Alonso Duralde

Alonso Duralde (born May 18, 1967)^[1] is an American film critic, author, and podcaster. He has been a writer and editor for The Film Verdict, The Wrap, The Advocate and MSNBC.com.

Personal life

Duralde was born in East Point, Georgia, the youngest of seven children born to Spanish immigrants.^[2] He attended Vanderbilt University and currently lives in West Hollywood, California with his husband, fellow writer and film critic Dave White.^[3] They co-host the podcast Linoleum Knife, which began in late 2010. He was raised Catholic, but now identifies as an atheist.

In January 2010, Duralde was a contestant on Jeopardy!^[4]^[5]^[6]

Career

He was the artistic director at the USA Film Festival/Dallas for five years. He was also the former arts and entertainment editor at the national gay and lesbian magazine The Advocate. In 2007, he became the film critic for MSNBC.com, and in 2009, his reviews began appearing regularly on The Rotten Tomatoes Show.

Duralde is a member of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and the National Society of Film Critics. His writing has appeared in The Village Voice, Movieline, and Detour.

From 2011 to 2023, Duralde was the senior film critic for The Wrap,^[7] which also synidcated his reviews to the Reuters wire. He also co-hosted the TYT Network program What the Flick?! alongside Ben Mankiewicz of Turner Classic Movies, Christy Lemire of The Associated Press and Matt Atchity of Rotten Tomatoes. After What the Flick?! was cancelled, he and Lemire began hosting the film podcast Breakfast All Day.^[8]

In 2023, Duralde joined the website The Film Verdict as its chief U.S. film critic.^[9]

Preferences

Best films of the year

2011: Weekend
2012: How to Survive a Plague
2013: Frances Ha
2014: Boyhood
2015: Mad Max: Fury Road
2016: Moonlight
2017: Call Me by Your Name
2018: Paddington 2
2019: Little Women^[10]
2020: Collective^[11]
2021: Licorice Pizza^[12]
2022: RRR^[13]
2023: Poor Things

Bibliography

101 Must-See Movies for Gay Men. New York: Alyson Books. 2005. ISBN 9781555838669.
Have Yourself a Movie Little Christmas. Lanham, Maryland: Limelight Editions. 2010. ISBN 9780879103767.
Gray, Brandon; Thompson, Daniel; Pandolph, Daniel; Duralde, Alonso (2021). I'll Be Home for Christmas Movies: The Deck the Hallmark Podcast's Guide to Your Holiday TV Obsession. Running Press. ISBN 9780762499359.
Hollywood Pride: A Celebration of LGBTQ+ Representation and Perseverance in Film. Turner Classic Movies. Running Press. 2024. ISBN 9780762485895.