Actor Armin Mueller-Stahl (1930)

Knight of Cups (2015) is an American experimental drama film written and directed by Terrence Malick. It tells the story of a young prince, whose father, the king of the East, sends him on a mission to find a pearl in Egypt. However, upon arriving, he is offered a drink that causes him to forget his royal identity and fall into a deep slumber. The King sends out many messengers in search of his son, hoping to guide him back home. As a child, Rick would often hear this tale from his father. Now grown and working as a screenwriter in Santa Monica, he yearns for something more meaningful but doesn’t know where to ...

Angels & Demons (2009) is an American mystery thriller film directed by Ron Howard and written by Akiva Goldsman and David Koepp, adapted from Dan Brown’s novel of the same name. Following the sudden death of Pope Pius XVI, the Catholic Church prepares for the papal conclave to elect his successor in Vatican City. During this time, Father Patrick McKenna serves as temporary ruler of the Vatican as Camerlengo. Meanwhile, scientists Father Silvano Bentivoglio and Dr. ...

Josef Rusnak’s science fiction neo-noir film, The Thirteenth Floor (1999), takes place in a futuristic version of Los Angeles. The main character, Douglas Hall, is the protégé and heir to Hannon Fuller’s multibillion-dollar computer enterprise. Fuller has just completed a revolutionary virtual reality simulation of 1937 Los Angeles, featuring lifelike computer-generated humans. However, when Fuller is murdered while testing the system, Hall becomes the prime suspect due to overwhelming evidence against him. As doubts about his own innocence begin to creep in, Hall must unravel the mystery behind ...

The X-Files (1998) is an American science fiction thriller film adapted from Chris Carter’s well-known television series. During the Ice Age in 35,000 B.C., two cavemen in what would later become North Texas encountered an alien life form in a cave. One was killed and the other was infected by a dark liquid-like substance. Many centuries later, in 1998, a young boy falls into a hole and is also infected by the same substance seeping from the ground. When firefighters enter to rescue him, they do not make it back out. In response, a team of men wearing hazmat suits is sent to retrieve their bodies as well as the ...

The Peacemaker (1997), an American political action thriller directed by Mimi Leder, marks DreamWorks Pictures’ first film. During an Eastern Orthodox baptism celebration in Pale, Bosnia, the moderate Bosnian Finance Minister, who had been advocating for peace in the Yugoslav Wars, is assassinated. At a missile base located in Kartaly (Chelyabinsk Oblast), Russia, ten nuclear warheads from a SS-18 Satan ICBM are being loaded onto a train headed for a dismantling facility. However, Russian Army General Aleksandr Kodoroff and his rogue Spetznaz unit take control of the train and transfer nine of the warheads to ...

The American mystery thriller film, The Game (1997), directed by David Fincher, follows the story of Nicholas Van Orton – a self-absorbed investment banker in San Francisco. On his 48th birthday, Nicholas meets with his estranged younger brother, Conrad, who surprises him with a unique gift – a voucher for a ‘game’ offered by Consumer Recreation Services (CRS). Despite being skeptical at first, Nicholas decides to apply for the game at the CRS office. However, the extensive psychological and physical examinations he must undergo only serve to irritate him. Eventually, he is informed that his ...

The drama 12 Angry Men (1997), directed by William Friedkin and based on Reginald Rose’s 1954 teleplay of the same name, is a remake of the 1957 film. The story follows a murder trial in which a teenage boy from the city slums is accused of killing his father. The judge instructs the jury to determine the boy’s guilt or innocence, with a unanimous decision required for conviction. A guilty verdict could potentially result in the death penalty, unlike in the 1957 film. As the twelve jurors retire to the jury room, an initial vote reveals that eleven are in ...

The Power of One (1992) is a drama directed and edited by John G. Avildsen. It is loosely based on Bryce Courtenay’s book with the same name, published in 1989. The story revolves around Peter Philip Kennith Keith (also known as ‘PK’), born in 1930 on a South African homestead to an Englishwoman who had recently lost her husband. PK received dual education – from his mother in England’s ways and from a Zulu nanny whose son Tonderai was his closest friend. However, their peaceful existence is disrupted when the farm’s cattle succumb to ...