History
Sleepy Hollow
(1999)
Washington Irving (story "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow"), Kevin Yagher (screen story), Andrew Kevin Walker (screen story), Andrew Kevin Walker (screenplay)
Won 1 Oscar. Another 23 wins & 39 nominations.
The curse of the headless horseman is the legacy of the small town of Sleepy Hollow. Spearheaded by the eager Constable Ichabod Crane and his new world ways into the quagmire of secrets and murder, secrets once laid to rest, best forgotten and now reawakened, and he too, holding a dark secret of a past once gone.
Taxi to the Dark Side
(2007)
Alex Gibney
Won 1 Oscar. 11 wins & 5 nominations total
Using the torture and death in 2002 of an innocent Afghan taxi driver as the touchstone, this film examines changes after 9/11 in U.S. policy toward suspects in the war on terror. Soldiers, their attorneys, one released detainee, U.S. Attorney John Yoo, news footage and photos tell a story of abuse at Bagram Air Base, Abu Ghraib, and Guantanamo Bay. From Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Gonzalez came unwritten orders to use any means necessary. The CIA and soldiers with little training used sleep deprivation, sexual assault, stress positions, waterboarding, dogs and other terror tactics to seek information from detainees. Many speakers lament the loss of American ideals in pursuit of security.
The Birth Of A Nation
(2016)
Nate Parker (screenplay by), Nate Parker (story by), Jean McGianni Celestin (story by)
4 wins & 26 nominations.
Set against the antebellum South, THE BIRTH OF A NATION follows Nat Turner (Nate Parker), a literate slave and preacher, whose financially strained owner, Samuel Turner (Armie Hammer), accepts an offer to use Nat's preaching to subdue unruly slaves. As he witnesses countless atrocities - against himself and his fellow slaves - Nat orchestrates an uprising in the hopes of leading his people to freedom.
The Corporation
(2003)
Joel Bakan, Joel Bakan (book), Harold Crooks (narration written by), Joel Bakan (narration written by), Mark Achbar (narration written by), Mark Achbar (developer), Joel Bakan (developer), Thomas Shandel (developer), Mark Achbar (creator), Joel Bakan (creator)
11 wins & 1 nomination.
Documentary that looks at the concept of the corporation throughout recent history up to its present-day dominance.
The Death of Stalin
(2017)
Armando Iannucci, David Schneider, Ian Martin, Peter Fellows (additional material by), Fabien Nury (based on the comic book "The Death of Stalin" by), Thierry Robin (based on the comic book "The Death of Stalin" by), Fabien Nury (original screenplay by)
Nominated for 2 BAFTA Film Awards. Another 8 wins & 14 nominations.
Moscow, 1953. After being in power for nearly 30 years, Soviet dictator Josef Stalin takes ill and quickly dies. Now the members of the Council of Ministers scramble for power.
The Devils
(1971)
Ken Russell (screenplay), John Whiting (based on the play by), Aldous Huxley (novel)
4 wins.
In 17th-century France, Father Urbain Grandier seeks to protect the city of Loudun from the corrupt establishment of Cardinal Richelieu. Hysteria occurs within the city when he is accused of witchcraft by a sexually repressed nun.
The Good Shepherd
(2006)
Eric Roth
Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 2 wins & 11 nominations.
Laconic and self-contained, Edward Wilson heads CIA covert operations during the Bay of Pigs. The agency suspects that Castro was tipped, so Wilson looks for the leak. As he investigates, he recalls, in a series of flashbacks, his father's death, student days at Yale (poetry; Skull and Bones), recruitment into the fledgling OSS, truncated affairs, a shotgun marriage, cutting his teeth on spy craft in London, distance from his son, the emergence of the Cold War, and relationships with agency, British, and Soviet counterparts. We watch his idealism give way to something else: disclosing the nature of that something else is at the heart of the film's narration as he closes in on the leak.
The Great Escape
(1963)
Paul Brickhill (book), James Clavell (screenplay), W.R. Burnett (screenplay)
Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 2 wins & 7 nominations.
Allied P.O.W.s plan for several hundred of their number to escape from a German camp during World War II.
The Hurt Locker
(2008)
Mark Boal
Won 6 Oscars. Another 109 wins & 117 nominations.
An intense portrayal of elite soldiers who have one of the most dangerous jobs in the world: disarming bombs in the heat of combat. When a new sergeant, James, takes over a highly trained bomb disposal team amidst violent conflict, he surprises his two subordinates, Sanborn and Eldridge, by recklessly plunging them into a deadly game of urban combat. James behaves as if he's indifferent to death. As the men struggle to control their wild new leader, the city explodes into chaos, and James' true character reveals itself in a way that will change each man forever.
The Last Samurai
(2003)
John Logan (story), John Logan (screenplay), Edward Zwick (screenplay), Marshall Herskovitz (screenplay)
Nominated for 4 Oscars. Another 19 wins & 47 nominations.
In the 1870s, Captain Nathan Algren, a cynical veteran of the American Civil war who will work for anyone, is hired by Americans who want lucrative contracts with the Emperor of Japan to train the peasant conscripts for the first standing imperial army in modern warfare using firearms. The imperial Omura cabinet's first priority is to repress a rebellion of traditionalist Samurai -hereditary warriors- who remain devoted to the sacred dynasty but reject the Westernizing policy and even refuse firearms. Yet when his ill-prepared superior force sets out too soon, their panic allows the sword-wielding samurai to crush them. Badly wounded Algren's courageous stand makes the samurai leader Katsumoto spare his life; once nursed to health he learns to know and respect the old Japanese way, and participates as advisor in Katsumoto's failed attempt to save the Bushido tradition, but Omura gets repressive laws enacted- he must now choose to honor his loyalty to one of the embittered sides when the conflict returns to the battlefield...
The Revenant
(2015)
Mark L. Smith (screenplay), Alejandro G. Iñárritu (screenplay), Michael Punke (based in part on the novel by)
Won 3 Oscars. Another 87 wins & 186 nominations.
While exploring the uncharted wilderness in 1823, legendary frontiersman Hugh Glass sustains injuries from a brutal bear attack. When his hunting team leaves him for dead, Glass must utilize his survival skills to find a way back home while avoiding natives on their own hunt. Grief-stricken and fueled by vengeance, Glass treks through the wintry terrain to track down John Fitzgerald, the former confidant who betrayed and abandoned him.
Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon
(2008)
Ho Leung Lau, Daniel Lee, Guanzhong Luo (novel)
2 wins & 7 nominations.
His country torn asunder by civil war, Zhao Zilong, a common man heeds the call of duty and from the humblest of roots rises through the ranks on wings of courage and cunning to command an army charged with liberating the land from an evil warlord. Inspiring by action, honor and a dream of unifying his divided nation, Zhao Zilong's heroism becomes legend, but as the years pass and the throne changes hands the war still rages on. When a newly enthroned king decides peace can only be achieved by defeating the warlords once and for all, the aging Zhao Zilong embarks on his final and greatest campaign, a road to adventure that will crown his name in glory for all time.
World Trade Center
(2006)
Andrea Berloff, John McLoughlin (true story), Donna McLoughlin (true story), William Jimeno (true story), Allison Jimeno (true story)
3 wins & 8 nominations.
Two Port Authority police officers become trapped under the rubble of the World Trade Center.
Zero Dark Thirty
(2012)
Mark Boal
Won 1 Oscar. Another 83 wins & 157 nominations.
A chronicle of the decade-long hunt for al-Qaeda terrorist leader Osama bin Laden after the September 2001 attacks, and his death at the hands of the Navy S.E.A.L.s Team 6 in May 2011.
Zulu
(1964)
John Prebble (original screenplay), Cy Endfield (original screenplay), John Prebble (suggested by an article written by)
N/A
Outnumbered British soldiers do battle with Zulu warriors at Rorke's Drift.