Crime
.45
(2006)
Gary Lennon
N/A
Kate and her brutish boyfriend Big Al sell handguns on the streets of New York. She's smart, stylish, and self-confident, but all that leaves her when Al, in a jealous and self-indulgent rage, beats her. Three friends encourage her recovery: Vic, a woman who would like to be Kate's lover; Reilly, who runs with Al but also is attracted to Kate and repulsed by Al's violence; and, Liz, the counselor assigned to Kate from a battered-women's program. Vic and Reilly talk about killing Al, Liz gives pep talks; Kate remains frightened. Will Al's menace and Kate's dependency hold sway?
10 Rillington Place
(1971)
Clive Exton (screenplay), Ludovic Kennedy (book)
Nominated for 1 BAFTA Film Award.
London, 1949. John Christie is an unassuming, middle-aged man who, along with his wife Ethel, lives in the ground-floor flat at 10 Rillington Place. His demeanor masks the fact of being a serial killer. His modus operandi is to act as a person with a medical background, lure unsuspecting women to his apartment on the pretense of curing them of some ailment, knock them unconscious with carbon monoxide gas, gain his sexual release through contact with the unconscious body, then strangle the victim dead before disposing of the body somewhere in the house or outside area. His next intended target is Beryl Evans, a young woman who has just moved into the top flat in the house. Beryl's husband, Tim Evans, is an illiterate man who likes to put on airs. Already with an infant daughter named Geraldine, the Evanses learn they are going to have another baby, which they cannot afford to have, nor can they afford to abort the pregnancy. This problem, on top of the constant issue of lack of money in all aspects of their lives, places a strain on the marriage, of which all their neighbors are aware through the constant fighting they overhear. Christie will offer to perform the abortion for free. The difference with this intended murder is that Tim will be aware that his wife will have died, but Christie plans either to goad Tim into keeping silent since the abortion would have been illegal, an act to which Tim would have provided his consent, or pin the murder on Tim who would have motive. Will this change in modus operandi affect Christie's ability to kill Beryl, or kill her without detection?
13 Tzameti
(2005)
Géla Babluani
9 wins & 3 nominations.
Sebastian, a young man, has decided to follow instructions intended for someone else, without knowing where they will take him. Something else he does not know is that Gerard Dorez, a cop on a knife-edge, is tailing him. When he reaches his destination, Sebastian falls into a degenerate, clandestine world of mental chaos behind closed doors in which men gamble on the lives of others men.
2 Guns
(2013)
Blake Masters (screenplay), Steven Grant (based on the Boom! Studios graphic novels by)
2 wins.
Two hardened criminals get into trouble with the US border patrol after meeting with a Mexican drug lord, and then revelations start to unfold.
36
(2004)
Olivier Marchal (original scenario), Franck Mancuso (original scenario), Julien Rappeneau (original scenario), Dominique Loiseau (scenario collaborator), Olivier Marchal (adaptation), Olivier Marchal (scenario)
2 wins & 10 nominations.
In the underbelly of the Parisian criminal world, the Police are frustrated by a gang committing a series of violent robberies. Leo Vrinks and Denis Klein are two cops seeking promotion, and the imminent departure of the Chief sets the scene for them to compete for the vacant throne. The competition between them becomes increasingly ruthless and blurs the usual lines of morality, until there seems no difference between the police and the criminals they chase. Vrinks, meeting with a source, becomes involved with a murder. Klein seizes the opportunity to up the ante and arranges for the arrest of Vrinks, but when he goes further and viciously involves Vrinks' wife, Camille, revenge is inevitable.
8MM
(1999)
Andrew Kevin Walker
2 wins & 1 nomination.
Private investigator Tom Welles is hired by the recently widowed Mrs. Christian who has found a startling pornographic film in her late husband's possessions. In the film a teenage girl is apparently killed and Welles is pretty sure it's a genuine snuff film. He takes the case, first going through records of runaways finally identifying the girl and learning that she may have run off to California. There he enters the seedy underworld of pornography with the help of Max California, a porn store clerk. His principal clue is the masked man who killed the girl as he has a unique tattoo on his hand. He soon finds the culprits but there is little satisfaction in resolving the mystery.
A Clockwork Orange
(1971)
Stanley Kubrick (screenplay), Anthony Burgess (novel)
Nominated for 4 Oscars. Another 12 wins & 20 nominations.
Protagonist Alex DeLarge is an "ultraviolent" youth in futuristic Britain. As with all luck, his eventually runs out and he's arrested and convicted of murder and rape. While in prison, Alex learns of an experimental program in which convicts are programmed to detest violence. If he goes through the program, his sentence will be reduced and he will be back on the streets sooner than expected. But Alex's ordeals are far from over once he hits the mean streets of Britain that he had a hand in creating.
A Good Day to Die Hard
(2013)
Skip Woods, Roderick Thorp (certain original characters by)
3 wins & 7 nominations.
John McClane travels to Russia to help out his seemingly wayward son, Jack, only to discover that Jack is a CIA operative working undercover, causing the father and son to team up against underworld forces.
A History of Violence
(2005)
John Wagner (graphic novel), Vince Locke (graphic novel), Josh Olson (screenplay)
Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 32 wins & 66 nominations.
A mild-mannered man becomes a local hero through an act of violence, which sets off repercussions that will shake his family to its very core.
A Life Less Ordinary
(1997)
John Hodge
1 win & 3 nominations.
Ewan McGregor stars as a cleaning man in L.A. who takes his boss' daughter hostage after being fired and replaced by a robot. Two "angels" who are in charge of human relationships on earth, offer some unsolicited help to bring this unlikely couple together.
A Most Wanted Man
(2014)
Andrew Bovell (screenplay), John le Carré (novel), Stephen Cornwell (additional writing)
2 wins & 5 nominations.
When a half-Chechen, half-Russian, brutally tortured immigrant turns up in Hamburg's Islamic community, laying claim to his father's ill gotten fortune, both German and US security agencies take a close interest: as the clock ticks down and the stakes rise, the race is on to establish this most wanted man's true identity - oppressed victim or destruction-bent extremist? Based on John le Carré's novel, A MOST WANTED MAN is a contemporary, cerebral tale of intrigue, love, rivalry, and politics that prickles with tension right through to its last heart-stopping scene.
A Prophet
(2009)
Thomas Bidegain (screenplay), Jacques Audiard (screenplay), Abdel Raouf Dafri (original screenplay), Nicolas Peufaillit (original screenplay)
Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 47 wins & 39 nominations.
Nineteen year-old Franco-Arab Malik El Djebena is just starting his six year prison sentence in Brécourt. Although he has spent the better part of his life in juvenile detention, this stint is his first in an adult prison. Beyond the division of Corsicans and Muslims in the prison (the Corsicans who with their guard connections rule what happens in the prison), he has no known friends or enemies inside. He is just hoping to serve his time in peace and without incident, despite having no prospects once he's out of jail since he's illiterate and has no support outside of the prison. Due to logistics, the head of Corsican inmates, a sadistic mafioso named César Luciani, co-opts Malik as part of the Corsicans' activities, not only regarding what happens inside the prison, but also continued criminal activities outside. The innocent Malik has no idea what to do but cooperate. This move does not sit well with the other Corsicans, who only see Malik as a dirty Arab, and the Muslims who now mistrust him. But as time goes on, Malik works to save himself while in prison, while setting up his life post prison on his own terms. Both his demon and his salvation in prison is the specter of one of the first people he really got to know during his incarceration.
A Walk Among The Tombstones
(2014)
Lawrence Block (based on the novel by), Scott Frank (written for the screen by)
1 nomination.
Matt Scudder is a former cop now a private eye. He is asked by a drug dealer to find the men who kidnapped his wife. It seems like they killed her even after he paid them. Scudder refuses. But the man later goes to see him and tells him how his wife was killed. Scudder takes the job. He does some research and thinks the men he is looking for have done this more than once. And that everyone they grabbed is connected to a drug dealer. He was about to give up when they grab another girl and Scudder tries make sure she's returned alive.
Alan Partridge
(2013)
Peter Baynham (based upon characters created by), Peter Baynham (screenplay), Steve Coogan (based upon characters created by), Steve Coogan (screenplay), Neil Gibbons (screenplay), Rob Gibbons (screenplay), Armando Iannucci (based upon characters created by), Armando Iannucci (screenplay), Patrick Marber (based upon characters created by)
1 win & 7 nominations.
Radio DJ Alan Partridge is facing uncertain times with his radio station being taken over by a corporate conglomerate. He makes things worse when he talks down a colleague after a promise to talk him up. The colleague handles things badly and takes the radio station into his own hands, literally, by taking them all hostage. Envisioning all his action heroes in his head, Alan is going to save the day by becoming a go-between for the Scotland Yard. His method though will put himself and others in harm's way because Alan Partridge just can't keep his mouth shut.
American Gangster
(2007)
Steven Zaillian, Mark Jacobson (article)
Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 11 wins & 32 nominations.
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.
American Hustle
(2013)
Eric Warren Singer, David O. Russell
Nominated for 10 Oscars. Another 66 wins & 202 nominations.
A fictional film set in the alluring world of one of the most stunning scandals to rock our nation, American Hustle tells the story of brilliant con man Irving Rosenfeld (Christian Bale), who along with his equally cunning and seductive British partner Sydney Prosser (Amy Adams) is forced to work for a wild FBI agent Richie DiMaso (Bradley Cooper). DiMaso pushes them into a world of Jersey powerbrokers and mafia that's as dangerous as it is enchanting. Jeremy Renner is Carmine Polito, the passionate, volatile, New Jersey political operator caught between the con-artists and Feds. Irving's unpredictable wife Rosalyn (Jennifer Lawrence) could be the one to pull the thread that brings the entire world crashing down.
American Made
(2017)
Gary Spinelli
3 nominations
Barry Seal was just an ordinary pilot who worked for TWA before he was recruited by the CIA in 1978. His work in South America eventually caught the eye of the Medellín Cartel, associated with Pablo Escobar, who needed a man with his skill set. Barry became a drug trafficker, gun smuggler and money launderer. Soon acquiring the title, 'The gringo that always delivers'.
Assault on Precinct 13
(2005)
John Carpenter (earlier film), James DeMonaco (screenplay)
1 win & 2 nominations.
On New Year's Eve, inside a police station that's about to be closed for good, officer Jake Roenick must cobble together a force made up cops and criminals to save themselves from a mob looking to kill mobster Marion Bishop.
Awake
(2007)
Joby Harold
1 win & 3 nominations.
The story focuses on a man who suffers "anesthetic awareness" and finds himself awake and aware, but paralyzed, during heart surgery. His mother must wrestle with her own demons as a turn of events unfolds around them, while trying to unfold the story hidden behind her son's young wife.
Baby Driver
(2017)
Edgar Wright
Nominated for 3 Oscars. Another 31 wins & 44 nominations.
Baby is a young and partially hearing impaired getaway driver who can make any wild move while in motion with the right track playing. It's a critical talent he needs to survive his indentured servitude to the crime boss, Doc, who values his role in his meticulously planned robberies. However, just when Baby thinks he is finally free and clear to have his own life with his new girlfriend, Deborah, Doc coerces him back for another job. Now saddled with a crew of thugs too violently unstable to keep to Doc's plans, Baby finds himself and everything he cares for in terrible danger. To survive and escape the coming maelstrom, it will take all of Baby's skill, wits and daring, but even on the best track, can he make it when life is forcing him to face the music?