Interstellar (2014)

A team of explorers travel through a wormhole in space in an attempt to ensure humanity's survival.

Interstellar is a 2014 epic science fiction film directed by Christopher Nolan and starring Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, and Michael Caine. The film features a crew of astronauts who travel through a wormhole in search of a new home for humanity. Brothers Christopher and Jonathan Nolan wrote the screenplay, which has its origins in a script Jonathan developed in 2007. Christopher Nolan produced the film with his wife Emma Thomas through their production company Syncopy and with Lynda Obst through Lynda Obst Productions. Caltech theoretical physicist Kip Thorne, whose work inspired the film, was an executive producer and acted as scientific consultant. Warner Bros., Paramount Pictures, and Legendary Pictures co-financed the film.

Cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema shot the movie on 35 mm (in anamorphic format) and IMAX 70 mm film. Filming commenced in late 2013 in Alberta, Iceland and Los Angeles. The film utilized extensive practical and miniature effects, while Double Negative created additional digital effects.

Interstellar premiered on October 26, 2014 in Los Angeles. In the United States, it was released on film stock, expanding to venues using digital projectors. The film was successful at the box office with a worldwide gross of over $675 million, and received positive reviews from critics, who gave particular praise to the film's science fiction themes, musical score, visual effects, and the performances of McConaughey, Hathaway, Chastain, and Mackenzie Foy. It received several awards and nominations. At the 87th Academy Awards the film won the Best Visual Effects award and was also nominated for Best Original Score, Best Sound Mixing, Best Sound Editing, and Best Production Design.

Director: Christopher Nolan

Writers: Jonathan Nolan, Christopher Nolan

Stars: Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain

The Prestige (2006)

The Prestige is a 2006 thriller drama film directed by Christopher Nolan, from a screenplay adapted by Nolan and his brother Jonathan from Christopher Priest's 1995 World Fantasy Award-winning novel of the same name. The story follows Robert Angier and Alfred Borden, rival stage magicians in London at the end of the 19th century. Obsessed with creating the best stage illusion, they engage in competitive one-upmanship with tragic results.

The American-British co-production features Hugh Jackman as Robert Angier, Christian Bale as Alfred Borden, and David Bowie as Nikola Tesla. It also stars Michael Caine, Scarlett Johansson, Piper Perabo, Andy Serkis, and Rebecca Hall. The film reunites Nolan with actors Bale and Caine from Batman Begins, and returning cinematographer Wally Pfister, production designer Nathan Crowley, film score composer David Julyan, and editor Lee Smith.

A co-production between Touchstone Pictures and Warner Bros. Pictures, the film was released on October 20, 2006, receiving positive reviews and strong box office results, and received Academy Award nominations for Best Cinematography and Best Art Direction. Along with The Illusionist and Scoop, The Prestige was one of three films in 2006 to explore the world of stage magicians.

Director: Christopher Nolan

Writers: Jonathan Nolan (screenplay), Christopher Nolan (screenplay)

American History X (1998)

A former neo-nazi skinhead tries to prevent his younger brother from going down the same wrong path that he did.

American History X is a 1998 American crime drama film directed by Tony Kaye, written by David McKenna, and stars Edward Norton, Edward Furlong, Fairuza Balk, Stacy Keach, Elliott Gould, Avery Brooks, Ethan Suplee and Beverly D'Angelo. The film was released in the United States on October 30, 1998 and was distributed by New Line Cinema.

The film tells the story of two Venice, Los Angeles brothers who become involved in the neo-Nazi movement. The older brother serves three years in prison for voluntary manslaughter, changes his beliefs and tries to prevent his brother from going down the same path. The film is told in the style of nonlinear narrative. Made on a budget of $20 million, it grossed $24 million at the international box office.

Critics mostly praised the film and Norton's performance, which earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. In September 2008, Empire magazine named it the 311th Greatest Movie of All Time.

 

 Director: Tony Kaye
Writer: David McKenna
Stars: Edward Norton, Edward Furlong, Beverly D'Angelo

Fight Club (1999)

An insomniac office worker, looking for a way to change his life, crosses paths with a devil-may-care soap maker, forming an underground fight club that evolves into something much, much more...

Fight Club is a 1999 American film based on the 1996 novel of the same name by Chuck Palahniuk. The film was directed by David Fincher, and stars Brad Pitt, Edward Norton and Helena Bonham Carter. Norton plays the unnamed protagonist, an "everyman" who is discontented with his white-collar job. He forms a "fight club" with soap maker Tyler Durden, played by Pitt, and they are joined by men who also want to fight recreationally. The narrator becomes embroiled in a relationship with Durden and a dissolute woman, Marla Singer, played by Bonham Carter.

Palahniuk's novel was optioned by 20th Century Fox producer Laura Ziskin, who hired Jim Uhls to write the film adaptation. Fincher was one of four directors the producers considered, and was selected because of his enthusiasm for the film. Fincher developed the script with Uhls and sought screenwriting advice from the cast and others in the film industry. The director and the cast compared the film to Rebel Without a Cause (1955) and The Graduate (1967). Fincher intended Fight Club '​s violence to serve as a metaphor for the conflict between a generation of young people and the value system of advertising. The director copied the homoerotic overtones from Palahniuk's novel to make audiences interested and keep them from anticipating the twist ending.[4]

Studio executives did not like the film and restructured Fincher's intended marketing campaign to try to reduce anticipated losses. Fight Club failed to meet the studio's expectations at the box office and received polarized reactions from critics, who debated the explicit violence and moral ambiguity, but praised the acting, directing, themes and messages. It was cited as one of the most controversial and talked-about films of 1999. The film later found critical and commercial success with its DVD release, which established Fight Club as a cult film.