"Gene Kelly plays a silent film star who falls for cloche-wearing babe Debbie Reynolds during the industry’s awkward transition to talkies. Hollywood: The sunshine! The song-and-dance! The handsome, dynamic men! It only took me 25 years to discover it’s all true. There’s a funny-terrifying scene about the complexities of wiring Kelly’s bitchy leading lady for sound. Sometimes I think of it when I’m taping a tiny microphone inside my bra and running the wire out through my armpit."

"Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides were all constantly responding to, or writing back against, the Homeric poems. The Athenian tragedy that is maybe most deeply engaged with rewriting and recreating “The Odyssey,” is Euripides' “Helen”, a provocative, brainy, funny play about the myth that Helen never went to Troy in the first place—the same myth that is central to HD's brilliant sequence “Helen in Egypt.” I translated the Euripides “Helen,” for a collection of Greek tragedy translations, “The Greek Plays.”"

"I also love Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas. I just think that Ron Howard‘s a genius along with Jim Carrey. Jim Carrey was the Grinch for real. Like, he is the Grinch. He was funny. The part where he just goes to his house and closes the door and says, “I’ve got everything I need right here.” And he didn’t have everything he needed there, but he thought he did. He was just kind of a lonely guy."

"I revisit this book all the time because it’s so laugh-out-loud funny and stars two totally unique main characters. A grad assistant heroine trying to move on from the past finds herself at odds with a stubborn, ex-army student. (He’s also an amputee, and I love seeing disabled main characters in romance.) Their enemies-to-lovers snark has me screaming every time. And when they finally do get together…whew. Approach with caution and consider wearing heat-resistant equipment." """

"I loved this film when I was younger (still do), dragging friends and family to revival houses to see its wonderful, pointed, sad satirical lunacy. It also has one of the best in-camera scene transitions ever done, and Peter O’Toole’s gloriously over-the-top performance is priceless. I understand some of the criticisms I’ve heard—it’s theatrical, it’s awkward at times, but it’s also fearless, funny, chilling, and unique, qualities that trump anything else you can say about it."

"I saw this again at the twenty-fifth anniversary screening at BAM, and I (still) think it’s a masterpiece. Spike Lee’s day-in-the-life in Bed-Stuy feels more bracing and urgent than ever: angry, sexy, and very funny. It’s exhilarating filmmaking, both hugely entertaining and shocking. The ending is devastating. I always think of that image of three guys sitting in front of a red wall . . . the faces of the cops, driving past in slow motion, looking at them."

"I think one of my favorite films of all time is Star 80. I’m a huge [Bob] Fosse fan, and I love that movie. There’s something about it; the music, Eric Roberts is so incredible in that movie. There’s something about the way he made that movie; it sort of lulls you into this comfortable state, and then all of a sudden it’s absolutely horrifying. It’s also kind of funny and ironic at times and winky. I just think he was a genius."

"What do you do when your life falls apart, when you’ve lost your creative mojo, your once-loving son ignores you, and your husband’s a barely-contributing pothead? For Judy Vogel, the answer is simple: she starts wearing her dog in a baby sling. Sounds crazy, but this funny and deeply moving book makes it plausible, and has a lot to say about modern life, as it satirizes things that already feel over the top, from pricey creativity gurus to progressive private schools."