"Horror is my favorite genre, and Ari Aster’s debut is one of the scariest movies I’ve ever seen. I caught it at an advance screening in Vancouver, and had to sleep with the hotel lights on afterwards – something I haven’t had to do since 2002. I was traumatized. I wondered if the movie might be too brutal. The only way to find out, of course, was to drag as many friends as I could to see it when it opened a few weeks later. Maybe it was thanks to my loudly screaming chums, but this time around I couldn’t stop laughing. What a wicked movie. I can’t wait to rewatch it every October for the rest of my life."

"Since I started writing about politics full time (a terrible place to live!), I always, always, always have a fantasy novel queued up in my audiobooks app. I listen to snippets when I’m getting dressed or washing the dishes or driving, and I set the sleep timer for 15 minutes every night so I can fall asleep in a story, whether my husband likes it or not. Shadow and Bone—about a young woman who discovers remarkable powers in a world plagued by darkness—is a flawless escape: adventure, romance, a captivating magic system, and enough emotional complexity that it stays under your skin even when you’re back in the real world. "

"Star Wars reminds me of my mother, who didn’t let me see color movies until I was 12. I was raised on Alexander Nevsky and Chaplin and all of these insane movies that would just put a 10-year-old to sleep quicker than a shack of sheep. But Star Wars was my first departure from that rule, and it just blew my mind. It was the first color film I saw, and it just knocked me out. I don’t think I ever forgave my mother after I saw that film. But also just the kind of iconoclastic myth retelling that combined with science fiction, which has always been huge to me."

"The voice-over in Shock Corridor affected me deeply. It helped me realize that as a storyteller, you really have all the freedom in the world to tell the story the way you want to. There’s a line in here where an inmate wakes our hero in the middle of the night, chewing gum, to tell him that if you chew enough gum your mouth gets tired and your mind gets tired and then you don’t feel crazy, and he shoves gum in our hero’s mouth and then goes to sleep. Everyone is coping the best they can, madness is in all of us, ambition will take you down and don’t you forget it—how comforting"

"Color me gone, baby. I wouldn’t have seen this movie at twelve. I wouldn’t have understood anyone who didn’t have a mission, a point. But at nineteen, my face was gravel from “points.” I was ready for a whole lot of steel nothing, an empty road at high speeds, an existential needle guiding my arms. I knew little or nothing about automobiles, but I fell in love with this road trip, and made a couple myself, LA to Detroit, Tijuana to Spokane, no sleep, all little white pills and mud coffee. I never saw anyone as beautiful as James Taylor and Dennis Wilson passing me on the left, but I was ready to follow."