The "shady" action of Lawless is unfolding in times of Great Depression which covered America in in the 1930s. The Prohibition Law and followed mass bootlegging and rum-running led to organized crime wide spreading across the USA. This "dark times" of twenty century were laid down in the movie storyline by the writers Nick Cave (screenplay), Matt Bondurant (novel) and mastermind Megan Ellison (daughter of Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison's) who shepherded this project. For those who like watching movies about the gangs rending the "society of law abiding citizens" this film would be a great choice, mostly because of perfectly selected cast. You should agree, not every day you see Tom Hardy, Gary Oldman and Shia LaBeouf all playing the gangsters and Guy Pearce as Special Agent. Jessica Chastain, Mia Wasikowska, Dane DeHaan, Jason Clarke and Noah Taylor are continuing the star cast of the movie. But the great choice of actors is not crucial strength of Lawless, the thrilling dramatic scenes and scale of the "just unfolding" war between gangs and authorities will keep you engaged all the 135 minutes.

"City by the Sea" is a 2002 crime drama film directed by Michael Caton-Jones. The story is based on a true-life murder case and revolves around a New York City police detective named Vincent LaMarca. LaMarca becomes entangled in a complex web of crime and family secrets when he discovers that his estranged son is a prime suspect in a murder investigation.

Werner Herzog's Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans is a hymn to the absurd and total irrationality of everything. You can feel itwhen you are on the way of your own self-destruction, when the moral imperatives are thrown in the trash, and the place occupied by sleeping rational naughty and daring instincts. It is paradoxical but true: it is Herzog managed to break Nicolas Cage's (with rare perseverance ruin their once-glorious career) familiar mask of grief and sorrow. In fact, this local success is a mirror image of director's methods of the maestro.

"Nightcrawler" is a 2014 thriller film that tells the story of Lou Bloom, a desperate and ambitious young man who discovers the world of freelance crime journalism in Los Angeles. Using a police scanner and a video camera, Lou begins to capture footage of violent crimes and accidents, which he then sells to local news stations. As Lou's career takes off, he becomes increasingly ruthless and manipulative, crossing ethical boundaries and putting himself and others in danger.

"Valkyrie" is a 2008 historical thriller movie based on the true story of the July 20 Plot of 1944, a failed assassination attempt against Adolf Hitler by German officers who were opposed to the Nazi regime. The movie follows Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, a key figure in the plot, as he devises a plan to assassinate Hitler and overthrow the Nazi government.

Brad Pitt plays Jackie Cogan in Andrew Dominik's crime thriller Killing Them Softly, a mobster whose task is to investigate an impudent murder which happened during the illegal poker game organized by mafia bosses. To have a holistic perception of the movie atmosphere just mix-up in your imagination The Sopranos, GoodFellas, Pulp Fiction and put them in a Bush/Obama post-crisis America of last half of 2008; ladle it with some thick layer of political dressing made of pragmatic thoughts and infallible Jackie Cogan's phrases about what happens with people when recession comes and who is responsible for all of this mess. Killing Them Softly is loosely based on George V. Higgins novel Cogan's Trade which he wrote in the period of time 1972 – 1974, when he worked as lawyer, specializing in crime processes involving mafia complicity. This fact leads us to believe that he knows a lot about the shady inside world of gangster's "paradise" which served as a perfectly sharpened background for Andrew Dominik's movie. Filmed for that point in post-Katrina New Orleans Killing Them Softly immerses us in the abyss of despair and hopelessness which enveloped everyone's minds and souls of in America, regardless of occupation – even for thorough-paced gangster – it's time to think about what's wrong with this world. The movie was nominated for the Palme d'Or at 65th Cannes Film Festival in 2012.