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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. vulture lists
    The 47 Best Movies Over 3 Hours LongGot some extra time? Lose yourself in these cinematic spectacles.
  2. movie review
    Grand Theft Hamlet Is a Delightful Putting-on-a-Show DocumentaryShot entirely in Grand Theft Auto Online, this film about two actors attempting an unusual Shakespeare production is both hilarious and touching.
  3. movie review
    They Don’t Make Comedies Like One of Them Days AnymoreBut they should.
  4. movie review
    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.
  5. performance review
    For the Love of God, Give This Woman an Oscar NominationNo one last year gave a performance that comes close to what Marianne Jean-Baptiste does in Hard Truths.
  6. vulture lists
    The 54 Best Movies Under 90 MinutesSometimes you just want a good story, capably told with no time to waste.
  7. movie review
    Flow Is an Animal Adventure That’s Endearing and a Little Too PrettyThe Latvian animated film is a wordless survival story that lets its animals act like animals.
  8. movie review
    Shouldn’t Nosferatu Be Scarier?Lily Rose-Depp stars in a vampire movie from The Witch director Robert Eggers that’s gorgeous and weirdly inert.
  9. movie review
    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?
  10. movie review
    Tyler Perry’s Cosplay of a War Movie Hardly Does Its Subjects JusticeThe Six Triple Eight ends up being more about what these women endured than about what they accomplished.
  11. movie review
    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.
  12. movie review
    It’s Everyone Around Bob Dylan That Makes A Complete Unknown Worth WatchingTimothée Chalamet is good as the enigmatic musician, but this is really a movie about what it’s like to bob around in the wake of greatness.
  13. movie review
    Joker: Folie à Deux Commits the Mortal Sin of Wasting Lady GagaI mean, what are we even doing here?
  14. movie review
    Netflix’s 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.
  15. movie review
    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.
  16. movie review
    Kraven the Hunter Is a Bunch of Weird Guys in Search of A MovieThe origin story of a Spider-Man antagonist that, for contractual reasons, will not mention Spider-Man.
  17. performance review
    The Anti-EverywomanNicole Kidman has become a figure of aspiration, not relatability, which is precisely why her latest roles have been so fun.
  18. best of 2024
    The Best Movies of 2024There’s still nothing like the simple pleasure of watching movie stars be movie stars.
  19. movie review
    What’s a Girl Gotta Do to Get Some Conflict in Moana 2?The sequel to the 2016 hit needs better songs and better bad guys.
  20. movie review
    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.
  21. 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.
  22. 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.
  23. 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.
  24. 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.
  25. 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.
  26. 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.
  27. 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.
  28. 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.
  29. 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.
  30. 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.
  31. 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.
  32. 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.
  33. 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.
  34. movie review
    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.
  35. 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.
  36. 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.
  37. 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.
  38. 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.
  39. 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.
  40. 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.
  41. 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.
  42. 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.
  43. 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.
  44. 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.
  45. 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.
  46. 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.
  47. 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.
  48. 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.
  49. 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.’
  50. movie review
    What If Jessica Chastain and Anne Hathaway Had a Mother-Off, and We All Lost?The strange case of Mothers’ Instinct.
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