Ray Liotta
Goodfellas
(1990)
Nicholas Pileggi (book), Nicholas Pileggi (screenplay), Martin Scorsese (screenplay)
Won 1 Oscar. Another 37 wins & 31 nominations.
Henry Hill is a small time gangster, who takes part in a robbery with Jimmy Conway and Tommy De Vito, two other gangsters who have set their sights a bit higher. His two partners kill off everyone else involved in the robbery, and slowly start to climb up through the hierarchy of the Mob. Henry, however, is badly affected by his partners' success, but will he stoop low enough to bring about the downfall of Jimmy and Tommy?
Hannibal
(2001)
Thomas Harris (novel), David Mamet (screenplay), Steven Zaillian (screenplay)
7 wins & 14 nominations.
The continuing saga of Hannibal Lecter, the murdering cannibal. He is presently in Italy and works as a curator at a museum. Clarice Starling, the FBI agent whom he aided to apprehend a serial killer, was placed in charge of an operation but when one of her men botches it, she's called to the mat by the Bureau. One high ranking official, Paul Krendler has it in for her. But she gets a reprieve because Mason Verger, one of Lecter's victims who is looking to get back at Lecter for what Lecter did to him, wants to use Starling to lure him out. When Lecter sends her a note she learns that he's in Italy so she asks the police to keep an eye out for him. But a corrupt policeman who wants to get the reward that Verger placed on him, tells Verger where he is. But they fail to get him. Later Verger decides to frame Starling which makes Lecter return to the States. And the race to get Lecter begins.
Identity
(2003)
Michael Cooney
6 nominations.
Malcolm Rivers has been convicted as the perpetrator of several murders and is sentenced to death. An eleventh hour defense by his lawyers and psychiatrist that Malcolm is insane based on new evidence has resulted in them meeting with the prosecutors and the judge to discuss if the verdict should be overturned. Meanwhile, on a dark night during a torrential rainstorm in the Nevada desert, a series of chain reaction events results in several people needing to stay at an out of the way motel managed by Larry. They are: ex-cop now limo driver Ed, and his client Caroline, a diva of a once famous actress; quiet adolescent Timmy, his stepfather George, and his mother Alice, who was seriously injured when Ed accidentally ran over her as she watched George change their flat tire; prostitute Paris, who was the unwitting cause of George's flat tire; newlyweds Lou and Ginny, whose marriage is based on a lie; and Police Officer Rhodes, who was en route escorting prisoner Robert to his new institution. They all can't leave the area because of washed out roads, all the other businesses around the motel are closed because of the storm, and all communication in and out is not functioning also because of the storm. One by one, they are murdered, the murderer leaving a calling card of a motel room key, starting with the room 10 key and working his way presumably to the room 1 key when the last person will be dead. Those still alive band somewhat together under Officer Rhodes and Ed's direction to find out which of the eleven is the murderer, and if, based on one of their theories, that they were brought to the motel by some force by the murderer as his intended targets. Whether those still alive can discover who the murderer is, discover why he has chosen to kill them, and be able to subdue him may well determine Malcolm's fate.
John Q
(2002)
James Kearns
2 wins & 8 nominations.
John Quincy Archibald's son Michael collapses while playing baseball as a result of heart failure. John rushes Michael to a hospital emergency room where he is informed that Michael's only hope is a transplant. Unfortunately, John's insurance won't cover his son's transplant. Out of options, John Q. takes the emergency room staff and patients hostage until hospital doctors agree to do the transplant.
Kill the Messenger
(2014)
Peter Landesman, Gary Webb (book), Nick Schou (book)
2 wins & 4 nominations.
Based on the true story of journalist Gary Webb. The film takes place in the mid-1990s, when Webb uncovered the CIA's past role in importing huge amounts of cocaine into the U.S. that was aggressively sold in ghettos across the country to raise money for the Nicaraguan Contras' rebel army. Despite enormous pressure not to, Webb chose to pursue the story and went public with his evidence, publishing the series "Dark Alliance". As a result he experienced a vicious smear campaign fueled by the CIA. At that point Webb found himself defending his integrity, his family, and his life.
Narc
(2002)
Joe Carnahan
1 win & 8 nominations.
An undercover narc dies, the investigation stalls, so the Detroit P.D. brings back Nick Tellis, fired 18-months ago when a stray bullet hits a pregnant woman. Tellis teams with Henry Oak, a friend of the dead narc and an aggressive cop constantly under the scrutiny of internal affairs. They follow leads, informants turn up dead, Nick's wife is unhappy he's back on the street, Henry's protective of the dead cop's wife. Nick reads and re-reads the case file, broods, watches Oak's heavy-handed style, sometimes joining in. The brass want to close out the case, Nick and Henry stay on it, and bits of evidence point them to an auto body shop. What actually happened; will Nick ever know?
Revolver
(2005)
Luc Besson (adaptation), Guy Ritchie
1 win.
Gambler Jake Green enters into a game with potentially deadly consequences.
Sin City: A Dame to Kill For
(2014)
Frank Miller, Frank Miller (graphic novels)
3 wins & 6 nominations.
Some of Sin City's most hard-boiled citizens cross paths with a few of its more reviled inhabitants.
Smokin' Aces
(2006)
Joe Carnahan
4 wins.
When a Las Vegas performer-turned-snitch named Buddy Israel decides to turn state's evidence and testify against the mob, it seems that a whole lot of people would like to make sure he's no longer breathing.
The Iceman
(2012)
Morgan Land (screenplay), Ariel Vromen (screenplay), Anthony Bruno (book), Jim Thebaut (documentary "The Iceman Tapes: Conversations with a Killer")
2 wins.
In the 1960s, Richard Kuklinski is working as a porn film lab tech until his mob bosses persuade him to change his career into that of a contract killer. For years, Kuklinski gains a reputation for cold blooded professionalism even as he raises a family who are kept in the dark about his true career. Unfortunately, mob politics ultimately forces him to secretly work independently with the psychopathic Robert 'Mr. Freezy' Pronge. As much as Kuklinski tries to keep his lives separate, circumstances and his own weaknesses threaten a terrible collision as the consequences of his choices finally catch up to him.