Best movies like Time to Shine

Essentially true story of how Spartan king Leonidas led an extremely small army of Greek Soldiers (300 of his personal body guards from Sparta) to hold off an invading Persian army now thought to have numbered 250,000.

As a young boy, future emperor Nero witnesses the mad Emperor Caligula kill his father and exile his mother. While in exile in the pontine islands, Agrippina, his mother, sees a vision telling her that her son can become emperor, but she will have to die first. She accepts the proposal. Back in Rome, Nero, now being raised by emperor Claudius after Caligula's death, Agrippina returns. She poisons Claudius' food and Nero becomes emperor. At first, Nero cuts taxes and introduces successful programs and invades Brittania. Soon he meets a beautiful slave named Claudia Acte, and marries her, throwing off his engagement with Claudius' daughter, Claudia Octavia, telling her she can marry someone she will be happy with. Heartbroken, she arrives at an island and kills herself. Nero enjoys being married to Claudia Acte, but soon he gradually goes mad with power and sets fire to Rome.

Industrious high school senior Vee Delmonico has had it with living life on the sidelines. When pressured by friends to join the popular online game Nerve, Vee decides to sign up for just one dare in what seems like harmless fun. But as she finds herself caught up in the thrill of the adrenaline-fueled competition partnered with a mysterious stranger, the game begins to take a sinister turn with increasingly dangerous acts, leading her into a high stakes finale that will determine her entire future.

A dramatic retelling of the life of Michel de Nostredame, from his early work as a plague doctor to his time at the court of Catherine de Medici, after he became famed for his prophetic almanacs. Stars Rutger Hauer and Julia Ormond.

In the prehistoric world, a Cro-Magnon tribe depends on an ever-burning source of fire, which eventually extinguishes. Lacking the knowledge to start a new fire, the tribe sends three warriors on a quest for more. With the tribe's future at stake, the warriors make their way across a treacherous landscape full of hostile tribes and monstrous beasts. On their journey, they encounter Ika, a woman who has the knowledge they seek.

A futuristic drama about five survivors trying to make sense of a New World after a devastating urban catastrophe challenges their basic human needs. Set in a bleak, post-urban landscape in the aftermath of the Third World War, the film presents a strangely limited environment where a single woman and four men are forced to communicate without words as a result of destructive gasses from the war. When their pasts are erased by the war, they are forced to recreate their lives both individually and collectively.

Characters in a bio technological firm utilize nanotechnology (miniature, smart robots) to control others for their own good.

This shows physicist Stephen Hawking's life as he deals with the ALS that renders him immobile and unable to speak without the use of a computer. Hawking's friends, family, classmates, and peers are interviewed not only about his theories but the man himself.

Taryn finds herself gaining much-desired popularity when the charismatic new girl at school claims her as a “breath sister," teaching Taryn about the Choking Game. Hiding it from her ever-present mother, best friend, and teachers, Taryn sees choking as a way to build self-control and grab an easy high. But, as the stakes are raised through each subsequent ‘flight’, Taryn has no idea that she is actually putting her life in extreme danger.

Cathy Coulter is looking forward to a bright future with new husband Riley and her son Billy. Settled in their new home, Cathy becomes disheartened with Riley's frequent work trips and her intuition tells her something is amiss. When Riley leaves for his next job, Cathy follows him...all the way to another family's home! When Cathy storms in to confront him, she finds a dead body and receives a call from Riley saying she must confess to the crime or her son will be killed. With the police hot on her tail, Cathy goes on the run to unearth the truth before it is too late to save her son.

When a girls friend is killed by a college hazing, she is the only one who can find out the truth.

In the post-apocalyptic future, reigning tyrannical supercomputers teleport a cyborg assassin known as the "Terminator" back to 1984 to kill Sarah Connor, whose unborn son is destined to lead insurgents against 21st century mechanical hegemony. Meanwhile, the human-resistance movement dispatches a lone warrior to safeguard Sarah. Can he stop the virtually indestructible killing machine?

Hoping to alter the events of the past, a 19th century inventor instead travels 800,000 years into the future, where he finds mankind divided into two warring races.

George Murray's fiancée Jane Gardner gets cold feet after accepting his ring, terrorized by her first wedding with Doug, who cheated that very day with their wedding coordinator. After a car crash, George finds himself 10 years in the past, just days before Doug's day.

Humanity’s ascent is often measured by the speed of progress. But what if progress is actually spiraling us downwards, towards collapse? Ronald Wright, whose best-seller, “A Short History Of Progress” inspired “Surviving Progress”, shows how past civilizations were destroyed by “progress traps”—alluring technologies and belief systems that serve immediate needs, but ransom the future. As pressure on the world’s resources accelerates and financial elites bankrupt nations, can our globally-entwined civilization escape a final, catastrophic progress trap? With potent images and illuminating insights from thinkers who have probed our genes, our brains, and our social behaviour, this requiem to progress-as-usual also poses a challenge: to prove that making apes smarter isn’t an evolutionary dead-end.

Panama is reimagining coffee, and driving new standards for both quality and economics. Explores variety, farming practice, and processing innovation—notions traditionally associated only with winemaking. Through collaborative competition, Panamanian growers are banding together to raise the bar for coffee worldwide. Featuring interviews with award-winning coffee producers in Panama and global coffee celebrities, as well as stunning footage of Panama’s breathtaking highlands, Higher Grounds concludes with a hard look at the sustainability of specialty coffee, the implications for developing-region producers, and how Panama offers a model for the rest of the world.

A botched faith healing leaves a bullied teenager with unusual powers.

It is 200 years before the birth of Christ and Rome is the new superpower of the ancient world. She believes she is invincible - but one man is destined to change that. He is a man bound by oath to avenge the wrongs inflicted on his home and, in pursuit of revenge, he will stop at nothing. Hannibal explores the man behind the myth, revealing what drove the 26-year-old to mastermind one of the most audacious military moves in history. With 40,000 soldiers and 37 elephants, he marched 1,500 miles to challenge his enemies on their own soil. It was an act so daring that few people believed it possible.

A fantasy from Ibsen's verse drama. Ne'er-do-well and braggart Peer Gynt has many adventures in varied countries, making and losing money, gaining fortune at others' expense, until he finds salvation in the love of Solveig.

As the first nomadic tribes wander across the vast wilderness of the infant planet they confront hostilities created by the harsh environment and each other. After a massive volcanic eruption a tribal chief is killed and his two sons fight for supremacy, not only for the leadership of the tribe but also for the love of a beautiful young woman. The age-old battlegrounds of rivalry, envy and passion are explored in this tale of prehistoric adventure.

Vincent Van Gogh comes back to life after being the recipient of a magic potion. He finds that his work has become quite valuable, and begins stealing his works. At the same time, he has a hard time getting anyone to believe he's really Van Gogh.

Todd grew up under the strange shadow of his older mentally challenged brother Shonzi. As kids, Shonzi forced Todd to make action movies. As adults he pressures him to share love life details, even showing Shonzi a sex tape he made with an old girlfriend to help him cope when family tragedy hits. When their dad suffers a heart attack, Shonzi (now 40, and still a virgin) moves in with Todd and his new girlfriend Lindsay. Shonzi wants desperately to be included in their relationship like old times. When Shonzi’s begging become threats to reveal secrets from their past, Todd must find the courage to be honest with Lindsay, even if it means the end of their relationship.

This is the rare UK Channel 4 documentary about Blade Runner, giving insights into it's history with interviews of Ridley Scott, the writers and nearly all the cast. Interviews with production staff, including Ridley, give details into the creative process and turmoil during preproduction. Stories from Paul M. Sammon and Fancher provide insight into Philip K. Dick and the origins of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Interweaved are cast interviews with the notable exceptions of Harrison Ford and Sean Young. Through these interviews we get a sense of how difficult and frustrating the film was to make as a result of an exacting director without allies and hot, wet, smoggy conditions; which added to the high pressure atmosphere everyone increasingly felt as the film went over budget. There is also a tour of some locations, most notably the Bradbury Building and the Warner Brothers backlot that was the LA 2019 streets, which look very different from Ridley's dark version.

A luxury cruise liner is requisitioned by the Greek government in an attempt to give safe passage to national treasures worth millions of pounds. The liner is attacked by an art collector who finds out about the plan. During the hijack the liner sinks to the sea floor and so begins a fight for survival as the remaining air begins to run out.

Confucius was one of history's most influential thinkers. He was a sage, philosopher and teacher who, with Socrates and Buddha, lived at an extraordinary time in the evolution of human civilization. This stunningly beautiful drama-documentary explores the life and times of Confucius, while reflecting on his influence on modern justice and morality. Today, Confucius is a window into China's rise.

Break is a 'rags to riches', feel good story. The film follows the exploits of Spencer Pryde (Sam Gittins), a gifted, inner-city kid, wasting his talents on petty crime. After witnessing the brutal murder of his pal Denis and finding himself in debt to a drug dealing thug named Ginger, it seems Spencer's life is spiraling out of control, until one day, a chance encounter with a Chinese stranger and former eight-ball pool champion named Vincent Quiang (David Yip) presents him with an opportunity to turn his life around. But in order to make a new life for himself, Spencer will first need to break away from peer pressure of his friends, his environment and all the negative influences of his current life.

Orthodox tells the story of Benjamin, an Orthodox Jewish man who alienated himself from his community by becoming a boxer. When his life took a wrong turn he ended up in prison, losing his wife and children in the process. Now he is out and desperate to reintegrate, he finds that acceptance harder than he ever imagined. He turns back to his old boxing coach thinking there he has an ally, but a truth about the past emerges which leaves him even more isolated than he once thought. Benjamin must make a choice which will effect not just his own future but the life of a young Jewish boy whose life he can relate to. He is determined not to allow history to repeat itself.

Professor Joann Fletcher explores what it was like to be a woman of power in ancient Egypt. Through a wealth of spectacular buildings, personal artefacts and amazing tombs, Joann brings to life four of ancient Egypt's most powerful female rulers and discovers the remarkable influence wielded by women, whose power and freedom was unique in the ancient world. Throughout Egypt's history, women held the title of pharaoh no fewer than 15 times, and many other women played key roles in running the state and shaping every aspect of life. Joann Fletcher puts these influential women back at the heart of our understanding, revealing the other half of ancient Egypt.

Sheku Kanneh-Mason made history in 2016 when he became the first black winner of the BBC Young Musician competition. Sheku has six musically gifted siblings and this film explores their extraordinary talents and issues of diversity in classical music. We follow Sheku and his brothers and sisters and examine the sacrifices that parents Stuart and Kadie make in order to support their children in pursuing their musical dreams. Told through the prism of family life we get an understanding of what it is that drives this family to be the best musicians they can be. At the heart of the story is 17-year-old Sheku, and we see him coming to terms with his Young Musician win and the pressures and opportunities it brings. His life is changing dramatically as he now has to learn to deal with the challenges of becoming a world-renowned cellist.

Janice is struggling; she moves through life as if in a haze, unable to let go of her anger and frustration. While her husband has found refuge at a new church, Janice finds it hard to seek solace in her faith despite her pastor’s pleas to heal her wounds by meeting with the mothers of her son’s victims.

The War 1812 is a two-hour film history of a deeply significant event in North American and world history. The war shaped American, Canadian and British destiny in the most literal way possible: had one or two battles or decisions gone a different way, a map of the United States today would look entirely (and shockingly) different. The fires of this war forged the nation of Canada; at the same time, the result tolled the end of Native American dreams of a separate nation. By war's end, the process of Native nation removal had already begun in the southeast, paving the way for a Cotton Kingdom powered by slavery, and a United States that had been on the verge of collapse was ready to announce its arrival as a global power. The U.S. did not win the War of 1812, but the noble experiment of democracy had managed to survive intense pressure from without, and within.

TIMETRAVEL_0 is an extraordinary docudrama that follows Cris McCarthy as she explores the urban web legend of John Titor, the man that came from the future. Cris searches for evidence of Timetravel and John Titor's predictions of a massive civil war. In the process of her filming, her work was investigated by authorities and eventually confiscated by the government. Its recent release has allowed it to be edited and produced. (IMDb)

A doctor who has spent his career working on ways to revive the dead sees his chance to prove his theory by performing his procedures on a recently deceased dog.

After a viral video catapults her to the mayor’s office of her small town, Melanie Bridgewater soon finds herself in a fight against a shadowy government cabal seeking to make the United States more ‘globally compliant’. With the help of Benjamin Franklin’s time machine, she must travel to the age of George Washington in an attempt to remind America of the wonders of its own history and The Constitution.

A boy finds it difficult to live up to his father's reputation at his school.