Upon hearing of Alissa Wilkinson’s hiring as a N.Y Times film critic on 11.8.23, I immediately skimmed through 20 or 25 of her reviews.
The following day I wrote that Wilkinson “leans toward circumspect analysis rather than yea-nay verdicts, I certainly wouldn’t say that Wilkinson is looking to preemptively strike blows or tear down, not if she can avoid it. She’d rather analyze, understand and reflect upon.”
On the Times website Wilkinson describes her approach thusly: “I’m not trying to tell readers whether they should like a movie. Instead, I aim to expand my readers’ understanding of the movies, exploring what a movie is trying to do, what makes it interesting or revealing, and how it connects to the broader culture.”
In short, Wilkinson is a circumspect sidestepper. Senior critic Manohla Dargis is the one who praises or naysays.