15 Questions With Allison Picurro
"All movie theaters need to give me the option of purchasing and enjoying an iced coffee, no matter the time of day."
Name: Allison Picurro
Location: New York
Occupation: Writer
Links:
1. What’s your favorite day & time to go to the movies?
I’m going to cheat a little and give two answers because I cannot possibly choose: 8pm on a Friday night, and anywhere between 2 and 3pm on a Sunday afternoon. I’m a simple woman, and to me there is no greater joy than ending my week at the movies, but I must have dinner first or I will become furious and it will affect my enjoyment of whatever I’m watching. Additionally, a Sunday afternoon movie just feels luxurious. Despite years of trying, I am not a morning person (I’m told this is genetic so I will not be made to feel bad about it) and cannot for the life of me be expected to wake up and be out of my home before 1pm on the day of rest.
Actually, no, this has all been a flagrant lie. The truth is that I love an early afternoon weekday movie most of all, but I can never get to those, as are the woes of working a nine to five job.
2. What’s your favorite movie theater?
AMC Lincoln Square on Manhattan’s famed Upper West Side made me who I am. It’s New York’s best movie theater and that is a hill I will die on. I lived in Manhattan for five years before moving to the bowels of Brooklyn last summer, where there are no AMCs, but I got so comfortable going to AMC Lincoln Square (and making my status as a member of the AMC A-List a core pillar of my personality) that I am pretty much always willing to travel the extra distance to see a movie there. It’s just worth it, especially if you want to see something in IMAX. I’m not a snob about movie theaters, but I think it’s pointless to go to any of the other screens in New York that claim themselves as IMAX. Do not play games with me — you will lose.
Here are just some of the reasons I love AMC Lincoln Square: One of the guys who scans tickets always greets me with an enthusiastic “Welcome back, good to see you again!” before earnestly explaining why I have made a great choice with whatever I have chosen to see that day.
I once saw the same random weeknight showing of Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret as Olivia Rodrigo; I made brief eye contact with Joaquin Phoenix as he left a Joker Q&A, recognizing him about .5 seconds before he got mobbed by all the nerds in the lobby (I was there to see Judy); I breathed the same air as my beloved Austin Butler after a screening of The Bikeriders; and, perhaps my favorite story of all, I once sat next to a little kid, no older than six, who got so fed up after sitting through all eighteen hours of Eternals that he screamed “YOU SHOULD K*LL YOURSELF” at Richard Madden’s character, sending the entire theater into hysterics. I hope that child is well.
3. What’s your go-to movie theater snack & drink combo?
I’m a classic popcorn and Coke girl. Sometimes I’ll throw in a box of Buncha Crunch if I’m feeling crazy. I have a minor Coca-Cola addiction and for whatever reason it always tastes best when coming out of one of the legendary Coca-Cola Freestyle™ machines present at every AMC Theater across the nation. I do not like Diet Coke or Coke Zero or Cherry Coke or any of that nonsense. It is regular Coke or nothing at all for me. What’s amazing is that sipping on my Coke guarantees I will inevitably have to pee exactly five minutes into whatever I’m seeing, and yet I have never been deterred.
4. What’s your dream movie theater snack & drink combo (if noise and sound weren’t an issue)?
I have been saying for years that all movie theaters need to give me the option of purchasing and enjoying an iced coffee, no matter the time of day. Before you say it: I am of course familiar with the act of sneaking coffee in, and I am of course aware that Alamo Drafthouse, select Regal Cinemas, and several other theaters give patrons the option of purchasing coffee — I’m no rube. It’s just that I want it to be widely available, and I do not want time restrictions. And if coffee becomes available I think pastries and other assorted baked goods should be available, too. Tell me you wouldn’t love to eat a croissant while watching Wicked: For Good and I will call you a liar.
5. First movie you remember seeing in a theater?
I know this is probably not the first movie I ever saw in a theater, but the first one I remember seeing is Lilo & Stitch. I believe my cousin took me while she was babysitting and we got there a few minutes late so we missed the first scene, which explains how Stitch crash lands on Earth, and that upset me so deeply that I did in fact cry about it like an absolute lunatic freak. What can I say, I’ve always been a cinephile!
6. Last movie you saw in a theater?
Nickel Boys, which I loved. You mean to tell me Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor wasn’t even nominated for Best Supporting Actress at the Oscars? Highway robbery.
7. Movie you wish you could have seen in a theater?
I will always regret watching Moonlight for the first time on my laptop via a shitty pirated link, but in my defense I was in college and phenomenally broke. Oh, to hear that Nicholas Britell score in surround sound…
8. Please describe your ideal movie theater seat!
I simply must lounge. I love the huge seats that go back and let you put your feet up because I always wish to be in bed.
Also, a cause literally only I care about is that many movie theater seats are too close together. As someone who frequently goes to the movies by myself, I think we could all stand to have a little more distance between our bodies.
9. One thing you would change to make movie theaters better?
In addition to my aforementioned idea to put theater seats further apart, I also think we all need to get in the habit of shaming people who use their phones during movies. Those of us with manners should take an oath or something, because I am so so so so SO tired of seeing everyone’s little screens lit up.
I also think there should be some sort of PSA encouraging people to open any particularly loud plastic packages before the movie starts. I promise nobody wants to listen to your crinkling while they’re trying to enjoy a film!
10. What’s the ideal number/length of previews before a movie?
Controversial but I enjoy that twenty minutes of trailers has become pretty standard. I especially like when I’ve seen a trailer so many times that certain lines lodge themselves into my brain forever. For example, I think about Carey Mulligan’s delivery of “What is it exactly that we’re looking at here?” in the She Said trailer on a weekly basis.
11. Do you prefer seeing movies alone or with someone/a group?
I’ve never understood why there’s such stigma attached to seeing movies alone. We’re all there to be quiet and watch! I love seeing movies alone and regularly do. If other people are involved, one to two companions max is my limit. I don’t know if this is an unpopular opinion or what, but I do not like going to the movies with a huge group. Frankly, I never want to hear that many opinions afterwards.
12. Movie you’re looking forward to seeing?
Thanks to its trailer playing before Nickel Boys, I recently found out about the existence of a new Jason Statham film called A Working Man, which is being released in March. Statham is a
favorite and I cannot wait to check out his latest project, which looks utterly indistinguishable from everything else he’s done in the past few years (complimentary; I adore him).13. One movie recommendation (that you think people might not know about or should give another chance to):
I would be remiss if I didn’t use this space to recommend Mel Eslyn’s under-the-radar sci-fi dramedy Biosphere, starring Mark Duplass and Sterling K. Brown as a pair of childhood friends who, after a vague apocalyptic event, end up becoming the last two people on earth. I don’t want to say more out of fear of spoiling its big “twist,” but I will say that this is one of the most shocking, and surprisingly tender, movies I’ve seen in the last year. It feels like Biosphere is the exact type of film that I grew up loving — a small, talky indie with big things on its mind — and the exact type of film we don’t get much of anymore.
14. What’s your dream combination of director & lead(s)?
Austin Butler directed by Nancy Meyers.
Julianne Moore directed by Nicole Holofcener (I haven’t forgotten about the Can You Ever Forgive Me we were supposed to get!).
Nicole Kidman and Guy Pearce directed by Luca Guadagnino.
Dev Patel in a feature-length Wes Anderson movie, because those Netflix shorts just didn’t satisfy me.
Jeremy Strong famously (to me) appeared briefly in The Happening, but I would love to see him properly star in another M. Night Shyamalan movie.
15. If you could live in a movie, which one would it be?
Being the chic, unstable, and impossibly well-dressed lead woman in any Pedro Almodóvar movie would instantly fix all that is wrong with me.
love that the amc lincoln sq friendly ticket guy got a shoutout!! very important person in my life as a fellow lincoln sq frequent flier
literally such an honor to be here...... thank you so much for having me!!! i'm thrilled <3 <3 <3