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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. trends
    The Canceled As Character StudyIn Tár, Barbarian, and Glass Onion, there’s pleasure in watching celebrities fall.
  2. documentary
    How Margaret Brown Filmed One of the Year’s Most Telling Documentary ScenesThe Descendant director couldn’t have anticipated the unearthing of the slave ship Clotilda or the silence from the family who’d owned it.
  3. movie review
    Skinamarink Isn’t Like Other Horror MoviesKyle Edward Ball’s viral indie sensation has an analog aesthetic but was very much born from the internet.
  4. sundance 2023
    22 Movies We Can’t Wait to See at Sundance 2023From Cat Person (starring Cousin Greg) to the new Nicole Holofcener to an Ottessa Moshfegh–Anne Hathaway collaboration and more.
  5. movie review
    M3gan Is Good Enough for JanuaryThis horror comedy may have gone viral thanks to its Olsen-faced murder machine, but it’s Allison Williams who makes it watchable.
  6. backstories
    Glass Onion Isn’t Trying to Trick YouAccording to director Rian Johnson, every twist in his sequel is right in front of your face.
  7. movie review
    The Knives Out Sequel Is Bigger and Better Than the OriginalRian Johnson’s Glass Onion is more precisely designed, sitting with its characters rather than immediately showing off their decay.
  8. a long talk
    Park Chan-wook Leaves You HangingHis latest film, Decision to Leave, may be romantic, but that doesn’t mean the director is done with extreme violence.
  9. best of 2022
    Did We Want Too Much From Movies in 2022?Our film critics continue to chase that feeling of being utterly obliterated by what they see onscreen.
  10. best of 2022
    The Best Movies of 2022As the iron grip streaming held on our culture loosened this past year, the theatrical experience reestablished itself.
  11. movie review
    Disney Doesn’t Know What to Do With Strange WorldIf only this environmentally focused adventure featuring a queer Black teenager were as audacious as its themes.
  12. movie review
    All the Beauty and the Bloodshed Is an Incendiary Portrait of Art and ActivismNan Goldin takes on the Sackler family in this sweeping documentary.
  13. movie review
    The Inspection Is Both Incomplete and Full of PromiseA young gay man enlists in the Marines and endures brutal hazing in this autobiographical film from Elegance Bratton.
  14. movie review
    The Menu Is Deliciously MeanRalph Fiennes is a celebrity chef from hell in a film that feels like an unhinged sibling to The Bear.
  15. movie review
    The Son Is So Bad, You May Question Whether You Actually Liked The FatherThe new film from The Father director Florian Zeller, starring Hugh Jackman as a parent unsure of what to do about his child’s depression, is a mess.
  16. bedtime stories
    Nothing Helps Me Fall Asleep Faster Than Listening to Horror PodcastsIt’s not weird, I swear.
  17. movie review
    For a Movie About Patriarchal Violence, Holy Spider Sure Murders a Lot of WomenThe new film from Border director Ali Abbasi is a serial-killer story that tries, unsuccessfully, to be more.
  18. don’t go in there
    The Best Scene in Barbarian Nails the Horror of Knowing BetterAnd still going into that dark room anyway.
  19. movie review
    The Gorgeous Melancholy of AftersunPaul Mescal plays a dad who takes his kid on a holiday he can’t afford in this moody drama about memory.
  20. movie review
    Till Is a Painstakingly Careful Drama About a Racist AtrocityChinonye Chukwu’s film about the murder of Emmett Till is both cautious about and hemmed in by the terrible event at its center.
  21. movie review
    Are the Characters in Stars at Noon Unbearable or Just Unbearably Hot?Margaret Qualley and Joe Alwyn are expats unable to keep their hands off of each other in the unsettling Stars at Noon from Claire Denis.
  22. movie review
    Triangle of Sadness’s Class Satire Reaches Hazardous Levels of SmugThis year’s Palme d’Or winner is a total drag.
  23. movie review
    Tár Brilliantly Undoes an Ego Monster of an ArtistCate Blanchett is toweringly great as a famous conductor who meets a very public downfall.
  24. movie review
    Bros Is at Its Best When It Forgets About Making HistoryBilly Eichner’s romantic comedy is messy, funny, and ultimately charming — when it isn’t weighed down by all the firsts.
  25. movie review
    The Woman King Is a Brawny Historical Epic With a Conflicted View of the PastViola Davis presides over a rousing action movie with a touch of wistful alternative history.
  26. tiff 2022
    The Banshees of Inisherin’s Brilliantly Anti-Romantic Portrait of Rural IrelandIn Bruges stars Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson reunite with filmmaker Martin McDonagh for a wonderfully dark comedy about an ended friendship.
  27. tiff 2022
    Don’t Worry, The Fabelmans Doesn’t Overdo the ‘Magic of Movies’ ShtickSteven Spielberg’s self-portrait is as endearing as it is indulgent.
  28. season of excess
    I Already Miss the Maximalist MovieThe movies are about to settle down, straighten out, and prepare for the seriousness of fall. But do they have to?
  29. tiff 2022
    Is Harry Styles a Good Actor? A ConversationAfter the premieres of Don’t Worry Darling and My Policeman, we must speak our truth.
  30. tiff 2022
    Catherine Called Birdy Is DelightfulLena Dunham takes on a beloved children’s novel, and the results are unexpectedly endearing.
  31. tiff 2022
    Is the Year’s Most Urgent Me Too Movie About Mennonites?Sarah Polley’s new movie may be set in an insular religious community, but its themes are universal.
  32. tiff 2022
    Jennifer Lawrence’s New Movie Calls Back to Her Indie RootsCauseway is probably too subdued for awards traction, but it’s a welcome reminder of the intimate, unfussy role that launched the star’s career.
  33. movie review
    Funny Pages Is a Wry Film About a Cartoonist’s Quest for AuthenticityThis dark teen comedy from writer-director Owen Kline and A24 is as filled with promise as it is with underdeveloped ideas.
  34. let’s do it again
    The 102 Best Movie Sequels of All TimeWho in the world wanted a Top Gun sequel? Not even Tom Cruise, but that didn’t stop Maverick from getting made and soaring in our ranks.
  35. action!
    Watch Out for Scott AdkinsWhen the stuntman shows up in Jamie Foxx’s Netflix vampire movie, it’s a nod to the action geeks and proof of Day Shift’s bona fides.
  36. movie review
    A Movie So Ideal for the End of Summer That It’s Actually Called FallHead empty, just tower.
  37. movie review
    Emily the Criminal Isn’t Interested in EmpathyAubrey Plaza is great as a woman caught between crushing loans and a felony record who embarks on a surprisingly gritty criminal side hustle.
  38. movie review
    Bodies Bodies Bodies Could Stand to Be MeanerAmandla Stenberg, Pete Davidson, and the rest of the cool-kid cast star in a satirical slasher that’s never as sharp as it should be.
  39. if it bleeds…
    The Best Part of Prey Is What It Doesn’t DoIn jumping backward in time, Prey frees itself from having to build out more of the mythology of its mandibled alien antagonists.
  40. movie review
    Vengeance Is a Clever But Hollow Satire of New York Podcast BrosThe Office star B.J. Novak’s directorial debut squirms away from any satirical or emotional territory that might genuinely hurt.
  41. chat room
    Even After Nope, Steven Yeun Hopes We Make Alien Contact“What happens when you get confirmation that there’s life outside, even if it’s an amoeba? What does that do to you?”
  42. movie review
    Nope Is Jordan Peele’s Darkest Horror Comedy to DateIn Jordan Peele’s thrilling new movie, Daniel Kaluuya and Keke Palmer are willing to risk death to get something on camera.
  43. movie review
    The Gray Man Is the Most Expensive Movie Netflix Has Ever Made, and It’s … FineRyan Gosling and Chris Evans star in an action extravaganza that feels made to be watched in the background while you’re on your phone.
  44. persuasion
    Is Jane Austen Just a Vibe Now?The new Persuasion throws out almost everything essential about its source material but keeps the country walks and the costuming.
  45. movie review
    Claire Denis’s Brutal Both Sides of the Blade Cuts Through Grown-up DelusionsJuliette Binoche stars in Claire Denis’s movie about a couple given the perfect excuse to blow their lives up over a former friend and lover.
  46. movie review
    Thor: Love and Thunder Makes You Wonder If Marvel’s OkayThe gods, Asgardian and otherwise, must be crazy.
  47. movie review
    The Princess’s Vain Requiem for the GirlbossThis dumb elevator-pitch gag of a Hulu movie has the aura of an intrusive thought.
  48. movie review
    Savoring Flux Gourmet’s Satire of Celebrity Performance ArtPeter Strickland’s art-world satire is funny, opulent, and filled with infinite sympathy when it comes to gastrointestinal distress.
  49. movie review
    Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis Might Be a Hazard to Your CorneasElvis is bloated, hectic, ridiculous, and utterly shameless in presenting Presley as a talent too beautiful for this earth. I liked it.
  50. movie review
    Good Luck to You, Leo Grande Makes a Joyous Case on Behalf of Sex WorkEmma Thompson stars as a middle-aged widow trying to figure out whether sexual pleasure has passed her by in this generous drama debuting on Hulu.
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