Starz is an American premium cable and satellite TV network owned by Lions Gate Entertainment and is the flagship of parent company Starz Inc. Starz’s program consists of theatrical films and premiere original TV series. In this list, we count down the Top 15 Movies on Starz that you didn’t know were available there, or maybe didn’t know about at all.
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Top 15 Movies On Starz To Watch Right Now
Toxic Beauty (2019)
How much do you know about the skincare and cosmetics you use? This is one of the most important questions Toxic Beauty answers. The award-winning documentary features a series of powerful and insightful voices, including Deane Berg, a woman who took U.S. multinational Johnson & Johnson to court to claim that its body powder was a factor in the development of her ovarian cancer. As the film progresses, it becomes increasingly clear that the beauty industry is as unhealthy as the products it creates and promotes.
Genre: Drama
Director: Phyllis Ellis
Emanuel (2019)
This documentary on the 2015 massacre at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church explores key issues of faith, justice, and forgiveness. It is part of a wider massacre – in which nine African-American church visitors died – and Emanuel is the first free-standing black church in Charleston, South Carolina, with a strong racial history.
The film’s strengths lie in the stories of the massacre of losing a loved one and the miraculous forgiveness some survivors offered to a 21-year-old supporter of white supremacy responsible for the attack. Above all, it is a story of the power of faith.
Genre: Crime, Documentary, Drama
Director: Brian Ivie
City Island (2009)
City Island is a frivolous comedy/drama about the Rizzo family, residents of the official fishing community in the Bronx of New York. Andy Garcia portrays the patriarch of the family, who works as a prison officer and who one day decides to bring home a young former traitor named Tony in somewhat mysterious circumstances.
Tony soon becomes entangled in a bad economy as he develops different relationships with each member of the family, even though each of them lives their own secret life apart from the others. This secret guides much of the plot, as their personal mysteries appear in an unexpected and often amusing way. It’s a vibrant slice of life full of raging characters, comedic misunderstandings, and ultimately the warm embrace of family unity.
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Actor: Alan Arkin, Andy Garcia, Carrie Baker Reynolds, Dominik Garcia, Dominik Garcia-Lorido, Emily Mortimer, Ezra Miller, Hope Glendon-Ross, Julianna Margulies, Louis Mustillo, Louise Stratten, Steven Strait
Director: Raymond De Felitta
Rating: PG-13
Sugar (2008)
19-year-old Dominican pitcher Miguel Santos, or Sugar, dreams of getting on the American baseball team and pulling himself and his family out of poverty. He gets a chance to train for a team in Kansas, but on arrival, he struggles to get accepted into his new community.
Touching and beautifully presented, Sugar is no ordinary movie behind the American dream, and it is not far from a typical baseball movie. It’s an honest description that avoids clichés in sports movies because it explores the identity and experiences of immigrants.
Genre: Drama
Actor: Algenis Perez Soto, Andre Holland, Jaime Tirelli, Michael Gaston, Richard Bull
Director: Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck
Rating: R
End of Sentence (2020)
Logan Lerman (The Perks of Being a Wallflower) and John Hawkes (The Sessions) are the protagonists in this easy-to-understand play about a father trying to bring his son to life. After the death of his mother, they try to fulfill his dying wish to spread the ashes in his home country of Ireland. The boy, Lerman’s character, is just released from prison and agrees to travel on the condition that he will never see his father again. This premise is a fun mix between a family drama and an adventure movie. Both characters have a lot to discover in Ireland: the country, each other, and themselves.
Genre: Drama
Actor: Amy De Bhrún, Andrea Irvine, David Grant Wright, John Hawkes, Lalor Roddy, Logan Lerman, Marion O’Dwyer, Mary McEvoy, Ólafur Darri Ólafsson, Sarah Bolger, Sean Mahon, Zylan Brooks
Director: Elfar Adalsteins
Rating: Not Rated
Arctic (2018)
There are far too many things in life that are worse than a trip with the Danish super-gift Mads Mikkelsen (Hannibal, Hunting).
And that’s what this 98-minute film is about: a film by almost one actor set in the Arctic. Mikkelsen portrays a man trying to cope with a plane crash where at some point it is decided whether to embark on a dangerous journey or stay in the ruins of an airplane and threaten a slow death.
It’s a very well-acted film with nail-biting excitement. Bonus Fact: It got 10 minutes of applause when it premiered at the Cannes Film Festival this year.
Genre: Drama, Thriller
Actor: Joe Penna, Mads Mikkelsen, Maria Thelma Smáradóttir, Maria Thelma Smáradóttir, Tintrinai Thikhasuk
Director: Joe Penna
Rating: PG-13
Saint Frances (2019)
This funny comedy-drama tells the story of Bridget, a 34-year-old who hasn’t yet fully realized everything, but at least she’s trying: after an accidental abortion, she gets herself a summer gig as a babysitter for a fearless baby. six-year-old Frances.
The film addresses a myriad of “taboo topics,” such as abortion, menstruation, and depression, and visually normalizes people’s experiences that are still underrepresented in mainstream movies. And author Kelly O’Sullivan, who also plays Bridget, has a script that manages to do everything without knowing the didactic.
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Actor: Charin Alvarez, Danny Catlow, Francis Guinan, Jim True-Frost, Kelly O’Sullivan, Lily Mojekwu, Mary Beth Fisher, Max Lipchitz, Ramona Edith Williams, Rebecca Buller, Rebecca Spence
Director: Alex Thompson
Rating: N/A
Animal Kingdom (2010)
Stunning Actors like Guy Pearce and Joel Edgerton highlight this grim and immersive Australian crime drama that received great reviews from critics but was sadly forgotten over time.
Breakout star James Frecheville portrays J, a teenager who goes to live with his grandmother, the head of a Melbourne criminal organization. When the heat drops and things go wrong, J finds himself between his family and the seeker who wants to save him.
Jacki Weaver is great when the fascinating grandmother and the film got Ben Mendelsohn on a trip to the Hollywood star. Animal Kingdom is a superior crime saga with a wealth of emotional depth that goes hand in hand with exciting drama.
Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Actor: Andy McPhee, Anna Lise Phillips, Anthony Hayes, Ben Mendelsohn, Dan Wyllie, Dom Phelan, Guy Pearce, Jack Healy, Jacki Weaver, Jacqueline Brennan, James Frecheville, Joel Edgerton, Josh Helman, Justin Rosniak, Kieran Darcy-Smith, Laura Wheelwright, Luke Ford, Michael Vice, Mirrah Foulkes, Sullivan Stapleton
Director: David Michôd
Rating: R
The Traitor (2020)
This slow Italian drama tells the true story of mafia boss Tommaso Buscetta, who became the highest representative of the mafia at the time of his arrest in the 1980s.
Tommaso, while overseeing a criminal network in Sicily, moved to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to try to live a more legal and quiet life. His role catches him and he is arrested quickly.
As a biographical film, it rarely portrays violence or praises organized crime. Instead, it tries to document the life of a mafia boss more realistically: a life where one always looks over one’s shoulder and a constant loss. After all, the film focuses on what a man like Tommason should translate and what it would cost him.
The subject of the Mafia may seem exaggerated, but looking at this, it is startling to see how little in-depth character research the film has become.
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Actor: Antonio Orlando, Bruno Cariello, Fabrizio Ferracane, Fausto Russo Alesi, Luciano Quirino, Luigi Lo Cascio, Maria Fernanda Cândido, Nicola Calì, Nicola Siri, Pierfrancesco Favino, Rainer Cadete, Vincenzo Pirrotta
Director: Marco Bellocchio
Rating: R
Crooklyn (1994)
Spike Lee’s semi-autobiographical film is a loving and nostalgic ode to his childhood in Brooklyn. It also happens to be his cutest work, and while the explosive Do The Right Thing is overshadowed, he’s still an easy challenger to one of the best. The world of Crooklyn is told through the eyes of Troy, a young girl who grows up with her four brothers and her mother and father in a cramped brown rock.
Lee’s Brooklyn is a colorful delight evoked by a dizzying soul soundtrack. Her ability to capture the city’s vibrant magical tones and textures feel more complete than ever, and the stunning performances by Alfre Woodard and Delroy Lindo as Troy’s parents help create a touching and all-encompassing experience.
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Actor: Alfre Woodard, Arthur French, Bokeem Woodbine, Christopher Knowings, Dan Grimaldi, David Patrick Kelly, Delroy Lindo, Frances Foster, Gary Perez, Isaiah Washington, Joie Lee, José Zúñiga, Manny Perez, Peewee Love, Richard Whiten, RuPaul, Spike Lee, Tracy Vilar, Tse-Mach Washington, Vondie Curtis-Hall, Zelda Harris
Director: Spike Lee
Sin Nombre (2009)
A foreign film that recalls the city of God and carries its naturalistic representations and raw stories. Sin Nombre takes you to a world full of shocking violence, heartbreaking loss, and constant excitement. And while it’s definitely a tough clock, he relates the horrors of immigration with a humane and sometimes upbeat attitude. This film’s deep and epic redemption is thought-provoking for days.
Genre: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Actor: Édgar Flores, Catalina López, Damayanti Quintanar, Diana García, Diana García, Edgar Flores, Gabino Rodríguez, Gerardo Taracena, Guillermo Villegas, Héctor Jiménez, Harold Torres, Héctor Jiménez, Juan Pablo Arias Barron, Karla Cecilia Alvarado, Kristian Ferrer, Kristyan Ferrer, Leonardo Alonso, Luis Fernando Peña, Marco Antonio Aguirre, Noé Hernández, Paulina Gaitán, Paulina Gaitan, Tenoch Huerta
Director: Cary Fukunaga, Cary Joji Fukunaga
Rating: R
The Place Beyond the Pines (2012)
The film begins with Luke (Ryan Gosling) as a stuntman who learns he has a newborn baby. Luke is ready to provide for himself, so he turns to the bank robbery. This causes a conflict between the mother (Eva Mendes) and a policeman (Bradley Cooper), which ends up spanning two generations. The place beyond the pines is gritty and emotional, and at the heart of it, a good view of father-son relationships and the long-term consequences.
Genre: Crime, Drama
Actor: Anthony Angelo Pizza, Jr., Ben Mendelsohn, Bradley Cooper, Brian Smyj, Bruce Greenwood, Craig Van Hook, Dane DeHaan, Derek Cianfrance, Emory Cohen, Eva Mendes, Gabe Fazio, Harris Yulin, Mahershala Ali, Michael Cullen, Olga Merediz, Ray Liotta, Robert Clohessy, Rose Byrne, Ryan Gosling, Shannon Plumb
Director: Derek Cianfrance
Rating: R
Still Alice (2015)
Still Alice is a drama about a renowned linguistics teacher (Julianne Moore) who slowly begins to lose her words and finds herself lost in familiar places, leading to an unexpected diagnosis of early-stage Alzheimer’s disease. Alice’s husband (Alec Baldwin) and her three adult children subsequently struggle to maintain balance as her condition deteriorates, although she constantly struggles to keep her cool.
Interestingly, Alice uses her professional communication skills to employ innovative ways to keep her language and memory as good as possible, despite her continued decline. It’s a melancholy yet wonderfully touching film that feels utterly honest and real every step of the way. Julianne Moore is stunning from start to finish, a role that earned her a well-deserved Best Actress Oscar for her performance.
Genre: Drama
Actor: Alec Baldwin, Daniel Gerroll, Erin Darke, Hunter Parrish, Julianne Moore, Kate Bosworth, Kristen Stewart, Quincy Tyler Bernstine, Rosa Arredondo, Seth Gilliam, Shane McRae, Stephen Kunken, Victoria Cartagena
Director: Richard Glatzer, Wash Westmoreland
Rating: PG-13
The Ides of March (2011)
Slow-burning American political drama, The Ides of March is a character-driven film with great performances by Ryan Gosling, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and George Clooney (who is also the director and partly the writer) among many others. . . Taking place during the final days of the primaries, Stephen Meyers (Gosling) is an aspiring campaign staffer who uncovers a dirty truth about his candidate (Clooney). When Meyers confronts his boss (Hoffman), moral issues arise that confront the political profession but are not limited to them. A smart film, The Ideas of March is less a political thriller than a really well-done drama that keeps its promises.
Genre: Drama
Actor: Chris Matthews, David McConnell, Evan Rachel Wood, George Clooney, Gregory Itzin, Jeffrey Wright, Jennifer Ehle, Loretta Higgins, Marisa Tomei, Max Minghella, Michael Mantell, Paul Giamatti, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Rachel Maddow, Rohn Thomas, Ryan Gosling, Yuriy Sardarov
Director: George Clooney
Rating: R
The Rider (2018)
This is quite the movie. It is based on the true story of Brady Jandreau, a former rodeo star who suffered an injury that took him away from riding. That’s the best part, in the movie he plays himself. His friends in the movie are his real friends. And the horse training scenes are real wild horses trained (by him). The line between reality and the cinematic process is so thin here. An absolutely fascinating film, directed by Chinese filmmaker Chloe Zhao. The horseman. Don’t miss it.
Genre: Drama, Western
Actor: Brady Jandreau, Mooney, Tim Jandreau
Director: Chloé Zhao
Rating: R
Eastern Promises (2007)
Directed by David Cronenberg, Eastern Promises is at times brutal – such is the hallmark of the famous Canadian director – and operates at a height of grim violence and vengeance. Starring tattooed, ruthless, and terrifying Viggo Mortensen as a very convincing Russian gangster, along with Naomi Watts and Vincent Cassel, it presents intense psychological drama and a gritty crime story. Midwife Anna (Watts) gives birth to the baby of a 14-year-old Russian prostitute, who dies in childbirth, and later learns that she has been forced into prostitution by the mafia.
To prevent this knowledge from seeping into it, he entangles himself deeper into the criminal bowels of London, whose different factions and languages are well highlighted by Cronenberg. Add to all that a clever storyline and the daring performance of Mortensen and you have an intense author-thriller in Cronenberg’s signature style.
Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Actor: Aleksandar Mikic, Alice Henley, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Donald Sumpter, Elisa Lasowski, Jerzy Skolimowski, Josef Altin, Mina E. Mina, Naomi Watts, Raza Jaffrey, Sarah-Jeanne Labrosse, Sinead Cusack, Tamer Hassan, Tatiana Maslany, Tereza Srbová, Viggo Mortensen, Vincent Cassel
Director: David Cronenberg
Rating: R
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