Drama Movies 2007 List

With Keira Knightley • James McAvoy • Juno Temple • Tim Bevan • Christopher Hampton • Betty White • Joe Wright • Brenda Blethyn • Vanessa Redgrave • Eric Fellner • Paul Webster

In 1935, 13-year-old fledgling writer Briony Tallis (Saoirse Ronan) and her family live a life of wealth and privilege in their enormous mansion. On the warmest day of the year, the country estate takes on an unsettling hothouse atmosphere, stoking Briony's vivid imagination. Robbie Turner (James McAvoy), the educated son of the family's housekeeper, carries a torch for Briony's headstrong older sister Cecilia (Kiera Knightley). Cecilia, he hopes, has comparable feelings; all it will take is one spark for this relationship to combust. When it does, Briony - who has a crush on Robbie - is compelled to interfere, going so far as accusing Robbie of a crime he did not commit. Cecilia and Robbie declare their love for each other, but he is arrested - and with Briony bearing false witness, the course of three lives is changed forever. Briony continues to seek forgiveness for her childhood misdeed. Through a terrible and courageous act of imagination, she finds the path to her uncertain atonement, and to an understanding of the power of enduring love.

With Jason Statham • Guy Ritchie • Luc Besson • Ray Liotta • Vincent Pastore • Marty Katz • Andre Benjamin • Mem Ferda • Paul Todisco

Hotshot Las Vegas gambler Jake Green is rarely allowed to play in the casinos because he's a winner. Jake has taken in so much money, in fact, that he's the only client of his accountant and older brother, Billy. Jake, Billy and their other brother Joe are invited to sit in on a private game. Crime boss and casino owner, Dorothy Macha is sitting in on the game, too. Though he's a terrible player he always wins because people are scared to lose to him. Jake not only beats Dorothy but insults the man. Macha puts out a hit on Jake, but Jake ends up working for and being protected by a pair of brothers, Avi and Zack, who are out to take Dorothy down.

With John Cusack • Celine Rattray • Daniela Taplin Lundbergh • Bruce Lunsford • Shelan O'Keefe • Gracie Bednarczyk • James C. Strouse • Galt Niederhoffer • Reagan Silber • Ed Hart • Paul Bernstein

"Grace is Gone" is a heart-wrenching drama about a young father (John Cusack) whose soldier wife has just been killed in Iraq. Rather than tell his two daughters the news, he decides to take them on a cross-country road trip to an amusement park. The story was inspired by a similar trip the film's director James C. Strouse made with his older brother and his two children several years ago.

With Nicole Kidman • Ian McKellen • Eva Green • Ian McShane • Daniel Craig • Sam Elliott • Kristin Scott Thomas • Freddie Highmore • Kathy Bates • Tom Stoppard • Chris Weitz • Dakota Blue Richards • Deborah Forte • Toby Emmerich • Mark Ordesky • Philip Pullman

Lyra Belacqua is an orphan who lives happily in Jordan College, Oxford, playing with local boys and terrorizing the professors. However, when Lyra overhears scholars discussing a plot against her uncle, Lord Asriel, centering on a mysterious substance called Dust, her curiosity is roused. Soon Lyra is in over her head as she uncovers a frightening plot and a whole new world of possibilities.

With Atossa Leoni • Khaled Hosseini • Said Taghmaoui • Pippa Harris • Paul Abbott • Shaun Toub • Khalid Abdalla • Nasser Memarzia • Marc Forster • David Benioff • Rebecca Yeldham • William Horberg

Spanning from the final days of Afghanistan's monarchy to the atrocities of the Taliban reign, an epic tale of fathers and sons, of friendship and betrayal, an unlikely friendship develops between Amir, the son of a wealthy Afghan businessman, and Hassan, a servant to Amir and his father. During a kite-flying tournament, an unspeakable event changes the nature of their relationship forever. As an adult haunted by the childhood betrayal, Amir seeks redemption by returning to his war-torn native land to make peace with himself and reconcile his cowardice.

With Matt Damon • Francis Ford Coppola • Tim Roth • Bruno Ganz • Marcel Lures • Fred Roos • Anahid Nazarian

The story centers on a professor whose life changes after a cataclysmic incident during the dark years before WWII. Becoming a fugitive, he is pursued through far-flung locations including Romania, Switzerland, Malta and India.

With Terrence Howard • Gabrielle Union • Queen Latifah • Morris Chestnut • Charlie Murphy • Shakim Compere • Lance Rivera • Leifur B. Dagfinnsson • Mike Elliott • Joseph P. Genier • Marc Calixte

Nancy is a divorced mother of three who is so busy raising her children that she's forgotten to take care of herself as well. With Christmas fast approaching, she decides to take her kids to the mall to meet Santa Claus, not knowing that her youngest daughter Emily has sensed her mother's sadness and is determined to use her time with Santa to make her mom happy again. Just a few days prior, Emily heard her mom say that all she wanted for Christmas was a compliment from a man, so that's exactly what she tells Santa. Ironically, Santa, as it turns out, is office supply salesman and struggling songwriter Benjamin, who ends up giving Nancy just what she wants for Christmas, and much, much more.

With Gerard Butler • Hilary Swank • Gina Gershon • Jeffrey Dean Morgan • Lisa Kudrow • Molly Smith • Richard LaGravenese • Wendy Finerman • Steve Rogers • Broderick Johnson • Andrew Kosove • John H. Starke • Lisa Zupan

A grieving young widow discovers that her late husband has left her a list of tasks revealed in 10 messages, delivered anonymously, intended to ease her out of grief and transition her to a new life.

With Tom Hanks • Julia Roberts • Amy Adams • Shiri Appleby • Aaron Sorkin • Philip Seymour Hoffman • Mayte Garcia • John Orloff • Celia Costas • Mike Nichols • Gary Goetzman • George Crile

Based on the true story of how Charlie Wilson, an alcoholic womanizer and Texas congressman, persuaded the CIA to train and arm resistance fighters in Afghanistan to fend off the Soviet Union. With the help of rogue CIA agent, Gust Avrakotos, the two men supplied money, training and a team of military experts that turned the ill-equipped Afghan freedom-fighters into a force that brought the Red Army to a stalemate. However, the result also empowered the Taliban and terrorists including Osama bin Laden.

With Nicolas Cage • Helen Mirren • Jon Voight • Jerry Bruckheimer • Gregory Poirier • Harvey Keitel • Justin Bartha • Diane Kruger • Jon Turteltaub • Ed Harris • Oren Aviv • Cormac Wibberley • Chad Oman • Mike Stenson

Treasure hunter Benjamin Franklin Gates looks to discover the truth behind the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, by uncovering the mystery within the 18 pages missing from assassin John Wilkes Booth's diary.

With Johnny Depp • Sacha Baron Cohen • Tim Burton • John Logan • Alan Rickman • Helena Bonham Carter • Walter Parkes • Laurie MacDonald • Laura Michelle Kelly • Richard Zanuck • Patrick McCormick

Benjamin Barker, a man unjustly sent to prison by a lecherous judge, vows revenge, not only for that cruel punishment, but for the devastating consequences of what happened to his wife and daughter. When he returns to reopen his barber shop, Sweeney Todd becomes the Demon Barber of Fleet Street who shaved the heads of gentlemen who never thereafter were heard from again.

With Morgan Freeman • Rob Reiner • Sean Hayes • Jack Nicholson • Justin Zackham • Beverly Todd • Rob Morrow • Craig Zadan • Neil Meron • Alan Greisman

Two terminally ill men make up a wish list and try to fulfill before each kicks the bucket. After they break out of a cancer ward, they head off on a road trip with an itinerary that includes racing cars, eating giant plates of caviar and slinging poker chips in Monte Carlo.

With Denzel Washington • Forest Whitaker • Joe Roth • John Heard • Nate Parker • Kimberly Elise • Todd Black • Jermaine Williams • J. D. Evermore • Kate Forte • Robert Elise

Set against the backdrop of the Jim Crow South and inspired by a true story, "The Great Debaters" chronicles the journey of a brilliant but volatile coach (Denzel Washington) who uses the power of words to shape a group of underdog students from a small, modest black college in East Texas into an elite debate team while challenging the social mores of the time, culminating with a groundbreaking invitation to debate Harvard's championship team.

With Paul Thomas Anderson • Paul Dano • Scott Rudin • Joanne Sellar • Daniel Day-Lewis • Eric Schlosser • Kevin J. O'Connor • Ciarán Hinds • Russell Harvard

Set in the booming West coast oil fields at the turn of the 20th century, a tale that follows the rise of rugged prospector Daniel Plainview who becomes an independent oilman after hitting it rich with the strike of a lifetime. He realizes the American dream, and is destroyed by it.