Biography movies

Rob Roy (1995)

Monday, June 9th, 2008
Genres: Action | Biography | Drama | Romance | War
Countries: USA
Actors: Neeson, Liam | Lange, Jessica | Hurt, John | Roth, Tim | Stoltz, Eric | Keir, Andrew | Cox, Brian | McCardie, Brian | Martin, Gilbert | Masson, Vicki | Gilchrist, Gilly | Flemyng, Jason | Stewart, Ewan | Hayman, David | McArthur, Brian
Directors: Caton-Jones, Michael
Download: DivX iPod 

In the highlands of Scotland in the 1700s, Rob Roy tries to lead his small town to a better future, by borrowing money from the local nobility to buy cattle to herd to market. When the money is stolen, Rob is forced into a Robin Hood lifestyle to defend his family and honour.

El Greco (2007)

Monday, June 9th, 2008
Genres: Biography | Drama
Countries: Greece | Spain
Actors: Ashdon, Nick | Botto, Juan Diego | Marull, Laia | Lazopoulos, Lakis | Matsouka, Dimitra | Moustakas, Sotiris | Konsta, Dina | Hristodoulou, Giorgos | Kalivokas, Dimitris | Charalabidis, Yorgos | Zouboulidis, Theo | Protopsalti, Lida | Helmy, Katerina | Reixach, Fermí | Coma, Roger
Directors: Smaragdis, Yannis
Download: DivX iPod 

El Greco is a Greek film about the life of the Greek painter Doménicos Theotokópoulos (El Greco). It was produced in 2007, directed by Yannis Smaragdis and written by Jackie Pavlenko and Dimitris Siatopoulos (book). A dramatization of the life of 16th century Greek painter, Doménicos Theotokópoulos, who, in search of freedom and love, sets off from Crete and goes to Venice and finally Toledo.

Basketball Diaries, The (1995)

Wednesday, June 4th, 2008
Genres: Biography | Crime | Drama | Sport
Countries: USA
Actors: DiCaprio, Leonardo | Bracco, Lorraine | Sokol, Marilyn | Madio, James | McGaw, Patrick | Wahlberg, Mark | Cooper, Roy | Kirby, Bruno | Papiris, Jimmy | Gaetani, Nick | Chaplin, Alexander | Jorgensen, Ben | Mostel, Josh | Lewis, Juliette | Imperioli, Michael
Directors: Kalvert, Scott
Download: DivX iPod 

Film adaptation of street tough Jim Carroll’s epistle about his kaleidoscopic free fall into the harrowing world of drug addiction. As a member of a seemingly unbeatable high school basketball squad, Jim’s life centers around the basketball court and the court becomes a metaphor for the world in his mind. A best friend who is dying of leukemia, a coach (”Swifty”) who takes unacceptable liberties with the boys on his team, teenage sexual angst, and an unhealthy appetite for heroin — all of these begin to encroach on young Jim’s dream of becoming a basketball star. Soon, the dark streets of New York become a refuge from his mother’s mounting concern for her son. He can’t go home and his only escape from the reality of the streets is heroin for which he steals, robs and prostitutes himself. Only with the help of Reggie, an older neighborhood friend with whom Jim “picked up a game” now and then, is he able to begin the long journey back to sanity.

I’m Not There (2007)

Thursday, May 29th, 2008
Genres: Biography | Drama | Music
Countries: Germany | USA
Actors: Blanchett, Cate | Whishaw, Ben | Bale, Christian | Gere, Richard | Franklin, Marcus Carl | Ledger, Heath | Kristofferson, Kris | Francks, Don | LaFortune, Roc | Day, Larry | Cagelet, Paul | Fortin, Pierre-Alexandre | Havens, Richie | Benskin, Tyrone | Roberts, Kim
Directors: Haynes, Todd
Download: DivX iPod 

Six incarnations of Bob Dylan: an actor, a folk singer, an electrified troubadour, Rimbaud, Billy the Kid, and Woody Guthrie. Put Dylan’s music behind their adventures, soliloquies, interviews, marriage, and infidelity. Recreate 1960s documentaries in black and white. Put each at a crossroads, the artist becoming someone else. Jack, the son of Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, finds Jesus; handsome Robbie falls in love then abandons Claire. Woody, a lad escaped from foster care, hobos the U.S. singing; Billy awakes in a valley threatened by a six-lane highway; Rimbaud talks. Jude, booed at Newport when he goes electric, fences with reporters, pundits, and fans. He won’t be classified.

Cinderella Man (2005)

Thursday, May 29th, 2008
Genres: Biography | Drama | Sport
Countries: USA
Actors: Crowe, Russell | Zellweger, Renée | Giamatti, Paul | Bierko, Craig | Considine, Paddy | McGill, Bruce | Huband, David | Price, Connor | Waller, Ariel | Louis, Patrick | DeWitt, Rosemarie | Kash, Linda | Campbell, Nicholas | Pyrz, Gene | Shamata, Chuck
Directors: Howard, Ron
Download: DivX iPod 

During the Great Depression, a common-man hero, James J. Braddock—a.k.a. the Cinderella Man—was to become one of the most surprising sports legends in history. By the early 1930s, the impoverished ex-prizefighter was seemingly as broken-down, beaten-up and out-of-luck as much of the rest of the American populace who had hit rock bottom. His career appeared to be finished, he was unable to pay the bills, the only thing that mattered to him—his family—was in danger, and he was even forced to go on Public Relief. But deep inside, Jim Braddock never relinquished his determination. Driven by love, honor and an incredible dose of grit, he willed an impossible dream to come true. In a last-chance bid to help his family, Braddock returned to the ring. No one thought he had a shot. However Braddock, fueled by something beyond mere competition, kept winning. Suddenly, the ordinary working man became the mythic athlete. Carrying the hopes and dreams of the disenfranchised on his shoulders, Braddock rocketed through the ranks, until this underdog chose to do the unthinkable: take on the heavyweight champ of the world, the unstoppable Max Baer, renowned for having killed two men in the ring.

Bonnie and Clyde (1967)

Friday, May 23rd, 2008
Genres: Biography | Crime | Drama | Romance
Countries: USA
Actors: Beatty, Warren | Dunaway, Faye | Pollard, Michael J. | Hackman, Gene | Parsons, Estelle | Pyle, Denver | Taylor, Dub | Evans, Evans | Wilder, Gene | Appling, Harry | Bush, Owen | Cranshaw, Patrick | Goodgion, Garry | Howdy, Clyde | Marker, Russ
Directors: Penn, Arthur
Download: DivX iPod 

A bored small-town girl and a small-time bank robber leave in their wake a string of violent robberies and newspaper headlines that catch the imagination of the Depression-struck Mid-West in this take on the legendary crime spree of these archetypal lovers on the run.

Talk to Me (2007)

Saturday, May 17th, 2008
Genres: Biography | Drama | History
Countries: USA
Actors: Annan, Jim | Antoine, Benz | Birman, Matt | Brown, David | Cedric the Entertainer | Cheadle, Don | Dale, J. Miles | Davidx | Ejiofor, Chiwetel | Epps, Mike | Jones, Kamal | Kassel, Jeff | Malmberg, Jim | Peterson, Erick | Rakes, Kwame
Directors: Lemmons, Kasi
Download: DVD iPod 

The true life story of Ralph Waldo “Petey” Greene Jr. In the mid-to-late 1960s, in Washington, D.C., vibrant soul music and exploding social consciousness were combining to unique and powerful effect. It was the place and time for Petey to fully express himself - sometimes to outrageous effect - and “tell it like it is.” With the support of his irrepressible and tempestuous girlfriend Vernell, the newly minted ex-con talks his way into an on-air radio gig. He forges a friendship and a partnership with fellow prison inmate Milo’s brother Dewey Hughes. From the first wild morning on the air, Petey relies on the more straight-laced Dewey to run interference at WOL-AM, where Dewey is the program director. At the station, Petey becomes an iconic radio personality, surpassing even the established popularity of his fellow disc jockeys, Nighthawk and Sunny Jim. Combining biting humor with social commentary, Petey openly courts controversy for station owner E.G. Sonderling. Petey was determined to make not just himself but his community heard during an exciting and turbulent period in American history. As Petey’s voice, humor, and spirit surge across the airwaves with the vitality of the era, listeners tune in to hear not only incredible music but also a man speaking directly to them about race and power in America like few people ever have. Through the years, Petey’s “The truth just is” style — on - and off-air - would redefine both Petey and Dewey, and empower each to become the man he would most like to be.

Shine (1996)

Wednesday, May 14th, 2008
Genres: Biography | Drama | Music | Romance
Countries: Australia
Actors: Rush, Geoffrey | Braine, Justin | Todd, Sonia | Haywood, Chris | Rafalowicz, Alex | Poole, Gordon | Mueller-Stahl, Armin | Bell, Nicholas | Cox, Danielle | Gooden, Rebecca | Kaczmarek, Marta | Cousins, John | Taylor, Noah | Linkson, Paul | Berger, Randall
Directors: Hicks, Scott
Download: DivX iPod 

Based on the true story of Australian pianist David Helfgott, this delightful movie charts the early and traumatic early years. Telling the story in flashback we see David as he grows up and into a child prodigy while his father abuses him and his siblings with the memory of his childhood in Europe and the loss of his family in the concentration camps. David finally breaks away from his father and goes away to study overseas, he later suffers a breakdown and returns to Australia and a life in an institution. Many years later he is released and through several twists of fate (in reality even more unlikely than film portrays) he starts playing a piano in a bar before finally returning to the concert hall.

Nightwatching (2007)

Wednesday, May 14th, 2008
Genres: Biography | Drama | History | Mystery
Countries: Canada | France | Germany | Netherlands | Poland | UK
Actors: Freeman, Martin | Holmes, Emily | Teigen, Michael | Britton, Christopher | Culkin, Michael | Ferrier, Harry | Holmes, Jonathan | Jones, Toby | Kasiecki, Kacper | Kotz, Adam | Lukis, Adrian | Marczewski, Maciej | McCabe, Richard | McNulty, Kevin | Mohr, Rafal
Directors: Greenaway, Peter
Download: DivX iPod 

With the 400th anniversary of Rembrandt’s birth in 2006, NIGHTWATCHING is truly a feast for the senses. Extravagant, suspenseful and sensuously beautiful, the mystery behind the extraordinary artist’s infamous painting is perfectly explored by one of the most iconic Directors of our time - Peter Greenaway. The year 1642 marks the turning point in the life of the famous Dutch painter, Rembrandt, turning him from a wealthy respected celebrity into a discredited pauper. At the insistence of his pregnant wife Saskia, Rembrandt has reluctantly agreed to paint the Amsterdam Musketeer Militia in a group portrait that will later become to be known as The Nightwatch. He soon discovers that there is a conspiracy afoot with the Amsterdam merchants playing at soldiers maneuvering for financial advantage and personal power in, that time, the richest city in the Western World. Rembrandt stumbles on a foul murder. Confident in the birth of a longed-for son and heir, Rembrandt is determined to expose the conspiring murderers and builds his accusation meticulously in the form of the commissioned painting, uncovering the seamy and hypocritical side to Dutch Society in the Golden Age. Rembrandt’s great good fortune turns. Saskia dies. Rembrandt reveals the accusation of murder in the painting and the conspirators plan revenge. They set out to discredit him at home and abroad. They plant a treacherous mistress, Geertje, to seduce him. They try to blind him. They plan his social and financial ruin, and to create the circumstances for his slide into penury, insult his young mistress Hendrickje, conspire to destroy his son, and bring Rembrandt to his knees. The bold and courageous painting of the Nightwatch, exceptional in aesthetics and content, is Rembrandt’s most celebrated painting, it consolidated his reputation as a master-painter but it also destroyed him socially and financially.

Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007)

Monday, May 5th, 2008
Genres: Biography | Drama | History
Countries: France | UK
Actors: Mollà, Jordi | Rush, Geoffrey | King, Aimee | Blanchett, Cate | Shrapnel, John | Lynch, Susan | McCave, Elise | Morton, Samantha | Cornish, Abbie | McGhie, Penelope | Ifans, Rhys | Redmayne, Eddie | McLoughlin, Stuart | Owen, Clive | Scarborough, Adrian
Directors: Shekhar Kapur
Download: DivX iPod 

Nearly a decade after Cate Blanchett drew the attention of audiences and critics alike with ELIZABETH, the Oscar-winning actress returns to the role of the Virgin Queen. Though the protestant ruler has been on the throne for decades in 1585, Elizabeth I’s reign is still under attack from both inside her country and from the continent. Her cousin, Mary, Queen of Scots (Samantha Morton), carries the favour of the nation’s Catholics as she schemes for the throne from prison, while Spain’s King Philip II (Jordi Molla) plots an invasion with the power of his famous armada. But Elizabeth is also concerned with the arrival of Sir Walter Raleigh (Clive Owen), a charming pirate and adventurer. Unable to reconcile her feelings with her crown, she encourages Bess (Abbie Cornish), her beloved lady-in-waiting, to pursue a relationship with Raleigh.
Nine years haven’t dulled Blanchett’s ability to play this—or any other—character with an impressive range of fire and tenderness. Her chemistry with the infinitely watchable Owen is one of the film’s highlights. As in ELIZABETH, director Shekhar Kapur doesn’t restrict himself from using artfully constructed shots that aren’t normally used in period dramas. It’s a modern retelling of history, and Kapur and his director of photograpy, Remi Adefarasin, aren’t content to let the film have the standard look of many films in the genre. Costume designer Alexandra Byrne follows the same logic, creating stunning dresses for Elizabeth that draw inspiration both from modernity and the time period. If Blanchett weren’t such a gifted actress, the gorgeous costumes might threaten to overtake her as the star of the film.