Josh Sadfie

"The casting in this film allows for so much nuance, from Nick Apollo Forte (who didn’t do anything else) to the borscht-belt comedians in Carnegie Deli, to all of Danny Rose’s clients, to the off-type performance from Mia Farrow as a side-piece and a mob-boss princess… They all amount to something that’s so inherently New York in a way that I hope NEVER dies. I am Danny Rose."

"The godfather of magical realism, but not twee at all. Also the underwater sequence has been homaged so many times it’s solidified as legendary. Michel Simon’s character is so touching in this film, he’s also littered with so many tattoos he could be a transplant from a Viceland show."

"Walter Hill is a master who’s been copied by every Hollywood filmmaker since his first films and Ryan O’Neal turns in one of the coolest characters in The Driver. Bruce Dern plays a cocky cop who you can’t wait to see lose and Adjani plays a cool-as-a-cucumber damsel. Also check out Claude Lelouch’s C'était un rendez-vous, which acts like a weird French cousin to this film."

"A murder mystery set in the gay leather bars of NYC in the '80s. Truly a mysterious film wherein the audience gets lost in the fabric of the story as the character does. Pacino doesn’t like to talk about this film, but it’s maybe his greatest performance. The gay community in NYC didn’t know whether to support or repel this film, which saw spells of people showing up near location banging pots and pans, bouncing light off mirrors and renting apartments next door to blast music."

"As modern as a film can be while still remaining highly romantic. It's part journalism, part fiction, part poetry… Based on the photos and relationships the late great Mary Ellen Mark developed with street kids in Seattle for a photo series for LIFE magazine. LIFE magazine photos have birthed great films like this one and Little Fugitive (kind of). I’ll never forget Dewayne, Tiny and Rat."

"Weird Sex. Obsession. Comic Books.” is how this film was billed. Each category alone is enough to put this on a top ten list. Crumb falls into a rare group of documentaries. A hero like R. Crumb is so reclusive and so fickle about who he allows to get close to him, but close they get. He’s a Slob over Snob for life. This film is more about Charles Crumb, the hidden master in the family, then it is about Robert. The art alone, like with many Criterions, is a reason to own this and present it on a shelf. Though here, there’s something very appropriate about having a DVD among your old issues of Weirdo or Zap. "

"Few films are more important to us. Our Parisian cinephilic father gifted us this movie (not yet part of the Criterion Collection) as part of the mirror effect he bestowed upon us. Find answers in movies . . . This is another Criterion that can be watched hundreds of times."

"Both films reinvent what movies can do. What Rosi and Kiarostami do with Miguelín and Sabzian is such higher-power filmmaking, so modern, so romantic, and so influential. I saw The Moment of Truth in the theater through one of Janus’s runs of restored films. I remember the feeling in my stomach, the horrific beauty and love affair Miguelín had with the bulls and life itself. I remember the devastation and the constant reminder that Miguelín was actually Miguelín. The triumph of both films rests in their cinematic qualities; of course, Rosi surpasses Close-up here in portraying the moments of truth in Techniscope. Close-up is an utter masterpiece, and I didn’t feel the need to even bother writing about it. Like God."