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Angelica Jade Bastién

Critic
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Angelica Jade Bastién is a critic for New York and Vulture focusing on pop culture. She was once described by a close friend as “deliciously vulgar”.

  1. movie review
    Queen & Slim Bursts With Style, But It Can’t Live on Beauty AloneMelina Matsoukas’s movie asks: In a country that is built on black suffering, is it not radical to capture joy wherever you can?
  2. spoilers
    Who Is Hooded Justice? Watchmen Has a Stunning Answer.Watchmen writer Cord Jefferson talks Hooded Justice, generational trauma, and the show’s best episode yet.
  3. overnights
    Watchmen Recap: … and Justice for AllThe series’ bold reimagining of one of Watchmen’s most mysterious figures is a truly singular episode of television.
  4. overnights
    Watchmen Recap: Mirror UniverseA graceful, moving episode gives us a peek behind the mask and into the lonely life of Looking Glass.
  5. tv review
    Dollface Is a Frothy Feminist Comedy in Search of Deeper MeaningThe Kat Dennings–led Hulu series tries to speak to millennial women’s concerns but ends up talking down to them.
  6. overnights
    Watchmen Recap: Looks Like We Have Ourselves a ReckoningA series of prickly confrontations charts the weight and ripple effects of the legacies our characters have inherited.
  7. movie review
    Doctor Sleep Is a Horror Film of Messy PleasuresMike Flanagan’s spiritual sequel to The Shining is elevated by great performances. But King’s and Kubrick’s legacies loom large.
  8. movies
    The Movies We Loved in 2019Including Bong Joon Ho’s acid black comedy, Brad Pitt in space, and the gentle Pain and Glory.
  9. overnights
    Watchmen Recap: The Great BeyondA new antagonist for Angela appears, and she is carrying some baggage.
  10. movie review
    Harriet Can’t Conjure the Humanity of Its Iconic LeadKasi Lemmons’s film, starring Cynthia Erivo as Harriet Tubman, brings up a lot of questions about the purpose of slavery epics.
  11. overnights
    Watchmen Recap: The White NightViolence isn’t just felt but inherited in Watchmen, passed down to transform all those in its wake.
  12. tv review
    Mrs. Fletcher Has a Great Kathryn Hahn Performance, But Not Much ElseHahn is mesmerizing in this HBO miniseries about an empty nester’s sexual reawakening, but the rest struggles to match its star’s appeal.
  13. tv review
    Modern Love Is All Heart, No SoulIn Amazon’s anthology adaptation of the New York Times column, love is vacuum-sealed from the murkier dynamics that shape our lives.
  14. overnights
    Watchmen Series-Premiere Recap: Watch Over This BoyWelcome to a brave new world.
  15. movie review
    In Maleficent 2, Angelina Jolie and Michelle Pfeiffer Lose Out to CGI FlowersThe main allure of this movie is the chance to watch its two powerhouses vamp across the screen. Why won’t Disney let us live?
  16. animation
    What Comes After Samurai Jack? A Caveman, a Dinosaur, and Absolutely No TalkingGenndy Tartakovsky on why Primal is his most audacious gambit yet.
  17. tv review
    Batwoman Is a Lifeless Adaptation in Search of a HeroThe new CW series finds Kate Kane lost in the shadow of her Caped Crusader cousin.
  18. tv review
    Mixed-ish Is Still Finding ItselfThe Black-ish spinoff aims for warm-hearted wit but lands somewhere more in the realm of cloying bluntness.
  19. movie review
    In Hustlers, Jennifer Lopez Proves the Power of the Movie StarLorene Scafaria’s glittering crime spectacle revolves around Lopez’s magnetic performance.
  20. movie review
    A Sentimental It Chapter Two Needed More PennywiseAndy Muschietti’s second movie lacks the horror and gravitas of its predecessor.
  21. movie review
    Don’t Let Go Reveals the Limits of Color-blind Casting and WritingIt is as if Hollywood believes that blackness can be shrugged off, exorcised from the lives of characters.
  22. south side
    South Side’s Showrunners Talk Tapping Into Chicago’s Funny SideBashir Salahuddin and Diallo Riddle want to see “more joy, more being funny as hell” in stories about the oft-maligned city.
  23. tv review
    This Way Up Is an Amiable But Aimless Exploration of RecoveryThe British series starring Aisling Bea and Sharon Horgan is at its best when facing ugly emotions rather than hiding them with humor.
  24. movie review
    Ready or Not Is a Brutal Evisceration of Marriage and the RichFor all the blood and mayhem, it is Samara Weaving’s guttural scream that forces us to bear witness to the horrors of institutions.
  25. tv review
    Why Women Kill’s Consideration of Women’s Anger Is Fun, But HollowThe new multi-timeline series from Marc Cherry (Desperate Housewives) has a great Ginnifer Goodwin performance, but not a strong point of view.
  26. close reads
    Lucy Liu’s Joan Watson Was Elementary’s Humanistic HeartThrough her performance in the CBS procedural, Liu crafted a layered study in empathy that suggests second acts are possible in life.
  27. q&a
    Jason Blum Still Wants to Release The HuntThe Blumhouse Productions founder talks color-blind casting, Hollywood’s future, and why he’d make The Hunt again.
  28. finales
    Let’s Talk About the Elementary Series FinaleThe CBS procedural went out pulling at viewers’ heartstrings with a surprising but manipulative twist.
  29. movie review
    The Kitchen Is an Empty Paean to Girl PowerThe late-‘70s crime flick doesn’t live up to the promise of its premise — or its cast.
  30. spoilers
    Let’s Talk About Legion’s Strangely Moving Series FinaleNoah Hawley’s feast of the senses didn’t always work, but it ends on a note of beautiful melancholy.
  31. close reads
    What Does It Mean for a Rape Scene to Be ‘Done Well’?After watching the brutal sexual violence in The Nightingale, I started to think about what we can learn from classic Hollywood depictions of rape.
  32. movie review
    What Are We to Make of Skin, Another Redemption Tale About Neo-Nazis?Jamie Bell’s performance is downright volcanic in this imperfect story of learned hatred.
  33. movie review
    The Summer’s Best Thriller Is a Movie About Home-Invading AlligatorsA film about murderous, hurricane-rattled reptiles grants us one of the season’s most memorable horror heroines.
  34. acting
    Why We Can’t Stop Watching Keanu Reeves, 30 Years OnHis longevity and recent resurgence all come down to his particular blend of vulnerability and mystery.
  35. movie review
    Child’s Play Has Lost Its Impish Spark and Gained Artificial IntelligenceThe new slasher reboot of the Chucky franchise, directed by Lars Klevberg, only half works.
  36. network tv
    How The Good Fight Trimmed Down Its Sex Scenes and Explicit Cursing for CBSThe best show you’re not watching is coming to network TV, in a (slightly) more sanitized form.
  37. emmy insider
    How Patty Jenkins Brought I Am the Night’s Stunning Noir to LifeAnd why Chris Pine is so great at playing losers.
  38. movies
    Late Night Isn’t the Sharp Workplace Comedy We Hoped ForMindy Kaling’s first starring role in film only half works.
  39. movie review
    Ma Is Too Muddled a Slasher Flick to WorkThe Octavia Spencer–led slasher flick places the mammy archetype in a horror context, to mixed results.
  40. close reads
    The Decadent, Visceral Pleasures of Killing EveThe second season culminates in a boldly queer retelling of the Bluebeard myth.
  41. close reads
    In Praise of Christine Baranski’s Performance on The Good FightAs her character tries to manage her anger this season, her body language changes from her signature self-assured grace to a sharply pointed threat.
  42. documentaries
    A New Doc Boldly Argues for Deep Space Nine’s Place in the Black TV CanonThe revolutionary series deserves to be considered as one of the great cultural artifacts of the 1990s.
  43. chat room
    The Good Fight’s Audra McDonald on Singing Prince Songs With Christine Baranski“She’s a singer and I’m a singer. Sometimes, she’ll start singing a song and a moment later I’m singing along with her.”
  44. politics
    The Good Fight’s Melania Trump Episode Is Its Boldest Riff on Reality“The One With the Celebrity Divorce” is an uproarious hour that blends Hitchcockian suspense, legal thrills, and satire.
  45. chat room
    How a Riverdale Audition Led Chance Perdomo to Chilling Adventures of Sabrina“He remembered me from that audition, but I didn’t know that he’d written this character for me.”
  46. tv review
    Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Loses Some of Its MagicSabrina is still enthralling, but something’s amiss in the arch, decadently conceived world of Greendale.
  47. tv review
    The Case Against Adnan Syed Is an Empathetic ReckoningIn this HBO docuseries, Hae Min Lee rightfully becomes the center of a murder case that’s captivated millions.
  48. legacies
    Luke Perry Made It Cool to Be KindHe set the template for the tenderhearted bad boy that pop culture still mimics today.
  49. tv review
    Doom Patrol Breathes New Life Into Superhero TVThe DC Universe show subverts comic-book expectations in ways both uproarious and heart-wrenching.
  50. guides
    33 Essential Neo-Noirs, From Jackie Brown to Gone GirlA guide to the most political and stylish genre of film and TV.
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