Tag Archives: psychological drama

The Usual Suspects

IMDB Rating: 8.70
119607 votes

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Storyline
After a waterfront explosion, Verbal (Kevin Spacey), an eye-witness and participant tells the story of events leading up to the conflagration. The story begins when five men are rounded up for a line-up, and grilled about a truck hijacking (the usual suspects). Least pleased is Keaton (Gabriel Byrne) a crooked cop - exposed, indicted, but now desperately trying to go straight. The cops won't leave him alone, however, and as they wait for their lawyers to post bail, he is talked into doing one more job with the other four. All goes tolerably well until the influence of the legendary, seemingly omnipotent "Keyser Soze" is felt. Although set in the modern day, it has much of the texture of the forties, plus suspense, intrigue (a fairly high body count), and lots of twists in the plot.
Actors
Michael McManusStephen Baldwin
Dean KeatonGabriel Byrne
Fred FensterBenicio Del Toro

Shallow Grave

IMDB Rating: 7.40
10603 votes

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Storyline
To avoid spoiling the movie this plot summary is very brief. It starts when three people living together in a four bedroom flat are looking for a house mate. The interviews they conduct are very unorthodox and very funny. Eventually the three agree on one prospective tenant. He moves in, locks his door, and is not seen again. After a couple of days the three become curious and break in to his room. What follows is an amazing piece of cinema and to say more would ruin it.
Actors
Juliet MillerKerry Fox
David StephensChristopher Eccleston
Alex LawEwan McGregor

In the Line of Fire

IMDB Rating: 7.20
14505 votes

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Storyline
Frank Horrigan is a Secret Service Agent. He currently does mostly undercover work. He goes to check on a report about a person who is threatening the life of the President. When he goes to the man's apartment, he finds clippings and photos of various assassinations throughout history. When he does a background check, he discovers that the man's identity is false. So he goes back to the apartment to get him, but when he goes in there, he finds the apartment cleaned out except for a photo of him when he was in Dallas, November 1963, protecting Kennedy. Later he gets a phone call from the man and tells him that he plans to kill the President and is daring Frank to stop him. When Frank reports to his superiors, he finds that there are some people like the agent in charge of protecting the President and the Chief of Staff, who think that Frank is letting his failure to protect Kennedy cloud his judgement. But as Frank chases him down, he discovers that he is not dealing with a nut but with a well organized individual.
Actors
Secret Service Agent Frank HorriganClint Eastwood
Mitch LearyJohn Malkovich
Secret Service Agent Lilly RainesRene Russo

Basic Instinct

IMDB Rating: 6.70
22321 votes

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Storyline
Former rock star and San Francisco nightclub owner Johnny Boz is found murdered in his bed. Detective Nick Curran is assigned to the case; he has a history of alcoholism and drug abuse although he is clean now. The prime suspect is Catherine Tramell, an attractive and manipulative novelist who had been seeing Boz for a while. Police psychiatrist Beth Gardner (who happens to be Nick's ex-girlfriend) is brought in on the case when it is discovered that Boz's murder was copied directly from one of Catherine's novels. Nick starts to get too involved and everyone seems to be a suspect.
Actors
Det. Nick CurranMichael Douglas
Catherine TramellSharon Stone
Gus MoranGeorge Dzundza

The Silence of the Lambs

IMDB Rating: 8.60
105280 votes

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Storyline
A psychopath known as Buffalo Bill is kidnapping and murdering young women across the midwest. Believing it takes one to know one, the F.B.I. sends Agent Clarice Starling (Foster) to interview a demented prisoner who may provide psychological insight and clues to the killer's actions. The prisoner is psychiatrist, Dr. Hannibal Lector (Hopkins), a brilliant, murderous cannibal who will only help Starling if she feeds his morbid curiosity with details about her own complicated life. This twisted relationship forces Starling not only to confront her psychological demons, but leads her to face with a demented, heinous killer, an incarceration of evil so powerful, that she may not have the courage -- or strength -- to stop him!
Actors
Clarice StarlingJodie Foster
Dr. Hannibal LecterAnthony Hopkins
Jack CrawfordScott Glenn

Desperate Hours

IMDB Rating: 5.10
1411 votes

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Storyline
Michael Bosworth is a psychotic criminal who is about to go on trial however, he seduces his lawyer into helping him escape. But as they try to make their getaway, she's left behind. He decides to wait for her to come to him, so he decides to hide at the house of the Cornells. Now it appears that the Cornells have problems of their own. The husband and wife are separated. And there's an FBI agent after them who is using the lawyer to lead them to Bosworth.
Actors
Michael BosworthMickey Rourke
Tim CornellAnthony Hopkins
Nora CornellMimi Rogers

Total Recall

IMDB Rating: 7.20
30415 votes

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Storyline
What is reality when you can't trust your memory? Arnold Schwartzenegger is an Earthbound construction worker who keeps having dreams about Mars. A trip to a false memory transplant service for an imaginary trip to Mars goes terribly wrong and another personality surfaces. When his old self returns, he finds groups of his friends and several strangers seem to have orders to kill him. He finds records his other self left him that tell him to get to Mars to join up with the underground. The reality of the situation is constantly in question. Who is he? Which personality is correct? Which version of reality is true?
Actors
Douglas Quaid/HauserArnold Schwarzenegger
MelinaRachel Ticotin
LoriSharon Stone

Dirty Harry

IMDB Rating: 7.70
13463 votes

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Storyline
The debut of SFPD Inspector Harry Callahan begins with a sociopathic rooftop sniper (Andrew Robinson of 'Cobra' and 'Hellraiser') killing a young woman in a pool, and then trying to extort $100,000 from the City. Harry is asked by his boss, Lt. Bressler (Harry Guardino) and the Mayor (John Vernon) to put a stop to this low-life. While Harry & his new partner, Chico (Reni Santori of 'Cobra') investigate, another murder occurs, followed by a kidnapping/rape of a young girl, and a subsequent attempt at extortion by the killer, who calls himself 'Scorpio'. Harry volunteers to deliver the ransom but is nearly killed by Scorpio, who is wounded & driven off by Chico and Harry. Harry follows the suspect's trail to Kezar Stadium, where he discovers the murder weapon and the suspect! The man is arrested and Harry gets the girl's location out of him. Unbeknownst to Harry, the girl is dead already, and the next morning Harry visits the D.A. to find out that the man is being freed - because of a bleeding-heart legal system and judiciary that says Harry's search was 'illegal', although there was no time - and no judge - to get a warrant from. On his release, Scorpio is up to his old tricks - this time he kidnaps a bus-load of children and demands a ransom. The Mayor foolishly goes along with Scorpio's game and orders Harry not to stop the killer. Disgusted with the weak-kneed attitude of the Mayor & his colleagues in the legal system, Harry intercepts the bus and takes on Scorpio himself to put an end to the kidnapping and the psychopath's reign of terror...for good.
Actors
Insp. Harry CallahanClint Eastwood
Lt. Al BresslerHarry Guardino
Insp. Chico GonzalezReni Santoni

Last Tango in Paris (Ultimo tango a Parigi)

IMDB Rating: 6.90
6806 votes

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Storyline
While looking for an apartment, Jeanne, a beautiful young Parisienne, encounters Paul, a mysterious American expatriate mourning his wife's recent suicide. Instantly drawn to each other, they have a stormy, passionate affair, in which they do not reveal their names to each other. Their relationship deeply affects their lives, as Paul struggles with his wife's death and Jeanne prepares to marry her fiance, Tom, a film director making a cinema-verite documentary about her.
Actors
PaulMarlon Brando
JeanneMaria Schneider
Rosa's MotherMaria Michi

Lolita

IMDB Rating: 7.60
14681 votes

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Storyline
Humbert Humbert, a divorced British professor of French literature, travels to small-town America for a teaching position. He allows himself to be swept into a relationship with Charlotte Haze, his widowed and sexually famished landlady, whom he marries in order that he might pursue the woman's 14-year-old flirtatious daughter, Lolita, with whom he has fallen hopelessly in love, but whose affections shall be thwarted by a devious trickster named Clare Quilty.
Actors
Prof. Humbert Humbert/NarratorJames Mason
Charlotte Haze/HumbertShelley Winters
Dolores 'Lolita' Haze/Mrs. Richard SchillerSue Lyon
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