10. Girl, Interrupted (1999)
Directed by James Mangold Girl, Interrupted is a movie based on Susanna Kaysen's memories from the time she had stayed in a mental institution after having taken an overdose of aspirin. Even though she denied it, Susanna (Winona Ryder) was accused of several suicide attempts. She shocked her therapists when acknowledged her lack of desire to go to college but to become a writer instead. While in the Claymoore Hospital Susanna befriends with other patients, among them is the sociopathic and manipulative Lisa Rowe (Angelina Jolie) who encourages her to quit taking her pills and resist therapy.
9. Rock Star (2001)
This remarkably directed and brilliantly performed music drama tells the story of Chris 'Izzy' Cole (Mark Wahlberg), a lead singer of a tribute band, and his road to fame. The character of Chris and his ascendance to lead vocal in his favorite band was inspired by real events that happened in the personal life of Tim "Ripper" Owens who joined metal band Judas Priest as a lead vocal not long after Rob Halford decided to leave.
8. Hawking (2004)
This moving drama, directed by Philip Martin and staring Benedict Cumberbatch, portrays the life of the theoretical physicist Professor Stephen Hawking. At the age of 21, he was diagnosed with motor neurone disease. Despite the severe illness, he gained a huge world success with his ground-breaking research on the nature of the universe. The film focuses on events of his life before and a few years after he received the diagnosis.
7. The Sea Inside (2004)
A deeply touching Spanish-language film, which tells the life story of Spaniard Ramón Sampedro, a man stricken with paralysis. He started a longtime campaign to win the right to end his life with dignity. The Sea inside (original title Mar adentro) tackles issues about the meaning and value of life. Alejandro Amenábar's dramatic film story has won a number of awards over the years. With its stellar cast including Javier Bardem, Belén Rueda and Lola Dueñas, the movie totally deserves compliments and appreciation.
6. Munich (2005)
Steven Spielberg's Munich is a historical drama and a political thriller which depicts the aftermath events of Munich massacre. It is also based on the book Vengeance: The True Story of an Israeli Counter-Terrorist Team about the Mossad spy Yuval Aviv. The film follows a squad of murderers as they hunt down and assassinate people who are affirmed to be members of the Palestinian organization responsible for kidnapping and tragic murder of eleven Israeli athletes and officials.
5. Alpha dog (2006)
Alpha Dog is an American crime drama thriller based on the life of the Californian middle-class drug dealer Jesse James Hollywood who became one of the youngest men put in FBI's list of top wanted criminals. The plot focuses on a particular story and the related events of the kidnapping and murdering a 15-year-old boy Nicholas Markowitz in 2000. The film is directed by Nick Cassavetes and features Emile Hirsch, Justin Timberlake, Ben Foster, Anton Yelchin, Olivia Wilde and Amanda Seyfried.
4. The Whistleblower (2010)
Written and directed by Larysa Kondracki The Whistleblower is an intense thriller which tells the story of Kathryn Bolkovac (Rachel Weisz). She is an American police officer who accepts to go to post-war Bosnia and Herzegovina as a UN peacekeeper with intends to help rebuild the country. However, reality doesn't meet her expectations. Gradually Kathryn discovers a disturbing picture of a corrupted world. The film touches on the problem with women trafficking.
3. The Help (2011)
The Help is a highly profound film to watch, based on Kathryn Stockett 's novel. Set in 1960s , era of the civil right movement, the film depicts lives of three women - a young white woman and two black maids and how their friendship grows strong over the time. The film gained numerous positive reviews and turned into a huge success. It also received four Academy Award nominations and in January 2012 won a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture.
2. The Conjuring (2013)
James Wan's hugely acclaimed movie The Comjuring tells a controversial horror story about supernatural and utterly disturbing occurrences that happened in a farmhouse in Rhode Island in 1971. The main characters Lorraine Warren and Ed Warren are two Americans who is investigate paranormal phenomena and various cases of unnatural hunting. Moreover, one of Lorraine and Ed's reported revelations was the scariest story of all time about the Lutz family and their paranormal experiences called Amityville Horror.
1. Snowden (2015)
Snowden is an upcoming American drama thriller with political elements based on the biographical books Time of the Octopus by Anatoly Kucherena and The Snowden Files by Luke Harding. The film portrays real-life events of the computer professional and NSA analysts Edward Snowden who was responsible for thousands of classified documents to go public in June 2013. Consequently, Snowden ran away from the United States and, presumably, now he lives in Russia. The movie, directed by Oliver Stone, starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Snowden and Zachary Quinto as Glenn Greenwald, is planned to be released on 25 December in North America.
