Klaus Maria Brandauer

On the heels of the self-financed, modestly budgeted 2007 drama Youth Without Youth -- his first directorial outing after a ten-year hiatus -- filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola remains situated in the director's chair for this semi-autobiographical family drama concerning an artistic family of immigrants whose fierce rivalries span several generations. Vincent Gallo stars with newcomer Alden Ehrenreich, with Carmen Maura, Maribel Verdú, and Alden Ehrenreich rounding out the cast. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

A group of extreme winter athletes find themselves risking their neck for more than just thrills in this action drama. Jeffrey (Rupert Graves) is a director who has been hired to make a television commercial for a cellular phone company. For the spot, Jeffrey has come up with an exciting visual motif - a group of extreme skiers and snowboarders outrunning an avalanche on a remote mountain range. To get the needed footage, Jeffrey and his crew head to Austria, where they set up to film on a mountain near the former Yugoslavia; joining them is Olympic downhill champion Chloe (Bridgette Wilson-Sampras) and world-class snowboarders Ian (Rufus Sewell, Will (Devon Sawa), Silo (Joe Absolom), and Kittie (Jana Pallaske). While filming along an unchartered slope, Jeffrey's camera crew make an unexpected discovery - they find the secret compound of international terrorist Slobodan Pavlov (Klaus Lowitsch), and even capture the deadly man on videotape. Extremely unhappy that he's been found out, Pavlov turns his immediate attention to eliminating Jeffrey, his crew, and his skiers, and soon the snowboarders are forced to use their skills not just for kicks, but to save their friends - and possibly the world. Director Christian Duguay) is an old hand at filming in snow-covered mountains, having made the TV movie Snowbound: The Jim and Jennifer Stolpa Story in 1994. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

The life of the fabled Gallic leader Vercingetorix is brought to the screen in this epic international production. Young Vercingetorix came of age in 60 B.C., as soldiers of the Roman Empire ran roughshod over Gaul and his father was captured and executed by Romans. A wise and philosophical druid, Guttuart (Max Von Sydow), tells the angry Vercingetorix that he should seek justice by winning freedom for Gaul from the Romans. As an adult, Vercingetorix (Christophe Lambert) becomes a brave and insightful warrior, and at first joins forces with the charismatic Julius Caesar (Klaus Maria Brandauer). But in time Vercingetorix is betrayed by the great leader, and soon he raises an army of his own to defeat Caesar and bring Guttuart's prophesy to life. Ines Sastre also appears as Epona, the love of Vercingetorix's life. Vercingetorix was filmed on location in Bulgaria in both French- and English-language versions. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

The eighth in a series of movies made-for-TV which recreate stories from the bible, this drama stars Patrick Dempsey as Jeremiah, a prophet who heard the call to preach against the moral and ethical corruption he saw occurring all around him in ancient Jerusalem. While Jerusalem in time fell to Babylon, Jeremiah continued to spread the word of God in Egypt. Jeremiah also features Klaus Maria Brandauer as King Nebuchadnezzar, Oliver Reed as General Safan, and Leonor Varela as Judith. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Dorothy Dandridge was a singer, nightclub entertainer, and actress who became the first African-American woman to receive an Academy award nomination as Best Actress (for her standout performance in 1954's Carmen Jones; she lost to Grace Kelly). However, despite her striking beauty and obvious talent, Dandridge was a sexy, glamorous black femme fatale at a time when Hollywood pin-up queens were supposed to be giggly blondes. The film industry didn't know what to do with her, and while her nightclub act was a bit too smooth for the Southern roadhouse circuit, as a black performer she wasn't allowed to stay in many of the hotels and resorts where she performed. Dandridge also had a sad personal life, filled with tragedy and romantic disappointment, and she died of an overdose of pills in 1965, at the age of 41. This made-for-cable biographical drama stars Halle Berry as Dorothy Dandridge, supported by Brent Spiner, Obba Babatunde, and Klaus Maria Brandauer. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

This animated feature film, based on a successful German novel, was made for adult audiences and feature graphic depictions of feline sex and violence. " Felidae" is the Latin word for cats. Francis is a suave cat who investigates murders. A series of female cat murders leads him to uncover a plot. The plot centers around the forced breeding of superior cats as a means to take control of the world. The cats masterminding the plot have every high-tech device at their disposal. Francis encounters explicit brutality reminiscent of a not too distant German past. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In Randal Kleiser's entertaining adaptation of Jack London's classic novel White Fang, Ethan Hawke plays Jack Conroy, a young man who travels to Alaska with the intent of finding his father's lost gold mine. During the course of his travels, he's accompanied by a big white wolf that he rescued from a professional dog fight promoter. Conroy and the wolf, which he names White Fang, have a number of adventures and make a few enemies on their way to finding the gold mine. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide

Actor Klaus Maria Brandauer makes his directorial debut with The Seven Minutes (released in Germany as Georg Elser-Einer aus Deutschland. Brandauer also stars, playing a solid citizen of 1939 Berlin. Though loyal to the Fatherland, he despises Hitler and the Nazis. A few weeks after the start of World War II, Elser (Brandauer) begins cooking up a scheme to assassinate Der Fuehrer at a reunion for the participants of the 1923 Beer Hall Putsch. All he needs is seven minutes. All he doesn't need is the unwitting intrusiveness of innocent barmaid Anneliese (Rebecca Miller, daughter of playwright Arthur Miller). Even though we know the outcome, Brandauer sustains an incredible amount of tension. The film isn't quite in the league of Day of the Jackal, but it's not too far from it. The Seven Minutes was adapted by Stephen Sheppard from his own novel The Artisan. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Der Spinnennetz was released in English-speaking countries as The Spider's Web. Ulrich Muhe plays a German businessman who was born completely without scruples. This makes him an eminently suitable candidate for success in the chaotic years after World War I. The shameless man's story is contrasted with that of his polar opposite, a Jewish anarchist (Klaus Maria Brandauer). This unusually long film needs every one of its 198 minutes to do full justice to its Byzantine storyline. Director Bernhard Wicki co-adapted the screenplay from a novel by Joseph Roth. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Based on a true story, Istvan Szabo's Hanussen centers on an Austrian soldier (Klaus Maria Brandauer) who becomes clairvoyant after he is shot in the head during World War I. He is able to read minds and predict the future. Before long, he has foreseen Hitler and the Nazis' rise to power, and he soon finds himself in danger. Hanussen is the third of Szabo and Brandauer's collaborations, following Mephisto and Colonel Redl. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide

The second film in the trilogy made by director Istvan Szabo and actor Klaus Maria Brandauer -- hammocked between Mephisto and Hanussen -- Colonel Redl continues Mephisto's fascination with a man overwhelmed by history. In that film, Brandauer played an actor who tried to ignore the rise of the Third Reich, and here he's an ambitious military officer in pre-World War I Austria whose career path is set early on. In military school, he's forced to inform on a student who's the source of a practical joke; though he beats himself up for being a Judas, he soon realizes that to rise in the ranks he must overcome his peasant background and hide his homosexuality by ingratiating himself with his superiors. In time, he becomes Chief of Military Intelligence for the Austro-Hungarian empire.
Though he professes to hate politics and politicians, Redl also can't avoid them. When the leader for whom Redl is supposedly spying among the officer corps, draws up a list of who can't be exposed for traitorous activities (including Austrian nobles, Hungarians, Czechs, Serbs, Croatians, and even the usual scapegoats, Jews -- the aftershocks of the Dreyfuss affair are still rumbling), he tells Redl that he must find a double of himself, a Ukrainian. Now certain that he will be exposed, Redl surrenders to fate, quoting to his wife from Montaigne: "It's no sin to be involved. It's a sin to remain involved." Brandauer is a wonder as the self-loathing Redl, and Szabo's camera picks up every nuance on his expressive face. The film eschews music except for several party scenes, and the absence of a score is most effective in the final shots of Redl's fellow officers awaiting his fate. ~ Tom Wiener, All Movie Guide