Actor Robert Redford (1936)

Truth (2015) is an American biographical political drama film written and directed by James Vanderbilt in his directorial debut. It is based on American television news producer Mary Mapes’s memoir Truth and Duty: The Press, the President and the Privilege of Power, which recounts the events leading up to the 2004 presidential election. As producer of 60 Minutes Wednesday, Mary Mapes and her team, consisting of Mike Smith, Lucy Scott, and Colonel Roger Charles, investigate allegations that George W. Bush received preferential treatment during his military ...

The American biographical comedy-drama film, A Walk in the Woods (2015), directed by Ken Kwapis, follows author Bill Bryson’s return to the US after living in the UK for ten years. Now in his 60s and settled in New Hampshire, Bryson’s peaceful life is interrupted when a TV interview reports on his successful books and speculates about future writing plans. Despite this attention, Bryson has no intentions of writing more and instead focuses on attending a funeral with his wife Catherine. During their walk afterwards, he becomes inspired to hike the entire length of the nearby Appalachian Trail. While ...

The American superhero film, Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), is based on the popular character from Marvel Comics. Produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, the movie takes place two years after the Battle of New York. Steve Rogers now works for the espionage agency S.H.I.E.L.D. in Washington, D.C., as he tries to adjust to modern society. During a mission with Agent Natasha Romanoff and the S.T.R.I.K.E. team, led by Agent Brock Rumlow, they come across a hijacked S.H.I.E.L.D. vessel with hostages taken by pirates led by Georges Batroc. It is then that Rogers learns that Romanoff has another task: to retrieve data ...

The action drama film, All Is Lost (2013), is written and directed by J. C. Chandor and stars Robert Redford as the main character. Redford is the only actor in the film, which has a total of 51 spoken English words. The story begins with a flash-forward where the man narrates a letter to the people he will miss. As the camera shows a lost shipping container in the ocean, we are taken back eight days earlier when the man wakes up to find his boat flooded with water after colliding with a stray container. He uses a sea ...

Lions for Lambs (2007), an American war drama film directed by Robert Redford, delves into the intertwined lives of a U.S. senator, soldiers in Afghanistan, a reporter, and a college professor in California. Dr. Malley, the idealistic professor, encourages his students Arian and Ernest to make a meaningful impact in the world after their graduation from West Coast University. Despite coming from different backgrounds, they both choose to enlist in the army and serve in Afghanistan. Meanwhile, Dr. Malley also tries to connect with another student named Todd Hayes. Unlike Arian and Ernest, Todd comes from a privileged ...

The fantasy comedy-drama film Charlotte’s Web (2006) is an adaptation of E. B. White’s novel of the same name. In the springtime on a farm in Somerset County, Maine, Fern Arable discovers her father John poised to kill a runt from a litter of newborn pigs. She pleads with him to spare the piglet’s life, naming him Wilbur and caring for him tenderly. The following day, Fern sneaks Wilbur into her school desk and when her teacher overhears his squeals, she demands to know what is inside. Fern lies and claims there is nothing in her desk, causing the teacher to angrily send them both to the ...

The film Spy Game (2001), directed by Tony Scott and starring Robert Redford and Brad Pitt, follows the United States and China as they negotiate a major trade deal. As the President prepares to visit China to finalize the agreement, the CIA becomes aware of their operative, Tom Bishop’s, arrest in Suzhou. With only 24 hours until his execution, Bishop’s actions could jeopardize the deal. To avoid getting involved, a group of CIA executives turn to Nathan Muir, Bishop’s mentor and a retiring veteran agent. ...

The American political thriller film, Three Days of the Condor (1975), directed by Sydney Pollack, follows Joe Turner – a bookish CIA analyst with the codename ‘Condor’. He works undercover at the American Literary Historical Society in New York City. The team’s job is to analyze books, newspapers, and magazines from all over the world to compare them to real CIA operations or gather new ideas. One day, while on lunch duty, Turner comes across a strange thriller novel that he reports back to CIA headquarters despite its low sales and translations into various languages. Upon returning from his ...

The Great Gatsby (1974) is an American film adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1925 novel of the same name, directed by Jack Clayton. Writer Nick Carraway visits his cousin Daisy and her husband Tom at their East Egg mansion, where he discovers their troubled marriage and Tom’s affair with a woman in New York. Nick resides in a modest cottage in West Egg, next to an enigmatic tycoon named Gatsby, who throws lavish parties at his estate. During one of these gatherings, Tom introduces Nick to his mistress Myrtle, who is married to an auto mechanic named George ...

The film The Sting (1973) takes place in September of 1936, during the Great Depression. It follows two skilled con artists as they attempt to swindle a mob boss. Their first scam in Joliet, Illinois brings in $11,000, but Hooker’s luck turns when he loses his share in a rigged roulette game. His partner Luther, on the other hand, decides to retire after their big score. Before leaving, he advises Hooker to seek out his old acquaintance Henry Gondorff in Chicago for ‘the big con’. However, their victim turns out to be working for corrupt police officer William Snyder and notorious gangster Doyle Lonnegan. After Luther and the victim are murdered by ...

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) is an American Western buddy film directed by George Roy Hill and written by William Goldman. Set in 1899 Wyoming, it follows the story of Butch Cassidy, a charming and clever leader of the outlaw group known as the Hole-in-the-Wall Gang. His closest companion is his skilled but quiet partner, the ‘Sundance Kid’. When they return to their hideout after a long absence, they find that the rest of their gang has chosen a new leader, Harvey Logan. Logan challenges Cassidy to a knife fight for leadership, but Cassidy ...