Drama Movies 2012 List

With Justin Chatwin • Patrick Huard • Sarah Mutch • Daniel Roby • Heidi Hawkins • Steve Galluccio

1976. Montreal. Eight people who wanted to see and be seen at the trendiest disco will be juggling fame and anonymity until they will be forced to make sober choices in an era when excess was the norm, and when disco was king.

With Anthony Quayle • Jack Hawkins • Jose Ferrer • Alec Guinness • Peter O'Toole • Omar Sharif • David Lean • Anthony Quinn • Claude Rains

One of the screen's grandest epics, this monumental story recounts the true-life experiences of T.E. Lawrence, better known to the world as Lawrence of Arabia. A young, idealistic British officer in WWI, Lawrence is assigned to the camp of Prince Feisal, an Arab tribal chieftain and leader in a revolt against the Turks. In a series of brilliant tactical maneuvers, Lawrence leads fifty of Feisal's men in a tortured three-week crossing of the Nefud Desert to attack the strategic Turkish-held port of Aqaba. And following his successful raids against Turkish troops and trains, Lawrence’s triumphant leadership and unyielding courage gain him nearly god-like status among his Arab brothers.

With Liam Neeson • Maggie Grace • Luke Grimes • Luc Besson • Famke Janssen • Robert Mark Kamen • Rade Sherbedgia • Olivier Megaton • Leland Orser

Set in Istanbul, Liam Neeson returns as Bryan Mills, the CIA agent with "a particular set of skills" for hunting down bad guys, but this time his daughter (Maggie Grace) has to help rescue him when associates of the villains he killed the first time around decide to get their revenge.

With Matthew McConaughey • Nicole Kidman • John Cusack • Zac Efron • Pedro Almodovar • Danny Dimbort • Avi Lerner • Cassian Elwes • Scott Glenn • Lee Daniels • Trevor Short • Hilary Shor

An erotic thriller set in 1969, Paperboy tells the story of a young man who returns to his small Florida hometown to help his reporter brother uncover the truth about a man on death row, who might have been wrongly convicted. In the process, he falls for the convict’s lover. Conflict, danger, deceit, seduction and betrayal ensue.

With Leighton Meester • Adam Brody • Allison Janney • Catherine Keener • Hugh Laurie • Alia Shawkat • Anthony Bregman • Oliver Platt • Julian Farino • Leslie Urdang • Jay Reiss • Ian Helfer • Glen Basner • Sam Rosen

David and Paige Ostroff (Hugh Laurie, Catherine Keener) and Terry and Cathy Walling (Oliver Platt, Allison Janney) are best friends and neighbors living on Orange Drive in suburban New Jersey. Their comfortable existence goes awry when prodigal daughter Nina Ostroff (Leighton Meester), newly broken up with her fiancé Ethan (Sam Rosen), returns home for Thanksgiving after a five-year absence. Rather than developing an interest in Toby Walling (Adam Brody), the successful son of her neighbors which would please both families, it’s her parents’ best friend David who captures Nina’s attention. When the connection between Nina and David becomes undeniable, everyone’s lives are thrown into upheaval, particularly Vanessa Walling’s (Alia Shawkat), Nina’s childhood best friend. It’s not long before the ramifications of the affair begin to work on all of the family members in unexpected and hilarious ways, leading everyone to reassess what it means to be happy and how sometimes what looks like a disaster, turns out to be the one thing we need the most.

With Kaya Scodelario • Robert Bernstein • Andrea Arnold • Douglas Rae • Kevin Loader • Olivia Hetreed • Nichola Burley

A poor young English boy named Heathcliff is taken in by the wealthy Earnshaw family where he develops an intense relationship with his young foster sister, Cathy.

With Gillian Anderson • Léa Seydoux • Martin Compston • Ursula Meier • Kacey Mottet Klein

Simon (Kacey Mottet Klein) lives with his older sister (Lea Seydoux) in a housing complex below a luxury Swiss ski resort. With his sister drifting in and out of jobs and relationships, twelve-year-old Simon takes on the responsibility of providing for the two of them. Every day, he takes the lift up to the opulent ski world above, stealing equipment from rich tourists to resell to the local kids down in the valley. He is able to keep their little family afloat with his small-time hustles and his sister is thankful for the money he brings in. But, when Simon partners with a crooked British seasonal worker, he begins to lose his boundaries, affecting his relationship with his sister and plummeting him into dangerous territory.

With Anna Gunn • Frances O'Connor • David Anspaugh • David Kanter • Chandler Canterbury • Michael Guillen • Patrick Duncan • Dylan Matzke • Daveigh Chase

Chandler Canterbury will play Bonner as an eight-year-old living in Tampa, Fla., with his mother (Anna Gunn) and sister (by Daveigh Chase). In the wake of Hurricane Charley, Zach uses his toy wagon to collect water, food and clothing for families made homeless by the storm, which leads him to found the Little Red Wagon Foundation and create "Zach Packs," backpacks filled with life's bare essentials plus a toy.

With Ben Affleck • George Clooney • John Goodman • Bryan Cranston • Kyle Chandler • Taylor Schilling • Chris Terrio • Scoot McNairy • Alan Arkin • Michael Parks • Tate Donovan • David Klawans • Grant Heslov • Nelson Franklin

Based on true events, Argo chronicles the life-or-death covert operation to rescue six Americans, which unfolded behind the scenes of the Iran hostage crisis--the truth of which was unknown by the public for decades. On November 4, 1979, as the Iranian revolution reaches its boiling point, militants storm the U.S. embassy in Tehran, taking 52 Americans hostage. But, in the midst of the chaos, six Americans manage to slip away and find refuge in the home of the Canadian ambassador. Knowing it is only a matter of time before the six are found out and likely killed, a CIA "exfiltration" specialist named Tony Mendez (Ben Affleck) comes up with a risky plan to get them safely out of the country. A plan so incredible, it could only happen in the movies.

With John Krasinski • Rosemarie DeWitt • Dylan McDermott • Olivia Thirlby • Lena Dunham • Rhys Wakefield • Jane Levy • Ry Russo-Young • Emma Dumont • India Ennenga

Martine, a 23-year-old artist from New York, arrives in Los Angeles to stay in the pool house of a family living in the hip and hilly community of Silver Lake. Peter, the father, has agreed to help Martine complete sound design on her art film as a favor to his wife. Martine innocently enters the seemingly idyllic life of this open-minded family with two kids and a relaxed Southern California vibe. Like a bolt of lightning, her arrival sparks a surge of energy that awakens suppressed impulses in everyone and forces them to confront their own fears and desires.

With Djimon Hounsou • Diane Kruger • Benoit Magimel • Raphael Personnaz • Denis Menochet • Stephane Rybojad

European War correspondent Elsa Casanova is taken hostage by the Taliban. Faced with her imminent execution, a Special Forces unit is dispatched to free her. In some of the world's most breathtaking yet hostile landscapes, a relentless pursuit begins between her kidnappers and a group of soldiers who risk their lives in pursuit to bring her home alive.

With D.B. Sweeney • Esai Morales • Samantha Mathis • Jason Beghe • John Putch • Paul McCrane • Patrick Fabian • Richard T. Jones • Harmon Kaslow • John Aglialoro • Brian Patrick O'Toole • Kim Rhodes • Duke Sandefur • Duncan Scott

The second part of a planned trilogy that continues the Ayn Rand story.

With Aaron Paul • Mary Elizabeth Winstead • Mackenzie Davis • Octavia Spencer • Nick Offerman • Kyle Gallner • Megan Mullally • Bree Turner • Mary Kay Place • James Ponsoldt

Kate and Charlie like to have a good time. Their marriage thrives on a shared fondness for music, laughter... and getting smashed. When Kate's partying spirals into hard-core asocial behavior, compromising her job as an elementary schoolteacher, something's got to give. But change isn't exactly a cakewalk. Sobriety means she will have to confront the lies she's been spinning at work, her troubling relationship with her mother, and the nature of her bond with Charlie.

With Keith David • Roger Bart • Melanie Papalia • Shane Dawson • Michael Gallagher • Nikki Limo • Glasgow Phillips • Caitlin Gerard • Andrew James Allen • Toby Turner • Michael Traynor • Liza Weil • Jana Winternitz

After learning of an urban legend in which a demented serial killer named Smiley can be summoned through the Internet, mentally fragile Ashley must decide whether she is losing her mind or becoming Smiley's next victim.

With Joey Lauren Adams • Jessica Szohr • Joseph Cross • Doug Karr

A 18-year-old prodigy painter, suffering from bipolar disorder, needs to come up with an art show to end all art shows, but when he meets a group of artist-anarchists, his world turns upside down.

With Ava DuVernay

A drama chronicling a woman’s separation from her incarcerated husband and her journey to maintain her marriage and her identity.

With A.J. Cook • Martin Papazian • Charles S. Dutton • Laura San Giacomo • Azura Skye • Tristan Lake Leabu • Audrey Marie Anderson

Returning home to a broken marriage and an uncertain future, veteran Anthony Hayward (Martin Papazian) believes there is no hope for himself. Yet when a troubled ten year-old neighbor, Wade (Tristan Lake Leabu), calls out for help, Anthony cannot turn away. To the dismay of the boy's social worker (Laura San Giacomo), Anthony sets out on a fool's quest to help this heartbroken and hard-to-reach child find his long-lost father. In the midst of this new mission--the first that seems to matter since his return--Anthony begins to come to grips with both the costs of war and the universal power of human connection. Papazian finds both the gravity and the grace in ordinary, flawed characters pushed to extraordinary acts of compassion and decency.

With Bill Skarsgard • Helen Sjoholm • Lisa Ohlin • Jan Josef Liefers

An epic drama spanning the years 1939 to 1952, this is the gripping story of Simon (played as the adult by Bill Skarsgaard, son of Stellan), who grows up in a loving working-class family on the outskirts of Gothenburg but always feels out of place. Intellectually gifted, he stubbornly persists in acquiring an education normally reserved for young men of the professional classes, much to the chagrin of his parents, who fear that he will become stuck up. He finally convinces his father to send him to an upper-class grammar school, where he meets Isak, the son of a wealthy Jewish bookseller who has fled Nazi persecution in Germany. Simon is dazzled by the books, art and music he encounters in the home of Isak's father Ruben (Jan Josef Leifers), which makes Simon long to know more about his own family background. Isak, on the other hand, draws comfort from learning to do something with his hands, helping Simon's dad (Stefan Godicke) make boats. When Isak faces trouble at home, he is taken in by Simon's family and the two households slowly merge, connecting in unexpected ways as war rages all over Europe. The film is based on the Swedish bestseller of the same name, written by Marianne Fredriksson. It offers a unique depiction of fate, destiny and free will and vividly portrays the situation for Jews in Sweden during World War II.

With Leos Carax

From dawn to dusk, a few hours in the life of Monsieur Oscar, a shadowy character who journeys from one life to the next. He is, in turn, captain of industry, assassin, beggar, monster, family man… He seems to be playing roles, plunging headlong into each part – but where are the cameras? Monsieur Oscar is alone, accompanied only by Céline, the slender blonde woman behind the wheel of the vast engine that transports him through and around Paris. He’s like a conscientious assassin moving from hit to hit. In pursuit of the beautiful gesture, the mysterious driving force, the women and the ghosts of past lives. But where is his true home, his family, his rest?

With Steve Bowen • Tyler Perry • Rob Cohen • Giancarlo Esposito • James Patterson • Rachel Nichols • Jean Reno • John C. McGinley • Bill Block • Ed Burns • Matthew Fox • Leopoldo Gout • Paul Hanson • Kerry Williamson • Marc Moss

Alex Cross follows the homicide detective/psychologist (Tyler Perry), from the worldwide best-selling novels by James Patterson, as he meets his match in a serial killer (Matthew Fox). The two face off in a high-stakes game of cat and mouse, but when the mission gets personal, Cross is pushed to the edge of his moral and psychological limits in this taut and exciting action thriller.

With William H. Macy • Helen Hunt • John Hawkes • Moon Bloodgood • Stephen Nemeth • Ben Lewin

Based on the poignantly optimistic autobiographical writings of California–based journalist and poet Mark O’Brien, The Sessions tells the story of a man confined to an iron lung who is determined - at age 38 - to lose his virginity. With the help of his therapists and the guidance of his priest, he sets out to make his dream a reality.

With Gerard Butler • Scott Eastwood • Elisabeth Shue • Taylor Handley • Curtis Hanson • Michael Apted • Ned Zeman • Daniel Barnz • Brandon Hooper • Jim Meenaghan • Abigail Spencer • Leven Rambin • Jenica Bergere

The inspirational true story of real life surfing phenom Jay Moriarity (played by newcomer Jonny Weston). When 15 year old Jay discovers that the mythic Mavericks surf break, one of the biggest waves on Earth, is not only real, but exists just miles from his Santa Cruz home, he enlists the help of local legend Frosty Hesson (played by Gerard Butler) to train him to survive it. As Jay and Frosty embark on their quest to accomplish the impossible, they form a unique friendship that transforms both their lives, and their quest to tame Mavericks becomes about far more than surfing.

With Gael García Bernal • Hani Furstenberg • Julia Loktev

Alex (Gael Garcia Bernal) and Nica (Hani Furstenberg) are young, in love and engaged to be married. The summer before their wedding, they are backpacking in the Caucasus Mountains in Georgia. The couple hire a local guide to lead them on a camping trek, and the three set off into a stunning wilderness, a landscape that is both overwhelmingly open and frighteningly closed. Walking for hours, they trade anecdotes, play games to pass the time of moving through space. And then, a momentary misstep, a gesture that takes only two or three seconds, a gesture that's over almost as soon as it begins. But once it is done, it can't be undone. Once it is done, it threatens to undo everything the couple believed about each other and about themselves.

With Sean Baker • James Ransone • Besedka Johnson • Dree Hemingway • Chris Bergoch

Starlet explores the unlikely friendship between 21 year-old aspiring actress Jane (Dree Hemingway) and elderly widow Sadie (Besedka Johnson) after their worlds collide in California's San Fernando Valley. Jane spends her time getting high with her dysfunctional roommates and taking care of her chihuahua Starlet, while Sadie passes her days alone, tending to her garden. After a confrontation at a yard sale, Jane finds something unexpected in a relic from Sadie's past. Her curiosity piqued, she tries to befriend the caustic older woman. Secrets emerge as their relationship grows, revealing that nothing is ever as it seems.