Drama Movies 2006 List

With Laurence Fishburne • Keke Palmer • Angela Bassett • Mark Cuban • Marc Butan • Sid Ganis • Doug Atchison • Danny Llewelyn • Todd Wagner • Michael Romersa • Nancy Hult Ganis

A heart-warming, triumph-over adversity drama, "Akeelah and the Bee" centers on a precocious eleven-year-old girl, Akeelah Anderson (Keke Palmer), from south Los Angeles, who is discovered to have a talent for words. In spite of the objections of her mother Wanda (Angela Bassett), Akeelah enters a spelling contest. Her gift takes her to compete in the National Spelling Bee, the most famous competition of its kind in the world. On the way, she is helped by a forthright, mysterious teacher, Dr. Larabee (Laurence Fishburne) and a cast of colorful characters from the community. Her journey evokes pride in the neighborhood, bringing them together and, in the end, all witness the courage and inspiration of one amazing little girl.

With Olivia Thirlby • Tim Bevan • Chip Zien • Paul Greengrass • Susan Blommaert • Daniel Sauli • Khalid Abdalla • Opal Alladin • Louis Alsamari • David Alan Basche • Richard Bekins • Starla Benford • Omar Berdouni • Christian Clemenson • Liza Colón-Zayas • Denny Dillon • Trieste Kelly Dunn • Kate Jennings Grant • Jamie Harding • Peter Herman • Tara Hugo • Marceline Hugot • Corey Johnson • Masato Kamo • Becky London • Peter Marinker • Jodie Lynne McClintock • Nancy McDoniel • Libby Morris • David Rasche • Erich Redman • Michael J. Reynolds • John Rothman • Rebecca Schull • Chloe Sirene • Leigh Zimmerman • Eric Fellner • Lloyd Levin

An unflinching drama that tells the story of the passengers and crew, their families on the ground and the flight controllers who watched in dawning horror as United Airlines Flight 93 became the fourth hijacked plane on the day of the worst terrorist attacks on American soil: September 11, 2001.

With Deepa Mehta • Lisa Ray • Seema Biswas • John Abraham • David Hamilton

Set in 1938 Colonial India, against Mahatma Gandhi's rise to power, "Water" begins when 8-year-old Chuyia is widowed and sent to a home where Hindu widows must live in penitence. Chuyia's feisty presence deeply affects the lives of the other residents, including a young widow, who falls for a Gandhian idealist.

With Dustin Hoffman • Andy Garcia • Bill Murray • Frank Mancuso • G. Cabrera Infante

During the Cuban Revolution of 1958-59, the three brothers of the Fellove family are ruined: brother Luis supports Castro as a clandestine terrorist and is killed by the forces of Batista; brother Ricardo joins Castro's forces as a freedom fighter and kills himself when he realizes that Castro is just another power-hungry dictator; and wary brother Fico, a nightclub entrepreneur, stays apolitical during the Revolution and sees his life's work confiscated by Castro's puritanical and acquisitive goons.

With Nick Nolte • Laura Smet • Don McKellar • Beatrice Dalle • Jeanne Balibar • Tricky • Patrick Fabian • Tamara Mello • Maggie Cheung • Ian Brown • Paolo Cascardo • George Loros • Matthew James • Olivier Assayas • Malachy Martin • Sarah Perry

Emily Wang (Maggie Cheung) is a woman who wrestles with her dream of becoming a singer, her fitness as a mother, and daily life without her partner Lee (James Johnston). Her past is riddled with drugs and regrets, the result of which left Lee dead in a desolate motel room in Hamilton, Ontario, and landed Emily with a six-month jail sentence. The only thing that she desires for the future is a loving relationship with her son Jay, who is being cared for by Lee's parents, Albrecht (Nick Nolte) and Rosemary (Martha Henry). While Rosemary blames Emily for the death of Lee, Albrecht recognizes the importance of the bond between a mother and her son, and his faith sets the standard for the faith Emily must find in herself. Clean follows Emily to Hamilton, Paris, London and San Francisco and in three languages (English, French and Cantonese), as she battles for a place in a world reluctant to forget the woman she has been and unwilling to accept her as the woman she longs to be.

With Tyrese Gibson • Meagan Good • Larenz Tate • Vondie Curtis-Hall • Ted Field • Stan Lathan • Preston Holmes • The Game • Michael Mahern • Darin Scott • Russell Simmons

An urban action thriller with a sexy 21st-century Bonnie and Clyde. Ex-con O2 (Tyrese Gibson) is suddenly plunged into a life-or-death situation; trying to go straight for the sake of his young son Junior, O2 is forced to go back outside the law when Junior is kidnapped in a carjacking. His son is now in the hands of a vicious criminal leader, Meat (hip-hop superstar The Game). O2's shady cousin Wanna Be (Larenz Tate) is caught between loyalties, and so the only person who can or will help O2 now is wily street-smart hustler Coco (Meagan Good). With the clock ticking down, the heat between them rises as they become a lawbreaking couple, on an action-packed tear through town to save Junior and outwit the underworld.