Kevin Lally on Film

Kevin Lally on Film

Interviews and more from the former executive editor of Film Journal International and Boxoffice Pro

  • Jewish Film Festival Salutes Charles Grodin, Rebel with a Cause

    Jewish Film Festival Salutes Charles Grodin, Rebel with a Cause

    Each fall’s New York Film Festival is always a big highlight of the year, but Film at Lincoln Center’s other annual events are also a welcome opportunity to experience new international films. Coming up later this year are “New Directors/New Films,” “Rendez-Vous with French Cinema” and “Open Roads: New Italian Cinema.” And every January brings…

    gkevinlally

    January 12, 2026
    Film Appreciation
    Charles Grodin, Charles Grodin: Rebel with a Cause, Film at Lincoln Center, New York Jewish Film Festival, The Last Spy
  • A Spy and a Secret Agent Lead My 2025 Ten Best List

    A Spy and a Secret Agent Lead My 2025 Ten Best List

    In 2023, I went against the grain and named a film from 1961, Dino Risi’s Una Vita Difficile, which had never before been released in America, as the best picture of the year. Well, my contrarian impulse has surfaced again. This year I’m placing a film from 2019, Roman Polanski’s An Officer and a Spy, at the…

    gkevinlally

    December 29, 2025
    Film Appreciation
    An Officer and a Spy, Apocalypse in the Tropics, Blue Moon, Deaf President Now!, Familiar Touch, It Was Just an Accident, My Undesirable Friends, Sinners, The Secret Agent, The Voice of Hind Rajab
  • More Highlights of the 63rd New York Film Festival

    More Highlights of the 63rd New York Film Festival

    The 63rd New York Film Festival concludes on Monday, October 13, 2025. I managed to see 31 features—some were disappointing, a few I actively hated, but the majority were well worth the trip from Brooklyn to Lincoln Center. Here are four favorites. The most delightful (yet very naughty) surprise was Pillion, just your average comedy-romance about…

    gkevinlally

    October 12, 2025
    Film Appreciation
    Is This Thing On?, La Grazia, New York Film Festival, Pillion, Two Prosecutors
  • Movies on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown

    Movies on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown

    Screenings at the New York Film Festival have provided a welcome escape from each day’s appalling headlines. And counterintuitively, some of the best escapes have been films focusing on characters riddled with anxiety. Perhaps it’s a sign of the times, but it’s been gratifying to enter the lives of protagonists you’d never trade places with.…

    gkevinlally

    October 5, 2025
    Film Appreciation
    If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, New York Film Festival, No Other Choice, Sentimental Value
  • New York Film Festival Spotlights Artists and Performers

    New York Film Festival Spotlights Artists and Performers

    By my count, the 2025 edition of the New York Film Festival offers no less than 15 features about artists or performers, including documentaries about Martin Scorsese and the comedy team of Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara. That emphasis on the arts will no doubt have strong appeal for the Lincoln Center demographic. The most…

    gkevinlally

    September 28, 2025
    Film Appreciation
    Duse, Jay Kelly, Late Fame, New York Film Festival, Nouvelle Vague
  • New York Film Festival Welcomes Cannes Award Winners ‘The Secret Agent’ and ‘It Was Just an Accident’

    New York Film Festival Welcomes Cannes Award Winners ‘The Secret Agent’ and ‘It Was Just an Accident’

    The 63rd New York Film Festival opens at Lincoln Center on September 26, 2025. Thanks to early press screenings, I’ve already seen 12 out of the 74 features being screened through October 13—and I can make some strong recommendations. I had the pleasure of interviewing Brazilian director Kleber Mendonça Filho for Boxoffice magazine in 2019 about his…

    gkevinlally

    September 21, 2025
    Film Appreciation
    Below the Clouds, Blue Moon, It Was Just an Accident, New York Film Festival, The Secret Agent
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Next Page
  • Film Appreciation
  • Filmmakers
    • Altman, Robert
    • Baker, Sean
    • Bass, Saul
    • Benton, Robert
    • Bigelow, Kathryn
    • Coen, Joel and Ethan
    • Costa-Gavras, Constantin
    • Davies, Terence
    • de Angelis, Edoardo
    • Docter, Pete
    • Eastwood, Clint
    • Foley, James
    • Freeman, Morgan
    • Gondry, Michel
    • Gordon, Emily V.
    • Henson, Jim
    • Ivory, James
    • Jewison, Norman
    • Johnson, Rian
    • Jones, Chuck
    • Kelly, Gene
    • Lee, Spike
    • Lemmon, Jack
    • Lester, Richard
    • Lord, Peter
    • Lumet, Sidney
    • Lynch, David
    • Maddin, Guy
    • Malle, Louis
    • Martin, Steve
    • Nair, Mira
    • Nanjiani, Kumail
    • Oz, Frank
    • Park, Nick
    • Polanski, Roman
    • Ponti, Edoardo
    • Reiner, Carl
    • Resnais, Alain
    • Russell, Ken
    • Schoonmaker, Thelma
    • Schrader, Paul
    • Showalter, Michael
    • Shyamalan, M. Night
    • Ullmann, Liv
    • Van Sant, Gus
    • Wajda, Andrzej
    • Waters, John
    • Wilder, Billy
    • Woo, John
  • Uncategorized

About the Blog

Kevin Lally is the former executive editor of Film Journal International (1983-2018) and Boxoffice Pro (2019-2021), and the author of Wilder Times: The Life of Billy Wilder (Holt, 1996). He currently serves on the editorial board of Cineaste. Lally has profiled several hundred filmmakers during his four-decade career. This site will republish many of those interviews, along with providing new insights on current and classic films. For recent profiles of Sam Mendes, Danny Boyle, Michael B. Jordan and more, visit boxofficepro.com. Click here to order the e-book of Wilder Times at Amazon.com.

Popular Posts

  • Jewish Film Festival Salutes Charles Grodin, Rebel with a CauseJanuary 12, 2026
  • A Spy and a Secret Agent Lead My 2025 Ten Best ListDecember 29, 2025
  • More Highlights of the 63rd New York Film FestivalOctober 12, 2025

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