Drama Movies 2006 List

With William H. Macy • Adam Brody • Sam Elliott • Aaron Eckhart • Rob Lowe • Katie Holmes • David Koechner • Jason Reitman • Cameron Bright • Maria Bello • JK Simmons • Robert Duvall. • David O. Sacks • John Schmidt • Peter A. Thiel • Mark Woolway • Max Levchin

In a role Aaron Eckhart seems born to play, the hero of "Thank You for Smoking" is Nick Naylor, chief spokesman for Big Tobacco, who makes his living defending the rights of smokers and cigarette makers in today's neo-puritanical culture. Confronted by health zealots out to ban tobacco and an opportunistic senator (Macy) who wants to put poison labels on cigarette packs, Nick goes on a PR offensive, spinning away the dangers of cigarettes on TV talk shows and enlisting a Hollywood super-agent (Rob Lowe) to promote smoking in movies. Nick's newfound notoriety attracts the attention of both tobacco's head honcho (Duvall) and an investigative reporter for an influential Washington daily (Holmes). Nick says he is just doing what it takes to pay the mortgage, but he begins to think about how his work makes him look in the eyes of his young son Joey (Bright).

With Denzel Washington • Jodie Foster • Spike Lee • Willem Dafoe • Clive Owen • Christopher Plummer • Ashlie Atkinson • Brian Grazer • Chiwetel Ejiofor • Peter Gerety • Peter Frechette • Jason Manuel Olazabal • Menno Meyjes • Russell Gewirtz

Denzel Washington stars as New York police detective Keith Miller, a tough, street-smart cop fighting for a promotion while trying to live down accusations of misconduct connected to his last case. When he and his partner are dispatched to the scene of an in-progress bank robbery and hostage crisis, Miller must face off against a well-educated criminal (Owen) masterminding a concisely plotted operation. As negotiations grow more strained, a powerful lawyer with mysterious ties (Foster) becomes involved in the crisis... and Miller slowly begins to realize that in this ultimate game of cat and mouse, rules are arbitrary, all roles are up for grabs and the black-and-white of right an wrong has blurred to a shadowy landscape of gray.

With Ben Whishaw • Paddy Considine • David Morrissey • Robert Wade • Neal Purvis • Monet Mazur • Leo Gregory • Stephen Woolley • Finola Dwyer • Gary Smith

Biopic of debauched 1960s rock icon, Brian Jones, the charismatic guitarist who founded the Rolling Stones but was fired in 1969 and found dead at the bottom of his swimming pool a few weeks later.

With Joseph Gordon-Levitt • Rian Johnson • Meagan Good • Ram Bergman • Emilie de Ravin • Noah Segan • Noah Fleiss • Nora Zehetner • Lukas Haas • Richard Roundtree • Mark Mathis

"Brick" is a detective story set in a strange sort of high school world. Its primary inspiration are the novels of Dashiell Hammet. Its main character (Brendan Frye) is a loner at his high school, someone who knows all the angles but has chosen to stay on the outside. When the girl he loves turns up dead, he plunges into the school's social strata like a fist through a honeycomb to find the who and why, with the same single minded devotion to his self appointed task as Hammet's anti-heros.

With Denis Freyd • Olivier Gourmet • Jeremie Renier • Deborah François • Fabrizio Rongione • Jeremie Segard • Jean-Pierre Dardenne • Luc Dardenne

A dispossessed twenty-year old Bruno lives with his eighteen-year-old girlfriend Sonia in Seraing, an eastern Belgian steel town. They live off Sonia's unemployment benefits along with the panhandling and petty thefts committed by Bruno and his gang. Their lives change forever when Sonia gives birth to their child, Jimmy. She returns home after Jimmy's birth to find that Bruno has sublet their apartment to total strangers. After an initial and promising change of heart about becoming a father and changing his ways, Jimmy becomes little more to Bruno than a potential source of wealth. Desperate for money and unable to face his parental responsibilities, Bruno sells Jimmy to a black market connection, who promises to find the child an adoptive home. Realizing the error in his actions Bruno sets out to try and undo his callous deed, leading him to a powerful personal transformation.

With Joshua Jackson • Leonor Varela • Timm Sharp • Ruthanna Hopper • Dennis Hopper • Phil Barantini • Clark McCutchen

"Americano" centers around Chris McKinley (Joshua Jackson), a recent college graduate backpacking through Europe who savors his last three days of freedom before boarding the career fast track back in the United States. In Pamplona with two friends (Timm Sharp and Ruthanna Hopper), Chris meets an Australian thrill-seeker (Phil Barantini), a quintessential Spanish beauty (Leonor Varela) and an enigmatic provocateur (Dennis Hopper), all of whom encourage him to rethink his life. As the minutes and seconds until his departure tick away, Chris struggles with an age-old question: Should he follow the beaten path or risk it all on the road less traveled?