Best movies like My Name Ain't Johnny
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
In the 90's, In Rio de Janeiro, the middle-class João Guilherme Estrella is introduced to the world of drugs consuming maconha and cocaine first and later becoming a drug-dealer with many connections inclusive in Europe. However, he spends all the money he makes in his addiction, parties with clients and friends and travels, never structuring or organizing a network or saving money. When he is arrested, he is sent to the prison first and later to the judicial asylum for treatment, reintegrating to the society. Presently João is a successful musical producer.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Biography, Crime, Drama
Country: Brazil
Duration: 124 min
Plot tags: stylized, rough, serious, captivating, realistic, hood, crime drama, spectacular, entertaining
Best tv shows and movies like My Name Ain't Johnny (2008):
Similar in 78%
Kid Cannabis (2014)
Plot Summary:
An eighteen year old high school drop out and his twenty-seven year old friend start trafficking marijuana across the border of Canada in order to make money and their lives are changed forever.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Biography, Comedy, Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, suspenseful, tense, touching, captivating, scenic, disturbing
Similar in 83%
Cass (2008)
Plot Summary:
The incredible true story of how an orphaned Jamaican baby, adopted by an elderly white couple and brought up in an all white area of London, became one of the most feared and respected men in Britain.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Biography, Crime, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: psychological, rough, serious, realistic, powerful, captivating
Similar in 87%
Wasted (2002)
Plot Summary:
A high-school track star (Nick Stahl) watches without judgment as his two best friends (Summer Phoenix, Aaron Paul) abuse heroin.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 652
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, realistic, rough, serious, gloomy, biting, suspense
Similar in 78%
Cocaine Angel (2006)
Plot Summary:
A week in the life of a young drug addict.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 323
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 75 min
Plot tags: realistic, serious, psychological, captivating, mumblecore, independent film, sincere, witty, gloomy
Similar in 79%
Screwed (2011)
Plot Summary:
The film is a semi-biographical story based on the experiences of former prison guard Ronnie Thompson who spent seven years working in some of the UK's most dangerous prisons. Based on Thompson's book of the same name, the project stars James D'Arcy (Master & Commander), Noel Clarke (Kidulthood), Frank Harper (The Football Factory), Jamie Foreman (Layer Cake), Andrew Shim (This Is England) and Kate Magowan (Stardust). The story revolves around former soldier Sam Norwood who takes a job as a prison officer when he returns from Iraq and becomes exposed to the underworld of prison culture - including corrupt guards and drug trafficking.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: rough, disturbing, tense, serious, sincere, bleak, captivating, emotional, realistic, cult film
Similar in 78%
Party Monster (2003)
Plot Summary:
The New York club scene of the 80s and 90s was a world like no other. Into this candy-colored, mirror ball playground stepped Michael Alig, a wannabe from nowhere special. Under the watchful eye of veteran club kid James St. James, Alig quickly rose to the top... and there was no place to go but down.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 17000
Genere: Biography, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: stylized, serious, disturbing, surreal, talky, black comedy, realistic, grindhouse, cult classic, dark comedy
Similar in 83%
Maradona, the Hand of God (2007)
Plot Summary:
Dramatizing of the many shocking highs and lows of Argentine soccer hero Diego Maradona, an extraordinary athlete and arguably the greatest player in the history of the sport.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 723
Genere: Biography, Drama, Sport
Country: Italy, Argentina
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: realistic, uplifting, sentimental, sincere, serious
Similar in 83%
The Front Line (2009)
Plot Summary:
An Italian man looks back from his jail cell on his youthful exploits as a political extremist with understanding, candour and remorse.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 651
Genere: Biography, Crime, Drama
Country: Italy, Belgium, UK, France
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: exciting, sincere, serious, emotional, tense, captivating, realistic, contemplative, factual
Similar in 87%
The Executioner's Song (1982)
Plot Summary:
In this fact-based film, Gary Gilmore, an Indiana man who just finished serving a lengthy stay in prison, tries to start anew by moving to Utah. Before long, Gary begins an ill-advised romance with the troubled Nicole Baker, a teenage single mother. As their relationship quickly deteriorates, Gary goes on a murderous rampage, leaving two dead. During his trial, he demands capital punishment; a media circus ensues and outsiders look to profit from his story.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Biography, Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 135 min
Plot tags: rough, thought provoking, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful, tense
Similar in 75%
Rise of the Footsoldier (2007)
Plot Summary:
Rise of the Footsoldier follows the inexorable rise of Carlton Leach from one of the most feared generals of the football terraces to becoming a member of a notorious gang of criminals who rampaged their way through London and Essex in the late eighties and early nineties.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 22000
Genere: Action, Biography, Crime, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 119 min
Plot tags: serious, captivating, realistic, tense, suspense, bloody, grindhouse, hood, rough, suspenseful
Similar in 79%
Boss of Bosses (2001)
Plot Summary:
The story of the rise and fall of the powerful New York City organized crime boss, Paul Castellano.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Biography, Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: tense, rough, serious, suspenseful, realistic
Similar in 79%
Heleno (2011)
Plot Summary:
José Henrique Fonseca crafts an ambitious and long overdue homage to a central icon in Brazil’s 20th century history. Reminiscent of film noir classics, the biopic tells the glorious and tragic story of the legendary football striker Heleno de Freitas. The sumptuous black and white cinematography reflects the chic life of Rio de Janeiro in the 1940s as it fell under the spell of sports royalty. Heleno was no doubt one of the most popular players of his time for his bravura in the field and magnificent goal-scoring that lead the Botafogo team to the top and himself into a vicious downward spiral.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Sport
Country: Brazil
Duration: 116 min
Plot tags: psychological, serious, realistic, stylized, black and white, captivating, gloomy
Similar in 88%
Poor Little Rich Girl: The Barbara Hutton Story (1987)
Plot Summary:
The true story of one of the richest women in America - heiress to the Woolworth fortune. She had vast wealth and seven husbands, but never found lasting love.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 482
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 282 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic
Similar in 81%
Chopper (2000)
Plot Summary:
The true and intense story of Mark 'Chopper' Read, a legendary criminal who wrote his autobiography while serving a jail sentence in prison.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 41000
Genere: Biography, Crime, Drama
Country: Australia
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: disturbing, dark comedy, rough, cynical, brutal, dark, cult classic, stylized, black comedy, intellectual
Similar in 79%
Carandiru (2003)
Plot Summary:
Carandiru, a story based on real facts and on the book written by the doctor Drauzio Varella, starts when he decides to carry out an AIDS prevention program inside Latin America’s largest prison: the Casa de Detenção de São Paulo, Carandiru, the victim of one of the darkest days in Brazilian History, when the State of São Paulo’s Military Police, with the excuse for law enforcement, shot to death 111 people.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 21000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: Brazil, Argentina, Italy
Duration: 145 min
Plot tags: bleak, compassionate, rough, touching, captivating, realistic, sincere, disturbing, controversial, perverse
Similar in 84%
Hellsinki (2009)
Plot Summary:
Besides the journey of Tomppa and Krisu, the main characters of the film, Rööperi tells the story of Gypsy Kari, Arska, Bisquit, Uki and a bunch of other bad boys and criminals; it tells of their memorable and unscrupulous journey from crime and poverty to becoming respectable citizens, going to jail—or dying too young. The wrong side of the law is seen through the eyes of Koistinen, a local police officer. The guys who fall into a life of crime have one thing in common: they all start by bootlegging, being sure money is an answer to all their problems. Money is a way out of a miserable life; it is a way to happiness and their modest dreams. They can stop doing criminal business as soon as they get enough money. When the guys start making more money with black-market booze, their hunger and their dreams grow bigger.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Biography, Crime, Drama
Country: Finland
Duration: 133 min
Plot tags: bleak, brutal, psychological, enigmatic, rough, suspenseful, serious, realistic, scary, exciting
Similar in 90%
McVicar (1980)
Plot Summary:
John McVicar was a London Bad Boy. he graduated to armed bank robbery and was Britain's "Public Enemy No. 1". He was captured and put into a high security prison. Will even the highest security prison be able to hold him? This is the true story of his life, his criminal exploits and his eventual rehabilitation.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, realistic, independent film, cult film
Similar in 76%
Romanzo Criminale (2005)
Plot Summary:
The Lebanese has a dream: to conquer the underworld of Rome. To carry out this feat without precedent he puts together a ruthless and highly organized gang. Their progress and changes in leadership take place over 25 years, from the 1970s into the 90s, and are inseparably intertwined with the dark history of modern Italy: terrorism, kidnappings and corruption at the highest levels of government.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: Italy, France, UK
Duration: 152 min
Plot tags: serious, stylized, rough, captivating, realistic, erotic, hood, poliziottesco, neo noir, bleak
Similar in 88%
Loving Pablo (2017)
Plot Summary:
The film chronicles the rise and fall of the world's most feared drug lord Pablo Escobar and his volatile love affair with Colombia's most famous journalist Virginia Vallejo throughout a reign of terror that tore a country apart.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 22000
Genere: Biography, Crime, Drama
Country: Spain, Bulgaria
Duration: 123 min
Plot tags: factual, serious, exciting, rough, brutal, crime drama, independent film
Similar in 86%
Beneath the Surface (1997)
Plot Summary:
23-year old Sandra has been doing drugs for many years and has realized that she is in need of some kind of treatment. At the clinic she is told that her pimp / boyfriend Roffe has turned his attention to Sandra's younger and well-behaving sister Jannika.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 623
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: Sweden
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, emotional, realistic
Similar in 82%
Gotti (1996)
Plot Summary:
John Gotti, the head of a small New York mafia crew breaks a few of the old family rules. He rises to become the head of the Gambino family and the most well-known mafia boss in America. Life is good, but suspicion creeps in, and greed, rule-breaking and his high public profile all threaten to topple him.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Biography, Crime, Drama
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 117 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, realistic
Similar in 85%
Pinero (2001)
Plot Summary:
"Piñero" tells the story of the explosive life of a Latino icon, the poet-playwright-actor Miguel Piñero, whose urban poetry is recognized as a pre-cursor to rap and hip-hop. After doing time in hard-core Sing-Sing for petty thefts and drug dealing, Piñero's prison experiences developed into the 1974 Tony-nominated play Short Eyes. The resulting notoriety and fame was too much for the Latino bad-boy genius who retreated to the darker corners of New York City.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: disturbing, stylized, intense, factual, sincere, touching, serious, independent film, sentimental, realistic
Similar in 87%
Lenny (1974)
Plot Summary:
The story of acerbic 1960s comic Lenny Bruce, whose groundbreaking, no-holds-barred style and social commentary was often deemed by the Establisment as too obscene for the public.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 17000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: black and white, psychological, atmospheric, serious, realistic, rough, clever, bleak, semi documentary, art house
Similar in 75%
Whitney (2015)
Plot Summary:
Chronicles Whitney Houston's rise to fame and turbulent relationship with husband Bobby Brown.
IMDB Rating: 5.0
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: emotional, realistic, touching, serious, sincere, entertaining
Similar in 79%
Black Mass (2015)
Plot Summary:
The true story of Whitey Bulger, the brother of a state senator and the most infamous violent criminal in the history of South Boston, who became an FBI informant to take down a Mafia family invading his turf.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 190000
Genere: Biography, Crime, Drama
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 123 min
Plot tags: suspense, factual, brutal, intense, captivating, realistic, suspenseful, serious, independent film, stylized
Similar in 82%
Donnie Brasco (1997)
Plot Summary:
An FBI undercover agent infilitrates the mob and finds himself identifying more with the mafia life at the expense of his regular one.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 326000
Genere: Biography, Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 127 min
Plot tags: neo noir, tense, realistic, clever, suspense, serious, suspenseful, rough, talky, atmospheric
Similar in 81%
VIPs (2010)
Plot Summary:
A human look on the life of one of the biggest frauds in the world happened by important people in Brazil.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: Brazil, USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: exciting, serious, captivating, realistic, stylized
Similar in 81%
Goodfellas (1990)
Plot Summary:
The true story of Henry Hill, a half-Irish, half-Sicilian Brooklyn kid who is adopted by neighbourhood gangsters at an early age and climbs the ranks of a Mafia family under the guidance of Jimmy Conway.
IMDB Rating: 8.7
IMDB Votes: 12000000
Genere: Biography, Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 145 min
Plot tags: rough, suspense, realistic, epic, brutal, cult classic, hood, suspenseful, neo noir, fast paced
Similar in 83%
American Gangster (2007)
Plot Summary:
Following the death of his employer and mentor, Bumpy Johnson, Frank Lucas establishes himself as the number one importer of heroin in the Harlem district of Manhattan. He does so by buying heroin directly from the source in South East Asia and he comes up with a unique way of importing the drugs into the United States. Based on a true story.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 446000
Genere: Biography, Crime, Drama
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 157 min
Plot tags: serious, tense, realistic, suspense, harsh, hood, clever, detective, suspenseful, entertaining
Similar in 76%
Puncture (2011)
Plot Summary:
A David and Goliath law drama about a drug-addicted lawyer who takes on a health supply corporation while battling his own personal demons.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 25000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: independent film, suspense, thought provoking, suspenseful, psychological, serious, realistic, inspirational, enigmatic, emotional