Posts Tagged ‘based-on-true-story’

Dog Day Afternoon (1975)

Tuesday, August 26th, 2008
Genres: Crime | Drama | Thriller
Countries: USA
Actors: Al Pacino | John Cazale | Charles Durning | Chris Sarandon | Sully Boyar | James Broderick | John Marriott | Gary Springer | Lance Henriksen | Dominic Chianese | Floyd Levine | Carmine Foresta | William Bogert | Ron Cummins | Jay Gerber
Directors:
Download: DivX iPod 

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: Gene Hackman | Danny Glover | Jerry Reed | David Marshall Grant | Clayton Rohner | Erich Anderson | Joe Dorsey | Reverend Michael Ng | Theodore Chan Woei-Shyong | Don Ruffin | Scott Howell | Michael Raden | Timothy Fitzgerald | Stuart B. Hagen | Jeffrey Baxter
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…

21 (2008)

Monday, June 9th, 2008
Genres: Drama
Countries: USA
Actors: Jim Sturgess | Kevin Spacey | Aaron Yoo | Jacob Pitts | Laurence Fishburne | Jack McGee | Josh Gad | Sam Golzari | Jack Gilpin | Butch Williams | Jeffrey Ma | Frank Patton | Steven Richard Vezina | Chaska T. Werner | Kyle Morris
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: John Leguizamo | Adrien Brody | Mira Sorvino | Jennifer Esposito | Michael Rispoli | Saverio Guerra | Brian Tarantina | Al Palagonia | Ken Garito | Bebe Neuwirth | Patti LuPone | Mike Starr | Anthony LaPaglia | Roger Guenveur Smith | Ben Gazzara
Directors: Spike Lee
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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: Leonardo DiCaprio | Lorraine Bracco | Marilyn Sokol | James Madio | Patrick McGaw | Mark Wahlberg | Roy Cooper | Bruno Kirby | Jimmy Papiris | Nick Gaetani | Alexander Chaplin | Ben Jorgensen | Josh Mostel | Juliette Lewis | Michael Imperioli
Directors: Scott Kalvert
Download: DivX iPod 

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.

Broken (2006)

Monday, June 2nd, 2008
Genres: Horror | Thriller
Countries: UK
Actors: Eric Colvin | Atesh Salih | Nadja Brand | Abbey Stirling
Directors: Simon Boyes
Download: DivX iPod 

After dating a wonderful man, Hope comes back home, sees her daughter Jennifer and goes to sleep. She wakes-up in the woods with a psychopath, fighting to survive for more than forty days and asking information about her daughter to the stranger.

Duma (2005)

Friday, May 23rd, 2008
Genres: Adventure | Drama | Family
Countries: USA
Actors: Alex Michaeletos | Campbell Scott | Mary Makhatho | Nthabiseng Kenoshi | Hope Davis | Jennifer Steyn | Nicky Rebello | Garth Renecle | Andre Stolz | Charlotte Savage | Ronald Shange | Eamonn Walker | Nadia Kretschmer | John Whiteley | Clive Scott
Directors: Carroll Ballard
Download: DivX iPod 

An orphaned cheetah becomes the best friend and pet of a young boy living in South Africa.

Bank Job, The (2008)

Thursday, May 22nd, 2008
Genres: Thriller
Countries:
Actors: Jason Statham | Saffron Burrows | Stephen Campbell Moore | Daniel Mays | James Faulkner | Alki David | Michael Jibson | Richard Lintern | Don Gallagher | David Suchet | Peter Bowles | Andrew Brooke | Trevor Byfield | Peter De Jersey | Rufus Dean
Directors: Roger Donaldson
Download: DivX iPod 

In September 1971, thieves tunneled into the vault of a bank in London’s Baker Street and looted safe deposit boxes of cash and jewelry worth over three million pounds. None of it was recovered. Nobody was ever arrested. The robbery made headlines for a few days and then disappeared - the result of a ‘D’ Notice, gagging the press. This film reveals what was hidden for the first time. The story involves murder, corruption and a sex scandal with links to the Royal Family - a story in which the thieves were the most innocent people involved.

Calendar Girls (2003)

Wednesday, May 21st, 2008
Genres: Comedy | Drama
Countries: UK | USA
Actors: Helen Mirren | Julie Walters | John Alderton | Linda Bassett | Annette Crosbie | Philip Glenister | CiarĂ¡n Hinds | Celia Imrie | Geraldine James | Penelope Wilton | George Costigan | Graham Crowden | John Fortune | Georgie Glen | Angela Curran
Directors: Nigel Cole
Download: DivX iPod 

In the small town of Knapely, Yorkshire, England, Annie Clarke (Julie Walters) has just lost her husband, who was ill with leukemia. Inspired in his speech to the local Women’s Institute, where he said that “the flowers of Yorkshire are like the women of Yorkshire”, and “the last phase of the women of Yorkshire is always the most glorious”, her best friend Chris Harper (Helen Mirren) decides to make a calendar with twelve local middle-age women nude to raise funds for the wing of leukemia treatment in the local hospital. The calendar becomes well succeeded, making them famous and affecting their lives.

Final Season, The (2007)

Thursday, May 15th, 2008
Genres: Drama | Sport
Countries: USA
Actors: Sean Astin | Powers Boothe | Rachael Leigh Cook | Michael Angarano | Matthew W. Allen | Tom Arnold | Mackenzie Astin | Chris Jay Becker | Marshall Bell | Jim Brockhohn | Jimmy Brockhohn | Dayton Callie | Brett Claywell | Michael Cornelison | David Davis
Directors: David M. Evans
Download: DivX iPod 

Tradition in Norway, Iowa, can be summed up in one word, baseball. In the small Midwestern town, population 586, baseball is a legacy passed father to son, generation to generation. The Norway high school team is no stranger to overcoming the odds, to playing “David” to the State’s much larger schools’ “Goliath.” When the 1990 team, lead by Coach Jim Van Scoyoc, wins its 19th State Championship in 23 years, it is almost expected. The unexpected comes when bureaucracy intervenes to merge Norway into a larger school, and petty jealousies conspire to rob Norway of its heritage and a 20th State Championship. The legendary coach is fired and replaced with his 24-year-old, one-season assistant coach, Kent Stock — a move designed to insure the team’s failure. “THE FINAL SEASON” tells the true story of an underdog coach and team who despite tradition have been written off not only by their rivals but also by those closest to them, the town. Can they find the faith in themselves, and the faith in each other, to make it to one final championship game — and the chance for redemption?