T. E. Lawrence is a young maladjusted lieutenant in the British Army in North Africa during World War One. Unhappy with his current assignment coloring maps, he is ecstatic when he is offered a job as an observer in what is now Arabia. At this point, the story of his life becomes the stuff that legends are made of.
This film views the mob lives of three pivotal figures in the 1960's and 70's New York. Ray Liotta plays Henry Hill, a local boy turned gangster in a neighborhood full of the roughest and toughest. Joe Pesci plays Tommy Devito, a pure bred gangster, who turns out to be Henry's best friend. Robert De Niro plays Jimmy Conway, the man who puts the two of them together, and runs some of the biggest hijacks and burglaries the town has ever seen. After an extended jail sentence, Henry must sneak around the back of the local mob boss, Paulie Cicero, played by Paul Sorvino, to live the life of luxury he has always dreamed of. In the end, the friends end up in a hell of a jam, and must do anything they can to save each other, and stay alive.
One of the most accomplished piano players in Poland, Wladyslaw Szpilman becomes subject to the anti-Jewish laws imposed by the conquering Germans in the 1930s. At last deciding to escape, suffering the tragedy of his family deported to a death camp, Szpilman goes into hiding as a Jewish refugee where he is witness to the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in 1943 and the Warsaw City Revolt in August/October 1944.
When Jake LaMotta steps into a boxing ring and obliterates his opponent, he's a prizefighter. But when he treats his family and friends the same way, he's a ticking time bomb, ready to go off at any moment. Though LaMotta wants his family's love, something always seems to come between them. Perhaps it's his violent bouts of paranoia and jealousy. This kind of rage helped make him a champ, but in real life, he winds up in the ring alone.
The movie begins in the small town of Elerslie, Scotland. William lives with his father, who is not named in the film, and his older brother Malcolm. William's father and older brother are called to a meeting a few miles from their home where they find the entire nobility of Scotland hanging. Malcolm and his father then go to a battle between the British and their clan, both die tragically. At the funeral William meets his uncle Argyle who fought in the battle with Malcolm and his father. He takes him away to live with him. The scene then cuts to an adult William on his horse. William later runs into a girl he knew before he went to live with Argyle, her name, Murron, we discover that Lords have the right to sleep with brides on their wedding night, so William marries Murron in secret. Murron is the assaulted by a British guard, the guard is killed by William, a fight ensues, and eventually Murron is killed by the lord. This enrages Wallace who then build himself a fine army entering city's and killing all Englishman within. Wallace prepares to move on to Sterling where he prepared for his greatest battle yet, in the forest he realises that he must find a way to beat the heavy cavalry from the ground, he decided to create spears twice as long as men. These were used in the battle to kill the entire heavy cavalry raised at the last minute to kill the on coming horses. Eventually Wallace reaches York, the most important military city he gains control. Williams final battle at Falkirk ends in his betrayal by two nobles, whom he later kills. William is betrayed by the leper father of Robert the Bruce, is captured and refuses to bow down as a loyal subject of the king Edward I, Longshanks. Therefore, instead of mere beheading William Wallace is subject to being Hung, hung within an inch of death. Drawn, being stretched by his ankles and wrists and then having his insides shown to him before he died. Then Quartered, he was beheaded and his head was put on the London Bridge his body was torn into for pieces one sent to each corner of Britain as a warning to the citizens. After Wallace's death we see Robert the Bruce led the battle of Bannockburn the last battle for Scotland's freedom.
This fact-based drama concerns Christopher McCandless (Emile Hirsch), a bright 22-year-old man with a promising future. But shortly after graduating from Atlanta's Emory University, the freedom-loving adventure seeker decides to give up his privileged life and go to live in the wilderness. He donates his $24,000 savings account to charity, changes his name to Alexander Supertramp and hitchhikes to Alaska, wearing only a thin coat and having neither compass nor map. Four months later, the man is found dead...
Elle France editor Jean-Dominique Bauby, who, in 1995 at the age of 43, suffered a stroke that paralyzed his entire body, except his left eye. Using that eye to blink out his memoir, Bauby eloquently described the aspects of his interior world, from the psychological torment of being trapped inside his body to his imagined stories from lands he'd only visited in his mind.
A biographic film. Based on the memoir Touching From A Distance by Deborah Curtis, Control is a cinematographic story telling us of the Joy Division band and its leader Ian Curtis (Sam Riley). It is also a skillfully and beautifully featured film about ravaging effects of love, fame and repentance, and the salvation we turn to art for. Formed as a rock band in 1976 in salford, Greater Manchester, originally named Warsaw, Joy Division quickly went off their initial punk rock influences and created a sound and style that shaped the tendencies of the post-punk movement of the late 1970s. Control, however, is virtually about Curtis’s difficult relationships with his wife Deborah (Samantha Morton) and the way his personal pain, epileptic sufferings, guilt and depression got manifested through Joy Division’s music. Playing all the instruments themselves, the actors must be given credit.
When 'Mahatma Gandhi' (qv) first set foot in British India, he had already been to Britain and South Africa, and had created quite a stir for the betterment of the people. But in India, he realized that he had first to live the life of a peasant to understand what it is to be an Indian. This resolve will lead him to shed his westerners clothing, and don a simple loincloth, be subjected to racial slurs from none other than Winston Churchill (Half naked Indian Fakir); Mobilize awareness of local industry and less dependence on imported clothing and material; the historic dandee march for withdrawal of the salt tax; a fast unto death to stop the virtual slaughter of British troops by irate Indian mobs; and be imprisoned several times. His resolve was to work with stalwarts such as Mohammed Ali Jinnah, Sardar Valabhbhai Patel, Professor Gokhale, J.B. Kripalani, Maulana Azad, and Pandit Jawarharlal Nehru to ensure first of all to get the British to quit India, and then run an Indian Government under the Congress party. Gandhi will soon realize that it is not enough to be just an Indian, for India has many facets - Muslim, Hindu, Sikh, Jewish, and Christian. The British relied on these many facets as an excuse for their continuance as they wanted to ensure that the minorities are not oppressed by the Hindu majority. Concerned over the inroads made by Gandhi to unite the Hindus, Muslims, and all others under a common umbrella, the British invited Jinnah for talks, and it is here that a seed was laid for a separate country called Pakistan. When Gandhi came to know about this, he pleaded with Jinnah to unite the Muslims, even take over as the first Prime Minister with his choice of Muslim candidates for Parliament, but separatist Jinnah had already made his mind. The World Wars of 1914 and 1944 having taken it's toll on Europe and Britain in particular, the weary British finally decided to leave India in 1947 - not the India they had conquered - but an India that was ready to be divided in East Pakistan and West Pakistan. Now after the much awaited independence was the real test for Gandhi - a test that will make him or break him - as he started a fast unto death to try and stop the violence that was threatening to break out into a civil war, not realizing that he had indirectly fanned Hindu extremism, which would later be called the Shiv Sena, into taking the matter directly in their hands to ensure that Muslims are kept out of their Hindustan forever.
A biopic of the life and work of the legendary 'worst director of all time', Edward D.Wood, Jr., concentrating on the best-known period of his life in the 1950s, when he made 'Glen or Glenda', 'Bride of the Monster' and 'Plan 9 From Outer Space', and focusing on both his transvestism and his touching friendship with the once great but now ageing and unemployed horror star Bela Lugosi.
Six incarnations of Bob Dylan: an actor, a folk singer, an electrified troubadour, Rimbaud, Billy the Kid, and Woody Guthrie. Put Dylan's music behind their adventures, soliloquies, interviews, marriage, and infidelity. Recreate 1960s documentaries in black and white. Put each at a crossroads, the artist becoming someone else. Jack, the son of Ramblin' Jack Elliott, finds Jesus; handsome Robbie falls in love then abandons Claire. Woody, a lad escaped from foster care, hobos the U.S. singing; Billy awakes in a valley threatened by a six-lane highway; Rimbaud talks. Jude, booed at Newport when he goes electric, fences with reporters, pundits, and fans. He won't be classified.
Butch and Sundance are the two leaders of the Hole-in-the-Wall Gang. Butch is all ideas, Sundance is all action and skill. The west is becoming civilized and when Butch and Sundance rob a train once too often, a special posse begins trailing them no matter where they run. Over rock, through towns, across rivers, the group is always just behind them. When they finally escape through sheer luck, Butch has another idea, "Let's go to Bolivia". Based on the exploits of the historical characters.
The charming dramedy follows the life of legendary New Zealander Burt Munro (Anthony Hopkins) who spent years improving and modifying his beloved 1920 Indian Scout motorcycle. He travelled all over the world on his bike and eventually made his dream come true. During the 1967 famous race held at Utah's Bonneville Salt Flats, he set a world speed record of 190.07 mph, which has not been broken yet.
The biopic depicts the life of Johnny Cash (Joaquin Phoenix), a legendary country and rock-and-roll singer-songwriter. The early years of his life were saddened by his elder brother's tragic death and his father's scornful attitude towards him (his dad considered Cash to be a bad son). The soon-to-be musician served in the United States Air Force in Germany. After his discharge Cash married his sweetheart, Vivian Liberto (Ginnifer Goodwin), who gave birth to four daughters. But their marriage was not without shadows as he neglected his family duties and devoted all his time and energy mainly to playing the guitar and singing along with his two close friends. At the age of 23, he released his first hit "Cry Cry Cry" and soon went on a tour of the USA, along with Jerry Lee Lewis (Waylon Payne), Elvis Presley (Tyler Hilton) and June Carter (Reese Witherspoon). He adored June and her songs since he was a kid. When their paths crossed, he came to realize that June was a woman of his dreams. He had been trying to win her hand for several years. The critical moments in his life were accompanied by his addiction to amphetamine and alcohol. In 1968, Cash and Carter got married and lived together long and happily till death did them part.
In the North American Great Depression, the former successful boxer James Braddock loses all his possessions and savings with the crash of the stock market. His beloved wife Mae Braddock and their three children survive to starvation and lack of heating and the daily difficulties supported by their love. In 1934, when Jim's couch and manager Joe Gould offers to him a chance to return to boxing, he becomes the symbol of hope of hopeless people in a ruined nation.
Adrift in the Depression-era Southwest, 'Clyde Barrow' (qv) and 'Bonnie Parker (II)' (qv) embark on a life of crime. They mean no harm. They crave adventure — and each other. Soon we start to love them too. But nothing in film history has prepared us for the cascading violence to follow. Bonnie and Clyde turns brutal. We learn they can be hurt — and dread they can be killed.
Safecracker Henri Charriere (Steve McQueen), also known as Papillon ("butterfly"), is wrongly convicted of murder and sentenced to life in a French penal colony on Devil's Island whose name speaks for itself. He keeps his mind on an escape. Papillon befriends his cell-mate Louis Dega (Dustin Hoffman), a counterfeiter, who agrees to join forces to escape from the prison. But they are captured and incarcerated in solitary confinement. Papillon makes numerous escape attempts which are foiled every moment either by an informant or by force majeure. Despite the consequent recapture and even more horrible conditions, Papillon tries not to lose heart and continues his attempts to gain freedom.
As an inmate at Leavenworth prison, Robert Stroud has a series of confrontations with the guards and with the other convicts. When Stroud kills a guard, he is sentenced to be executed, and only his mother's impassioned intervention gets his sentence commuted to life imprisonment, which he must serve in solitary confinement. As he serves out his sentence in boredom and despair, one day he finds a helpless baby sparrow in the exercise yard. Stroud soon takes a deep interest in caring for birds, which gives him a new purpose in life, but which also brings new conflicts with prison authorities.
Based on Ron Hansen's novel, this action-packed western drama tells the story of Robert Ford (Casey Affleck), a seemingly insecure and quiet young man who has grown up worshiping America's most notorious outlaw, Jesse James (Brad Pitt). In 1881, he finds James and his older brother Frank (Sam Shepard) in Missouri and joins their gang for a final train robbery. One day the ambitious yet cowardly cowboy wants the fame that Jesse James gets and ventures to murder his idol.
He was the Lord of Ten Thousand Years, the absolute monarch of China. He was born to rule a world of ancient tradition. Nothing prepared him for our world of change.
A biography of Aisin-Gioro "Henry" Pu Yi, who at the age of three was named the Emperor of China, and dies as a gardener at the Botanical Gardens of Peking. Told in an interesting flashback/flashforward style, we learn of Pu Yi's childhood, the time he spent imprisoned in the Forbidden City, his term as the emperor of Japans Manchuguo, and his eventual release back to public life in 1959.
