[7] Tom Hardy stars as Michael Peterson, one of Britain’s most notorious prisoners, in this film from director Nicolas Winding Refn (Drive, Only God Forgives). The film starts in 1974 with Peterson’s attempt to rob a post office with a sawed-off shotgun. That stint begins his life behind bars where violent behavior prolongs his sentence. Thirteen years later, he’s released and gets into the world …
[6] Everest is the true story of a deadly 1996 expedition up Mount Everest in which two climbing parties suffered casualties after a fierce blizzard engulfed the mountain with little warning. The film is more of a dramatic biopic than a sensational survival flick, and while that’s normally a good thing, I do wish Everest were a little more suspenseful or exciting. The ensemble cast …
[7] 127 Hours is the true story of a man who accidentally slips into a rocky crevasse in the Arizona desert where he’s trapped for days and must resort to desperate measures in order to survive. After the first fifteen minutes and before the last ten, the film takes place almost entirely within the stone entrapment, where actor James Franco and director Danny Boyle (Sunshine, Slumdog Millionaire) keep …
[6] There’s no director I admire more than Peter Weir (Fearless, Mosquito Coast), even if his latest film left me a tad underwhelmed. The Way Back is about a group of men who escape a Russian labor camp during WWII and risk their lives through thousands of miles of wilderness to find their freedom in neighboring Mongolia. The cast includes Ed Harris and Colin Farrell, …
[5] Sidney Lumet (Network, Dog Day Afternoon) directs the true story of a New York cop seeking redemption for some corrupt deeds. The undercover cop, played by Treat Williams, reluctantly becomes an informant for a special investigatory committee, only to have the committee strong-arm him into ratting out his friends and fellow cops. Williams is all right in the role, but I feel that perhaps …
[8] Charlize Theron stars as Aileen Wuornos, the infamous Florida prostitute who became a serial killer, in this film chronicling her last few months of freedom before being captured and executed in 2002. Writer/director Patty Jenkins doesn’t shy away from Wuornos’ crimes, but aims to paint a more complex portrait of the woman who committed them. Monster introduces us to Wuornos as she’s contemplating suicide, …
[6] Bryan Singer and Christopher McQuarrie, The Usual Suspects director and screenwriter, reunite for this true story of German officers conspiring from behind Nazi lines to kill Hitler. Tom Cruise doesn’t quite disappear into the role of real-life renegade Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, but the stellar supporting cast includes Bill Nighy, Kenneth Branagh, Tom Wilkinson, Terence Stamp, and Eddie Izzard. The true story is a …
[7] Jack Black stars in this quirky comedy about a beloved Texan mortician who begins a relationship with one of the town’s wealthiest widows and becomes prime suspect in her murder. Writer/director Richard Linklater (Boyhood, Dazed and Confused) adapts from a true story and involves several real-life townspeople as supporting players in the cast. The documentary style of the film fits the story very well, …
[8] Score another point for Ben Affleck. I never much cared for him as an actor, but between this film and 2007’s Gone Baby Gone, the guy has shown us some serious directing chops. Argo is the true story of how the U.S. Government worked with Hollywood to rescue six Americans who escaped the U.S. Embassy during the 1980 Iranian hostage crisis. Affleck plays the …
[6] Cate Blanchett stars as the real-life Irish journalist who paid the ultimate price for exposing the burgeoning drug problem in mid-90s Dublin. Outraged after discovering children playing in streets littered with used needles, Veronica Guerin decided to bring the epidemic into the national limelight, risking the life and safety of not only herself but her family as well. Blanchett, always reliable, does a great …
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