85% (3) Downfall 156 min, R, [Biography, Drama, History, War] [Oliver Hirschbiegel] [08 Apr 2005]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 82%, Rotten Tomatoes: 91%, Metacritic: 82%, External Reviews
Awards: Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 21 wins & 29 nominations.
Actors: Alexandra Maria Lara, Bruno Ganz, Corinna Harfouch, Ulrich Matthes
Writer: Bernd Eichinger (screenplay), Joachim Fest (book), Traudl Junge (book), Melissa Müller (book)
External Links: Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Website Language: German, Russian, Hungarian Country: Germany, Austria, Italy
Plot: In April of 1945, Germany stands at the brink of defeat with the Soviet Armies closing in from the west and south. In Berlin, capital of the Third Reich, Adolf Hitler proclaims that Germany will still achieve victory and orders his Generals and advisers to fight to the last man. "Downfall" explores these final days of the Reich, where senior German leaders (such as Himmler and Goring) began defecting from their beloved Fuhrer, in an effort to save their own lives, while still others (Joseph Goebbels) pledge to die with Hitler. Hitler, himself, degenerates into a paranoid shell of a man, full of optimism one moment and suicidal depression the next. When the end finally does comes, and Hitler lies dead by his own hand, what is left of his military must find a way to end the killing that is the Battle of Berlin, and lay down their arms in surrender.
Rotten Tomatoes: In the dead of a November night in 1942, SS officers through the woods escort a group of young women to Wolf's Lair, Hitler's headquarters in Eastern Prussia. They are candidates for the post of personal secretary to the Fuehrer. Among them is 22-year-old Traudl Junge, a fresh-faced girl from Munich. Traudl is chosen for the job and she is overcome with joy at the thought of serving beside her Fuehrer. BERLIN, APRIL 20, 1945: Hitler has retreated to a bunker system under the German Chancellery. Traudl Junge is asleep in her room, deep beneath the ground. She is awakened by tremors from artillery fire. The enemy is getting closer. Charting the last 10 days of Hitler's life, from his 56th birthday on April 20th, 1945 to his suicide on April 30th, the film uses multiple characters to show the chaos of a country coming apart at the seams, from Hitler's henchman under the streets of Berlin, to the soldiers and civilians fighting and dying as the Soviet Army ravaged the city above.
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81% (3) Control 122 min, R, [Biography, Drama, Music] [Anton Corbijn] [26 Sep 2007]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 77%, Rotten Tomatoes: 88%, Metacritic: 78%, External Reviews
Awards: Nominated for 1 BAFTA Film Award. Another 31 wins & 33 nominations.
Actors: Alexandra Maria Lara, Craig Parkinson, Joe Anderson, Sam Riley, Samantha Morton
Writer: Deborah Curtis (book), Matt Greenhalgh (screenplay)
External Links: Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Website Language: English Country: UK, USA, Australia, Japan, France
Plot: Ian Curtis is a quiet and rather sad lad who works for an employment agency and sings in a band called Warsaw. He meets a girl named Debbie whom he promptly marries and his band, of which the name in the meantime has been changed to Joy Division, gets more and more successful. Even though Debbie and he become parents, their relationship is going downhill rapidly and Ian starts an affair with Belgium Annik whom he met after one of the gigs and he's almost never at home. Ian also suffers from epilepsy and has no-good medication for it. He doesn't know how to handle the feelings he has for Debbie and Annik and the pressure the popularity of Joy Division and the energy performing costs him.
Rotten Tomatoes: Ian Curtis has aspirations beyond the trappings of small town life in 1970s England. Wanting to emulate his musical heroes, such as David Bowie and Iggy Pop, he joins a band, and his musical ambition begins to thrive. Soon though, the everyday fears and emotions, that fuel his music, slowly begin to eat away at him. Married young, with a daughter, he is distracted from his family commitments by a new love and the growing expectations of his band, Joy Division. The strain manifests itself in his health. With epilepsy adding to his guilt and depression, desperation takes hold. Surrendering to the weight on his shoulders, Ian's tortured soul consumes him.
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81% (3) Rush 123 min, R, [Action, Biography, Drama, Sport] [Ron Howard] [27 Sep 2013]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 81%, Rotten Tomatoes: 89%, Metacritic: 75%, External Reviews
Awards: Nominated for 2 Golden Globes. Another 6 wins & 63 nominations.
Actors: Alexandra Maria Lara, Chris Hemsworth, Daniel Brühl, Olivia Wilde
Writer: Peter Morgan
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Website Language: English, German, Italian, French, Spanish Country: UK, Germany, USA
Plot: Set against the sexy, glamorous golden age of Formula 1 racing in the 1970s, the film is based on the true story of a great sporting rivalry between handsome English playboy James Hunt (Hemsworth), and his methodical, brilliant opponent, Austrian driver Niki Lauda (Bruhl). The story follows their distinctly different personal styles on and off the track, their loves and the astonishing 1976 season in which both drivers were willing to risk everything to become world champion in a sport with no margin for error: if you make a mistake, you die.
Rotten Tomatoes: Two-time Academy Award (R) winner Ron Howard (A Beautiful Mind, Frost/Nixon) teams once again with two-time Academy Award (R)-nominated writer Peter Morgan (Frost/Nixon, The Queen) on Rush, a spectacular big-screen re-creation of the merciless and legendary 1970s Formula 1 rivalry between gifted English playboy James Hunt (Chris Hemsworth of The Avengers, Thor) and his disciplined Austrian opponent, Niki Lauda (Daniel Brühl of Inglourious Basterds, The Bourne Ultimatum). (c) Official Site
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78% (3) The Tunnel 150 min, [Drama, History, Thriller] [Roland Suso Richter] [21 Jan 2001]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 78%, Rotten Tomatoes: 84%, Metacritic: 72%, External Reviews
Awards: 11 wins & 2 nominations.
Actors: Alexandra Maria Lara, Heino Ferch, Nicolette Krebitz, Sebastian Koch
Writer: Johannes W. Betz
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: German Country: Germany
Plot: Based on a true story a group of East Berliners escaping to the West. Harry Melchior was a champion East German swimmer at odds with the system under which he has already been imprisoned. ...
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76% (3) Farewell 113 min, Not Rated, [Drama, Romance, Thriller] [Christian Carion] [23 Sep 2009]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 70%, Rotten Tomatoes: 86%, Metacritic: 74%, External Reviews
Actors: Alexandra Maria Lara, Emir Kusturica, Guillaume Canet, Ingeborga Dapkunaite
Writer: Christian Carion, Serguei Kostine (book), Eric Raynaud
External Links: Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Website Language: French, English, Russian Country: France
Plot: In 1985, Sergei Gregoriev, a Soviet colonel, wants to force his nation to reform, so he leaks secret information to the West. He picks an unlikely contact, a Pierre Froment, French nebbish in the diplomatic corps. Gregoriev keeps a lot of balls in the air - a marriage, a teen son he's trying to bond with, a mistress who's a colleague at work; his tradecraft is equally reckless. Meanwhile, Froment keeps his spy work secret from his German wife, and Mitterrand uses Gregoriev's information to make France indispensable to Reagan and his government. When Gregoriev leaks a list of key Soviet moles and spies, Gorbachev is left without secret intelligence. Will Gregoriev get what he wants?
Rotten Tomatoes: Engaging, emotional and riveting, "Farewell" is an intricate and highly intelligent thriller pulled from the pages of history -- about an ordinary man thrust into the biggest theft of Soviet information of the Cold War. Ronald Reagan called this piece of history -- largely unknown until now, "one of the most important espionage cases of the 20th century."
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29% (3) Geostorm 109 min, PG-13, [Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller] [Dean Devlin] [20 Oct 2017]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 53%, Rotten Tomatoes: 14%, Metacritic: 21%, External Reviews
Actors: Abbie Cornish, Alexandra Maria Lara, Gerard Butler, Jim Sturgess
Writer: Dean Devlin, Paul Guyot
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Website Language: English, Cantonese, Russian, Hindi, Spanish Country: USA
Plot: When catastrophic climate change endangers Earth's very survival, world governments unite and create the Dutch Boy Program: a world wide net of satellites, surrounding the planet, that are armed with geoengineering technologies designed to stave off the natural disasters. After successfully protecting the planet for two years, something is starting to go wrong. Two estranged brothers are tasked with solving the program's malfunction before a world wide Geostorm can engulf the planet.
Rotten Tomatoes: A satellite designer (Gerard Butler) must race to avert a catastrpohe when the planet's climate control satellites begin to malfunction in this sci-fi action adventure from Warner Bros. and writer/producer/director Dean Devlin (making his feature directorial debut here). ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
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74% (1) Imagine 105 min, Not Rated, [Drama] [Andrzej Jakimowski] [12 Apr 2013]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 74%, External Reviews
Awards: 4 wins & 9 nominations.
Actors: Alexandra Maria Lara, Edward Hogg, Francis Frappat, Melchior Derouet
Writer: Andrzej Jakimowski (screenplay)
External Links: Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English, French, Portuguese, German Country: Poland, Portugal, France, UK
Plot: Set in Lisbon, Portugal at an institute for the blind where children are taught to live with their disability, to not take risks, and to be comfortable at all times. Ian a non-conformist teacher who is also blind is hired at the school and introduces revolutionary methods: Rejecting the use of a cane, Ian teaches the children to achieve spatial orientation by using all of their senses including moving by the resonance of sound vibrations (echolocation), instinct, and the creative use of their imagination. Confident and even slightly over-aggressive, Ian charms the children and gives them a reason to hope, though they are always testing and questioning him to prove that he is one of them and never seem quite convinced of his sincerity. Ian's sessions take place right under the window of Eva (Alexandra Maria Lara), an adult patient who never leaves her room and does not speak to anybody. Surprisingly, she becomes one of his most responsive students and there is even a hint of romance. The two bond as they begin to trust each other. Together they visit a café (where she flirts with a young man), walk along the harbor and cross busy streets without any aids other than their ability to listen for the sounds of vehicles, footsteps, or other obstacles in their path. They are followed by Serrano, a young blind boy whom Ian asks to use his imagination to "see" a ship in the harbor. The new teacher is challenged by the school doctor and head teacher of the school (Francis Frappat) who is concerned that he is giving the children the illusion of hope...
Rotten Tomatoes: A blind spatial-orientation teacher helps a sightless woman learn to navigate the streets of Lisbon with confidence. In the process, she begins to overcome her intense shyness.
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