"I love all of Nick Cave's albums, but this was the first one that I got. It’s very powerful and confrontational, and it’s even a little ugly at times. “His lyrics are always so beautiful, even when he’s singing about things that are quite violent. This record got me into the Bad Seeds, and I became a very big fan of theirs, as well. Nick is brilliant."

"Starlite Walker by Silver Jews. This doesn’t get talked about too much because people tend to talk about American Water when they talk about Silver Jews. This is the best album though. The first song “Trains Across the Sea” has the same chords as our song “The Wall.” David Berman is my favorite lyricist ever; I love his book of poems called Actual Air."

"In this book, Ms. Adichie has constructed a full on romance that has the addictive power of a Jane Austen novel but with the specifics of life in Nigeria, as well as life in the United States as an immigrant. I fell in love with Ifemelu and Obinze in a way that I haven’t felt since I was a child reading novels for the first time."

"When I first saw this at university, in 1960, I found it boring. Yet something made me watch it a second time that same term, and I fell under the spell of Antonioni’s mesmeric camera movements, his grasp of love and its heartaches, and above all the impassioned beauty of Monica Vitti. The film looks as freshly minted as if it had just been released."

"I read this for the first time my sophomore year in high school. This is where I fell in love with The Bard. The drama, and the incredibly powerful words Lady Macbeth is given to say were unlike any I had heard from a woman in literature at that time. It felt like a page turner. Even though it wasn’t. Cause, y’know, iambic pentameter."

"Next it’s gonna be National Lampoon’s… which one are we gonna put first? Let’s say Vegas Vacation. [Laughs] I dunno… I mean, Chevy Chase is fantastic. I love those movies. A particular favorite of mine is the beginning, when he’s singing in the car. Just the whole thing, really; I mean, Randy Quaid is fantastic. It’s just great. I can watch it over and over."

"I did not like this film the first time I saw it. Granted, it was the theatrical version, but I don’t think that was the reason. At twenty, I wasn’t able to appreciate its patience, its gentleness, its humor. Though there is tragedy in the film, the overwhelming takeaway is that the time we have with the people we love is the most important thing we have."

"The sense of place is what I cherish. I love the Greek chorus assembled out of all these characters in the neighborhood, and how specific each of them is. Spike’s work was a revelation for me, and I had been a fan since his first film. With Do the Right Thing, it felt like he was orchestrating his masterpiece—it’s so musical, so vibrant, and so brave."

"Jeremiah Zagar, the director of We the Animals, gave us some films to watch to prepare for our shoot. This was one of them. I fell in love with it. I remember thinking Lynne Ramsay really captured boyhood and youth. The cast, full of first-time actors, is incredible, especially the young leads. I want to see more films like this in the world."