Til Schweiger Movies

A remake of the highly-regarded 1958 film Das Maedchen Rosemarie (released as Rosemary in the U.S.), this fact-based drama follows the rise and fall of a German beauty who went from ex-convict to courtesan of some of Germany's most powerful men to the victim of an unsolved murder. The story begins in 1952 as Rosemarie sleeps her way into an early parole from a detention center. Newly freed, she is sent to a foster home where two years later, the buxom blonde runs away to Frankfurt where she starts living with Nadler, a charming small-time crook. Two years after that, Rosemarie is selling her body in a sleazy bar. One day she brings home a wealthy businessman who agrees to become her sugar daddy. As a result, Rosemarie leaves Nadler. The arrangement works out well, and she continues to entertain important clients. Her undoing comes in the form of a wealthy Frenchman who makes her an enticing, but ultimately dangerous offer. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

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, Rovi

A disgraced bodyguard is torn between duty and vengeance when he's forced to protect the very same assassin who previously murdered his client. John Ridley (Til Schweiger) has been sworn to protect, and when he fails at his job, he simply walks away. Haunted, he spends years attempting to erase the image of a client being killed right before his eyes. But when Ridley is offered a job that could set him up for life, he has no choice but to accept. Little did Ridley realize that the man he would be protecting is Lee Maxwell (Chazz Palminteri). It was Maxwell who dispatched with Ridley's client as the helpless bodyguard watched in horror, and with three days to go before the cold-blooded hit-man testifies before the grand jury, the man hired to guard his life begins plotting his revenge. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

This stylish German thriller from auteur Lars Becker offers a suspenseful look into the world of contemporary gangsters. One particularly clever gang has slipped up and stands trial for smuggling limousines into Eastern Europe as the film opens. Two of the trio, Toni, the leader, and Pepe, his handsome partner, are put away while Guru is freed for lack of evidence. Toni doesn't stay incarcerated long as his gal Mona smuggles a pistol into the prison to help him break out. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Much of the dialog in this very funny German film was taken directly from the two gay comic books by underground cartoonist Ralf Koenig on which the movie was based. Though the comics were written from a gay perspective, the film is slanted towards heterosexual couples. It tells the story of Axel, a handsome hunk with a taste for cheating on his girl friend Doro. When she throws him out, he ends up staying with his gay friend Norbert who is terribly attracted to Axel. Norbert is too shy to act upon his desire, and so, suffers in silence. Doro, upon visiting the two, becomes suspicious and wonders if Axel is also gay. Her suspicions about the naive Axel do not abate, even after her "shot-gun" wedding to him. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Women of the world beware -- the world's least likely male pleasure machine is back in business and breaching international boundaries in this sequel to the comedy hit Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo. Despite his lack of enthusiasm for his career as a lover-for-hire, Deuce (once again played by Rob Schneider) is back to work as a gigolo when his former manager T.J. Hicks (Eddie Griffin) is accused of murdering a number of male escorts in Amsterdam. Needing to raise money for his friend's legal defense, Deuce is once again showing off the tricks of the trade in the European theater, while also dealing with the less-than-genial European Union of gigolos, a British school for male prostitutes, and some truly puzzling female clients. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

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, Rovi

A hardened seaman and a dogged reporter become trapped on an island with a mysterious scientist, a ruthless band of mercenaries, and a vicious pack of unidentifiable creatures in BloodRayne director Uwe Boll's seventh video game-to-screen adaptation. A team of mercenaries has been attacked on a remote island in the Pacific Northwest, and as mysterious reports begin to emerge from the chaos, a veteran Seattle newspaper editor sends top reporters Tom Moore and Valerie Constantine to the scene in hopes of getting the scoop on the story. Shortly after arriving on the island under the guidance of ship captain Jack Carver (Til Schweiger), the trio is attacked by mercenary commander Maria Sanchez. Though Tom is killed, Valerie and Jack manage to stage a daring escape and quickly begin to bicker over their plan as Maria's murderous soldiers fast begin gaining ground. Despite Captain Jack's plan to locate his friend Emilio and get off of the island as quickly as possible, reporter Valerie remains determined to investigate the strange situation and get as many details as possible for her upcoming story. Later, when Jack, Valerie, and Emilio are captured and taken to the secret lab of genius scientist Dr. Krieger, Valerie is extended an invitation to join the doctor in announcing his latest findings to the world. Though it finally seems as if Valerie has gotten just the scoop needed to make her story, the situation quickly turns chaotic when one of Dr. Kreiger's creatures escapes from the lab and sets out on a murderous rampage. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

A group of hardened Nazi killers stalk their prey in Nazi-occupied France as a Jewish cinema owner plots to take down top-ranking SS officers during the official premiere of a high-profile German propaganda film. As far as Lt. Aldo Raine (aka Aldo the Apache," Brad Pitt) -- is concerned, the only good Nazi is a dead Nazi. Raine's mission is to strike fear into the heart of Adolf Hitler by brutally murdering as many goose-steppers as possible, or die trying. In order to accomplish that goal, Lt. Raine recruits a ruthless team of cold-blooded killers known as "The Basterds" which includes baseball-bat-wielding Bostonian Sgt. Donnie Donowitz (aka "The Bear Jew," Eli Roth) and steely psychopath Sgt. Hugo Stiglitz (Til Schweiger), among others. When the Basterds' secret rendezvous with turncoat German actress Bridget von Hammersmark (Diane Kruger) goes awry, they learn that the Nazis will be staging the French premiere of "The Nation's Pride," a rousing propaganda film based on the exploits of German hero Fredrick Zoller (Daniel Brühl), at a modest theater owned by Jewish cinephile Shoshanna Dreyfus (Mélanie Laurent), posing as a Gentile after the brutal murder of her family by the ruthless Col. Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz). As the Basterds hatch an explosive plan to take out as many Nazis as possible at the premiere, they remain completely oblivious to the fact that Shoshanna, too, longs to bring the Third Reich to its knees, and that she's willing to sacrifice her beloved theater in the process. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

This comedy from Germany follows the misadventures of three senior citizens with an unusual plan to finance one last spree. Carla (Christel Okras), Beta (Christel Peters), and Lilli (Elisabeth Scherer) are three elderly women who have known each other since childhood and remain the best of friends. While their golden years have not been especially kind to them -- Lilly feels cramped living with her family, Beta shares a house with her ungrateful son who demands she pay part of the rent, and Carla is stuck in an old-age home -- the three women have been saving their money and plan to take a cruise around the world together. They've nearly reached their goal when they decide that hiding the money at home isn't safe, so they go to a bank to deposit their eight thousand marks in their bank accounts. While the three women wait in line to see the teller, a team of robbers stage a heist at the bank, taking their savings along with the funds from the bank vault. The bank's manager informs the women that since the money had not been officially deposited before it was stolen, it's not covered under the bank's insurance; outraged, and aware that they might not live long enough to save another eight thousand, the ladies decide to stage a robbery of their own to recover their savings and get revenge against the bankers. Jetzt Oder Nie: Zeit Ist Geldz received its North American premiere at the 2001 Palm Springs Film Festival; the film was shown under its English title, Now or Never. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Young lovers and small-time New Orleans scammers Coco Chavez (Carla Gugino) and Junior Armstrong (Simon Baker-Denny) move up a few rungs when they kidnap wealthy computer mogul Ben Dyson (Greg Wise) in Sebastian Gutierrez's neo-noir. During the crime, Coco kills Dyson's girlfriend, Patty (Beverly Penberthy), wife of Senator Rupert Hornbeck (Hal Holbrook). Assigned to the case are FBI Agent Sadie Hawkins (Emma Thompson) and Police Lt. David Friedman (Alan Rickman). When Hornbeck threatens Friedman instead of assisting him, the detective suspects that this is no ordinary kidnapping for ransom, and he does his own investigation. A conscience-stricken Coco realizes that she may have been set up to kill Patty, and she, too, takes matters into her own hands. A fairly complex tale of betrayal and corruption, Judas Kiss also spoofs noir conventions -- for instance, agent Hawkins is reading Jim Thompson's crime novel The Killer Inside Me, and he discusses the writer's works with Friedman during lulls in the action. ~ Steve Press, Rovi