15 Questions With Samantha Bergeson, Journalist
"You have to make sure the popcorn is warm so when you pour the M&Ms in the bag, they melt a bit."
Name: Samantha Bergeson
Location: New York
Occupation: Freelance features journalist (bylines include Vanity Fair, the Cut, Elle Decor)
Links: Samantha’s Writing
1. What’s your favorite day & time to go to the movies?
I love a 4pm rainy weekday double feature — and I always think of Don Draper smoking in the theater whenever I go to a daytime screening.
2. What’s your favorite movie theater?
I have to say Metrograph in downtown NYC, with Angelika and the Williamsburg location of Nitehawk also in my top picks. All of these theaters have incredible retrospective screening series, plus amazing film-themed food.
For Bay Area theaters (where I’m from), I love The Stanford Theater, The Aquarius (RIP), and AMC Kabuki, which pioneered the dinner-in-a-theater trend.
3. What’s your go-to movie theater snack & drink combo?
Peanut M&Ms and popcorn— but you have to make sure the popcorn is warm so when you pour the peanut M&Ms in the bag, they melt a bit. It’s the sweet and salty that does it for me.
4. What’s your dream movie theater snack & drink combo (if noise and sound weren’t an issue)?
Oooh, this is a great question. I’d say Red Vines, a Cosmo, truffle fries, and a steak with bernaise sauce. I’ve yet to have a good movie theater steak, shockingly, haha.
5. First movie you remember seeing in a theater?
My parents always prioritized going to the movies; it was the thing we did on the weekends, holidays, even Christmas morning. But the “first” of its kind that I truly remember was Atonement (sorry mom)...I learned a lot about life with my inaugural rated R movie. I’m still on the hunt for a version of that green silk dress.
6. Last movie you saw in a theater?
I went to a Face/Off screening at Nitehawk Williamsburg recently but will be going to the press screenings for Wuthering Heights and The Bride in theaters too.
7. Is there a movie you wish you could have seen in a theater?
I saw When Harry Met Sally for the first time on the big screen, sadly right after Rob Reiner passed. That film had been on my list to watch in a theater for years (thank you again, Nitehawk!).
I would have loved to go to the respective opening weekends for Blade Runner, Double Indemnity, and All About Eve, though— I’ve seen all of them in theaters, but to be transported back to those eras to really know how audiences first received them would be a dream.
8. What’s one thing you would change to make movie theaters better?
I have to say the price. I totally understand why theaters have to charge the amount that they do — and most theaters deliver incredible experiences with an array of drink and food options. But for a family of four, like mine is, a trip to the theaters costs close to $100, and that bars a lot of people from being able to go. The key to film education is to making films accessible; while I really do think theatrical is irreplaceable and incredibly important for culture and community as a whole, it’s becoming a luxury. More theater buyouts from schools and other organizations, plus discounted ticket rates on certain days or times, would hopefully make theaters more profitable in the long run. I’d gladly accept a surcharge on my Friday night evening ticket to make sure others could afford to go to screenings during the week or a matinee.
9. Tell me about an especially memorable moviegoing experience that stands out in your mind.
The John Wick: Chapter 4 New York premiere I went to for work is still one of my favorite events of all time. The crowd was so devoted to the franchise, and the after party at the Times Square Hard Rock Cafe was iconic.
My mom having to explain what the C-word meant in the car ride back from the Redwood City AMC post-Atonement (see: Question 5) also still stands out to me.
I think any moviegoing experience that leads to you leaving with a renewed sense of gratitude for existing in the exact time and place in which you do means that you have been moved by going to a theater.
10. Who are your favorite film critics to read?
I read everything Alison Willmore writes for Vulture.
Nate Jones has one of my favorite minds working in film today.
Savannah Walsh is a brilliant reporter at Vanity Fair whose features I click on as soon as they go live on the site.
David Ehrlich of IndieWire obviously is an iconic critic — so much so that he is now the president of NYFCC.
Ryan Lattanzio has been a mentor to me and always finds the best angles.
Looking back, Mick LaSalle and Julie Klausner were among my go-tos in high school. I truly love the community of film reporters that I have been honored to be a part of in some small way.
11. Where do you see the future of film criticism and media going?
I hate the sentiment that it’s all going to shit. But look, entertainment reporting barely exists anymore. That is not to say that film criticism is dying because I think all art naturally leads to discussion, which inherently is criticism. Yet the traditional sense of film criticism— opening a newspaper to read a review written by a reporter who went to film school specifically to write about features, or being in a high school library during your lunch break googling the embargo time for a pan of a modern day B-movie to go live — has devolved. That doesn’t quite exist anymore; there are “reviews” shared on TikTok, X threads dissecting trailers but not whole features, and paid promotional events with influencers to drive hype instead of having nuanced debates over the cinematography or allusions to other auteurs’ works. I think all can— and to some extent, should— coexist, but it’s just about balance. The more academic roots of film criticism cannot be totally overshadowed by audience hot takes, or then traditional criticism might actually be deemed obsolete all together.
12. What’s a movie you’re looking forward to seeing?
I’m going to say it again because I cannot stress this enough: Wuthering Heights. I am prepared to have many, many thoughts, some of which I plan on monetizing and others I’ll share to shock others over drinks.
13. What’s your dream combination of director and lead(s)?
Let’s get crazy: Halina Rejin and Lindsay Lohan, Brian De Palma directing Paul Schrader & Marty Scorsese, Nicolas Refn and Jennifer Lawrence with Jacob Elordi.
14. If you could live in a movie, which one would it be?
I’m tempted to say any Nancy Meyers movie (I feel like I lived out the entire plot of Something’s Gotta Give last year), but the real answer in my heart of hearts is Goodfellas. I oscillate between being Lorraine Bracco and Debi Mazar but relate to Bob De Niro in it the most, so why not live it out?
15. Why do you think people should continue seeing movies at the movie theater?
Because every best day of my life has included a trip to the movies.
"Halina Rejin and Lindsay Lohan" ok sign me tf up!!!!
“Because every best day of my life has included a trip to the movies.” 🥹🥹