"I have to pay my respects to two very influential cinema figures for me. Laurel and Hardy are probably the biggest influence for me, just in terms of sense ofm humour, when I was a kid, and in terms of what I continue to laugh at. If I had to pick one I’d say it would be Way Out West. I watched it recently and it still holds up. The reason why I think I latched on to them so much is because as a team they had such a great balance. Oliver Hardy was such a great anal retentive straight man, but still funny in his own right. They had such different comedic perspectives but when they worked together they created such a perfect synthesis; just a perfect balance of extremes, of odd coupling. I feel like all of my favorite comedy since then in some way draws from that — Planes, Trains and Automobiles comes to mind, and What About Bob?, and Midnight Run; these all employ the same template and they’re my favorites, but I feel like I can trace it all the way to Way Out West."

"Most of my favorite films are those in which the lead character is in every scene of the film. When I was a teenager I saw Blow-Up, The Graduate, and Midnight Cowboy at a revival art-house cinema, and these films had an enormous impact on me. I’ve collected Criterion editions since the laserdisc days, and my favorite from that time was the Midnight Cowboy disc, with John Schlesinger’s commentary. But having two out of the three films available now on Criterion Blu-ray is great. I love the package design and transfer of the Blow-Up disc, and the scene in the park where David Hemmings stalks the couple with his camera really comes to life with the new transfer—it’s maybe my favorite scene in any film ever made. And what can I say about The Graduate except that it’s the one film I never tire of seeing? I love all the extras and screen tests on the disc."

"Most of my favorite films are those in which the lead character is in every scene of the film. When I was a teenager I saw Blow-Up, The Graduate, and Midnight Cowboy at a revival art-house cinema, and these films had an enormous impact on me. I’ve collected Criterion editions since the laserdisc days, and my favorite from that time was the Midnight Cowboy disc, with John Schlesinger’s commentary. But having two out of the three films available now on Criterion Blu-ray is great. I love the package design and transfer of the Blow-Up disc, and the scene in the park where David Hemmings stalks the couple with his camera really comes to life with the new transfer—it’s maybe my favorite scene in any film ever made. And what can I say about The Graduate except that it’s the one film I never tire of seeing? I love all the extras and screen tests on the disc."

"What can I say about Julianne Moore other than that she is a queen and a goddess and I love her. This film is so unsettling, and I find it hard to describe because the monsters and enemies are invisible. What is leading this woman who is technically fine, technically well-off, technically clean, and technically shouldn’t have anything to worry about down this spiral of sickness and paranoia? I often feel that way about myself when I’m dealing with existential crises of my own. I count my blessings, but I can’t get away from, at certain points, this feeling that something is wrong, and this film hit me right there. Haynes was ahead of his time in creating that sort of ominous, intrusive, odious ambiance without beating you over the head with outright horror or contagion, or all of the easy ways to get you to feel scared. It’s all that isn’t being seen in the film that is scariest."

"It’s astonishing; one of those soundscape albums where the songs barely hold together, but somehow they do, so beautifully and so delicately. They’re like hymns, all of them. There’s a very spiritual quality to the chord sequences, straight from the church. It’s worshipful and soulful. In some ways it relates to Talk Talk’s last works. But they have that dark, dubstep feel to them as well. I just love the way he deconstructs songs. After I’d bought the album, it was on in a people carrier when we were being driven to a festival somewhere, and everybody was saying, "this is really dreary", but I had to pipe up and say, "actually it’s one of my favourite albums at the moment so can we leave it on?" I felt connected to it. I thought, "this isn’t dreary; it’s making me feel uplifted." I like what he does. I like anyone who takes songs and challenges the notion of song structures."