Drama Movies 2009 List

With Mariah Carey • Lee Daniels

Mariah Carey will play waitress who teams with her two brothers to search for their estranged father in an effort to help the youngest brother, who has leukemia.

With Brin Hill

Based on the novel of the same name, Ball Dont Lie takes it to the streets for an urban basketball coming-of-age drama.

With Maria Bello • Jason Patric • Lee Ross • Rufus Sewell • Amy Brenneman • Johan Renck • Pamela Cuming

The film centers on Nancy (Bello), an unhappy wife who, instead of committing suicide, meets a man (Liotta) over the Internet and hires him to kill her. Problems arise when they form a relationship.

With Denzel Washington • John Travolta • Tony Scott • Luis Guzman • John Turturro • David Koepp • James Gandolfini • Steve Tisch • Michael Rispoli • Todd Black • Jason Blumenthal

In "The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3," Denzel Washington stars as New York City subway dispatcher Walter Garber, whose ordinary day is thrown into chaos by an audacious crime: the hijacking of a subway train. John Travolta stars as Ryder, the criminal mastermind who, as leader of a highly-armed gang of four, threatens to execute the train's passengers unless a large ransom is paid within one hour. As the tension mounts beneath his feet, Garber employs his vast knowledge of the subway system in a battle to outwit Ryder and save the hostages. But there's one riddle Garber can't solve: even if the thieves get the money, how can they possibly escape?

With Kevin Spacey • Sam Rockwell • Duncan Jones • Nathan Parker • Dominique McElligott • Rosie Shaw

Sam Bell (Rockwell) is nearing the end of his contract with Lunar. He's been a faithful employee for 3 long years. His home has been Selene, a moon base where he has spent his days alone, mining Helium 3. The precious gas holds the key to reversing the Earth's energy crisis.

Isolated, determined and steadfast, Sam has followed the rulebook obediently and his time on the moon has been enlightening, but uneventful. The solitude has given him time to reflect on the mistakes of his past and work on his raging temper. He does his job mechanically, and spends most of his available time dreaming of his imminent return to Earth, to his wife, young daughter and an early retirement.

But two weeks shy of his departure from Selene, Sam starts seeing things, hearing things and feeling strange. And when a routine extraction goes horribly wrong, he discovers that Lunar have their own plans for replacing him... and the new recruit is eerily familiar.

Before he can return to Earth, Sam has to confront himself and the discovery that the life he has created, may not be his own. It's more than his contract that is set to expire.

With Cameron Diaz • Alec Baldwin • Jason Patric • Abigail Breslin • Nick Cassavetes • Mark Johnson • Joan Cusack • Thomas Dekker • Jeremy Leven • Sofia Vassilieva • Chuck Pacheco • Scott Goldman • Stephen Furst • Diana Pokorny • Evan Ellingson • Hillary Sherman

Sara and Brian Fitzgerald's life with their young son and their two-year-old daughter, Kate, is forever altered when they learn that Kate has leukemia. The parents' only hope is to conceive another child, specifically intended to save Kate's life. For some, such genetic engineering would raise both moral and ethical questions; for the Fitzgeralds, Sara in particular, there is no choice but to do whatever it takes to keep Kate alive. And what it takes is Anna.

Kate (Sofia Vassilieva) and Anna (Abigail Breslin) share a bond closer than most sisters: though Kate is older, she relies on her little sister--in fact, her life depends on Anna.

Throughout their young lives, the sisters endure various medical procedures and hospital stays--just another part of their close-knit family's otherwise normal life. Sara (Cameron Diaz), a loving wife and mother who left her career as an attorney to care for her daughter, is sometimes lost inside the single-minded caregiver she has become in her efforts to save Kate. Her strong, supportive husband, Brian (Jason Patric), is often rendered powerless and passive by his wife's strength and determination. And their only son, Jesse (Evan Ellingson), drifts, at times all but forgotten as Kate and Anna take center stage.

Until Anna, now 11, says "no." Seeking medical emancipation, she hires her own lawyer (Alec Baldwin), initiating a court case that divides the family and that could leave Kate's rapidly failing body in the hands of fate.

With Jeremy Renner • Greg Shapiro • Evangeline Lilly • Anthony Mackie • Nicolas Chartier • Brian Geraghty • David Morse • Kathryn Bigelow • Mark Boal • Jenn Lee • Tony Mark • Sam Spruell

"The Hurt Locker" is a riveting, suspenseful portrait of the courage under fire of the military's unrecognized heroes: the technicians of a bomb squad who volunteer to challenge the odds and save lives doing one of the world's most dangerous jobs. Three members of the Army's elite Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) squad battle insurgents and one another as they search for and disarm a wave of roadside bombs on the streets of Baghdad—in order to try and make the city a safer place for Iraqis and Americans alike. Their mission is clear—protect and save—but it's anything but easy, as the margin of error when defusing a war-zone bomb is zero. This thrilling and heart-pounding look at the psychology of bomb technicians and the effects of risk and danger on the human psyche is a fictional tale inspired by real events by journalist and screenwriter Mark Boal, who was embedded with a special bomb unit in Iraq. In Iraq, it is soldier vernacular to speak of explosions as sending you to "the hurt locker."

With Pell James • Jennifer Lynch • Ryan Simpkins • Bill Pullman • David Lynch • Julia Ormond • French Stewart • Cheri Oteri • Ken Harper

Somewhere deep inside the Santa Fe desert there have been a number of blood curdling murders...a real killing spree. The local police station is in disarray. Captain Billings, Officers Degrasso and Wright have apprehended three witnesses: Officer Jack Bennet, one of their own, tough, but affected by recent events; Bobby, young, high as a kite on cocaine; and Stephanie, eight years old, who has just witnessed her family being brutally murdered by two figures dressed in jumpsuits, gloves, boots, and horrifyingly disfiguring blue latex masks. Even though everyone is ready to go, they are still waiting... waiting for the Feds to arrive. As the witnesses tell their stories one by one to the FBI agents who have now taken over, the murderous events unravel before our eyes. It becomes clear, little Stephanie knows something, something about the agents, Hallaway and Anderson. And then two more bodies have been found...

With Michelle Pfeiffer • Kathy Bates • Christopher Hampton • Stephen Frears • Rupert Friend • Bill Kenwright • Thom Mount

Set in 1920s Paris, the young son of a wealthy courtesan is educated in the ways of love by a middle-aged friend of the man's mother. When he is forced to give up the six-year relationship after marrying someone else, the young man can't forget her and retreats into a fantasy world.