20) The Basketball Diaries (1995)

The other film on this list is The Basketball Diaries, this time featuring Leonardo DiCaprio as basketball talent Jim Carroll, whose life spirals further downward due to his introduction to drugs. This film shows how this athletic high school basketball player turns into a confused young man entrapped in crime and despair in New York City in the 1970s. It is a story of ambition, friendship, and the other destructive influences of substance abuse, all through raw, emotional telling.
Love movies? Try our Box Office Game and Movie Grid Game to test your film knowledge and have some fun!
Edited by Sarah Nazamuddin Harniswala