Cast:

Joaquin Phoenix as John R. Cash
Reese Witherspoon as June Carter
Ginnifer Goodwin as Vivian Cash
Robert Patrick as Ray Cash
Dallas Roberts as Sam Phillips
Dan John Miller as Luther Perkins
Larry Bagby as Marshall Grant

A chronicle of country music legend Johnny Cash’s life, from his early days on an Arkansas cotton farm to his rise to fame with Sun Records in Memphis, where he recorded alongside Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins.

Trivia:

Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon performed all of the songs themselves, without being dubbed. They also learned to play their instruments (guitar and auto-harp, respectively) from scratch.

Johnny Cash chose Joaquin Phoenix to play him in the film on the basis of his performance in the movie Gladiator (2000). June Carter Cash also reportedly chose Reese Witherspoon for her role in the film.

June Carter Cash died before production began on the film, so Reese Witherspoon’s research included looking through Carter’s closet for inspiration.

Awards:

Oscar
Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role – Reese Witherspoon (won)
Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role – Joaquin Phoenix (nominated)

Golden Globe Awards
Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy (won)
Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy – Joaquin Phoenix (won)
Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy – Reese Witherspoon (won)

Grammy Awards
Best Compilation Soundtrack Album for Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media – Joaquin Phoenix, T-Bone Burnett
(won)

If you like this movie, you'll also like:

1. Water for Elephants
2. Pleasantville
3. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Cast:

Javier Bardem as Reinaldo Arenas
Olivier Martinez as Lazaro Gomez Carilles
Andrea Di Stefano as Pepe Malas
Santiago Magill as Tomas Diego
John Ortiz as Juann Abreu
Héctor Babenco as Virgilio Pinera
Manuel González as Jose Lezama Lima
Francisco Gattorno as Jorge Camacho
Marisol Padilla Sánchez as Margarita Camacho
Johnny Depp as Bon Bon & Lt. Victor
Michael Wincott as Herberto Zorilla Ochoa
Sean Penn as Cuco Sanchez

Before Night Falls is based on the autobiography of the same name by Cuban poet and novelist Reinaldo Arenas. Arenas, who was openly gay, was born in Oriente in 1943 and raised by his single mother and grandparents who soon moved the entire family to Holguín. After moving to Havana in the sixties to continue his studies, Reinaldo started exploring his sexuality and ambitions. After finishing second in a writing contest, Arenas gets offered the chance to publish his first work. Through his work and friendships with other openly gay men (such as Pepe Malas and Tomas Diego), Arenas managed to find himself.

However, the political climate in Cuba continued to become increasingly dangerous and in the early seventies Arenas is arrested for sexually assaulting minors (a crime he was not guilty of) and publishing abroad without official consent. In the next decade Arenas keeps going in and out of prison, attempting to leave the country several times but failing each time.

In 1980, Arenas is finally able to leave Cuba for the US where he starts a new life with his close friend and lover Lazaro Gomez Carilles. However, after a few years, Arenas finds out he is suffering from AIDS. After spending several years in sickness he eventually dies in 1990 with help from Lazaro.

Trivia:

Set in Cuba, the film was made entirely in Mexico, with Mexico City doubling as Havana. Julian Schnabel said the crew was so pleasant to work with that, if he was making a film in the arctic, he would use a Mexican crew.

Almost every scene, according to Guillermo Rosas, was photographed with a chocolate-colored filter on the camera lens. The contributed a great deal to distinctive colors and textures in the film, especially the skin tones, and the vibrancy in green hues.

The director’s wife plays Javier Bardem’s mother. All of Schnabel’s children have bit roles as well.

Awards:

2000: Venice International Film Festival: Silver Lion – Jury’s special award: Julian Schnabel
2000: Venice International Film Festival: Coppa Volpi (Best Actor): Javier Bardem
2000: National Board of Review Award for Best Actor:Best Actor: Javier Bardem
2000: National Board of Review: Top Ten Films
2000: National Board of Review Awards: Freedom of Expression
2000: Political Film Society Award for Exposé
2000: Independent Spirit Awards: Best Actor: Javier Bardem

If you like this movie, you'll also like:

1. Walk the Line
2. Night at the Museum
3. Little Children

Directors: Mary Harron
Release Date: 21 April 2006

Cast:

Gretchen Mol as Bettie Page
Chris Bauer as Irving Klaw
Jared Harris as John Willie
Sarah Paulson as Bunny Yeager
Cara Seymour as Maxie
David Strathairn as Estes Kefauver
Lili Taylor as Paula Klaw

The story of Bettie Page, uber-successful 1950’s pin-up model, one of the first sex icons in America, and the target of a Senate investigation (based on her bondage photos).

If you like this movie, you'll also like:

1. Notorious
2. The Notebook
3. The Number 23

Cast:

Anne Hathaway as Jane Austen
James McAvoy as Tom Lefroy
Julie Walters as Mrs. Austen
James Cromwell as Rev Austen
Maggie Smith as Lady Gresham
Anna Maxwell Martin as Cassandra ‘Cassie’ Austen

The year is 1795 and young Jane Austen is a feisty 20-year-old and emerging writer who already sees a world beyond class and commerce, beyond pride and prejudice, and dreams of doing what was then nearly unthinkable – marrying for love. Naturally, her parents are searching for a wealthy, well-appointed husband to assure their daughter’s future social standing. They are eyeing Mr. Wisley, nephew to the very formidable, not to mention very rich, local aristocrat Lady Gresham, as a prospective match. But when Jane meets the roguish and decidedly non-aristocratic Tom Lefroy, sparks soon fly along with the sharp repartee. His intellect and arrogance raise her ire – then knock her head over heels. Now, the couple, whose flirtation flies in the face of the sense and sensibility of the age, is faced with a terrible dilemma. If they attempt to marry, they will risk everything that matters – family, friends and fortune.

If you like this movie, you'll also like:

1. The Other Boleyn Girl
2. Enchanted April
3. Mr. Brooks

Cast:

Natalie Portman as Anne Boleyn
Scarlett Johansson as Mary Boleyn
Eric Bana as Henry Tudor
Jim Sturgess as George Boleyn
Mark Rylance as Sir Thomas Boleyn
Kristin Scott Thomas as Lady Elizabeth Boleyn
David Morrissey as The Duke of Norfolk

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.

If you like this movie, you'll also like:

1. The Man Who Fell to Earth
2. The Uninvited
3. Stephen King’s The Mist

Cast:
Chris McCandless: Emile Hirsch
Billie McCandless: Marcia Gay Harden
Walt McCandless: William Hurt
Carine McCandless / Additional Narrator: Jena Malone
Rainey : Brian H. Dierker
Jan Burres: Catherine Keener
Wayne Westerberg: Vince Vaughn
Tracy Tatro: Kristen Stewart
Kevin: Zach Galifianakis
Ron Franz: Hal Holbrook

This haunting film will stay with you long after you have seen it. The images, ideas, and ending are so beautiful and painful that you will find yourself often thinking back on emotional moments, flashes of dialogue or gorgeous scenery.

This film was written and directed by Sean Penn and is based on the true story of Christopher McCandless a suburban American boy who turned his back on the materialism that was surrounding him and tried to find truth and meaning in nature. McCandless is played by the superb Emile Hirsch (who later starred with Penn in Milk), the performance is deft and gentle. Hirsch brings the right amount of emotional distance to make the audience both want to know him better and at the same time feel the repulsion he has had with society.

His choice, to cut up his credit cards, give all his cash (over $20,000) to Oxfam and take off in a beaten up VW hits a chord with many people. He travels across the us, trying to get to Alaska; he has a feeling that in Alaska life is purer, closer to nature, and thus closer to the answers he’s seeking about his own life.

His adventure brings him into contact with many characters, hippies, farmers, the police, and others. His sense of who he is carries him through each of the encounters and though each try, in their own way, to keep him close he is always focused on Alaska.

The old saying: “be careful what you wish for, you might get it” is all too true in this case. Ultimately this movie is about a young man’s life lived fully, he did what he wanted , in the way he wanted, and put his ideals about life and nature to the test.

If you like this movie, you'll also like:

1. Where the Wild Things Are
2. The Secret Life of Bees
3. The Matrix

Cast:

Christopher ‘Biggie’ Wallace: Jamal Woolard
Sean ‘Puffy’ Combs; Derek Luke
Damion ‘D-Roc’ Butler: Dennis L.A. White
Lil Cease: Marc John Jefferies
Biggie (age 8-13): Christopher Jordan Wallace
Voletta Wallace: Angela Bassett
Lil Kim: Naturi Naughton
Tupac Shakur: Anthony Mackie
Faith Evans: Antonique Smith

The life and death story of Notorious B.I.G. (a.k.a. Christopher Wallace), who came straight out of Brooklyn to take the world of rap music by storm.

If you like this movie, you'll also like:

1. The Notorious Bettie Page
2. E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial
3. Pulp Fiction