Daily coverage of Criticism by Vulture

Criticism

  1. book review
    Edith Schloss, 20th-Century WomanIn her book The Loft Generation, a fixture of the midcentury New York art scene gets a long-overdue introduction.
    By Jamie Hood
  2. tv review
    Station Eleven Is a Profound Television ExperienceThe pandemic subject matter may seem daunting, but this limited series is an incredibly gratifying must-watch.
    By Jen Chaney
  3. theater review
    When Lincoln Center Comes Down From This Trip, They’re Going to Feel WeirdFlying Over Sunset is a bad one.
    By Helen Shaw
  4. obits
    A Black EducationRemembering Greg Tate, critical giant, author, Flyboy, and my teacher.
    By Tirhakah Love
  5. movie review
    Red Rocket Is Ready to Cure Us of Our Love of Fast-Talking UnderdogsSean Baker’s comedy, starring Simon Rex as a washed-up porn star, is a queasy exploration of a type of character we’ve been trained to like.
    By Alison Willmore
  6. movie review
    With The Hand of God, Paolo Sorrentino Gets Achingly PersonalThis lovely, tragic coming-of-age tale set in Naples tries to express the inexpressible.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  7. movie review
    Do You Like West Side Story? Then You’ll Love West Side Story.Steven Spielberg finally makes his musical. It was (mostly) worth the wait.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  8. theater review
    In Comes Company, and Whaddaya Get?An awkward reinvention with some of the brilliance intact.
    By Helen Shaw
  9. tv review
    And Just Like That… Is Sexless in the CityThe fact that Carrie Bradshaw is now a podcaster tells you everything you need to know.
    By Jen Chaney
  10. art review
    For Gillian Wearing, Authenticity Is a Matter of OpinionIn her Guggenheim show “Wearing Masks,” the British artist explores the gray area between the self and performance.
    By Anna Furman
  11. theater review
    Kimberly Akimbo Never Gets OldA musical adaptation that wins you over for life.
    By Helen Shaw
  12. theater review
    Selling Kabul is a Claustrophobic, Effective Thriller“America, their word is good, okay?”
    By Helen Shaw
  13. theater review
    Mrs. Doubtfire Skirts the ProblemA musical full of cross-dressing tries to meet the moment without sacrificing blockbuster appeal.
    By Helen Shaw
  14. movie review
    Benedetta Is Pure Verhoeven, for Better and for WorseThis tale of lesbianism, spirituality, and plague in a 17th-century Tuscan convent is somehow both shocking and obvious.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  15. reality check
    Maybe Wheel of Time Doesn’t Need to Look So RealisticThe series’s elaborate, expensive fantasy world is gorgeous to behold and boring to spend extended time in.
    By Kathryn VanArendonk
  16. theater review
    The Wildly Different Altered States of The Mood Room and CandlelightIf The Mood Room is some extremely mellow weed, then Candlelight is a tab of acid, given to you right before a job interview.
    By Helen Shaw
  17. tv review
    In Sort Of, Love Means Not Having All the AnswersThe HBO Max show follows a gender-fluid 20-something who knows how to care for others but is still figuring out how to care for themselves.
    By E. Alex Jung
  18. tv review
    Peter Jackson’s The Beatles: Get Back Accomplishes the UnthinkableIt rises to the unenviable task of offering new insights into one of the most documented music careers of all time.
    By Craig Jenkins
  19. movie review
    Licorice Pizza’s Unlikely Romance Is the Least Interesting Thing About ItPaul Thomas Anderson’s love letter to the Valley in the ’70s is a series of delightful episodes attached to a less compelling central story.
    By Alison Willmore
  20. movie review
    The Humans’ New York Thanksgiving Is All Too RealStephen Karam effectively adapts his stage drama for the screen, crafting an observant study of the things we share and suppress among family.
    By Jen Chaney
  21. movie review
    Encanto Is the Best Disney Animated Film Since FrozenA tale of magic and belonging, with a surprisingly intimate emotional journey at its core.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  22. podcast review
    S***hole Country Asks Who Likes to Be in America?A new podcast by an anonymous narrator considers a big choice between two lives and two continents.
    By Nicholas Quah
  23. too much marvel
    Hawkeye Closes Out an Exhausting Year in Marvel TVDespite a strong start that’s looking more and more like an anomaly, Phase Four has begun to feel like an ongoing homework assignment.
    By Jen Chaney
  24. movie review
    Joaquin Phoenix Gives a Career-Best Performance in C’mon C’monMike Mills’s latest film is a balm for these chaotic, heartbreaking times.
    By Angelica Jade Bastién
  25. theater review
    Clyde’s and In the Southern Breeze: Two Journeys Into LimboOne achieves what the other only describes — namely, the process of reawakening from paralysis.
    By Helen Shaw
  26. movie review
    House of Gucci Isn’t a Good Movie, But It’s Definitely a Good TimeIt’s shapeless, hammy as hell, and no one in it agrees on what an Italian accent sounds like — but the Lady Gaga–led fashion saga is undeniably fun.
    By Alison Willmore
  27. theater review
    Goofing Around With The AlchemistThe play brings one of the last ingredients for a true return to theater: pure nonsense.
    By Helen Shaw
  28. movie review
    Tick, Tick…Boom! Is a Fascinating, Fractured Portrait of a Creative MindThe musical’s film adaptation feels like flipping open a thrift store jacket that wasn’t designed to be reversible, but works anyway.
    By Jackson McHenry
  29. movie review
    Will Smith’s Performance Makes King Richard Worth SeeingIt’s not so much a biopic of Richard Williams, father to Venus and Serena, as it is a portrait of a family at a pivotal time in their lives.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  30. tv review
    Malfunction: The Dressing Down of Janet Jackson Will Make You Mad All Over AgainThe New York Times Presents’ examination of the Janet Jackson Super Bowl debacle implies our culture has progressed, but it feels more like a warning.
    By Jen Chaney
  31. theater review
    Trouble In Mind Deserved Better All AlongIt takes the American theater to task.
    By Helen Shaw
  32. book review
    Love Behind Bars Is Possible. It’s Just Absurdly Hard.In Love Lockdown, journalist Elizabeth Greenwood follows couples who are trying to make it work when at least one partner is in prison.
    By John J. Lennon
  33. theater review
    Diana: The Musical Is Almost as Bad as Her MarriageA misbegotten match from the start.
    By Helen Shaw
  34. album review
    30 Is Adele at Her All-Time BestThis is the music she should’ve been making all along.
    By Craig Jenkins
  35. tv review
    The Brutal, Bloody, Bawdy, Beautiful Return of The GreatSeason two of Hulu’s “occasionally true” drama about the Russian monarch takes its characters to a place of implausible but fully convincing humanity.
    By Kathryn VanArendonk
  36. tv review
    Cowboy Bebop’s New Shine Can’t Replace Its Old SoulWhat Netflix’s adaptation of the cult-classic anime gains in visual thrill, it loses in its understanding of the original’s melancholy center.
    By Roxana Hadadi
  37. theater review
    Theater Review: Assassins Takes Aim at the Here and NowThe Sondheim-Weidman musical is about desperate, damaged people turning their aggression on America itself. Remind you of anything?
    By Helen Shaw
  38. tv review
    Adele One Night Only Was Too Much and Also Just RightThe celebrity quotient was excessive in Adele’s CBS special. But the 30 artist proved she’s still got it.
    By Jen Chaney
  39. movie review
    Kenneth Branagh’s Belfast Is a Bolder Movie Than It SeemsThe director has made an autobiographical film, set during the Troubles, about lower-case t troubles.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  40. tv review
    In Yellowjackets, the Girls Are Hungry to LiveShowtime’s coming-of-age-meets-cannibalism drama has lots of familiar elements, but forms its own compelling teen/adult psychological study.
    By Jen Chaney
  41. art review
    John Currin Is the Caligula of PaintingA new show is even more unsettling and disturbing than those that made his controversial name.
    By Jerry Saltz
  42. theater review
    Lagos Soaps and Superstitious Hopes: Nollywood Dreams and “The Pool Plays”Light and funny and weird on these dark days.
    By Helen Shaw
  43. theater review
    The Sharp-Edged Sword of while you were partyingHow dark can dark humor get?
    By Helen Shaw
  44. tv review
    Claws Is Perfect Summer TVThe candy-colored noir is also a great venue for Niecy Nash’s indelible performance.
    By Angelica Jade Bastién
  45. book review
    The Sentence Shows the Downside of UrgencyLouise Erdrich’s novel takes on the 2020 protests — and draws conclusions that feel dated already.
    By Jennifer Wilson
  46. book review
    ‘What Is the Power of My Body?’Emily Ratajkowski may want to join the feminist discourse, but in her essay collection she’s mostly in conversation with herself.
    By Jordan Taliha McDonald
  47. theater review
    Ibsen’s Peer Gynt Becomes Eno’s Gnit, and Turns Gnomic, Gnostic and GnostalgicWill Eno keeps his distance from Ibsen, though.
    By Helen Shaw
  48. movie review
    Finch Might Make You Cry Like a Baby, But Is It Any Good?Tom Hanks can’t save us, but he can save that dog.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  49. movie review
    Netflix’s The Harder They Fall Is a Mess, But It’s a Fun MessThis star-studded, stylized Western may not hang together, but it has an infectious energy all its own.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  50. movie review
    Eternals Is Nobody’s FilmChloé Zhao’s MCU entry is stuffed to the gills with movie stars, yet it has no idea what to do with all that shine.
    By Angelica Jade Bastién
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