Movies, far more than the traditional arts, are tied to big money. Without a few independent critics, there's nothing between the public and the advertisers.

One of the surest signs of the Philistine is his reverence for the superior tastes of those who put him down.

Movies are so rarely great art that if we cannot appreciate great trash we have very little reason to be interested in them.

The first prerogative of an artist in any medium is to make a fool of himself.

Irresponsibility is part of the pleasure of all art; it is the part the schools cannot recognize.

If I never saw another fistfight or car chase or Doberman attack, I wouldn't have any feeling of loss. And that goes for Rottweilers, too.

The critical task is necessarily comparative, and younger people do not truly know what is new

When a picture can't make it on its own, the producers pull in a 'controversial' message - the way a couple whose marriage is falling apart decide to have a baby.

What this generation was bred to at television's knees was not wisdom, but cynicism.

If there is any test that can be applied to movies, it's that the good ones never make you feel virtuous.

Protagonists are always loners, almost by definition.

Before all masters, necessity is the one most listened to, and who teaches the best.

My dad didn't graduate from high school, ended up being a printing salesman, probably never made more than $8, 000 a year. My mom sold real estate and did it part time.

Philanthropist, n.: A rich (and usually bald) old gentleman who has trained himself to grin while his conscience is picking his pocket.

I had to find my way of translating the excitement you get when you're reading comic books to the big screen.

I showed people that it's not about guessing what people can do. It's about saying, 'Here, show me what you can do.'

I think men are still very loath to talk about their sexuality. Yet, I am so ashamed about my imperfection as a human being that I tell everything.

The most dangerous of our calculations are those we call illusions.

Perhaps the act of writing is necessary when nothing happens.

The facts of microevolution [change within the species] do not suffice for an understanding of macroevolution [theorized change from one species to another].

I am going to put the Bible out of business.