If a movie is really working, you forget for two hours your Social Security number and where your car is parked. You are having a vicarious experience. You are identifying, in one way or another, with the people on the screen.

Catholic theology believes that God gave man free will, and you can't give somebody free will and then send in a play from the sidelines.

We must try to contribute joy to the world. That is true no matter what our problems, our health, our circumstances. We must try.

Movies that encourage empathy are more effective than those that objectify problems.

A film like Hoop Dreams is what the movies are for. It takes us, shakes us, and makes us think in new ways about the world around us. It gives us the impression of having touched life itself.

Who was the real Hitchcock? I interviewed him once and haven't a clue.

We live in a box of space and time. Movies are windows in its walls. They allow us to enter other minds, not simply in the sense of identifying with the characters, although that is an important part of it, but by seeing the world as another person sees it.