Drama Movies 2009 List

With Neill Blomkamp • Peter Jackson • Sharlto Copley • Robert Hobbs • Carolynne Cunningham • Bill Block • Ken Kamins • Jason Cope • David James

Over twenty years ago, aliens made first contact with Earth. Humans waited for the hostile attack, or the giant advances in technology. Neither came. Instead, the aliens were refugees, the last survivors of their home world. The creatures were set up in a makeshift home in South Africa’s District 9 as the world’s nations argued over what to do with them.

Now, patience over the alien situation has run out. Control over the aliens has been contracted out to Multi-National United (MNU), a private company uninterested in the aliens’ welfare – they will receive tremendous profits if they can make the aliens’ awesome weaponry work. So far, they have failed; activation of the weaponry requires alien DNA.

The tension between the aliens and the humans comes to a head when an MNU field operative, Wikus van der Merwe (Sharlto Copley), contracts a mysterious virus that begins changing his DNA. Wikus quickly becomes the most hunted man in the world, as well as the most valuable – he is the key to unlocking the secrets of alien technology. Ostracized and friendless, there is only one place left for him to hide: District 9.

With Vanessa Hudgens • Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas • Gaelan Connell • Todd Graff • Lisa Kudrow • Tim Jo • Ryan Donowho • Charlie Saxton • Scott Porter • Elvy Yost • Ron Schmidt • Marisa Yeres • Josh Cagan • Aly Michalka

Disney Channel superstars Vanessa Anne Hudgens ("High School Musical 1 & 2," "High School Musical 3") and Alyson Michalka ("Phil of the Future," pop duo Aly and AJ) join Gaelan Connell ("Chocolat"), Scott Porter ("Speed Racer") and Lisa Kudrow ("Friends") in the music-driven comedy "Bandslam." When gifted singer-songwriter Charlotte Banks (Michalka) asks new kid in town Will Burton (Connell) to manage her fledgling rock band, she appears to have just one goal in mind: go head-to-head against her egotistical musician ex-boyfriend, Ben (Porter), at the biggest event of the year, a battle of the bands.

Against all odds, their band develops a sound all its own with a real shot at success in the contest. Meanwhile, romance brews between Will and Sam (Hudgens), who plays a mean guitar and has a voice to die for. When disaster strikes, it's time for the band to make a choice: Do they admit defeat, or face the music and stand up for what they believe in?

With Brad Pitt • Rachel McAdams • Eric Bana • Ron Livingston • Robert Schwentke • Dede Gardner • Nick Wechsler • Jeremy Leven • Stephen Tobolowsky • Bruce Joel Rubin

The love story focuses on a couple in which the man has a genetic disorder known as "chrono-impairment," a condition that causes him to involuntarily travel through time. Jeremy Leven wrote the adaptation.

With Lucrecia Martel

A mysterious and intriguing tale of a woman who may have killed someone or something while driving on a dirt road. Dazed and confused, she tries to piece together what happened, while her husband systematically tries to erase her tracks.

With A.J. Cook • David Moscow • Ron Satlof • Ira Pearlstein

The project stars A.J. Cook (CBS' "Criminal Minds") as a religious conservative who receives a message from God telling her to act as a surrogate mother for two gay men desiring to raise a child.

With Liam Neeson • James Nesbitt • Oliver Hirschbiegel • Guy Hibbert • Eoin O'Callaghan • Stephen Wright

Two men struggle to come to terms with the murder of a fellow 19-year-old Catholic soldier years after the conflict that raged between Republican and Loyalist paramilitary groups, the British Army and the Royal Ulster Constabulary.

With Eugene Levy • Imelda Staunton • Emile Hirsch • Liev Schreiber • Ang Lee • James Schamus • Jonathan Groff • Demetri Martin • Henry Goodman

The new film from Academy Award-winning director Ang Lee. A 1969-set true story about a man, Elliot Tiber (Demetri Martin), who inadvertently played a pivotal role in making the Woodstock Music and Arts Festival into the famed happening it was. Working as an interior designer in Greenwich Village during culturally and politically exciting times, Mr. Tiber felt empowered by the gay rights movement. But he was also still staked to the family business – a Catskills motel. Upon hearing that a planned concert had lost its permit from the neighboring town of Wallkill, NY, Mr. Tiber called producer Michael Lang (Jonathan Groff) at Woodstock Ventures to offer his motel. Soon the Woodstock staff was moving into the El Monaco; half a million people were on their way to Mr. Tiber’s neighbor’s Max Yasgur’s (Eugene Levy) farm in White Lake, NY; and Mr. Tiber found himself swept up in a generation-defining experience that would change his life, and American culture, forever.

With Eugene Levy • Imelda Staunton • Emile Hirsch • Liev Schreiber • Ang Lee • James Schamus • Jonathan Groff • Demetri Martin • Henry Goodman

The new film from Academy Award-winning director Ang Lee. A 1969-set true story about a man, Elliot Tiber (Demetri Martin), who inadvertently played a pivotal role in making the Woodstock Music and Arts Festival into the famed happening it was. Working as an interior designer in Greenwich Village during culturally and politically exciting times, Mr. Tiber felt empowered by the gay rights movement. But he was also still staked to the family business – a Catskills motel. Upon hearing that a planned concert had lost its permit from the neighboring town of Wallkill, NY, Mr. Tiber called producer Michael Lang (Jonathan Groff) at Woodstock Ventures to offer his motel. Soon the Woodstock staff was moving into the El Monaco; half a million people were on their way to Mr. Tiber’s neighbor’s Max Yasgur’s (Eugene Levy) farm in White Lake, NY; and Mr. Tiber found himself swept up in a generation-defining experience that would change his life, and American culture, forever.

With Hirokazu Koreeda

Grown children visit their elderly parents one summer day. They gather to commemorate the tragic death of the eldest son, who drowned in an accident 15 years ago.

With Justin Timberlake • Kate Mara • Jeff Bridges • Mary Steenburgen • Harry Dean Stanton • Michael Meredith • Lyle Lovett

In this heartwarming comedy, minor leaguer Carlton Garrett (Justin Timberlake) takes an unexpected road trip to track down his estranged father, legendary baseball player Kyle Garrett (Jeff Bridges) when Carlton’s mother (Mary Steenburgen) becomes sick. Knowing his charming yet painfully immature dad’s likelihood to disappoint, Carlton enlists his on-again-off-again girlfriend Lucy (Kate Mara) for emotional support. Once reunited, Carlton struggles to deal with the series of misadventures caused by his father’s antics, including missed flights, car trouble and bathroom brawls. Years of miscommunication, frustration and comically awkward attempts at bonding come to a head as the mismatched trio make their way from Ohio back home to Houston to reunite the family.

With Michael Rapaport • Patton Oswalt • Robert D. Siegel • Jean Kouremetis • Kevin Corrigan • Elan Bogarin

Paul Aufiero, a hardcore New York Giants football fan, struggles to deal with the consequences when he is beaten up by his favorite player.