true storys with great meanings
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1.
Milk
(2008)
The story of Harvey Milk, and his struggles as an American gay activist who fought for gay rights and became California's first openly gay elected official. (128 mins.)
Director: Gus Van Sant
2.
Zulu
(2013)
Policemen Ali Sokhela and Brian Epkeen investigate the brutal murder of a young white woman, apparently provoked by the availability of a new illegal drug and somehow connected to the disappearance of black street children. (110 mins.)
Director: Jérôme Salle
3.
12 Years a Slave
(2013)
In the antebellum United States, Solomon Northup, a free black man from upstate New York, is abducted and sold into slavery. (134 mins.)
Director: Steve McQueen
4.
The Wolf of Wall Street
(2013)
Based on the true story of Jordan Belfort, from his rise to a wealthy stock-broker living the high life to his fall involving crime, corruption and the federal government. (180 mins.)
Director: Martin Scorsese
5.
Pain & Gain
(2013)
A trio of bodybuilders in Florida get caught up in an extortion ring and a kidnapping scheme that goes terribly wrong. (129 mins.)
Director: Michael Bay
7.
Philadelphia
(1993)
When a man with AIDS is fired by his law firm because of his condition, he hires a homophobic small time lawyer as the only willing advocate for a wrongful dismissal suit. (125 mins.)
Director: Jonathan Demme
8.
The Devil's Double
(2011)
A chilling vision of the House of Saddam Hussein comes to life through the eyes of the man who was forced to become the double of Hussein's sadistic son. (109 mins.)
Director: Lee Tamahori
9.
City of God
(2002)
Two boys growing up in a violent neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro take different paths: one becomes a photographer, the other a drug dealer. (130 mins.)
Director: Fernando Meirelles, Kátia Lund
10.
Paid in Full
(2002)
A young man from Harlem, forced to cope with the 1980s drug scene, builds an illegal empire, only to have a crisis of conscience. (97 mins.)
Director: Charles Stone III
11.
Monster
(2003)
Based on the life of Aileen Wuornos, a Daytona Beach prostitute who became a serial killer. (109 mins.)
Director: Patty Jenkins
12.
Chopper
(2000)
Chopper tells the intense story of Mark "Chopper" Read, a legendary criminal who wrote his autobiography while serving a jail sentence in prison. His book, "From the Inside", upon which the film is based, was a best-seller. (94 mins.)
Director: Andrew Dominik
13.
Bronson
(2008)
A young man who was sentenced to seven years in prison for robbing a post office ends up spending three decades in solitary confinement. During this time, his own personality is supplanted by his alter-ego, Charles Bronson. (92 mins.)
Director: Nicolas Winding Refn
14.
All the President's Men
(1976)
Reporters Woodward and Bernstein uncover the details of the Watergate scandal that leads to President Nixon's resignation. (138 mins.)
Director: Alan J. Pakula
15.
Born on the Fourth of July
(1989)
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. (145 mins.)
Director: Oliver Stone
16.
Goodfellas
(1990)
Henry Hill and his friends work their way up through the mob hierarchy. (146 mins.)
Director: Martin Scorsese
17.
Schindler's List
(1993)
In Poland during World War II, Oskar Schindler gradually becomes concerned for his Jewish workforce after witnessing their persecution by the Nazis. (195 mins.)
Director: Steven Spielberg
18.
Apollo 13
(1995)
NASA must devise a strategy to return Apollo 13 to Earth safely after the spacecraft undergoes massive internal damage putting the lives of the three astronauts on board in jeopardy. (140 mins.)
Director: Ron Howard
19.
The Insider
(1999)
A research chemist comes under personal and professional attack when he decides to appear in a "60 Minutes" expose on Big Tobacco. (157 mins.)
Director: Michael Mann
20.
American Gangster
(2007)
In 1970s America, a detective works to bring down the drug empire of Frank Lucas, a heroin kingpin from Manhattan, who is smuggling the drug into the country from the Far East. (157 mins.)
Director: Ridley Scott
21.
The Untouchables
(1987)
Federal Agent Eliot Ness sets out to stop Al Capone; because of rampant corruption, he assembles a small, hand-picked team. (119 mins.)
Director: Brian De Palma
22.
The Pianist
(2002)
A Polish Jewish musician struggles to survive the destruction of the Warsaw ghetto of World War II. (150 mins.)
Director: Roman Polanski
23.
Hotel Rwanda
(2004)
The true story of Paul Rusesabagina, a hotel manager who housed over a thousand Tutsi refugees during their struggle against the Hutu militia in Rwanda. (121 mins.)
Director: Terry George
24.
Into the Wild
(2007)
After graduating from Emory University, top student and athlete Christopher McCandless abandons his possessions, gives his entire $24,000 savings account to charity and hitchhikes to Alaska to live in the wilderness. Along the way, Christopher encounters a series of characters that shape his life. (148 mins.)
Director: Sean Penn
25.
United 93
(2006)
A real time account of the events on United Flight 93, one of the planes hijacked on 9/11 that crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania when passengers foiled the terrorist plot. (111 mins.)
Director: Paul Greengrass
26.
Blow
(2001)
The story of George Jung, the man who established the American cocaine market in the 1970s. (124 mins.)
Director: Ted Demme
27.
Mr. Nice
(2010)
The life story of Howard Marks, an elite British drug smuggler. (121 mins.)
Director: Bernard Rose
28.
Raging Bull
(1980)
An emotionally self-destructive boxer's journey through life, as the violence and temper that leads him to the top in the ring, destroys his life outside it. (129 mins.)
Director: Martin Scorsese
29.
Catch Me If You Can
(2002)
A true story about Frank Abagnale Jr., who, before his 19th birthday, successfully conned millions of dollars' worth of checks as a Pan Am pilot, doctor, and legal prosecutor. (141 mins.)
Director: Steven Spielberg
30.
The Social Network
(2010)
Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg creates the social networking site that would become known as Facebook, but is later sued by two brothers who claimed he stole their idea, and the cofounder who was later squeezed out of the business. (120 mins.)
Director: David Fincher
31.
The Elephant Man
(1980)
A Victorian surgeon rescues a heavily disfigured man who is mistreated while scraping a living as a side-show freak. Behind his monstrous facade, there is revealed a person of intelligence and sensitivity. (124 mins.)
Director: David Lynch
32.
The Fighter
(2010)
A look at the early years of boxer "Irish" Micky Ward and his brother who helped train him before going pro in the mid 1980s. (116 mins.)
Director: David O. Russell
33.
Midnight Express
(1978)
The true story of Billy Hayes, an American college student who is caught smuggling drugs out of Turkey and thrown into prison. (121 mins.)
Director: Alan Parker
34.
Malcolm X
(1992)
Biographical epic of the controversial and influential Black Nationalist leader, from his early life and career as a small-time gangster, to his ministry as a member of the Nation of Islam. (202 mins.)
Director: Spike Lee
35.
Lincoln
(2012)
As the Civil War continues to rage, America's president struggles with continuing carnage on the battlefield as he fights with many inside his own cabinet on the decision to emancipate the slaves. (150 mins.)
Director: Steven Spielberg
36.
Donnie Brasco
(1997)
An FBI undercover agent infiltrates the mob and finds himself identifying more with the mafia life, at the expense of his regular one. (127 mins.)
Director: Mike Newell
37.
Gandhi
(1982)
The life of the lawyer who became the famed leader of the Indian revolts against the British rule through his philosophy of nonviolent protest. (191 mins.)
Director: Richard Attenborough
38.
Jamesy Boy
(2014)
A young gang member turns his life around in prison, thanks to the friendship he forms with a convicted murderer who becomes his mentor. (109 mins.)
Director: Trevor White
39.
Zodiac
(2007)
A San Francisco cartoonist becomes an amateur detective obsessed with tracking down the Zodiac killer. (157 mins.)
Director: David Fincher
40.
Ip Man
(2008)
A semi-biographical account of Yip Man, the successful martial arts master who taught the Chinese martial art of Wing Chun to the world. (106 mins.)
Director: Wilson Yip
41.
Hunger
(2008)
Irish republican Bobby Sands leads the inmates of a Northern Irish prison in a hunger strike. (96 mins.)
Director: Steve McQueen
42.
The General
(1998)
The real-life story of Dublin folk hero and criminal Martin Cahill, who pulled off two daring robberies in Ireland with his team, but attracted unwanted attention from the police, the IRA, the UVF and members of his own team. (124 mins.)
Director: John Boorman
43.
Rise of the Footsoldier
(2007)
Rise of the Footsoldier follows the inexorable rise of Carlton Leach from one of the most feared generals... (119 mins.)
Director: Julian Gilbey
44.
Cass
(2008)
An orphaned Jamaican baby is adopted by an elderly white couple and brought up in an all white area of London and becomes one of the most feared and respected men in Britain. Based on a true story. (108 mins.)
Director: Jon S. Baird
45.
McVicar
(1980)
'John McVicar' was a London Bad Boy. he graduated to armed bank robbery and was Britain's "Public Enemy No... (112 mins.)
Director: Tom Clegg
46.
The Krays
(1990)
This fact-based movie follows the life of the twin crime-lords in London's '60s underworld. (119 mins.)
Director: Peter Medak
47.
Birdman of Alcatraz
(1962)
A surly convicted murderer held in permanent isolation redeems himself when he becomes a renowned bird expert. (147 mins.)
Director: John Frankenheimer
48.
The Last King of Scotland
(2006)
Based on the events of the brutal Ugandan dictator Idi Amin's regime as seen by his personal physician during the 1970s (121 mins.)
Director: Kevin Macdonald
49.
The Basketball Diaries
(1995)
Film adaptation of street tough Jim Carroll's epistle about his kaleidoscopic free fall into the harrowing world of drug addiction... (102 mins.)
Director: Scott Kalvert
50.
The Pursuit of Happyness
(2006)
A struggling salesman takes custody of his son as he's poised to begin a life-changing professional endeavor. (117 mins.)
Director: Gabriele Muccino
51.
Elizabeth
(1998)
A film of the early years of the reign of Elizabeth I of England and her difficult task of learning what is necessary to be a monarch. (124 mins.)
Director: Shekhar Kapur
52.
Z
(1969)
Following the murder of a prominent leftist, an investigator tries to uncover the truth while government officials attempt to cover up their roles. (127 mins.)
Director: Costa-Gavras
53.
Ali
(2001)
A biography of sports legend, Muhammad Ali, from his early days to his days in the ring. (157 mins.)
Director: Michael Mann
54.
Ray
(2004)
The story of the life and career of the legendary rhythm and blues musician Ray Charles, from his humble beginnings in the South, where he went blind at age seven, to his meteoric rise to stardom during the 1950s and 1960s. (152 mins.)
Director: Taylor Hackford
55.
The Soloist
(2009)
A Los Angeles journalist befriends a homeless Juilliard-trained musician, while looking for a new article for the paper. (117 mins.)
Director: Joe Wright
56.
Napoleon
(1927)
A film about the French Field Marshal's youth and early military career. (240 mins.)
Director: Abel Gance
57.
Dallas Buyers Club
(2013)
In 1985 Dallas, electrician and hustler Ron Woodroof works around the system to help AIDS patients get the medication they need after he is diagnosed with the disease. (117 mins.)
Director: Jean-Marc Vallée
59.
Argo
(2012)
Acting under the cover of a Hollywood producer scouting a location for a science fiction film, a CIA agent launches a dangerous operation to rescue six Americans in Tehran during the U.S. hostage crisis in Iran in 1980. (120 mins.)
Director: Ben Affleck
60.
A Beautiful Mind
(2001)
After a brilliant but asocial mathematician, [link=nm1171285], accepts secret work in cryptography, his life takes a turn for the nightmarish. (135 mins.)
Director: Ron Howard
61.
Public Enemies
(2009)
The Feds try to take down notorious American gangsters John Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson and Pretty Boy Floyd during a booming crime wave in the 1930s. (140 mins.)
Director: Michael Mann
62.
Remember the Titans
(2000)
The true story of a newly appointed African-American coach and his high school team on their first season as a racially integrated unit. (113 mins.)
Director: Boaz Yakin
63.
Fruitvale Station
(2013)
The story of Oscar Grant III, a 22-year-old Bay Area resident, who crosses paths with friends, enemies, family, and strangers on the last day of 2008. (85 mins.)
Director: Ryan Coogler
64.
Walk the Line
(2005)
A chronicle of country music legend Johnny Cash's life, from his early days on an Arkansas cotton farm to his rise to fame with Sun Records in Memphis, where he recorded alongside Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins. (136 mins.)
Director: James Mangold
65.
Cinderella Man
(2005)
The story of James Braddock, a supposedly washed-up boxer who came back to become a champion and an inspiration in the 1930s. (144 mins.)
Director: Ron Howard
66.
Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom
(2013)
A chronicle of Nelson Mandela's life journey from his childhood in a rural village through to his inauguration as the first democratically elected president of South Africa. (141 mins.)
Director: Justin Chadwick
67.
J. Edgar
(2011)
J. Edgar Hoover, powerful head of the F.B.I. for nearly 50 years, looks back on his professional and personal life. (137 mins.)
Director: Clint Eastwood
68.
Capote
(2005)
In 1959, Truman Capote learns of the murder of a Kansas family and decides to write a book about the case. While researching for his novel In Cold Blood, Capote forms a relationship with one of the killers, Perry Smith, who is on death row. (114 mins.)
Director: Bennett Miller
69.
Hitchcock
(2012)
A love story between the influential filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock and his wife Alma Reville during the filming of Psycho in 1959. (98 mins.)
Director: Sacha Gervasi
70.
Lawrence of Arabia
(1962)
Follows a brilliant, flamboyant and controversial British military figure and his conflicted loyalties during wartime service. (216 mins.)
Director: David Lean
71.
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
(1969)
Two Western bank/train robbers flee to Bolivia when the law gets too close. (110 mins.)
Director: George Roy Hill
72.
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
(2007)
Robert Ford, who's idolized Jesse James since childhood, tries hard to join the reforming gang of the Missouri outlaw, but gradually becomes resentful of the bandit leader. (160 mins.)
Director: Andrew Dominik
73.
Invictus
(2009)
Nelson Mandela, in his first term as the South African President, initiates a unique venture to unite the apartheid-torn land: enlist the national rugby team on a mission to win the 1995 Rugby World Cup. (134 mins.)
Director: Clint Eastwood
74.
Boys Don't Cry
(1999)
Female born, Teena Brandon adopts his male identity of Brandon Teena and attempts to find himself and love in Nebraska. (118 mins.)
Director: Kimberly Peirce
75.
The Damned United
(2009)
A look at Brian Clough's 44-day reign as the coach of Leeds United. (98 mins.)
Director: Tom Hooper
76.
Machine Gun Preacher
(2011)
Sam Childers is a former drug-dealing biker tough guy who found God and became a crusader for hundreds of Sudanese children who've been forced to become soldiers. (129 mins.)
Director: Marc Forster
77.
This Boy's Life
(1993)
The story about the relationship between a rebellious 50s teenager and his abusive father, based on the memoirs of writer and literature professor Tobias Wolff. (115 mins.)
Director: Michael Caton-Jones
78.
The Whistleblower
(2010)
A drama based on the experiences of Kathryn Bolkovac, a Nebraska cop who served as a peacekeeper in post-war Bosnia and outed the U.N. for covering up a sex scandal. (112 mins.)
Director: Larysa Kondracki
79.
Men of Honor
(2000)
The story of Carl Brashear, the first African American, then also the first amputee, US Navy Diver and the man who trained him. (129 mins.)
Director: George Tillman Jr.
80.
The Last Emperor
(1987)
The story of the final Emperor of China. (163 mins.)
Director: Bernardo Bertolucci
81.
Man on the Moon
(1999)
The life and career of a legendary comedian, Andy Kaufman. (118 mins.)
Director: Milos Forman
82.
Control
(2007)
A profile of Ian Curtis, the enigmatic singer of Joy Division whose personal, professional, and romantic troubles led him to commit suicide at the age of 23. (122 mins.)
Director: Anton Corbijn
83.
A Man for All Seasons
(1966)
The story of Thomas More, who stood up to King Henry VIII when the King rejected the Roman Catholic Church to obtain a divorce and remarriage. (120 mins.)
Director: Fred Zinnemann
84.
The Hurricane
(1999)
The story of Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, a boxer wrongly imprisoned for murder, and the people who aided in his fight to prove his innocence. (146 mins.)
Director: Norman Jewison
85.
Ned Kelly
(2003)
An innocent man becomes one of the most wanted criminals the world has ever known. (110 mins.)
Director: Gregor Jordan
86.
Factory Girl
(2006)
Based on the rise and fall of socialite Edie Sedgwick, concentrating on her relationships with Andy Warhol and a folk singer. (90 mins.)
Director: George Hickenlooper
87.
Che: Part One
(2008)
In 1956, Ernesto 'Che' Guevara and a band of Castro-led Cuban exiles mobilize an army to topple the regime of dictator Fulgencio Batista. (134 mins.)
Director: Steven Soderbergh
88.
Evita
(1996)
The hit musical based on the life of Evita Duarte, a B-picture Argentinian actress who eventually became the wife of Argentinian president Juan Perón, and the most beloved and hated woman in Argentina. (135 mins.)
Director: Alan Parker
89.
Kill the Irishman
(2011)
The true story of Danny Greene, a tough Irish thug working for mobsters in Cleveland during the 1970's. (106 mins.)
Director: Jonathan Hensleigh
90.
Life of a King
(2013)
Ex-felon, Eugene Brown, establishes a Chess Club for inner city teenagers in Washington, D.C. (100 mins.)
Director: Jake Goldberger