We think of first love as sweet and valuable, a blessed if hazardous condition.

There must be a better reason to have a baby than to provide a plot point in a rom-com. Don't you think?

Sometimes miraculous films come into being, made by people you've never heard of, starring unknown faces, blindsiding you with creative genius.

I was indeed a snob, if you agree with this definition: 'A person who believes that their tastes in a particular area are superior to those of other people.' I do believe that. Not superior to all other people, but to some, most probably including those who think Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen is a great film. That is not simply ego on my part. It is a faith that after writing and teaching about films for more than 40 years, my tastes are more evolved than those of a fanboy.

In the best of all possible worlds, directors would obsess about the quality of their storytelling, and not the details of their technical methods.

I was perfectly content before I was born, and I think of death as the same state.

What every human being should do is eat a vegetarian diet based on whole foods. Period.