"When I was a kid, I was allowed to watch Moonstruck despite my age because it was about Italians and it was important for the Birbiglias that I see Italian-American films. What sticks out for me is the smaller characters that highlight the larger themes. In the liquor store Cher‘s character visits, there’s a charming argument between a middle-aged couple. The wife says, “I see a wolf in you.” The husband responds, “You know what I see in you? The girl I married.” It’s those secondary characters that make that film really sing comedically — in addition, of course, to the hilarious and emotional Nic Cage and Cher."

"I know it hasn’t been out that long, but this is a classic. I got it as a present for my mom for Mother’s Day. It speaks to women of all ages, of all backgrounds, of all financial classes, what have you. It makes an amazing argument. I think men should read it. I never hear men talk about this book, and I’m like, ‘You should be reading this, dog! You too should be a feminist!’ She gets you pumped the fuck up to be like ‘Yeah I’m a feminist and I’m going to take over and live my best life and be a person who is all about equality.’ There’s no fear in her writing, just pure confidence."

"Again, an extremely individualist author, if even, in his case, in leftist, selfless empathy; a reconceiver of his medium/genre, making a very dark documentary about human reality. I’ve seen it twice all the way through, I guess (it’s nine-and-a-half-hours long). This subject—the treatment of Jews in Nazi territories, primarily slave labor and extermination camps—is always controversial, but to me it’s compulsively gripping, and Lanzmann’s approach, whether or not you have some argument with it, is original, conscientious to the nth, and the film supremely thought-provoking. He is fascinating too—a thinker of the highest order whose moral and physical bravery equals his level of thought."

"I’m a huge Nicole Holofcener fan. I love the details of what she explores in relationships between friends. I think money is still a fairly taboo subject, maybe the only one left, and so I thought it was such an incredible way to explore friendships and marriages and lives intertwined between families and people with different levels of money. I was just so enchanted by that movie when I saw it. And every time I’ve seen it since, I find myself relating to a different character and having a different feeling when I watch a marital argument or something. It always opens up something new. I see something different in it every time. I think she just is one of the great storytellers when it comes to just human stories and our relationships."