Alison Willmore

Most underrated movie of the year! Just total delight!

THE NAKED GUN, BLACK BAG, ONE OF THEM DAYS, WEAPONS

CONGRATS!!!

In Defense of the Traditional Review Far from being a journalistic relic, as suggested by recent developments at the New York Times, arts criticism is inherently progressive, keeping art honest and pointing toward its future.

The Times's reassignment of four critics is one thing, but its downgrading of the so-called traditional review is altogether another:
www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...

That's very kind, Brian!

Ep. 313: Alison Willmore on Cannes 2025: Sound of Falling, Enzo, and a look at the lineup Podcast Episode · The Last Thing I Saw · 05/14/2025 · 25m

Met up with Nic Rapold, who was heroically coherent despite being fresh off a plane, on the terrace of the Palais to talk about SOUND OF FALLING and another early premiere, ENZO, on his podcast podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e...

You are being far too generous with me, but thank you

We May Have Already Seen the Best Film at Cannes This Year The ambitious Sound of Falling kicks off the competition by setting a high water mark that will be hard for another film to reach.

Wrote about the German film SOUND OF FALLING, which just premiered at Cannes and kind of blew the top of my head off www.vulture.com/article/revi...

Screenshot from The New Yorker: One morning a few weeks ago, I met de Blasio at his regular coffee shop in Park Slope. He had just come from the gym—the same one that he’d insisted on commuting to every morning from Gracie Mansion, no matter how much grief the press gave him for it—and was wearing sweats. He held forth among his fellow-patrons with a spirit of magnanimous, possibly unreciprocated camaraderie, greeting a startled man by the door with a familiar “How you doing, brother?” and ordering his breakfast (scrambled egg whites, cheddar, ham, and tomato on multigrain toast) as “mi sandwich especial.” These days, de Blasio most often makes the news for his love life or for such momentous moves as dyeing his salt-and-pepper crewcut. But he’s sensed a bit of de Blasio nostalgia creeping into town. “Since I left office, the No. 1 thing that people come up to me on the street and talk about is pre-K,” he told me, lacing his iced espresso with a heavy pour of simple syrup. “The No. 2 thing that people talk about is that Onion headline.” He quoted it for me, savoring every word: “Well, well, well, not so easy to find a mayor that doesn’t suck shit, huh?”

bill de blasio in park slope, ordering his breakfast sandwich as “mi sandwich especial” and quoting the onion headline omg

www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

At Milestone Films, Passing the Torch, but Keeping the Flame Alive

Man, at a time when we've gotten so resigned to commercial interests trampling art and community, reading this is just the coolest fucking thing www.nytimes.com/2025/05/06/m...

💔

Bing the black and white Great Dane, star of THE FRIEND, sprawled out on a rug like the big shot he is

Look at this massive lad, fresh from having rounded the talk show circuit, taking a break on the Angelika green room rug between Q&As

I've never been! Curious about what the city has committed to in terms of construction, etc.

Seriously, though, moving from a small expensive mountain town to a medium-sized expensive mountain town doesn't feel like it's going to do much to reinvigorate a festival that has felt more and more insular over the years

Screengrab of a Matt Belloni tweet that reads "It's official: The Sundance Film Festival has chosen to move from Park City, Utah, to Boulder, Colorado. Announcement is coming soon. End of an era for America's most influential film fest."

CINCINATTI ROBBED

WAS it a movie tho

Cate Blanchett and Michael Fassbender looking hot in BLACK BAG

This is such a prime weekend to go see BLACK BAG and take 94 minutes off from thinking about the state of the world to instead spend them thinking about how great it is that Steven Soderbergh has made a movie about how hot movie stars are again

Realized I recced the very book you mentioned because my phone cut off the bottom of your post — while it’s clunkier and doesn’t stick the landing, Thomas Olde Heuvelt’s HEX, which was localized to New York state when translated, has nevertheless stuck in my head

Screen shot from the film Turistas

🌴New in the Main Feed🌴

VACATION HORROR

Drafted by @louispeitzman.bsky.social & @alisonwillmore.bsky.social

Listen everywhere!
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/s...

How Bong Joon Ho Crafted His First (Mostly) Happy Ending The Parasite director talks about the Trump parallels and optimism of his new movie, Mickey 17.

Spoke with Bong Joon Ho about the ending of MICKEY 17, autocrats, internalized blame, and why he thinks that, to be an optimist, you need to be willing to get bleak about our current reality www.vulture.com/article/mick...

How Bong Joon Ho Crafted His First (Mostly) Happy Ending The Parasite director talks about the Trump parallels and optimism of his new movie, Mickey 17.

Spoke with Bong Joon Ho about the ending of MICKEY 17, autocrats, internalized blame, and why he thinks that, to be an optimist, you need to be willing to get bleak about our current reality www.vulture.com/article/mick...

A glorious selection of varenyky and pelmeni at a hot food bar

Possible I've wildly overinvested in the opening of this supermarket in hopes of continuing to feel anything at all, but look! A pelmeni bar! ny.eater.com/2025/3/6/243...

Filmspotting Fest begins

a woman wearing a hat stands on a beach ALT: a woman wearing a hat stands on a beach

We are recording the VACATION HORROR draft with @louispeitzman.bsky.social & @alisonwillmore.bsky.social NEXT WEEK!

Which films about horrors befalling people while on holiday NEED to make the list?!

Dinner Menu — Dirt Candy

Dirt Candy is still not cheap at $110, but is all veggie and very good IMO www.dirtcandynyc.com/dinner-menu

Photo shows the weird looking, stylistically inconsistent apartments added on top of the brick building housing B&H Photo Video on 9th Ave and W 34th St

What if we kissed in the weird condos above B&H Photo Video

Mya Taylor and Kitana Kiki Rodriguez walk and talk in a still from TANGERINE

Heyo Chicago, there are still a few tickets left for this Saturday's Filmspotting Fest screening of TANGERINE, followed by a post-screening discussion with ME (I am terrified, but you should still come!) purchase.siskelfilmcenter.org/websales/pag...

Saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by the need to prove they can make a watchable movie out of the most random IP

Absolutely your prerogative to not like action movies, but I find the broad dismissal of them as projects not worthy of acting talent baffling? Esp the mention of Patel, whose directorial debut is an action movie that serves to make the case for himself as an action lead?