Ivanka Trump
Heads to Synagogue Amid Iran Conflict

Published
February 28, 2026
2:45 PM PST

Leonardo DiCaprio‘s best movies are a mix of his comedic and dramatic skills, and a bit of action on the side. He’s versatile and transformative, capable of embodying his roles and researching them methodically, with a lot of dedication; that’s why he’s considered one of the greatest actors of today. Although he has a long and interesting filmography sitting in a wide variety of genres, his most famous movies tend to be dramas.

Whether he portrays a poor kid falling for a wealthy girl or a man returning from war, DiCaprio has some incredibly memorable dramatic roles and movies. If you’re less into his action and thrills and more into the dramatic, heavier stuff, here are Leonardo DiCaprio’s five greatest drama movies.

5

‘Revolutionary Road’ (2008)

Image Via Paramount Pictures

Revolutionary Road marks DiCaprio’s second collaboration and reunion with Kate Winslet, with whom he starred in Titanic for the first time. Revolutionary Road feels like “what would have happened if Jack and Rose stayed together,” though it’s a much less romantic and a lot more realistic and sad story about the evolution of a marriage. Initially, the two were reluctant to play a couple again after Titanic, for the exact fear of being equated to Jack and Rose, but in Revolutionary Road, they show incredible maturity and progress from their first collab. Sam Mendes directed this film, which was based on Richard Yates‘ 1961 novel of the same name; the movie was meant to be made that same year, which must be one of the longest noted “limbo periods” for a movie, maybe ever.

Revolutionary Road follows a couple throughout the 1940s and 1950s as their marriage falls apart due to heavy personal problems and dissatisfaction. In 1948, longshoreman Frank Wheeler meets aspiring actress April, and the two soon fall in love and marry. They move to a suburban area, meeting their neighbors, Shep (David Harbour) and Milly (Kathryn Hahn), and befriending their realtor, Helen (Kathy Bates); on the surface, they seem happy and harmonic, but Frank is tired of his mundane job, while April isn’t successful at getting acting gigs. Their personal dissatisfaction seeps into their relationship, turning it into a strained push and pull of emotions. Revolutionary Road is a difficult film but an interesting, visually gorgeous, and play-like drama worth watching. It’s also kind of underrated, considering its biggest selling point at one moment was DiCaprio and Winslet’s reunion. While their chemistry from the first collab remains, Revolutionary Road sees DiCaprio as the slightly better performer of the two, with intense dedication and vulnerability on display.

4

‘The Basketball Diaries’ (1995)

Image via New Line Cinema

The Basketball Diaries is an early film that wasn’t the most critically acclaimed but is, upon reassessment, a vital film for both the 1990s and DiCaprio’s emerging career at the time. It’s a biographical crime drama based on the autobiographical novel by Jim Carroll, who, in the book, reflects on his promising basketball career and its inevitable demise after developing a drug addiction as a teenager. The Basketball Diaries is Scott Kalvert‘s feature directorial debut, and it’s a grim and heavy story that attempts to deliver a cautionary tale while staying packed into quintessentially grunge/90s packaging, evoking the lives of so many artists who succumbed to drug addiction at the time. Even the soundtrack is packed with grunge legends, like Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, and The Cult, with Carroll himself contributing his musical artistry to it. Whatever you feel about The Basketball Diaries, it’s a star-making film for DiCaprio, who is magnetic in it.

The Basketball Diaries follows Jim Carroll as a high schooler in NYC, taking part on the school’s basketball team and hanging out with his best friends, Pedro, Mickey, and Neutron (James Madio, Mark Wahlberg, and Patrick McGaw, respectively). Jim and his friends begin taking recreational drugs at school, and while no one notices at first, they soon begin showing bigger signs of addiction until they begin living on the street, begging for money and doing anything to get their next fix. Jim, privately, is artistic and enjoys writing and poetry, which soon helps him get better and get clean (spoiler, but Carroll was an adult at the time of making the film, so you could’ve guessed twice). The Basketball Diaries is a pretty realistic portrait of youth when it’s affected by addiction, and while it may not be pleasant to watch, it’s an incredible and essential film among DiCaprio’s dramas.

3

‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ (2023)

Image via Apple TV

The sixth collaboration between DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese happened in 2023, in Scorsese’s latest film, Killers of the Flower Moon. The seventh is coming up with What Happens at Night, which is currently filming, and there’s a short film from 2015 that stars DiCaprio and Robert De Niro as the two actors argue over who gets to make another film with Scorsese. Both starred in Killers of the Flower Moon, and while De Niro is the meanie, DiCaprio isn’t exactly the most positive character in the film, either. Both, as brilliant and impressive as they are, give way to Lily Gladstone to shine as the lead; sometimes, a great actor also knows when to pull away to give others a chance, which just makes them all the more iconic. Killers of the Flower Moon is based on real-life events that took place in Oklahoma during the late 1910s and early 1920s, when members of the Osage Nation of Oklahoma struck oil, became rich through mineral rights, and were killed off in brutal ways.

Killers of the Flower Moon opens with the story of the people of the Osage Nation discovering oil on their land, which made them wealthy at the time. However, the law needed their land to be “run” by white residents, as they were deemed incompetent; enter William Hale King (De Niro), who posed as a benefactor to the Osage Nation. After his nephew Ernest (DiCaprio) returns from WWI to live with him on his estate, William introduces him to Mollie Kyle (Gladstone), whose family has rights to the wealthy land. At first, Ernest is considered to be a mere “gold digger” but falls in love with Mollie, showing their relationship while depicting the growing danger and stress of the Osage murders. While some have considered Killers of the Flower Moon to be exploitative of the tragic narrative of the Osage murders, others found it revelatory, praising Scorsese’s efforts to include members of the Osage Nation today as advisors on the film’s narrative and details.

2

‘Titanic’ (1997)

Of course, the most famous DiCaprio movie has to be Titanic, in which he stars alongside Kate Winslet. For both of them, this was a breakthrough on a global scale, starring in a beautiful but tragic romance that is still widely considered one of the most romantic movies of all time. Titanic also jumpstarted DiCaprio and Winslet’s longtime friendship, after which they collaborated on the same project once more in 2008, Revolutionary Road. James Cameron‘s drama is about the real-life ocean liner, which departed from Southampton, England on April 10, 1912, and sank not even a full five days later after clashing with an iceberg. While this timeline might break the illusion of Jack and Rose’s whirlwind romance, which is arguably one of the greatest romances ever, Titanic is still a celebration of love and life.

Titanic opens with a modern-day crew setting out to find a famous jewel they believe is still in the wreck; they don’t find the jewel, but they do find a sketch of a woman wearing it. After Rose Dawson Calvert reaches out to the crew, telling them she’s on the drawing, the story goes back to 1912, following the maiden voyage of RMS Titanic, with Rose (Winslet) boarding the ship in Southampton with her mother and American fiancé, Cal (Billy Zane). Rose is only 17, and she’s unhappy with her incoming marriage, even contemplating jumping off the ship’s stern. On one such occasion, she is stopped by Jack Dawson (DiCaprio), a poor artist; they begin to bond, becoming friends and quickly falling in love. DiCaprio and Winslet have a beautiful chemistry, and it’s hard to tell who is better out of the two; it’s like they bring the best out of each other, giving dedicated, intense, and beautiful performances.

1

‘What’s Eating Gilbert Grape’ (1993)

Image via Paramount Pictures

Advertisement

The film that earned DiCaprio national acclaim and the title of “one to watch out for” is What’s Eating Gilbert Grape. He stars as the titular Gilbert’s younger brother, Arnie, who has a mental disability; he was so convincing in the role that, at 19, he was nominated for the Best Supporting Actor Oscar. The role of Arnie was meant to go to Corey Feldman and then Christian Bale, but while the former had issues with Johnny Depp, the latter simply couldn’t measure up to DiCaprio’s audition. He prepared for Arnie by spending time with mentally disabled kids and teens, watching them and hanging out with them to understand their lives. What’s Eating Gilbert Grape is a well-known star-maker of a film; it most notably allowed DiCaprio to find his footing in Hollywood.

What’s Eating Gilbert Grape follows the eponymous Gilbert Grape (Depp), who lives with his mother Bonnie and three out of four siblings, spending the most time with the mentally disabled Arnie. Gilbert works at a local grocery store, caring for his family full-time since his mother, grief-stricken, became obese and homebound. Caring for Arnie, his sisters, and his mother leaves Gilbert with little time for a private life; one day, he meets Becky (Juliette Lewis), and she befriends him and Arnie, helping Gilbert find himself. It’s quite a dramatic coming-of-age film, and it’s hard to watch Gilbert’s life sometimes. Although some critics have found the film predictable, it’s been lauded over and over for its immense charm and warmth, including DiCaprio’s stunning performance, which is often used to describe his talents from an early age.

Shia LaBeouf
Arrested Again in NOLA on Battery Charge

Published
February 28, 2026
2:14 PM PST

By Chris Snellgrove
| Published 38 seconds ago

When casting for Starfleet Academy was first announced, fans were shocked and delighted by the return of Robert Picardo. His holographic Doctor was a fan-favorite character on Star Trek: Voyager, and his presence on the new show has been mostly awesome. However, the writers surprisingly tweaked this comedic character by making him a tragic figure who is occasionally overcome by grief at the thought of the friends and even family he has lost over the years.

The episode “Life of the Stars” healed that pain in the most unexpected way: holographic cadet SAM starts glitching out because she has no memories to help process trauma, so the Doctor volunteers to raise her for the equivalent of 17 years. If Starfleet Academy gets its intended four seasons, it could be very rewarding to see the Doctor transformed into a father figure working alongside the child he raised. But given the persistent rumors that the show will be canceled after Season 2, I can’t help but think Star Trek ruined the Doctor by changing his personality and then giving him an arc that may never actually play out.

Star Trek’s Funniest Character Gets Serious

Just to be clear, I’m not opposed to the idea of changing up the Doctor’s character. Over eight centuries later, it would actually be a little strange if he were exactly like he was back on Star Trek: Voyager. Plus, Robert Picardo is an amazing actor, and he’s just as good at drama as he ever was at comedy. But as with so many things in Starfleet Academy, the writers have struggled to find the right balance with this character.

For example, the Doctor is still called upon for laughs, only he is expected to be part of this show’s broader comedy efforts. That’s why any given episode will have him mugging for the camera while singing for the opera or cracking snarky jokes about cadets’ bowel movements. In a particularly low moment, he played the insanely annoying host of a dinner party, which came to a premature end thanks to a farting fish (no, really).

But he is also meant to be a haunted, tragic figure whose dialogue hints at past trauma that he is still processing. Heck, he opens up “Life of the Stars” with a noir-flavored monologue about how many dawns he has seen and how time is a “beast” that bites everyone differently. It’s a cool way to start an episode, but it forces me to ask, once more, whether the writers of Starfleet Academy expect him to be the comedy relief or to be an edgy, brooding legacy character.

Big Changes For Your Favorite Character

“Life of the Stars” ended with a major change for the Doctor: he decides to help fix a glitching SAM by raising her for the equivalent of 17 years. This is meant to give her the emotional resilience she will need to handle various situations as an adult while helping the Doctor move on from the trauma of losing a holographic daughter over 800 years ago. Should Starfleet Academy get four full seasons, it could be very rewarding to see how Robert Picardo handles this latest permutation of his character.

Unfortunately, Starfleet Academy is going to almost certainly end after Season 2. When that happens, one thing will be very clear in retrospect: they really squandered the Doctor, one of the most beloved characters in Star Trek history.

It’s obviously rewarding to watch characters grow and evolve over time. We got to see it happen in previous shows with young Star Trek characters like Wesley Crusher and Nog, and that’s presumably the idea with Starfleet Academy: to watch our youthful characters grow and mature into proper Starfleet officers. However, such character plotting only really works if the writers have enough runway for this dynamic storytelling to take off.

Star Trek’s Future Looks Bleak

While nothing has been officially announced, the future for Starfleet Academy looks bleak: the show consistently fails to make the Top 10 for Nielsen streaming or even Paramount+’s own Top 10. It’s also frighteningly expensive to produce (like, at least $8 million per episode), making its future doubly uncertain in the wake of Paramount’s merger with Skydance and possible acquisition of Warner Bros. Given these factors, many fans are worried the new show won’t get confirmed for Season 3 (it was long ago renewed for Season 2), and even members of the cast treated shooting the Season 2 finale like a bittersweet farewell.

There would be many repercussions of a sudden cancellation, but I can’t stop thinking about what this news would mean for Robert Picardo’s Doctor. Originally, his return was one of the reasons I was most excited about Starfleet Academy; like many, I loved his acid sarcasm and cynical sense of humor on Voyager. I was alarmed early on that this new spinoff treated him as the worst-written comedy relief of all time, but there were still enough glimmers of the old character to keep me tuning in.

Now, near the very end of Season 1, Starfleet Academy has changed the Doctor by making him a father to SAM, but we’ll barely get to see that relationship play out if the show gets canceled after Season 2. That means that the new Star Trek show brought the Doctor back only to neuter his comedy while saddling him with an unexpectedly traumatic background story. All of this was presumably in service of his arc with SAM, one that the writers will barely get a chance to explore if the show doesn’t get a third season.

It’s Dead, Jim

Obviously, hindsight is 20/20, but I can’t help but think that this has been a supreme waste of both the Doctor and Robert Picardo. Star Trek brought back its funniest character and made him spend half of Season 1 taking part in poop and fart jokes, and the other half brooding about something that happened 800 years ago that he never cared about before. All of this to pave the way for a “Doctor Daddy” storyline that will go nowhere after Starfleet Academy gets quietly canceled, a la Prodigy.

Ah, well: maybe the failure of Starfleet Academy will convince Alex Kurtzman (or whoever, God willing, replaces him) to finally give us a Star Trek Legacy show featuring characters like the Doctor. Such a series might actually respect both Robert Picardo while finally giving the fans what they want. Until Star Trek can start appealing to the fandom rather than soulless executives, though, this franchise will receive the diagnosis made famous by its original Doctor: “It’s dead, Jim!”

Donald Trump
Dances to ‘God Bless the USA’ Before Bombing Iran

Published
February 28, 2026
1:32 PM PST

Which Family Member Does ‘Real Housewives Of Atlanta’ Star Kandi Burruss Financially Support The Most?

Kandi Burruss Spoke With Her Daughter, Riley, About Her Finances During A Previous Episode Of ‘Next Gen NYC’

Riley Burruss Reflects On What It’s Like To Follow In Her Mother’s Footsteps On Bravo

Kandi Announces Divorce From Soon-To-Be Ex-Husband, Todd Tucker

Kandi Said She Decided To Split From Tucker After A ‘Specific Situation’

Timothée Chalamet Reveals The Nasty Prank Matthew McConaughey Played On Him

Fans Blast Matthew McConaughey Over The ‘Huge Turd’ Prank

Timothée Chalamet Remains Grateful To Matthew McConaughey

The ‘Wonka’ Actor Told  Matthew McConaughey About A Time A Former Costar Questioned His Acting Skills

By Robert Scucci
| Published 43 seconds ago

My favorite kind of psychological thrillers are bottle stories because they have to make good use of their limited surroundings to generate real suspense. More often than not, stories like this can be shot on a shoestring budget and lean heavily on dialogue. An exception to that rule, 2022’s Fall is technically a bottle story, and relatively low budget given the reported $3 million that went into its production, but our protagonists aren’t chit chatting over coffee and unpacking their trauma. They’re sitting atop a 2,000 foot TV tower.

They’re still talking about their past traumas on that tower, but at least they earned that trope here because they had to climb for it.

While Fall spends most of its runtime unpacking grief at an extreme altitude, it never loses sight of what’s actually at stake. Two young women climb to the top of a decommissioned tower that becomes structurally compromised, and they have no way to get back down. Their friendship is tested, and so are their wills when they realize they have no reasonable way to contact their loved ones and let them know what kind of trouble they’re in.

Becky’s Grief And Shiloh’s Influence

The source of Becky’s (Grace Caroline Currey) trauma in Fall takes place one year prior to the TV tower incident. When her husband, Dan (Mason Gooding), falls to his death during what should have been a routine climb with her and her best friend Shiloh (Virginia Gardner), she becomes a husk of a human being, abusing her prescriptions and self medicating with alcohol. On the verge of suicide on the anniversary of Dan’s death, Becky is confronted by her father, James (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), who desperately wants her to snap out of her spiral and continue living her life because Dan would have wanted her to.

Becky is finally pushed to confront her fear of climbing when Shiloh pays her a surprise visit with what she frames as the opportunity of a lifetime. Now working full time as an online influencer and adventurer, Shiloh, always proudly sporting a tight tank top so she can get more eyes on her live streams (her words, not mine), urges Becky to tag along on her next adventure. The plan is simple in theory and insane in practice. Climb a decommissioned 2,000 foot TV tower and scatter Dan’s ashes from the top.

From here on out, we get the expected dynamic between Becky and Shiloh. Becky is trapped in and defined by her trauma, while Shiloh constantly misquotes Dan’s positive platitudes as a way to convince her this is exactly what she needs. Eventually, Becky agrees.

They make the climb without realizing how many structural faults the tower has due to being decommissioned. After they reach the top, the rusted ladder system collapses beneath them, cutting off their only clear route down. With no cell service because of the tower’s interference and limited supplies, Becky and Shiloh have no way to contact their friends, families, or even Shiloh’s followers, who are periodically seeing updates from the adventure, but are used to waiting for delayed posts when she goes off the grid.

Living Is More Than Just Survival

Forced to confront her renewed fear of heights, Becky has to make peace with her past if she wants any chance at a future. She’s pushed to confront her personal demons in the worst possible setting, with Shiloh’s resourcefulness acting as a temporary guiding light. Unfortunately, nearly every plan they come up with backfires. Swinging their cell phones out far enough to catch a signal proves futile, and their quadcopter drone has limited battery life, making it impossible to reach anyone nearby before it dies.

As vultures begin circling the tower, the situation becomes more urgent by the hour. If they cannot find a solution, they will eventually succumb to dehydration, starvation, infection, or the elements. Both sustain injuries during their ordeal, and with no safe way down, their options shrink fast. At a certain point, all they can do is ration what little they have and hope that some miracle puts them back on solid ground.

Solid Twist, But It’s Been Done Before

Fall offers a couple of solid twists if you’re a psychological thriller tourist, but if you’ve been around the block a few times, you may find them less shocking than advertised. I was instantly reminded of 2018’s Adrift, which strands its characters on a sailboat in the middle of the Pacific, because the structural playbook is similar with its isolated setting, emotional trauma, and narrative reveal that reframes what you’ve been watching. 

Still, if you’re a more casual fan of the genre and do not actively seek out every single entry, Fall absolutely delivers on its promises. The setup is simple, the stakes are obvious, and the execution is tense enough to keep you locked in. Sometimes that’s all you really need from a survival thriller. You know what the ride is going to feel like. The question is whether you’re willing to take it.

Fall is currently streaming on Netflix.

Viral Clip Shows Fan Touching MGK On Stage

Body Language Says It All As He Tries To Distance Himself From Fan

MGK’s ‘Bloody Valentine’ Performance References Iconic Megan Fox Music Video

The Couple’s Relationship Has Been A Rollercoaster

U.S./Israeli Air Strikes
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei Dead: Reports

Published
February 28, 2026
12:38 PM PST