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MOST RECENT ARTICLES BY:

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
    Rye Lane Makes Romantic Comedy Look EasyWatching these two dorky-hip 20-somethings banter around South London may make you wonder why we’re so worried about the fate of the rom-com.
  2. movie review
    Teyana Taylor Is Just So Good in This MovieAs a young mother in A Thousand and One, Taylor is tenacious, contradictory, adaptable, and raw.
  3. movie review
    This Korean Comedy Understands the Pleasures of Never Leaving the HouseWalk Up, from the prolific director Hong Sang-soo, is a deeply enjoyable movie that moves up through the floors of a Seoul apartment building.
  4. movie review
    Trapping Willem Dafoe in a Penthouse Prison Shouldn’t Be BoringInside wastes a great premise on dreary execution.
  5. the answer is in your heart
    Is Adam Driver an Alien in 65 or What?This is mostly, but not entirely, a dilemma of my own making.
  6. oscars 2023
    The Year the Movies Died (Over and Over and Over Again)It was an exhausting season for cinephiles, who were constantly confronted with elegies for an art form that is very much alive.
  7. movie review
    The Glorious Masculine Melodrama of Creed IIIMichael B. Jordan is good at this.
  8. performance review
    Paul Mescal Is Our Disappointment HeartthrobOther heartthrobs exude swagger or sex, but Mescal emanates something more devastating: the irresistible promise of eventually letting you down.
  9. pretty statues
    Cheese: An Annotated History of the Oscar Class PhotoThe group portraits are back this year — and one nominee is noticeably absent.
  10. movie review
    Magic Mike Shouldn’t DateChanning Tatum’s Mike Lane is the holy hunk, and his own desires seem incidental — tough stuff when you’re supposed to be half of a steamy couple.
  11. movie review
    The Numbing Spectacle of Infinity PoolWhat I did on my summer vacation (watched myself get executed).
  12. trends
    The Canceled As Character StudyIn Tár, Barbarian, and Glass Onion, there’s pleasure in watching celebrities fall.
  13. 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.
  14. 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.
  15. 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.
  16. 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.
  17. 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.
  18. 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.
  19. vulture lists
    The 37 Best Movies Over 3 Hours LongGot some extra time? Lose yourself in these cinematic spectacles.
  20. 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.
  21. 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.
  22. 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.
  23. 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.
  24. 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.
  25. 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.
  26. 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.
  27. 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.
  28. bedtime stories
    Nothing Helps Me Fall Asleep Faster Than Listening to Horror PodcastsIt’s not weird, I swear.
  29. 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.
  30. don’t go in there
    The Best Scene in Barbarian Nails the Horror of Knowing BetterAnd still going into that dark room anyway.
  31. 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.
  32. 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.
  33. 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.
  34. movie review
    Triangle of Sadness’s Class Satire Reaches Hazardous Levels of SmugThis year’s Palme d’Or winner is a total drag.
  35. 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.
  36. 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.
  37. 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.
  38. 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.
  39. 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.
  40. 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?
  41. 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.
  42. tiff 2022
    Catherine Called Birdy Is DelightfulLena Dunham takes on a beloved children’s novel, and the results are unexpectedly endearing.
  43. 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.
  44. 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.
  45. 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.
  46. 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.
  47. 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.
  48. movie review
    A Movie So Ideal for the End of Summer That It’s Actually Called FallHead empty, just tower.
  49. 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.
  50. 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.
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