Director: Edgar Wright
Writers: Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg
  Stars: Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and Martin Freeman

Storyline

Top London cop, PC Nicholas Angel is good. Too good. And to stop the rest of his team looking bad, he is reassigned to the quiet town of Sandford. He is paired with Danny Butterman, who endlessly questions him on the action lifestyle. Everything seems quiet for Angel, until two actors are found decapitated. It is called an accident, but Angel isn't going to accept that, especially when more and more people turn up dead. Angel and Danny clash with everyone, whilst trying to uncover the truth behind the mystery of the apparent "accidents".

Jarhead [2005]

"Every man fights his own war."

BASED ON A TRUE EVENTS

Director: Sam Mendes
Writers: William Broyles Jr. (screenplay), Anthony Swofford (book)
  Stars: Jake Gyllenhaal, Jamie Foxx and Lucas Black

Storyline

Anthony "Swoff" Swofford, a Camus-reading kid from Sacramento, enlists in the Marines in the late 1980s. He malingers during boot camp, but makes it through as a sniper, paired with the usually-reliable Troy. The Gulf War breaks out, and his unit goes to Saudi Arabia for Desert Shield. After 175 days of boredom, adrenaline, heat, worry about his girlfriend finding someone else, losing it and nearly killing a mate, demotion, latrine cleaning, faulty gas masks, and desert football, Desert Storm begins. In less than five days, it's over, but not before Swoff sees burned bodies, flaming oil derricks, an oil-drenched horse, and maybe a chance at killing. Where does all the testosterone go?

Tower Heist [2011]

"Ordinary guys. An extraordinary robbery."

Director: Brett Ratner
Writers:  Ted Griffin (screenplay), Jeff Nathanson (screenplay)
  Stars: Eddie Murphy, Ben Stiller and Casey Affleck

Storyline

Josh Kovacs is the manager of a residential apartment in New York. He is close to all the tenants, especially Arthur Shaw, a financier. One day Shaw is arrested by the FBI for fraud. Josh thinks it's a misunderstanding that can be resolved. But later he learns that the employees' pension which he asked Shaw to handle is gone. When one of the employees tries to kill himself, Josh's views of Shaw change. He goes to see him and loses his temper. He loses his job. The FBI agent in charge of Shaw tells him that Shaw might walk and recovering the pension fund is unlikely. She tells him that it's been rumored that Shaw has 20 million laying around if he needs. Josh thinks he knows where it is. So with two other employees who also lost their jobs and an evicted tenant, they set out to get into Shaw's penthouse to get the money. But they realise they need the assistance of someone who knows what they are doing...

War Of The Worlds [2005]

"They're already here."

Director: Steven Spielberg
Writers: Josh Friedman (screenplay), David Koepp (screenplay) 

Stars: Tom Cruise, Dakota Fanning and Tim Robbins

Storyline

Ray Ferrier (Cruise) is a divorced dockworker and less-than-perfect father. When his ex-wife and her new husband drop off his teenage son Robbie and young daughter Rachel for a rare weekend visit, a strange and powerful lightning storm suddenly touches down. What follows is the extraordinary battle for the future of humankind through the eyes of one American family fighting to survive it in this contemporary retelling of H.G. Wells seminal classic sci-fi thriller.

Armageddon [1998]

"For Love. For Honor. For Mankind."

Director: Michael Bay
Writers: Jonathan Hensleigh (screenplay), J.J. Abrams (screenplay) 

Stars: Bruce Willis, Billy Bob Thornton and Ben Affleck

Storyline

It is just another day at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), a few astronauts were repairing a satellite until, out of nowhere, a series of asteroids came crashing into the shuttle, destroying it. These asteroids also decimated New York soon thereafter. Then, NASA discovered that there is an asteroid roughly the size of Texas heading towards the Earth, and when it does hit the Earth, the planet itself and all of its inhabitants will be obliterated, worse, the asteroid will hit the Earth in 18 days. Unfortunately, NASA's plans to destroy the asteroid are irrelevant. That is when the U.S. military decides to use a nuclear warhead to blow the asteroid to pieces. Then, scientists decide to blow the asteroid with the warhead inside the asteroid itself. The only man to do it, is an oil driller named Harry Stamper and his group of misfit drillers and geologists. As he and his drill team prepare for space excavation...

Awakenings [1990]

"There is no such thing as a simple miracle."

BASED ON A TRUE STORY

Director: Penny Marshall
Writers: Oliver Sacks (book), Steven Zaillian (screenplay) 

Stars: Robert De Niro, Robin Williams and Julie Kavner

Storyline

A new doctor finds himself with a ward full of comatose patients. He is disturbed by them and the fact that they have been comatose for decades with no hope of any cure. When he finds a possible chemical cure he gets permission to try it on one of them. When the first patient awakes, he is now an adult having gone into a coma in his early teens. The film then delights in the new awareness of the patients and then on the reactions of their relatives to the changes in the newly awakened.

Chaplin [1992]

"Everyone has a wild side. Even a legend."

BASED ON A TRUE STORY

Director: Richard Attenborough
Writers: David Robinson (book), Charles Chaplin (book) 

Stars: Robert Downey Jr., Geraldine Chaplin and Paul Rhys

Storyline

The biography of Charlie Chaplin, filmmaker extraordinaire. From his formative years in England to his highest successes in America, Charlie's life, work, and loves are followed. While his screen characters were extremely hilarious, the man behind "The Little Tramp" was constantly haunted by a sense of loss.

Cellular [2004]

"If the signal dies so does she."

Director: David R. Ellis
Writers: Larry Cohen (story), Chris Morgan (screenplay) 

Stars: Kim Basinger, Chris Evans and Jason Statham

Storyline

A young man receives a call on his cellular phone from a woman who says she's been kidnapped, and thinks she's going to be killed soon, along with her husband and son who the kidnappers have gone after next. The catch? She doesn't know where she is... and his cell phone battery might go dead soon.

Cashback [2006]

Director: Sean Ellis
Writers: Sean Ellis 

Stars: Sean Biggerstaff, Emilia Fox and Michelle Ryan

Storyline

When art student Ben Willis dumps his girlfriend Suzy, he develops chronic insomnia after finding out how quickly she moved on. To pass the long hours of the night, he starts working the late night shift at the local supermarket. There he meets a colorful cast of characters, all of whom have their own 'art' in dealing with the boredom of an eight-hour-shift. Ben's art is that he imagines himself stopping time. This way, he can appreciate the artistic beauty of the frozen world and the people inside it - especially Sharon, the pretty and quiet checkout girl, who perhaps holds the answer to solving the problem of Ben's insomnia.

Born On The Fourth Of July [1989]

"A story of innocence lost and courage found."

BASED ON A TRUE STORY

Director: Oliver Stone
Writers: Ron Kovic (book), Oliver Stone (screenplay) 

Stars: Tom Cruise, Raymond J. Barry and Caroline Kava

Storyline

The biography of Ron Kovic. Paralyzed in the Vietnam war, he becomes an anti-war and pro-human rights political activist after feeling betrayed by the country he fought for.

The Terminal [2004]

"Life is waiting."

Director: Steven Spielberg
Writers: Andrew Niccol (story), Sacha Gervasi (story) 

Stars: Tom Hanks, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Chi McBride

Storyline

Viktor Navorski, a man from an Eastern European country arrives in New York. However after he left his country war broke out. Suddenly Navorski is a man without a country - or one that the U.S. cannot recognize, thus he is denied entrance to the U.S. However, he also can't be deported so he is told by the Security Manager that he has to remain in the airport until his status can be fixed. And also Navorski doesn't speak English very well, so he cannot talk to or understand anyone. But he somehow adapts and sets up residence in the airport, which makes the man who placed him there unhappy, as it seems he is in line for a promotion but Navroski's presence might complicate that. So he tries to get Navorski to leave but Navorski remains where he is. Navorski makes friends with some of the people who work in the airport and is attracted to a flight attendant he runs into whenever she comes in.

Forrest Gump [1994]

"Life is like a box of chocolates...you never know what you're gonna get."

Director: Robert Zemeckis
Writers: Winston Groom (novel), Eric Roth (screenplay) 

Stars: Tom Hanks, Robin Wright and Gary Sinise

Storyline

Forrest, Forrest Gump is a simple man with a low IQ but good intentions. He is running through childhood with his best and only friend Jenny. His 'mama' teaches him the ways of life and leaves him to choose his destiny. Forrest joins the army for service in Vietnam, finding new friends called Dan and Bubba, he wins medals, creates a famous shrimp fishing fleet, inspires people to jog, starts a ping-pong craze, create the smiley, write bumper stickers and songs, donating to people and meeting the president several times. However this is all irrelevant to Forrest who can only think of his childhood sweetheart Jenny. Who has messed up her life. Although in the end all he wants to prove is that anyone can love anyone.

Cast Away [2000]

"At the edge of the world, his journey begins."

Director: Robert Zemeckis
Writers: William Broyles Jr.

Stars: Tom Hanks, Helen Hunt and Paul Sanchez

Storyline

After FedEx systems engineer Chuck Noland is ripped out of his hasty life by the clock in a plane crash, he finds himself alone on the shores of a tropical island. First, frustration gets to him and then he realizes how little his chances are to ever get back to civilization. Four years later, Chuck has learned very well how to survive on his own: mending his dental health, catching fish with a spear, predicting the weather with a self-made calendar. A photograph of his girlfriend Kelly has kept his hopes alive all these years. Finally, Chuck takes the opportunity to take off for home: He sets off on a wooden raft with a sail that has washed ashore.

American Psycho [2000]

"Killer inside."

Director: Mary Harron
Writers: Bret Easton Ellis (novel), Mary Harron (screenplay)

Stars: Christian Bale, Justin Theroux and Josh Lucas

Storyline

Patrick Bateman, a young, well to do man working on wall street at his father's company kills for no reason at all. As his life progresses his hatred for the world becomes more and more intense.

American Beauty [1999]

"... look closer"

Director: Sam Mendes
Writers: Alan Ball

Stars: Kevin Spacey, Annette Bening and Thora Birch

Storyline

Lester and Carolyn Burnham are on the outside, a perfect husband and wife, in a perfect house, in a perfect neighborhood. But inside, Lester is slipping deeper and deeper into a hopeless depression. He finally snaps when he becomes infatuated with one of his daughter's friends. Meanwhile, his daughter Jane is developing a happy friendship with a shy boy-next-door named Ricky, who lives with a homophobic father.

Amélie [2001]

"She'll change your life."

Director: Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Writers:  Guillaume Laurant (scenario), Jean-Pierre Jeunet (scenario)
  Stars: Audrey Tautou, Mathieu Kassovitz and Rufus

Storyline

Amélie is a story about a girl named Amélie whose childhood was suppressed by her Father's mistaken concerns of a heart defect. With these concerns Amélie gets hardly any real life contact with other people. This leads Amélie to resort to her own fantastical world and dreams of love and beauty. She later on becomes a young woman and moves to the central part of Paris as a waitress. After finding a lost treasure belonging to the former occupant of her apartment, she decides to return it to him. After seeing his reaction and his new found perspective - she decides to devote her life to the people around her. Such as, her father who is obsessed with his garden-gnome, a failed writer, a hypochondriac, a man who stalks his ex girlfriends, the "ghost", a suppressed young soul, the love of her life and a man whose bones are as brittle as glass. But after consuming herself with these escapades...

A Beautiful Mind [2001]

"He Saw The World In A Way No One Could Have Imagined."

BASED ON A TRUE STORY

Director: Ron Howard
Writers:  Akiva Goldsman, Sylvia Nasar (book)

Stars: Russell Crowe, Ed Harris and Jennifer Connelly

Storyline

Biopic of the famed mathematician John Nash and his lifelong struggles with his mental health. Nash enrolled as a graduate student at Princeton in 1948 and almost immediately stood out as an odd duck. He devoted himself to finding something unique, a mathematical theorem that would be completely original. He kept to himself for the most part and while he went out for drinks with other students, he spends a lot of time with his roommate, Charles, who eventually becomes his best friend. John is soon a professor at MIT where he meets and eventually married a graduate student, Alicia. Over time however John begins to lose his grip on reality, eventually being institutionalized diagnosed with schizophrenia. As the depths of his imaginary world are revealed, Nash withdraws from society and it's not until the 1970s that he makes his first foray back into the world of academics, gradually returning to research and teaching. In 1994, John Nash was awarded the Nobel prize in Economics.

127 Hours [2010]

"There is no force more powerful than the will to live."

BASED ON A TRUE EVENTS

Director: Danny Boyle
Writers:  Danny Boyle (screenplay), Simon Beaufoy (screenplay)

Stars: James Franco, Amber Tamblyn and Kate Mara

Storyline

127 Hours is the true story of mountain climber Aron Ralston's remarkable adventure to save himself after a fallen boulder crashes on his arm and traps him in an isolated canyon in Utah. Over the next five days Ralston examines his life and survives the elements to finally discover he has the courage and the wherewithal to extricate himself by any means necessary, scale a 65 foot wall and hike over eight miles before he can be rescued. Throughout his journey, Ralston recalls friends, lovers, family, and the two hikers he met before his accident. Will they be the last two people he ever had the chance to meet?