Armin Mueller-Stahl
3) Shine
Description
The story of Australian pianist David Helfgott. Driven by his father and his teachers he experiences a nervous breakdown and is hospitalized, but later returns to the concert hall.
4) Avalon
Description
The story of several generations of a family, from the arrival of Jewish immigrant Sam Krichinsky in the suburb of Baltimore called Avalon, down through his children and grandchildren. The family goes from poverty to prosperity as the world changes around them, but their love and humor hold the family together.
Description
Interpol Agent Louis Salinger and Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Eleanor Whitman are determined to bring to justice one of the world's most powerful banks. The two uncover illegal activities including money laundering, arms trading, and the destabilization of governments. Salinger and Whitman's investigation takes them around the world. Finding themselves in a high-stakes chase across the globe, their relentless tenacity puts their own lives...
6) Local color
Description
In 1974, in the suburb of Port Chester, New York, the teenage aspirant artist John Talia has a troubled relationship with his homophobic father who does not understand John's talent. While visiting his friend Yammi, John finds that the genius Russian painter Nicoli Seroff lives nearby. He decides to pay a visit to his idol. John finds a bitter alcoholic who is still grieving the loss of his wife Anya. Somehow, he successfully befriends the master....
Series
Description
Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon discovers evidence of the resurgence of the most powerful underground organization in history, the Illuminati. Upon learning of an unstoppable terrorist act against the Vatican, Langdon travels to Rome and joins forces with Italian scientist Vittoria Vetra and together they will follow the 400-year-old Path of Illumination that leads to the Vatican's only chance for survival.
Series
Description
Anna, a midwife at a North London hospital, finds the diary of a Russian teenager who dies giving birth to a baby, and resolves to find the young girls' relatives in the hopes of providing the orphaned child with a loving family. As Anna follows the clues the diary provides, she finds evidence of a local Russian mob's criminal activities, and meets Nikolai, a formidable mob enforcer. Anna and Nikolai find themselves growing close as the Russian mobsters...
9) The X-files
Description
When a terrorist bomb destroys a building in Dallas, FBI agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully are drawn into another dangerous conspiracy, this time with the assistance of a paranoid doctor. Together, they risk their careers and their lives to hunt down a deadly virus which may be exterrestrial in origin -- and could destroy all life on earth.
10) Jakob the Liar
Description
In Nazi-occupied Poland a poor Jewish cafe owner invents fictitious news bulletins about Allied advances against the Nazis. These lies keep hope and humor alive among the ghetto inhabitants.
11) The game
Series
Criterion collection volume 627
Description
"In this thriller, Nicholas Van Orton, a shrewd and successful businessman who is always in control, has been enrolled by his brother in "The Game"--"a profound life experience" with no rules, which begins quietly but soon erupts in a confusing maze of devastating events. Terrorized by forces who seem intent on dismantling all that he has built, Van Orton has to win this deadly game or lose control of everything in his life."
Description
Esteban works hard and eventually gets enough money to buy a hacienda and become a local patriarch. He becomes very conservative and is feared by his workers.
A hauntingly romantic epic tale spanning three generations of the Trueba family. At its core is the stormy, yet passionate relationship between the supernaturally gifted Clara and her controlling husband Esteban, who resists change both politically and personally.