Drama Movies 2003 List

With Ralph Fiennes • Nick Nolte • Neil Jordan • Tcheky Karyo • Said Taghmaoui • Jason Flemyng • Ryan Phillippe • Emir Kursturica • Gerard Darmon • Quassini Embarek • Nutsa Kukhianidze • Mark Lavoine

Nick Nolte delivers a riveting performance as Bob Mantagnet, a wisecracking master thief whose luck seems to have finally run out. Pursued by the police at every turn, the king of con gambles it all on the casino heist of a lifetime inside the decadent world of the French Riviera. A savvy rogue with the perfect quote for every occasion, Bob's last bid at glory is to rob the priceless paintings inside an underground vault that's impossible to crack.

With Forest Whitaker • Radha Mitchell • Colin Farrell • Katie Holmes • Joel Schumacher • Gil Netter • David Zucker • Ted Kurdyla • Larry Cohen • Maile Flanagan • Richard T. Jones

A phone call can change your life, but for one man it can also end it. Set entirely within and around the confines of a New York City phone booth, "Phone Booth" follows a slick media consultant (Colin Farrell) who is trapped after being told by a caller - a serial killer with a sniper rifle - that he'll be shot dead if he hangs up.

With Morgan Freeman • Kirsten Dunst • Billy Bob Thornton • Holly Hunter • Abede Burke • Ed Solomon • Manuel Aranguiz • Geoffrey Wigdor • Luke Robertson • Dorian Harewood • Catherine Colvey • Billoah Greene • Sadiki Burke

This is the story of an ex-con (Billy Bob Thornton) freed from prison after 19 years for killing a teenager during an attempted robbery, whose picture he's been staring at on his wall the entire time, who tries to find some kind of personal redemption with the help of a minister (Morgan Freeman) and two women (Kirsten Dunst, Holly Hunter).

With Sigourney Weaver • Anthony LaPaglia

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.

With Mark Ruffalo • Kathleen Robertson • Maya Stange • David Thornton • Petra Wright • Austin Chick • Kel O'Neill • Joey Kern • Joshua Spafford • Zach Shaffer • John A. MacKay

"XX/XY" is a tale about a trio composed of a young artist, Coles, and two Sarah Lawrence undergrads, Sam and Thea, who, on the night they meet, tread briefly on the wild side of sexual lust and drunken experimentation. As friends and, at some points, alternately couples and/or lovers, the three carry on a relationship that ends dramatically. Quite by accident, the relationship is reborn a decade later, and passionate desires are significantly reopened.

With John Cho • Sung Kang • Justin Lin • Suzanne Keilly • Roger Fan • James Isaac Barry • Karin Anna Cheung • Parry Shen • Jason J. Tobin • Jerry Mathers • Aaron Takahashi • Rick Cortes • Laura Esposito

Ben is an overachieving high-school student in Orange County, Calif. He's at the top of his class and set to matriculate at an Ivy League school. But Ben has a darker side. While he maintains academic success, to alleviate the pressure put upon him by his parents, he indulges in acts of crime. His life slowly begins to spin out of control and he eventually joins a gang.

With Sofia Vergara • Linda Mendoza • Roselyn Sanchez • Paul Rodriguez • Eduardo Verastegui • Carlos Ponce • Maria Conchita Alonso • D.L. Hughley • Jaci Velasquez • Joy Enriquez

"Chasing Papi" revolves around three disparate women - a buttoned down lawyer from Chicago, a Miami cocktail waitress, and a wealthy, sheltered New Yorker - who discover they have something in common: the irresistible lothario who has been three-timing them. They decide to teach their "papi chulo" a lesson, but instead end up on a wild adventure of their own, which takes them to a beauty pageant, a dance festival, and into some dangerous run-ins with a pair of shady characters.

With Jennifer Dworkin

A moving documentary from director Jennifer Dworkin, "Love and Diane" tells the hard tale of Diane, whose crack cocaine drug addiction in the 1980s resulted in social services taking each of her six children out of her care for more stable lives in foster homes and group homes. Now Diane is clean, and the oldest of her children, Love, is 18-years-old, HIV positive, and has a baby boy. Diane tries to reunite the family, which consists of five teenagers (one of her sons died), but life for them is not easy. At the beginning of the film they are all living together in a Brooklyn, New York apartment. But slowly things go awry. Diane and Love quarrel and social services comes to take the baby away. Neglect charges are filed against Love and social services separates her sisters into another living situation. Their younger brother stops going to school and then also leaves the apartment, no longer interested in living with his mother or with his family. A moving and emotional look at a family struggling against difficult odds to do what's best, LOVE & DIANE is mostly made up of conversations between Diane, Love, and the family. They talk about the hardships they've endured, how they got through difficult times, and how they pray for a brighter future. All combined, it is a truly affecting portrait of a family trying to keep together.

With Shia LaBeouf • Tim Blake Nelson • Jon Voight • Sigourney Weaver • Patricia Arquette • Andrew Davis • Jacob Smith • Henry Winkler • Khleo Thomas • Max Kasch • Byron Cotton • Brenden Jefferson • Miguel Castro • Siobhan Fallon • Nathan Davis • Scott Plank

Based on Louis Sachar's popular children's book. It's about a young boy who is punished for a crime he didn't commit and is sent to a juvenile detention center where he is forced to dig holes under the watchful eye of a mean-spirited warden.

With Oksana Akinshina • Artyom Bogucharsky • Lyubov Agapova • Liliya Shinkaryova • Elina Benenson • Pavel Ponomaryov • Tomas Neumann • Anastasiya Bedredinova • Tõnu Kark • Nikolai Bentsler • Lukas Moodysson

Follows young Lilya, who moves to Sweden from the Soviet Union with her boyfriend after her mother leaves for America. Once she gets there, she finds nothing but deceit, betrayal, and violence.

With Frances Fisher • David Strathairn • AJ Buckley • Margaret Colin • Agnes Bruckner • Karen Moncrieff

The film takes us into the teenage psyche of Meg, a gifted but emotionally scarred 18-year-old. Haunted by her father's abandonment of the family, she is neglected by her overworked mother and left to her own devices in dealing with her emotionally disturbed younger sister. Meg finds solace in writing poetry. Mr. Auster, her English teacher, recognizes her talent and steps into the role of mentor and father figure, encouraging her to enter a national poetry contest for which he is a judge. As tension at home escalates and Meg struggles to find a way to get to the poetry finals in Florida, Auster's role in her life becomes increasingly complex.

With Stellan Skarsgard • Matt Dillon • James Caan • Gerard Depardieu • Leo Fitzpatrick • Natascha McElhone • Serevyuth Kem

Jimmy Cremming (Matt Dillon) finds himself in Bangkok after fleeing the investigation of an insurance scam in the United States. Having discovered that his partner and mentor Marvin (James Caan) has surfaced in Cambodia, Jimmy sets off to get his promised cut of the action. What he finds, however, is a bizarre, ominous environment where cleverness is bait. The further Jimmy searches for Marvin, the deeper he plunges into torment - and the farther he gets from getting out alive.

With Rick De Olivereira

The hottest trend in America comes to the big screen with The Real Cancun. Casting was done at colleges across the country to assemble a unique cast of real people ready to explore reality's barriers beyond the limits of television while on the ultimate Spring Break vacation in Cancun, Mexico, with surprising and electric results.

With Stanislav Varkki • Bryan Adams • Yuliya Vysotskaya • Sultan Islamov • Vladas Bagdonas • Yevgeni Mironov • Marina Politsejmako

Winner of the Jury Grand Prize at the Venice Film Festival, and the Official Russian Selection for Academy Award® Best Foreign Language Film, "House of Fools" (Dom Durakov) is a satirical look at war seen through the eyes of a beautiful woman who is literally madly in love. Based on a true story, "House of Fools" tells the tale of a young Chechen woman, Janna, who is one of several inmates living in a psychiatric hospital on the Russian border of Chechnya. Insulated from the world, the inmates are oblivious to the war that rages around them. In her dream world, Janna finds comfort when her imaginary fiancé (Bryan Adams, played by himself) sings her love songs.