Browse Movies : 2006 : Drama

"Bobby" revisits the night Robert F. Kennedy was gunned down at the Ambassador Hotel in 1968. Story is about how the lives of those at the hotel that evening intersected. Movie will take place against the backdrop of the cultural issues gripping the country at the time, including racism, sexual inequality and class differences.

The story of a lawyer who occasionally transforms into, well, a large, shaggy sheepdog. Needless to say, the spontaneous changes don't help his legal career, but they do help him learn how to be a better family man.

"A Good Woman" is a scandalous yet comic story set in New York and the Italian Riviera during the 1930s. Mrs. Erlynne (Helen Hunt) is an audacious and well-known woman of a certain age with a reputation for entertaining wealthy, married men. Leaving her problems and unpaid bills in New York, she sets sail for Italy to pursue Meg (Scarlett Johansson) and Robert Windermere (Mark Umbers), one of the most high profile couples in 1930s society. Once in Europe, she becomes embroiled in a family scandal which becomes an intriguing story of seduction, betrayal and, ultimately, surprising loyalty.

"Gridiron Gang" tells the uplifting story of detention camp probation officer, Sean Porter ("The Rock"), who creates a high-school-level football team from a ragtag group of dangerous teenage inmates as a means to teach them self-respect and social responsibility. He is joined in this experiment by co-worker, Malcolm Moore (Xzibit). But Porter must first overcome almost universal resistance from the powers that be — his skeptical bosses and coaches at rival high schools who don't want their players mixing it up with convicted criminals on the football field.

When a rogue wave capsizes a luxury cruise ship in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean, a small group of survivors find themselves unlikely allies in a battle for their lives. As the unstable vessel rapidly floods with water, they face unimaginable odds and life-altering decisions in their desperate fight to the surface.

The classic story of loyalty, trust, and sacrifice comes to life in this live-action adaptation. Fern (Dakota Fanning) is one of only two living beings who sees that Wilbur is a special animal as she raises him, the runt of the litter, into a terrific and radiant pig. As Wilbur moves into a new barn, he begins a second profound friendship with the most unlikely of creatures—a spider named Charlotte—and their bond inspires the animals around them to come together as a family. When the word gets out that Wilbur's days are numbered, it seems that only a miracle will save his life. A determined Charlotte—who sees miracles in the ordinary—spins words into her web in an effort to convince the farmer that Wilbur is "some pig" and worth saving.

A suburban town is full of perfect parents who are fully devoted to rearing their children for Harvard futures and keeping them safe from predators. The adults escape the excruciatingly bore-fests their lives have become via Internet porn and extramarital affairs. A stay-at-home mom has an affair with an ex-jock stay-at-home dad who rebels against his wife's wishes that he become a big-bucks lawyer.

"The Departed" is set in South Boston, where the state police force is waging war on organized crime. Young undercover cop Billy Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio) is assigned to infiltrate the mob syndicate run by gangland chief Costello (Jack Nicholson). While Billy is quickly gaining Costello's confidence, Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon), a hardened young criminal who has infiltrated the police department as an informer for the syndicate, is rising to a position of power in the Special Investigation Unit. Each man becomes deeply consumed by his double life, gathering information about the plans and counter-plans of the operations he has penetrated. But when it becomes clear to both the gangsters and the police that there's a mole in their midst, Billy and Colin are suddenly in danger of being caught and exposed to the enemy—and each must race to uncover the identity of the other man in time to save himself.

The story follows the misadventures and confusion of a groom (Ed Burns) and his four groomsmen the week before a wedding. Wrestling with issues of fatherhood, honesty and growing up, the five thirtysomethings discover their extended adolescence might be finally coming to a close.

The movie is a celebrity version of Garrison Keillor's radio show. It adds a slight story of the radio show ending as a new owner (Tommy Lee Jones) has bought the Fitzgerald theater that the show broadcasts from and is going to tear it down. Another fantasy element is thrown in as an angel (Virginia Madsen) stalks the theater to take one of the performers. Keillor plays the lead character, coincidentally called GK. Lily Tomlin and Meryl Streep play the singing Johnson Sisters, with Lindsay Lohan as a suicide-obsessed daughter of Streep. Woody Harrelson and John C. Reilly are hilarious as the slightly off-color singing cowboy duo, Dusty & Lefty. Kevin Kline is a security guard who tells the story. Maya Rudolph also appears as a pregnant stage coordinator. Contains some mild sexually-oriented jokes.

From Academy Award winning filmmaker Mel Gibson, comes "Apocalypto" a heart stopping mythic action-adventure set against the turbulent end times of the once great Mayan civilization. When his idyllic existence is brutally disrupted by a violent invading force, a man is taken on a perilous journey to a world ruled by fear and oppression where a harrowing end awaits him. Through a twist of fate and spurred by the power of his love for his woman and his family he will make a desperate break to return home and to ultimately save his way of life.

Set in 1930s Los Angeles, the story follows Arturo Bandini (Colin Farrell), a first generation Italian hoping to become a writer, and Camilla (Eva Mendes), a Mexican woman who hopes to marry an American.

In a role Aaron Eckhart seems born to play, the hero of "Thank You for Smoking" is Nick Naylor, chief spokesman for Big Tobacco, who makes his living defending the rights of smokers and cigarette makers in today's neo-puritanical culture. Confronted by health zealots out to ban tobacco and an opportunistic senator (Macy) who wants to put poison labels on cigarette packs, Nick goes on a PR offensive, spinning away the dangers of cigarettes on TV talk shows and enlisting a Hollywood super-agent (Rob Lowe) to promote smoking in movies. Nick's newfound notoriety attracts the attention of both tobacco's head honcho (Duvall) and an investigative reporter for an influential Washington daily (Holmes). Nick says he is just doing what it takes to pay the mortgage, but he begins to think about how his work makes him look in the eyes of his young son Joey (Bright).

Based on the Alice Hoffman novel, the film revolves around two teenage girls (JoJo, Emma Roberts) who discover a mermaid (Sara Paxton) in their beach club's swimming pool.

"Find Me Guilty" is based on the true story of Giacomo "Jackie Dee" DiNorscio (Vin Diesel). After years of federal investigation, 20 members of the New Jersey Lucchese crime family are brought to court on 76 charges of various crimes. Already in the midst of serving a 30-year sentence, Jackie is offered an opportunity to shorten his time by testifying against many of his closest friends. But Jackie refuses to betray his "family," and goes so far as to defend himself in what will ultimately become the longest criminal trial of its time.

At first daunted by the complicated politics of the courtroom, Jackie comfortably takes over the spotlight, insisting "I'm no gangster... I'm a gagster." With his sheer determination and unconditional loyalty, Jackie never fails to surprise even those most skeptical of his intentions.

After 21 months, the Lucchese trial became the longest in U.S. criminal history, and has continued to stand out over the years as a unique moment in courtroom history, featuring 20 defendants, 20 defense attorneys, and unusually extensive summations; one defense lawyer's closing statement ran for 5 days alone. At times hilarious and at times deeply serious, the trial and Jackie's subsequent experiences at this crucial moment in the history of criminal prosecution culminated in one of the most shocking and remarkable verdicts in American judicial history.

Denzel Washington stars as New York police detective Keith Miller, a tough, street-smart cop fighting for a promotion while trying to live down accusations of misconduct connected to his last case. When he and his partner are dispatched to the scene of an in-progress bank robbery and hostage crisis, Miller must face off against a well-educated criminal (Owen) masterminding a concisely plotted operation. As negotiations grow more strained, a powerful lawyer with mysterious ties (Foster) becomes involved in the crisis... and Miller slowly begins to realize that in this ultimate game of cat and mouse, rules are arbitrary, all roles are up for grabs and the black-and-white of right an wrong has blurred to a shadowy landscape of gray.

In "Lady in the Water", a story originally conceived by Shyamalan for his children, a modest building manager named Cleveland Heep (Paul Giamatti) rescues a mysterious young woman (Bryce Dallas Howard) from danger and discovers she is actually a narf, a character from a bedtime story who is trying to make the treacherous journey from our world back to hers. Cleveland and his fellow tenants start to realize that they are also characters in this bedtime story. As Cleveland falls deeper and deeper in love with the woman, he works together with the tenants to protect his new fragile friend from the deadly creatures that reside in this fable and are determined to prevent her from returning home.

Syd is a strung-out, wealthy 20-something whose life is about to go from meaningless to futile. After a massive binging and drug spree, he awakes to the news that he is about to lose his "one true love" forever: Syd's ex-girlfriend is moving from New York to Los Angeles. Syd has one more chance to win her back, tonight, at her going-away party. Syd stocks up on cocaine and goes off to the party with Bateman, a young English banker he's just met. Throughout the evening, however—punctuated by regular drug breaks in the bathroom—we discover that Syd's relationship problems involve more than friction with his girlfriend. Is there a light at the end of his tunnel?

In an incredible twist of fate, a Scottish doctor (James McAvoy) on a Ugandan medical mission becomes irreversibly entangled with one of the world's most barbaric figures: Idi Amin (Forest Whitaker). Impressed by Dr. Garrigan's brazen attitude in a moment of crisis, the newly self-appointed Ugandan President Amin hand picks him as his personal physician and closest confidante. Though Garrigan is at first flattered and fascinated by his new position, he soon awakens to Amin's savagery - and his own complicity in it. Horror and betrayal ensue as Garrigan tries to right his wrongs and get out of Uganda alive.

Dan (Scott Mechlowicz), a college student and world-champion athlete, is haunted by the feeling that something is missing from his life. A chance encounter with the enigmatic "Socrates" (Nick Nolte) starts Dan on a spiritual odyssey, which throws his "perfect" but shallow life into total disarray. He eventually discovers a surprising and powerful road to enlightenment and the true meaning of winning.