Drama Movies 2008 List

With Gerard Butler • Jodie Foster • Abigail Breslin • Alphonso McAuley • Joseph Kwong • Peter Callan • Jennifer Flackett • Mark Levin • Paula Mazur • Wendy Orr

A heartfelt and hilarious adventure that chronicles the exploits of Nim, a young girl living a high-tech Robinson Crusoe existence on an unspoiled tropical island with her scientist father and her best friends - a motherly sea lion, a rambunctious iguana, and a sea turtle. When Nim's father embarks on a day of research at sea, she begins an unlikely e-mail communication with an agoraphobic novelist who lives in New York City. When a storm prevents her father's return and unpredictable dangers confront Nim and the Island, she must find the resources to survive. At the same time, the novelist begins to realize that her pen pal is not a scientist, but a little girl who is alone and in trouble, she also has to dig down for the courage to leave her safe haven and rescue Nim.

With Ben Stiller • Jena Malone • Shawn Ashmore • Joe Anderson • Jonathan Tucker • Laura Ramsey • Carter Smith • Chris Bender • Stuart Cornfeld • Scott B. Smith

Four American friends on vacation in Cancún, Mexico, meet a German tourist that persuades them to join his hunt for his younger brother, who was last seen with his girlfriend near some mysterious ruins.

With Chris Evans • Keanu Reeves • Forest Whitaker • David Ayer • Hugh Laurie • Naomie Harris • John Ridley • Erwin Stoff • Lucas Foster • James Ellroy

A Los Angeles police officer has always done what was needed to solve homicides and crack down on gang violence, but he gets a wakeup call and decides he can no longer play the game that made him so effective.

With Dennis Quaid • Ellen Page • Sarah Jessica Parker • Thomas Haden Church • Ashton Holmes • Naom Murro • Michael Costigan • Bridget Johnson • Mark Poirier

"Smart People" is the darkly comic story of Lawrence Wetherhold, a widowed and unhappy English professor played by Dennis Quaid, who has alienated his son and turned his daughter into an overachieving, friendless teen. He falls for Janet (Sarah Jessica Parker), one of his former students, while at the same time his ne'er-do-well brother (Thomas Haden Church) shows up at his door unexpectedly, triggering a series of comic crises and eventually growth in the family as they learn to reconnect.

With Charlize Theron • Ray Liotta • Woody Harrelson • Andre Benjamin • Martin Henderson • Stuart Townsend • Ashok Amritraj • Vanessa Pereira • Julien Remillard

Set in 1999, during the World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle, an eclectic group of demonstrators, including environmental activists, doctors, anarchists, attorneys, eco-terrorists and just plain folks, brings the city to a state of near-chaos, and chases the WTO straight out of town.

With Tom McCarthy • Hiam Abbass • Richard Jenkins • Hazz Sleiman

In a world of six billion people, it only takes one to change your life.

Walter Vale (Richard Jenkins) is a lonely man. Having lost his wife, as well as his passion for teaching and writing, he’s merely going through the motions. He fills his empty days by trying (unsuccessfully) to play classical piano. When the college where he teaches sends him to attend a conference in Manhattan, Walter returns to the apartment he once shared with his wife … and is startled to discover that a young couple is living there!

Victims of a real-estate scam, Tarek (Haaz Sleiman, “Veronica Mars,” “24”), a Syrian man, and his Senegalese girlfriend Zainab (Danai Gurira, “Law & Order: Criminal Intent,” the upcoming Ghost Town) have nowhere else to go. Reluctantly, Walter allows them to stay with him – and thus begins an amazing, emotional journey for all of them.

Touched by Walter’s generosity, Tarek, a talented musician in his own right, insists on teaching Walter to play the African drum. This shared love of music deepens their friendship, with the differences in culture, age and temperament falling away.

But when Tarek is arrested for being an undocumented resident and held for deportation, Walter is spurred into action, taking up his friend’s cause with a passion he thought was long gone. When Tarek’s beautiful mother, Mouna (Hiam Abbass, The Nativity Story, Munich), arrives in search of her son, Walter’s personal commitment develops into an unlikely – and unexpected – romance.

With Tyrese Gibson • John Leguizamo • Meagan Good • Bobby Cannavale • Rosie Perez • Josh Pate • Brad Furman • Jonas Pate

The story follows hard-working, middle class family man Felix Delgado (Leguizamo) who works for Dunbar Security, an armored transport company, and finds himself in the middle of a carefully orchestrated heist. Upon recovery, in addition to battling mood swings, pain and paranoia, Felix discovers that he's the prime suspect in the robbery, and takes it upon himself to do what the FBI and the police can't seem to handle: finding the real perpetrators and clearing his name.

With Al Pacino • Neal McDonough • Leelee Sobieski • Danny Dimbort • Avi Lerner • George Furla • Alicia Witt • Benjamin McKenzie • Amy Brenneman • Jon Avnet • Lawrence Bender • Trevor Short • Boaz Davidson • John Baldecchi • Gary Lerner • Gary Scott Thompson

In "88 Minutes", Al Pacino stars as Dr. Jack Gramm, a college professor who moonlights as a forensic psychiatrist for the FBI. When Gramm receives a death threat claiming he has only 88 minutes to live, he must use all his skills and training to narrow down the possible suspects, who include a disgruntled student, a jilted former lover, and a serial killer who is already on death row, before his time runs out.

With Uma Thurman • Evan Rachel Wood • Mark Cuban • Marc Butan • Gabrielle Brennan • Adam Chanler-Berat • Peter Conboy • Vadim Perelman • Todd Wagner • Emil Stern

Diana is a suburban wife and mother who begins to question her seemingly perfect life--and perhaps her sanity--on the 15th anniversary of a tragic high school shooting that took the life of her best friend. In flashbacks, Diana is a vibrant high schooler who, with her shy best friend Maureen, plot typical teenage strategies--cutting class, fantasizing about boys--and vow to leave their sleepy suburb at the first opportunity. The older Diana, however, is haunted by the increasingly strained relationship she had with Maureen as day of the school shooting approached. These memories disrupt the idyllic life she's now leading with her professor husband Paul and their young daughter Emma. As older Diana's life begins to unravel and younger Diana gets closer and closer to the fatal day, a deeper mystery slowly unravels.

With Willem Dafoe • Peter Stormare • Scott Speedman • Clea DuVall • Henry S. Miller

Willem Dafoe will play Stan Aubrey, a veteran cop investigating a serial killer who may be a copycat killer based on a famous murderer Stan allegedly disposed of five years ago. As the killings go on, his partner Carl Unger begins to suspect that Stan didn't do his due dilligence five years ago when he pronounced the killer dead.

With Shannon Elizabeth • Burt Reynolds • Bret Harrison • Charles Durning • Phil Laak • Vince Van Patton • Gil Cates Jr. • Michael Arata • Albert Salzer • Marc Weinstock

"Deal" revolves around an ex-gambler who teaches a hot-shot college student how to "play the player," vs. just the cards. But after the two have a bitter falling out, mentor and student find themselves competing against each other in the World Poker Tour championships.

With Sam Worthington • Radha Mitchell • Greg McLean • Michael Vartan • Mia Wasikoska • Geoff Morrell • Rob Taylor • Heather Mitchell • Damien Richardson

Greg McLean's first acclaimed tour de force, "Wolf Creek," took audiences on a frightening, fact based road trip through the darkest parts of Australian Outback and the depraved human mind. Journeying home again, this time to the crocodile infested waters of Australia's remote wetlands, the director's wildlife boat tour is more down-under Jaws than Crocodile Dundee. Joining a beautiful local tour guide (Radha Mitchell) and an American writer on assignment (Michael Vartan), the rest of this thriller's food chain is composed of tourists and adventure seekers alike. Waiting in vain to be rescued on an ever-disappearing parcel of dry land, you will never guess their next move...as terror lies just beneath the surface.