My recommended movies (non-military)
by theblackbiologist | created - 01 Jan 2014 | updated - 10 Dec 2020 | PublicNo particular order. For military version please see http://www.imdb.com/list/bVLRjByz7zc/
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1. Kundun (1997)
PG-13 | 134 min | Biography, Drama, History
From childhood to adulthood, Tibet's fourteenth Dalai Lama deals with Chinese oppression and other problems.
Director: Martin Scorsese | Stars: Tenzin Thuthob Tsarong, Gyurme Tethong, Tulku Jamyang Kunga Tenzin, Tenzin Yeshi Paichang
Votes: 30,476 | Gross: $5.53M
2. Amadeus (1984)
R | 160 min | Biography, Drama, Music
The life, success and troubles of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, as told by Antonio Salieri, the contemporaneous composer who was deeply jealous of Mozart's talent and claimed to have murdered him.
Director: Milos Forman | Stars: F. Murray Abraham, Tom Hulce, Elizabeth Berridge, Roy Dotrice
Votes: 427,533 | Gross: $51.97M
3. Immortal Beloved (1994)
R | 121 min | Biography, Drama, Music
The life and death of the legendary Ludwig van Beethoven. Besides all the work he is known for, the composer once wrote a famous love letter to a nameless beloved, and the movie tries to ... See full summary »
Director: Bernard Rose | Stars: Gary Oldman, Jeroen Krabbé, Isabella Rossellini, Johanna ter Steege
Votes: 26,200 | Gross: $9.91M
4. Truman (1995 TV Movie)
PG | 135 min | Biography, Drama
Though considered unqualified, Harry S. Truman becomes the 33rd president following the April 1945 death of Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Director: Frank Pierson | Stars: Gary Sinise, Diana Scarwid, Richard Dysart, Colm Feore
Votes: 2,497
5. Something the Lord Made (2004 TV Movie)
TV-PG | 110 min | Biography, Drama
A dramatization of the relationship between heart surgery pioneers Alfred Blalock and Vivien Thomas.
Director: Joseph Sargent | Stars: Cliff McMullen, Yasiin Bey, Luray Cooper, Alan Rickman
Votes: 15,333
6. And the Band Played On (1993 TV Movie)
PG | 141 min | Drama, History
The story of the discovery of the AIDS epidemic, and the political infighting of the scientific community hampering the early fight with it.
Director: Roger Spottiswoode | Stars: Matthew Modine, Alan Alda, Patrick Bauchau, Nathalie Baye
Votes: 10,993
7. From the Earth to the Moon (1998)
TV-14 | 60 min | Action, Drama, History
Dramatized portrayal of the Apollo manned space program.
Stars: Tom Hanks, Nick Searcy, Lane Smith, David Andrews
Votes: 13,206
8. The Right Stuff (1983)
PG | 193 min | Adventure, Biography, Drama
The U.S. space program's development from the breaking of the sound barrier to selection of the Mercury 7 astronauts, from a group of test pilots with a more seat-of-the-pants approach than the program's more cautious engineers preferred.
Director: Philip Kaufman | Stars: Sam Shepard, Scott Glenn, Ed Harris, Dennis Quaid
Votes: 65,310 | Gross: $21.50M
9. Apollo 13 (I) (1995)
PG | 140 min | Adventure, Drama, History
NASA must devise a strategy to return Apollo 13 to Earth safely after the spacecraft undergoes massive internal damage putting the lives of the three astronauts on board in jeopardy.
Director: Ron Howard | Stars: Tom Hanks, Bill Paxton, Kevin Bacon, Gary Sinise
Votes: 315,269 | Gross: $173.84M
10. The Young Victoria (2009)
PG | 105 min | Biography, Drama, History
A dramatization of the turbulent first years of Queen Victoria's rule, and her enduring romance with Prince Albert.
Director: Jean-Marc Vallée | Stars: Emily Blunt, Rupert Friend, Paul Bettany, Miranda Richardson
Votes: 66,337 | Gross: $11.00M
11. The Butler (I) (2013)
PG-13 | 132 min | Biography, Drama
As Cecil Gaines serves eight presidents during his tenure as a butler at the White House, the civil rights movement, Vietnam, and other major events affect this man's life, family, and American society.
Director: Lee Daniels | Stars: Forest Whitaker, Oprah Winfrey, John Cusack, Jane Fonda
Votes: 119,705 | Gross: $116.63M
12. Breach (2007)
PG-13 | 110 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
FBI upstart Eric O'Neill enters into a power game with his boss, Robert Hanssen, an agent who was put on trial for selling secrets to the Soviet Union.
Director: Billy Ray | Stars: Chris Cooper, Ryan Phillippe, Dennis Haysbert, Laura Linney
Votes: 61,745 | Gross: $33.23M
13. Chariots of Fire (1981)
PG | 125 min | Biography, Drama, Sport
Two British track athletes, one a determined Jew and the other a devout Christian, are driven to win in the 1924 Olympics as they wrestle with issues of pride and conscience.
Director: Hugh Hudson | Stars: Ben Cross, Ian Charleson, Nicholas Farrell, Nigel Havers
Votes: 65,823 | Gross: $58.97M
14. Einstein and Eddington (2008 TV Movie)
TV-PG | 94 min | Biography, Drama, History
Drama about the development of Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity, and Einstein's relationship with British scientist Sir Arthur Eddington, the first physicist to experimentally prove his ideas.
Director: Philip Martin | Stars: David Tennant, Richard McCabe, Patrick Kennedy, Benjamin Uttley
Votes: 7,627
15. Gattaca (1997)
PG-13 | 106 min | Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
A genetically inferior man assumes the identity of a superior one in order to pursue his lifelong dream of space travel.
Director: Andrew Niccol | Stars: Ethan Hawke, Uma Thurman, Jude Law, Gore Vidal
Votes: 322,941 | Gross: $12.34M
16. Hawking (2004 TV Movie)
TV-G | 90 min | Biography, Drama
Theoretical physicist/cosmologist Stephen Hawking's life and search for the beginning of time (1963-6).
Director: Philip Martin | Stars: Benedict Cumberbatch, Michael Brandon, Tom Hodgkins, Christian Rubeck
Votes: 6,361
17. Inherit the Wind (1960)
Passed | 128 min | Biography, Drama, History
Based on a real-life case in 1925; two great lawyers argue the case for, and against, a Tennessee science teacher accused of the crime of teaching Darwin's theory of evolution.
Director: Stanley Kramer | Stars: Spencer Tracy, Fredric March, Gene Kelly, Dick York
Votes: 32,742
18. October Sky (1999)
PG | 108 min | Biography, Drama, Family
The true story of Homer Hickam, a coal miner's son who was inspired by the first Sputnik launch to take up rocketry against his father's wishes.
Director: Joe Johnston | Stars: Jake Gyllenhaal, Chris Cooper, Laura Dern, Chris Owen
Votes: 97,816 | Gross: $32.48M
19. Path to War (2002 TV Movie)
Not Rated | 165 min | Biography, Drama, War
In the mid 1960s, President Lyndon B. Johnson (Sir Michael Gambon) and his foreign-policy team debate the decision to withdraw from or escalate the war in Vietnam.
Director: John Frankenheimer | Stars: Michael Gambon, Donald Sutherland, Alec Baldwin, Bruce McGill
Votes: 4,107
20. The Aviator (2004)
PG-13 | 170 min | Biography, Drama
A biopic depicting the early years of legendary director and aviator Howard Hughes' career from the late 1920s to the mid 1940s.
Director: Martin Scorsese | Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Cate Blanchett, Kate Beckinsale, John C. Reilly
Votes: 383,838 | Gross: $102.61M
21. The Greatest Game Ever Played (2005)
PG | 120 min | Biography, Drama, Sport
In the 1913 U.S. Open, twenty-year-old Francis Ouimet played golf against his idol, 1900 U.S. Open champion, Englishman Harry Vardon.
Director: Bill Paxton | Stars: Shia LaBeouf, Stephen Dillane, Elias Koteas, James Paxton
Votes: 33,437 | Gross: $15.33M
22. The Queen (2006)
PG-13 | 103 min | Biography, Drama
After the death of Princess Diana, Queen Elizabeth II struggles with her reaction to a sequence of events nobody could have predicted.
Director: Stephen Frears | Stars: Helen Mirren, Michael Sheen, James Cromwell, Alex Jennings
Votes: 115,940 | Gross: $56.44M
23. The Vow (2012)
PG-13 | 104 min | Drama, Romance
A car accident puts Paige in a coma, and when she wakes up with severe memory loss, her husband Leo works to win her heart again.
Director: Michael Sucsy | Stars: Rachel McAdams, Channing Tatum, Sam Neill, Jessica Lange
Votes: 204,815 | Gross: $125.01M
24. There Be Dragons (2011)
PG-13 | 122 min | Biography, Drama, War
Arising out of the horror of the Spanish Civil War, a candidate for canonization is investigated by a journalist who discovers his own estranged father had a deep, dark and devastating connection to the saint's life.
Director: Roland Joffé | Stars: Charlie Cox, Wes Bentley, Dougray Scott, Rodrigo Santoro
Votes: 5,098 | Gross: $1.07M
25. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011)
R | 127 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
In the bleak days of the Cold War, espionage veteran George Smiley is forced from semi-retirement to uncover a Soviet Agent within MI6.
Director: Tomas Alfredson | Stars: Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Tom Hardy, Mark Strong
Votes: 212,358 | Gross: $24.15M
26. United 93 (2006)
R | 111 min | Action, Drama, History
A real-time account of the events on United Flight 93, one of the planes hijacked on September 11th, 2001 that crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania when passengers foiled the terrorist plot.
Director: Paul Greengrass | Stars: David Alan Basche, Olivia Thirlby, Liza Colón-Zayas, J.J. Johnson
Votes: 110,903 | Gross: $31.57M
27. W. (I) (2008)
PG-13 | 129 min | Biography, Comedy, Drama
A chronicle of the life and Presidency of George W. Bush.
Director: Oliver Stone | Stars: Josh Brolin, Elizabeth Banks, Ioan Gruffudd, Colin Hanks
Votes: 50,016 | Gross: $25.53M
28. Rush (I) (2013)
R | 123 min | Action, Biography, Drama
The merciless 1970s rivalry between Formula One rivals James Hunt and Niki Lauda.
Director: Ron Howard | Stars: Daniel Brühl, Chris Hemsworth, Olivia Wilde, Alexandra Maria Lara
Votes: 512,919 | Gross: $26.95M
29. Captain Phillips (2013)
PG-13 | 134 min | Action, Biography, Crime
The true story of Captain Richard Phillips and the 2009 hijacking by Somali pirates of the U.S.-flagged MV Maersk Alabama, the first American cargo ship to be hijacked in two hundred years.
Director: Paul Greengrass | Stars: Tom Hanks, Barkhad Abdi, Barkhad Abdirahman, Catherine Keener
Votes: 492,175 | Gross: $107.10M
30. Invictus (2009)
PG-13 | 134 min | Biography, Drama, History
Nelson Mandela, in his first term as President of South Africa, initiates a unique venture to unite the Apartheid-torn land: enlist the national rugby team on a mission to win the 1995 Rugby World Cup.
Director: Clint Eastwood | Stars: Morgan Freeman, Matt Damon, Tony Kgoroge, Patrick Mofokeng
Votes: 167,795 | Gross: $37.49M
31. Remember the Titans (2000)
PG | 113 min | Biography, Drama, Sport
In 1971 Virginia high school football was everything to the people of Alexandria. But when the school board was forced to integrate an all-black school with an all-white one, the very foundation of football's tradition was put to the test.
Director: Boaz Yakin | Stars: Denzel Washington, Will Patton, Wood Harris, Ryan Hurst
Votes: 231,746 | Gross: $115.65M
32. The Eichmann Show (2015 TV Movie)
96 min | Drama, History
Dramatisation of the team hoping to televise the trial of Adolf Eichmann, an infamous Nazi responsible for the deaths of millions of Jews. It focuses on Leo Hurwitz, a documentary film-maker and Milton Fruchtman, a producer.
Director: Paul Andrew Williams | Stars: Martin Freeman, Anthony LaPaglia, Rebecca Front, Andy Nyman
Votes: 5,055
33. The Challenger Disaster (2013 TV Movie)
TV-14 | 90 min | Drama, History
Factual drama exploring the truth behind the space shuttle Challenger's 1986 disintegration.
Director: James Hawes | Stars: Joanne Whalley, Eve Best, Bruce Greenwood, William Hurt
Votes: 4,584
34. Gagarin. Pervyy v kosmose (2013)
108 min | Adventure, Biography, Drama
On April 12, 1961, Soviet cosmonaut Gagarin blasted off in a Vostok rocket and he orbited Earth for 106 minutes. He was the cosmonaut who was selected from over three thousand fighter pilots throughout the Soviet Union.
Director: Pavel Parkhomenko | Stars: Yaroslav Zhalnin, Mikhail Filippov, Vladimir Steklov, Vadim Michman
Votes: 3,577
35. Woman in Gold (2015)
PG-13 | 109 min | Biography, Drama, History
Maria Altmann, an octogenarian Jewish refugee, takes on the Austrian government to recover artwork she believes rightfully belongs to her family.
Director: Simon Curtis | Stars: Helen Mirren, Ryan Reynolds, Daniel Brühl, Katie Holmes
Votes: 63,160 | Gross: $33.31M
36. Citizenfour (2014)
R | 114 min | Documentary, Biography
A documentarian and a reporter travel to Hong Kong for the first of many meetings with Edward Snowden.
Director: Laura Poitras | Stars: Edward Snowden, Glenn Greenwald, William Binney, Jacob Appelbaum
Votes: 57,943 | Gross: $2.80M
37. Extraordinary Measures (2010)
PG | 106 min | Drama
A drama centered on the efforts of John and Aileen Crowley to find a researcher who might have a cure for their two children's rare genetic disorder.
Director: Tom Vaughan | Stars: Brendan Fraser, Keri Russell, Harrison Ford, Meredith Droeger
Votes: 17,801 | Gross: $11.85M
38. Fathers & Daughters (2015)
R | 116 min | Drama
A Pulitzer-winning writer grapples with being a widower and father after a mental breakdown; 27 years later, his grown daughter struggles to forge her own connections.
Director: Gabriele Muccino | Stars: Russell Crowe, Amanda Seyfried, Aaron Paul, Diane Kruger
Votes: 28,707
39. Spotlight (I) (2015)
R | 129 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
The true story of how the Boston Globe uncovered the massive scandal of child molestation and cover-up within the local Catholic Archdiocese, shaking the entire Catholic Church to its core.
Director: Tom McCarthy | Stars: Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams, Liev Schreiber
Votes: 501,761 | Gross: $45.06M
40. All the Way (2016 TV Movie)
TV-14 | 132 min | Biography, Drama, History
Lyndon B. Johnson becomes the President of the United States in the chaotic aftermath of John F. Kennedy's assassination, and spends his first year in office fighting to pass the Civil Rights Act.
Director: Jay Roach | Stars: Bryan Cranston, Anthony Mackie, Melissa Leo, Frank Langella
Votes: 15,232
41. Concussion (2015)
PG-13 | 123 min | Biography, Drama, Sport
In Pittsburgh, accomplished pathologist Dr. Bennet Omalu uncovers the truth about brain damage in football players who suffer repeated concussions in the course of normal play.
Director: Peter Landesman | Stars: Will Smith, Alec Baldwin, Albert Brooks, David Morse
Votes: 100,541 | Gross: $34.54M
42. Denial (II) (2016)
PG-13 | 109 min | Biography, Drama
Acclaimed writer and historian Deborah E. Lipstadt must battle for historical truth to prove the Holocaust actually occurred when David Irving, a renowned denier, sues her for libel.
Director: Mick Jackson | Stars: Rachel Weisz, Tom Wilkinson, Timothy Spall, Andrew Scott
Votes: 23,501 | Gross: $4.07M
43. Battle of the Sexes (2017)
PG-13 | 121 min | Biography, Comedy, Drama
The true story of the 1973 tennis match between World number one Billie Jean King and ex-champ and serial hustler Bobby Riggs.
Directors: Jonathan Dayton, Valerie Faris | Stars: Emma Stone, Steve Carell, Andrea Riseborough, Sarah Silverman
Votes: 59,870 | Gross: $12.64M
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