Alonso Duralde, TheWrap’s film reviews editor, has written about film for Movieline, Salon, Village Voice and MSNBC.com. He also co-hosts the “Linoleum Knife,” “Maximum Film!” and “Breakfast All Day” podcasts. A member of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and the National Society of Film Critics, Duralde has discussed cinema on TCM, CNN and ABC, among others, and was a regular contributor to FilmStruck. He is the author of “Have Yourself a Movie Little Christmas” and “101 Must-See Movies for Gay Men” and the co-author of “I’ll Be Home for Christmas Movies”; his history of queer Hollywood will be published by TCM/Running Press in 2024.
Experience:
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‘The Expendables 3’ Review: Sylvester Stallone Gums Up the Works with a Dull Junior Auxiliary
The pleasure of these silly shoot-em-ups comes from its over-the-hill ensemble, so why devote so much of the movie to a bunch of forgettable millennials?
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‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ Review: Michael Bay’s Reboot an Empty Shell
There are a few thrills and a few laughs in this rejiggered, CGI-heavy reimagining of the comic book/TV/movie superstars, but even by kid-movie standards, it’s a hollow experience
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‘Deepsea Challenge 3D’ Review: James Cameron’s Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea
The “Avatar” director plummets to the bottom of the Mariana Trench in this amiable doc that’s basically a big-screen version of a National Geographic special
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‘Get On Up’ Review: Chadwick Boseman Brings the Funk in This Surprisingly Daring James Brown Biopic
Who would have thought that the director behind the cloying “The Help” could turn the story of the Godfather of Soul into something this cliché-defying?
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‘The Hundred-Foot Journey’ Review: Helen Mirren Can Add Only So Much Flavor
Despite some nice moments, what starts out as a retread of director Lasse Hallstrom’s “Chocolat” goes completely a la carte in an extraneous third act
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‘A Most Wanted Man’ Review: Philip Seymour Hoffman Bends the Spy Game Rules
Hoffman gives a memorable performance in this masterful John le Carré adaptation as a German master of intelligence coping with a post-9/11 world
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‘Lucy’ Review: Scarlett Johansson Grows Smarter As the Movie Gets Dumber
More full-tilt-boogie Euro-schlock grindhouse existentialism from Luc Besson, featuring a droning, brain-powered superhero that Morgan Freeman tries his darnedest to explain
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‘Dawn of the Planet of the Apes’ Review: Compared to Its Predecessor, This Is a Second Banana
Solidly entertaining adventure film features another great Andy Serkis motion-capture performance, but it lacks the big ideas of the 1968 and 2011 versions
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‘Boyhood’ Review: In Richard Linklater’s Intimate Epic, Time Keeps on Slippin’ Into the Future (Video)
The cast (including Ethan Hawke and Patricia Arquette) ages in real time in this stirring look at a family’s perseverance through the day-to-day business of getting older and growing up
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‘Life Itself’ Review: Roger Ebert Doc Rates a Thumbs-Up (Video)
“Hoop Dreams” director Steve James takes us on a rollercoaster ride of the legendary film critic’s personal and professional highs and lows
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‘Tammy’ Review: Melissa McCarthy’s Character Comedy, Minus Comedy and a Character
The talented star of “Bridesmaids” has played characters in five-minute Groundlings sketches that felt more thought-out and well-written
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‘Citizen Koch’ Review: Corporatocracy 101, With a Focus on Governor Scott Walker
You won’t learn much about the politically influential Koch brothers that you haven’t already heard from Rachel Maddow, but this dispassionate advocacy doc connects the dots between the Citizens United decision and governmental attacks on labor unions
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‘Begin Again’ Review: Keira Knightley and Mark Ruffalo’s Music Biz Fable Has an Irresistible Hook
Writer-director John Carney’s follow-up to “Once” is shamelessly manipulative and disingenuous, but it’s so sweet and lovely that it gets stuck in your head anyway
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‘Transformers: Age of Extinction’ Review: Clang Clang Clang Went the Robots
The battling, metallic heroes have never looked better, but Michael Bay’s choppy, dissonant storytelling methods remain as audience-punishing as ever
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‘Yves Saint Laurent’ Review: Stylish Biopic Could Use Some Tailoring
This look at the designer’s life skims the surface – an admittedly chic, beautiful surface
