Actor Leonardo DiCaprio (1974)

Martin Scorsese co-writes, produces, and directs the American epic western crime drama film, Killers of the Flower Moon (2023). Inspired by David Grann’s non-fiction book from 2017, Scorsese and Eric Roth bring the story to life. During the annual ‘flower moon’ phenomenon on their Oklahoma reservation, Osage Nation elders mourn their descendants’ assimilation into White American society while burying a ceremonial pipe. It is during this time that ...

An American film Don’t Look Up (2021), written and directed by Adam McKay in collaboration with David Sirota, follows the story of Kate Dibiasky. Dibiasky, a doctoral candidate at Michigan State University, makes a shocking discovery about an unknown comet. Her mentor Doctor Randall Mindy confirms this discovery: the comet will collide with Earth in six months, causing a global extinction event. NASA verifies the findings and invites Dibiasky, Mindy, and Dr. Teddy Oglethorpe (head of the Planetary Defense Coordination Office) to present their research to the White ...

Set in 1969 Hollywood, Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood (2019) is a comedy-drama film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. The story follows Rick Dalton, a former star of the Western show Bounty Law, as he faces the decline of his career. After only landing small roles as TV villains, Dalton’s agent Marvin Schwarz suggests he make Spaghetti Westerns in Italy – an option that Dalton looks down on. His closest companion is Cliff Booth, a war veteran who serves as his stunt double, personal assistant, and driver. Booth lives in a trailer with his pit bull Brandy and struggles to find work due to rumors ...

Directed by Alejandro G. Iñárritu, The Revenant (2015) is an American Western action drama film based on the experiences of frontiersman Hugh Glass in 1823. The screenplay, written by Mark L. Smith and Iñárritu, was adapted from Michael Punke’s 2002 novel of the same name and inspired by the 1915 poem The Song of Hugh Glass. In late 1823, Glass leads Captain Andrew Henry’s trappers through present-day ...

The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) is an American biographical black comedy film directed by Martin Scorsese and written by Terence Winter. It is based on Jordan Belfort’s memoir of the same name. In 1987, 22-year-old Belfort begins working as a stockbroker for L.F. Rothschild, under Mark Hanna. He is quickly drawn to the drug-fueled broker culture and Hanna’s belief that a broker’s only goal is personal wealth. Belfort loses his job after Black Monday, the largest one-day stock market drop since 1929. He then ...

The film adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel, The Great Gatsby (2013), follows the story of World War I veteran Nick Carraway as he recounts his encounter with the enigmatic Jay Gatsby to his doctor while receiving treatment at a psychiatric hospital in December 1929. Encouraged by his doctor to channel his passion for writing, Nick begins documenting the events that led him to New York seven years prior. He had moved from the Midwest and abandoned writing to rent a cottage in West Egg near Gatsby’s extravagant mansion. One evening he has dinner with his cousin Daisy Buchanan and her ...

Django Unchained (2012), a Quentin Tarantino production, takes us to 1858 Texas where two brothers, Ace and Dicky Speck, are seen driving enslaved men and women. One of these slaves is Django, who has been torn apart from his wife Broomhilda von Shaft – an English and German-speaking house slave. The group is stopped by Dr. King Schultz, a former dentist turned bounty hunter, who is looking to buy Django for his knowledge on the notorious Brittle brothers. When Ace refuses to cooperate, Schultz takes matters into his own hands by killing him and using Dicky’s horse as leverage. He then advises the rest of ...

The American biographical drama film, J. Edgar (2011), directed and produced by Clint Eastwood, tells the story of FBI director J. Edgar Hoover’s career. Through a non-linear narrative, the film delves into Hoover’s involvement in the creation of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) as well as his later efforts to protect it from perceived threats. In the present day, an aging Hoover shares these events with a group of agents he has tasked with writing a book about the Bureau’s early years. Following an assassination attempt on Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer by anarchists in 1919, Justice ...

The American documentary film, Hubble 3D (2010), follows Space Shuttle missions to repair and upgrade the Hubble Space Telescope. Narrated by actor Leonardo DiCaprio, the movie features footage from various sources, including IMAX cameras brought into space on Hubble Space Telescope Servicing Missions via the Space Shuttle. This provided close-up shots and footage of maintenance tasks on the satellite. The first use of IMAX cameras on a servicing mission was during STS-61 in December 1993, with a subsequent use on STS-125 in May 2009 – which marked the final Space Shuttle mission to the Hubble. The IMAX 3D camera ...

Inception (2010), a science fiction action film by Christopher Nolan, features Cobb and Arthur as skilled ‘extractors’ hired for corporate espionage. They use innovative dream-sharing technology to delve into the subconscious minds of their targets and extract valuable information. Their current task is impressing Saito, who is interested in Cobb’s ability to create multiple layers of dreams. Saito then offers Cobb a seemingly impossible job: to implant an idea into the mind of Robert Fischer, the son of his competitor Maurice Fischer, with the goal of dissolving his father’s company. In exchange ...

Shutter Island (2010) is a gripping neo-noir psychological thriller directed by Martin Scorsese and adapted by Laeta Kalogridis from the novel of the same name by Dennis Lehan. The film follows U.S. Marshal Edward ‘Teddy’ Daniels and his new partner Chuck Aule as they are sent to investigate the disappearance of patient Rachel Solando at Ashecliffe Hospital for the criminally insane on Shutter Island, Boston Harbor. Despite encountering resistance from the hospital staff, particularly from psychiatrist Dr. John ...

Directed and produced by Ridley Scott, and written by William Monahan, Body of Lies (2008) is an American spy action thriller film. In Manchester, England, anti-terrorism police teams are preparing to raid a house. As they enter the house, the terrorists inside hear them and one of them triggers an explosion with a button on his cell phone, destroying the entire house. While tracking a high-ranking terrorist leader named Al-Saleem in Iraq, CIA case officer Roger Ferris encounters Nizar – a member of the terrorist organization who offers information in exchange for ...

Revolutionary Road (2008) is a romantic drama film directed by Sam Mendes and written by Justin Haythe. It is based on the 1961 novel of the same name by Richard Yates. The story follows longshoreman Frank Wheeler, who meets a woman named April at a party in 1948. Their aspirations differ – Frank dreams of being a cashier, while April longs to become an actress. After securing a sales position with Knox Machines, Frank and April get married and move to 115 Revolutionary Road in suburban Connecticut, as they await the ...

Blood Diamond (2006) is a political action thriller film directed and co-produced by Edward Zwick, set in Sierra Leone during the late 1990s civil war. The country is ravaged, with the Revolutionary United Front terrorizing locals and forcing them to mine diamonds to fund their war efforts. Among those enslaved is Solomon Vandy, a Mende fisherman from Shenge who is torn from his family and forced to work under the brutal Captain Poison. One day, while mining along a river, Vandy uncovers a large pink diamond. Poison attempts to steal it, but their operation is interrupted by government troops. Desperate to protect the ...

The American crime thriller film, The Departed (2006), was directed by Martin Scorsese and written by William Monahan. It is a remake of the 2002 Hong Kong film Infernal Affairs, and also draws inspiration from the Boston Winter Hill Gang. In 1980s Boston, Irish Mob leader Frank Costello takes a liking to a young Colin Sullivan. After many years, Sullivan becomes a spy for the Massachusetts State Police (MSP) and joins their Special Investigation Unit (SIU). Meanwhile, another recruit at the police academy named Billy Costigan is asked by Captain Queenan and ...

The Aviator (2004), a biographical drama directed by Martin Scorsese and written by John Logan, tells the story of young Howard Hughes. In 1913, his mother teaches him to spell ‘quarantine’ while giving him a bath in Houston, warning about a cholera outbreak. Fourteen years later, he begins directing Hell’s Angels and hires Noah Dietrich to manage his business affairs. However, after seeing the success of The Jazz Singer, Hughes becomes determined to make his film as realistic as possible and converts it to a talking movie. While the film is ...

Catch Me If You Can (2002) is an American biographical crime comedy-drama film directed and produced by Steven Spielberg. In 1969, FBI agent Carl Hanratty travels to Marseille, France to retrieve a prisoner named Frank Abagnale Jr., who has become ill due to the prison’s poor conditions. Six years prior, Frank lived with his parents Frank Sr. and Paula in New Rochelle, New York. Growing up, he learned various cons from his father but their family eventually had to downsize due to his father’s tax issues with the IRS. During this time, Frank discovers that his mother is having an affair with Jack Barnes, a ...

Gangs of New York (2002) is an American historical drama film directed by Martin Scorsese, based on Herbert Asbury’s book, The Gangs of New York. Set in the slum of Five Points in 1846, the story follows two rival gangs. The Anglo-Protestant Confederation of American Natives, led by William ‘Bill the Butcher’ Cutting, and the Irish Catholic Dead Rabbits, led by ‘Priest’ Vallon, engage in their final battle for control of the territory. After Bill kills Vallon and declares the Dead Rabbits outlaws, Vallon’s young son witnesses it all and is sent to an orphanage on Blackwell’s ...

Don’s Plum (2001) is a black-and-white independent drama film helmed by R. D. Robb. Despite being blocked from release in the U.S. and Canada, due to claims from DiCaprio and Maguire that they had only agreed to star in a short film rather than a full-length feature, the movie follows a group of young male friends in their early twenties who gather at Don’s Plum, a popular Los Angeles restaurant, every Saturday night. The group enjoys bringing along new female companions they have recently met. One of the ...

The Beach (2000) is an adventure drama film from the year 2000, directed by Danny Boyle and based on Alex Garland’s novel of the same name. The protagonist, Richard, is a young American backpacker who embarks on a journey in Bangkok, where he stays at a dull hotel on Khao San Road. It is here that he meets Françoise and Étienne, a French couple. As fate would have it, he also encounters Daffy, who reveals the existence of a pristine island in the Gulf of Thailand with an exquisite hidden beach. Daffy had previously settled there in secrecy but faced challenges and ...