Drama
City of God
(2002)
Paulo Lins (novel), Bráulio Mantovani (screenplay)
Nominated for 4 Oscars. Another 65 wins & 35 nominations.
Brazil, 1960's, City of God. The Tender Trio robs motels and gas trucks. Younger kids watch and learn well...too well. 1970's: Li'l Zé has prospered very well and owns the city. He causes violence and fear as he wipes out rival gangs without mercy. His best friend Bené is the only one to keep him on the good side of sanity. Rocket has watched these two gain power for years, and he wants no part of it. Yet he keeps getting swept up in the madness. All he wants to do is take pictures. 1980's: Things are out of control between the last two remaining gangs...will it ever end? Welcome to the City of God.
City of Life and Death
(2009)
Chuan Lu
9 wins & 9 nominations.
In 1937, Japan occupied Nanjing, the Chinese capital. There was a battle and subsequent atrocities against the inhabitants, especially those who took refuge in the International Security Zone.
Cleanskin
(2012)
Hadi Hajaig
N/A
Cleanskin: Ewan (Sean Bean) is a British Secret Service Agent faced with the task of pursuing and eliminating a British born Asian suicide bomber Ash (Abhin Galeya) and his terrorist cell, whilst Ash wrestles with his conscience and reflects on his journey to terrorism.
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
(1977)
Steven Spielberg
Won 1 Oscar. Another 13 wins & 37 nominations.
After an encounter with U.F.O.s, a line worker feels undeniably drawn to an isolated area in the wilderness where something spectacular is about to happen.
Cloud Atlas
(2012)
David Mitchell (novel), Lana Wachowski (written for the screen by), Tom Tykwer (written for the screen by), Andy Wachowski (written for the screen by)
Nominated for 1 Golden Globe. Another 15 wins & 69 nominations.
An exploration of how the actions of individual lives impact one another in the past, present and future, as one soul is shaped from a killer into a hero, and an act of kindness ripples across centuries to inspire a revolution.
Code Unknown
(2000)
Michael Haneke
1 win & 3 nominations
Jean, a farm lad, wants to escape his silent father; he runs to Paris to his older brother, Georges, who's away covering the war in Kosovo. Angry, he throws a bag of half-eaten pastry into a beggar's lap. Amadou, a young Franco-African, berates him. The police arrive, arrest Amadou and deport the beggar. Georges's girlfriend Anne is upset; it colors her relationship with Georges when he returns from the war. Separate lives intersect for the one moment, around the pastry bag, and all are altered. We follow each as repercussions of the incident play out. Deaf children bookend the film pantomiming words, feelings, and situations: what they are expressing?
Coffee and Cigarettes
(2003)
Jim Jarmusch
2 wins & 7 nominations.
Eleven separate vignettes are presented. In each, celebrities, playing semi-fictionalized versions of themselves (with the exception of the characters of various wait staff, and one actor playing a lookalike cousin of herself), meet in a food service establishment with coffee/tea and cigarettes involved. Beyond the topic of discussion that brought them together, they often talk directly about coffee and cigarettes, more often that coffee and cigarettes, and by association caffeine and nicotine, are not healthy, especially if they are the only things constituting lunch. Other recurring themes include the Lee family, cousinhood, celebrity worship, the connection between the medical and musical careers, and Nikola Tesla's belief that the Earth is a conductor of acoustic resonance. In all cases, the coming together for coffee/tea and smokes acts as a bridge to overcome disagreements, and/or makes uncomfortable situations less uncomfortable.
Collateral
(2004)
Stuart Beattie
Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 20 wins & 53 nominations.
LA cabbie Max Durocher is the type of person who can wax poetic about other people's lives, which impresses U.S. Justice Department prosecutor Annie Farrell, one of his fares, so much that she gives him her telephone number at the end of her ride. Although a dedicated man as seen through the efficiency in which he does his work, he can't or won't translate that eloquence into a better life for himself. He deludes himself into believing that his now twelve year cabbie job is temporary and that someday he will own his own limousine service. He even lies to his hospitalized mother that he already owns one, with a further lie that he tells her as such primarily to make her happy, rather than the truth which is that he won't do anything to achieve that dream. One night, Max picks up a well dressed man named Vincent, who asks Max to be his only fare for the evening. For a flat fee of $600, plus an extra $100 if he gets to the airport on time - Vincent wants Max to drive him to five stops that evening. Max somewhat reluctantly agrees. Max learns the hard way at their first stop when a body falls from a third story apartment window and lands dead on top of his cab that Vincent is a contract hit man. Vincent's main goal, as per his current contract, is to kill five people, one at each of the stops, but he will not let others get in the way of that goal, even if it means killing them, including Max. As Vincent forces Max to continue driving him for the evening, Max tries slyly at every turn to take back control of his life from Vincent, especially when Max learns of one of the names on Vincent's hit list. Meanwhile, LAPD narcotics detective, Ray Fanning, and ultimately the FBI get involved when Vincent's first victim is associated with a case in which Ray is working undercover. Ray is able to piece together information which makes him hot on Max and Vincent's tail.
Constantine
(2005)
Jamie Delano (comic book "Hellblazer"), Garth Ennis (comic book "Hellblazer"), Kevin Brodbin (story), Kevin Brodbin (screenplay), Frank A. Cappello (screenplay)
2 wins & 9 nominations.
Constantine tells the story of irreverent supernatural detective John Constantine, who has literally been to hell and back.
Contagion
(2011)
Scott Z. Burns
2 wins & 12 nominations.
Healthcare professionals, government officials and everyday people find themselves in the midst of a worldwide epidemic as the CDC works to find a cure.
Control
(2007)
Deborah Curtis (book), Matt Greenhalgh (screenplay)
Nominated for 1 BAFTA Film Award. Another 30 wins & 30 nominations.
Ian Curtis is a quiet and rather sad lad who works for an employment agency and sings in a band called Warsaw. He meets a girl named Debbie whom he promptly marries and his band, of which the name in the meantime has been changed to Joy Division, gets more and more successful. Even though Debbie and he become parents, their relationship is going downhill rapidly and Ian starts an affair with Belgium Annik whom he met after one of the gigs and he's almost never at home. Ian also suffers from epilepsy and has no-good medication for it. He doesn't know how to handle the feelings he has for Debbie and Annik and the pressure the popularity of Joy Division and the energy performing costs him.
Copycat
(1995)
Ann Biderman, David Madsen
2 wins & 1 nomination.
In San Francisco, the criminal psychologist Helen Hudson is specialized in serial-killers. During a trial, the accused Daryll Lee Cullum kills a police officer and tries to kill her and she becomes agoraphobic. Now Helen lives a reclusive life with her gay friend Andy that helps her. Sometime later, there is a wave of crimes and Detectives M.J. Monahan and Reuben Goetz are investigating the murder cases. Helen identifies that the murderer is copycatting notorious serial-killers and she anonymously contacts the Police Department. After fourteen phone calls, she is identified by the police. Detectives M.J. and Reuben visit her and Helen teams up with them and prepares the profile of the killer that wants to be famous. But soon the copycat killer Peter Foley contacts and stalks Helen and M.J. and Reuben give protection to her. Will they be capable to stop Foley before the next murder?
Crash
(2004)
Paul Haggis (story), Paul Haggis (screenplay), Robert Moresco (screenplay)
Won 3 Oscars. Another 62 wins & 99 nominations.
Los Angeles citizens with vastly separate lives collide in interweaving stories of race, loss and redemption.
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
(2000)
Du Lu Wang (book), Hui-Ling Wang (screenplay), James Schamus (screenplay), Kuo Jung Tsai (screenplay)
Won 4 Oscars. Another 95 wins & 125 nominations.
Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon is a timeless story that takes place in QING China when miracles were credible and spirits and gods were present in man's world. It is not unbelievable that zen warriors float through the air, skim the water and battle in trees and on rooftops. Pain, revenge and duty are the stuff that bind us in this world and are the main plot line of the movie, but in the afterlife love and faith linger on.
D.O.A.
(1950)
Russell Rouse (story), Clarence Greene (story), Russell Rouse (screenplay), Clarence Greene (screenplay)
1 win.
Frank Bigelow, told he's been poisoned and has only a few days to live, tries to find out who killed him and why.
Dark Places
(2015)
Gilles Paquet-Brenner, Gillian Flynn
N/A
Libby Day is a lifeless woman who survived the massacre of her family in their farmhouse in the countryside of Kansas when she was eight. She's been living on donations and lectures ever since. Thirty years ago, the police believed that a satanic cult was responsible for the murder of her mother and two sisters, and her brother Ben was convicted with her testimony in court. Today, however, an acquaintance, Lyle Wirth, invites Libby to visit "The Kill Club", where amateurs investigate famous crimes, and she finds that they believe Ben is innocent. Libby needs money and, in return, accepts to revisit the slaughter of her family and comes up to the painful revelations and the ultimate truth.
Dark Water
(2002)
Kôji Suzuki (novel), Ken'ichi Suzuki (screenplay), Yoshihiro Nakamura (screenplay)
6 wins & 1 nomination.
A mother and her 6 year old daughter move into a creepy apartment whose every surface is permeated by water.
Das Boot
(1981)
Wolfgang Petersen (screenplay), Lothar G. Buchheim (novel)
Nominated for 6 Oscars. Another 13 wins & 5 nominations.
The claustrophobic world of a WWII German U-boat; boredom, filth, and sheer terror.
Dead Man's Shoes
(2004)
Paddy Considine, Shane Meadows, Paul Fraser (additional material)
4 wins & 13 nominations.
Richard returns home from military service to a small town in the Midlands. He has one thing on his mind: revenge. Payback for the local bullies who did some very bad things to his brother. At first his campaign employs guerrilla tactics, designed to frighten the men and put them ill at ease. But then he steps up his operation, and one by one these local tough guys are picked off by the terrifying angel of vengeance that Richard has become.
Death and the Compass
(1992)
Jorge Luis Borges (story), Alex Cox
1 nomination.
In a nightmare city inhabited only by criminals and police a mystic detective finds a tool to catch a villainous outlaw.