Browse Movies : 2008 : Drama

An authentic, gritty and emotional study of the New York City Police Department, "Pride & Glory" looks deeply into the professional and personal lives of the people who inhabit it. Told through the interwoven lives of a three-generation family of cops whose moral codes are tested when Ray Farrell, one of three sons on the job, investigates a case that reveals an incendiary police corruption scandal involving his own brother. When Ray is falsely implicated in a brutal crime related to the scandal, he and his family must choose among their loyalties to each other, the department, and the revelation of the truth that will atone them.

Based on an extraordinary true story, "Defiance" is an epic tale of family, honor, vengeance and salvation in World War II. The year is 1941 and the Jews of Eastern Europe are being massacred by the thousands. Managing to escape certain death, three brothers take refuge in the dense surrounding woods they have known since childhood. There they begin their desperate battle against the Nazis. Daniel Craig, Liev Schreiber and Jamie Bell star as brothers who turn a primitive struggle to survive into something far more consequential -- a way to avenge the deaths of their loved ones by saving thousands of others.

The story follows hard-working, middle class family man Felix Delgado (Leguizamo) who works for Dunbar Security, an armored transport company, and finds himself in the middle of a carefully orchestrated heist. Upon recovery, in addition to battling mood swings, pain and paranoia, Felix discovers that he's the prime suspect in the robbery, and takes it upon himself to do what the FBI and the police can't seem to handle: finding the real perpetrators and clearing his name.

"I was born under unusual circumstances." And so begins "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," adapted from the 1920s story by F. Scott Fitzgerald about a man who is born in his eighties and ages backwards: a man, like any of us, who is unable to stop time. We follow his story, set in New Orleans from the end of World War I in 1918, into the 21st century, following his journey that is as unusual as any man's life can be. Directed by David Fincher and starring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett with Taraji P. Henson, Tilda Swinton, Jason Flemyng, Elias Koteas and Julia Ormond, "Benjamin Button," is a grand tale of a not-so-ordinary man and the people and places he discovers along the way, the loves he finds, the joys of life and the sadness of death, and what lasts beyond time.

Superstar Tom Cruise heads an international cast as Col. Claus von Stauffenberg, the aristocratic German officer who led the heroic attempt to bring down the Nazi regime and end the war by planting a bomb in Hitler's bunker. The "July 20 Plot" on Hitler's life is one of the most heroic but least known episodes of World War Two. Severely wounded in combat, Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg returns from Africa to join the German Resistance and help create Operation Valkyrie, the complex plan that will allow a shadow government to replace Hitler's once he is dead. But fate and circumstance conspire to thrust Stauffenberg from one of many in the plot to a double-edged central role. Not only must he lead the coup and seize control of his nation's government... He must kill Hitler himself.

Set against the action-packed world of Mixed Martial Arts, "Never Back Down" is the story of Jake Tyler, a tough kid who leads with his fists, and, often, with his heart. Jake Tyler, played by Sean Faris, is the new kid in town with a troubled past. He has recently moved to Orlando, Florida with his family who has relocated to support his younger brother's shot at a professional tennis career. Jake was a star athlete on the football team at home, but in this new city he is an outsider with a reputation for being a quick tempered brawler.

Making an attempt to fit in, at the invitation of a flirtatious classmate, Baja (Amber Heard) Jake goes to a party where he is unwittingly pulled into a fight with a bully named Ryan McDonald (Cam Gigandet). While he is defeated and humiliated in the fight, a classmate introduces himself to Jake and tells him about the sport known as Mixed Marshall Arts (MMA). He sees a star in Jake and asks that he meet with his mentor, Jean Roqua, played by Djimon Hounsou (Blood Diamond).

It is immediately apparent to Jake that MMA is not street fighting, but rather an art form he wants to master. Roqua will take Jake under his wing, but it is up to Jake to find the patience, discipline, willingness and reason within him to succeed. For Jake, there is much more at stake than mere victory. His decision will not just settle a score; it will define who he is.

Adrienne Willis (Diane Lane), a woman with her life in chaos, retreats to the tiny coastal town of Rodanthe, in the Outer Banks of North Carolina, to tend to a friend's inn for the weekend. Here she hopes to find the tranquility she so desperately needs to rethink the conflicts surrounding her—a wayward husband who has asked to come home, and a teenaged daughter who resents her every decision. Almost as soon as Adrienne gets to Rodanthe, a major storm is forecast and Dr. Paul Flanner (Richard Gere) arrives. The only guest at the inn, Flanner is not on a weekend escape but rather is there to face his own crisis of conscience. Now, with the storm closing in, the two turn to each other for comfort and, in one magical weekend, set in motion a life-changing romance that will resonate throughout the rest of their lives.

A heartfelt and hilarious adventure that chronicles the exploits of Nim, a young girl living a high-tech Robinson Crusoe existence on an unspoiled tropical island with her scientist father and her best friends - a motherly sea lion, a rambunctious iguana, and a sea turtle. When Nim's father embarks on a day of research at sea, she begins an unlikely e-mail communication with an agoraphobic novelist who lives in New York City. When a storm prevents her father's return and unpredictable dangers confront Nim and the Island, she must find the resources to survive. At the same time, the novelist begins to realize that her pen pal is not a scientist, but a little girl who is alone and in trouble, she also has to dig down for the courage to leave her safe haven and rescue Nim.

True story of football great Ernie Davis, the man who broke college football records and racial barriers in the early 1960s, becoming the first black player to win the Heisman Trophy. The running back was drafted into the NFL, but his career was cut short when he was diagnosed with leukemia.

Brian and Paulie are two young punks running loose on the hard streets of South Boston. Coming from separate but equally broken homes, the boys bond of friendship makes them brothers. They do whatever it takes to survive, living by the code of their dog eat dog neighborhood.

As Brian (Mark Ruffalo) and Paulie (Ethan Hawke) get older, petty crimes and misdemeanors grow into more serious offenses. Eventually, they fall under sway to the organized crime boss Pat Kelly (Brian Goodman) who runs the felonious backroom businesses and illicit trades in Southie. They also find themselves the targets of unwanted attention from Detective Moran (Donnie Wahlberg) one of Boston’s finest. And Brian in particular becomes lost in haze of drugs and rebellion. Even the love he has for his wife Stacy (Amanda Peet) and his children isn't enough to redeem him.

In time, the friends find themselves in jail – just a part of doing business on the mean streets they call home. Although not gone away forever Brian and Paulie are incarcerated long enough to learn a few lessons, but will they lead to changed lives on the outside? A storm of trouble is brewing: Paulie has big plans to liberate them from their life of crime – just one more job – one last heist – a bold and potentially violent daylight robbery. But Brian has used his time in jail to make amends to his family and get clean. When Paulie comes to him for help, Brian must face the biggest challenge to his code of honor that he could ever imagine: stand by his friend or salvage his family … he cannot do both!

"What Doesn't Kill You" reveals the true life drama that writer/director Brian Goodman underwent in his struggle to honor the people he loved – on both sides of the law.

Set in the 1950's, a happy suburban couple with two children find themselves caught between their true desires and the pressure to conform -- with explosive consequences.

A soldier returns home to Texas from Iraq but is then recalled with the "stop-loss" procedure, the controversial statute now used by the U.S. Defense Dept. to extend soldiers' combat time. The soldier refuses to return to battle.

Fifteen-year-old Tracey Berkowitz is naked under a tattered shower curtain at the back of a bus, looking for her little brother Sonny, who thinks he's a dog. Tracey's journey leads her into the dark underbelly of the city, into the emotional cespool of her home, through the brutality of her high school, the clinical cat and mouse games with her shrink and her soaring fantasies of Billy Zero--her boyfriend and rock 'n' roll savior. Her travels also put her in contact with the seedier inhabitants of the city. Like Lance, her would-be savior who ultimately puts her life in jeopardy. Tracey's stories begin to intertwine truth with lies, hope with despair as she moves closer to the truth of Sonny's disappearance.

A prehistoric epic that depicts tribal life at the dawn of modern man and centers on a young mammoth hunter embarking on a journey through uncharted territory to secure the future of his dying tribe. In the process, he saves the one he loves.

"Eagle Eye" is a race-against-time thriller starring Shia LaBeouf, Michelle Monaghan, Rosario Dawson, Anthony Mackie and Billy Bob Thornton. Jerry Shaw (LaBeouf) and Rachel Holloman (Monaghan) are two strangers thrown together by a mysterious phone call from a woman they have never met. Threatening their lives and family, she pushes Jerry and Rachel into a series of increasingly dangerous situations – using the technology of everyday life to track and control their every move. As the situation escalates, these two ordinary people become the country's most wanted fugitives, who must work together to discover what is really happening – and more importantly, why.

A science professor's untraditional hypotheses have made him the laughing stock of the academic community. But on an expedition in Iceland, he and his nephew stumble upon a major discovery that launches them on a thrilling journey deep beneath the Earth's surface, where they travel through never-before-seen worlds and encounter a variety of unusual creatures.

"Slumdog Millionaire" is the story of Jamal Malik, an 18 year-old orphan from the slums of Mumbai, who is about to experience the biggest day of his life. With the whole nation watching, he is just one question away from winning a staggering 20 million rupees on India's "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?" But when the show breaks for the night, police arrest him on suspicion of cheating; how could a street kid know so much? Desperate to prove his innocence, Jamal tells the story of his life in the slum where he and his brother grew up, of their adventures together on the road, of vicious encounters with local gangs, and of Latika, the girl he loved and lost. Each chapter of his story reveals the key to the answer to one of the game show's questions. Intrigued by Jamal's story, the jaded Police Inspector begins to wonder what a young man with no apparent desire for riches is really doing on this game show? When the new day dawns and Jamal returns to answer the final question, the Inspector and sixty million viewers are about to find out…

Four American friends on vacation in Cancún, Mexico, meet a German tourist that persuades them to join his hunt for his younger brother, who was last seen with his girlfriend near some mysterious ruins.

25-year-old Wes was the most disaffected, cube-dwelling drone the planet had ever known. His boss chewed him out hourly, his girlfriend ignored him routinely and his life plodded on interminably. Everyone was certain this disengaged slacker would amount to nothing. There was little else for Wes to do but wile away the days and die in his slow, clock-punching rut. Until he met a woman named Fox. After his estranged father is murdered, the deadly sexy Fox recruits Wes into the Fraternity, a secret society that trains Wes to avenge his dad's death by unlocking his dormant powers. As she teaches him how to develop lightning-quick reflexes and phenomenal agility, Wes discovers this team lives by an ancient, unbreakable code: carry out the death orders given by fate itself. With wickedly brilliant tutors--including the Fraternity's enigmatic leader, Sloan--Wes grows to enjoy all the strength he ever wanted. But, slowly, he begins to realize there is more to his dangerous associates than meets the eye. And as he wavers between newfound heroism and vengeance, Wes will come to learn what no one could ever teach him: he alone controls his destiny.

Clint Eastwood stars in the drama "Gran Torino," marking his first film role since his Oscar-winning "Million Dollar Baby." Eastwood also directs the film in which he plays Walt Kowalski, an iron-willed veteran living in a changing world, who is forced by his immigrant neighbors to confront his own long-held prejudices. .