Films that Portray the Real America
Are you sick of seeing films that portray an unrealistic America where everyone is rich and life is great if only you try just a little? Me too. Not all of these films are factual - they just portray an America that seems familiar to the average American.
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- DirectorCurtis HansonStarsEminemBrittany MurphyKim BasingerFollows a young rapper in the Detroit area, struggling with every aspect of his life; he wants to make it big but his friends and foes make this odyssey of rap harder than it may seem.
- DirectorSheldon LettichStarsMark DacascosStacey TravisGeoffrey LewisEx-Special Forces soldier Louis Stevens returns to Miami to find his former high school overrun by drugs and violence. A master of the Brazilian martial art, capoeira, Stevens pledges to straighten out a dozen of the school's worst students by teaching them this demanding and highly-disciplined fighting style. Slowly, his program begins to work, giving the students new hope and purpose. But the local drug lord, himself a martial arts expert, vows to stop Stevens' positive influence. Now Stevens must fight to save his own life, as well as the lives of his rebellious young students.
- DirectorPeter KosminskyStarsMichelle PfeifferRenée ZellwegerRobin WrightA teenager journeys through a series of foster homes after her mother goes to prison for committing a crime of passion.
- DirectorJohn N. SmithStarsMichelle PfeifferGeorge DzundzaCourtney B. VanceLouAnne, a retired US marine, becomes a teacher in a Californian high school. But her mostly Latino and black students from an impoverished and racially segregated locality do not easily embrace her.
- DirectorMichael MooreStarsMichael MooreCharlton HestonMarilyn MansonFilmmaker Michael Moore explores the roots of America's predilection for gun violence.
- DirectorKevin SmithStarsBrian O'HalloranJeff AndersonRosario DawsonA calamity at Dante and Randal's shops sends them looking for new horizons - but they ultimately settle at the fast food empire Mooby's.
- DirectorKevin SmithStarsBrian O'HalloranJeff AndersonMarilyn GhigliottiA day in the lives of two convenience clerks named Dante and Randal as they annoy customers, discuss movies, and play hockey on the store roof.
- DirectorMatthew BrightStarsReese WitherspoonKiefer SutherlandBokeem WoodbineA twisted take on "Little Red Riding Hood", with a teenage juvenile delinquent on the run from a social worker travelling to her grandmother's house and being hounded by a charming, but sadistic, serial killer and pedophile.
- DirectorMichael MooreStarsMichael MooreTucker AlbrizziTony BennA documentary comparing the highly profitable American health care industry to other nations, and HMO horror stories including shotgun deaths.
- DirectorMichael MooreStarsMichael MooreGeorge W. BushBen AffleckMichael Moore's view on what happened to the United States after September 11 and how the Bush Administration allegedly used the tragic event to push forward its agenda for unjust wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
- DirectorSteven SoderberghStarsDebbie DoebereinerOmar CowanDustin James AshleySet against the backdrop of a decaying Midwestern town, a murder becomes the focal point of three people who work in a doll factory.
- DirectorMike JudgeStarsRon LivingstonJennifer AnistonDavid HermanThree company workers who hate their jobs decide to rebel against their greedy boss.
- DirectorAngel GraciaStarsCamilla BelleAlexa PenaVegaKuno BeckerA Latina spin on Jane Austen's "Sense and Sensibility": two spoiled sisters who have been left penniless after their father's sudden death are forced to move in with their estranged aunt in East Los Angeles.
- CreatorVince GilliganStarsBryan CranstonAaron PaulAnna GunnA chemistry teacher diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer turns to manufacturing and selling methamphetamine with a former student in order to secure his family's future.
- DirectorTate TaylorStarsViola DavisEmma StoneOctavia SpencerAn aspiring author during the civil rights movement of the 1960s decides to write a book detailing the African American maids' point of view on the white families for which they work, and the hardships they go through on a daily basis.
- StarsJamie OliverAlice GueRod WillisImpassioned chef Jamie Oliver is determined to take on the high statistics of obesity, heart disease and diabetes in the United States.
- DirectorRichard AttenboroughStarsRobert Downey Jr.Geraldine ChaplinPaul RhysAn elderly Charlie Chaplin discusses his autobiography with his editor, recounting his amazing journey from his poverty-stricken childhood to world-wide success after the ingenious invention of the Little Tramp.Did you know Chaplin was English. He lived in America for many years till he got on the wrong side of the government and they accused him of being a Communist and then barred him from America. He spent the rest of his days in Switzerland. Funny that's were a few ex Americans seem to end up living once they renounce including Tina Turner.
A woman Chaplin dated (who later was committed to a mental institution) took Charlie Chaplin to court claiming her baby was his. He proved it was not his child by having a blood test but this fact didn't stop him from being ordered to pay child support for the child that was not his. Ah the marvels of the American justice system. - DirectorMartin ScorseseStarsLeonardo DiCaprioCate BlanchettKate BeckinsaleA biopic depicting the early years of legendary director and aviator Howard Hughes' career from the late 1920s to the mid 1940s.More charming corruption from the US government is portrayed in this movie and can be read about here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Owen_Brewster#Opposition_to_Howard_Hughes - DirectorAdam McKayStarsChristian BaleSteve CarellRyan GoslingIn 2006-2007 a group of investors bet against the United States mortgage market. In their research, they discover how flawed and corrupt the market is.
- DirectorSteven SpielbergStarsTom HanksMark RylanceAlan AldaDuring the Cold War, an American lawyer is recruited to defend an arrested Soviet spy in court, and then help the CIA facilitate an exchange of the spy for the Soviet captured American U2 spy plane pilot, Francis Gary Powers.