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.
Amistad is the name of a slave ship traveling towards the New World in 1839. It is carrying a cargo of Africans who have been captured, taken on board, and chained in the cargo hold of the ship. As the ship is crossing the Atlantic, Cinque, who was a tribal leader in Africa, leads a mutiny and takes over the ship. They continue to sail, hoping to find help when they land. Instead, when they reach the United States, they are imprisoned as runaway slaves. They don't speak a word of English, and it seems like they are doomed to die for killing their captors when an abolitionist lawyer decides to take their case, arguing that they were free citizens of another country and not slaves at all. The case finally gets to the Supreme Court, where John Quincy Adams makes an impassioned and eloquent plea for their release.
GOODBYE BAFANA is the true story of a white South African racist whose life was profoundly altered by the black prisoner he guarded for twenty years. The prisoner's name was Nelson Mandela.
A sumptuous and sensual tale of intrigue, romance and betrayal set against the backdrop of a defining moment in European history: two beautiful sisters, Anne and Mary Boleyn, driven by their family's blind ambition, compete for the love of the handsome and passionate King Henry VIII.
It is the year 1250 B.C. during the late Bronze age. Two emerging nations begin to clash after Paris, the Trojan prince, convinces Helen, Queen of Sparta, to leave her husband Menelaus, and sail with him back to Troy. After Menelaus finds out that his wife was taken by the Trojans, he asks his brother Agamemnom to help him get her back. Agamemnon sees this as an opportunity for power. So they set off with 1,000 ships holding 50,000 Greeks to Troy. With the help of Achilles, the Greeks are able to fight the never before defeated Trojans. But they come to a stop by Hector, Prince of Troy. The whole movie shows their battle struggles, and the foreshadowing of fate in this remake by Wolfgang Petersen of Homer's "The Iliad."
Ridley Scott's saga of a peasant blacksmith named Balian (Orlando Bloom), who has lost his family and nearly his faith. During the Crusades - the world shaping 200-year collision between Europe and the East, he wonders in a strange land, he serves a doomed king, falls in love with an exotic and forbidden queen and rises to knighthood. Balian meets a man revealing himself as his father. Ultimately, he must protect the people of Jerusalem from overwhelming forces - while trying to keep a fragile peace.
The familiar story of Lieutenant Bligh, whose cruelty leads to a mutiny on his ship. This version follows both the efforts of Fletcher Christian to get his men beyond the reach of British retribution, and the epic voyage of Lieutenant Bligh to get his loyalists safely to East Timor in a tiny lifeboat.
The dramatic thriller is based on the true story of Patrick Chamusso (Derek Luke), an apolitical oil refinery foreman in South Africa who witnessed the authorities’ conspiracy and subsequently became a leader in the struggle against apartheid.
At the beginning of the 19th century, Napoleon's forces controlled much of Europe. In Russia, one of the few countries still unconquered, the army prepares to face Napoleon's troops in Austria. Among the soldiers are Nicholas Rostov (Jeremy Brett) and Prince Andrei Bolkonsky (Mel Ferrer). Pierre Bezukhov (Henry Fonda), a friend of Andrei's and self-styled intellectual who "knows what's right but still does wrong," is not interested in fighting. Pierre's life changes when his father dies, leaving him a vast inheritance. He is attracted to Natasha Rostov (Audrey Hepburn), Nicholas's sister, but gives in to baser desires and marries the shallow, materialistic Princess Helene (Anita Ekberg). The marriage quickly ends when Pierre discovers his wife's true nature. Andrei is captured and later released by the French, and returns home only to watch his wife die in childbirth. During a visit to the country months later, Pierre and Andrei meet again. Andrei sees Natasha and falls in love, but his father will only permit the marriage if they postpone it for one year. While Andrei is away in Poland on a military mission, Natasha is drawn to Anatole Kuragin (Vittorio Gassmann), a scoundrel and libertine. Pierre tells Natasha of Anatole's past before she can elope with him. Napoleon (Herbert Lom) invades Russia. Pierre visits Andrei on the eve of the battle, and observes the battle that follows. Traumatized by the carnage, he vows to kill Napoleon himself.
An exploration of fame and identity, inspired by one of Hollywood's most infamous real-life mysteries. June 16, 1959. The glamour of Tinseltown permanently fades for actor George Reeves, the heroic Man of Steel on TV's Adventures of Superman, as the actor dies in his Hollywood Hills home. Felled by a single gunshot wound, Reeves leaves behind a fiancée - aspiring starlet Leonore Lemmon - and millions of fans who are shocked by his death. But it is his grieving mother, Helen Bessolo, who will not let the questionable circumstances surrounding his demise go unaddressed. Helen seeks justice, or at least answers. The Los Angeles Police Department closes the case, but Helen hires - for $50 a day - private detective Louis Simo. Simo soon ascertains that the torrid affair Reeves had with Toni Mannix, the wife of MGM studio executive Eddie Mannix, might hold the key to the truth. But truth and justice are not so easily found in Hollywood. Simo pursues dangerous and elusive leads in both high and low places and, in trying to turn up the heat, risks getting burned. The detective also uncovers unexpected connections to his own life as the case turns more personal and he learns more about Reeves himself. Behind the icon was a complex man who gave his life to Hollywood in more ways than one.
In 480 BC, the ambitious, cruel and merciless King Xerxes (David Farrar) of Persia invades Greece with his huge army to extend his vast slave empire. The brave Spartan army is the great hope to free and unite Greece, and king Leonidas (Richard Egan) promises to the council of the Greek Stats to defend the passage of Thermopylae, the only way by land to reach Athens. However, he is betrayed by the politicians of Sparta and stays alone with his personal body guard army composed of three hundred warriors only. Using courage and great knowledge of strategies of war, he defends Thermopylae until a treacherous goatherd tells King Xerxes a secret goat passage leading to the back of Leonidas's army.
The drama follows the life of Marie Antoinette (Kirsten Dunst), an Archduchess of Austria who drank the bitterest cup of humiliation in her life. She had complicated, poignant relationships with her strict and domineering mother and a disastrous marriage to the shy and socially awkward Dauphin of France who didn’t consent to have sexual intercourse with his wife for seven long years. Feeling isolated and distressed, Marie Antoinette tried to find consolation in the decadence of the French aristocracy and in a secret liaison with Swedish Count Fersen (Jamie Dornan). Her short-run popularity as a spouse of King Louis XVI gave place to a public censure for her frivolous and eccentric behaviour during the celebrations which she held at the palace of Versailles. Marie Antoinette braved the French Revolution and bore herself with dignity. Her close connections with Austria and support for a foreign intervention were so apparent that she was stripped of her riches, imprisoned and sentenced to death. Various attempts to get her out failed. On October 16, 1793, Marie Antoinette was charged with treason and espionage for other countries, and was executed by guillotine.
This heroic picture is based on a true story of the Russian sub' crew which been on guard in the 1960's during the Cold War between the superpowers of the USA and the USSR. The picture shows how the secret reconnaissance raid turned out to be a reason for a new diplomatic crisis escalation and jeopardized the team of the ballistic sub. Harrison Ford portrays Alexei Vostrikov, a Captain of the nuclear K-19 the reactor of which is seriously injured. Alexei is at odds with an executive officer Mikhail Polenin (Liam Neeson), but they share such merits as bravery and uncompromising patriotism. The missiles located onboard and the men are endangered due to reactor problems, Alexei decides to eliminate the nuclear leakage at any cost...
Based on the events of September 11, 2001, the drama tells the true-life story of courageous police officers John McLoughlin (Nicolas Cage) and Will Jimeno (Michael Pena) who rushed into the sprawling twin towers of the World Trade Center after they were hit by planes piloted by terrorists. John and Will tried desperately to rescue civilians, but became entombed under the rubble when the skyscrapers collapsed. Fortunately, these two were the eighteenth and nineteenth men of twenty to be pulled out alive.
In 1501, in the Western Europe, in a period when the black plague is jeopardizing the populations, an army of mercenary peasants leaded by Martin (Rutger Hauer) fights side-by-side with the noble Arnolfini (Fernando Hilbeck) to retrieve his castle, with the promise of a huge reward. However, the band is betrayed by Arnolfini, and decides to pay him back, assaulting and stealing a caravan under the command of Arnolfini and his son and student, Steven (Tom Burlinson). In one of the wagon is traveling the fiancée of Steven, Agnes (Jennifer Jason Leigh), who is accidentally kidnapped and later raped by the group. Agnes becomes Martin's mate, and the mercenaries decide to invade a castle, without knowing that the army of Arnolfini is chasing them.
In the 15th century, France was entangled in the Hundred Years' War with England. When the country seemed to be threatened with its inevitable downfall, Joan of Arc (Milla Jovovich), a 17-year-old illiterate peasant girl, appeared at the court of the French Dauphin, Charles (John Malkovich). She claimed that she had been instructed by the Lord to lead troops into a holy battle and defend their land against the aggressors. Inspired by the charismatic, self-confident, strong and fearless maiden, warriors won a victory over the English at Orleans. A year later, Joan was captured by the Burgundian and sold to their allies, the English, who tried her for heresy and burnt alive at the stake. In 1456, she was pronounced innocent. In 1920, Joan of Arc was declared a national heroine and canonized a saint.
In 1950, few soccer players in the United States played the game with any particular degree of expertise. Most Americans had heard about the soccer only by hearsay, even though it was the world's most popular sport, and when the United States was invited to compete in the World Cup in Brazil, the country turned out to have no soccer team to call their own. The U.S. set out to recruit players in the soccer breeding ground of St. Louis, Missouri, where they found a group of young friends with almost absolute lack of an appropriate experience, only an unabashed love of the game.
The story about Swedish ambassador in Chile - Harald Edelstam - and his heroic actions to protect the innocent people from the execution during and after the military coup on September 11th 1973. We travel with Edelstam during the terrible moments just after the coup and follows his never-ending fight for human rights, law and order. What drove him? And what price did he end up paying for his total commitment? Haunted by his own demons the we experiences on close hand how a womanizer desperately searches to find love again, a task only doable, if he can fight his own past and redeem himself. After saving hundreds - maybe even thousands - he is challenged once more, this time to save his newfound love from the death penalty issued by the regime. Another impossible task and a desperate chase against time. Based on a true story about a man, that did, what all of us only dreams of.
...The campaign for Texas's independence was inspired by their last stand against the Mexican army during the famous San Antonio siege. Davy Crockett (Billy Bob Thornton) and Jim Bowie (Jason Patric) were among nearly two hundred Texans who held the Franciscan mission that was converted into a military fort in the spring of 1836. Men of all races who believed in the future of Texas were under siege by Mexican forces headed by the dictator of Mexico, General de Santa Anna, for 13 days. Deeds of Alamo soldiers would pass into history as General Sam Houston's war-cry for Texas independence.
