"An utter masterpiece from the great Akira Kurosawa. Curiously, a Dashiell Hammet novel provided the inspiration for this film. I love that an American pulp novel from the 1920s was the spark for a staggering work of genius from Japan over three decades later. It demonstrates how art can transcend barriers across time, space, and culture and speak to us in a meaningful way. Yojimbo was remade as Sergio Leone’s spaghetti western classic A Fistful of Dollars, which I saw and loved long before I knew the original even existed. But when I discovered Yojimbo, it was like a gift from the universe. Everything else paled in comparison. Yojimbo is part western, part gangster noir, part samurai story, all awesome. It’s so good. Plus, if Kubo’s dad looks a wee bit like Kurosawa’s resplendent muse Toshiro Mifune, that’s not necessarily a coincidence."

"That one’s awesome. I love that one, and I ditched school so many f—ing times, man. I can’t even count. There were times when I went to school so far from where my friends were, so I would leave. I’d catch a bus and a train and another bus just to go hang out with them. Just wanting to have a day away to escape and feel like the everyday, teenage superhero for just guilty pleasure desires rather than actually having superpowers. I just love that movie. It’s so good. I love when he does “Danke Schoen,” and when he does “Twist & Shout.” He does “Twist & Shout” in the parade. That’s super badass. I want to be Ferris in that. That’s the moment that makes me feel like, “All right, I want to be Ferris. I want to be Ferris Bueller.”"