AI and I: Oftentimes, Doing Research Doesn’t Suck

This is my movie watch list for the next while. Can you guess why?

Here are some of the best corporate thriller movies that prominently feature an investigative reporter (or journalist) uncovering corruption, cover-ups, or conspiracies, or corporate malfeasance:

1. All the President’s Men (1976)
   The gold standard. Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein investigate the Watergate break-in, which leads all the way to the White House and major corporate donors. Tense, intelligent, and still unbeatable.
2. The Insider (1999)
   A whistleblower (Russell Crowe) from Big Tobacco and 60 Minutes producer Lowell Bergman (Al Pacino) fight CBS corporate censorship and Brown & Williamson’s intimidation tactics. One of Michael Mann’s finest films.
3. Spotlight (2015)
   The Boston Globe’s investigative “Spotlight” team (Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams) exposes systemic child abuse cover-ups by the Catholic Church — a massive, powerful “corporation” in every sense.
4. The Parallax View (1974)
   A reporter (Warren Beatty) investigates a shadowy corporation (the Parallax Corporation) that recruits political assassins. Pure 1970s paranoia and one of the best conspiracy thrillers ever made.
5. Michael Clayton (2007)
   While George Clooney is the corporate “fixer,” the plot is driven by a whistleblower’s memo and an aggressive investigation into agrochemical giant U-North’s deadly cover-up. Tilda Swinton’s chilling corporate villain is unforgettable.
6. The China Syndrome (1979)
   TV news reporter Kimberly Wells (Jane Fonda) and her cameraman (Michael Douglas) accidentally capture evidence of a near-meltdown at a nuclear power plant and face ruthless corporate suppression.
7. Nightcrawler (2014)
   A sociopathic freelance crime journalist (Jake Gyllenhaal) manipulates crime scenes for sensational footage and becomes dangerously entangled with a ratings-obsessed news station. A dark satire of corporate media corporations.
8. State of Play (2009)
   A veteran newspaper reporter (Russell Crowe) and a blogger (Rachel McAdams) investigate the murder of a congressman’s mistress, uncovering a massive private defense contractor (PointCorp) conspiracy.
9. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011 — David Fincher version)
   Disgraced financial journalist Mikael Blomkvist is hired by a powerful corporate dynasty (Vanger Corporation) to solve a decades-old murder, only to uncover serial killings and corporate Nazi ties.
10. Absence of Malice (1981)
    Sally Field plays an ambitious Miami reporter publishes a story (fed by federal prosecutors) that falsely implicates a businessman (Paul Newman) in a disappearance, triggering corporate and personal ruin.
11. Civil Action (1998)
    Although the lead is a lawyer (John Travolta), the story revolves around investigative reporting that first exposed W.R. Grace and Beatrice Foods poisoning an entire town’s water supply — very much a corporate-cover-up thriller.
12. Edge of Darkness (2010)
    Mel Gibson plays a detective (whose daughter was an investigative activist/journalist) uncovering massive corporate and government collusion at a defense contractor that manufactures illegal nuclear weapons.

Honorable mentions with strong investigative-reporter elements:

• Serpico (1973) (more police corruption, but starts with press exposure)
• Kill the Messenger (2014) (Gary Webb and the CIA–crack cocaine story)
• Nothing But the Truth (2008) (reporter jailed for protecting a source exposing corporate/government ties)
• Shock and Awe (2017) (Knight Ridder reporters questioning the Iraq WMD narrative while corporate media falls in line)

These films blend corporate villainy with dogged journalistic investigation and are generally considered the cream of the genre.

how about corporations vs. a lawyer?

Here’s a tightly curated list of the best corporate thrillers where the central battle is a lone (or small-team) lawyer taking on a massive, ruthless corporation. These are tense, high-stakes David-vs-Goliath stories:

1. Erin Brockovich (2000)
   The ultimate one. Julia Roberts as a brash legal clerk (working for Ed Masry’s tiny firm) uncovers and destroys Pacific Gas & Electric’s decades-long poisoning of Hinkley, California’s water. $333 million real-life settlement.
2. A Civil Action (1998)
   John Travolta as real-life attorney Jan Schlichtmann bankrupts himself and his firm trying to prove W.R. Grace and Beatrice Foods caused a leukemia cluster in Woburn, Massachusetts. Bleak, brilliant, and brutally realistic.
3. The Rainmaker (1997)
   Rookie lawyer Rudy Baylor (Matt Damon) goes up against a giant insurance company (Great Benefit) that denies a bone-marrow transplant to a dying young man. Francis Ford Coppola’s adaptation of the John Grisham novel.
4. Michael Clayton (2007)
   George Clooney is a burned-out “fixer” for a huge New York law firm who finally turns against his own client, agrochemical behemoth U-North, after they order the murder of a whistleblower attorney (Tom Wilkinson).
5. Dark Waters (2019)
   Corporate defense attorney Robert Bilott (Mark Ruffalo) switches sides and spends 20 years fighting DuPont over PFOA (“forever chemical”) contamination in Parkersburg, West Virginia. As close to a horror movie as a legal drama gets.
6. The Verdict (1982)
   Washed-up alcoholic lawyer Frank Galvin (Paul Newman) takes a medical-malpractice case against the Boston Archdiocese and its powerful law firm, refusing a huge settlement to expose the truth in open court.
7. Class Action (1991)
   Father-daughter lawyers (Gene Hackman and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio) end up on opposite sides of a defective-automobile case against a major car manufacturer. Underrated 90s gem.
8. Runaway Jury (2003)
   Another Grisham adaptation. Jury consultant Rankin Fitch (Gene Hackman) and a rogue juror (John Cusack) play cat-and-mouse in a wrongful-death lawsuit against a gun manufacturer after a year after a workplace massacre.
9. Flash of Genius (2008)
   Inventor/lawyer Robert Kearns (Greg Kinnear) represents himself in a 12-year patent battle against Ford Motor Company after they stole his intermittent windshield-wiper design.
10. Puncture (2011)
    Small-time Houston lawyers Mike Weiss (Chris Evans) and Paul Danziger take on the medical-supply industry after a nurse is infected by a contaminated needle. Based on the true fight against retractable-syringe monopolies.
11. The Insider (1999)
    While it’s also a journalism thriller, the second half becomes a legal war when Big Tobacco hires an army of white-shoe law firms to crush whistleblower Jeffrey Wigand and 60 Minutes.

Honorable mentions

• Philadelphia (1993) – Tom Hanks sues his former law firm for AIDS discrimination
• North Country (2005) – The first successful sexual-harassment class action against a mining corporation
• Devil’s Knot (2013) & Paradise Lost trilogy – lawyers vs. corporate-backed Satanic-panic hysteria

These are the gold-standard “lawyer vs. evil corporation” movies—most of them based on real cases that actually changed U.S. law.