Peter Schilling

In the strange Earrings of Madame de …, a lonely woman, cloistered in an upper-class existence of endless soirées and empty finery, sells the pair of diamond earrings her husband gave her on their wedding day; the unnamed heroine needs spending money to cavort with her long queue of suitors. Oddly enough, the earrings make … Read more

Oh, that Douglas Sirk. The king of suburban ’50s melodrama is being given his due at this year’s Walker Summer Music and Movies program, and it’s about time. In There’s Always Tomorrow, Fred MacMurray—possibly the most underrated actor of his generation—plays a successful family man who is, nevertheless, plagued by disappointment. His wife is focused … Read more

When it all boils down, Vitus is nothing more than a story about a child prodigy who seeks to be a normal boy. But in the hands of director Fredi M. Murer, the simple tale becomes a small but complex masterpiece about the universal difficulties of childhood. Murer, who is unknown in this country but … Read more

This collaboration between writer/director Brad Bird (The Incredibles) and the animation geeks at Pixar takes the medium to new heights. Ratatouille is the simple tale of Remy (voiced by Patton Oswalt), a rat hiding in the shadows of a famous Parisian restaurant who seeks to become a chef. Like The Incredibles, Ratatouille is a comedy … Read more

Shot on location in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles in the early ’70s, Killer of Sheep tells the neo-realist tale of Stan, an African-American man numbed by the pressure of life in the ghetto and his slaughterhouse job. Director Charles Burnett’s movie is also widely considered one of the finest examinations of children’s reaction … Read more

At least one critic has dubbed Chris Marker a “cosmonaut”—this in apparent admiration of the French documentary filmmaker’s ability to make other cultures look like products of distant planets. Marker’s documentaries jettison conventional narrative, instead telling stories by way of letter-writing and striking imagery. Sadly, his fascinating oeuvre has rarely, if ever, been seen in … Read more

Judd Apatow seems to be everywhere. He was the executive producer of the critically acclaimed television show Freaks and Geeks and the writer-director of The 40 Year-Old Virgin. He will also lend his imprimatur to the upcoming teen sex comedy Superbad. In the meantime, he has produced another ribald farce in the style of Virgin … Read more

Kevin Costner plays the upstanding Earl Brooks, a family man and business leader who just happens to also be a serial killer with an alter ego named Marshall. Our starring cast includes Costner, Demi Moore, and William Hurt … well, that makes three actors who have seen better days. And yet, Mr. Brooks was written … Read more