In Houston, 1913, nine-year-old Howard Hughes is warned by his mother of the diseases to which she is afraid he will succumb. Fourteen years later, he begins to direct the movie Hell’s Angels. However, after the release of The Jazz Singer, the first partially talking film, Hughes becomes obsessed with shooting his film realistically, and decides to convert the movie to a sound film. Despite the film being a hit, Hughes remains unsatisfied with the end result and orders the film to be re-cut after its Hollywood premiere. He becomes romantically involved with actress Katharine Hepburn, who helps to ease the symptoms of his worsening obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).
In 1280, King Edward "Longshanks" (Patrick McGoohan) invades and conquers Scotland following the death of Alexander III of Scotland, who left no heir to the throne. Young William Wallace (James Robinson) witnesses Longshanks' treachery, survives the deaths of his father (Sean Lawlor) and brother (Sandy Nelson), and is taken abroad on a pilgrimage throughout Europe by his paternal Uncle Argyle (Brian Cox), where he is educated. Years later, Longshanks grants his noblemen land and privileges in Scotland, including Prima Nocte (or droit du seigneur, the right of the lord to have sex with female subjects on their wedding nights). Meanwhile, Wallace (Mel Gibson) returns to Scotland and is reunited with his childhood friend, Hamish Campbell (Brendan Gleeson). Wallace falls in love with his other childhood friend, Murron MacClannough (Catherine McCormack); they marry in secret so she will not have to spend the night with the local English lord. Wallace rescues Murron from being raped by English soldiers, but as she fights off their second attempt, Murron is captured and publicly executed. In retribution, Wallace leads his clan to slaughter the English garrison in his hometown and send the occupying garrison at Lanark back to England.
The film takes place in May of 1805, during the Napoleonic Wars. Captain "Lucky Jack" Aubrey of HMS Surprise is ordered to pursue the French privateer Acheron, and "Sink, Burn, or take her as a Prize." As the film opens, the British warship is ambushed by Acheron; Surprise is heavily damaged, while its own cannon fire does not penetrate the enemy ship's hull. Using smaller boats, the crew of Surprise tow the ship into a fog bank and evade pursuit. Aubrey learns from a crewman who saw Acheron being built that it is heavier and faster than Surprise, and the senior officers consider the ship out of their class. Aubrey notes that such a ship could tip the balance of power in Napoleon's favour if allowed to plunder the British whaling fleet at will. He orders pursuit of Acheron, rather than returning to port for repairs. Acheron again ambushes Surprise, but Aubrey slips away in the night by using a clever decoy buoy and ships lamps.
The film opens with newsreel footage, including the farewell address in 1961 of outgoing President Dwight D. Eisenhower, warning about the build-up of the "military-industrial complex". This is followed by a summary of John F. Kennedy's years as president, emphasizing the events that, in Stone's thesis, would lead to his assassination. This builds to a reconstruction of the assassination on November 22, 1963. New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison subsequently learns about potential links to the assassination in New Orleans. Garrison and his team investigate several possible conspirators, including private pilot David Ferrie, but are forced to let them go after their investigation is publicly rebuked by the federal government. Kennedy's suspected assassin Lee Harvey Oswald is killed by Jack Ruby, and Garrison closes the investigation.
Arthur (Clive Owen) is portrayed as a Roman cavalry officer, also known as Artorius Castus, the son of a Roman father and a Celtic mother, who commands a unit of Sarmatian auxiliary cavalry in Britain at the close of the Roman occupation in 467 A.D. Arthur is loyal to Rome and a devout Catholic, but follows the teachings of Pelagianism, which many consider heretical. He and his men guard Hadrian's Wall against the Woads, a group of native Britons who are rebels against Roman rule, led by the mysterious Merlin (Stephen Dillane).
In March 1996, several commercial expeditions arrive at Mount Everest base camp to prepare for a climb to the summit. Rob Hall, who first popularized guided Everest climbs, is the leader of Adventure Consultants, whose clients include Beck Weathers, an experienced climber; Doug Hansen, a former mailman pursuing his dream; and climbing veteran Yasuko Namba, who is hoping to complete her last of the Seven Summits. Scott Fischer is the chief guide for competitor Mountain Madness. Helen Wilton is Rob's base camp manager.
In 1986, Eric "Eazy-E" Wright enters a crack-house to sell drugs, but, it is soon raided by the police, who gain entry into the house via a battering ram. Eazy escapes through the house's rear window. Later, Eazy goes to a club with Lorenzo "MC Ren" Patterson to see friends Andre "Dr. Dre" Young, O'Shea "Ice Cube" Jackson and Antoine "DJ Yella" Carraby, who perform the song "Gangsta Gangsta", while Eazy and Ren stand in the audience. After Dre leaves the club, he is arrested after breaking up a fight involving his brother, Tyree. Eazy bails him out the next day. The next morning, Dre talks to Eazy about investing money into a start-up record label, in order to record a track that Cube has written. Cube and Dre want rappers H.B.O.(Homeboys Only) to record the track. Eazy agrees to fund the project. After a conflict arises during the recording session, H.B.O. leaves and Dre convinces Eazy to perform the track. They record and release "Boyz-n-the-Hood". Jerry Heller approaches Eazy and asks if he can be their manager. The group accepts Heller's offer. While performing "Dopeman", they garner the attention of Bryan Turner, a producer at Priority Records, with which they sign. Afterwards, N.W.A commences recording their debut album, "Straight Outta Compton", with Heller. During one of the sessions, they are harassed by some police officers. Frustrated by the situation, Cube writes "Fuck tha Police".
During World War II, Wehrmacht Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg (Cruise) is severely wounded during an RAF air raid in Tunisia, losing his right hand, the ring and pinkie finger on his left hand, and his left eye, and is evacuated home to Nazi Germany. Meanwhile, Major General Henning von Tresckow (Branagh) attempts to assassinate Adolf Hitler by smuggling a bomb aboard the Führer's personal airplane. The bomb, however, is a dud and fails to detonate, and Tresckow flies to Berlin in order to safely retrieve it. After learning that the Gestapo has arrested Major General Hans Oster, he orders General Olbricht (Nighy) to find a replacement. After recruiting Stauffenberg into the German Resistance, Olbricht presents Stauffenberg at a meeting of the secret committee which has coordinated previous attempts on Hitler's life. The members include General Ludwig Beck (Stamp), Dr. Carl Goerdeler (McNally), and Erwin von Witzleben (Schofield). Stauffenberg is stunned to learn that no plans exist on the subject of what is to be done after Hitler's assassination.
Henry Bennett (Ewan McGregor), his physician wife Maria (Naomi Watts), and their three sons Lucas (Tom Holland), Tomas (Samuel Joslin), and Simon (Oaklee Pendergrast) go on a Christmas holiday in 2004 to Khao Lak, Thailand. Arriving on Christmas Eve, they settle in and begin to enjoy the brand new Orchid Beach Resort. Two days later the massive 2004 tsunami inundates the area.
On February 6, 1846, at Paradise Square in Lower Manhattan's Five Points, a territorial battle of hand-to-hand combat between Bill "the Butcher" Cutting's U.S.-born nativist gang, the Natives, and "Priest" Vallon's Irish Catholic immigrant gang, the Dead Rabbits, concludes when Cutting kills Vallon, witnessed by Vallon's young son, Amsterdam. Cutting declares the Dead Rabbits outlawed but orders that Vallon's body be buried with honor. Amsterdam seizes the knife used to kill his father, races off, and buries it along with a medal his father gave him. He is later raised at Hellgate orphanage.
In September 1939, Władysław Szpilman (Adrien Brody), a Polish-Jewish pianist, is playing live on the radio in Warsaw when the station is bombed during Nazi Germany's invasion of Poland which caused the outbreak of World War II. Hoping for a quick victory, Szpilman celebrates with his posh family at home when learning that Britain and France have declared war on Germany. German troops soon enter Warsaw and the Nazi authorities implement measures to identify, isolate, financially ruin and reduce the Jewish population in Warsaw. Jews are ordered to provide their own identifying armbands with the Star of David.
1927. Depuis le mariage d'Edith, devenue marquise d'Hexham, bien des choses ont changé à Downton Abbey. Alors que le comte de Grantham et son épouse ont dû réduire le nombre des domestiques et que Lady Mary se demande s'il est possible de conserver château, domaine et train de vie, toute la maisonnée apprend l'arrivée du roi George V et de la reine Mary . Le grand chambellan du roi chamboule les lieux en amenant les domestiques du palais de Buckingham et un grand chef cuisinier. Anna décide de se rebeller avec l'ensemble des domestiques mis de côté, et Lady Mary fait appel à Carson, l'ancien majordome. Lady Violet, quant à elle, tente de sauver un héritage au profit de son fils, et découvrira un secret de famille. De son côté, Tom retrouve enfin l'amour après toutes ces années de veuvage, empêche un divorce royal, et... sauve la vie du roi.
In 1841, Solomon Northup is a free African-American man working as a violinist, who lives with his wife, Anne Hampton, and two children, Margaret and Alonzo, in Saratoga Springs, New York. Two men, Brown and Hamilton, offer him a two-week job as a musician if he will travel to Washington, D.C., with them. Once there, they drug Northup and deliver him to a slave pen owned by James Burch.
France is under the reign of a cruel and self-centered version of King Louis XIV (DiCaprio), who spends his time declaring a war against the Dutch, distributing rotten food to the rioting citizens of Paris, and seducing women trying in vain to win his heart and become queen.
En 1965, l'analyste Daniel Ellsberg se rend sur le front de la guerre du Viêt Nam pour y observer l'avancement des troupes américaines, pour le compte du secrétaire à la Défense, Robert McNamara. En 1971, Daniel Ellsberg travaille désormais pour RAND Corporation. Il décide de photocopier secrètement des rapports sur le progrès du conflit au Viêt Nam, depuis la présidence de Harry S. Truman à 1967, révélant le double discours des différentes administrations américaines sur les chances de victoire des États-Unis au Vietnam. Les gouvernements successifs ont ainsi caché au peuple américain la réalité de l'enlisement du conflit. Daniel Ellsberg divulgue alors des informations au New York Times. Le journal est cependant mis en garde par la justice, sous la pression du président Richard Nixon, sur les conséquences de la publication d'informations nationales classées secrètes. D'abord sur la touche, le Washington Post va récupérer le scoop grâce à la motivation de son rédacteur en chef, Benjamin Bradlee. Ce dernier va inciter la directrice du journal, Katharine Graham, à publier les fameux Pentagon Papers. Mais cette dernière doit aussi faire face à son conseil d'administration et à la future entrée en bourse de son journal. Le film s'achève sur l'arrêt de la Cour Suprême New York Times Co. v. United States, dans lequel les équipes du Washington Post s'alignent avec celles du New York Times parmi les parties convoquées, ce qui ouvre la voie sur la scène finale, montrant le Watergate de nuit, théâtre du scandale du Watergate, démarré en 1972 et qui mettra fin à la présidence Nixon en 1974.