"And then, one that I can’t get away from is Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. First of all, in America, we weren’t all that familiar with Chow Yun-Fat, and we were a little bit more familiar with Michelle Yeoh, but we weren’t all that familiar with Ziyi Zhang, who’s phenomenal in everything that she does. But we’d never seen… I was new to the business — I’d been in show business since 1997, so I was three years in show business, and a lover of movies my whole life. And I remember sitting in the theater going, “This is a turning point. I’ve never seen anything like this in my entire life.” And then it’s been copied now, over and over and over and over. And I would kind of argue that things like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, I’d have to call that an original take on that genre. The story is beautiful, and visually, what Ang Lee was able to do… The fact that he can do that and make beautiful films like Brokeback Mountain, and then come back and do movies like Life of Pi, which is another visually stunning film. For me, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon might be on the list to stay. You and I could sit down and watch that movie right now and still go, “God is that cool! That is just cool.”"

"I was thirteen when I saw this on opening weekend, and I remember leaving the theater walking on air. This had everything I’d wanted in a film. I was expecting just another fun action movie, and it was so much more. I was blown away by Verhoeven’s skillful hand with bleak absurdist satire, action, and genuine pathos. Somehow the film’s ludicrous extremes were able to make a perfect in-the-moment statement about the Regan-era eighties without the benefit of hindsight. Amazing script, amazing cast, and Peter Weller should’ve gotten an Oscar. So many memorable lines. Rob Bottin’s iconic designs of Robocop and the nuclear waste victim. Phil Tippet’s brilliant stop-motion wonder ED-209, so hilariously anthropomorphized through its beastly sound design and hurky movement—and I’ve yet to see something like that executed as perfectly with CGI. Some truly great, subversive physical comedy. When this was first released on Criterion I was so excited it was getting the reverence it deserved among the other classics. I believe it’s on the commentary track where Verhoeven talks about the sequel he pitched that was inevitably turned down. Instead of simply repeating himself, he proposed a love story with RoboCop falling for a cyborg that was little more than a floating brain in a jar. I would love to see that."

"We out.” That is the Harriet Tubman quote emblazoned on my favorite T-shirt. Did she ever really say it? Probably not. But what is so dope about the conceit is that it distills her heroism so acutely, that you feel it in our now. That is the beauty of the film “Harriet.” The performance of Cynthia Erivo as Harriet Tubman is so sharp and nuanced that this mythic, historical figure becomes real. We feel Harriet’s fierce devotion to love, family, and womanhood viscerally. Cynthia Erivo is a striking actress. But great performances do not happen in a vacuum. Kasi is known as an “actor’s director,” and her skill shines throughout the film. The connection between artist and actor is palpable. You feel their trust of one another. Their shared singular focus of Kasi’s vision. A great director guides, pushes, nourishes, steps back. They provide the tools upon which an actor can build. And oh, what tools Kasi provided in costumes, production design, location and voluminous research. Crafting a performance with an actor is the most important job of a director. It starts with trust, and creating a space in which an actor feels safe enough to give you everything. Cynthia gave Kasi everything and we are better for it. We watch an extraordinary woman live, love and fight, and leave the theater inspired."

"One of my great all-time loves in cinema, and I’ve seen it three times, is Bondarchuk’s War and Peace. Not a lot of people may have seen that film. It was made during the Soviet era. I’d be happy to see it again — it is, however, 12 hours long. It took 10 years to make, and some actors lived and died during the period of making the movie. It’s a little bit influenced by being a ’60s film, so it’s got a bit of a trippy edge to it; it’s a little bit abstract. But it has some of the finest examples of Russian acting of that era. I was profoundly affected by the Russian theater and the style of Russian acting. It was shot on cameras and film stock that we simply never have access to. If I’m not mistaken, during the opening credits the camera is in a cosmonaut’s space capsule being shot into Earth. It’s probably the biggest crane shot of all time. At first you think, “Well this is going to be tedious,” but stay with it and I think you’ll find yourself drawn in. And the girl who played Natasha [Lyudmila Savelyeva] is a dead ringer for Audrey Hepburn and she’s one of the most luminous stars that ever found herself on the screen."

"Another time travel movie, as I call it. I love the pacing of the film and how strange it was. When I saw it I just fell into the reality of the movie, just seeing him get on the train and head out to this place that he’s not excited about going to, and then getting there and being trapped by the forces of nature. Again, for me, some films just have an immersive atmosphere—and the music, and all the shots, the period that’s it’s in, and the casting, it just really transported me to that time period. And I love Sigourney Weaver. I’ve seen other things that she’s been in, but for the most part I think of her as the, you know, Alien. So to see her in something that I was excited about, and just as a character, that was great. But it was a very transporting movie. If a piece is going to take place in the past, I want it to feel like that, whatever that means. If the details aren’t right, it will take me out of the movie. And with The Ice Storm I just fell into that reality so hard-core. I just remember it being like, “Oh my god.” I think I saw it twice because I worked in the movie theater at that time and saw it for free."

"It’s a mad movie. It’s just insane. This was the first movie I remember having so many stars that I loved. My favorite scene is when the older woman realizes that her son-in-law lives close to the treasure, so she calls him up. I remember the phone ringing and ringing, and when they cut to her son, he’s with a girl in a bikini doing the twist to some song. And she has this disaffected look on her face, just staring into nothing. The son is in a ’50s-style bathing suit just jumping around her going, “Yeah. Go.” That moment is something I’ve put in theater pieces, and even when I go out and I’m on the dance floor, I think of that scene. So if that movie gave me anything, aside from the excitement of seeing all these awesome comedic actors, it was that moment. I love that old-style humor, you know, like Some Like It Hot, just over the top. I think comedy was done with a lot more class back then. And that was a crossover period. It’s hard to get that these days. Now it has to be cool. Back then it just had to be crazy and zany. That movie should be listed next to the definition of “zany” in the dictionary. “What is zany?” “Watch this movie.”"