2003 | Drama Movies | Sort: Most Popular (Page #5)

At a deserted train station, a teacher and a gangster meet and realize that each might have been better suited to the other man's way of life. As a friendship of sorts develops between these opposite personalities, each starts to envy the other and by the week's end, everything will change for both of them.

Set somewhere, sometime, in an unnamed country, torn by civil war with unclear battle lines or ideology, "Masked and Anonymous" tells the story of a "benefit concert." Impressario Uncle Sweetheart (John Goodman) is scheming to find a headliner for this event whose purpose is unclear and whose charity is its promoter's pockets. Nina Veronica (Jessica Lange) is the veteran TV producer whose job it is to make the concert the international spectacle which it can never be. And when Sweetheart manages to get the iconic cult star Jack Fate (Bob Dylan) released from prison, the stage is set for tumult. Jeff Bridges as the cynical investigative reporter, Penélope Cruz as his girlfriend, Luke Wilson as the devoted acolyte, and a sundry cast of supporting characters give this imaginative allegory its energy and spirit.

While doing a friend a favor and searching for a runaway teenager on Turk Street, Jack (Jackson) stumbles upon a bizarre band of criminals about to pull off a bank robbery. Jack finds himself being held hostage while the criminals decide what to do with him, and the leader's beautiful girlfriend, Erin (Jovovich), is left alone to watch Jack. Erin, who is a master manipulator of the men in the gang, reveals another side to Jack - a melancholy romantic who could have been a classical pianist. She finds Jack's captivity an irresistible turn-on and he can't figure out if she's for real, or manipulating him, too. Before the gang returns, Jack and Erin's connection intensifies...

A love story spanning two continents, "Nowhere in Africa" is the extraordinary true tale of a Jewish family who flees the Nazi regime in 1938 for a remote farm in Kenya. Abandoning their once-comfortable existence in Germany, Walter Redlich, his wife Jettel (Juliane Kohler) and their five-year-old daughter Regina each deal with the harsh realities of their new life in different ways. Attorney Walter is resigned to working the farm as a caretaker; pampered Jettel resists adjustment at every turn; while the shy yet curious Regina immediately embraces the country-learning the local language and customs, and finding a friend in Owuor, the farm's cook. As the war rages on the other side of the world, the trio's relationships to their strange environment become increasingly complicated as Jettel grows more self-assured and Walter more haunted by the life they left behind. As they eventually learn to cherish their life in Africa, they also endeavor to find a way back to each other.

In this erotic drama, John (Josh Hamilton), a guy trying to get over a bad breakup, and his roommate, Moe (Harold Perrineau), set up an adult chat room on the Internet and watch their lives change as a result of the various people they meet.

Obsessed by the world of pool, Johnny (Mars Callahan) could be one of the best. But his mentor and "trainer" Joe (Chazz Palminteri), a shady hustler who decides how and who Johnny plays, is holding him back from his dream. When the day finally comes, Johnny breaks from Joe, which leads to only one thing - violence. Joe is beaten up by some of Johnny's buddies as a sign to leave him alone, and with this final act of freedom, Johnny leaves the world of pool-sharking. After an ultimatum from his girlfriend Tara (Alison Eastwood), Johnny finally commits to a "real" job in the construction business, but is soon miserable there. He finds himself spending most of his time with his younger brother Danny (Michael Rosenbaum) who it seems is following in his footsteps on the road to a life Johnny left when he broke from Joe. As for Joe, he is bent on revenge for the beating he took, and soon he has a new protege Brad (Rick Schroder) who is just as good if not better than Johnny. And he's got his eye on Johnny's brother. The two play a high-stakes game of pool which ends in a huge debt owed to Joe and soon Johnny finds that his brother is in jail for trying to steal the money he owes. The only way out for Johnny is to play Brad, which results in a "race to nine" showdown that pits two of the greatest players against each other for large sums of money, and Johnny and Danny's lives.

"Prey for Rock & Roll" is the adrenaline-filled story of a contemporary LA all-girl punk band led by singer/guitarist Jacki (Gina Gershon), bassist Tracy (Drea De Matteo), lead guitarist Faith (Lori Petty), and drummer Sally (Shelly Cole). The directing debut of esteemed music supervisor/producer Alex Steyermark, the film captures the color and energy of a veteran band struggling to make it while personal obstacles and disturbing new events threaten to tear them apart.

n their first film together, screen legends Gene Hackman and Dustin Hoffman face off in this electrifying nail-biter about a ruthless jury consultant who'll do anything to win. With lives and millions of dollars at stake, the fixer plays a deadly cat-and-mouse game with a jury member (John Cusack) and a mysterious woman (Rachel Weisz) who offer to "deliver" the verdict to the highest bidder.

"Samsara" is a spiritual love story set in the majestic landscape of Ladakh, in the Himalayas, about one man's quest to find enlightenment. Tashi, a brilliant young disciple, is just completing three years of solitary meditation in a remote hermitage. Brought out of a deep trance, Tashi is taken back to his ancient monastery where he slowly recovers his strenght, but his return has unexpected results. Despite a life devoted to the rigors of spiritual development, he finds himself experiencing a suprisingly profound sexual awakening. These feelings coincide with his journey to a village to perform a harvest blessing where he meets Pema, a beautiful young woman. For the first time, Tashi begins to question the spiritual values of his monastic existence, realizing that one has to experience worldly existence in order to renounce it. Through Tashi's eyes, this spiritual and moving love story chronicles one man's discovery of the promise of "Samsara" - the world.

Investigator Augustin Rejas is attempting to find the mysterious Ezequiel, the leader of a revolution being fermented largely by the indigenous people of an unnamed Latin American nation, a scene that Rejas left behind to pursue worldly ambitions. But now he is a man caught in a war and his choice to become policeman wears on him. So when he meets and is drawn to the teacher of his daughter's ballet class, Yolanda, it's a solace to the emptiness of his marriage and his frustration in the search for Ezequiel.

Posey plays a district attorney in New York investigating a series of unexplained deaths in the gay community. As she digs deeper, she discovers some shocking facts behind the cases.

The film follows the story of a respected upper middle class family whose high social stature is burst following a murder. Chabrol reexamines the individual family members' lives in the time period leading up to the crime unveiling their secrets and probing their character.

Based on Anne Nelson's original plays, this is the story of a fire captain who lost eight men in the collapse of the World Trade Center and the editor who helps him prepare the eulogies he must deliver. A portion of the film's proceeds will be set aside to benefit the families of New York City firefighters.

Set in a small New England college town, this drama follows the story of a respected classics professor with a terrible secret. His life starts crumbling after an affair with a young janitor is uncovered and the secret he had harbored for over 50 years is about to explode in a conflagration of devastating consequences.

Based very loosely on the Alan Moore graphic novel epic of the same name, this is the story of a group of characters drawn from famous works of literature, including Captain Nemo, Allan Quatermain, The Invisible Man, Mina Murray and Dr. Jekyll, banding together to combat criminal undertakings of the highest order near the turn of the 19th century. Rather than remain true to the comic roots, the film also incorporates Tom Sawyer and Dorian Gray, in an apparent effort to keep the cast from being entirely without Americans, and it is set in New York.

Set in a small Edo period Japanese brothel near Tokyo, this is the story of a young samurai, Fusanosuke (Hidetaka Yoshioka), who seeks refuge there in the company of a young prostitute, Oshin (Nagiko Tono), after he accidentally wounded a powerful samurai during an argument whose colleagues are now seeking to kill Fusanosuke in return. Soon falling in love with Oshin, Fusanosuke hopes to be able to cleanse her from the sins of her occupation so that she may be his wife, even as danger lurks all around the brothel.

Based on "The Age of Grief" by Jane Smiley, it centers on a dentist that has a dream that blurs the lines between fantasy and reality. Dr. Dave Hurst (Campbell Scott) shares two homes, three children and a private practice with his dentist wife Dana (Hope Davis). One evening, backstage at Dana's drama club production, Dave believes he witnesses his wife in an intimate exchange with another man. Emotionally repressed by nature, Dave's jealousy flares up in the form of a raucous alter-ego personified by an unsatisfied patient named Slater (Denis Leary). Slater goads the quiet dentist toward violent action, but the unraveling of the emotional bonds in the marriage is more than a simple threat of aggression can solve.

A social misfit, Willard (Crispin Glover) is constantly humiliated in front of his co-workers and squeezed out of the family business by his boss (R. Lee Ermey). His only friends are Cathryn (Laura Elena Haring), a new temp in the office, and a couple of rats he raises at home, Ben and Socrates (and their increasing number of friends). But when one of the rats is killed at work, Willard unleashes his rage - and his army of rats - on his tormentors.

Harry Mayfield (Baker Hall) was once an extremely successful Los Angeles architect. Today, he is an aging, charming but cantankerous idealist who teaches rather than practices architecture. Decades earlier, he had started work on a magnificent house for his family on a hillside site overlooking the city and the sea. A rich young couple, Kate and Richard Banks, see the charred remains of what was once his house, and decide they want Mayfield to come out of retirement and re-build the house for them. Mayfield, flattered by the attention and attracted by the challenge, agrees. Kate hires him to redesign the house and asks a young Hollywood friend, Gaby (Sangiacomo), to make a documentary record, a film of the building of the house. She learns that Mayfield's work made considerable impact on his colleagues and experts in the field, but for some reason he never achieved great public fame. The house was not finished, and the incidents surrounding its failure to be completed caused the tragic death of his young son, and possibly the end of his career. Mayfield works hard to make a new design. After getting it approved by Kate he starts construction with the contractor he has hired to rebuild the house.

Set in Los Angeles at home of the middle-class Hong family, a drama thriller in which many layers of deception in a bi-cultural clan are unraveled--upon the arrival of an intruder brandishing a gun.