Drama Movies 2002 List

With John Leguizamo • Sonia Braga • Peter Sarsgaard • Isabella Rossellini • Vincent Laresca • Denise Richards • Ruben Blades • Nestor Serrano • Delilah Cotto • Fat Joe • Treach • Carlos Leon • Franc Reyes

Victor Rosa (John Leguizamo) is all about the mighty dollar and fashions himself as a businessman on par with Rockefeller, Carnegie, and Bill Gates. With an iron fist, he runs a successful "street pharmaceutical" business that peddles a heroin mix he has named Empire. His beautiful fiancée, Carmen, a Baruch College student, befriends a classmate with an investment-banker boyfriend, Jack Wimmer. Victor meets Jack, and they instantly connect. Both are hard-core businessmen from two different sides of the legal fence. When Jack offers Victor a piece of the action on the stock market, he sees his ticket out of the violent streets of the South Bronx and jumps at the opportunity. But there is a bigger price to be paid than clean money for his gorgeous new Soho lifestyle. For the first time, Victor is confronted with a price tag that he will find difficult to pay.

With Nicolas Cage • Meryl Streep • John Cusack • Brian Cox • Ron Livingston • Tilda Swinton • Spike Jonze • Chris Cooper • Cara Seymour

It's two odd stories in one. The plot follows the attempt of screenwriter Charlie Kaufman (Nicolas Cage) to adapt Susan Orlean's nonfiction novel "The Orchid Thief" for the big screen. As Kaufman tries to work with the book's true story — the tale of John Laroche (Chris Cooper), a Florida plant dealer who works with Seminole Indians to create clones of rare orchids, which he sells to collectors for huge profits — he nearly goes mad. Enter his fictional twin (also Cage), a more successful version of Charlie. Charlie finally manages to finish the script, finding that in the process, he's incorporated himself and his writer's block into the story.

With Mark Strong • Robert Carlyle • James Cosmo • Pip Torrens • Ciarán McMenamin • Sakae Kimura • Masayuki Yui • John Gregg • Shu Nakajima • Yugo Saso • David L. Cunningham

A true story about four Allied POWs who endure harsh treatment at the hands of their Japanese captors during World War II while being forced to build a railroad through the Burmese jungle. Ultimately they find true freedom by forgiving their enemies.

With Pierce Brosnan • Stephen Rea • Aidan Quinn • Julianna Margulies • John Lynch • Sophie Vavasseur • Alan Bates • Bruce Beresford

Desmond Doyle is devastated when his philandering wife abandons their family on the day after Christmas. His unemployment and the fact that there is no woman in the house to care for the children, Evelyn, Noel and Brendan, make it clear to the authorities that his is an untenable situation. The Catholic Church and the Irish courts decide the Doyle children put into Church-run orphanages. Although a sympathetic judge assures Desmond that when his financial situation reverses, he will be able to get his children back; money is hard to come by. During that time, Evelyn and her brothers suffer the abuses of living in orphanages while Desmond struggles to secure finances. Now he must battle the courts to get his children back.

With Dermot Mulroney • Hope Davis • Jack Nicholson • Kathy Bates • Jim Taylor • Howard Hesseman • June Squibb • Harry Gittes • Michael Besman

Jack Nicholson stars as Warren Schmidt, a man who is set adrift following retirement and the sudden death of his wife. Uncertain about his future as well as his past, Warren packs up his 30-foot Winnebago to set out on a journey across the Nebraska plains to attend his daughter's (Hope Davis) wedding to a waterbed salesman (Dermot Mulroney). But every step he takes seems wrong, and Warren seems destined to end his life as he lived it: a failure. But along the way, Warren recounts his journey and shares his observations with an unexpected friend - a poor Tanzanian boy he is sponsoring for 73 cents a day. In his long letters to the boy, Warren begins to see himself and the life he has lived with new eyes.

With Cate Blanchett • Karl Urban • Andy Serkis • Ian McKellen • Viggo Mortensen • Elijah Wood • Sean Astin • Peter Jackson • John Rhys-Davies • Billy Boyd • Barrie Osbourne • Christopher Lee • Dominic Monaghan • Brad Dourif • Stephen Sinclair • David Wenham • Liv Tyler • Bernard Hill • Fran Walsh • Phillipa Boyens

In the second part of the Tolkien trilogy, The Two Towers, Frodo Baggins and the other members of the Fellowship continue on their sacred quest to destroy the One Ring—but on separate paths. Their destinies lie at two towers—Orthanc Tower in Isengard, where the corrupt wizard Saruman awaits, and Sauron’s fortress at Barad-dur, deep within the dark lands of Mordor.

With Denzel Washington • Viola Davis • Yolonda Ross • Derek Luke • Cory Hodges • Todd Black • Joy Bryant • Salli Richardson • Malcolm David Kelley • Novella Nelson • De'Angelo Wilson • Antwone Fisher

Based on a true story, a biographical drama centering upon Antwone "Fish" Fisher who—once a Sony Pictures security guard—eventually gained fame as an acclaimed writer and a Hollywood producer. In the earlier part of his life, he was a sailor prone to violent outbursts. On the verge of being kicked out of the Navy for repeated fighting, he is sent to a naval psychiatrist for help. Refusing at first to open up, the young man eventually breaks down and reveals a horrific childhood rife with abuse. With the help of a Navy psychiatrist, he turns his life around and decides to embark on a search to find the family that abandoned him as a baby. Through the guidance of his doctor, he confronts his painful past and begins a quest to find the family he never knew. In the course of that search, his life changes dramatically.

With Leonardo DiCaprio • Liam Neeson • Cameron Diaz • Daniel Day-Lewis • Henry Thomas • Martin Scorsese • Steven Zaillian • Alberto Grimaldi • Jay Cocks • Kenneth Lonergan • Steven Zallian

Set during the mid 1800s, this story is based upon the non-fiction book of the same title by Herbert Asbury, about the beginning of the mob in America. The story centers around two rival gangs, the Dead Rabbits and the Native Americans. When the leader of the Dead Rabbits is murdered, his son Amsterdam (Leonardo DiCaprio) seeks revenge on the man held responsible Bill "The Butcher" (Daniel Day-Lewis).

With Leonardo DiCaprio • Tom Hanks • Jennifer Garner • Amy Adams • Christopher Walken • Steven Spielberg • Jeff Nathanson • Martin Sheen • Brian Howe • Walter F. Parkes • Ellen Pompeo • Frank John Hughes

Frank Abagnale, Jr. (Leonardo DiCaprio) worked as a doctor, a lawyer, and as a co-pilot for a major airline—all before his 18th birthday. A master of deception, he was also a brilliant forger, whose skill gave him his first real claim to fame: At the age of 17, Frank Abagnale, Jr. became the most successful bank robber in the history of the United States. FBI Agent Carl Hanratty (Tom Hanks) had made it his prime mission to capture Frank and bring him to justice, but Frank is always one step ahead of him, baiting him to continue the chase.

With Adrien Brody • Thomas Kretschmann • Ed Stoppard • Ruth Platt • Roman Polanski • Emilia Fox • Frank Finlay • Maureen Lipman • Julia Rayner

The film is adapted from the autobiography of Wladyslaw Szpilman, a Polish Jew who detailed his survival during World War II. A composer and a pianist, he played the last live music heard over Polish radio airwaves before Nazi artillery hit. During the brutal occupation, he eluded deportation and remained in the devastated Warsaw ghetto. There, he struggled to stay alive even when cast away from those he loved. He would eventually reclaim his artistic gifts and confront his fears, with aid from the unlikeliest of sources.

With Richard Gere • Queen Latifah • John C. Reilly • Renée Zellweger • Catherine Zeta-Jones • Christine Baranski • Dominic West • Mya • Rob Marshall

It's the long-awaited film version of the Broadway hit. Set in the roaring 20's, this is the story of Chicago chorus girl Roxie Hart (Renée Zellweger), who shoots her unfaithful lover (Dominic West). Landing in jail, she meets Velma Kelly (Catherine Zeta-Jones), another chorus girl and murderess, currently enjoying media attention and legal manipulation, care of her attorney, Billy Flynn (Richard Gere), king of the old "Razzle Dazzle." Soon enough, however, Flynn takes Roxie's case as well, and Velma finds herself old news as Roxie is now the most famous murderess in town, on her way to getting out of jail and becoming a star. The two go through a series of attempts at getting what they both want: freedom and fame.

With James Franco • Nicolas Cage • Brenda Blethyn • Mena Suvari • Scott Caan • Harry Dean Stanton • Seymour Cassel • Brenda Vaccaro • Josie Davis

This is the story of a young man, Sonny (James Franco), living in New Orleans and trained to follow the family tradition as a paid male prostitute for wealthy women, and he hates it. He wants to free himself from this predetermined life and find something for himself outside the business, perhaps even in the Army, but his family won't hear of it.