Film Expertise Quotes

Horror fans are a particular breed. They analyze films with such detail and expertise that I am reminded of the Canadian literary critic Northrup Frye, who approached literature with similar archetypal analysis.

Because of 'Terminator 2,' you get not pigeonholed but circled as one of those guys who can understand their way through a movie like that and hold it down.

If you ask me whether I can direct, I can. In fact, I have shot several songs, scenes and stunts. When certain directors of my movies were not able to be there for some reason and had asked me to help out, I have directed. But to helm an entire movie is a different art altogether.

Denzel [Washington] just knows the actor. He knows the process, and you don't often get that.

Frankly, you cannot match the action in a Bond or a Bourne film. Forget budgets, it needs an expertise which I probably lacked.

I wasn't a film buff.

I'm not a huge Steven Spielberg nerd, but I know about him and I know of his work.

I own one movie by fellow Swede Ingmar Bergman, because I have to. You can't be a movie critic with a collection of six or seven hundred DVDs that includes everything from 'Tokyo Story' to 'Poison Ivy: The New Seduction' and not have a Bergman movie.

You become a film critic because you're interested in film. I don't know whether knowing so much about cinema leads you to make better films, but it certainly can't hurt.

I'm not a walking encyclopedia. I'm not one of those types that knows every single film ever made or can recite every dialog.

I feel safe in saying this, and that is that Peter Weir is without a doubt one of the greatest filmmakers of all time. I'd open a door in a movie for him if he asked me to.

The thing that's amazing about working with Chris Landon is that he has such an encyclopedic knowledge of all films in all genres.

Quentin Tarantino doesn't beat Hal Ashby, and he's one of my favorite directors. Quentin is incredible.

I love working with Scorsese. He's not only a brilliant director and is great working with actors, but he's also a walking human film encyclopedia. It's fun to talk about movies with him.

Obviously, you know, I am known as an action director, and being a film editor previously had been a great advantage for me as an action director.

Anything that's memorable about a movie is often what a test audience will object to because they're being asked to be experts. They just compare the film they finished watching to all of the other films that they've seen.

I always have directors who are somewhat frustrated because they'll reference a beautifully obscure film from the '50s or '60s or '70s, and I've not seen it.

Cukor is one of my favorite directors. He was a master at directing women.

How many movies do you see when you can say this director really knew what film he wanted to make? I can count them on the fingers of one hand.

People who are good at film have a relationship with the camera.

That's what I like about Neil Jordan's films: everyone is better at what they do than you are.

I've grown up around cinema. Michael Kamen was a very, very close friend of mine, sort of my godfather. So I know how much work goes into it. You have to know what you're doing.

Jack Cardiff - the greatest cameraman who ever worked in colour - was a lab boy to start with so he knew Technicolor from the inside out.

I specialize in movies that people say are underrated, with the exception of 'Superbad.'

I'm not a film-snob.