Warchild : Genre : B

Theatrical: 1976

Studio:

Genre: Biography

Duration: 90

Summary: A highly fictionalized biography of the famous Bruce Lee, this movie traces his college life, his marriage to Linda Lee, his relationship with his master, and his untimely death.

Theatrical: 1979

Studio: Image

Genre: Biography

Duration: 156

Summary: The rise and fall of the notorious Roman Emperor Caligula, showing the violent methods that he employs to gain the throne, and the subsequent insanity of his reign - he gives his horse political office and humiliates and executes anyone who even slightly displeases him. He also sleeps with his sister, organises elaborate orgies and embarks on a fruitless invasion of England before meeting an appropriate end. There are various versions of the film, ranging from the heavily- truncated 90-minute version to the legendary 160-minute hardcore version which leaves nothing to the imagination (though the hardcore scenes were inserted later and do not involve the main cast members).

Theatrical: 1975

Studio:

Genre: Biography

Duration: 97

Summary: The story of the rise and fall of the infamous Chicago gangster Al Capone and the control he exhibited over the city during the prohibition years. Unusually, briefly covering the years after Capone was imprisoned.

Theatrical: 1986

Studio: Werner Herzog Filmproduktion

Genre: Biography

Duration: 111

Summary: The feared bandit Cobra Verde (

Theatrical: 2007

Studio: Becker Films

Genre: Biography

Duration: 121

Summary: 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.

Theatrical: 1970

Studio: Vision Video

Genre: Biography

Duration: 106

Summary: Although the original events depicted in this classic from the drug infested, gang dominated streets happened over thirty years ago, the life-changing solution that David Wilkerson brought to desperate lives was just beginning. The beat goes on. The change in the life of notorious gang leader Nicky Cruz, as shown in the film, proved to be wonderfully lasting and real. Nicky continues today to reach young people around the world with the same life-changing message of the gospel of Jesus Christ that delivered him from violence and despair. And what about the skinny preacher, David Wilkerson, who braved the meanest streets of New York to tell desperate and drug crazed youth that there was a better way? Now, three decades later, he is still at it with a ministry based in Times Square that is still changing lives and offering genuine hope to countless souls who had given up on life.
Now in over 25 languages, "The Cross and the Switchblade", starring Pat Boone and Eric Estrada, is one of those rare films that has shown its unique power to connect with the deepest hopes and fears of youth around the world. It remains today one of the most compelling stories of love, grace and the truth that no one is ever so far gone that they cannot find the way out.

Theatrical: 2005

Studio: New Line

Genre: Biography

Duration: 128

Summary: Does it really matter what's true or false in "Domino" if the movie's so deliriously hard to resist? Tony Scott's dizzying film about his late friend, former model and famous bounty hunter Domino Harvey (1969-2005), is more tribute than biography, riffing on Harvey's action-packed exploits and brief reality-TV celebrity in a fractured, manic style that's so visually over-stimulating that it could throw vulnerable viewers into "grand mal" seizures. Scott's barrage of audio-visual hyperactivity is ultimately exhausting, and Richard Kelly's fragmented screenplay does nothing to discourage Scott's relentless MTV "style" (and we use that word oh-so-loosely here). And yet, with Keira Knightley so ferociously alluring in the title role, and Mickey Rourke (as her boss and bounty-hunting mentor, Ed Mosbey) serving up a second dose of his "Sin City" comeback, "Domino" grabs you by the throat and never lets go. Scott's embrace of nihilism is typically facile but it propels a vision of wretched humanity that pulls you in with train-wreck intensity. The movie's bracing humor also makes fine use of a large supporting cast including Christopher Walken, Jacqueline Bissett, Dabney Coleman, Edgar Ramirez, Mo'Nique, Delroy Lindo, Mena Suvari, Lucy Liu, and former "Beverly Hills 90210" stars Ian Ziering and Brian Austin Green (the latter two poking good-sport fun at themselves as "celebrity hostages"). The accidental overdose death of the real Domino (daughter of "The Manchurian Candidate" star Laurence Harvey) in the summer of 2005 threw a sad shroud of irony over this movie's theatrical release, but for all its reckless indulgence, "Domino" is a fitting eulogy for a troubled woman whose credo ("Heads you live, tails you die") is reflected in Scott's fictionalized rendition of the dangerous life she lived. "--Jeff Shannon"

Theatrical: 1985

Studio: East West Entertainment

Genre: Biography

Duration: 100

Summary: Exploring the somewhat darker and more mysterious side of the Lewis Carroll's classic book, the movie follows Alice Liddell (the book's inspiration) as an old woman who is haunted by the characters she was once so amused by. As she thinks back on it, she starts to see her relationship with the shy author/professor in a new way and realizes the vast change between the young Alice and the old.

Theatrical: 1994

Studio: Buena Vista

Genre: Biography

Duration: 127

Summary: From Tim Burton, acclaimed director of BIG FISH, EDWARD SCISSORHANDS, and BATMAN, and the producer of THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS, comes the hilarious, true-life story of the wackiest filmmaker in Hollywood history, Ed Wood! Johnny Depp (PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: THE CURSE OF THE BLACK PEARL, CHOCOLAT, EDWARD SCISSORHANDS) stars as the high-spirited movieman who refuses to let unfinished scenes, terrible reviews, and hostile studio executives derail his big-screen dreams. With an oddball collection of showbiz misfits, Ed takes the art of bad moviemaking to an all-time low! The all-star cast features Bill Murray (LOST IN TRANSLATION, THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS), Sarah Jessica Parker (TV's SEX AND THE CITY), Patricia Arquette (STIGMATA, LITTLE NICKY), and an Academy Award(R)-winning performance by Martin Landau (Best Supporting Actor, 1994) as Bela Lugosi. Hailed by critics everywhere, this laugh-packed comedy hit is sure to entertain everyone!

Theatrical: 1961

Studio: Rank

Genre: Biography

Duration: 182

Summary: Epic film of the legendary Spanish hero, Rodrigo Diaz ("El Cid" to his followers), who, without compromising his strict sense of honour, still succeeds in taking the initiative and driving the Moors from Spain.

Theatrical: 1974

Studio: Anchor Bay

Genre: Biography

Duration: 110

Summary: In his widely acclaimed attempt to fathom "The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser", director Werner Herzog probes a real-life mystery that has puzzled German society for nearly two centuries. In the title role, Herzog ingeniously cast the equally mysterious street musician Bruno S., whose mesmerizing performance is unique in the history of film. Isolated since infancy in a dank cellar, the now-adult Kaspar is abandoned in 1820s Nuremburg by his unknown custodian; townsfolk futilely speculate on his origins, and he's shaped by a bourgeois villager who places rigid, conflicting restraints on his new and peculiar perspective on the world around him. It's telling that Herzog's preferred title is "Every Man for Himself and God Against All", for this is an eerily effective cautionary tale about an innocent man of nature who moves from one prison to another in a cruelly fateful universe. The mystery lingers, making "The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser" a deep, resonant reflection on the nature of humanity. "--Jeff Shannon"

Theatrical: 2006

Studio: Weinstein Company

Genre: Biography

Duration: 99

Summary: A beautiful, wealthy young party girl drops out of Radcliffe in 1965 and heads to New York to become Holly Golightly. When she meets a hungry young artist named Andy Warhol, he promises to make her the star she always wanted to be. And like a super nova she explodes on the New York scene only to find herself slowly lose grip on reality...

Theatrical: 1957

Studio: Paramount

Genre: Biography

Duration: 100

Summary: Jim Piersall is groomed by his loving but hard-driving father (living vicariously through his son) to play major league baseball. His desire to succeed to please his father leads to mental illness and a nervous breakdown. Can he overcome those difficulties and return to the major leagues?

Theatrical: 1998

Studio: Sony Pictures

Genre: Biography

Duration: 124

Summary: The real-life story of Dublin folk hero and criminal Martin Cahill, who pulled off two daring robberies in Ireland with his team, but attracted unwanted attention from the police, the IRA, the UVF and members of his own team.

Theatrical: 1993

Studio:

Genre: Biography

Duration: 100

Summary:

Theatrical: 1953

Studio: Universal Studios

Genre: Biography

Duration: 115

Summary: The biography of the Bandleader Glenn Miller from his beginnings to his death over the English Channel in December 1944, with a lot of his arangements, partly in an authentic cast.

Theatrical: 1951

Studio: Warner Home Video

Genre: Biography

Duration: 107

Summary: True story of Native American Jim Thorpe, who rose from an Oklahoma reservation to become a collegiate, Olympic, and professional star. After his medals are stripped on a technicality and his dream of coaching is shattered, Thorpe's life begins to unravel. His marriage to his college sweetheart ends, and he is a forgotten figure, except by Glenn 'Pop' Warner, his coach at Carlisle College.

Theatrical: 1987

Studio: Sony Pictures

Genre: Biography

Duration: 108

Summary: When Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper, and Ritchie Valens hopped a small plane after a Midwestern concert gig, early rock suffered one of its most striking tragedies. Holly's death in the plane's crash near Clear Lake, Iowa, was an obvious loss given the Texas rocker's international reputation. But Valens, a Pacoima, California, teenager, was much closer to the starting gate, his impact extending to just two national chart hits, the teen ballad "Donna" and his ebullient recasting of a Mexican wedding song, "La Bamba."
Director and playwright Luis Valdez, who had previously examined Southern California's Latino heritage through stage productions, brought a deep well of cultural identification and dramatic empathy to Valens's story. "La Bamba" thus probes Valens's underlying sense of cultural distance from the mainstream and acknowledges the inevitable racism of its setting, yet it's to everyone's credit that the movie avoids an excessive, revisionist emphasis; Valens's simple joy in music and the relative innocence of the era are felt, even though the script is careful not to sanitize earthier elements. Lou Diamond Phillips makes an impressive debut in the title role, matched by strong performances from Esai Morales and Elizabeth Peña, while the music gets kick started by the shrewd decision to draft Los Lobos to re-create Valens's music. Rock fans will also smile at savvy casting for Valens peers Eddie Cochran (Brian Setzer), Jackie Wilson (Howard Huntsberry), and Holly himself (Marshall Crenshaw). "--Sam Sutherland"

Theatrical: 2006

Studio: 20th Century Fox

Genre: Biography

Duration: 123

Summary:
As the evil Ugandan dictator Idi Amin, Forest Whitaker gives an unforgettable performance in "The Last King of Scotland". Powerfully illustrating the terrible truth that absolute power corrupts absolutely, this fictionalized chronicle of Amin's rise and fall is based on the acclaimed novel by Giles Foden, in which Amin's despotic reign of terror is viewed through the eyes of Nicholas Garrigan (James McAvoy), a Scottish doctor who arrives in Uganda in the early 1970s to serve as Amin's personal physician. His outsider's perspective causes him to be initially impressed by Amin's calculated rise to power, but as the story progresses--and as Whitaker's award-worthy performance grows increasingly monstrous--"The Last King of Scotland" turns into a pointed examination of how independent Uganda (a British colony until 1962) became a breeding ground for Amin's genocidal tyranny. As Whitaker plays him, Amin is both seductive and horribly destructive--sometimes in the same breath--and McAvoy effectively conveys the tragic cost of his character's naiveté, which grows increasingly prone to exploitation. As directed by Kevin Macdonald (who made the riveting semi-documentary "Into the Void"), this potent cautionary tale my prompt some viewers to check out Barbet Schroeder's equally revealing documentary "General Idi Amin Dada", an essential source for much of this film's authentic detail. "--Jeff Shannon"

Beyond "The Last King of Scotland"
More from Forest Whitaker
General Idi Amin Dada
"The Last King of Scotland" (Paperback)
Stills from "The Last King of Scotland"

Theatrical: 1999

Studio: Universal Studios

Genre: Biography

Duration: 119

Summary: In this entertaining comedy Jim Carrey hilariously portrays the late Andy Kaufman, considered to be one of the most innovative, eccentric and enigmatic comics of all time. Along for the ride to the top is Kaufman`s manager, George Shapiro (Danny DeVito),

Theatrical: 2007

Studio: Paramount

Genre: Biography

Duration: 108

Summary: Based on the book by Mariane Pearl, this film tells the story of the disappearance and death of Danny Pearl, a Wall Street Journal reporter in Pakistan. Angelina Jolie as Pearl's wife is the star here--if you can forget who she is, she gives a strong performance as the level headed, pregnant Mariane, who violently cracks only when her husband's death is confirmed. Throughout, she and Danny's parents preach dialogue and understanding, refusing to be terrorized or goaded, even by a reporter who asks her if she watched the terrorists' video of Danny's gruesome death.



At times filmed with a handheld camera and on video, the movie conveys the chaos, poverty and impenetrable mystery of Karachi. One wonders how anyone at all is ever apprehended, but in this case Pakistan cooperated, indeed led the investigation, and the perpetrators were rounded up. We know the ending before it begins, but nevertheless "A Mighty Heart" held my interest throughout.

Theatrical: 1985

Studio: American Zoetrope

Genre: Biography

Duration: 121

Summary: A fictionalized account in four segments of the life of Japan's celebrated twentieth-century author Yukio Mishima. Three of the segments parallel events in Mishima's life with his novels (The Temple of the Golden Pavilion (Kinkaku-ji), Kyoko's House, and Runaway Horses), while the fourth depicts 25 November 1970, "The Last Day"...

Theatrical: 2003

Studio: Sony Pictures

Genre: Biography

Duration: 109

Summary: A dark tale based on the true story of Aileen Wuornos, one of America's first female serial killers. Wuornos had a difficult and cruel childhood plagued by abuse and drug use in Michigan. She became a prostitute by the age of thirteen, the same year she became pregnant. She eventually moved to Florida where she began earning a living as a highway prostitute--servicing the desires of semi-truck drivers. The tale focuses on the nine month period between 1989 and 1990, during which Wuornos had a lesbian relationship with a woman named Selby. And during that very same time, she also began murdering her clientele in order to get money without using sex. This turned the tables on a rather common phenomena of female highway prostitutes being the victims of serial killers--instead Wuornos, herself, carried out the deeds of a cold-blooded killer.

Theatrical: 2005

Studio: HBO

Genre: Biography

Duration: 91

Summary:

Theatrical: 1928

Studio: Criterion

Genre: Biography

Duration: 82

Summary: With its stunning camerawork and striking compositions, Carl Th. Dreyer's "The Passion of Joan of Arc" convinced the world that movies could be art. Renée Falconetti gives one of the greatest performances ever recorded on film, as the young maiden who died for God and France. Long thought to have been lost to fire, the original version was miraculously found in perfect condition in 1981-in a Norwegian mental institution. Criterion is proud to present this milestone of silent cinema in a new special edition featuring composer Richard Einhorn's Voices of Light, an original opera/oratorio inspired by the film.

Theatrical: 1996

Studio: Sony Pictures

Genre: Biography

Duration: 129

Summary: Larry Flynt is the hedonistically obnoxious, but indomitable, publisher of Hustler magazine. The film recounts his struggle to make an honest living publishing his girlie magazine and how it changes into a battle to protect the freedom of speech for all people.

Theatrical: 2006

Studio: Miramax

Genre: Biography

Duration: 103

Summary: The Queen is an intimate behind the scenes glimpse at the interaction between HM Elizabeth II and Prime Minister Tony Blair during their struggle, following the death of Diana, to reach a compromise between what was a private tragedy for the Royal family and the public's demand for an overt display of mourning.

Theatrical: 2004

Studio: Universal Studios

Genre: Biography

Duration: 152

Summary: Ray Charles has the distinction of being both a national treasure and an international phenomenon. By the early 1960's Ray Charles had accomplished his dream. He'd come of age musically. He'd made it to Carnegie Hall. The hit records "Georgia," "Born to Lose" successively kept climbing to the top of the charts. He'd made his first triumphant European concert tour in 1960 (a feat which, except for 1965, he's repeated at least once a year ever since). He had taken virtually every form of popular music and broken through its boundaries with such awe inspiring achievements as the LP's "Genius Plus Soul Equals Jazz" and "Modern Sounds in Country & Western." Rhythm & blues (or "race music" as it had been called) became universally respectable through his efforts. Jazz found a mainstream audience it had never previously enjoyed. And country & western music began to chart an unexpected course to general acceptance, then worldwide popularity. And along the way Ray Charles was instrumental in the invention of rock & roll. Jamie Foxx (Any Given Sunday, Ali) is Ray Charles in this high-energy portrait of an exceptional man who has become an American icon. Born in a poor African American town in central Florida, Ray Charles went blind at the age of 7. With the staunch support of his determined single mother, he developed the fierce resolve, wit and incredible talent that would eventually enable him to overcome not only Jim Crow Racism and the cruel prejudices against the blind, but also discover his own sound which revolutionized American popular music. Nonetheless, as Ray's unprecedented fame grew, so did his weakness for drugs and women, until they threatened to strip away the very things he held most dear. This little known story of Ray Charles' meteoric rise from humble beginnings, his successful struggle to excel in a sighted world and his eventual defeat of his own personal demons make for an inspiring and unforgettable true story of human triumph.

Theatrical: 2002

Studio: First Look Pictures

Genre: Biography

Duration: 96

Summary: The sociopath Roc Tremain (Luc Picard) is the Canadian version of Charles Manson. He ruthlessly manipulated those within his community of true believers. They refused to abandon Tremain even after witnessing his torturing and murdering one of their fellow members. Their own children were readily sacrificed to this mad man's lust and violent behavior. Disgustingly, Tremain had little sexual interest in the older children. He apparently preferred his female victims to be no older than five or six years old! Government officials did next to nothing until a brave social worker (Polly Walker) relentlessly forced the issue.



I thoroughly enjoyed Savage Messiah. The acting is superb along with the dialogue. Why am I among the very few who thinks so? I cannot begin to understand why this gem of a film is so ignored. It is truly a four and a half to five star film. Please make a point of seeing it. I'm sure you will agree with me.



David Thomson

Flares into Darkness

Theatrical: 1997

Studio: Warner Home Video

Genre: Biography

Duration: 127

Summary: The film tells the story of life of Mexican "Tejano" style singer Selena and the progress of her career resulting in No.1 US album.

Theatrical: 1986

Studio: Initial Pictures

Genre: Biography

Duration: 112

Summary: Morbid biographical story of Sid Vicious, bassist with British punk group the Sex Pistols, and his girlfriend Nancy Spungen. When the Sex Pistols break up after their fateful US tour, Vicious attempts a solo career while in the grip of heroin addiction. One morning, Nancy is found stabbed to death and Sid is arrested for her murder.

Theatrical: 1960

Studio:

Genre: Biography

Duration: 80

Summary: In this, the third part of the trilogy, Jean Cocteau stars and also directs. In Greek legend, Orpheus is the poet who almost rescues his wife Eurydice from Hades by charming Pluto and Persephone with his lyre. Jean Cocteau takes on the role of poet/charmer in this insightful look into the world of the French artists. Pablo Picasso and his wife make a rare cameo appearance.

Theatrical: 1952

Studio: 20th Century Fox

Genre: Biography

Duration: 113

Summary: In 1909, Emiliano Zapata (Marlon Brando), a well-born but penniless Mexican Indian from a remote province, Morelos, comes to Mexico City to complain that their arable land has been enclosed, leaving them only in the barren hills. His expressed dissatisfaction with the response of the President Diaz (Fay Roope) puts him in danger, and when he rashly rescues a prisoner from the local militia he becomes an outlaw. Urged on by a strolling intellectual, Fernando (Joseph Wiseman), he supports the exiled Don Francisco Madero (Harold Gordon) against Diaz, and becomes the leader of his forces in the South as Pancho Villa (Alan Reed) is in the North. Diaz flees, and Madero takes his place; but he is a puppet president, in the hands of the leader of the army, Huerta (Frank Silvera), who has him assassinated when he tries to express solidarity for the men who fought for him. Zapata and Villa return to arms, and, successful in victory, seek to find a leader for the country. Unwillingly, Zapata takes the job, but, a while later, he responds to some petitioners from his own village with no more reassurance than had Diaz years before., Realizing that with power his idealism has gone, he returns with them to Morelos - specifically to investigate their complaints against his brother Eufemio (Anthony Quinn). New leaders take his place, and, egged on by the always surviving Fernando, they decide that Zapata is a threat to their regime.

Theatrical: 2005

Studio: 20th Century Fox

Genre: Biography

Duration: 135

Summary: A solid and entertaining biopic, "Walk the Line" works less as a movie than an actors' showcase for its stars. Joaquin Phoenix's total immersion into the skin of singer Johnny Cash is startling--watching it, you can't believe this is the same guy who whined about being "vexed" in "Gladiator". As he evolves from a farm boy to gospel croonin' plunker to the Man in Black, Phoenix disappears into Cash's deep baritone, his way of slinging the guitar onto his back, and his hunched-up style of strumming. But it's more than just picking up mannerisms: Phoenix also sings as Johnny Cash, and it's quite impressive.
The story of how Johnny Cash became Johnny Cash traces from his childhood under a distant father (Robert Patrick) to his early attempts at a music career, during which he married his girlfriend Vivian (Ginnifer Goodwin). During a tour with the likes of Elvis (Tyler Hilton) and Jerry Lee Lewis (Waylon Malloy Payne), he encounters singer June Carter (Reese Witherspoon), and his love for her--and her rejection of him through the years--spurs him into drugs, drinking, and depression. As with most movies based on real-life singers, as his popularity grows, the women come a-flockin', and the childhood demons surface. Witherspoon, who matches Phoenix drawl for drawl, plays June both as a sassy spitfire whose charm breaks your heart, and as a sympathetic friend who tries to help Cash get over--well, her. The love story is what endures, but the movie comes most alive during its musical numbers, and even if you're not a country fan, it may just get you to run out and buy a Johnny Cash album."--Ellen A. Kim"

Theatrical: 1980

Studio: Universal Studios

Genre: Biography

Duration: 100

Summary: Bill Murray is in his early-career, shambling glory as Hunter S. Thompson, the gonzo journalist with a fondness for Wild Turkey and firearms. While Murray does not do as exact an impersonation of Thompson as Johnny Depp (in "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas"), he does capture Thompson's dazed, anarchic nature. Unfortunately, the movie around him is just anarchic: a series of episodes (true or invented) from Dr. Thompson's career, circa 1968-72. The haphazard structure is probably meant to suggest the spirit of the counterculture or something, but it's just flabby storytelling. Thanks to Murray's blissful delivery, there are scenes that have a stoned giddiness to them: Thompson and his attorney (Peter Boyle) terrifying an unsuspecting hitchhiker, or Thompson alone in a men's room with Richard Nixon. Neil Young contributes some music, and Murray warbles "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" while drunkenly piloting a plane. "--Robert Horton"

Theatrical: 1941

Studio: Warner Home Video

Genre: Biography

Duration: 126

Summary: A musical portrait of composer/singer/dancer George M. Cohan. From his early days as a child-star in his family's vaudeville show up to the time of his comeback at which he received a medal from the president for his special contributions to the US, this is the life- story of George M. Cohan, who produced, directed, wrote and starred in his own musical shows for which he composed his famous songs.

Theatrical: 2004

Studio:

Genre: Biography

Duration: 137

Summary: