The Heroes of Telemark (1965)

The Heroes of Telemark is a 1965 war film based on the story of the Norwegian heavy water sabotage during World War II.

Norwegian resistance fighters sabotage the Norsk Hydro plant in Telemark, Norway, which the Nazis used to produce heavy water to make a nuclear bomb. Snowy Norwegian locations serve as a backdrop for the plot. Kirk Douglas plays the role of a Norwegian physics professor who, though originally content to wait out the war, is soon pulled into the struggle.

The movie bears only a cursory resemblance to the actual events. For instance, the sabotage on the plant itself was achieved without a shot being fired, unlike the gun battle portrayed in the film. The love story involving Douglas' character was also entirely invented. Understandably the film was a big hit in Norway, but was unsuccessful outside Europe.

Eastern Promises (2007)

Eastern Promises is a 2007 drama and thriller feature film directed by David Cronenberg. The screenplay was written by Steve Knight. The movie stars Viggo Mortensen, Naomi Watts and Vincent Cassel.

Anna Khitrova (Naomi Watts), a midwife at a London hospital, delivers a baby girl from an unconscious and hemorrhaging fourteen-year-old. The teenager dies during childbirth and has no identification other than a diary, written in Russian and a business card for a restaurant called Trans-Siberian. Wanting to find relatives for the new-born girl, Anna sets out to uncover the mother's identity. Anna visits the restaurant, owned by charismatic Semyon (Armin Mueller-Stahl), a boss in the Russian Mafia or vor v zakone ("thief in law"), who offers to help by translating the diary.

The Heartbreak Kid (2007)

The Heartbreak Kid is a 2007 comedy film and is a remake of the 1972 film of the same name starring Ben Stiller. The film was directed by Bobby and Peter Farrelly and stars Ben Stiller, Malin Akerman, Michelle Monaghan, Jerry Stiller and Carlos Mencia.

Eddie (Ben Stiller), the owner of a sports shop, is single and indecisive about starting a relationship. While walking down the street he witnesses a purse snatcher victimizing Lila (Malin Akerman). After failing to retrieve the purse, they exchange pleasantries and eventually date. They quickly become serious, as they seem perfect for each other. Pushed by the urging of his father (Jerry Stiller) and best friend (Rob Corddry), Eddie proposes to Lila and they are married. However, during their honeymoon in Mexico Eddie begins to question his decision, as it becomes increasingly apparent how mismatched the couple is.

Training Day (2001)

Training Day is an Academy Award-winning 2001 film starring Denzel Washington as Alonzo Harris, a corrupt Los Angeles police officer, and Ethan Hawke as Jake Hoyt, his new green recruit looking to become a part of Harris' elite narcotics unit. The entire movie takes place over a single, intense 24-hour period in Los Angeles that forever changes the lives of both officers. The movie was written by David Ayer and directed by Antoine Fuqua, both of whom grew up in gang neighborhoods.

Training Day presents the moral dilemma of committing minor crimes to prevent larger ones and getting things done even if it means making moral compromises. Denzel Washington won the Academy Award for Best Actor. Ethan Hawke was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

Punch-Drunk Love (2002)

Punch-Drunk Love is a 2002 film written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. Adam Sandler and Emily Watson star. Anderson regulars Philip Seymour Hoffman and Luis Guzmán also appear.

Barry Egan (Sandler) owns a company that markets themed toilet plungers ("fungers") and other novelty items. He has seven overbearing sisters who ridicule him regularly, and leads a very lonely life punctuated by fits of rage. In the span of one morning, he witnesses a bizarre car accident, picks up an abandoned harmonium from the street, and encounters Lena Leonard (Watson), who he later learns orchestrated the meeting after seeing him in a family picture belonging to his sister Elizabeth (Mary Lynn Rajskub), a co-worker of Lena's.

Velvet Goldmine (1998)

Velvet Goldmine is a 1998 film directed and co-written by Todd Haynes. The film tells the story of a popstar based mainly on David Bowie's 'Ziggy Stardust' character and is set in Britain during the days of glam rock in the early 1970s.

The film centers on Brian Slade, a bisexual folk minstrel-cum-glitter icon patterned after David Bowie and to a lesser extent, Marc Bolan and Brian Eno, played by Jonathan Rhys Meyers, in a career breakout performance. Ewan McGregor co-stars in the role of Curt Wild, a glam-rock performer who doesn't back down from sex, nudity or drugs on or off stage, and whom many consider to be loosely based on Iggy Pop, with a dash of Lou Reed, Mick Ronson and Alice Cooper. Also featured are Toni Collette as Slade's wife, and Eddie Izzard as his manager. The tale strongly parallels Bowie and Pop's relationship in the 1970s and 1980s, with parallel stages in both stories including "folk singer takes illegal substances" and "open-minded glam rocker becomes bland straight guy." Brian Slade's gradually overwhelming on-stage persona of "Maxwell Demon" and his backing band, "Venus in Furs", likewise bear a resemblance to Bowie's similar persona and backing band, Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. The film is also strongly influenced by the ideas and life of Oscar Wilde (seen here as a progenitor of glam rock), with a dash of Jean Genet influence.

The King of Kong (2007)

The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters is a documentary that follows Steve Wiebe as he tries to take the world high score for the arcade game Donkey Kong from reigning champion Billy Mitchell.

In Ottumwa, Iowa, Walter Day founded Twin Galaxies, an organization formed to keep track of high scores achieved on arcade games in the United States. Billy Mitchell, having achieved the highest ever recorded scores on Donkey Kong and Centipede in the 1980s, remains a video game legend in 2005. Twin Galaxies has now become a global organization. Mitchell is unabashedly cocky and fond of self promotion, proclaiming himself the "Sauce King" of Florida for his successful line of homemade hot sauces. Next to his family, Mitchell considers his arcade scores his greatest achievements in life.

Superbad (2007)

Superbad is a 2007 comedy written by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. They began writing the script when they were 13 years old to see if they could make a movie. The film is directed by former television director Greg Mottola and is produced by Judd Apatow, previously known for directing The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Knocked Up.

The film was a critical and commercial success, inspiring comparisons to Apatow's previous film, Knocked Up which was released earlier in the summer.

Evan (Michael Cera) and Seth (Jonah Hill) are close friends preparing to leave high school. Seth is invited to a party by Jules (Emma Stone) and agrees to provide the alcohol, using their friend Fogell’s (Chris Mintz-Plasse) fake ID.

Shooter (2007/I)

Shooter is a 2007 action/conspiracy thriller directed by Antoine Fuqua. The film is based on the novel Point of Impact by Stephen Hunter. Shooter was released on March 23, 2007. The film's DVD was released on June 26, 2007, reaching the top of the sales charts.

Bob Lee Swagger (Mark Wahlberg) is a former United States Marine Corps scout sniper who left the Marines after a betrayal by the CIA which left his best friend and spotter, Donnie Fenn, dead. A group that leads him to believe they are federal agents (they are, in fact, CIA), approaches him to help entrap a potential assassin, who may attempt to shoot the President at one of three possible locations. Swagger is framed, and afterwards every law enforcement agency is after him, and he is forced to use his military training so that justice prevails.

The Good German (2006)

The Good German is a 2006 feature film adaptation of the novel by Joseph Kanon. It was directed by Steven Soderbergh, and stars George Clooney, Cate Blanchett, and Tobey Maguire. Set in Berlin following the Allied victory over the Nazis, it begins as a murder mystery, but weaves in elements hinting at NASA's origins and the American postwar employment of Nazi rocket scientists in Operation Paperclip.

Berlin, July, 1945. Journalist Jake Geismer arrives to cover the Potsdam conference, issued a captain's uniform for easier passage. He also wants to find Lena, an old flame who's now a prostitute desperate to get out of Berlin. He discovers that the driver he's assigned, a cheerful down-home sadist named Corporal Tully, is Lena's keeper. When the body of a murdered man washes up in Potsdam (within the Russian sector), Jake may be the only person who wants to solve the crime: U.S. personnel are busy finding Nazis to bring to trial, the Russians and the Americans are looking for German rocket scientists, and Lena has her own secrets.

Smokin' Aces (2006)

Smokin' Aces is an action film, written and directed by Joe Carnahan, set in Lake Tahoe, and primarily shot at MontBleu Resort Casino & Spa (renamed the "Nomad Casino" in the film). It marks Carnahan's third feature, following Blood, Guts, Bullets and Octane and Narc. It stars Ryan Reynolds and Jeremy Piven as the leads, with Piven as a Las Vegas magician turned mafia informant and Reynolds as the FBI agent assigned to protect him. It is the feature film debut of both R&B artist Alicia Keys and rapper Common.

In these interlocking tales of high stakes and low lifes, Mob boss Primo Sparazza has taken out a hefty contract on Buddy "Aces" Israel (Piven)--a sleazy magician who has agreed to turn state's evidence against the Vegas mob. The FBI, sensing a chance to use this small-time con to bring down big-target Sparazza, places Aces into protective custody-under the supervision of two agents (Reynolds and Liotta) dispatched to Aces' Lake Tahoe hideout. When word of the price on Aces' head spreads into the community of ex-cons and cons-to-be, it entices bounty hunters, thugs-for-hire, smokin' hot vixens and double-crossing mobsters to join in the hunt. With all eyes on Tahoe, this rogues' gallery collides in a comic race to hit the jackpot and rub out Aces.

Dazed and Confused (1993)

Dazed and Confused is a 1993 comedy-drama film written and directed by Richard Linklater. The movie's large ensemble cast featured a number of future stars including Jason London, Ben Affleck, Anthony Rapp, Cole Hauser, Milla Jovovich, Joey Lauren Adams, and Parker Posey.

The film takes place on May 28, 1976, the last day of school at Lee High School in Austin, Texas. The seniors are preparing for the annual hazing of incoming freshmen by building paddles and buying cooking supplies; meanwhile, Randall "Pink" Floyd, the school's star football player, is asked to sign a school pledge, promising not to take drugs or do anything else that could "jeopardize the goal of a championship season in '76".

Hot Rod (2007)

Hot Rod is a Paramount Pictures movie written by Pam Brady and directed by Akiva Schaffer; starring Andy Samberg, Sissy Spacek, Jorma Taccone, Will Arnett, Danny R. McBride, Ian McShane, Isla Fisher, and Bill Hader. It was originally written with Will Ferrell in mind (he is credited as executive producer). The film was released in America on August 3, 2007.

For his entire life, Rod Kimble (Andy Samberg) believes his father, now deceased, was a successful and respectable stuntman working for Evel Knievel. He aspires to follow his father's footsteps and become a famous stuntman himself. Meanwhile, his stepfather Frank (Ian McShane) fails to respect Rod as a man, often going out of his way to beat him in sparring sessions and mocking his stuntman dream.

Ocean's Eleven (1960)

Ocean's Eleven is a 1960 heist film directed by Lewis Milestone and starring five Rat Packers: Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., Joey Bishop and Peter Lawford. Other stars included Angie Dickinson, Cesar Romero, Richard Conte, Akim Tamiroff, Henry Silva, Ilka Chase, Norman Fell, Harry Wilson, and Buddy Lester, as well as uncredited cameo appearances by Shirley MacLaine, Red Skelton, and George Raft.

In the movie, a gang of 11 World War II veteran 82d Airborne Division paratroopers, led by former Sgt. Danny Ocean (Sinatra), get together 12 years after the war to rob five different Las Vegas casinos (Sands, Desert Inn, Flamingo, Riviera and Sahara) on New Year's Eve.

American Graffiti (1973)

American Graffiti is a 1973 film directed by George Lucas. Set in 1962 in a small-town in Northern California, it follows a group of middle-class teenagers on the last night of the summer vacation after their graduation from high school. The events take place against a background of commentary and period music spun by disc jockey Wolfman Jack.

The film focuses on vignettes about the four young men: Curt (Richard Dreyfuss), Steve (Ron Howard), Terry (Charles Martin Smith), and John (Paul Le Mat). Curt is not sure if he wants to go off to college, despite receiving a lodge scholarship, much to Steve's consternation. Steve, on the other hand, is not sure about his relationship with steady girlfriend Laurie, Curt's sister. Curt spends the whole night riding around in other people's cars obsessing about a mysterious blond driving a white Ford Thunderbird.

John splits his time between trying to pick up girls, "baby-sitting" a precocious 14-year old girl, and defending his reputation as the fastest drag racer in town. Harrison Ford appears in a few scenes as a 'out of town' racer trying to beat John's unbroken record. While racing he crashes his car with Laurie next to him, both survive but the car is wrecked. Steve lends his car to Terry while he plans to go to college, Terry uses his car to pick up a girl and spends the rest of the film trying to impress her.

The Last Picture Show (1971)

The Last Picture Show is a 1971 film directed by Peter Bogdanovich, adapted from a 1966 novel by Larry McMurtry.

Set in the semi-fictitious town of Anarene, Texas in the early 1950s (November 1951 - November 1952), it is about the coming of age of two young men, best friends Sonny Crawford (Timothy Bottoms) and Duane Jackson (Jeff Bridges).

Cybill Shepherd, making her screen debut, plays Duane's girlfriend Jacy Farrow, and their friend and mentor Sam the Lion, owner of the town's only movie theater, is played by Ben Johnson. The movie also features Cloris Leachman, Ellen Burstyn, Eileen Brennan, Clu Gulager, Sam Bottoms, Sharon Ullrick, Randy Quaid and John Hillerman.

The screenplay was adapted by James Lee Barrett, Peter Bogdanovich, Larry McMurtry and Polly Platt (uncredited) from the novel of the same name by McMurtry. It was the first successful film directed by Peter Bogdanovich, who had already built a reputation as a film critic. It was filmed in black and white by cinematographer Robert Surtees at the suggestion of Orson Welles and shot mostly at eye level--a technique used by the director to give the viewer the feeling of being a part of the situation.

Bogdanovich expertly used music to give more subtle insight into the characters. Many of them were shown in different scenes and situations listening to music that reflected some aspects of their own personalities. A number of the songs were written and recorded by Hank Williams.