"When I first heard that “Little Women” was being made as a film yet again, I thought to myself; why? I honestly never understand remakes, especially when there are great versions that have already been made. And in the case of “Little Women,” some very dull ones as well. The simple fact that Louisa May Alcott never actually wanted to write “Little Women” and that she and her editor thought it was flat at the time that it was published in 1868, has been obvious in several of the film and television versions of this story. However, when I read that Greta Gerwig had written a new screenplay based on the novel and that Gerwig was going to direct, my interest was piqued. Perhaps I had been wrong about the merits of a remake of “Little Women.” Perhaps the fact that an incredibly talented and wholly contemporary female writer-director had decided to take this on meant that I had overlooked something. And indeed I had. There is nothing dull or flat about Greta Gerwig’s “Little Women.” It is at once a classic and yet completely contemporary. It is lush and fresh. The exceptional screenplay, the brilliant casting, the nuanced and original performances, the sets, the costumes, the rhythm and pace are all exactly right. The film speaks to the struggles of women in our culture to break free from the conventions that in many ways still attempt to ground them. It is a coming of age tale, but it is not a coming-of-age tale mired in the mid-19th century; it is a coming-of-age tale for all time. After “Lady Bird” I was of course impressed with Ms. Gerwig’s directing, but with “Little Women” I’ve become jealous. Very jealous. Which for me is always the greatest compliment. Brava. "

"OK so number five is sort of topical because at the moment I’m in the midst of pre-production to start this western that I’m about to make. So number five is Unforgiven. For me, Unforgiven is a great film and it’s a great traditional sort of American western, and it’s a great critique about an older guy whose past is very different than who he is now. Being dragged into his past is complicated, even down to the details that it’s hard for him to get on his horse again. It’s a western that deals with violence in a very unique way in that it’s one of the only westerns where you get to see the ramifications and the accountability of violence. You see how it affects people. And you see how some people are capable of it and some people are not, and the people that act like they are often times are not, and I think those are really important, complicated issues in this genre that is known for glorifying violence. I think it’s a really brilliant take on that. I also think that it’s a very good representation of the culmination of someone’s career. If you can define Clint Eastwood in a nutshell — him as an actor, and him as a director — he’s older when he made this movie, but you can really see that he’s figured everything out, and then he made this movie. It’s an example of all that stuff being figured out, and it’s just done so masterfully. I think that’s a credit to him and the time he spent making westerns or films in general as both an actor and a director. There’s a control of that film that is really unlike many other westerns and it’s very inspirational."