Numlock Sunday: Alissa Wilkinson on the return of the auteur-driven box office

By Walt Hickey

Welcome to the Numlock Sunday edition.

This week, I spoke to Alissa Wilkinson, who’s book We Tell Ourselves Stories: Joan Didion and the American Dream Machine is out in paperback this week. We had her on a little over a year ago and it’s great to have her back. She’s also a phenomenal movie critic over at the New York Times.

We talked about the current state of the movies, Jackass, Disclosure Day, and why Didion is more relevant than ever. Just a note, we do talk quite a bit about Disclosure Day and while we don’t “spoil” anything per se, once we get into that bit you may want to skip ahead if you’ve yet to see it. You can find her at Alissawilkinson.com and the New York Times, and you can find her excellent book at your local bookshops.

This interview has been condensed and edited.

Thank you so much for coming back on. It’s great to have you back.

It’s good to be back. Thank you.

You are the author of We Tell Ourselves Stories: Joan Didion and the American Dream Machine, …