Best historical drama
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- DirectorAlejandro AmenábarStarsRachel WeiszMax MinghellaOscar IsaacA historical drama set in Roman Egypt, concerning a slave who turns to the rising tide of Christianity in the hope of pursuing freedom while falling in love with his mistress, the philosophy and mathematics professor Hypatia of Alexandria.The burning of the ancient world
- DirectorKevin CostnerStarsKevin CostnerMary McDonnellGraham GreeneLieutenant John Dunbar, assigned to a remote western Civil War outpost, finds himself engaging with a neighbouring Sioux settlement, causing him to question his own purpose.Romanticised yes, but it wasnt far from the truth.
- DirectorRidley ScottStarsRussell CroweJoaquin PhoenixConnie NielsenA former Roman General sets out to exact vengeance against the corrupt emperor who murdered his family and sent him into slavery.The best roman film
- DirectorDavid LeanStarsOmar SharifJulie ChristieGeraldine ChaplinThe life of a Russian physician and poet who, although married to another, falls in love with a political activist's wife and experiences hardship during World War I and then the October Revolution.A Russian friend told me it is full of propaganda against the history of Russia, which means its probably close to the truth
- DirectorRobert RedfordStarsRalph FiennesJohn TurturroRob MorrowA young lawyer, Richard Goodwin, investigates a potentially fixed game show. Charles Van Doren, a big time show winner, is under Goodwin's investigation.Really, cheating on a quiz show. "I thought we were going to get television, but television is going to get us" Nice quote.
- DirectorRoger DonaldsonStarsKevin CostnerBruce GreenwoodShawn DriscollIn October 1962, the Kennedy administration struggles to contain the Cuban Missile Crisis.Really well done.
- DirectorOliver StoneStarsKevin CostnerGary OldmanJack LemmonNew Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison discovers there's more to the Kennedy assassination than the official story.A bit over the top from Oliver Stone as usual, but I think he is basically right. More than 3 shots that day.
- DirectorPhillip NoyceStarsMichael CaineBrendan FraserDo Thi Hai YenAn old British reporter vies with a young U.S. doctor for the affections of a beautiful Vietnamese woman.Some historical truth here.
- DirectorFrank MarshallStarsEthan HawkeVincent SpanoJosh HamiltonAfter crash-landing in the snowswept Andes, a Uruguayan rugby team has no choice but to turn to desperate measures in order to survive.Best survival story
- DirectorJames CameronStarsLeonardo DiCaprioKate WinsletBilly ZaneA seventeen-year-old aristocrat falls in love with a kind but poor artist aboard the luxurious, ill-fated R.M.S. Titanic.Just a wee bit over the top, but the historical aspects were true enough.
- DirectorPaul GreengrassStarsDavid Alan BascheOlivia ThirlbyLiza Colón-ZayasA real-time account of the events on United Flight 93, one of the planes hijacked on September 11th, 2001 that crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania when passengers foiled the terrorist plot.True to events
- DirectorJames HanlonGédéon NaudetJules NaudetStarsTony BenatatosYusuf Baran BilgicJamal BraithwaiteA real life documentary following the events of September 11 from an insider's view, through the lens of James Hanlon and two French filmmakers who were in Manhattan that one day.The best 9/11 film
- DirectorOliver StoneStarsTom CruiseBryan LarkinRaymond J. BarryThe biography of Ron Kovic. Paralyzed in the Vietnam war, he becomes an anti-war and pro-human rights political activist after feeling betrayed by the country for which he fought.Vietnam in all its nastiness
- DirectorGregor JordanStarsHeath LedgerOrlando BloomGeoffrey RushAn innocent man becomes one of the most wanted criminals the world has ever known.A bit over-romaticised, but contained elements of truth about the disadvantages of the poor Irish in colonial Australia.
- DirectorWolfgang BeckerStarsDaniel BrühlKatrin SassChulpan KhamatovaIn 1990, to protect his fragile mother from a fatal shock after a long coma, a young man must keep her from learning that her beloved nation of East Germany as she knew it has disappeared.And Lenin, close the door on your way out.
- DirectorFlorian Henckel von DonnersmarckStarsUlrich MüheMartina GedeckSebastian KochIn 1984 East Berlin, an agent of the secret police conducting surveillance on a writer and his lover finds himself becoming increasingly absorbed by their lives.Not many movies about the other side of the iron curtain
- DirectorGeorge ClooneyStarsDavid StrathairnGeorge ClooneyPatricia ClarksonBroadcast journalist Edward R. Murrow looks to bring down Senator Joseph McCarthy.Well crafted
- DirectorJames DeardenStarsEwan McGregorAnna FrielCristian SolimenoThe story of Nick Leeson, an ambitious investment broker who singlehandedly bankrupted one of the oldest and most important banks in Britain.Just a matter of time really
- DirectorBernardo BertolucciStarsJohn LoneJoan ChenPeter O'TooleBernardo Bertolucci's Oscar-winning dramatisation of the life story of China's last emperor, Pu Yi.China's communist revolution. "That was my chair"
- DirectorMichael MannStarsDaniel Day-LewisMadeleine StoweRussell MeansThree trappers protect the daughters of a British Colonel in the midst of the French and Indian War.
- DirectorRon HowardStarsTom HanksBill PaxtonKevin BaconNASA must devise a strategy to return Apollo 13 to Earth safely after the spacecraft undergoes massive internal damage putting the lives of the three astronauts on board in jeopardy.The space race
- DirectorSteven SpielbergStarsDaniel Day-LewisSally FieldDavid StrathairnAs the Civil War rages on, U.S President Abraham Lincoln struggles with continuing carnage on the battlefield as he fights with many inside his own cabinet on his decision to emancipate the slaves.
- DirectorMorten TyldumStarsBenedict CumberbatchKeira KnightleyMatthew GoodeDuring World War II, the English mathematical genius Alan Turing tries to crack the German Enigma code with help from fellow mathematicians while attempting to come to terms with his troubled private life.Excellent WW2 drama. Hidden information for years. Changed the course of the war. Slightly creative with the historical facts (check the net for a few minor changes to the history), but overall fine.
- DirectorTom HooperStarsColin FirthGeoffrey RushHelena Bonham CarterThe story of King George VI, his unexpected ascension to the throne of the British Empire in 1936, and the speech therapist who helped the unsure monarch overcome his stammer.Excellent story behind the England King's Speech at the start of WW2. The irony of the German Beethoven's music playing in the background, who would have been aghast at the Nazis, is irreplaceable.
- DirectorClint EastwoodStarsTom HanksAaron EckhartLaura LinneyWhen pilot Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger lands his damaged plane on the Hudson River in order to save the flight's passengers and crew, some consider him a hero while others think he was reckless.
- DirectorTom McCarthyStarsMark RuffaloMichael KeatonRachel McAdamsThe true story of how the Boston Globe uncovered the massive scandal of child molestation and cover-up within the local Catholic Archdiocese, shaking the entire Catholic Church to its core.
- DirectorAdam McKayStarsChristian BaleSteve CarellRyan GoslingIn 2006-2007 a group of investors bet against the United States mortgage market. In their research, they discover how flawed and corrupt the market is.
- DirectorFred SchepisiStarsMeryl StreepSam NeillDale ReevesA mother whose child was killed in a dingo attack in the Australian Outback fights to prove her innocence when she is accused of murder.
- DirectorBen AffleckStarsBen AffleckBryan CranstonJohn GoodmanActing under the cover of a Hollywood producer scouting a location for a science fiction film, a CIA agent launches a dangerous operation to rescue six Americans in Tehran during the U.S. hostage crisis in Iran in 1979.
- DirectorKathryn BigelowStarsJessica ChastainJoel EdgertonChris PrattA 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.