Josef Rusnak Movies
- 1984
This story filmed in the style of a docudrama, is about a German pediatrician so intent on helping sick patients die that his enthusiasm goes against human compassion. Dr. Schumann (Hans-Michael Rehberg) starts an official organization chartered to assist patients in committing suicide, if that is their determined wish. Young Pierre (Klaus Rohrmoser) works for Dr. Schumann, and his first assignment is to unplug the life-support system from a patient in intensive care. Pierre has no problem in carrying out his mission, but when another terminally-ill patient changes his mind about euthanasia at the last minute, Dr. Schumann tells Pierre to ignore the man's change of opinion. If this was not upsetting enough, Pierre unfortunately falls in love with a lovely woman and then finds out she is one of Dr. Schumann's patients scheduled for euthanasia. From that point onward, Pierre and the doctor are set on a collision course that cannot be avoided. Given the controversial nature of the subject matter, this film is sure to draw attention -- even though it sadly skims the surface on the ethical and moral questions raised within the storyline. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Klaus Rohrmoser, Hans Michael Rehberg, (more)
A happy young couple gives birth to a horrible monstrosity in this remake of Larry Cohen's 1974 killer baby classic. Graduate student Lenore (Bijou Phillips) has put her education on hold in order to have a child with her architect boyfriend Frank (James Murray). They're planning a new life together in the country when their unborn child begins growing at an alarming rate, and doctors are forced to conduct an emergency C-section for Lenore's safety. When every medic in the operating room is brutally killed, the frightened new parents rush their newborn home and do their best to pretend everything is normal - but it isn't. Their newborn son Daniel is an abomination, and prone to savagely attacking anything - and anyone - that gets in his way. Though Lenora does her best to protect Daniel, even after it's plain to see that he can't control his murderous impulses, the evidence that something is terribly wrong becomes too powerful to deny when the mangled corpses of dead animals and people begin turning up in the area, and all signs points back to the demonic little bundle of rage with an unholy appetite. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
Emerging from hiding to avenge the murder of his former mentor, Agent Neil Shaw (Wesley Snipes) inadvertently stumbles onto a lethal trail of betrayal and corruption. Though Agent Shaw is determined to set the record straight while working under the auspices of his longtime friend and Senatorial candidate, he begins to surmise that he's being set-up after a number of dead bodies turn up and he's singled out as the killer. Now, in order to crack the assassination conspiracy that's been pinned on him by the powers that be, Agent Shaw will turn up the political heat while unleashing a lethal torrent of martial arts mayhem. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Wesley Snipes, Athena Karkanis, (more)
Wesley Snipes plays an ex-assassin set up by his old bosses and pursued through London in this action thriller. Former sniper James Dial (Snipes) has carried around the ghosts of his last botched job ever since he failed to kill the leader of a worldwide terrorist group. After leaving the business and enduring a long exile in Montana, word gets out that the British government are holding the same terrorist in captivity; Dial is wooed back via the opportunity to make good on his initial failure. What Dial doesn't know is that he'll soon be framed for murder, putting him on the run in London's underbelly with the British police hot on his heels. Alone and distrustful, Dial claims only one ally: a twelve-year-old girl who aids him in hunting down proof of his innocence. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Wesley Snipes, Charles Dance, (more)
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
- Starring:
- Craig Bierko, Armin Mueller-Stahl, (more)
A reporter discovers both his writing and his sexual appetites can have deadly consequences in the thriller No Strings Attached. Vincent Spano plays Mark Demetrius, a journalist who is pressuring his editor, Elliot (Michael McKean), to run an investigative piece he's written on a psychiatrist with some very nasty habits. It seems one Dr. Singer (David Ackroyd) has a history of getting female patients addicted to drugs and then abusing them sexually. Elliot is reluctant to run the story, fearing legal reprisals, but agrees under the condition that Mark help him out by writing a puff piece on women's sexual fantasies. The magazine has set up a phone line for women to call in and discuss their desires, and one day Mark takes a call from Nicole (Cheryl Pollak). Mark becomes fascinated with Nicole, and is obsessed with meeting her, despite a happy, long-term relationship with his fiancée Sarah (Traci Lind). Mark eventually meets Nicole and she seduces him (not that he minds), but Mark soon discovers Nicole is not all she seems to be as his life and career are both placed in grave danger. Displaying a bit more style and smarts than the average erotic thriller, No Strings Attached was directed by Josef Rusnak, who later went on to make The Thirteenth Floor. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vincent Spano, Cheryl Pollak, (more)
This episodic German film utilizes an all-American cast to present a fresh perspective on life in modern-day Tinseltown. In one of the stories, a young woman leaves her lover because he carries a gun and she is afraid of violence. She gets a job working at a posh cafe and ends up involved with a rich, self-centered young lawyer who cruelly uses her in a moment of passion. The tale then switches to the lawyer and his wife as they spar over their adulteries while eating dessert. In a different story, a promising young actor, convinced that he is gay, wins an Oscar and loses the love of his jealous boyfriend. A tragedy ensues, but it leads the award-winner to a new realization, one that comes from the ministrations of a teenaged female prostitute. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Dedicated to Tomoyuki Tanaka (1910-1997), who produced the 1954 original and sequels, the Devlin/Emmerich interpretation displays a redesign of Godzilla, now a large lizard mutated after fallout from French nuclear tests. A blinding flash of white light fills the Eastern sky. Thousands of miles away, the Pacific Ocean churns, engulfing a freighter. On another part of the globe, giant footsteps plow a path through miles of Panamanian forests, Tahitian villages, and Jamaican beaches. In the Ukraine, biologist Dr. Niko Tatopoulos (Matthew Broderick), with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, is examining the impact of radiation on Chernobyl earthworms. Colonel Hicks (Kevin Dunn) and a military team escort Niko to check out giant claw marks on the beached freighter; they're joined by paleontologists Elsie Chapman (Vicki Lewis) and Mendel Craven (Malcolm Danare). Blood and giant-size footprints indicate "some sort of enormous reptile." French secret agent Philippe Roache talks to the freighter's only survivor, who keeps repeating, "Gojira...Gojira." Tatopoulos et al arrive in Manhattan's Fulton Fish Market where Godzilla surfaces, moving on to the NYC financial district where Mayor Ebert (Michael Lerner) is speaking. Ambitious Audrey Timmonds (Maria Pitillo), who works for TV news anchor Charles Caiman (Harry Shearer), is Niko's former girlfriend, and she uses this to her professional advantage. As the wave of destruction continues, Niko and Roache track the creature through the evacuated city and discover Godzilla's eggs about to hatch in Madison Square Garden. They are followed by Audrey and TV cameraman Victor "Animal" Palotti (Hank Azaria), and soon the hatching Godzilla offspring prowl the Garden corridors, leading to a final showdown. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Matthew Broderick, Jean Reno, (more)
