Down to earth movies

by armin-durakovic | created - 07 Sep 2014 | updated - 07 Sep 2014 | Public

A list of my top 20 movies that are driven by a more or less realistic story and are not spoiled by Hollywood-like exaggeration.

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1. Jesus' Son (1999)

R | 107 min | Drama

76 Metascore

A young man, often high on drugs and alcohol, careens through life and makes his way toward recovery and redemption.

Director: Alison Maclean | Stars: Billy Crudup, Robert Michael Kelly, Torben Brooks, Dierdre Lewis

Votes: 7,485 | Gross: $1.28M

2. Man on the Moon (1999)

R | 118 min | Biography, Comedy, Drama

58 Metascore

The life and career of legendary comedian Andy Kaufman.

Director: Milos Forman | Stars: Jim Carrey, Danny DeVito, Gerry Becker, Greyson Erik Pendry

Votes: 137,505 | Gross: $34.58M

3. American Beauty (1999)

R | 122 min | Drama

84 Metascore

A sexually frustrated suburban father has a mid-life crisis after becoming infatuated with his daughter's best friend.

Director: Sam Mendes | Stars: Kevin Spacey, Annette Bening, Thora Birch, Wes Bentley

Votes: 1,211,265 | Gross: $130.10M

4. American Psycho (2000)

R | 102 min | Crime, Drama, Horror

64 Metascore

A wealthy New York City investment banking executive, Patrick Bateman, hides his alternate psychopathic ego from his co-workers and friends as he delves deeper into his violent, hedonistic fantasies.

Director: Mary Harron | Stars: Christian Bale, Justin Theroux, Josh Lucas, Bill Sage

Votes: 716,012 | Gross: $15.07M

5. Se7en (1995)

R | 127 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery

65 Metascore

Two detectives, a rookie and a veteran, hunt a serial killer who uses the seven deadly sins as his motives.

Director: David Fincher | Stars: Morgan Freeman, Brad Pitt, Kevin Spacey, Andrew Kevin Walker

Votes: 1,799,669 | Gross: $100.13M

6. City of God (2002)

R | 130 min | Crime, Drama

79 Metascore

In the slums of Rio, two kids' paths diverge as one struggles to become a photographer and the other a kingpin.

Directors: Fernando Meirelles, Kátia Lund | Stars: Alexandre Rodrigues, Leandro Firmino, Matheus Nachtergaele, Phellipe Haagensen

Votes: 801,329 | Gross: $7.56M

7. Full Metal Jacket (1987)

R | 116 min | Drama, War

78 Metascore

A pragmatic U.S. Marine observes the dehumanizing effects the Vietnam War has on his fellow recruits from their brutal boot camp training to the bloody street fighting in Hue.

Director: Stanley Kubrick | Stars: Matthew Modine, R. Lee Ermey, Vincent D'Onofrio, Adam Baldwin

Votes: 790,656 | Gross: $46.36M

8. Amélie (2001)

R | 122 min | Comedy, Romance

70 Metascore

Despite being caught in her imaginative world, Amelie, a young waitress, decides to help people find happiness. Her quest to spread joy leads her on a journey where she finds true love.

Director: Jean-Pierre Jeunet | Stars: Audrey Tautou, Mathieu Kassovitz, Rufus, Lorella Cravotta

Votes: 794,384 | Gross: $33.23M

9. Blow (2001)

R | 124 min | Biography, Crime, Drama

52 Metascore

The story of how George Jung, along with the Medellín Cartel headed by Pablo Escobar, established the American cocaine market in the 1970s in the United States.

Director: Ted Demme | Stars: Johnny Depp, Penélope Cruz, Franka Potente, Rachel Griffiths

Votes: 275,110 | Gross: $52.99M

10. Irreversible (2002)

Not Rated | 97 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery

51 Metascore

Events over the course of one traumatic night in Paris unfold in reverse-chronological order as the beautiful Alex is brutally raped and beaten by a stranger in an underpass tunnel.

Director: Gaspar Noé | Stars: Monica Bellucci, Vincent Cassel, Albert Dupontel, Philippe Nahon

Votes: 147,707 | Gross: $0.75M

11. The Life of David Gale (2003)

R | 130 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery

31 Metascore

A man against capital punishment is accused of murdering a fellow activist and is sent to death row.

Director: Alan Parker | Stars: Kevin Spacey, Kate Winslet, Laura Linney, Cleo King

Votes: 126,108 | Gross: $19.59M

12. The Counterfeiters (2007)

R | 99 min | Crime, Drama, History

78 Metascore

The story of the Operation Bernhard, the largest counterfeiting operation in history, carried out by Germany during World War II.

Director: Stefan Ruzowitzky | Stars: Karl Markovics, August Diehl, Devid Striesow, Martin Brambach

Votes: 47,179 | Gross: $5.48M

13. The Chaser (2008)

Not Rated | 125 min | Action, Crime, Drama

64 Metascore

A disgraced ex-policeman who runs a small ring of prostitutes finds himself in a race against time when one of his women goes missing.

Director: Na Hong-jin | Stars: Kim Yoon-seok, Ha Jung-woo, Seo Yeong-hie, Kim Yoo-jung

Votes: 72,793

14. Go (1999)

R | 102 min | Comedy, Crime

74 Metascore

The aftermath of a drug deal as told from three different points of view.

Director: Doug Liman | Stars: Sarah Polley, Jay Mohr, Scott Wolf, Taye Diggs

Votes: 75,168 | Gross: $16.84M

15. The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)

R | 180 min | Biography, Comedy, Crime

75 Metascore

Based on the true story of Jordan Belfort, from his rise to a wealthy stock-broker living the high life to his fall involving crime, corruption and the federal government.

Director: Martin Scorsese | Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill, Margot Robbie, Matthew McConaughey

Votes: 1,583,978 | Gross: $116.90M

16. Good Will Hunting (1997)

R | 126 min | Drama, Romance

71 Metascore

Will Hunting, a janitor at M.I.T., has a gift for mathematics, but needs help from a psychologist to find direction in his life.

Director: Gus Van Sant | Stars: Robin Williams, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Stellan Skarsgård

Votes: 1,068,578 | Gross: $138.43M

17. Superbad (2007)

R | 113 min | Comedy

76 Metascore

Two co-dependent high school seniors are forced to deal with separation anxiety after their plan to stage a booze-soaked party goes awry.

Director: Greg Mottola | Stars: Michael Cera, Jonah Hill, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Bill Hader

Votes: 632,952 | Gross: $121.46M

18. Silver Linings Playbook (2012)

R | 122 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance

81 Metascore

After a stint in a mental institution, former teacher Pat Solitano moves back in with his parents and tries to reconcile with his ex-wife. Things get more challenging when Pat meets Tiffany, a mysterious girl with problems of her own.

Director: David O. Russell | Stars: Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Robert De Niro, Jacki Weaver

Votes: 742,902 | Gross: $132.09M

19. The Social Network (2010)

PG-13 | 120 min | Biography, Drama

95 Metascore

As Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg creates the social networking site that would become known as Facebook, he is sued by the twins who claimed he stole their idea and by the co-founder who was later squeezed out of the business.

Director: David Fincher | Stars: Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake, Rooney Mara

Votes: 758,968 | Gross: $96.96M

20. The Intouchables (2011)

R | 112 min | Comedy, Drama

57 Metascore

After he becomes a quadriplegic from a paragliding accident, an aristocrat hires a young man from the projects to be his caregiver.

Directors: Olivier Nakache, Éric Toledano | Stars: François Cluzet, Omar Sy, Anne Le Ny, Audrey Fleurot

Votes: 929,818 | Gross: $13.18M



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