Best English Crime Movies of All Time

Francis Ford Coppola · 175 min · Paramount Pictures / Alfran Productions

The Godfather "Don" Vito Corleone is the head of the Corleone mafia family in New York. He is at the event of his daughter's wedding. Michael, Vito's youngest son and a decorated WWII Marine is also present at the wedding. Michael seems to be uninterested in being a part of the family business. Vito is a powerful man, and is kind to all those who give him respect but is ruthless against those who do not. But when a powerful and treacherous rival wants to sell drugs and needs the Don's influence for the same, Vito refuses to do it. What follows is a clash between Vito's fading old values and the new ways which may cause Michael to do the thing he was most reluctant in doing and wage a mob war against all the other mafia families which could tear the Corleone family apart.

Cast: Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan

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AI verdict: Based on aggregated scores (9.2/10 on IMDb (2,222,804 votes), 97% on Rotten Tomatoes, 100/100 on Metacritic), this is a data-driven snapshot rather than an editorial take.

Sidney Lumet · 96 min · Orion-Nova Productions

The defense and the prosecution have rested, and the jury is filing into the jury room to decide if a young man is guilty or innocent of murdering his father. What begins as an open-and-shut case of murder soon becomes a detective story that presents a succession of clues creating doubt, and a mini-drama of each of the jurors' prejudices and preconceptions about the trial, the accused, AND each other. Based on the play, all of the action takes place on the stage of the jury room.

Cast: Henry Fonda, Lee J. Cobb, Martin Balsam

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AI verdict: Based on aggregated scores (9.0/10 on IMDb (981,488 votes), 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, 97/100 on Metacritic), this is a data-driven snapshot rather than an editorial take.

Francis Ford Coppola · 202 min

The continuing saga of the Corleone crime family tells the story of a young Vito Corleone growing up in Sicily and in 1910s New York; and follows Michael Corleone in the 1950s as he attempts to expand the family business into Las Vegas, Hollywood and Cuba.

Cast: Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Robert Duvall

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AI verdict: Based on aggregated scores (9.0/10 on IMDb (1,492,120 votes), 96% on Rotten Tomatoes, 90/100 on Metacritic), this is a data-driven snapshot rather than an editorial take.

Christopher Nolan · 152 min

Set within a year after the events of Batman Begins (2005), Batman, Lieutenant James Gordon, and new District Attorney Harvey Dent successfully begin to round up the criminals that plague Gotham City, until a mysterious and sadistic criminal mastermind known only as "The Joker" appears in Gotham, creating a new wave of chaos. Batman's struggle against The Joker becomes deeply personal, forcing him to "confront everything he believes" and improve his technology to stop him. A love triangle develops between Bruce Wayne, Dent, and Rachel Dawes.

Cast: Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart

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AI verdict: Based on aggregated scores (9.1/10 on IMDb (3,161,907 votes), 94% on Rotten Tomatoes, 85/100 on Metacritic), this is a data-driven snapshot rather than an editorial take.

Quentin Tarantino · 154 min · A Band Apart / Jersey Films

Jules Winnfield (Samuel L. Jackson) and Vincent Vega (John Travolta) are two hitmen who are out to retrieve a suitcase stolen from their employer, mob boss Marsellus Wallace (Ving Rhames). Wallace has also asked Vincent to take his wife Mia (Uma Thurman) out a few days later when Wallace himself will be out of town. Butch Coolidge (Bruce Willis) is an aging boxer who is paid by Wallace to lose his fight. The lives of these seemingly unrelated people are woven together comprising of a series of funny, bizarre and uncalled-for incidents.

Cast: John Travolta, Uma Thurman, Samuel L. Jackson

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AI verdict: Based on aggregated scores (8.8/10 on IMDb (2,431,656 votes), 92% on Rotten Tomatoes, 95/100 on Metacritic), this is a data-driven snapshot rather than an editorial take.

Martin Scorsese · 145 min · Warner Bros.{{Cite web / url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/MovieDetails/55206 / title=Goodfellas (1990) / website=American Film Institute / url-status=live / archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200124115030/https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/MovieDetails/55206 / archive-date=January 24, 2020 / access-date=May 23, 2023 / Irwin Winkler Productions

Henry Hill recounts his life in the mob, from his teenage years to his eventual downfall. Immersed in organized crime, he experiences wealth, power, and violence alongside friends Jimmy Conway and Tommy DeVito. The film blends crime, drama, and dark humor, exploring loyalty, ambition, betrayal, and the consequences of criminal life. Themes of family, morality, and the fleeting nature of power underpin the story.

Cast: Robert De Niro, Ray Liotta, Joe Pesci

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AI verdict: Based on aggregated scores (8.7/10 on IMDb (1,388,009 votes), 93% on Rotten Tomatoes, 92/100 on Metacritic), this is a data-driven snapshot rather than an editorial take.

Billy Wilder · 107 min · Paramount Pictures

In 1938, Walter Neff, an experienced salesman of the Pacific All Risk Insurance Co., meets the seductive wife of one of his clients, Phyllis Dietrichson, and they have an affair. Phyllis proposes to kill her husband to receive the proceeds of an accident insurance policy and Walter devises a scheme to receive twice the amount based on a double indemnity clause. When Mr. Dietrichson is found dead on a train track, the police accept the determination of accidental death. However, the insurance analyst and Walter's best friend Barton Keyes does not buy the story and suspects that Phyllis has murdered her husband with the help of another man.

Cast: Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, Edward G. Robinson

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AI verdict: Based on aggregated scores (8.3/10 on IMDb (176,771 votes), 97% on Rotten Tomatoes, 95/100 on Metacritic), this is a data-driven snapshot rather than an editorial take.

Curtis Hanson · 138 min · Regency Enterprises / The Wolper Organization

1950's Los Angeles is the seedy backdrop for this intricate noir-ish tale of police corruption and Hollywood sleaze. Three very different cops are all after the truth, each in their own style: Ed Exley, the golden boy of the police force, willing to do almost anything to get ahead, except sell out; Bud White, ready to break the rules to seek justice, but barely able to keep his raging violence under control; and Jack Vincennes, always looking for celebrity and a quick buck until his conscience drives him to join Exley and White down the one-way path to find the truth behind the dark world of L.A. crime.

Cast: Kevin Spacey, Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce

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AI verdict: Based on aggregated scores (8.2/10 on IMDb (655,630 votes), 99% on Rotten Tomatoes, 91/100 on Metacritic), this is a data-driven snapshot rather than an editorial take.

Jonathan Demme · 118 min · Strong Heart Productions

F.B.I. trainee Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster) works hard to advance her career, while trying to hide or put behind her West Virginia roots, of which if some knew, would automatically classify her as being backward or white trash. After graduation, she aspires to work in the agency's Behavioral Science Unit under the leadership of Jack Crawford (Scott Glenn). While she is still a trainee, Crawford asks her to question Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Sir Anthony Hopkins), a psychiatrist imprisoned, thus far, for eight years in maximum security isolation for being a serial killer who cannibalized his victims. Clarice is able to figure out the assignment is to pick Lecter's brains to help them solve another serial murder case, that of someone coined by the media as "Buffalo Bill" (Ted Levine), who has so far killed five victims, all located in the eastern U.S., all young women, who are slightly overweight (especially around the hips), all who were drowned in natural bodies of water, and all who were stripped of large swaths of skin. She also figures that Crawford chose her, as a woman, to be able to trigger some emotional response from Lecter. After speaking to Lecter for the first time, she realizes that everything with him will be a psychological game, with her often having to read between the very cryptic lines he provides. She has to decide how much she will play along, as his request in return for talking to him is to expose herself emotionally to him. The case takes a more dire turn when a sixth victim is discovered, this one from who they are able to retrieve a key piece of evidence, if Lecter is being forthright as to its meaning. A potential seventh victim is high profile Catherine Martin (Brooke Smith), the daughter of Senator Ruth Martin (Diane Baker), which places greater scrutiny on the case as they search for a hopefully still alive Catherine. Who may factor into what happens is Dr. Frederick Chilton (Anthony Heald), the warden at the prison, an opportunist who sees the higher profile with Catherine, meaning a higher profile for himself if he can insert himself successfully into the proceedings.

Cast: Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, Scott Glenn

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AI verdict: Based on aggregated scores (8.6/10 on IMDb (1,718,588 votes), 95% on Rotten Tomatoes, 86/100 on Metacritic), this is a data-driven snapshot rather than an editorial take.

Elia Kazan · 108 min · Horizon Pictures

Terry Malloy dreams about being a prize fighter, while tending his pigeons and running errands at the docks for Johnny Friendly, the corrupt boss of the dockers union. Terry witnesses a murder by two of Johnny's thugs, and later meets the dead man's sister and feels responsible for his death. She introduces him to Father Barry, who tries to force him to provide information for the courts that will smash the dock racketeers.

Cast: Marlon Brando, Karl Malden, Lee J. Cobb

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AI verdict: Based on aggregated scores (8.1/10 on IMDb (172,324 votes), 99% on Rotten Tomatoes, 91/100 on Metacritic), this is a data-driven snapshot rather than an editorial take.

Tom McCarthy · 129 min

When the Boston Globe's tenacious "Spotlight" team of reporters delves into allegations of abuse in the Catholic Church, their year-long investigation uncovers a decades-long cover-up at the highest levels of Boston's religious, legal, and government establishment, touching off a wave of revelations around the world.

Cast: Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams

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AI verdict: Based on aggregated scores (8.1/10 on IMDb (529,406 votes), 97% on Rotten Tomatoes, 93/100 on Metacritic), this is a data-driven snapshot rather than an editorial take.

Ethan Coen, Joel Coen · 122 min

In rural Texas, welder and hunter Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) discovers the remains of several drug runners who have all killed each other in an exchange gone violently wrong. Rather than report the discovery to the police, Moss decides to simply take the two million dollars present for himself. This puts the psychopathic killer, Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem), on his trail as he dispassionately murders nearly every rival, bystander and even employer in his pursuit of his quarry and the money. As Moss desperately attempts to keep one step ahead, the blood from this hunt begins to flow behind him with relentlessly growing intensity as Chigurh closes in. Meanwhile, the laconic Sheriff Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones) blithely oversees the investigation even as he struggles to face the sheer enormity of the crimes he is attempting to thwart.

Cast: Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin

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AI verdict: Based on aggregated scores (8.2/10 on IMDb (1,177,271 votes), 93% on Rotten Tomatoes, 92/100 on Metacritic), this is a data-driven snapshot rather than an editorial take.

Billy Wilder · 116 min · Edward Small Productions

Ailing barrister Sir Wilfrid Robarts is thrust back into the courtroom in what becomes one of the most unusual and eventful murder case of the lawyer's career when he finds himself defending Leonard Vole, a man being tried for the murder of a wealthy woman. With Robarts choosing to represent him, the two find themselves up against Leonard's cold-hearted wife, Christine - who, in a surprising turn of events, chooses to appear in court against her husband.

Cast: Tyrone Power, Marlene Dietrich, Charles Laughton

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AI verdict: Based on aggregated scores (8.4/10 on IMDb (160,177 votes), 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, 76/100 on Metacritic), this is a data-driven snapshot rather than an editorial take.

Martin Scorsese · 151 min

In this crime-action tour de force, the South Boston state police force is waging war on Irish-American organized crime. Young undercover cop Billy Costigan is assigned to infiltrate the mob syndicate run by gangland chief Frank Costello. While Billy quickly gains Costello's confidence, Colin Sullivan, a hardened young criminal who has infiltrated the state police as an informer for the syndicate, is rising to a position of power in the Special Investigation Unit. Each man becomes deeply consumed by their double lives, gathering information about the plans and counter-plans of the operations they have penetrated. But when it becomes clear to both the mob and the police that there is a mole in their midst, Billy and Colin are suddenly in danger of being caught and exposed to the enemy - and each must race to uncover the identity of the other man in time to save themselves. But is either willing to turn on their friends and comrades they've made during their long stints undercover?

Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson

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AI verdict: Based on aggregated scores (8.5/10 on IMDb (1,551,506 votes), 91% on Rotten Tomatoes, 85/100 on Metacritic), this is a data-driven snapshot rather than an editorial take.

Joel Coen, Ethan Coen · 98 min · Working Title Films

Jerry works in his father-in-law's car dealership and has gotten himself in financial problems. He tries various schemes to come up with money needed for a reason that is never really explained. It has to be assumed that his huge embezzlement of money from the dealership is about to be discovered by father-in-law. When all else falls through, plans he set in motion earlier for two men to kidnap his wife for ransom to be paid by her wealthy father (who doesn't seem to have the time of day for son-in-law). From the moment of the kidnapping, things go wrong and what was supposed to be a non-violent affair turns bloody with more blood added by the minute. Jerry is upset at the bloodshed, which turns loose a pregnant sheriff from Brainerd, MN who is tenacious in attempting to solve the three murders in her jurisdiction.

Cast: William H. Macy, Frances McDormand, Steve Buscemi

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AI verdict: Based on aggregated scores (8.1/10 on IMDb (780,547 votes), 95% on Rotten Tomatoes, 88/100 on Metacritic), this is a data-driven snapshot rather than an editorial take.

Martin Scorsese · 114 min · Bill/Phillips Productions / Italo-Judeo Productions

Travis Bickle is an ex-Marine and Vietnam War veteran living in New York City. As he suffers from insomnia, he spends his time working as a taxi driver at night, watching porn movies at seedy cinemas during the day, or thinking about how the world, New York in particular, has deteriorated into a cesspool. He's a loner who has strong opinions about what is right and wrong with mankind. For him, the one bright spot in humanity is Betsy, a worker on the presidential nomination campaign of Senator Charles Palantine. After an incident, he believes he has to do whatever he needs to make the world a better place.

Cast: Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster, Cybill Shepherd

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AI verdict: Based on aggregated scores (8.2/10 on IMDb (1,023,905 votes), 89% on Rotten Tomatoes, 94/100 on Metacritic), this is a data-driven snapshot rather than an editorial take.

Robert Mulligan · 129 min

Small-town Alabama, 1932. Atticus Finch (played by Gregory Peck) is a lawyer and a widower. He has two young children, Jem and Scout. Atticus Finch is currently defending Tom Robinson, a black man accused of raping a white woman. Meanwhile, Jem and Scout are intrigued by their neighbours, the Radleys, and the mysterious, seldom-seen Boo Radley in particular.

Cast: Gregory Peck, John Megna, Frank Overton

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AI verdict: Based on aggregated scores (8.2/10 on IMDb (350,117 votes), 93% on Rotten Tomatoes, 88/100 on Metacritic), this is a data-driven snapshot rather than an editorial take.

George Roy Hill · 129 min · Universal Pictures / The Zanuck/Brown Company

Johnny Hooker, a small time grifter, unknowingly steals from Doyle Lonnegan, a big time crime boss, when he pulls a standard street con. Lonnegan demands satisfaction for the insult. After his partner, Luther, is killed, Hooker flees, and seeks the help of Henry Gondorff, one of Luther's contacts, who is a master of the long con. Hooker wants to use Gondorff's expertise to take Lonnegan for an enormous sum of money to even the score, since he admits he "doesn't know enough about killing to kill him." They devise a complicated scheme and amass a talented group of other con artists who want their share of the reparations. The stakes are high in this game, and our heroes must not only deal with Lonnegan's murderous tendencies, but also other side players who want a piece of the action. To win, Hooker and Gondorff will need all their skills...and a fair amount of confidence.

Cast: Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Robert Shaw

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AI verdict: Based on aggregated scores (8.2/10 on IMDb (298,899 votes), 93% on Rotten Tomatoes, 83/100 on Metacritic), this is a data-driven snapshot rather than an editorial take.

Jim Sheridan · 133 min · Hell's Kitchen Films

Young Belfastian Gerry Conlon (Daniel Day-Lewis) admits that he was in London at the time of the incident. He also admits that he is not a model citizen, having committed a petty robbery while in London. He does however profess his innocence when it comes to the bombing of the Guildford Pub in London in 1974, the event which killed several people inside. A self-professed non-political person, he and his three co-accused, dubbed the Guildford Four, are thought to be provisional members of the I.R.A. Their self-professed innocence is despite each having signed a statement of guilt which they claim were signed under duress. Their case includes having provable alibis for the time frame of the bombing. And eventually, Joe McAndrew (Don Baker), a known I.R.A. member, admits to the bombing. Dubbed the Maguire Seven, seven others, primarily members of Gerry's extended family including his father Giuseppe (Pete Postlethwaite), are accused of being accessories to the bombing. Following on the work initiated by Giuseppe, Gerry works on a campaign to prove their collective innocence, this work with the assistance of compassionate lawyer Gareth Peirce (Dame Emma Thompson). As Gareth works on this campaign, she is faced with obstacle after obstacle placed by Robert Dixon (Corin Redgrave), who led the initial investigation and questioning of the four accused on behalf of the Police.

Cast: Daniel Day-Lewis, Pete Postlethwaite, Anthony Brophy

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AI verdict: Based on aggregated scores (8.1/10 on IMDb (200,972 votes), 94% on Rotten Tomatoes, 84/100 on Metacritic), this is a data-driven snapshot rather than an editorial take.

Martin McDonagh · 115 min · Film4{{cite web / url=https://www.varietyinsight.com/print_featurefilm_releases.php / title=Film releases / work=Variety Insight / access-date=July 3, 2017 / archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170728095754/https://www.varietyinsight.com/print_featurefilm_releases.php / archive-date=July 28, 2017 / url-status=live / df=mdy-all / Blueprint Pictures{{cite web / url=https://www.varietyinsight.com/print_featurefilm_releases.php / title=Film releases / work=Variety Insight / access-date=July 3, 2017 / archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170728095754/https://www.varietyinsight.com/print_featurefilm_releases.php / archive-date=July 28, 2017 / url-status=live / df=mdy-all

THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI is a darkly comic drama from Academy Award nominee Martin McDonagh (In Bruges). After months have passed without a culprit in her daughter's murder case, Mildred Hayes (Academy Award winner Frances McDormand) makes a bold move, painting three signs leading into her town with a controversial message directed at William Willoughby (Academy Award nominee Woody Harrelson), the town's revered chief of police. When his second-in-command Officer Dixon (Academy Award winner Sam Rockwell), an immature mother's boy with a penchant for violence, gets involved, the battle between Mildred and Ebbing's law enforcement is only exacerbated.

Cast: Frances McDormand, Woody Harrelson, Sam Rockwell

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AI verdict: Based on aggregated scores (8.1/10 on IMDb (601,876 votes), 90% on Rotten Tomatoes, 88/100 on Metacritic), this is a data-driven snapshot rather than an editorial take.

Danny Boyle · 93 min · Channel Four Films / Figment Films / Noel Gay Motion Picture Company

A wild, freeform, Rabelaisian trip through the darkest recesses of Edinburgh low-life, focusing on Mark Renton and his attempt to give up his heroin habit, and how the latter affects his relationship with family and friends: Sean Connery wannabe Sick Boy, dimbulb Spud, psycho Begbie, 14-year-old girlfriend Diane, and clean-cut athlete Tommy, who's never touched drugs but can't help being curious about them...

Cast: Ewan McGregor, Ewen Bremner, Jonny Lee Miller

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AI verdict: Based on aggregated scores (8.1/10 on IMDb (765,284 votes), 93% on Rotten Tomatoes, 83/100 on Metacritic), this is a data-driven snapshot rather than an editorial take.

Quentin Tarantino · 99 min · Live Entertainment / Dog Eat Dog Productions

Six thugs, who are strangers to each other, are hired by a crime boss, Joe Cabot, to carry out a diamond robbery. Right at the outset, they are given false names with the intention that they won't get too close and will concentrate on the job instead. They are completely sure that the robbery is going to be a success. But, when the police show up right at the time and the site of the robbery, panic spreads amongst the group members, and two of them are killed in the subsequent shootout, along with a few policemen and civilians. When the remaining people assemble at the premeditated rendezvous point (a warehouse), they begin to suspect that one of them is an undercover cop.

Cast: Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen

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AI verdict: Based on aggregated scores (8.3/10 on IMDb (1,164,336 votes), 90% on Rotten Tomatoes, 81/100 on Metacritic), this is a data-driven snapshot rather than an editorial take.

Steven Spielberg · 141 min · DreamWorks Pictures / Amblin Entertainment / Parkes/MacDonald Productions / Kemp Company / Splendid Pictures

A true story about Frank Abagnale Jr. who, before his 19th birthday, successfully conned millions of dollars worth of checks as a Pan Am pilot, doctor, and legal prosecutor. An FBI agent makes it his mission to put him behind bars. But Frank not only eludes capture, he revels in the pursuit.

Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hanks, Christopher Walken

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AI verdict: Based on aggregated scores (8.1/10 on IMDb (1,233,450 votes), 96% on Rotten Tomatoes, 75/100 on Metacritic), this is a data-driven snapshot rather than an editorial take.

Bryan Singer · 106 min

Following a truck hijack in New York, five criminals are arrested and brought together for questioning. As none of them are guilty, they plan a revenge operation against the police. The operation goes well, but then the influence of a legendary mastermind criminal called Keyser Söze is felt. It becomes clear that each one of them has wronged Söze at some point and must pay back now. The payback job leaves 27 men dead in a boat explosion, but the real question arises now: Who actually is Keyser Söze?

Cast: Kevin Spacey, Gabriel Byrne, Chazz Palminteri

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AI verdict: Based on aggregated scores (8.5/10 on IMDb (1,236,455 votes), 87% on Rotten Tomatoes, 76/100 on Metacritic), this is a data-driven snapshot rather than an editorial take.

Christopher Nolan · 164 min

Despite his tarnished reputation after the events of The Dark Knight (2008), in which he took the rap for Dent's crimes, Batman feels compelled to intervene to assist the city and its Police force, which is struggling to cope with Bane's plans to destroy the city.

Cast: Christian Bale, Tom Hardy, Anne Hathaway

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AI verdict: Based on aggregated scores (8.4/10 on IMDb (1,990,749 votes), 87% on Rotten Tomatoes, 78/100 on Metacritic), this is a data-driven snapshot rather than an editorial take.

Alfred Hitchcock · 105 min · Warner Bros.

In London, wealthy Margot Mary Wendice had a brief love affair with the American writer Mark Halliday while her husband and professional tennis player Tony Wendice was on a tennis tour. Tony quits playing to dedicate to his wife and finds a regular job. She decides to give him a second chance for their marriage. When Mark arrives from America to visit the couple, Margot tells him that she had destroyed all his letters but one that was stolen. Subsequently she was blackmailed, but she had never retrieved the stolen letter. Tony arrives home, claims that he needs to work and asks Margot to go with Mark to the theater. Meanwhile Tony calls Captain Lesgate (aka Charles Alexander Swann who studied with him at college) and blackmails him to murder his wife, so that he can inherit her fortune. But there is no perfect crime, and things do not work as planned.

Cast: Ray Milland, Grace Kelly, Robert Cummings

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AI verdict: Based on aggregated scores (8.1/10 on IMDb (204,423 votes), 90% on Rotten Tomatoes, 75/100 on Metacritic), this is a data-driven snapshot rather than an editorial take.

Sergio Leone · 229 min · The Ladd Company / PSO International / Embassy International Pictures / Rafran Cinematografica{{cite web / url=http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/7643203 / title=Once Upon a Time in America / work=Trove / access-date=October 11, 2016 / archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161012074633/http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/7643203 / archive-date=October 12, 2016 / url-status=live}}{{cite web / url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6e31e32e / title=Once Upon a Time in America (1983) / website=British Film Institute / access-date=February 1, 2020 / archive-date=November 14, 2020 / archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201114151424/https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6e31e32e / url-status=dead

With the vivid memory of his long-gone childhood friends Max, Patsy, and Cockeye etched in his mind, his ferociously loyal partners-in-crime during their rise to prominence in New York's Prohibition-era Lower East Side, the defeated, penniless, and guilt-ridden former gangster David "Noodles" Aaronson returns to Manhattan. Not knowing what to expect on his mission to shed light on his opaque past, grizzled Noodles reunites with his only living friend Fat Moe after 35 haunted years of self-exile. However, the relentless, piercing sound of culpability stands in the way of finding closure, as the inscrutable content of a well-worn leather suitcase further complicates matters. And now, against the backdrop of a torn conscience, the sad, bittersweet recollections of more than 50 years of love, death, and everything in-between become inextricably intertwined, leading to even more puzzling questions. But what are a man's options when he is left with nothing?

Cast: Robert De Niro, James Woods, Elizabeth McGovern

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AI verdict: Based on aggregated scores (8.3/10 on IMDb (408,370 votes), 86% on Rotten Tomatoes, 75/100 on Metacritic), this is a data-driven snapshot rather than an editorial take.

Stanley Kubrick · 136 min · Polaris Productions / Hawk Films

Protagonist Alex DeLarge is an "ultraviolent" youth in futuristic Britain. As with all luck, his eventually runs out and he's arrested and convicted of murder. While in prison, Alex learns of an experimental program in which convicts are programmed to detest violence. If he goes through the program, his sentence will be reduced and he will be back on the streets sooner than expected. But Alex's ordeals are far from over once he hits the streets of Britain..

Cast: Malcolm McDowell, Patrick Magee, Michael Bates

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AI verdict: Based on aggregated scores (8.2/10 on IMDb (930,482 votes), 86% on Rotten Tomatoes, 77/100 on Metacritic), this is a data-driven snapshot rather than an editorial take.

Michael Mann · 170 min · Warner Bros. / Regency Enterprises / Forward Pass

Hunters and their prey--Neil and his professional criminal crew hunt to score big money targets (banks, vaults, armored cars) and are, in turn, hunted by Lt. Vincent Hanna and his team of cops in the Robbery/Homicide police division. A botched job puts Hanna onto their trail while they regroup and try to put together one last big 'retirement' score. Neil and Vincent are similar in many ways, including their troubled personal lives. At a crucial moment in his life, Neil disobeys the dictum taught to him long ago by his criminal mentor--'Never have anything in your life that you can't walk out on in thirty seconds flat, if you spot the heat coming around the corner'--as he falls in love. Thus the stage is set for the suspenseful ending....

Cast: Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Val Kilmer

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AI verdict: Based on aggregated scores (8.3/10 on IMDb (800,903 votes), 84% on Rotten Tomatoes, 76/100 on Metacritic), this is a data-driven snapshot rather than an editorial take.

David Fincher · 139 min · Fox 2000 Pictures / Regency Enterprises / Linson Films

A nameless first-person narrator attends support groups in an attempt to subdue his emotional state and relieve his insomniac state. When he meets Marla, another fake attendee of support groups, his life seems to become a little more bearable. However, when he associates himself with Tyler he is dragged into an underground fight club and soap-making scheme. Together the two men spiral out of control and engage in competitive rivalry for love and power.

Cast: Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, Meat Loaf

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AI verdict: Based on aggregated scores (8.8/10 on IMDb (2,601,857 votes), 81% on Rotten Tomatoes, 67/100 on Metacritic), this is a data-driven snapshot rather than an editorial take.

David Fincher · 127 min · Arnold Kopelson Productions

Taking place in a nameless city, Se7en follows the story of two homicide detectives tracking down a sadistic serial killer who chooses his victims according to the seven deadly sins. Brad Pitt stars as Detective David Mills, a hopeful but naive rookie who finds himself partnered with veteran Detective William Somerset (Morgan Freeman). Together they trace the killer's every step, witnessing the aftermath of his horrific crimes one by one as the victims pile up in rapid succession, all the while moving closer to a gruesome fate neither of them could have predicted.

Cast: Morgan Freeman, Brad Pitt, Kevin Spacey

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AI verdict: Based on aggregated scores (8.6/10 on IMDb (2,017,106 votes), 84% on Rotten Tomatoes, 65/100 on Metacritic), this is a data-driven snapshot rather than an editorial take.

Quentin Tarantino · 254 min · Miramax Films / A Band Apart

A young woman is shot and left for dead at her wedding. Her entire wedding party is massacred in cold blood. After four years in a coma she awakes and systematically sets out to wreak revenge on the people responsible, especially their leader, Bill.

Cast: Uma Thurman, Lucy Liu, Vivica A. Fox

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AI verdict: Based on TMDb's aggregated score (8.1/10 on TMDb (1358 votes)), this is a data-driven snapshot rather than an editorial take.

Jesse V. Johnson · 96 min · Capstone Pictures / AF Films

During a Mexican shark dive, five friends are ambushed after discovering cartel cocaine. Trapped in a shark cage, Tatiana and Kaley are forced by the cartel to retrieve a bag of drugs on the seafloor. Battling legendary Great White sharks, dwindling air, and armed killers, the survivors mount a brutal fight to outsmart their captors and escape.

Cast: Laura Marano, Christina Ochoa, Mario Tardón

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AI verdict: Too early for a meaningful verdict — check back as ratings data comes in via the site's daily refresh.

Christopher Nolan · 140 min

When his parents are killed, billionaire playboy Bruce Wayne relocates to Asia, where he is mentored by Henri Ducard and Ra's Al Ghul in how to fight evil. When learning about the plan to wipe out evil in Gotham City by Ducard, Bruce prevents this plan from getting any further and heads back to his home. Back in his original surroundings, Bruce adopts the image of a bat to strike fear into the criminals and the corrupt as the icon known as "Batman". But it doesn't stay quiet for long.

Cast: Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Ken Watanabe

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AI verdict: Based on aggregated scores (8.2/10 on IMDb (1,709,629 votes), 85% on Rotten Tomatoes, 70/100 on Metacritic), this is a data-driven snapshot rather than an editorial take.

Quentin Tarantino · 111 min · A Band Apart

Four years after taking a bullet in the head at her own wedding, The Bride emerges from a coma and decides it's time for payback... with a vengeance. Having been gunned down by her former boss Bill and his deadly squad of international assassins, it's a kill-or-be-killed fight she didn't start, but is determined to finish.

Cast: Uma Thurman, David Carradine, Daryl Hannah

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AI verdict: Based on aggregated scores (8.2/10 on IMDb (1,305,508 votes), 85% on Rotten Tomatoes, 69/100 on Metacritic), this is a data-driven snapshot rather than an editorial take.

Tony Kaye · 119 min

Derek Vineyard is paroled after serving 3 years in prison for brutally killing two black men who tried to break into/steal his truck. Through his 14 yr old brother's, Danny Vineyard, narration, we learn that before going to prison, Derek was a skinhead and the leader of a violent white supremacist gang that committed acts of racial crime throughout L.A. and his actions greatly influenced Danny. Reformed and fresh out of prison, Derek severs contact with the gang and becomes determined to keep Danny from going down the same violent path as he did.

Cast: Edward Norton, Edward Furlong, Beverly D'Angelo

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AI verdict: Based on aggregated scores (8.5/10 on IMDb (1,271,167 votes), 84% on Rotten Tomatoes, 62/100 on Metacritic), this is a data-driven snapshot rather than an editorial take.

Agnieszka Smoczyńska · Madants / Neda Film

In the late 21st century, an investigator and a member of a feared religious sect are brought together by a murder in a refugee camp.

Cast: Andrzej Konopka, Noomi Rapace, Reika Kirishima

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AI verdict: Too early for a meaningful verdict — check back as ratings data comes in via the site's daily refresh.

Martin Scorsese · 180 min

Jordan Belfort (DiCaprio) is Long Island penny stockbroker who serves almost two years in prison for refusing to co-operate in a huge 1990s securities fraud case that involved widespread corruption on Wall Street and in the corporate banking world, including mob infiltration.

Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill, Margot Robbie

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AI verdict: Based on aggregated scores (8.2/10 on IMDb (1,784,314 votes), 79% on Rotten Tomatoes, 75/100 on Metacritic), this is a data-driven snapshot rather than an editorial take.

Macon Blair · 100 min · Gramercy Park Media / Peachtree Media Partners

Two rock-bottom drivers transport a wealthy teen to rehab, but their simple job spirals into a chaotic journey of drugs, danger, and crime as their passenger derails their plans.

Cast: Dave Franco, O'Shea Jackson Jr., Mason Thames

AI verdict: Too early for a meaningful verdict — check back as ratings data comes in via the site's daily refresh.

Martin Scorsese · 178 min · Universal Pictures{{cite web / title=AFI Catalog - Casino / url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/MovieDetails/59846 / website=American Film Institute / access-date=29 December 2024}}{{cite web / url=https://www.metacritic.com/movie/casino/ / title=Casino Reviews - Metacritic / publisher=Metacritic / access-date=7 January 2025 / Syalis D.A. / Légende Entreprises / De Fina/Cappa

This Martin Scorsese film depicts the Janus-like quality of Las Vegas--it has a glittering, glamorous face, as well as a brutal, cruel one. Ace Rothstein and Nicky Santoro, mobsters who move to Las Vegas to make their mark, live and work in this paradoxical world. Seen through their eyes, each as a foil to the other, the details of mob involvement in the casinos of the 1970s and '80s are revealed. Ace is the smooth operator of the Tangiers casino, while Nicky is his boyhood friend and tough strongman, robbing and shaking down the locals. However, they each have a tragic flaw--Ace falls in love with a hustler, Ginger, and Nicky falls into an ever-deepening spiral of drugs and violence.

Cast: Robert De Niro, Sharon Stone, Joe Pesci

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AI verdict: Based on aggregated scores (8.2/10 on IMDb (613,907 votes), 79% on Rotten Tomatoes, 73/100 on Metacritic), this is a data-driven snapshot rather than an editorial take.

Denis Villeneuve · 153 min · Alcon Entertainment / 8:38 Productions / Madhouse Entertainment

How far would you go to protect your family? Keller Dover is facing every parent's worst nightmare. His six-year-old daughter, Anna, is missing, together with her young friend, Joy, and as minutes turn to hours, panic sets in. The only lead is a dilapidated RV that had earlier been parked on their street. Heading the investigation, Detective Loki arrests its driver, Alex Jones, but a lack of evidence forces his release. As the police pursue multiple leads and pressure mounts, knowing his child's life is at stake the frantic Dover decides he has no choice but to take matters into his own hands. But just how far will this desperate father go to protect his family?

Cast: Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Viola Davis

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AI verdict: Based on aggregated scores (8.2/10 on IMDb (922,474 votes), 81% on Rotten Tomatoes, 70/100 on Metacritic), this is a data-driven snapshot rather than an editorial take.

Frank Darabont · 189 min · Castle Rock Entertainment / Darkwoods Productions

Based on Stephen King's 1996 novel of the same name. Stars Tom Hanks as a death row corrections officer during the U.S. Great Depression who witnesses supernatural events that occur after an enigmatic inmate (Michael Clarke Duncan) is brought to his facility.

Cast: Tom Hanks, Michael Clarke Duncan, David Morse

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AI verdict: Based on aggregated scores (8.6/10 on IMDb (1,557,536 votes), 78% on Rotten Tomatoes, 61/100 on Metacritic), this is a data-driven snapshot rather than an editorial take.

Joel Coen, Ethan Coen · 117 min · Working Title Films

When "the dude" Lebowski is mistaken for a millionaire Lebowski, two thugs urinate on his rug to coerce him into paying a debt he knows nothing about. While attempting to gain recompense for the ruined rug from his wealthy counterpart, he accepts a one-time job with high pay-off. He enlists the help of his bowling buddy, Walter, a gun-toting Jewish-convert with anger issues. Deception leads to more trouble, and it soon seems that everyone from porn empire tycoons to nihilists want something from The Dude.

Cast: Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Julianne Moore

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AI verdict: Based on aggregated scores (8.1/10 on IMDb (911,908 votes), 79% on Rotten Tomatoes, 71/100 on Metacritic), this is a data-driven snapshot rather than an editorial take.

Brian De Palma · 170 min · Universal Pictures{{cite web / url=https://catalog.afi.com/Film/68337-SCARFACE / archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190717142536/https://catalog.afi.com/Film/68337-SCARFACE / title=Scarface (1983) / website=AFI Catalog of Feature Films / archive-date=July 17, 2019 / access-date=July 17, 2019 / url-status=live / Martin Bregman Productions

Tony Montana manages to leave Cuba during the Mariel exodus of 1980. He finds himself in a Florida refugee camp but his friend Manny has a way out for them: undertake a contract killing and arrangements will be made to get a green card. He's soon working for drug dealer Frank Lopez and shows his mettle when a deal with Colombian drug dealers goes bad. He also brings a new level of violence to Miami. Tony is protective of his younger sister but his mother knows what he does for a living and disowns him. Tony is impatient and wants it all however, including Frank's empire and his mistress Elvira Hancock. Once at the top however, Tony's outrageous actions make him a target and everything comes crumbling down.

Cast: Al Pacino, Michelle Pfeiffer, Steven Bauer

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AI verdict: Based on aggregated scores (8.3/10 on IMDb (1,012,928 votes), 77% on Rotten Tomatoes, 65/100 on Metacritic), this is a data-driven snapshot rather than an editorial take.

Bruce Timm · 76 min · Warner Bros. Family Entertainment

Andrea Beaumont leaves her father to return to Gotham, rekindling an old romance with Bruce Wayne. At the same time, a mysterious figure begins to hunt down Gotham's criminals, wrongly implicating Batman in the murders. Now on the run from the law, Batman must find and stop the culprit, while also navigating his relationship with Andrea.

Cast: Kevin Conroy, Dana Delany, Hart Bochner

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AI verdict: Based on TMDb's aggregated score (7.5/10 on TMDb (1285 votes)), this is a data-driven snapshot rather than an editorial take.

Potsy Ponciroli · 103 min · Stampede Ventures / Gramercy Park Media

In 1970s Detroit, John Miller falls for a local gangster's girl. In retaliation, the gangster enacts a frame job to send the innocent man to prison. Life ruined, Miller plots a revenge campaign against the man who took his girl away.

Cast: Alan Ritchson, Shailene Woodley, Ben Foster

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AI verdict: Based on TMDb's aggregated score (5.7/10 on TMDb (12 votes)), this is a data-driven snapshot rather than an editorial take.

Guy Ritchie · 107 min

Four friends become entangled in a chaotic scheme after a high-stakes card game goes wrong. They navigate London's criminal underworld, facing thieves, gangsters, and double-crosses. The film blends crime, dark comedy, and intricate plotting, exploring luck, friendship, deception, and the consequences of impulsive decisions within a morally ambiguous society.

Cast: Jason Flemyng, Dexter Fletcher, Nick Moran

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AI verdict: Based on aggregated scores (8.1/10 on IMDb (649,801 votes), 75% on Rotten Tomatoes, 67/100 on Metacritic), this is a data-driven snapshot rather than an editorial take.

Guy Ritchie · 102 min · SKA Films / Columbia Pictures

Turkish and his close friend/accomplice Tommy get pulled into the world of match fixing by the notorious Brick Top. Things get complicated when the boxer they had lined up gets badly beaten by Mickey, who comes into the equation after Turkish, an unlicensed boxing promoter wants to buy a caravan off of Travellers. They then try to convince Mickey not only to fight for them, but to lose for them too. Whilst all this is going on, a huge diamond heist takes place, and a fistful of motley characters enter the story, including 'Cousin Avi', 'Boris The Blade', 'Franky Four Fingers' and 'Bullet Tooth Tony'. Things go from bad to worse as it all becomes about the money, the guns, and the damned dog.

Cast: Jason Statham, Brad Pitt, Stephen Graham

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AI verdict: Based on aggregated scores (8.2/10 on IMDb (976,126 votes), 74% on Rotten Tomatoes, 55/100 on Metacritic), this is a data-driven snapshot rather than an editorial take.

Todd Phillips · 122 min

A socially inept clown for hire - Arthur Fleck aspires to be a stand up comedian among his small job working dressed as a clown holding a sign for advertising. He takes care of his mother, Penny Fleck, and as he learns more about his mental illness, he learns more about his past. Dealing with all the negativity and bullying from society, he heads downwards on a spiral, in turn showing how his alter ego, "Joker," came to be.

Cast: Joaquin Phoenix, Robert De Niro, Zazie Beetz

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AI verdict: Based on aggregated scores (8.3/10 on IMDb (1,690,149 votes), 68% on Rotten Tomatoes, 59/100 on Metacritic), this is a data-driven snapshot rather than an editorial take.

Jay Chandrasekhar · 104 min · Broken Lizard Industries / Searchlight Pictures

When Farva's over-the-top Indian engagement to Thorny's sister spirals into chaos, the Super Troopers must navigate Thorny's schemes to break up the relationship, all while trying to bring down a pernicious new drug ring

Cast: Jay Chandrasekhar, Kevin Heffernan, Paul Soter

AI verdict: Too early for a meaningful verdict — check back as ratings data comes in via the site's daily refresh.