Bob Balaban

In the future, an outbreak of canine flu leads the mayor of a Japanese city to banish all dogs to an island used as a garbage dump. The outcasts must soon embark on an epic journey when a 12-year-old boy arrives on the island to find his beloved pet.

Dir. Wes Anderson · With Bryan Cranston, Koyu Rankin, Bob Balaban

Set on an island off the coast of New England in the summer of 1965, Moonrise Kingdom tells the story of two twelve-year-olds who fall in love, make a secret pact, and run away together into the wilderness. As various authorities try to hunt them down, a violent storm is brewing off-shore – and the peaceful island community is turned upside down in more ways than anyone can handle.

Dir. Wes Anderson · With Jared Gilman, Kara Hayward, Bruce Willis

After an encounter with UFOs, an electricity linesman feels undeniably drawn to an isolated area in the wilderness where something spectacular is about to happen.

Dir. Steven Spielberg · With Richard Dreyfuss, François Truffaut, Teri Garr

Writer Harry Block draws inspiration from people he knows, and from events that happened to him, sometimes causing these people to become alienated from him as a result.

Dir. Woody Allen · With Woody Allen, Judy Davis, Kirstie Alley

A research scientist explores the boundaries and frontiers of human consciousness. Using sensory deprivation and hallucinogenic mixtures from Native American shamans, he explores these altered states of cognizance and finds that memory, time, and reality itself are states of mind.

Dir. Ken Russell · With William Hurt, Blair Brown, Bob Balaban

Two quirky, cynical teenaged girls try to figure out what to do with their lives after high school graduation. After they play a prank on an eccentric, middle aged record collector, one of them befriends him, which causes a rift in the girls’ friendship.

Dir. Terry Zwigoff · With Thora Birch, Scarlett Johansson, Steve Buscemi

While planet Earth poises on the brink of nuclear self-destruction, a team of Russian and American scientists aboard the Leonov hurtles to a rendezvous with the still-orbiting Discovery spacecraft and its sole known survivor, the homicidal computer HAL.

Dir. Peter Hyams · With Roy Scheider, John Lithgow, Helen Mirren

Aspiring director Corky St. Clair and the marginally talented amateur cast of his hokey small-town musical production go overboard when they learn that Broadway theater agent Mort Guffman will be in attendance.

Dir. Christopher Guest · With Christopher Guest, Eugene Levy, Fred Willard

The tension is palpable, the excitement is mounting and the heady scent of competition is in the air as hundreds of eager contestants from across America prepare to take part in what is undoubtedly one of the greatest events of their lives -- the Mayflower Dog Show. The canine contestants and their owners are as wondrously diverse as the great country that has bred them.

Dir. Christopher Guest · With Bob Balaban, Jennifer Coolidge, Christopher Guest

Three eclectic, never-quite-famous folk bands come together for the first time in decades following the death of their manager to put on an reunion concert in his honor, at the request of his son.

Dir. Christopher Guest · With Bob Balaban, Christopher Guest, John Michael Higgins

Master chef Kate Armstrong runs her life and her kitchen with intimidating intensity. However, a recipe for disaster may be in the works when she becomes the guardian of her young niece while crossing forks with the brash sous-chef who just joined her staff. Though romance blooms in the face of rivalry, Kate needs to look outside the kitchen to find true happiness.

Dir. Scott Hicks · With Catherine Zeta-Jones, Aaron Eckhart, Abigail Breslin

A biopic of writer Truman Capote and his assignment for The New Yorker to write the non-fiction book "In Cold Blood".

Dir. Bennett Miller · With Philip Seymour Hoffman, Catherine Keener, Clifton Collins Jr.

In 1944 Poland, a Jewish shop keeper named Jakob is summoned to ghetto headquarters after being caught out after curfew. While waiting for the German Kommondant, Jakob overhears a German radio broadcast about Russian troop movements. Returned to the ghetto, the shopkeeper shares his information with a friend and then rumors fly that there is a secret radio within the ghetto.

Dir. Peter Kassovitz · With Robin Williams, Liev Schreiber, Hannah Taylor-Gordon

New York City detective Daniel Ciello agrees to help the United States Department of Justice eliminate corruption in the police department, as long as he will not have to turn in any close friends. In doing so, Ciello uncovers a conspiracy within the force to smuggle drugs to street informants.

Dir. Sidney Lumet · With Treat Williams, Jerry Orbach, Richard Foronjy

Filmmakers discuss the legacy of Alfred Hitchcock and the book “Hitchcock/Truffaut” (“Le cinéma selon Hitchcock”), written by François Truffaut and published in 1966.

Dir. Kent Jones · With Bob Balaban, Wes Anderson, Olivier Assayas

A dishonest insurance salesman's life quickly disintegrates during a Wisconsin winter when he teams up with a psychopath to steal a rare violin at the home of a reclusive farmer.

Dir. Jill Sprecher · With Greg Kinnear, Alan Arkin, Billy Crudup

Los Angeles homicide detective Jerry Beck searches for the murderer who killed a police officer on Christmas Eve. The investigation takes Beck inside the violent world of hate groups and white supremacists, who are hatching a deadly plot to attack even more innocent people. Beck must also confront his own personal demons, including his growing problem with alcohol, if he wants to track down and stop the violent neo-Nazis before it is too late.

Dir. John Frankenheimer · With Don Johnson, Penelope Ann Miller, William Forsythe

In 1930s England, a group of pretentious rich and famous gather together for a weekend of relaxation at a hunting resort. But when a murder occurs, each one of these interesting characters becomes a suspect.

Dir. Robert Altman · With Maggie Smith, Michael Gambon, Kristin Scott Thomas

In 2000, the election of the U.S. Presidential boiled down to a few precious votes in the state of Florida — and a recount that would add "hanging chad" to every American's vocabulary.

Dir. Jay Roach · With Kevin Spacey, Bob Balaban, Ed Begley Jr.

A modern love story in which a misanthropic, emotionally complex author of a hit children's book is forced to team with a beautiful illustrator after his best friend and collaborator passes away. As Henry struggles with letting go of the ghosts of love and life, he discovers that sometimes you have to take a gamble at life to find love.

Dir. Justin Theroux · With Billy Crudup, Mandy Moore, Tom Wilkinson

Michael is a young boy living in a typical 1950s suburbanite home... except for his bizarre and horrific nightmares, and continued unease around his parents. Young Michael begins to suspect his parents are cooking more than just hamburgers on the grill outside, but has trouble explaining his fears to his new-found friend Sheila, or the school's social worker.

Dir. Bob Balaban · With Randy Quaid, Mary Beth Hurt, Sandy Dennis

Set in 1951, a blacklisted Hollywood writer gets into a car accident, loses his memory and settles down in a small town where he is mistaken for a long-lost son.

Dir. Frank Darabont · With Jim Carrey, Martin Landau, Laurie Holden

Megan Carter is a reporter duped into running an untrue story on Michael Gallagher, a suspected racketeer. He has an alibi for the time his crime was allegedly committed—but it involves an innocent party. When he tells Carter the truth and the newspaper runs it, tragedy follows, forcing Carter to face up to the responsibilities of her job when she is confronted by Gallagher.

Dir. Sydney Pollack · With Sally Field, Paul Newman, Bob Balaban

Meet the McTeagues. They've come to stake a claim in their wealthy uncle's will… only he's not dead yet!

Dir. Jonathan Lynn · With Michael J. Fox, Kirk Douglas, Nancy Travis

It's San Francisco in 1957, and an American masterpiece is put on trial. Howl, the film, recounts this dark moment using three interwoven threads: the tumultuous life events that led a young Allen Ginsberg to find his true voice as an artist, society's reaction (the obscenity trial), and mind-expanding animation that echoes the startling originality of the poem itself. All three coalesce in a genre-bending hybrid that brilliantly captures a pivotal moment-the birth of a counterculture.

Dir. Rob Epstein, Jeffrey Friedman · With James Franco, Todd Rotondi, Jon Prescott

Young CIA analyst Joe Turner has his idealism tested when he learns that the CIA has been using an algorithm he developed to spy on American citizens, leading the organization to a terrorist plot that threatens the lives of millions. Inspired by Sydney Pollack’s 1975 political thriller Three Days of the Condor.

Dir. Jason Smilovic, Todd Katzberg, Ken Robinson · With Max Irons, Constance Zimmer, Alexei Bondar

Jerry Welbach, a reluctant bagman, has been given two ultimatums: The first is from his mob boss to travel to Mexico and retrieve a priceless antique pistol, known as "the Mexican"... or suffer the consequences. The second is from his girlfriend Samantha to end his association with the mob. Jerry figures alive and in trouble with Samantha is better than the more permanent alternative, so he heads south of the border.

Dir. Gore Verbinski · With Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts, James Gandolfini

Mayor Nick Wasicsko took office in 1987 during Yonkers' worst crisis when federal courts ordered public housing to be built in the white, middle class side of town, dividing the city in a bitter battle fueled by fear, racism, murder and politics.

Dir. David Simon · With Oscar Isaac, Catherine Keener, Alfred Molina

Fioravante decides to become a professional Don Juan as a way of making money to help his cash-strapped friend, Murray. With Murray acting as his "manager", the duo quickly finds themselves caught up in the crosscurrents of love and money.

Dir. John Turturro · With John Turturro, Woody Allen, Vanessa Paradis

Oscar and Peter land a career-making opportunity when a Chicago tycoon chooses them to compete for the design of a cultural center. The tycoon mistakenly believes that Oscar is gay and has him spy on his mistress Amy. Oscar goes along with it and ends up falling in love with Amy.

Dir. Damon Santostefano · With Matthew Perry, Neve Campbell, Dylan McDermott