Posts Tagged ‘based-on-true-story’

Bronx Tale, A (1993)

Monday, September 29th, 2008
Genres: Crime | Drama
Countries: USA
Actors: De Niro, Robert | Palminteri, Chazz | Brancato, Lillo | Capra, Francis | Hicks, Taral | Narducci, Kathrine | Caserta, Clem | Sauchelli Jr., Alfred | Pietrangolare, Frank | Pesci, Joe | D'Andrea, Robert | Montanaro, Eddie | Fischer, Fred | Salerno, Dave | D'Onofrio, Joe
Directors:
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Gangster Sonny is the big man in Calogero’s Bronx neighborhood. A shooting witnessed by Calogero is the starting point of a lasting bond between the gangster and the small boy. Father (bus driver Lorenzo), however, disap- proves. Calogero grows up under the wings of both men, torn between his own natural honesty and his fascination with Sonny. C’s neighborhood cronies get involved in theft, use of guns, racial fights. When C meets girl, things don’t become easier. C’s leap to manhood is marked by tragedy, but also by his recognition of the many faces of love.

Untouchables, The (1987)

Friday, September 26th, 2008
Genres: Crime | Drama | History | Thriller
Countries: USA
Actors: Costner, Kevin | Connery, Sean | Smith, Charles Martin | Garcia, Andy | De Niro, Robert | Bradford, Richard | Kehoe, Jack | Sullivan, Brad | Drago, Billy | Clarkson, Patricia | D'Ambrosio, Vito | Goldstein, Steven | Aylward, Peter | Harvey, Don | Swan, Robert
Directors: De Palma, Brian
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Federal agent Elliot Ness assembles a personal team of mob fighters to bring Chicago crime boss Al Capone to justice using unconventional means during the mob wars of the 1920s. This fictionalized account of the arrest of Al Capone is heavy on style and gunfire. The end shootout combines a baby carriage and stairs with a nod to Eisenstein’s _The Battleship Potemkin_.

Rohtenburg (2006)

Wednesday, September 17th, 2008
Genres: Crime | Drama | Horror | Thriller
Countries: Germany
Actors: Russell, Keri | Kretschmann, Thomas | Huber, Thomas | Meissner, Rainier | Bartsch, Angelika | Martschewski, Alexander | Dommning, Nils | Lucas, Marcus | Andres, Pascal | Gebelhoff, Stefan | Gruber, Jonas | Heyn, Bojan | Kinski, Nikolai | Reimers, Jörg | Reissig, André
Directors: Weisz, Martin
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In Germany, as graduate student Katie Armstrong researches cannibal killer Oliver Hagen for her thesis, she becomes obsessed with her subject and ultimately plunges into a lifestyle similar to Hagen’s and the thousands of people like him.

Dead Poets Society (1989)

Thursday, August 28th, 2008
Genres: Drama
Countries: USA
Actors: Williams, Robin | Leonard, Robert Sean | Hawke, Ethan | Charles, Josh | Hansen, Gale | Kussman, Dylan | Ruggiero, Allelon | Waterston, James | Lloyd, Norman | Smith, Kurtwood | Belver, Carla | Pownall, Leon | Martin, George | Aufiery, Joe | Carey, Matt
Directors: Weir, Peter
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Painfully shy Todd Anderson has been sent to the school where his popular older brother was valedictorian. His room-mate, Neil, although exceedingly bright and popular, is very much under the thumb of his overbearing father. The two, along with their other friends, meet Professor Keating, their new English teacher, who tells them of the Dead Poets Society, and encourages them to go against the status quo. Each, in their own way, does this, and are changed for life.

Dog Day Afternoon (1975)

Tuesday, July 15th, 2008
Genres: Crime | Drama | Thriller
Countries: USA
Actors: Pacino, Al | Cazale, John | Durning, Charles | Sarandon, Chris | Boyar, Sully | Broderick, James | Marriott, John | Springer, Gary | Henriksen, Lance | Chianese, Dominic | Levine, Floyd | Foresta, Carmine | Bogert, William | Cummins, Ron | Gerber, Jay
Directors:
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Based upon a real-life story that happened in the early seventies in which the Chase Manhattan Bank in Flatbush, Brooklyn, was held siege by a gay bank robber determined to steal enough money for his male lover to undergo a sex change operation. On a hot summer afternoon, the First Savings Bank of Brooklyn is held up by Sonny and Sal, two down-and-out characters. Although the bank manager and female tellers agree not to interfere with the robbery, Sonny finds that there’s actually nothing much to steal, as most of the cash has been picked up for the day. Sonny then gets an unexpected phone call from Police Captain Moretti, who tells him the place is surrounded by the city’s entire police force. Having few options under the circumstances, Sonny nervously bargains with Moretti, demanding safe escort to the airport and a plane out of the country in return for the bank employees’ safety.

Bat*21 (1988)

Friday, July 4th, 2008
Genres: Drama | War
Countries: USA
Actors: Hackman, Gene | Glover, Danny | Reed, Jerry | Grant, David Marshall | Rohner, Clayton | Anderson, Erich | Dorsey, Joe | Ng, Reverend Michael | Woei-Shyong, Theodore Chan | Ruffin, Don | Howell, Scott | Raden, Michael | Fitzgerald, Timothy | Hagen, Stuart B. | Baxter, Jeffrey
Directors:
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During the Vietnam war, a U.S. observation plane is hit by a missile. The only survivor of the crew is the Lieutenant Colonel Iceal Hambleton, an expert in missile weaponry. Because of his knowledge, it is crucial to rescue him before the Vietcong get their hands on him. It’s a very difficult task because the enemy is listening to Hambleton’s radio transmissions. And he knows it…

Tyson (1995)

Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008
Genres: Biography | Drama | Sport
Countries: USA
Actors: George C. Scott | Winfield, Paul | White, Michael Jai | Sikking, James | Warner, Malcolm-Jamal | Lo Bianco, Tony | Gregg, Clark | McCallany, Holt | Hanley, Regal | Murdock, George | Andrew, Mane | Bridges, Jimmy | Callender, Richard | Callie, Dayton | Campisi, Tony
Directors:
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The story of Mike Tyson. Form his early days as a 12 year old amateur with a powerful punch, to the undisputed title of “Heavyweight Champion of the World”, and ultimately to his conviction for rape. The story of his turbulant life moves quickly, never focussing for long on anything in particular.

21 (2008)

Monday, June 9th, 2008
Genres: Drama
Countries: USA
Actors: Sturgess, Jim | Spacey, Kevin | Yoo, Aaron | Pitts, Jacob | Fishburne, Laurence | McGee, Jack | Gad, Josh | Golzari, Sam | Gilpin, Jack | Williams, Butch | Ma, Jeffrey | Patton, Frank | Vezina, Steven Richard | Werner, Chaska T. | Morris, Kyle
Directors:
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Ben Campbell is a young, highly intelligent, student at M.I.T. in Boston who strives to succeed. Wanting a scholarship to transfer to Harvard School of Medicine with the desire to become a doctor, Ben learns that he cannot afford the $300,000 for the four to five years of school since he comes from a poor, working-class background. But one evening, Ben is introduced by his unorthodox math professor Micky Rosa into a small but secretive club of five students, Jill, Choi, Kianna, and Jimmy whom are being trained by Professor Rosa of the skill of card counting at blackjack. Intriged by the desire to make money, Ben joins his new friends on secret weekend trips to Las Vegas where, using their skills of code talk and hand signals, they have Ben make hundreds of thousands of dollars in winning blackjack at casino after casino. Ben only wants to make enough money for the tuition to Harvard and then back out. But as fellow card counter, Jill Taylor, predicts, Ben becomes corrupted by greed and his arrogance at winning which lets his feelings get in the way, and it also puts Professor Rosa, as well as the group, on the radar of a brutal casino security enforcer, named Cole Williams, who holds a personal grudge of some kind against Rosa which threatens to undo everything the students have learned and earned.

Summer of Sam (1999)

Monday, June 9th, 2008
Genres: Crime | Drama | Romance | Thriller
Countries: USA
Actors: Leguizamo, John | Brody, Adrien | Sorvino, Mira | Esposito, Jennifer | Rispoli, Michael | Guerra, Saverio | Tarantina, Brian | Palagonia, Al | Garito, Ken | Neuwirth, Bebe | LuPone, Patti | Starr, Mike | LaPaglia, Anthony | Smith, Roger Guenveur | Gazzara, Ben
Directors: Lee, Spike
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Spike Lee’s take on the “Son of Sam” murders in New York City during the summer of 1977 centering on the residents of an Italian-American South Bronx neighborhood who live in fear and distrust of one another.

Basketball Diaries, The (1995)

Wednesday, June 4th, 2008
Genres: Biography | Crime | Drama | Sport
Countries: USA
Actors: DiCaprio, Leonardo | Bracco, Lorraine | Sokol, Marilyn | Madio, James | McGaw, Patrick | Wahlberg, Mark | Cooper, Roy | Kirby, Bruno | Papiris, Jimmy | Gaetani, Nick | Chaplin, Alexander | Jorgensen, Ben | Mostel, Josh | Lewis, Juliette | Imperioli, Michael
Directors: Kalvert, Scott
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Film adaptation of street tough Jim Carroll’s epistle about his kaleidoscopic free fall into the harrowing world of drug addiction. As a member of a seemingly unbeatable high school basketball squad, Jim’s life centers around the basketball court and the court becomes a metaphor for the world in his mind. A best friend who is dying of leukemia, a coach (”Swifty”) who takes unacceptable liberties with the boys on his team, teenage sexual angst, and an unhealthy appetite for heroin — all of these begin to encroach on young Jim’s dream of becoming a basketball star. Soon, the dark streets of New York become a refuge from his mother’s mounting concern for her son. He can’t go home and his only escape from the reality of the streets is heroin for which he steals, robs and prostitutes himself. Only with the help of Reggie, an older neighborhood friend with whom Jim “picked up a game” now and then, is he able to begin the long journey back to sanity.