"I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang, 1932. This is excellent. It was pre-Code. Ferocious movie. Paul Muni, incredibly intense. It was really the best picture I think Mervyn LeRoy ever did, by far. Maybe the production code got in the way after that. He made another movie called They Won’t Forget, which is supposed to be great, but I don’t love it. I think it’s probably because the production code got in the way and it sort of neutered him a little bit. No spoilers, but the ending of Chain Gang, I couldn’t forget about it for days."

"Godfather one and two, as one movie — but not blended together; I don’t think that worked when they tried to combine them [for the TV version]. I have to just say that The Godfather is a quintessential American film, where it’s absolutely satisfying. The writing is so excellent — what is being said, and the nuance of what is being said, is so understood. And the color, again, situates you in a particular moment in time. It’s a portrait of America. It’s one of those things where storytelling and acting found one of those magical, elegant solutions…"