JOEL SCHUMACHER 

He’s hardly a household word, but maybe he should be. Director Joel
 Schumacher, who died recently at 80, has a sterling resume’ of fine films. The 
Academy did not apparently know of his existence, but you will if you read this.
St. Elmo’s Fire (1985) set a high bar for coming of age films about a group.  
Emilio Estevez. Rob Lowe, Mare Winningham, Demi Moore, Judd Nelson and Ally 
Sheedy were pretty much unknown before this film. Mr. Schumacher got the most out of them and the story, which he co-wrote. 35 years later, it still rings true.
Falling Down (1993) is a strange little film that attempts to be a cautionary tale for our times. Michael Douglas plays William Foster, a basically normal guy who gets pushed and pushed and pushed and finally pushes back. He does so more and more violently as time goes on and more people annoy him. Douglas, always good, is perhaps near his best in this one. Director Schumacher has you believing it.
Mr. Schumacher directed two John Grisham stories. The Client (1994) stars Susan Sarandon as a lawyer trying to save a young boy who has seen something he shouldn’t have and there are very bad people wanting him dead. Good suspense in this one. A Time To Kill (1996) is one of Grisham’s best and also one of Schumacher’s. A young African-American girl is abducted and savagely raped in rural Mississippi. Her father (Samuel L. Jackson) waits for the defendants to attend their trial and guns them down in the courthouse. He gets a young untried lawyer (Matthew McConaughey) to defend him. An incredible cast also featuring Chris Cooper, Patrick McGoohan, Kevin Spacey, Ashley Judd and Donald Southerland brings this one home. 
Phone Booth (2002) is an accomplished thriller revolving around the last phone booth in the city. Colin Farrell appears as Stuart Shepard, a sleazy publicist. He enters the phone booth and answers its ring to be told he will be killed if he leaves the booth unless he confesses his misdoings to those he has wronged. The suspense ramps up really well considering the limited location and the ending is a double surprise. 
Mr. Schumacher’s Phantom Of The Opera (2004) gets all it can out of a fairly ridiculous plot that has somehow hung on for years. The music is very good and the principals do what they can. Gerard Butler is the phantom and Emmy Rossum the haunted Christine. Mr. Butler’s singing is, well, on key.
All of the films in this column are available on DVD. All are for grown-ups.