"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."

"This is a really obscure one, but there’s a really weird French-Canadian movie called Leolo. Roger Ebert loved it. He gave it a four-star review when it came out. The filmmaker, Jean-Claude Lauzon… He made two movies and then he died. It’s a really tragic story. It’s this surreal, messed-up story about a kid whose family is going insane, and so he comes up with these fantastical stories to escape from his world. I saw that movie when I was in high school, and it just made such an impression on me because of the way it balanced humor and absurdity, and surrealism, and then just tragedy. It’s great. I should probably see it again. I haven’t seen it in a couple of years, so I want to make sure it still stands up. That movie is another very particularly strange coming-of-age movie that will always be a reference for me."

"This one had beat out a couple contenders who were dueling for a long time on my list. It is as ecstatically cinematic as any western ever got. We’re talking about a movie where the hero is so badass, he plays his own theme song. And not only that, he plays his own theme song for a reason that is devastating, that’s revealed in flashback before the final gunfight. I mean, come on. The camera moves, the music, the utter ballsiness of it, the pace. The western exploded with this one. This came out the same year as The Wild Bunch, and they kind of put a stake in it — that was it, we have gone as far as we can go in two very different directions. One is a lyrical opera, the other is an insane shoot em’ up kind of nihilistic orgy. For me, the operatic is gonna win out, as you will see in the other films I am going to mention."

"This is Katharine Hepburn’s second movie, and it’s directed by a female director, Dorothy Arzner, who’s one of only a couple of prominent female film directors during the sound era of the 20th Century. It’s just a really interesting film about a supposedly liberated woman, and how she navigates a professional life and a personal life, and how she kind of stays trues to her ideals in a world where – while there may be rhetoric supporting the idea of a new woman – really what the world values is women being domestic. Katharine Hepburn plays basically an Amelia Earhart-type aviatrix who has never had a romance, and she ends up meeting and falling in love with a married man who has never been unfaithful to his wife, and disaster ensues. The name of the film is the name of the man that she falls in love with, but it’s definitely her story."

"Broadcast News is next on the list. I’m a big Holly Hunter fan. I just think it’s a great movie; it’s funny, it’s sad, it’s interesting. It’s got that archetype of the ambitious news woman, you know? I like that she’s behind the scenes. It’s a character that I’ve never played in a movie. I think that I’m always waiting for that role; they all seem to go to Rachel McAdams. [laughs] You know, that inquisitive journalist who’s behind the scenes and is super feisty. We’ve done a couple episodes of Community where I got to sort of channel that energy. But it’s definitely a role I’ve always had my eye on, and Holly Hunter is such a singular actress in her style, and her voice is unique, and she’s such a petite woman; I think she carries her strength in an interesting way. She just emanates strength and confidence. She also has amazing crying scenes. It’s a great showcase of her acting."