Til Schweiger

A womanizing, muckraking Berlin journalist meets his match in the unlikely form of a children's day care owner in director/star Til Schweiger's breezy romantic comedy. Ludo (Schweiger) and his photographer Moritz (Matthias Schweighoefer) cover the Berlin celebrity circuit with a flair that's truly all their own, but a bad night reporting on a high-profile engagement party ends in the devil-may-care reporter sentenced to 300 hours of community service at a local day care center run by his former classmate Anna (Nora Tschirner). Klutzy former geek Anna doesn't care too much for Ludo due to fact that he once humiliated her back when the pair were classmates, but Ludo was so busy impressing girls that he barely even remembers the incident. Now it's Anna's chance to get a little revenge, and she wastes no time in giving Ludo the toughest assignments that she can dream up. But later, when Anna notices that there may be more to Ludo that ego and conquest, this mismatched pair begins to grow closer than either could one of them could have ever anticipated. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

The true story of one of World War One's deadliest air aces comes to the screen in this historical drama. Manfred von Richthofen (Matthias Schweighoefer) became fascinated with flying when he was a boy, and as a young man he joins the German army and becomes part of their budding air force. Flying in a squadron with his best friend Werner Voss (Til Schweiger), von Richthofen is a pilot with a great talent for aerial battle, but he also has a sense of honor and fair play, and he and his cohorts often pay tribute to fallen opponent by dropping wreaths over the wreckage of their planes. When von Richthofen and Voss discover a Canadian pilot, Capt. Roy Brown (Joseph Fiennes), who has been stranded in German territory, they rescue the flier rather than leave an enemy soldier to die, and while bringing him to safety Manfred meets Kaete Otersdorf (Lena Headey), a military nurse who has devoted her life to helping those wounded by war. Manfred becomes deeply infatuated with Kaete, but while she is also taken with him, she cannot abide his open embrace of the blood sport of war, and even as he becomes one of Germany's most decorated pilots, downing nearly eight enemy planes, he comes to understand the true horror of war and the consequences of his actions. von Richthofen gains an even greater perspective on war when he encounters Capt. Brown one last time. Der Rote Baron (aka The Red Baron) was shot in both German and English language versions, with the same cast appearing in both. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Love finds a tabloid journalist in an unexpected place in this romantic comedy from Germany. Ludo (Til Schweiger) is a reporter who has enjoyed a successful career documenting the peccadilloes of the rich and famous with the help of his photographer sidekick Moritz (Matthias Schweighoefer). But a run-in with boxer Wladimir Klitschko and his fiancée Yvonne Catterfeld at a party turns into a food fight and Ludo is charged with disturbing the peace. Ludo is ordered to perform three hundred hours of community service at a children's day care center, which is especially bad news since Ludo doesn't care for kids. Ludo finds himself working side by side with the center's director, Anna Gotzlowski (Nora Tschirner), who had an unfortunate run in with Ludo when they were children and doesn't like him any more now than she did then. Anna goes out of her way to make things difficult for Ludo, but in time he begins to get the hang of his new assignment, starts bonding with his young charges, and even enjoys a brief fling with a sexy single mom (Brigitte Zeh). But as Ludo's soft side begins to surface, Anna finds herself increasingly attracted to him, and the antagonists discover they're falling in love. Keinohrhasen was written and directed by leading man Til Schweiger, and was a major box office hit in Germany. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

An ambitious attempt to wed the legend of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table with known historical facts of the era, this action adventure drama begins with the fall of the Roman Empire in 450 A.D. as Roman armies flee the British Isles. Arthur (Clive Owen), a heroic knight and devoted Christian, is torn between his desire to travel to Rome to serve his faith and his loyalty to the land of his birth. As England falls into lawlessness, Arthur throws in his lot with a band of knights who hope to restore order to their fair and pleasant land and hopes to win freedom for his comrades, among them Lancelot (Ioan Gruffudd), Galahad (Hugh Dancy), Tristan (Mads Mikkelsen), Gawain (Joel Edgerton), Bors (Ray Winstone), and Dagonet (Ray Stevenson). In time, Arthur and his men join forces with Merlin (Stephen Dillane), a shaman whose band of renegade knights were often pitched in battle against Roman forces. Forming a united front as loyal Englishmen against the invading Saxon armies, Arthur, Merlin, and the brave and beautiful Guinevere (Keira Knightley) are determined to unite a sovereign Britain under one army and one king. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

As Hitler's grip of fear continues to tighten during World War II, the capture of the U.S.S. Swordfish by a German U-boat leads to a brutal struggle for survival between axis and allies deep beneath the ocean surface. Following the capture of the U.S.S. Swordfish, the German crew soon begins to fall ill to a particularly powerful strain of meningitis, leaving the American prisoners-of-war obligated to work with the remaining German crew to keep the vessel from descending to the bottom of the ocean. Though they are able to cast aside their differences in the name of survival, the discovery that the ship has been located by a U.S. carrier forces the prisoners into a harrowing struggle for survival. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

In the 1930s and '40s, the rivalry between Joe Louis and Max Schmeling was one of the greatest in the history of professional boxing. Louis was one of the first African-Americans to win the Heavyweight championship, and he was a great symbol of hope and achievement for blacks before the advent of the Civil Rights Movement, while Schmeling was a German who many Nazi supporters cited as an example of the innate superiority of the Aryan race. However, what few people knew is that despite their rivalry in the ring, between bouts Louis and Schmeling were good friends, and that Schmeling was not only never a member of the Nazi party, but spurned the attention of Adolf Hitler and helped save the lives of several Jews during the Nazi pogroms. Joe and Max is a made-for-cable drama based on the true story of the friendship of Joe Louis (played by Leonard Roberts) and Max Schmeling (Til Schweiger), and Schmeling's secret heroism during World War II. The supporting cast includes Peta Wilson, Richard Roundtree, and Bruce Weitz. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Sylvester Stallone wrote the screenplay for this action-packed drama directed by Renny Harlin and set in the dangerous, high-stakes world of CART auto racing. Jimmy Bly (Kip Pardue) is an up-and-coming young star of the open-wheel circuit, but he's slipping in the rankings as the championships loom. Under pressure from his promoter brother Demille (Robert Sean Leonard) and wheelchair-bound owner Carl Henry (Burt Reynolds), Jimmy is given a mentor -- Joe Tanto (Stallone), a once great CART competitor whose career and marriage to Cathy (Gina Gershon) were destroyed by a tragic accident. Joe must earn the rookie's trust, while attempting a career comeback, dealing with persistent reporter Lucretia Clan (Stacy Edwards), and facing Cathy, who's remarried to rival racing sensation Memo Moreno (Cristian de la Fuente). Meanwhile, Jimmy is stirring up his own romantic trouble by pursuing Sophia (Estella Warren), the girlfriend of top driver Beau Brandenburg (Til Schweiger). Long interested in creating a car racing drama, Stallone penned Driven after abandoning a film biography of real-life Formula One legend Ayrton Senna. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

A group of bohemian intellectuals struggle to have an intelligent discussion of perhaps the world's most emotional subject in this comedy-drama from director Alan Rudolph. Edgar (Dermot Mulroney) is an artist living in Paris during the 1920s who believes that sex is a subject of vital importance, but almost no one discusses it with the gravity it deserves. With this in mind, Edgar gathers together a panel of fellow creative types at the home of a wealthy tycoon (Nick Nolte) and his oddly accented spouse (Tuesday Weld) for an evening in which they will discuss their erotic lives without self-serving wit or exaggeration. Joining Edgar for this experiment is an artist from Germany (Til Schweiger), an arrogant film director (Jeremy Davies), a self-obsessed painter (Alan Cumming) whose fey personality may cross the boundaries of Edgar's prohibition of homosexuality as a topic of conversation, and a student from England (Terrence Dashon Howard) who has attracted the eye of a lovely French girl (Julie Delpy) with whom Edgar has fallen in love. Certain that a number of profound thoughts will be shared with the group, Edgar hires a pair of stenographers to record the proceedings, but the presence of the two young and beautiful secretaries -- innocent Alice (Neve Campbell) and provocative Zoe (Robin Tunney) -- has an unexpectedly strong effect on the group. Investigating Sex had its U.S. premiere as the closing night attraction of the 2001 Seattle Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

What's a criminal to do when he has problems managing other people's money? Keek (Oliver Korittke) is an awkward sometimes-thief whose partner Kalle (Ralf Richter) is serving time in jail. Keek was put in charge of watching over Kalle's money while he is behind bars, but Keek has managed to spend most of the cash. Keek gets word that Kalle is due to hit the streets and that he expects a Mercedes and his money to be waiting for him. Since Kalle is not known for his kindness or patience, Keek panics, buying a load of counterfeit money and arranging for a Mercedes from a pair of thieves. Soon Kalle arrives, ready to kill a man who he's convinced slept with his girlfriend, while the car thieves want their Mercedes back and Keek plans a robbery to raise the money that will keep his scams quiet (and himself breathing). Bang Boom Bang was the feature-length debut from director Peter Thorwarth and received its premiere at the 1999 Munich Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

What's it like being the only punk rockers in the biggest Mormon community in the world? Stevo (Matthew Lillard) and Heroin Bob (Michael Goorjian) provide the answer to this and other questions in SLC Punk. Stevo and Bob (whose name is actually an ironic reference to his fear of needles) are two friends fresh out of college who sport mohawks and blue hair, listen to hardcore and try to live up to their own anarchist ideals while figuring out what to do with their lives. Which wouldn't make them unusual in New York or Los Angeles, but they're fish out of water in Salt Lake City, Utah, where they drink beer, chase women and pick fights with "rednecks" along side a mixed bag of metalheads, hippies, hicks and posers who are fellow outcasts in the most clean-cut community in America. In the midst of all this, Stevo's dad hopes his son will follow in his footsteps and study law at Harvard; while Stevo surprisingly has the grades, he's not sure if he wants to go. Featuring a soundtrack of mid-80's punk from The Ramones, Minor Threat, The Dead Kennedys and others, SLC Punk was chosen as the opening-night feature at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Music video and TV commercials director Antoine Fuqua made his feature directorial debut with this action thriller starring Hong Kong superstar Chow Yun-Fat. Chinese immigrant John Lee (Yun-Fat) has a violent past as a professional killer. It brings him only remorse, but it makes him the ideal assassin. In exchange for his family's safety, Lee is forced to take a job with a powerful underworld figure, Asian crime kingpin Terence Wei (Kenneth Tsang), who wants Lee to settle a deadly vendetta against police detective Stan Zedlov (Michael Rooker) by killing Zedlov's seven-year-old son. At the last minute, with the boy in his sights, Lee chooses to face Wei's vengeance rather than go through with the killing. In addition to making Lee a target, the decision also endangers his mother and sister back in Shanghai. Planning a return to China, he visits document forger Meg Coburn (Mira Sorvino) to get a phony passport, but they are interrupted by Wei's army of killers, and a lengthy chase and gun battle is set in motion.

Director Fuqua stressed to his team that the aim was to design a "Taxi Driver for the 1990s," with production beginning February 10, 1997 in downtown Los Angeles, and the first shoot at the historic Mayan Theater, refurbished into the trendy nightclub for the film's stylish opening scene with hundreds of extras carousing while Lee guns down Romero (Carlos Leon) at close range. The eight-story, nearly condemned Giant Penny building in the heart of L.A. served as locations for a police station interior, a hotel room, and Meg Coburn's office, and a chaotic gunfight was filmed amid the spray, brushes, and hoses of Joe's Car Wash in LA. The art department transformed one area into a Chinatown-like streetscape of damp, narrow alleys, and blinking red neon lights, site of a night filming where Yun-Fat shot off 546 rounds with two guns, one in each hand, while the repetitive action left his hands blistered and shaking. More gunplay was at a video arcade replicated at the original Lawry's center just north of downtown L.A., and Lee's tranquil Buddhist temple was fashioned under this same roof. In addition to physical training, Mira Sorvino, who had never handled a gun prior to this film, took weapons training to prepare for her role. Sorvino majored in Asian studies at Harvard, speaks Mandarin, and lived for eight months (1988-89) in Beijing, where she studied Chinese, taught English, and saw Chinese films, including Hong Kong action films. She felt The Replacement Killers brought her a step closer to her goal of making a film in Mandarin and working with a Chinese director. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

Two terminal patients leave their hospital beds for the open highway in this German road movie, a popular success in Germany. When cancer victim Rudi (Jan Josef Liefers) meets Martin (Til Schweiger), who has a brain tumor, they knock back tequila one night and decide to head north to experience life at the seashore, something Rudi has hoped to do his entire life. However, the car they've stolen belongs to two thieves and contains a million marks. Soon they're being pursued by both thugs and cops. The film's soundtrack includes Bob Dylan's "Knockin' on Heaven's Door". Shown at the 1997 London and AFI/Los Angeles film festivals. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide