1. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003, USA, New Zealand, Germany)

   Genres: Action | Adventure | Fantasy |

   Actors: Viggo Mortensen, Ian McKellen, Elijah Wood, Noel Appleby, Alexandra Astin, Sean Astin, David Aston, John Bach, Sean Bean, Cate Blanchett, Orlando Bloom, Billy Boyd

   Directors: Peter Jackson

   Plot: The Fellowship divides to conquer as Frodo and Sam, with the help and hindrance of Gollum, continue their way to Mount Doom. Gandalf and Pippin ride to Minas Tirith to help defend Gondor while Merry remains with Eowyn and the other Rohan fighters. Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli seek aid from those that live in the Cursed Mountains. All these battles have one goal in mind: distract the Eye of Sauron and buy Frodo a little more time to destroy the ring.

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2. Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977, USA)

   Genres: Action | Adventure | Fantasy | Sci-Fi

   Actors: Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Peter Cushing, Alec Guinness, Anthony Daniels, Kenny Baker, Peter Mayhew, David Prowse, James Earl Jones, Phil Brown, Shelagh Fraser

   Directors: George Lucas

   Plot: Part IV in a George Lucas epic, Star Wars: A New Hope opens with a rebel ship being boarded by the tyrannical Darth Vader. The plot then follows the life of a simple farmboy, Luke Skywalker, as he and his newly met allies (Han Solo, Chewbacca, Ben Kenobi, C-3PO, R2-D2) attempt to rescue a rebel leader, Princess Leia, from the clutches of the Empire. The conclusion is culminated as the Rebels, including Skywalker and flying ace Wedge Antilles make an attack on the Empires most powerful and ominous weapon, the Death Star.

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3. Goodfellas (1990, USA)

   Genres: Biography, Crime, Drama

   Actors: Robert De Niro, Ray Liotta, Joe Pesci, Lorraine Bracco, Paul Sorvino, Chuck Low, Frank DiLeo, Frank Sivero, Tony Darrow, Mike Starr, Frank Vincent, Frank Adonis, Catherine Scorsese, Gina Mastrogiacomo, Suzanne Shepherd

   Directors: Martin Scorsese

   Plot: The story of Irish-Italian American, Henry Hill, and how he lives day-to-day life as a member of the Mafia. Based on a true story, the plot revolves around Henry and his two unstable friends Jimmy and Tommy as they gradually climb the ladder from petty crime to violent murders.

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4. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001, New Zealand, USA)

   Genres: Action, Adventure, Fantasy

   Actors: Noel Appleby, Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Sala Baker, Sean Bean, Cate Blanchett, Orlando Bloom, Billy Boyd, Marton Csokas, Megan Edwards, Michael Elsworth, Mark Ferguson, Ian Holm, Ian McKellen, Christopher Lee, Lawrence Makoare

   Directors: Peter Jackson

   Plot: In ancient times the Rings of Power were crafted by the Elven-smiths, and Sauron, the Dark Lord, forged the One Ring, filling it with his own power so that he could rule all others. But the One Ring was taken from him, and though he sought it throughout Middle-Earth still it remained lost to him. After many ages it fell, by chance, into the hands of the Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins. On his eleventy-first birthday, Bilbo disappeared, bequeathing to his young nephew, Frodo, the Ruling Ring, and a perilous quest: to journey across Middle-Earth, deep into the shadow of the Dark Lord and destroy the Ring by casting it into the Cracks of Doom.

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5. The Usual Suspects (1995, Germany, USA)

   Genres: Crime | Mystery | Thriller

   Actors: Stephen Baldwin, Gabriel Byrne, Benicio Del Toro, Kevin Pollak, Kevin Spacey, Chazz Palminteri, Pete Postlethwaite, Giancarlo Esposito, Dan Hedaya, Suzy Amis, Paul Bartel, Carl Bressler, Phillip Simon, Jack Shearer, Christine Estabrook

   Directors: Bryan Singer

   Plot: Police investigating an exploded boat on a San Pedro pier discover 27 bodies and $91 million worth of drug money. The only survivors are a severely burned and very scared Hungarian terrorist and Verbal Kint, a crippled con-man. Reluctantly, Kint is pressured into explaining exactly what happened on the boat. His story begins six weeks earlier with five criminals being dragged in by New York police desperate for suspects on a hijacked truck and ends with the possible identification of a criminal mastermind.

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Part 1 >>>

1. The Godfather (1972, USA)

   Genres: Crime | Drama

   Actors: Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Richard S. Castellano, Robert Duvall, Sterling Hayden, Richard Conte, Al Lettieri, Diane Keaton, Abe Vigoda, Talia Shire, Gianni Russo, John Marley, Rudy Bond

   Directors: Francis Ford Coppola

   Plot: Vito Corleone is the aging don (head) of the Corleone Mafia Family. His youngest son Michael has returned from WWII just in time to see the wedding of Connie Corleone (Michael’s sister) to Carlo Rizzi. All of Michael’s family is involved with the Mafia, but Michael just wants to live a normal life. Drug dealer Virgil Sollozzo is looking for Mafia Families to offer him protection in exchange for a profit of the drug money. He approaches Don Corleone about it, but, much against the advice of the Don’s lawyer Tom Hagen, the Don is morally against the use of drugs, and turns down the offer. This does not please Sollozzo, who has the Don shot down by some of his hit men. The Don barely survives, which leads his son Michael to begin a violent mob war against Sollozzo and tears the Corleone family apart.

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2. The Shawshank Redemption  (1994, USA)

   Genres: Crime | Drama

   Actors: Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman, Bob Gunton, William Sadler, Clancy Brown, Gil Bellows, Mark Rolston, James Whitmore, Jeffrey DeMunn, Larry Brandenburg, Neil Giuntoli, Brian Libby

   Directors: Frank Darabont

   Plot: Andy Dufresne, is sent to Shawshank Prison for the murder of his wife and secret lover. He is very isolated and lonely at first, but realises there is something deep inside your body, that people can’t touch and get to….’HOPE’. Andy becomes friends with prison ‘fixer’ Red (Morgan Freeman), and Andy epitomises why it is crucial to have dreams. His spirit and determination, leads us into a world full of imagination, filled with courage and desire. Will Andy ever realise his dreams…?

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3. Pulp Fiction (1994, USA)

   Genres: Crime | Drama

   Actors: Tim Roth, Amanda Plummer, John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Phil LaMarr, Bruce Willis, Ving Rhames, Maria de Medeiros, Rosanna Arquette, Duane Whitaker, Peter Greene, Eric Stoltz, Paul Calderon, Uma Thurman, Frank Whaley

   Directors: Quentin Tarantino

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

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4. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975, USA)

   Genres: Drama

   Actors: Jack Nicholson, Louise Fletcher, William Redfield, Michael Berryman, Peter Brocco, Dean R. Brooks, Alonzo Brown, Scatman Crothers, Mwako Cumbuka, Danny DeVito, William Duell, Josip Elic, Lan Fendors

   Directors: Milos Forman

   Plot: McMurphy, a man with several assault convictions to his name, finds himself in jail once again. This time, the charge is statutory rape when it turns out that his girlfriend had lied about being eighteen, and was, in fact, fifteen (or, as McMurphy puts it, "fifteen going on thirty-five"). Rather than spend his time in jail, he convinces the guards that he’s crazy enough to need psychiatric care and is sent to a hospital. He fits in frighteningly well, and his different point of view actually begins to cause some of the patients to progress. Nurse Ratched becomes his personal cross to bear as his resistance to the hospital routine gets on her nerves.

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5. Casablanca (1942, USA)

   Genres: Drama | Romance

   Actors: Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains, Conrad Veidt, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre, S.Z. Sakall, Madeleine LeBeau, Dooley Wilson, Joy Page, John Qualen, Leonid Kinskey, Curt Bois

   Directors: Michael Curtiz

   Plot: In World War II Casablanca, Rick Blaine, exiled American and former freedom fighter, runs the most popular nightspot in town. The cynical lone wolf Blaine comes into the possession of two valuable letters of transit. When Nazi Major Strasser arrives in Casablanca, the sycophantic police Captain Renault does what he can to please him, including detaining Czech underground leader Victor Laszlo. Much to Rick’s surprise, Lazslo arrives with Ilsa, Rick’s one time love. Rick is very bitter towards Ilsa, who ran out on him in Paris, but when he learns she had good reason to, they plan to run off together again using the letters of transit. Well, that was their original plan….

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Part 2 >>>

Over the past few decades, a number of amazing war movies have hit the theaters. Although there are many war movies that have done an excellent job of portraying the conflict and the reality of the situation at hand.

1. 300 (2006, USA)

   Genres: Action | Drama | History | War

   Actors: Gerard Butler, Lena Headey, Dominic West, David Wenham, Vincent Regan, Michael Fassbender, Tom Wisdom, Andrew Pleavin, Andrew Tiernan

   Directors: Zack Snyder

   Plot: In 480 BC, the Persian king Xerxes sends his massive army to conquer Greece. The Greek city of Sparta houses its finest warriors, and 300 of these soldiers are chosen to meet the Persians at Thermopylae, engaging the soldiers in a narrow canyon where they cannot take full advantage of their numbers.

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2. Braveheart (1995, USA)

   Genres: Action | Biography | Drama | War

   Actors: Mel Gibson, James Robinson, Sandy Nelson, James Cosmo, Sean Lawlor, Alan Tall, Andrew Weir, Gerda Stevenson, Mhairi Calvey

   Directors: Mel Gibson

   Plot: William Wallace is a Scottish rebel who leads an uprising against the cruel English ruler Edward the Longshanks, who wishes to inherit the crown of Scotland for himself. When he was a young boy, William Wallace’s father and brother, along with many others, lost their lives trying to free Scotland. Once he loses another of his loved ones, William Wallace begins his long quest to make Scotland free once and for all, along with the assistance of Robert the Bruce.

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3. Platoon (1986, USA)

   Genres: Action | Drama | War

   Actors: Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe, Charlie Sheen, Forest Whitaker, Francesco Quinn, John C. McGinley, Richard Edson, Kevin Dillon, Reggie Johnson, Keith David, Johnny Depp

   Directors: Oliver Stone

   Plot: A gritty and emotional look at the lives of a platoon of American soldiers as they patrol, fight and die in the jungles of Vietnam as seen through the perspective of a young recruit. Two veteran sergeants clash when one of them precipitates a massacre of villagers.

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   Released in 1986 and directed by Oliver Stone, Platoon is still considered by many to be the best war movie ever made. Starring Charlie Sheen and the then-little-known actor Johnny Depp, Platoon reached a depth of realism that many could not fully understand unless they had actually been in the military or experienced the Vietnam War the movie depicted.

4. Apocalypse Now (1979, USA)

   Genres: Action | Adventure | Drama | War

   Actors: Robert Duvall, Marlon Brando, Martin Sheen, Frederic Forrest, Sam Bottoms, Laurence Fishburne, Dennis Hopper, Albert Hall, Harrison Ford

   Directors: Francis Ford Coppola

   Plot: Vietnam, 1969. Burnt out Special Forces officer Captain Willard is sent into the jungle with top-secret orders to find and kill renegade Colonel Kurtz who has set up his own army within the jungle. As Willard descends into the jungle, he is slowly over taken by the jungle’s mesmerizing powers and battles the insanity which surrounds him. His boat crew succumbs to drugs and is slowly killed off one by one. As Willard continues his journey he becomes more and more like the man he was sent to kill.

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   Also taking place during the Vietnam War, Apocalypse Now presents a unique and magnificent story with finely crafted characters. Released in 1979 and directed by Francis Ford Coppolla, the film is not only a great war story but is also considered by many to represent the dark side of the human psyche. Starring Martin Sheen, Harrison Ford, Marlon Brando, and Robert Duvall, the movie certainly enjoys a cast that is to be admired.

5. We Were Soldiers (2002, Germany, USA)

   Genres: Action | Drama | History | War

   Actors: Mel Gibson, Madeleine Stowe, Greg Kinnear, Sam Elliott, Chris Klein, Keri Russell, Barry Pepper, Duong Don, Ryan Hurst

   Directors: Randall Wallace

   Plot:In a place soon to be known as The Valley of Death, in a small clearing called landing zone X-Ray, Lt. Colonel Hal Moore (Mel Gibson) and 400 young fathers, husbands, brothers, and sons, all troopers from an elite American combat division, were surrounded by 4,000 North Vietnamese soldiers. The ensuing battle was one of the most savage in U.S. history. We Were Soldiers Once…And Young is a tribute to the nobility of those men under fire, their common acts of uncommon valor, and their loyalty to and love for one another.

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   Based on a novel written by a Lieutenant General and a reporter that were at the Battle of Ia Drang in Vietnam, We Were Soldiers takes a personal look into the lives of real soldiers and events that took place at the time. Directed by Randall Wallace and starring Mel Gibson, it is one of only a few war movies to depict the feelings, actions, and thoughts of soldiers on both sides of the war.

Each of these movies stirs the emotions and puts the viewer on the battlefield, showing the emotional, mental, and physical toll the soldiers undergo during wartime and when on the battlefield.