Bilge Ebiri Author Archive
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Bilge Ebiri

Movie Critic
See all their articles from across New York Magazine

Bilge Ebiri is a film critic for New York and Vulture. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, the New York Times, Rolling Stone, and the Criterion Collection.

  1. movie review
    Lucky Grandma Is a Rorschach Test Comedy-ThrillerTsai Chin’s transfixing lead performance is the main reason the film works so well.
  2. movie theaters
    What Will Make Us Feel Comfortable Going to the Movies Again?And what will a post-pandemic theater look like?
  3. friday night movie club
    The Mask of Zorro Director on the Secret to Making a Great Romantic Action EpicMartin Campbell said no three times before signing on to the classic swashbuckler film. Two decades later, we’re still thankful he did.
  4. friday night movie club
    Why Can’t Every Movie Be As Good As The Mask of Zorro?I went into the 1998 film dreading what Hollywood would do to it. Now it feels like the kind of thing that we kept Hollywood around for.
  5. movie review
    The Trip to Greece Is the Final, Most Despairing Trip Film YetAmid all the decadent food and Michael Caine impressions, the four-part series has always had a darker edge.
  6. the end
    Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon Say Good-bye (for Now) to The Trip“I like to think that maybe one day we’d return to it.” “Yeah, I think in ten years’ time.”
  7. summer 2020
    60 Movies We’re Excited to See This SummerIf movies still exist then.
  8. summer 2020
    What Is a Summer Movie Anyway?As a summer without movie theaters looks more and more likely, two critics discuss an outdated way of viewing films.
  9. coronavirus
    Michael Mann Is Talking to Directors, Wondering When They Can Go Back to WorkIn March, the director left Japan mid-shoot. Now stuck at home in L.A., he’s reconnecting with Hollywood: “I know what Daniel Day Lewis is doing.”
  10. movie review
    Driveways, Starring the Late Brian Dennehy, Is Quietly ShatteringCo-starring Hong Chau, it’s a fragile flower of a film that works on you in sly, mysterious ways.
  11. movie review
    You’ll Want to Give a Hug to Netflix’s The Half of ItAlice Wu’s teen rom-com is yet another take on Cyrano, but that’s not what makes it special.
  12. coronavirus
    Claire Denis Is Making Her Own Hummus and Working on a New ScriptIn quarantine in Paris, the director is thinking about delayed projects with The Weeknd, Robert Pattinson, and Margaret Qualley, and cooking. A lot.
  13. coronavirus
    Force Majeure Director Wonders Whether the Media Is the ProblemIn Sweden, Ruben Östlund is using public transportation and considering how the life he experiences off-line contrasts with the digital world.
  14. movie review
    Sea Fever Is Eerily Timely, But Also Just Plain EerieThere is a scary monster, but this Irish horror indie is mostly about disease and quarantine.
  15. movie review
    Trolls World Tour Is an Anti-Rockist Variation on Infinity WarThis time, Thanos is a hard rocker with magic guitar strings and an anti-synth agenda.
  16. coronavirus
    A Polish Director Worries About Populist Politicians in QuarantineThe Other Lamb’s Małgorzata Szumowska wonders if she’ll make a comedy when the dark times pass.
  17. a long talk
    Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon on Ending the Trip Movies When We Need Them the MostFrom their respective quarantines, the comedians remember a decade of cross-country travel, hotels, fine dining — luxuries then, impossibilities now.
  18. vulture lists
    The 79 Best Pandemic Movies to Binge in QuarantineZombies. Parasites. Contagion. Oh my.
  19. coronavirus
    Icelandic Director Baltasar Kormákur Spends Quarantine Thinking About VolcanoesThe Everest filmmaker sees the coronavirus as another force of planet Earth: “It’s intelligent. That’s the scariest thing. It has a way of surviving.”
  20. coronavirus
    Iranian Filmmaker Mehrdad Oskouei Awaits a Prison Sentence in QuarantineThe documentarian has been sentenced to a year in prison. He wonders if he were there now, amid the coronavirus, how would he spend his time?
  21. vulture recommends
    Introducing Six Degrees of One Kevin Bacon Movie, a New Quarantine GameWe asked our film writers to start with Mystic River and work their way through five more titles … ending on another Kevin Bacon movie.
  22. friday night movie club
    Mad Max: Fury Road Is a Model Movie for Our Troubled TimesIt’s one of the most compelling postapocalyptic visions ever put on film. But the reason has less to do with calamity, and more with poetry.
  23. movie review
    Portrait of a Lady on Fire Is a Grand, Capital-R RomanceCeline Sciamma’s lesbian period film starts off as a story about looking, but its heart lies in less obvious, more suggestive cinematic elements.
  24. vulture recommends
    One of the Saddest Films I’ve Ever Seen Makes Me Feel More Hopeful Than EverDon Hertzfeldt’s It’s Such a Beautiful Day is now streaming for free on Vimeo. It’s a good reminder that shattering films can be a salve.
  25. coronavirus
    For Edgar Wright, Every Day Is a Zombie Fantasy NowThe writer of two apocalyptic comedies explains what life in quarantine is like in London.
  26. marky mark
    Someone Please Tell Mark Wahlberg He’s a Good ActorI realize the world has other, far more important things on its mind, but I need to get something off my chest: I’m worried about Mark Wahlberg.
  27. documentaries
    Hillary Clinton Has a Theory on Why People Love Her Most When She’s LosingAhead of the Sundance premiere of her new Hulu docuseries, Clinton spoke to Vulture about concession speeches and supporting Bernie Sanders.
  28. movie review
    Sorry We Missed You: Ken Loach’s Take on the Gig Economy Should Infuriate YouHe is perhaps Britain’s foremost cinematic chronicler of working-class angst and quotidian humanism.
  29. movie review
    Pixar’s Onward Is a Lot of Empty Emotional CaloriesBut Chris Pratt is pretty good.
  30. movie review
    Shaun the Sheep Meets E.T. in Netflix’s FarmageddonThe beloved characters are back in a Netflix sequel to the 2015 animated classic.
  31. life after parasite
    The Beanpole Director Is One of the Great Young Hopes of International CinemaKantemir Balagov explains the origins of his Russian historical drama, the best international film not nominated for an Oscar this year.
  32. movie review
    In Sonic the Hedgehog, It’s Like Golden-Era Jim Carrey Never Left UsThe movie is fine, but the villain’s a delight.
  33. the gold rush
    How Netflix Could Pull Off an Animation Upset at the OscarsThe streaming platform’s in-house animation studio has 30 projects on the horizon. But first, it’s eyeing Academy recognition.
  34. sundance 2020
    12 Movies We Loved at SundanceHere are a dozen of our favorites from the 2020 film festival — just know that there are at least a dozen other movies we could have easily included.
  35. sundance 2020
    When Documentaries Make You Question EverythingThis year’s slate of Sundance docs is unusually focused on narrative control: who has it, who demands it, and what happens when it changes hands.
  36. sundance 2020
    There’s Nothing Funny About Julia Louis-Dreyfus’s Performance in DownhillThe remake of Force Majeure (starring the Veep actress alongside Will Ferrell) sounds like a fake movie. But it’s real, and genuinely unnerving.
  37. sundance 2020
    Into the Deep Chronicles the Monstrousness of Danish Inventor Peter MadsenEmma Sullivan began filming her documentary one year before he murdered and dismembered journalist Kim Wall.
  38. backstories
    Quail Hunting and Rabbit Holes: How Terrence Malick Made His Nazi EpicA Hidden Life tells the story of a conscientious objector to Hitler. If we didn’t know better, we’d say it’s the director’s most political film yet.
  39. q&a
    A Long Talk With James Newton Howard, Hollywood’s Most Versatile ComposerHe’s written music for Pretty Woman, The Sixth Sense, The Dark Knight, and more. After a long career, he can admit when he’s been a bit of a diva.
  40. sundance 2020
    The 17 Movies We’re Most Excited to See at Sundance Film FestivalIncluding a transatlantic thriller starring Jude Law, a family drama from Miranda July, and a portrait of up-and-coming performer Taylor Swift.
  41. movie review
    Dolittle Is Anti-CinemaYou go into this thing expecting silly insouciance and walk away from it questioning reality.
  42. movie review
    The World Didn’t Need Another Bad Boys MovieThe new Bad Boys is probably a wash, but it ends so well that I now find myself not entirely opposed to the idea of a fourth one.
  43. movie review
    I Lost My Body Is Both Genuinely Sweet and Thoroughly TwistedAt least one good thing came out of the 2020 Oscar nominations: recognition for a left-field animated gem.
  44. movie review
    Underwater Is a Relentlessly Entertaining Deep-sea CatastropheIt’s all your fears — of the deep, of tight spaces, of the dark, of giant-creepy-crawly-squishy things — rolled into one.
  45. coming attractions
    68 Movies We Can’t Wait to See in 2020Daniel Craig bows out as Bond, Liu Yifei debuts as Mulan, Timothée Chalamet brings Dune back, and Spike Lee comes to Netflix.
  46. movie review
    Just Mercy Is a Precise and Patient Recounting of a Very Real Human StoryDestin Daniel Cretton’s film is based on the non-fiction book of the same name.
  47. chat room
    Tom Hooper Has a Hard Time Explaining the Feet in CatsThe director confronts the problem of family-friendly Christmas musicals featuring gyrating, pseudo-erotic man-cats.
  48. movie review
    With A Hidden Life, Terrence Malick Takes on the Evils of HistoryIt’s based on the real story of Franz Jägerstätter, a devout Austrian farmer who refused to pledge loyalty to Hitler.
  49. movie review
    Jumanji: The Next Level Is a Tired, Modestly Funny Sequel2manji feels kind of lifeless, but there are a few twists this time around.
  50. what were the 2010s?
    Every Movie of the 2010s, RankedOur critics pored over 5,279 of the decade’s films. Here’s the best, worst, and mehst.
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