Wesley Morris

The movies weren't about the real darknesses, right?

The real difficulties.

They were about the attempt to believe in our better natures, our better selves.

And that is what is so shocking about his death.

But, you know, I was, you know, as one, as at least I do, when great or important people die in popular culture.

You were often tasked with eulogizing them in print.

Yeah.

And so you go back and you look and see how things went for them in real time or how they've been memorialized before their death, how their work is considered.

And I found...

You know, one of the great tomes, one of the great movie projects ever... Yeah, you're holding a very, very thick book.

...is David Thompson's Biographical Dictionary of Film.

Mm-hmm.

It's right here.

I've got a new Biographical Dictionary of Film.

Yeah, Christine.

It's the Merriam-Webster's of movies written by one man, David Thompson.

And his Rob Reiner entry is...

It's kind of amazing because he's a little more dismissive of the wonderful movies.

He gets it, but he doesn't really.

They're not for him, apparently.