Biography
Where can you meet famous inventors, notorious criminals, great dictators, selfless heroes, charismatic eccentrics and all manner of real life fascinating folk? Right here in Alice's Biography section.
Pictured: Kerry Fox is a knock-out playing celebrated kiwi author Janet Frame in Jane Campion's luminous 'An Angel At My Table', based on Frame's autobiographical trilogy.
An Angel At My Table (1990)
7.6/10
Director: Jane Campion
Starring: Kerry Fox, Karen Fergusson, Alexia Keogh, Iris Churn
Jane Campion's remarkable award-winning film based on the autobiographical writing of Janet Frame is a portrait of a sweet-natured, imaginative, painf... Read more
Raging Bull (1980)
8.2/10
Director: Martin Scorsese
Starring: Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, Cathy Moriarty
Robert De Niro gives an incredible performance as Jake LaMotta, the controversial middleweight fighter of the 1940's. 'Raging Bull' shows how LaMotta... Read more
Wilde (1997)
6.9/10
Director: Brian Gilbert
Starring: Stephen Fry, Jude Law, Vanessa Redgrave, Jennifer Ehle, Tom Wilkinson
This biographical tale of Oscar Wilde, poet, playwright and genius, chronicles his fascinating life during the years 1882 until 1897. The self-realisa... Read more
Iris (2001)
7.1/10
Director: Richard Eyre
Starring: Judi Dench, Jim Broadbent, Kate Winslet, Hugh Bonneville
This compassionate true-life story centres on Iris Murdoch, the gifted British novelist and philosopher, whose latter years were ravaged by Alzheimer'... Read more
Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
7.9/10
Director: Arthur Penn
Starring: Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway, Michael J Pollard, Gene Hackman, Estelle Parsons, G...
Bank robbers Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow probably didn't deserve the cinematic immortality guaranteed by this masterwork directed by Arthur Penn, b... Read more
Schindler's List (1993)
8.9/10
Director: Steven Spielberg
Starring: Liam Neeson, Ben Kingsley, Ralph Fiennes, Caroline Goodall, Jonathan Sagalle, Em...
Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson) is a Nazi Party member out to profit from the war. The local Jewish population provide a ready source of cheap labour fo... Read more
The Straight Story (1999)
8/10
Director: David Lynch
Starring: Richard Farnsworth, Sissy Spacek, Everett McGill, Harry Dean Stanton
In a gentle, G-rated change of pace that still features his trademark fascination with rural American quirkiness, director David Lynch recounts the tr... Read more
24 Hour Party People (2002)
7.4/10
Director: Michael Winterbottom
Starring: Paddy Considine, Steve Coogan, Danny Cunningham, Sean Harris, Shirley Henderson,...
This riveting film captures the meteoric real-life exploits of Tony Wilson (great performance by Steve Coogan), a savvy Manchester-based TV impresario... Read more
Erin Brockovich (2000)
7.3/10
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Starring: Julia Roberts, Albert Finney, Aaron Eckhart, Peter Coyote
Julia Roberts shines in this powerful true story, playing a feisty, divorced mother of three who takes a job as her lawyer's secretary and finds herse... Read more
Lady Jane (1985)
7.2/10
Director: Trevor Nunn
Starring: Helena Bonham Carter, Cary Elwes, John Wood
An excellent costume drama about Lady Jane Grey, accidental successor to the British throne after the deaths of Henry VIII and his son, Edward VI. A w... Read more