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Criticism

movie review

Fernanda Torres Is a Subtle Marvel in I’m Still Here

 Walter Salles’s political drama looks at one family’s suffering during Brazil’s military dictatorship. By Bilge Ebiri
theater review

Gary Gulman Clings to Grandiloquence

 In his Off Broadway show, the comedian too often confuses attention for acceptance. By Kathryn VanArendonk
docuseries

The Best SNL Docuseries Episode Is Obviously ‘More Cowbell’

 This four-part Peacock show has a fever, and we bet you can guess what the only prescription for it is. By Jen Chaney
  1. album review
    Mac Miller Would Have Loved ThisThe world of Balloonerism is a good excuse to obsess over his work again.
    By Craig Jenkins
  2. movie review
    Grand Theft Hamlet Is a Delightful Putting-on-a-Show DocumentaryShot entirely in Grand Theft Auto Online, this film about two actors attempting an unusual Shakespeare production is both hilarious and touching.
    By Alison Willmore
  3. tv review
    Lose Yourself in The AgencyThe Showtime spy thriller gets the genre’s essential tension just right.
    By Nicholas Quah
  4. movie review
    Presence Is the Best Thing Steven Soderbergh’s Done in AgesIt’s an art film that also works as a spellbinding horror film.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  5. movie review
    Kieran Culkin Is a Mercurial Pleasure in A Real PainJesse Eisenberg’s charming Sundance breakout moves gently and smoothly but hints at an all-consuming darkness underneath.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  6. movie review
    Wolf Man Is Half a MovieLeigh Whannell’s new horror film has some good scares, but it strands its characters in the murk.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  7. movie review
    They Don’t Make Comedies Like One of Them Days AnymoreBut they should.
    By Alison Willmore
  8. book review
    You Can’t Outrun SpotifyLiz Pelly’s Mood Machine suggests that logging off is the only way out of our music streaming nightmare.
    By Nicholas Quah
  9. movie review
    Luca Guadagnino’s Queer Is More Challenging Than You Might ExpectFor such a hot movie, this Daniel Craig–starring William S. Burroughs adaptation sure feels emotionally sealed off.
    By Alison Willmore
  10. album review
    Bad Bunny Phoned HomeHis new album, a spirited homage to Puerto Rico, smokes its predecessor.
    By Craig Jenkins
  11. performance review
    For the Love of God, Give This Woman an Oscar NominationNo one last year gave a performance that comes close to what Marianne Jean-Baptiste does in Hard Truths.
    By Alison Willmore
  12. endings
    Juror #2 Delivers a Surprisingly Hopeful Closing ArgumentDownbeat endings are a Clint Eastwood speciality. But the final scene of his new legal thriller delivers a surprisingly hopeful closing argument.
    By A.A. Dowd
  13. book review
    Fear and Loathing in BerlinAn Afghan girl seeks solace in sex and drugs in an ambitious but bloated debut.
    By Jasmine Vojdani
  14. movie review
    Gerard Butler Letting Loose Is a Beautiful Thing to BeholdIf the first Den of Thieves was a meathead remake of Heat, the sequel feels like a meathead remake of Miami Vice.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  15. movie review
    You Can’t Ignore Pamela Anderson’s FaceAnderson’s performance in Gia Coppola’s The Last Showgirl often elevates a rote, repetitive plot.
    By Roxana Hadadi
  16. movie review
    Saving the Hummingbirds of Los Angeles, Despite the OddsSally Aitken’s sublime new documentary, Every Little Thing, shows us that healing society begins with healing the most vulnerable.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  17. movie review
    Thank the Cinema Gods, Mike Leigh Is BackHard Truths might be his funniest film in a long time, but as always, it’s the kind of laughter that comes with unnerving inevitabilities.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  18. tv review
    Bury Me in The PittI powered through Max’s not-an-ER reboot with so much delight that I was annoyed when I had to pause to watch something ostensibly better.
    By Kathryn VanArendonk
  19. tv review
    American Primeval Is Three Westerns in OneOne of them is gripping and good, one of them is fine, and one of them is basically The Revenant.
    By Roxana Hadadi
  20. tv review
    It Was Worth the WaitSeverance season two delivers answers. But its greatest pleasure is returning to this world and finding it still exists.
    By Kathryn VanArendonk
  21. album review
    Must We Demand This Much Music From Artists?SZA’s SOS Deluxe: Lana reinforces how much stronger the original is.
    By Craig Jenkins
  22. movie review
    Flow Is an Animal Adventure That’s Endearing and a Little Too PrettyThe Latvian animated film is a wordless survival story that lets its animals act like animals.
    By Alison Willmore
  23. movie review
    The Music Industry Couldn’t Handle Luther VandrossHe longed for the same acclaim and freedom awarded to his white contemporaries in yacht rock.
    By Craig Jenkins
  24. no. 1 angel
    They Don’t Build Statues of Letterboxd CriticsCharli XCX promptly removed the negative movie reviews on her leaked account.
    By Jason P. Frank
  25. view from the ridge
    The Best TV Valleys of 2024For every peak there is a valley, and the TV of 2024 is full of them.
    By Kathryn VanArendonk
  26. best of 2024
    The Best TikToks of 2024, According to Julie KlausnerFeaturing a bubbe’s visible contempt for a Star Wars ride and everything starring Ellie the Elephant.
    By Julie Klausner
  27. best of 2024
    The Weepiest TV Moments of 2024Sobbing over a television show is a gift, and these are the cries we’re most grateful for.
    By Maggie Fremont
  28. close read
    The Pervert’s BeverageThe adult milk drinker is a consummate freak.
    By Allison P. Davis
  29. close read
    The Recruiter’s Squid Game Return Hits HardGong Yoo’s demented performance in the second season premiere delivers a different sort of slap in the face.
    By Roxana Hadadi
  30. best of 2024
    The 2024 Very Specific TV AwardsBestowing high honors in the esteemed fields of fart-based communication, cringe-worthy pricks, and being Angela Bassett.
    By Brian Grubb
  31. best of 2024
    Our 93 Favorite Comedy Moments of 2024We’ve got gay hamsters, computer wives, and Corey.
    By Vulture Staff
  32. best of 2024
    This Was the Year of Elevated TrashThere’s no shame in being a little trashy. Three of the year’s best movies are silly, soapy, or vulgar, but with a prestige sheen.
    By Louis Peitzman
  33. tv review
    Squid Game Rebukes Its Own PopularitySeason two of the Netflix phenomenon sinks its claws into the proletariat.
    By Roxana Hadadi
  34. a complete babyratu christmas
    Nosferatu Is So Cozy, ActuallyAm I the only one who finds Wisberg a suitable spot for a snowy romantic getaway? (Ignore the plague.)
    By Nicholas Quah
  35. that’s all i wanted
    Be Our Father Figure, HarrisBabygirl’s best scene is when its upstart intern reaches for the brown liquor.
    By Roxana Hadadi
  36. endings
    Nosferatu’s Final Moment Is an Act of ConsentIn deliberately weaponizing her body, Nosferatu’s Ellen becomes her own hero.
    By Roxana Hadadi
  37. movie review
    BETTER MAN
    The Craziest Musical of the Year Is Finally HereTrying to describe the Robbie Williams biopic Better Man, one sounds like a lunatic.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  38. quotables
    The Many Things that Celebrities Said in 2024We rounded up the best quotes that celebrities were brave enough to say (or comment) this year.
    By Anne Victoria Clark
  39. best of 2024
    The 10 Best TV Needle Drops of 2024From righteous intensity to bittersweet nostalgia to unabashed horniness, these songs gave the scenes they soundtracked that little something extra.
    By Sophie Brookover
  40. close read
    The Ted Lasso-ing of ShrinkingBill Lawrence’s therapy dramedy didn’t start as a harmony-at-all-costs clone of his other TV shows. But it unfortunately became one.
    By Roxana Hadadi
  41. masters of press
    The Year Movie Stars Cried, Flirted, and Cosplayed for FameIn 2024, we watched movie stars eat chicken, talk to Theo Von, and cry (a lot), all in the name of promotion.
    By Fran Hoepfner
  42. movie review
    Shouldn’t Nosferatu Be Scarier?Lily Rose-Depp stars in a vampire movie from The Witch director Robert Eggers that’s gorgeous and weirdly inert.
    By Alison Willmore
  43. theater review
    The Sit-Down Comedy of All InJohn Mulaney and friends deliver bright readings of slight tales.
    By Sara Holdren
  44. movie review
    Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton Are Perfectly Imperfect TogetherWho could blame Pedro Almodóvar’s The Room Next Door for being more interested in its leading ladies than in contemplating death?
    By Alison Willmore
  45. movie review
    Tyler Perry’s Cosplay of a War Movie Hardly Does Its Subjects JusticeThe Six Triple Eight ends up being more about what these women endured than about what they accomplished.
    By Alison Willmore
  46. movie review
    Jim Carrey (and Jim Carrey) Elevate Sonic the Hedgehog 3These movies aren’t anything if they’re not fun, and Jim Carrey understands that better than anyone. Sonic the Hedgehog 3 gives us two of him.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  47. guiltless pleasure
    Give Your Brain an ’80s Bubble Bath and Watch RivalsAn unabashedly horny British drama about … a television network in the Cotswolds?
    By Jackson McHenry
  48. year in culture
    The Bests of 2024All the books, podcasts, and anime (plus TV, movies, music, and more) that captivated our critics (and John Waters) this year.
    By Vulture Editors
  49. movie review
    Hollywood’s Forgotten How to Make Movies Like The Count of Monte CristoPeriod action-adventures used to be Hollywood’s thing. But we never see movies like this thrilling new French adaptation of the Dumas classic anymore.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  50. movie review
    The Brutalist Is Half Of A Great MovieA terrific Adrien Brody anchors this three-and-a-half-hour American saga whose ambitions end up exceeding its grasp.
    By Alison Willmore
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