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Alison Willmore

Movie Critic
See all their articles from across New York Magazine

Alison Willmore is a film critic for New York magazine and Vulture. Formerly, she was the only critic at BuzzFeed News, the first TV editor at IndieWire, and the host of Filmspotting: SVU.

  1. movie review
    I Hate to Say This, But Men Deserve Better Than Gladiator IIRidley Scott’s sequel might make you wonder if we’ve lost the ability to treat brawny historical epics earnestly.
  2. movie review
    Bird Is an Endearing, Ungainly Modern-Day Fairy TaleStarring a tatted-up Barry Keoghan, the film resembles a dream director Andrea Arnold had that she only semi-successfully translated to the screen.
  3. movie review
    Red One Will Remind You of Other, Better MoviesHonestly, the Dwayne Johnson–Chris Evans action comedy would be more interesting if it actually were a disaster.
  4. best of 2024
    The Best Movies of 2024 (So Far)The best election drama of the year doesn’t take place in the United States.
  5. movie review
    Here Is the Biggest Pile of Schmaltz You’ll See This YearTom Hanks and Robin Wright reunite for a movie that uses a bold formal device to incredibly hokey ends.
  6. movie review
    In Dahomey, Mati Diop Gives the Past a Lyrical VoiceThe new nontraditional documentary from the director of Atlantics looks at the restoration of 26 plundered artworks to Benin.
  7. movie review
    Venom: The Last Dance Is Bad on PurposeAnd even though Tom Hardy’s digitally enhanced hand-puppet act is fun to watch, that starts to feel insulting.
  8. movie review
    Union Is a Reminder That Documentaries Can Be Artful As Well As PoliticalStephen Maing and Brett Story’s film is a gorgeously made document of a labor battle against the behemoth that is Amazon.
  9. movie review
    Goodrich Feels More Like a Therapy Session Than a MovieThe new film from Hallie Meyers-Shyer stars Michael Keaton as a genial bad dad.
  10. nyff 2024
    Blitz Is the Worst Movie Steve McQueen Has MadeBy any wider standard, that means that the World War II drama is still not bad at all.
  11. movie review
    The Lego Pharrell Movie Has a Lego Black Lives Matter SegmentSome thoughts on Piece by Piece and the dangers of committing to the bit.
  12. movie review
    The Best Doc of the Year Is Like a 5.5 Hour-Long Panic AttackJulia Loktev’s My Undesirable Friends drops you into a group of independent Russian journalists in the last months before the invasion of Ukraine.
  13. movie review
    Joker: Folie à Deux Commits the Mortal Sin of Wasting Lady GagaI mean, what are we even doing here?
  14. a great debate
    Megalopolis Can Only Imagine Genius As a BrandFrancis Ford Coppola’s passion project about a visionary architect is a banal paean to stale ideas about great men.
  15. movie review
    Sleep Is A Near-Perfect Horror ComedyThe South Korean film, from Bong Joon-ho protege Jason Yu, is a rollicking ride about sleepwalking and marriage.
  16. venice 2024
    Controversial Point: George Clooney and Brad Pitt Are Good TogetherWolfs is fine as a comedy but great as a star vehicle that makes you wonder why it took so long for its leads to reunite.
  17. movie review
    Inside Out 2 Is Another Product of the Pixar SlumpThe animation giant goes back to the well of its 2015 coming-of-age hit, with less-than-joyful results.
  18. close read
    Are We Getting The Substance All Wrong?The Demi Moore horror film is being hailed for its feminism, but its real strength is in its portrayal of addictive behavior.
  19. movie review
    In Search of a More Welcoming RealityJane Schoenbrun’s I Saw the TV Glow is an enveloping, confounding film about isolation, gender transition, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
  20. movie review
    A Different Man Might Be Overthinking ThingsSebastian Stan is very good in this droll, distant drama about being unable to escape yourself, but it’s Adam Pearson who brings the film to life.
  21. movie review
    The Speak No Evil Remake Is Sillier (and Better) Than the OriginalThe American remake loses something in ditching the unrelenting darkness, but it also avoids the original’s borderline reactionary message.
  22. movie review
    My Old Ass Is Low-Key DevastatingMaisy Stella and Aubrey Plaza star in a rewarding coming-of-age story about getting the chance to advise your teenage self.
  23. venice 2024
    What Is the New Standard for American Cinema?The movies in competition at the 2024 Venice Film Festival told a story of a porous U.S. film world, a washed up scene, or something in between.
  24. venice 2024
    The Brutalist Is Half Of A Great MovieA terrific Adrien Brody anchors this three-and-a-half-hour American saga whose ambitions end up exceeding its grasp.
  25. venice 2024
    Babygirl Might Just Be The Year’s Hottest MovieThough what’s great about this sexy Nicole Kidman-Harris Dickinson drama is how surprising it can be.
  26. venice 2024
    Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton Are Perfectly Imperfect TogetherWho could blame Pedro Almodóvar’s The Room Next Door for being more interested in its leading ladies than in contemplating death?
  27. movie review
    Miyazaki Didn’t Lose a StepHayao Miyazaki’s Oscar-winning film The Boy and the Heron is a reminder of what makes him an animation legend.
  28. venice 2024
    Familiar Touch Is an Infinitely Tender Movie About DementiaKathleen Chalfant is astonishing as a woman who moves to a care facility after she is no longer able to live alone.
  29. venice 2024
    Luca Guadagnino’s Queer Is More Challenging Than You Might ExpectFor such a hot movie, this Daniel Craig–starring William S. Burroughs adaptation sure feels emotionally sealed off.
  30. venice 2024
    Harmony Korine’s Baby Invasion Made Me SickIn a “let me off the roller coaster before I throw up” way, not a “this is disgusting” way.
  31. close read
    Yorgos Lanthimos Is Not Your FriendPoor Things was an empowerment fantasy. Kinds of Kindness is a return to the director’s primary interest — control.
  32. venice 2024
    This Is Not Angelina Jolie’s Big ComebackHer starring role in Maria is her most ambitious in ages, and yet it feels like a snooze.
  33. festival season
    The 18 Movies We’re Most Excited to See at Venice and TIFFTwo major film festivals are happening over the next two weeks in Venice and Toronto, setting the film world’s agenda for the rest of the year.
  34. venice 2024
    Tim Burton Is Great AgainBeetlejuice Beetlejuice isn’t just a nostalgic retread — it’s a jolting reminder of what makes the director so seductive.
  35. movie review
    They Finally Made The Crow for Goth IncompetentsBill Skarsgård and FKA Twigs star in the tragic love story between a Soundcloud scarecrow and a rebellious cheerleader.
  36. movie review
    Josh Hartnett Gives Grade-A Murder Daddy in TrapM. Night Shyamalan’s latest works better than should be possible because of Hartnett, who plays a monster wearing the skin of a devoted family man.
  37. movie review
    Seeing Matt Damon Paired With Casey Affleck Is So DisorientingThe Instigators, starring Damon and Ben Affleck’s younger brother, Casey, plays like an indirect comment on the ‘Matt and Ben Show.’
  38. movie review
    What If Jessica Chastain and Anne Hathaway Had a Mother-Off, and We All Lost?The strange case of Mothers’ Instinct.
  39. movie review
    Dìdi Remembers All Too Well What It’s Like to Be 13Sean Wang’s directorial debut so vividly recreates the netherworld between middle and high school that it’s kind of hard to watch.
  40. movie review
    Twisters Needs to Be Either Smarter or DumberWhy so cirrus-us?
  41. encounter
    Osgood Perkins Gets Into the Family BusinessHe’s Dorky Dave from Legally Blonde. He’s also Norman Bates’s son and the next big horror-movie director.
  42. movie review
    Sing Sing Doesn’t Need a Movie Star’s TouchThe prison theater drama can’t square its naturalistic urges with its need to be an awardsy acting vehicle.
  43. movie review
    Catherine Breillat Is Back, BabyThe transgressive French filmmaker is in fine, fucked-up form with Last Summer, about a middle-age lawyer who starts sleeping with her stepson.
  44. movie review
    Mia Goth Will Almost Convince You MaXXXine Has Something to SayFor that, the girl deserves an Oscar.
  45. movie review
    A Movie About Being Cool Shouldn’t Be This UptightHow is The Bikeriders, a movie in which Jodie Comer, Austin Butler, and Tom Hardy are a biker love triangle, so emotionally constipated?
  46. movie review
    Janet Planet Will Grow on YouAnnie Baker’s coming-of-age film features a career-best performance from Julianne Nicholson as a crunchy single mom living in Western Massachusetts.
  47. movie review
    The Watchers Squanders Its Creepy PremiseM. Night Shyamalan’s daughter makes her directorial debut with a horror movie about reality TV and the strange creatures that watch it.
  48. endings
    In a Violent Nature’s Unbearably Tense Ending Makes the Whole Film WorthwhileThe experimental horror film is at its best when it breaks format. Spoilers!
  49. movie review
    Not Even Jennifer Lopez Seems to Know What Atlas Is Meant to BeThe Netflix original is neither a serious action flick nor a B movie. It’s just a slick, textureless attempt to assure you that AI is your friend.
  50. how to be a star in 2024
    21 Ways to Hack StardomAfter a dry period, a new crop of A-listers is rising in Hollywood — and doing it differently this time.
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