Harald Kloser Movies

Disaster movie maven Roland Emmerich (Independence Day, The Day After Tomorrow) crafts this apocalyptic sci-fi thriller following the prophecy stated by the ancient Mayan calendar, which says that the world will come to an end on December 21, 2012. When a global cataclysm thrusts the world into chaos, divorced writer and father Jackson Curtis (John Cusack) joins the race to ensure that humankind is not completely wiped out. Chiwetel Ejiofor, Danny Glover, Amanda Peet, Thandie Newton, and Oliver Platt round out the cast of this end-of-the-world thriller co-scripted by the director and his 10,000 B.C. writer/composer, Harald Kloser. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

In the tense days leading up to the Allied bombing of Dresden, a young nurse weighs her loyalty to the motherland against her deepest desires after discovering an injured British pilot in a hospital cellar. Anna (Felicitas Woll) is a compassionate nurse working in a German hospital, and Robert (John Light) is a British pilot who has become trapped behind enemy lines. When Anna discovers Robert hiding out beneath the hospital, her first instinct is to dress his wounds. But Robert is the enemy, and despite her growing attraction to him she realizes that the penalties for aiding an enemy combatant is severe. Now, as Anna schemes to conceal Robert's true identity and Robert does his best just to survive, the city of Dresden is suddenly consumed by the chaos of war. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Directed by Roland Emmerich, this mega-budget, special-effects-laden epic revolves around the onset of an international series of crises brought on by the long-term results of the greenhouse effect. At the eye of the storm is paleoclimatologist (a professor dedicated to the study of weather patterns throughout the ages) Jack Hall (Dennis Quaid), who voluntarily takes on the preservation of the world in the dawn of the next ice age and all the disaster that comes along with it -- violent hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, tidal waves, massive floods, etc. Hall must also contact his son, Sam (Jake Gyllenhaal), who was in the middle of an academic competition in New York City when the chaos begun. In addition to facing the largest-scale onslaught of natural catastrophes in the history of humankind, Jack, in his journey north, must contend with the masses fleeing south in an attempt to resettle in a warmer climate. The Day After Tomorrow also features Emmy Rossum, Sela Ward, and Joe Cobden. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide

The first biographical film produced by the FX cable channel, RFK covers the last five years in the life of Robert F. Kennedy, here played by British actor Linus Roache. The narrative begins in 1963, with the assassination of Bobby's brother, president John F. Kennedy (Martin Donovan). His appointment as Attorney General already a source of outrage for resentful new President Lyndon Johnson (James Cromwell), Bobby now finds himself in the position of proving his worth all over again -- not only to his brother's successor and the world, but also himself. With the spirit of his brother acting as counsel, Bobby succeeds beyond his wildest dreams, especially in the field of social and racial reform. By 1968, he is a viable candidate for the presidency himself, and there seems to be no stopping him -- but fate, as it often will, again takes a hand in matters. Unlike previous cinematic recaps of the early 1960s, RFK is careful not to identify its characters as heroes or heels, but instead as human beings with all the strengths and shortcomings indigenous to the species. Filmed in Ontario, RFK originally aired on August 25, 2002. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The true story of Hasso Herschel inspired this epic Cold War drama from Germany. Harry Melchoir (Heino Ferch) was a respected German athlete when the Berlin Wall forcibly divided the nation in 1961. Unwilling to cooperate with the East German authorities, Melchoir escaped to West Berlin, along with his friends Matthis (Sebastian Koch), Vic (Mehmet Kurtulus), and Fred (Felix Eitner). When he fled to West Germany, Melchoir was forced to leave his family behind, and he fears for the fate of his sister Lotte (Alexandra Maria Lara). Eager to free Lotte from East German rule, Melchoir strikes upon the idea of building a tunnel under the wall that will allow her to leave the country undetected; Melchoir recruits Matthis, Vic, and Fred to help him, along with a resourceful woman named Fritzi (Nicolette Krebitz). It isn't long before Melchoir and his compatriots discover that many others want to help their friends and family escape the East German regime, and the simple tunnel turns into a massive building and engineering project that's both ambitious and fraught with danger for all parties concerned. Der Tunnel was produced as a two-part miniseries for German television; an edited feature-length version was prepared for possible theatrical release outside Europe. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Shown on the Fox network, this made-for-TV biopic stars David Ramsey as legendary boxer Muhammad Ali, whose story is told largely in flashbacks. Beginning with Ali's childhood, when he was known as Cassius Clay, Ali: An American Hero traces the boxer's career, love life, and eventual devotion to Islam. Joe Morton appears as Malcolm X, and the cast also features the talents of Vondie Curtis Hall and Clarence Williams III, the latter as Ali's father Marcellus Clay. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide

While a number of American and European films have examined the horrible legacy of the Third Reich and the Holocaust, Du Sollst Nicht Toeten is one of the first dramatic films from Germany to examine the crimes of the Nazi era and their impact on the German psyche. Peter Rohm (Kai Wiesinger) is a successful lawyer living in Berlin with his wife Rebekka (Karoline Eichhorn). One day, Peter receives an unusual package in the mail -- a Nazi officer's uniform. Puzzled, Peter does some research which suggests that the uniform once belonged to fugitive war criminal Josef Mengele. Peter is soon visited by a mysterious stranger named Mueller (Heinz Trixner), who slips him a powerful drug. When he awakes, Peter is in Argentina, where he's introduced to an elderly man who has lived for years under the name Heinz Baumgarten, but announces that he is in fact Joseph Mengele (Goetz George). Mengele has decided to return to Germany to stand trial for war crimes, and he wants Peter to represent him; Peter reluctantly agrees. As the German media goes into a frenzy and angry demonstrations crowd the streets, Mengele calmly argues that he was merely a research scientist whose work ultimately aided humanity, and that no firm evidence links him to any murders. While a handful of eyewitnesses offer support to the accusations against Mengele, no one seems able to present hard evidence that contradicts Mengele's claims. Adapted from a screenplay by American writers Christopher Riley and Kathleen Riley (which no U.S. producers were willing to film), Du Sollst Nicht Toeten so impressed Goetz George that he helped finance the film to the tune of one million marks; Kai Wiesinger was also enthusiastic about the material and waived his usual fee in order to aid production of the picture. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

The increasingly blurry lines between what is real and what is an artificial construct - both physically and philosophically - are the point of focus in the science fiction drama The Thirteenth Floor. In 1937, a man named Fuller (Armin Mueller-Stahl) gives a note to Ashton (Vincent D'Onofrio), the bartender at a swank hotel, that's addressed to Douglas Hall (Craig Bierko). Fuller tells Ashton it's crucial that no one else sees the note, and that the information enclosed is of great importance. Moments later, Fuller transports himself to 1998. He's soon found murdered, and a shirt stained with Fuller's blood is found in Hall's apartment. Fuller and Hall both work for Intergraph Computer Systems, a cutting edge artificial intelligence firm, and the "past" Fuller was visiting was actually a stunningly realistic recreation of Los Angeles 50 years ago, complete with people you can meet and places you can visit, that exists only in a microchip. The message he left with Ashton, however, is real. Some people, including LAPD detective Larry McBain (Dennis Haysbert) believe Hall murdered Fuller to assume his position of leadership at Intergraph. Jane (Gretchen Mol), Fuller's daughter, soon arrives on the scene, and Hall finds himself infatuated; Hall is determined to clear his name, so with the help of Whitney (also played by (Vincent D'Onofrio), he into the virtual 1937 in hopes of discovering just what happened. The Thirteenth Floor makes copious use of digital effects technology to allow its characters to travel between 1937 and 1998 - ironically using computer technology to create a world that exists inside a computer. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A quintet of young, white gangsta wannabes looks for an opportunity to gain entry into the world of organized crime in this urban drama from writer, director, co-producer, and star Derek Dunsay. Following a stint in a juvenile detention facility, Doug (Dunsay) returns to his old haunts in a working class L.A. suburb, which especially include the tattoo parlor where his pals hang out. They include Jerry (Shawn Andrews), who is somewhat mentally unbalanced, the heroin junkie J.J. (Lee Holmes), spineless Steve (Ron Livingstone), and FL (Christopher Meloni), who is somewhat older and wiser than the others. Although only guilty of petty crimes and occasional gang skirmishes, the group wants to take the next step up the ladder of criminal empire-building, and they get their chance in the aftermath of a violent encounter with a group of racist skinheads. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

America's Most Wanted host John Walsh appears as himself and serves as producer in this made-for-TV movie, inspired by one of the most infamous crimes to be chronicled on Walsh's popular TV series. Antonio Sabato Jr. stars as John Hawkins, a frustratingly elusive criminal, con artist, drug dealer and murderer. Using both men and women with callous impunity, the bisexual Hawkins caps all of his previous scams by talking his partner-lover M. Eugene Hanson (Brad Dourif) into an insurance-fraud scheme that will require a real corpse for verification. The result: Hanson turns up dead, and Hawkins collects a $1 million dollar policy before skipping off to parts unknown. David Keith is cast as Peter Stanford, the dedicated California detective who makes it his mission in life to bring the wily (and undeniably charming and charismatic) Hawkins to justice. If Looks Could Kill: From the Files of America's Most Wanted" made its Fox network debut on February 6, 1996. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This is a direct translation to film of director Gabriel Barylli's stage play. In the story, three men with romantic problems gather together and attempt to find out what their fundamental problem is. After a great deal of discussion, they decide that low self-esteem is the culprit. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide