"It’s a pretty recent movie but Selma, the Ava DuVernay movie from a couple of years ago. I just can’t remember seeing a movie and it being so clear to me that it was a masterpiece. I mean, I felt similarly about Moonlight this year — I was just like, “Oh, it’s incredible.” But usually movies take a minute to settle with me, and as I was watching Selma I just was like, “This is a masterpiece. This is an incredible movie.” The story is so powerful and the performances are incredible. And it’s made with such clarity and such passion. I think she’s one of the great film makers."

"A Married Couple is the first Allan King movie I saw, but I think I watched Warrendale right after that, on the same day. Somebody had lent me the Eclipse set. It’s a very frustrating movie; it’s a rollercoaster of emotions. Sometimes you even like these people in a weird way, but then you also sometimes detest them. You know they’re playacting in front of the camera and that they know it’s there, but when you start to realize just how much they’ve been playacting with each other in this marriage, it’s very disturbing. It makes me start to think about how much people playact in life and in relationships."

"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."

"My mother took me to see Jethro Tull for my 14th birthday. We were living in the Los Angeles area and they were playing a couple of towns over. It was pretty much my first rock concert. I was heavily into Jethro Tull back then and I still am. Stand Up is the record that moves me the most. It's only their second album and they're still kind of scruffy. There's a heavy rock influence but they had that English thing going on, you know, university dudes who were really into folk music. It didn't seem like an affectation to me – it still seems real."