Actress Penélope Cruz (1974)

The upcoming action spy film, The 355 (2022), helmed by director Simon Kinberg and written by Theresa Rebeck and Kinberg, follows the story of a group of individuals embroiled in an intense race for a special decryption program drive. This sought-after drive, capable of accessing any digital system on Earth, is presented to criminal mastermind Elijah Clarke by a drug lord at a location 150 mi (240 km) south of Bogotá, Colombia. However, Clarke’s betrayal leads to chaos as he kills the drug lord just as authorities ...

The mystery film, Murder on the Orient Express (2017), was co-produced and directed by Kenneth Branagh. Michael Green wrote the screenplay, based on Agatha Christie’s 1934 novel of the same name. It was winter in 1934 when the eccentric yet famed Belgian detective Hercule Poirot traveled to the Middle East for both business and pleasure. Despite First Class being sold out during this time of year, Poirot was able to secure a cabin at the last minute thanks to his friend Bouc, who worked for the railroad and happened ...

American Crime Story (2016–2024) is an American anthology true crime television series created and produced by a team that includes Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski, as well as Brad Falchuk, Nina Jacobson, Ryan Murphy, and Brad Simpson. It is part of the American Story media franchise, which also includes American Horror Story. Each season stands alone as a ...

The film The Brothers Grimsby (2016) is a hilarious blend of spy action and comedy, directed by Louis Leterrier and written by Sacha Baron Cohen, Phil Johnston, and Peter Baynham. The main character, Kyle Alan ‘Nobby’ Butcher, had been estranged from his younger brother Sebastian for almost three decades. During their time apart, Nobby became a hard-drinking football hooligan who settled down with his girlfriend Dawn and their 11 children in Grimsby. Meanwhile, ...

The Counselor (2013), directed by Ridley Scott and written by Cormac McCarthy, is a crime thriller film. In Mexico, cocaine is transported in barrels inside a sewage truck across the border to the United States. The drug is then stored at a sewage treatment plant. To purchase an engagement ring for his girlfriend Laura, The Counselor travels to Amsterdam to meet with a diamond dealer. Upon returning to the United States, he attends a party in Texas hosted by drug dealer Reiner and his girlfriend Malkina. During their conversation, The Counselor reveals his involvement in ...

To Rome with Love (2012) is a romantic comedy that incorporates elements of magical realism. The film was written and directed by Woody Allen, who also makes his first on-screen appearance since 2006. It tells the story through four distinct vignettes: a clerk’s sudden rise to fame, an architect’s nostalgic visit to his old college neighborhood, a newlywed couple’s honeymoon adventures, and an Italian funeral director’s captivating singing talent that impresses his American future relative, an opera director. Hayley’s Story. While ...

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011), the fantasy swashbuckler film directed by Rob Marshall, marks a change in leadership for the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. For this installment, Jerry Bruckheimer produces while Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio write, drawing inspiration from Tim Powers’ novel On Stranger Tides and connecting to previous films At World’s End (2007) and the first ...

Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008), a rom-com written and directed by Woody Allen, follows the story of two friends as they spend their summer in Barcelona. They stay with Vicky’s relatives, Judy and Mark. While Vicky and Cristina are close, they have different outlooks on love. Vicky is more traditional and practical, engaged to her dependable fiancé Doug. Cristina, on the other hand, sees herself as a free-spirited nonconformist who is unsure of what she wants from life or love. While visiting an art exhibition, Cristina is captivated by the artist Juan Antonio, whom Judy reveals had a tumultuous relationship with ...

Head in the Clouds (2004) is a war drama film written and directed by John Duigan. The original screenplay focuses on the tough decisions young lovers must make in the face of growing political turmoil in late-1930s Europe. Unfortunately, the film was both a critical and financial disappointment. In 1924 Paris, 14-year-old Gilda Bessé is the daughter of a French aristocrat and an emotionally unstable American mother. A fortune teller predicts that her life will end at age 34. Years later, during a rainstorm in 1933, Gilda seeks refuge in the room of Guy Malyon, an Irish first-year student at Cambridge University. After ...

The American horror film Gothika (2003), directed by Mathieu Kassovitz and written by Sebastian Gutierrez, was co-produced by Joel Silver and Robert Zemeckis. Dr. Miranda Grey, a psychiatrist at Woodward Penitentiary in rural western Connecticut, crashes her car one night to avoid hitting a young woman on a country road. After waking up, she discovers that she is now an inmate at the women’s ward where she works. Her colleague, Dr. Pete Graham, is treating her for the ...

John Madden directed Captain Corelli’s Mandolin (2001), a war film based on Louis de Bernières‘ 1994 novel of the same name. The Italian Army, accompanied by a few Germans, occupies Greece’s Ionian Islands and takes over the peaceful island of Cephalonia. The island’s inhabitants surrender quickly. Among the invaders is Captain Antonio Corelli of the Italian 33rd Acqui Infantry Division. He is known for his cheerful personality and love for playing the mandolin. Despite his troops never having fired a shot before, he teaches them to sing in ...

Blow (2001) is an American biographical crime drama film directed by Ted Demme, centered around an American cocaine kingpin and his global network. George Jung, alongside his parents Fred and Ermine, reside in Weymouth, Massachusetts. At the age of 10, Fred declares bankruptcy and attempts to show George the importance of values beyond money. As an adult in the late 1960s, George moves to Los Angeles with his close friend ‘Tuna’, where they meet Barbara – a flight attendant who introduces them to Derek Foreal, a marijuana dealer. With Derek’s assistance, George and Tuna amass a substantial amount ...

The American science fiction psychological thriller film, Vanilla Sky (2001), was both directed and written by Cameron Crowe. It is a remake of the Spanish film Open Your Eyes, released in 1997 by Alejandro Amenábar. The movie centers around David Aames, who inherited his father’s successful publishing company. After being imprisoned, David shares his life story with Dr. Curtis McCabe, a court psychologist, while wearing a prosthetic mask. Through flashbacks, we see how David passed off the responsibilities of his company to his father’s colleagues ...

All the Pretty Horses (2000), directed and produced by Billy Bob Thornton, is an American Western film based on Cormac McCarthy’s novel of the same name. After his family’s ranch is sold in 1949, cowboy John Grady Cole becomes homeless and implores his friend Lacey Rawlins to join him on a journey to Mexico for work. Along the way, they befriend a strange boy named Jimmy Blevins before parting ways. In their travels, they meet Alejandra Villarreal, an aristocrat’s daughter who captures Cole’s heart. The two become hired hands for Alejandra’s pleased father, but her wealthy aunt disapproves ...

Open Your Eyes (1997) is a Spanish film directed and co-scored by Alejandro Amenábar, written by Amenábar and Mateo Gil. A handsome young man awakens to the sound of a female voice urging him to open his eyes. He drives through an empty city, before waking up once again, this time to find a woman in his bed. He instructs her not to leave him any messages on his alarm clock. From a Madrid prison cell, 25-year-old César recounts his tale to psychiatrist Antonio while wearing a prosthetic mask. Through flashbacks, we see that ...