Jochen Nickel Movies

A covert US/Soviet military experiment designed to create the ultimate telepathic and telekinetic soldier backfires when the sole successful test subject goes AWOL in an explosive tale of action-packed conspiracy starring Judge Reinhold. It was a risky venture from the onset, and when only one of the five test members emerged from the top-secret military experiment suitable for battle they could never have imagined the trouble he would cause after learning the real purpose of his training. With time running out before the powerful soldier called Mindstorm decides to turn on his handlers in an attempt to get revenge for their deception, it's up to former Black-Ops officer Evan Mink (Reinhold) to find and contain the unstable warrior and ensure that the government's dirty little secret doesn't hit the headlines. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Volker Einrauch directs this wacky comedy about hapless criminals trying to go straight. As demanded by his girlfriend Mona (Laura Tonke), Vincent (Frank Giering) tries to get out of the business by engaging in an ill-conceived poker game. Owing 60,000 Deutschemarks to pimp Siggi, Vincent offers Mona as collateral -- and describes her as a whore named "Natasha." Unfortunately, Siggi in turn owes a stack of cash to sociopath Duvall (Christian Redl), who demands "Natasha" as payment. This film was screened at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi

After a rat is discovered on board their airplane, a group of travelers is stranded at the Manila airport. They include the mild-mannered Knut (Peter Ruehring) and his icy wife Regine (Margit Carstensen), who are both history teachers from eastern Germany. Knut befriends the jovial Walther (Michael Degen) and his Filipino wife Maribel (Chin-Chin Gutierrez), who are taking the body of Walther's dead son back to Germany. Also along for the wait is Cora (Ana Capri), a businesslike husband hunter; Rudi and Herbert, two skirt-chasing brothers who fall in with a poised American-German journalist (Elizabeth McGovern); and sex tourist Franz (Martin Semmelrogge), who forms an unlikely relationship with Mercy (Ces Quesada), a shy washroom attendant who can't understand a word Franz is saying. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, 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

This German-Finnish comedy-drama road movie is the directorial debut of former production manager Peter Lichtefeld, known for his short films. Beer deliverer Hannes (Joachim Krol) is a trainspotter who obsessively studies timetables. Told he can't leave his job for the world's first International Timetable Competition, Hannes punches his boss and hits the road, unaware that he's become a suspect after the accidental death of his boss and a robbery of the company safe. Shown at the 1998 Berlin Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi

John Rhys-Davies, Rick Overton and Michael Des Barres star in this science fiction fantasy about a band of British knights at the time of the crusades, who are readying themselves to march on Jerusalem. Suddenly, an alien spacecraft lands outside their camp. The knights impulsively attack and invade the ship, and then command their interstellar hostages to fly them to the Holy Land! However, once airborne the aliens instead head for home with the knights in tow, where they'll have to do battle against an entire planet instead of an entire city. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Based on a true story, Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List stars Liam Neeson as Oskar Schindler, a German businessman in Poland who sees an opportunity to make money from the Nazis' rise to power. He starts a company to make cookware and utensils, using flattery and bribes to win military contracts, and brings in accountant and financier Itzhak Stern (Ben Kingsley) to help run the factory. By staffing his plant with Jews who've been herded into Krakow's ghetto by Nazi troops, Schindler has a dependable unpaid labor force. For Stern, a job in a war-related plant could mean survival for himself and the other Jews working for Schindler. However, in 1942, all of Krakow's Jews are assigned to the Plaszow Forced Labor Camp, overseen by Commandant Amon Goeth (Ralph Fiennes), an embittered alcoholic who occasionally shoots prisoners from his balcony. Schindler arranges to continue using Polish Jews in his plant, but, as he sees what is happening to his employees, he begins to develop a conscience. He realizes that his factory (now refitted to manufacture ammunition) is the only thing preventing his staff from being shipped to the death camps. Soon Schindler demands more workers and starts bribing Nazi leaders to keep Jews on his employee lists and out of the camps. By the time Germany falls to the allies, Schindler has lost his entire fortune -- and saved 1,100 people from likely death. Schindler's List was nominated for 12 Academy Awards and won seven, including Best Picture and a long-coveted Best Director for Spielberg, and it quickly gained praise as one of the finest American movies about the Holocaust. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Moments from the lives of a large number of people who have nothing much in common except a strong desire to achieve their various personal goals and their attendance at a soccer match form the body of this film. It is unclear whether the director intended this as a political allegory or as a slice-of-life film. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

In the year 2038, multicosmic corporations are dominating the universe, subsuming planet after planet in search of valuable natural resources. An agent (Michael Pare) of the Galactic Mining Corporation is sent to a remote outpost as a safeguard against the ruthless attempts of the Pyrite company to take over the base. Moon 44 was shot in Germany and released directly to video, despite its rather high cost of $15 million. ~ John Bush, Rovi