Django Unchained 2012

Django Unchained (/ˈdʒæŋɡoʊ/) is a 2012 American western film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, who made the film as a very stylized variation of the spaghetti Western, which takes place in the Old West, but primarily taking place in America's pre-Civil War South. The film stars Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kerry Washington, and Samuel L. Jackson, and was released December 25, 2012 (Christmas Day), in North America.[5][6]
The story is set in early winter and then spring, during the antebellum era of the Deep South with preliminary scenes taking place in Old West Texas. The film follows an African-American slave (Foxx), and an English-speaking, German bounty hunter posing as a traveling dentist (Waltz), named Dr. Schultz. In exchange for helping Schultz collect a large bounty on three outlaws (hiding-in-plain-sight in the south, working in the slave trade) that he has never seen – but Django has, while being trafficked – Schultz buys and then promises to free Django after they catch the outlaws the following spring. Schultz also promises to teach Django bounty hunting, and split the bounties with him, if Django assists him in hunting down other outlaws throughout the winter. Django agrees – on the condition that they also locate and free his long-lost wife (Washington) from her cruel plantation owner (DiCaprio).
     Somewhere in Texas in the year 1858, several male African slaves are being 'driven' by the Speck Brothers, Ace and Dicky. Among the shackled slaves is Django, sold off and separated from his wife, Broomhilda. The Speck Brothers are stopped by Dr. King Schultz, a German dentist and bounty hunter from Düsseldorf. Schultz asks to buy one of the slaves, but while questioning Django about his knowledge of the Brittle Brothers, for whom Schultz is carrying a warrant, he irritates Ace who aims his shotgun at Schultz. Schultz quickly kills Ace and leaves Dicky at the mercy of the other newly freed slaves, who blow his head off. Since Django can identify the Brittle Brothers, Schultz offers Django his freedom in exchange for his help in tracking them down. After executing the Brittles, Django partners with Schultz through the winter and becomes his apprentice. Schultz explains that, being the first person he has ever given freedom to, he feels responsible for Django and is driven to help him in his quest to rescue Broomhilda.
Django, now fully trained, collects his first bounty, keeping the handbill as a good luck charm. In Mississippi, Schultz uncovers the identity of Broomhilda's owner: Calvin Candie, the charming but brutal owner of the Candyland plantation, where slaves are forced to fight to the death in wrestling matches called "Mandingo fights." Schultz, expecting Candie will demand an extortionate amount if they are forthright, devises a ruse to purchase one of Candie's prized fighters, purchase Broomhilda on the side for a reasonable sum, then disappear before the deal is finalized. Schultz and Django meet Candie at a club in Greenville and submit their offer. His greed tickled, Candie invites them to Candyland. After he secretly debriefs Broomhilda on the plan, Schultz moves to the next step, claiming to be charmed by the German-speaking Broomhilda.
Release date: December 25, 2012 (USA)
Director: Quentin Tarantino
Running time: 180 minutes
Featured songs: Freedom, I Got a Name, Django (Main Theme), Ancora Qui, Who Did That To You?, 100 Black Coffins
Awards: Academy Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay - Motion Picture, Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture, MTV Movie Award for Best WTF Moment, BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay, BET Award for Best Actress, BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role, National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actor, Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Screenplay, NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture, BET Award for Best Actor, NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture, AACTA International Award for Best Screenplay, David di Donatello for Best Foreign Film

Inception 2010

Inception is a 2010 British-American science fiction heist thriller film written, co-produced, and directed by Christopher Nolan. The film stars a large ensemble cast that includes Leonardo DiCaprio, Ellen Page, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marion Cotillard, Ken Watanabe, Tom Hardy, Dileep Rao, Cillian Murphy, Tom Berenger, and Michael Caine. DiCaprio plays Dom Cobb, a professional thief who commits corporate espionage by infiltrating the subconscious of his targets. He is offered a chance of redemption as payment for a task considered to be impossible: "inception", the implantation of another person's idea into a target's subconscious.Shortly after finishing Insomnia (2002), Nolan wrote an 80-page treatment about "dream stealers" envisioning a horror film inspired by lucid dreaming and presented the idea to Warner Bros.Feeling he needed to have more experience with large-scale film production, Nolan retired the project and instead worked on Batman Begins (2005), The Prestige (2006), and The Dark Knight (2008). He spent six months revising the script before Warner Bros. purchased it in February 2009.Inception was filmed in six countries and four continents, beginning in Tokyo on June 19, 2009, and finishing in Canada on November 22, 2009. Its official budget was US$160 million; a cost which was split between Warner Bros and Legendary Pictures. Nolan's reputation and success with The Dark Knight helped secure the film's $100 million in advertising expenditure, with most of the publicity involving viral marketing.
       Dominick "Dom" Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) and business partner Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) are "extractors", people who perform corporate espionage using an experimental military technology to infiltrate the subconscious of their targets and extract information while experiencing shared dreaming. Their latest target is Japanese businessman Saito (Ken Watanabe). The extraction from Saito fails when sabotaged by a memory of Cobb's deceased wife Mal (Marion Cotillard). After Cobb's and Arthur's associate sells them out, Saito reveals that he was actually auditioning the team to perform the difficult act of "inception": planting an idea in a person's subconscious.
In order to break up the energy conglomerate of ailing competitor Maurice Fischer (Pete Postlethwaite), Saito wants Cobb to plant the idea of dissolving the company into the mind of Fischer's heir, son Robert Fischer (Cillian Murphy). Should Cobb succeed, Saito tells Cobb he will use his influence to clear Cobb of a murder charge, which will allow Cobb to return home and to his children. Cobb accepts Saito's offer. Cobb sets about assembling his team: Eames (Tom Hardy), a conman and identity forger; Yusuf (Dileep Rao), a chemist who concocts the powerful sedative for a stable "dream within a dream" strategy; Ariadne (Ellen Page), an architecture student tasked with designing the labyrinth of the dream landscapes; and Arthur. Saito insists on accompanying the team to verify the team's success.
Initial release: July 8, 2010 (United Kingdom)
Director: Christopher Nolan
Running time: 148 minutes
Screenplay: Christopher Nolan
Awards: Academy Award for Best Cinematography, Academy Award for Best Visual Effects, Critics Choice Award for Best Action Film, Academy Award for Best Sound Mixing, Academy Award for Best Sound Editing, Saturn Award for Best Music, American Society of Cinematographers Award for Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography in Theatrical Releases, MTV Movie Award for Best Scared-As-S**t Performance, BAFTA Award for Best Sound, Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form, Writers Guild of America Award for Best Original Screenplay, BAFTA Award for Best Special Visual Effects, Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture, Saturn Award for Best Director, Satellite Award for Best Art Direction and Production Design, BFCA Critics' Choice Award for Best Art Direction, BFCA Critics' Choice Award for Best Editing, BFCA Critics' Choice Award for Best Visual Effects, Satellite Award for Best Original Score, Satellite Award for Best Cinematography, Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Cinematography, Florida Film Critics Circle Award for Best Cinematography, Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Cinematography, BFCA Critics' Choice Award for Best Sound, San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Cinematography, ADG Excellence in Production Design Awards - Fantasy Film, National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Production Design, NME Awards for Best Film, Washington DC Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Cinematography, BAFTA Award for Best Production Design, Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Cinematography

Shutter Island 2010

Shutter Island is a 2010 American psychological thriller film directed by Martin Scorsese. The film is based on Dennis Lehane's 2003 novel of the same name. Production started in March 2008. Leonardo DiCaprio stars as U.S. Marshal Edward "Teddy" Daniels, who is investigating a psychiatric facility on the titular island. Positively cited by movie reviewers, the film grossed over $128 million in its initial domestic theater release, as well as an additional $166 million internationally.Shutter Island was originally slated to be released on October 2, 2009, but Paramount Pictures pushed the release date to February 19, 2010.
        In 1954, two U.S. Marshals, Edward "Teddy" Daniels and his new partner, Chuck Aule, travel to the Ashecliffe Hospital for the criminally insane on Shutter Island located in Boston Harbor, as part of an investigation into the disappearance of patient Rachel Solando, incarcerated for drowning her three children. The sole clue is a note left by Solando, which reads: "The law of 4; who is 67?" Shortly after arrival, a storm prevents their return to the mainland for several days. Daniels finds the staff confrontational: the lead psychiatrist, Dr. John Cawley, refuses to hand over records of the hospital staff; Solando's doctor, Dr. Sheehan, had left on vacation after her disappearance, and they are barred from searching Ward C and told that the lighthouse on the island has already been searched, so there is no need to search it.
The unpleasant air and commodity of the Ashecliffe Hospital causes Daniels to start having migraine headaches, waking visions of his involvement in the Dachau liberation reprisals, and disturbing dreams of his wife, Dolores Chanal, who was killed in a fire set by a local arsonist named Andrew Laeddis. In one dream, Chanal tells Daniels that Solando is still on the island, as well as Laeddis, who also went missing months ago. Daniels later explains to Aule that locating Laeddis was an ulterior motive for taking the case.
Initial release: February 13, 2010 (Berlin)
Director: Martin Scorsese
Running time: 138 minutes
Screenplay: Laeta Kalogridis
Awards: Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actor: Horror/Thriller

Revolutionary Road 2008

Revolutionary Road is a 2008 American drama film, based on the 1961 novel of the same name by Richard Yates, directed by Sam Mendes. This is the second collaboration between Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, who previously co-starred in Titanic. Winslet's performance earned her a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress, and the film was nominated for a further three Golden Globes, four BAFTAs and three Oscars.The film premiered in Los Angeles on 15 December 2008, followed by a limited U.S. release on 26 December 2008 and a wide U.S. release on 23 January 2009. In most other countries it was released between 15 and 30 January 2009.
      In the late 1940s, Frank Wheeler (Leonardo DiCaprio) meets April (Kate Winslet) at a party. He is a longshoreman, hoping to be a cashier; she wants to be an actress. Frank later secures a sales position with Knox Machines, for which his father worked for twenty years, and he and April marry. The Wheelers move to 115 Revolutionary Road in suburban Connecticut when April becomes pregnant. Frank and April settle into the normality of suburban life while bringing up their children, Michael and Jennifer.
The couple becomes close friends with their realtor Helen Givings (Kathy Bates) and her husband Howard Givings (Richard Easton), and neighbor Milly Campbell (Kathryn Hahn) and her husband Shep (David Harbour). To their friends, the Wheelers are the perfect couple, but their relationship is troubled. April fails to make a career out of acting, while Frank hates the tedium of his work. April wants new scenery and a chance to support the family so that Frank can find his passion.
Initial release: December 15, 2008 (USA)
Director: Sam Mendes
Screenplay: Justin Haythe
Story by: Richard Yates
Awards: Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture – Drama, Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture, London Film Critics Circle Award for Actress of the Year