This is the best picture of the decade. It's what I see in books about the Holocaust: Nazi brutality in black and white. Schindler's List is the stark truth of what happened in German-occupied Europe from 1933 to 1945. There are many powerful scenes that are beyond belief. Steven Spielberg is to be praised for the singular cinematic achievement.

Benefitting from Frank Darabont's well-written screenplay and powerful direction, Tim Robbins' and Morgan Freeman's performances help to lift the film off the ground and let it fly like the human spirit. If anything, it's the Red's voice-over narration that makes The Shawshank Redemption so good. Roger Deakins' cinematography gives the film a special feel as it enters the classic territory.

By far one of the most thrilling movies made, The Great Escape...there's nothing like it. Steve McQueen's performance as Captain Virgil Hilts, aka The Cooler King, cements his status as an international superstar because of the motorcycle scenes. Who can forget the iconic jump at the end? The chemistry of the all-star cast, the story, and the dramatic escape are the reasons behind the film's quick pace.

Before there was Steve Prefontaine and before there were Harold Abrahams and Eric Liddell, there was Larry "Rain" Murphy. The best memory I have of The Jericho Mile is the slow motion of him running topless in gray shorts with his hair in the wind. It's the highlight and my favorite moment of the movie. Simply unforgettable.

The back of the DVD cover for Papillon reads: "Not just a great escape. It was the greatest." Well, it should've been: "Not just a great Steve McQueen performance. It was the greatest." The film's strengths lie in Franklin Schaffner's direction and Dalton Trumbo's screenplay, both of them being the best in business.

"Madness. Madness!" The exclamation at the end says it all about The Bridge on the River Kwai, a thrilling WWII picture with William Holden and Alec Guinness at their finest. Against them is the massive bridge that overshadows everything and therefore must be brought down.

I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang is a heartfelt story about a decent man, down on his luck, who dreams of being a civil engineer so he can build roads and bridges. The on-screen portrayal of the chain gang in the Deep South was enough for the public to denounce the practice, and forever gone that was by 1955. Paul Muni's performance is more than outstanding, and the haunting ending is timeless.

Burt Lancaster achieves a remarkable transformation of himself into Robert Stroud, a world-famous ornithologist while locked up in federal prisons most of his life. There's a lot to like about Birdman of Alcatraz: the direction, the black-and-white cinematography, the screenplay, and the supporting performances. Altogether, it's very difficult to stop the movie.

Dead Man Walking isn't about changing people's minds about capital punishment but offers a realistic yet neutral insight into how the death sentence is carried out at the Louisiana State Penitentiary. There are many powerful scenes with exceptional performances by Sean Penn and Susan Sarandon.

At the hands of master director John Carpenter, Escape from New York is one of the ultimate cult films. It's also a surreal futuristic flick with an all-time badass by the name of Snake Plissken whom Kurt Russell was born to play. All hell breaks loose in New York City when Snake meets unsavory, eerie-looking characters around the city and starts pissing them off which makes it a fun picture to watch.

Although there were many prisoner of war (POW) camps during the U.S. Civil War, Andersonville Prison, aka Camp Sumter, remains the most famous of them all, resembling an early Nazi concentration camp. Approximately thirty percent of 45,000 captured Union soldiers died in captivity at Andersonville Prison, mostly due to starvation and disease.

Before Schindler's List hit the silver screens, there was Triumph of the Spirit. Calling it a Holocaust boxing picture would be a serious mistake because that's not what the movie is about. It's survival during the Holocaust, period. Based on Jewish Greek boxer Salamo Arouch's account, he had to go through over 200 fights to survive; the loser of each match was sent to the gas chamber.

Shot on location in East Jersey State Prison (formerly Rahway State Prison), the extras are real prisoners and guards, providing the look. Sylvester Stallone is the man while Predator's Sonny Landham matches him intensity for insensity. The story is great and entirely believable with terrific editing and many Stallone moments. In prison, you have the decent guys versus stone cold killers.

Midnight Express is a gritty picture about serving time in a foreign prison where anything goes just like its cuckoo criminal justice system. Despite being shot on location in Malta, this is the one that single-handedly ruined Turkey's tourism industry. Great acting is evident, but the cinematography is more of a stunner.

Blood In, Blood Out is everything that Once Upon a Time in America is not. It has a turning point that makes everything crystal clear which pays off in dividends. I love the authenticity in the portrayal of the Chicanos. At first, I was worried about being inundated by the flaunting of their nationality, culture, and mannerisms. But it didn't happen that way. Across the board, the performances are outstanding.

Escape from Alcatraz is a tightly made film about Frank Morris' escape from the most famous prison in history. Even better, it features another collaboration between Don Siegal and Clint Eastwood. There's no required characterization or development of the players involved because it's all about the escape and how Frank Morris did it.

Gritty and realistic, Short Eyes is a hardcore jail picture that's disturbing to watch with a lot of actors from Miami Vice. If its goal is to deter people from committing crimes by showing what jail life is like, then the message is effective. These characters are truly animals and belong there. They talk a lot of bullshit, too, for the sole purpose of fucking with people's minds.

I can imagine how shocking it must have been when Scum first came out on TV in England which depicts juvenile delinquents in the Borstal system. Today, the movie still looks raw and almost real, confirming the reason for its outright ban. Making his mark, the young Ray Winstone is perfect while his co-star Phil Daniels has a small role.

Brubaker is a liberal's wet dream about how to run prisons the right way. Pisoners are trusted at all times to perform administrative tasks, live in a commune, or be let out as free men to take care of business. That's the most shocking aspect of the film, not how they were treated in a brutal manner as depicted in the first thirty minutes.

There's a lot of David Lean about Empire of the Sun, thanks to the top-notch cinematography. Christian Bale gives a performance that's on par with Peter O'Toole of Lawrence of Arabia. There are a lot of similarities between both films as well. Steven Spielberg is the best director ever because of his ability to create a masterpiece in any genre.