Browse Movies : Released : 2003 : Drama

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House of Sand and Fog

Based on the acclaimed bestseller by Andre Dubus III. Massoud Amir Behrani (Ben Kingsley) is living a lie to fulfill a dream. Once a member of the Shah of Iran's elite inner circle, he has brought his family to America to build a new life. Despite a pretense of continued affluence, he is barely making ends meet until he sees his opportunity in the auction of a house being sold for back taxes. It is a terrible mistake. Through a bureaucratic snafu, the house had been improperly seized from its rightful owner, Kathy Lazaro (Jennifer Connelly). The loss of her home tears away Kathy's last hope of a stable life—a life that had been nearly destroyed by addiction—and Kathy decides to fight to recover her home…at any cost.

The Station Agent

When his only friend and co-worker dies, a young man born with dwarfism moves to an abandoned train depot in rural New Jersey. Though he tried to maintain a life of solitude, he is soon entangled with an artist who is struggling with a personal tragedy and an overly-friendly Cuban hot dog vendor.

The Big Empty

John Person (Jon Favreau), a struggling actor on the verge of eviction from his Hollywood studio apartment, goes against his better judgement -- and that of his pretty neighbor Grace (Joey Lauren Adams) -- and accepts an offer from his strange neighbor Neely (Bud Cort) to courier a blue suitcase up to the desert truck stop of Baker, California. His instructions are simple: deliver the suitcase to a trucker called Cowboy (Sean Bean) and collect $27 thousand. Oh yeah, and he has to defend the suitcase with his life. Naturally, nothing goes according to plan once John arrives. The Cowboy is nowhere to be found, John meets with some kooky alien-obsessed locals and Special Agent Banks (Kelsey Grammer) questions John about the mysterious decapitation of Neely and about other missing persons. When the final showdown approaches, John is faced with a choice that could change his life forever. Has the whole town gone mad? Or are the loony locals, who he dismissed as crazy, the only sane ones in this strange parallel universe called The Big Empty?

Veronica Guerin

Based on a true story, this is about the Irish journalist Veronica Guerin (Cate Blanchett), a reporter for the Dublin Sunday Independent, who exposed some of Dublin's most powerful crime barons and drug lords in 1996. But later that year she was gunned down by assasins hired by the same criminal drug lords she exposed.

American Splendor

The plot is based on the true story of Harvey Pekar (Paul Giamatti), a Cleveland Hospital file clerk who writes comic books about his life and experiences in his free time.

Better Luck Tomorrow

Ben is an overachieving high-school student in Orange County, Calif. He's at the top of his class and set to matriculate at an Ivy League school. But Ben has a darker side. While he maintains academic success, to alleviate the pressure put upon him by his parents, he indulges in acts of crime. His life slowly begins to spin out of control and he eventually joins a gang.

Girl with a Pearl Earring

A speculative account of the life of Griet, a 16-year-old girl who appears in Johannes Vermeer's painting of the same title. Set in 17th century Holland, Griet is employed by Vermeer as a housemaid to care for his six children, his jealous pregnant wife and his uncommunicative mother-in-law. Tensions arise when Vermeer's wife suspects intimacy between her husband and the girl--and then climax, when the wife discovers that Griet borrowed her precious pearl earrings to sit for the now famous portrait.

Open Range

Boss Spearman (Robert Duvall), Charley Waite (Kevin Costner), Mose Harrison (Abraham Benrubi) and "Button" (Diego Luna) freegraze their cattle across the vast prairies of the West, sharing their friendship forged by a steadfast code of honor and living a life unencumbered by civilization. When their wayward her forces them near the small town of Harmonville, the cowboys encounter a corrupt Sheriff (James Russo) and kingpin rancher (Michael Gambon) who govern the territory through fear, tyranny and violence. Boss Charley find themselves inextricably drawn towards the inevitable showdown as they are forced to defend the freedom and values of a lifestyle that is all to quickly vanishing. Amidst this turmoil, life suddenly takes an unexpected turn for loner Charley when he meets the beautiful and warm-spirited Sue Barlow (Annette Bening), a woman who embraces both his heart and his soul. As these courageous men prepare for the decisive battle that looms, they are also forced to confront and conquer their own internal demons.

Runaway Jury

n their first film together, screen legends Gene Hackman and Dustin Hoffman face off in this electrifying nail-biter about a ruthless jury consultant who'll do anything to win. With lives and millions of dollars at stake, the fixer plays a deadly cat-and-mouse game with a jury member (John Cusack) and a mysterious woman (Rachel Weisz) who offer to "deliver" the verdict to the highest bidder.

Spun

A three-day drug adventure awaits the speed junkies in "Spun". Jason Schwartzman ("Rushmore") stars as a young speed addict who embarks on an adventure with his dealer, played by John Leguizamo, and the drug chemist, played by Mickey Rourke. Patrick Fugit ("Almost Famous") plays a fellow speed addict, while Brittany Murphy and Mena Suvari play girlfriends of the drug dealers.

XX XY

"XX/XY" is a tale about a trio composed of a young artist, Coles, and two Sarah Lawrence undergrads, Sam and Thea, who, on the night they meet, tread briefly on the wild side of sexual lust and drunken experimentation. As friends and, at some points, alternately couples and/or lovers, the three carry on a relationship that ends dramatically. Quite by accident, the relationship is reborn a decade later, and passionate desires are significantly reopened.

Camp

This musical set at a summer camp for young singers, dancers, actors and musicians tells the story of Bert Hanley, a former Broadway songwriter who has to work at the camp because his career has burnt out after a series of flops. Inspired by the kids at the camp, however, Bert sees his chance to find success again by recruiting them to put together a new production. The long summer days at Camp Ovation are ripe with life lessons, fast friendships, jealousies and antics, along with the shocking discovery that there is an honest-to-goodness straight boy in the bunch.

The League of Extraordi...

Based very loosely on the Alan Moore graphic novel epic of the same name, this is the story of a group of characters drawn from famous works of literature, including Captain Nemo, Allan Quatermain, The Invisible Man, Mina Murray and Dr. Jekyll, banding together to combat criminal undertakings of the highest order near the turn of the 19th century. Rather than remain true to the comic roots, the film also incorporates Tom Sawyer and Dorian Gray, in an apparent effort to keep the cast from being entirely without Americans, and it is set in New York.

The Lord of the Rings: ...

The third of the trilogy. As the shadow of Mordor grows across the land, Aragorn is revealed as the hidden heir to the ancient kings. Gandolf miraculously returns and defeats the evil wizard, Saruman. Sam leaves his master for the dead after a battle with the giant spider, Shelob; but Frodo is still alive--in the hands of the Orcs. And while the armies of the Dark Lord are massing--and the one ring comes ever closer to the Cracks of Doom.

Civil Brand

Women prisoners strike up a friendship with a young law student who works as a part-time prison guard. Together they discover that a corporation funds and is profitting from the plantation-like work environment they are forced to work under. In a botched attempt to organize a protest against their "slave labor", the women take over the prison - A rare glimpse of the effects of the prison industrial complex on female inmates.

Deathwatch

Western Front, 1917. In the chaos of a trench war battle, a small company of men get lost, surrounded by a thick mysterious fog. As they emerge from it, they come across a deserted German trench. Convinced they have broken through the enemy lines, they decide to secure the trench and begin to explore it. Only to find mutilated German corpses everywhere. Something very strange and evil has happened here. When one of them is found horribly murdered, wrapped in barbed wire, they know they are not alone!

Le Divorce

In this modern-day comedy of manners, American sisters Isabel (Kate Hudson) and Roxy (Naomi Watts) come face to face with the complicated social mores of French society. Pregnant and jilted by her scoundrel husband, Roxy is headed for "Le Divorce", while Isabel leaps into l'amour with a married French diplomat who happens to be the uncle of Roxy's soon-to-be-ex. Culture clash and scandal ensue as the sisters learn what it really takes to be an American in Paris.

Secondhand Lions

"Secondhand Lions" follows the comedic adventures of an introverted 14 year-old boy (Haley Joel Osment) who reluctantly finds himself spending the summer with a pair of cranky, eccentric great-uncles (Michael Caine and Robert Duvall). At first appalled by their gruff uncaring manner, over time he becomes enthralled with his uncles as the exotic tales and remembrances of their own youthful exploits introduce the boy to a world of imagination and wonder and re-ignites the old men's spirits.

Spider

Spider is a strange and lonely man. After a long period in a mental institution, he returns to the streets of the East End of London where he grew up. The sights and sounds and the smells of those streets begin to awaken the deeply buried memories of his childhood. At the centre of these memories is the great trauma of losing his mother, a trauma which occurred, he believes, because his plumber father, Bill Cleg, murdered her in order to move a prostitute, Yvonne, into the house in her place.

Tears of the Sun

In director Antoine Fuqua's new action-adventure film, Bruce Willis stars as Lt. A.K. Waters, the loyal veteran officer of a Navy S.E.A.L unit. When he's sent into the heart of Africa, the usually hard-bitten Waters finds himself deeply conflicted at having to choose between following orders and the dictates of his own conscience. Though a fictionalization, Tears of the Sun deals with the gritty realism of human conflict as Lt. Waters travels to war-torn central Africa to rescue Dr. Lena Kendricks (Monica Bellucci), a U.S. citizen who runs a mission in the countryside. But when Lt. Waters arrives Dr. Kendricks refuses to abandon the refugees under her care. She implores Waters to escort them on a dangerous trek through the dense jungle to the nearby border. During the journey the S.E.A.L.s find themselves the unwitting guardians of a man sought by the rebel militia. This further endangers their already hazardous mission, but all the while strengthening Waters' resolve to protect Lena and the refugees, and to deliver them safely across the border.