2004 Movies : Drama

With Anthony Mackie • Daniel Sunjata • Aunjanue Ellis • Alex Burns • Billoah Greene • Duane Boutte • Bradley Cole • Chad Coleman • Michael Duvert • Oni Faidah Lampley • Ray Ford • Larry Gilliard Jr. • Kevin Jackson • James Martinez • Reid Mihalko • Lance Reddick • Roger Robinson • Rodney Evans

After being found in an intimate, sexual encounter with another young man, Perry is thrown out of his house by his family and forced to survive on his own. As he struggles to hold on by working in a homeless shelter and trying to maintain a college scholarship, he is haunted by his homosexuality and becomes increasingly withdrawn due to his family's rejection of him and their condemnation of his desires. As his friend Marcus is performing his new poetry for him, an elderly man, Bruce, appears seemingly out of nowhere and begins reciting verse to them. He disappears just as quickly and elusively as he arrived, before they get a chance to talk to him. In his library research for a class project, Perry finds a book about the Harlem Renaissance and recognizes a poem ("Smoke, Lilies and Jade" by Bruce Nugent) as the same one that the elderly man was reciting. They encounter each other again at the homeless shelter where Perry works. He confronts Bruce about who he is and begins to ask him about the Harlem Renaissance. They go on a literal and metaphorical journey to the house that was known as "Niggeratti Manor" which was the creative center for the younger, rebellious generation of the Harlem Renaissance as they created their revolutionary literary journal, "Fire!". Although the house is now dilapidated, we are transported through the landscape of Bruce's memories of the glory days of the Harlem Renaissance. Perry learns about the lives and personalities of Wallace Thurman, Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston and Aaron Douglas and sees how they became a surrogate family for Bruce. Perry begins to recognize this era as his history. He sees the pride that Bruce exuded in those times in terms of being Black, gay and unashamed. His pride and self-esteem begin to have an empowering effect on Perry as he gains a stronger sense of his identity. As the story progresses, we witness the transformative power that they have on each other's lives through their shared passion for art and storytelling.

With Penelope Cruz • Paul Walker • Robin Williams • Chazz Palminteri • Alan Arkin • Marcus Thomas • Marcia Bennett • Ruth Chiang • David Hubbard

It's Christmas Eve in New York City and with some help from each other—and more importantly, from themselves—five people will discover new meaning on Christmas Day... In stark contrast to her success as a book editor, Rose's (Susan Sarandon) personal life is in disarray. Burdened by a recent divorce and charged as sole caretaker of her ailing mother, she finds herself hopeless and lonely when her holiday doldrums are interrupted by Charlie—an unexpected friend—who reminds her that no one is ever truly alone at Christmas. New York City police officer Mike Riley (Paul Walker) had planned to spend the holiday with his fiancée, Nina (Penélope Cruz),when his own paranoia and misplaced jealousy drive her away. Nina leaves to seek solace with relatives and reevaluate her future with Mike. In her absence, Mike learns from the tragic past of a stranger, Artie (Alan Arkin),where his jealousy can lead. Jules (Marcus Thomas) has a single happy Christmas memory, when he was fourteen. Today, a troubled twenty-something with no family and friends to speak of, he plans to recapture that happiness through extreme measures, but first must find the courage to step beyond his past to find true contentment.

With Liam Neeson • Francis Ford Coppola • John Lithgow • Bill Condon • Laura Linney • Peter Sarsgaard • Timothy Hutton • Arden Myrin • Kirk D'Amico • Gail Mutrux • Tim Curry • Oliver Platt • Chris O'Donnell • Gore Vidal • Michael Kuhn • Bobby Rock

Life story of Alfred Kinsey, a man driven to uncover the most private secrets of the nation, and a journey into the mystery of human behavior. In 1948 Kinsey irrevocably changed American culture and created a media sensation with his book "Sexual Behavior in the Human Male". Using the technique of his own famous sex interviews, story recounts the scientist's extraordinary journey from obscurity to global fame. Rebelling against the rigid piety of his home life, and drawn to the world of the senses, Kinsey becomes a Harvard-educated zoologist specializing in the study of gall wasps. After being hired to teach biology at Indiana University, Kinsey meets and marries a witty, freethinking female student, Clara McMillen. In the course of his teaching he discovers an astonishing dearth of scientific data on sexual behavior. When students seek him out for advice about sexual concerns and problems, he realizes that no one has done the clinical research that would yield reliable answers to their questions. Inspired to explore the emotionally charged subject of sex from a strictly scientific point of view, Kinsey recruits a team of researchers, including Clyde Martin, Wardell Pomeroy and Paul Gebhard. Over time they refine an interviewing technique, which helps people to break through shame, fear, and guilt and speak freely about their sexual histories. When Kinsey publishes his Male study in 1948, the press compares the impact to that of the atom bomb. But as the country enters the more paranoid Cold War era of the 1950s, Kinsey's follow-up study on women is seen as an attack on basic American values. The ensuing outrage and scorn causes Kinsey's benefactors to abandon him, just as his health begins to deteriorate. At the same time, the jealousies and acrimony caused by Kinsey's attempt to create a private sexual utopia threaten to tear apart the research team and expose them to unwelcome scrutiny.

With Colin Firth • Jim Broadbent • Gemma Jones • Hugh Grant • Renée Zellweger • Tim Bevan • Eric Fellner • James Callis • Shirley Henderson • Beeban Kidron • Richard Curtis • Adam Brooks • Jessica Stevenson • Jacinda Barrett • Morne Botes • Sally Phillips • Catherine Russell • Andrew Davies • Helen Fielding

Four weeks after the first film, Bridget Jones is already beginning to have trouble with her relationship with Mark Darcy. Aside from the fact that he is a conservative voter, she also has to deal with a new boss and a truly terrible vacation.

With Pedro Almodovar • Gael García Bernal • Daniel Gimenez Cacho • Javier Camara • Lluis Homar • Fele Martínez • Agustin Almodovar

This is the story of two men, one of whom is a film director, in Spain who meet again 20 years after they attended a Catholic school together as children during the time of Franco's rule. The film will flash back to extended sequences from their youths, and will also include a movie-within-the-movie sequence.

With Nicolas Cage • Jerry Bruckheimer • Sean Bean • Diane Kruger • Jon Turteltaub • Christopher Plummer • Harvey Keitel • Justin Bartha • Mark Pellegrino • Don McManus • Cormac Wibberley • Marianne Wibberley

Benjamin Franklin Gates is a third generation treasure hunter. All his life, Gates has been searching for a treasure no one believed existed: amassed through the ages, moved across continents, to become the greatest treasure the world has ever known. Hidden by our Founding Fathers, they left clues to the Treasure's location right before our eyes--from our nation's birthplace, to the nation's capitol, to clues buried within the symbols on the dollar bill. Gates' life-long journey leads him to the last place anyone thought to look: a map hidden on the back of the Declaration of Independence. But what he thought was the final clue is only the beginning. Gates realizes in order to protect the world's greatest treasure, he must now do the unthinkable: steal the most revered, best guarded document in American history before it falls into the wrong hands. In a race against time, Gates must elude the authorities, stay one step ahead of his ruthless adversary, decipher the remaining clues and unlock the 2000 year-old mystery behind our greatest national treasure.

With Leila Hatami • Nezam Manouchehri • Mehran Rajabi • Mahmoud Pak Neeyat • Ali Reza Raisian

Based on a concept the director and Abbas Kiarostami developed on a photography trip together, a man and a young woman (Leila Hatami of Leila) are stranded in a remote village after their car breaks down. The photographer and the sole adult male inhabitant, a schoolteacher, leave to get help while the young woman, herself childless, bonds with the children whose parents are nowhere to be found.

With Brenda Strong • Eric Johnson • Sam Hennings • Tiffany Dupont • Russell Holt • Scott Swofford

Recently moved to upstate New York from the comfort of their Vermont homestead, the Benjamin Steed family makes their way into the established social structure of Palmyra. In their attmpt to settle peacefully into the new community, they discover that the help they have hired to clear their land is at the center of a religious controversy - a controvery that threatens to tear the family apart. As two of the Steed brothers contend for the favor of a wealthy merchant's daughter, they find themselves on opposite sides of the religous question. Although the family struggles to smooth the contention, they soon face deeper issues of family loyalty and the pursuit of truth.

With Alain Sarde • George Aguilar • Ruth Waldburger • Sarah Adler • Nade Dieu • Rony Kramer • Leticia Gutierrez

The film follows the structure of Dante's masterwork, beginning in Hell. In Godard's hands, hell becomes a devastating but beautifully collected montage of war images. War - be it World War II, Algeria, Vietnam, Israel or Bosnia - is a constant in his films, but never has he pieced together an assemblage of such poetic power. Purgatory finds Godard himself in Sarajevo, where he has been invited to attend a European literary conference with other artists and writers. Here we are introduced to a young French-Jewish journalist based in Israel who has come to Sarajevo to see a place "where reconciliation is possible." Paradise is the most enigmatic section of the film, where the journalist finds peace by the water on a small beach guarded by American Marines.