Daily coverage of Criticism by Vulture

Criticism

  1. movie review
    Ryan Reynolds (Almost) Saves Free GuyHis pathological insincerity might be just what this derivative action-comedy needs.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  2. movie review
    Netflix’s Beckett Is a Leisurely Chase ThrillerAmerican tourist John David Washington escapes from Greek cops and hooks up with Vicky Krieps. Relax, it’s not as interesting as it sounds.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  3. movie review
    CODA Is an Occasionally Corny But Very Effective Family DramedyEmilia Jones plays the only hearing member of a Massachusetts fishing family in this Sundance crowd-pleaser that’s hard to resist.
    By Alison Willmore
  4. tv review
    Heels Can Be Clunky But Also WinningThe new Starz wrestling drama about brothers-in-well-toned-arms is a show that knows itself but doesn’t trust its audience to figure it out.
    By Kathryn VanArendonk
  5. movie review
    Respect Dulls the Inherent Glow of Aretha FranklinThis movie may satisfy those who want to bask in Franklin’s music. But if that’s the desire, I’d suggest playing her records instead.
    By Robert Daniels
  6. theater review
    In Merry Wives in the Park, the Real Housewives of Windsor Take ChargeFalstaff falls back as the women step up.
    By Helen Shaw
  7. tv review
    With A Little Patience, Reservation Dogs Will Enchant YouThis series about a quartet of Indigenous friends in a tiny Oklahoma town operates at its own deliberate pace and on its own distinct wavelength.
    By Kathryn VanArendonk
  8. movie review
    Val Doesn’t Know Who Val Kilmer Is, and That’s a Good ThingA moving new documentary about the elusive life and career of an endlessly fascinating actor.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  9. movie review
    Udo Kier Will Break Your Heart in Swan SongThe German actor is tremendous in this elegiac comedy about a flamboyant former hairdresser living in a small Ohio town.
    By Alison Willmore
  10. movie review
    A Little of The Suicide Squad Goes a Long WayIt’s possible James Gunn’s “soft reboot” of the DC superhero franchise is too much of a good thing and not enough of a better thing.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  11. book review
    Magma Lucidly Captures the Magical Thinking of a Coercive RelationshipWe see a young woman increasingly substituting an abuser’s logic for her own, and we see the ways that such a substitution damages her.
    By Brandon Taylor
  12. tv review
    Mr. Corman May Test Your Patience, But It’s Worth ItJoseph Gordon-Levitt’s Apple TV+ series about a bummed-out white dude is more than initially meets the eye.
    By Jen Chaney
  13. album review
    Billie Eilish Has Only Gone Quieter and More UnpredictableSo much of her sophomore album, Happier Than Ever, is a ruse.
    By Craig Jenkins
  14. book review
    Alexandra Kleeman Writes a Neo-Noir About an Even Thirstier HollywoodIn her novel Something New Under the Sun, Alexandra Kleeman writes a water war as disturbing as it is absurd.
    By Jennifer Wilson
  15. movie review
    Matt Damon Makes For an Excellent Unlovable American in StillwaterThe new movie from Spotlight director Tom McCarthy is a character study in the guise of a crime thriller.
    By Alison Willmore
  16. movie review
    Disney’s Jungle Cruise Is MurderAnd not in the good way.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  17. theater reviews
    Haunted Houses: Samuel and Definition Make Emptiness the PointNot quite installation art, not quite full-on theater, but something in between that I’ll miss when it’s gone.
    By Helen Shaw
  18. movie review
    The Green Knight Is a Ravishing, Unsettling FantasyIn David Lowery’s new A24 movie, Dev Patel is a gadabout in search of a legend to call his own.
    By Alison Willmore
  19. movie review
    M. Night Shyamalan’s Old Is Beautifully Made and Terribly WrittenThe Sixth Sense director still has a way with sinister shots, but is oddly invested in having the audience care about his cardboard characters.
    By Alison Willmore
  20. movie review
    Joe Bell Is a Moving Tale That Misses Its Chance at GreatnessMark Wahlberg stars in the real-life story of a man who tried to walk across the country to spread an anti-bullying message.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  21. movie review
    Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins Is Nice to Look at, SometimesIf you told me everybody making this movie had an Uzi pointed at their head, I might believe you.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  22. olympics 2021
    Welcome to the ‘What Are We Doing Here?’ OlympicsThe opening ceremony’s determined efforts to project normalcy amid the abnormal were occasionally lovely and frequently surreal.
    By Jen Chaney
  23. tv review
    Ted Lasso Has Done It AgainThe breakout hit of 2020 returns with a second season that is just as good, and maybe better, than the first.
    By Jen Chaney
  24. movie review
    Isabelle Huppert Plays a Parisian Drug Lord in Mama WeedThat’s it. That’s the review.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  25. theater reviews
    Light-Touch Theater: 3 Shows That Welcome Us Back, TentativelyThe one to see is Liminal Archive, at the New Ohio.
    By Helen Shaw
  26. movie review
    See Pig and Tremble Before Your Own MortalityLet Nicolas Cage illuminate the way.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  27. song review
    Pop Smoke’s Vision Remains Crystal Clear, Even When Others Are Seeing It Through“Tell the Vision,” featuring Kanye West and Pusha T, like most of Faith, refuses to let its somber circumstances weigh it down.
    By Craig Jenkins
  28. movie review
    The Anthony Bourdain Doc Roadrunner Can Be Invasive. Sometimes, It’s Worse.In deciding to treat his subject as a mystery to be solved, director Morgan Neville makes some ugly choices.
    By Alison Willmore
  29. movie review
    Maybe Netflix’s Fear Street Should Have Just Been a TV ShowThe delightfully nasty Fear Street exists in this strange space between movies and television, serving neither format well.
    By Alison Willmore
  30. movie review
    The Women of Netflix’s Gunpowder Milkshake Deserve BetterIs this really the best Hollywood can offer the likes of Michelle Yeoh and Angela Bassett?
    By Angelica Jade Bastién
  31. tv review
    I’m Just a Girl Who Can’t Say No to Schmigadoon!I love this Golden Age Musical pastiche with the helplessness of a protagonist being yanked into an indulgent, unnecessary dream ballet.
    By Kathryn VanArendonk
  32. album review
    Vince Staples’s Best Talent Remains Never Letting Us Get Too ComfortableOn his new self-titled album, once again, the rapper is fine with being misunderstood.
    By Craig Jenkins
  33. movie review
    The New Space Jam Never Thought It Could Be a Good MovieWhich is a shame, because LeBron James is certainly a better actor than His Airness ever was.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  34. tv review
    Naomi Osaka Is the Story of a Work in ProgressThe Netflix docuseries about the tennis phenom crafts an intimate study of a player for whom winning matches is only half the battle.
    By Jen Chaney
  35. podcast review
    In Aack Cast, Jamie Loftus Goes to Bat for ‘Cathy’The comedian’s audio series mounts a passionate defense of the funny pages’ most neurotic presence.
    By Nicholas Quah
  36. movie review
    The Mysterious, Mesmerizing Scales Has a Lot on Its MindSaudi director Shahad Ameen’s dystopian fable captivates us with its stark, enigmatic world.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  37. tv review
    The White Lotus Is No VacationMike White’s new HBO series set at an upscale Hawaiian resort is an arresting satire of entitlement that cuts like a knife.
    By Jen Chaney
  38. movie review
    Black Widow Bids a Barbed Farewell to the MCU’s First Female SuperheroScarlett Johansson plays Natasha one last time (for now) in an espionage adventure that’s as much a criticism of the character as a good-bye.
    By Alison Willmore
  39. 😺💖🐶
    Netflix Makes Space for the Truth About Cats and DogsA new season of Dogs and the series Cat People arrive on Netflix on the same day, proving that dogs, cats, and the humans who love them can coexist.
    By Jen Chaney
  40. tv review
    Gossip Girl Is Having a Very Glamorous Identity CrisisThe new HBO Max sequel series wants to be a revolution, even though it hasn’t the foggiest idea of what that revolution should be.
    By Kathryn VanArendonk
  41. movie review
    The Tomorrow War Is Just As Stupid As It Needs to BeIt’s Edge of Tomorrow meets Interstellar meets Aliens meets Independence Day, with their brains removed. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  42. theater review
    Enemy of the People Wants You to Choose Your Own MisadventureThe flashiest theater event since the shutdown is an interactive mixed bag.
    By Helen Shaw
  43. movie review
    The Forever Purge Finally Gives Up on AmericaThe franchise used to consider the innate awfulness of humans as a controversial notion. Not anymore.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  44. theater review
    Sex and Window-Shopping: Seven Plays for Seven Deadly SinsA septet of ten-minute dramas, under glass, in the Meatpacking District.
    By Helen Shaw
  45. movie review
    Zola the Movie Is a Chillier Exploration of Trauma Than the Tweets We All ReadJanicza Bravo and co-writer Jeremy O. Harris’s retelling is not exactly the wild romp of the viral thread it’s based on.
    By Alison Willmore
  46. theater review
    What to Send Up When It Goes Down Makes Its Audience Do the WorkThe show does not need to shock you to affect you.
    By Helen Shaw
  47. movie review
    Hulu’s False Positive Isn’t Quite Horror, But It Will Freak You OutIlana Glazer and John Lee’s fertility thriller needs to gestate a little more.
    By Helen Shaw
  48. movie review
    The Ice Road Is Somehow Both Really Smart and Really StupidIt starts off as one kind of Liam Neeson movie and then becomes another kind of Liam Neeson movie.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  49. album review
    Tyler, the Creator Has Come Full CircleThe disaffected, lanky teen from Bastard is made now, but Call Me If You Get Lost feels like there’s still a chip on his shoulder.
    By Craig Jenkins
  50. finales
    Conan Gives a Qualified FarewellThe finale of his TBS show was low-key evidence that O’Brien has always stayed true to himself — and will continue to do so with whatever’s next.
    By Jen Chaney
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