Daily coverage of Criticism by Vulture

Criticism

  1. movie review
    Maybe Justin Timberlake Wasn’t the Right Man to Play an Angry Ex-Con in Palmer.Sometimes, having your heart in the right place isn’t enough to make a great movie.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  2. tv review
    The Investigation Will Frustrate You (on Purpose)HBO’s Danish true-crime series reveals a different way of telling a murder story, as well as why so few murder stories are told this way.
    By Kathryn VanArendonk
  3. the inside track
    ‘Don’t Judge Me’ Makes the Best Case Yet for FKA Twigs’s Hip-hop CrossoverWith U.K. hitmaker Fred again.. and rapper Headie One.
    By Justin Curto
  4. movie review
    Colin Firth and Stanley Tucci Are a Heartbreaking Couple in SupernovaThe longtime friends make this melancholy movie about early-onset dementia work.
    By Alison Willmore
  5. tv review
    The Lady and the Dale Is a Multifaceted Look at a Multifaceted Con ArtistThe HBO docuseries offers a sharp, engrossing reconciliation of Liz Carmichael’s crimes and her identity as a trans woman.
    By Jen Chaney
  6. streaming theater review
    Bollywood Kitchen, Where the Script Is Also a RecipeA streaming innovation: Instead of getting better seats when you pay more, you get closer interaction with the star.
    By Helen Shaw
  7. album review
    Anuel AA and Ozuna Are Better Off Building Separate EmpiresLos Dioses, their first joint album, catches the two urbano stars at critical intersections in both careers, yet they struggle to connect.
    By Craig Jenkins
  8. streaming theater review
    Irish Eyes, Unsmiling: Mark O’Rowe’s The Approach Is a Three-Actor ShowcaseStreaming from Dublin.
    By Helen Shaw
  9. movie review
    Netflix’s The White Tiger Is a Brutal, Powerful Tale of Ambition and CorruptionRamin Bahrani, one of our great directors, adapts Aravind Adiga’s international best seller.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  10. tv review
    Blown Away Is a Cozy Blanket Made of Hot, Molten GlassIn its second season, now on Netflix, the glassblowing-competition series offers the warmth you crave on a cold January day.
    By Jen Chaney
  11. movie review
    Derek DelGaudio’s In & Of Itself Is a Bit of Truth and a Lot of NonsenseThe emotion in the oddly tearful mentalism-and-magic show is all manipulation, but there’s still quite a bit of loveliness to delight you.
    By Helen Shaw
  12. movie review
    In The Marksman, Liam Neeson Idles in PlaceHe only kicks a moderate amount of ass in this one.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  13. movie review
    Acasa, My Home Shows the Poetry and Peril of a Life Off the GridA beautiful, bittersweet documentary from Romania.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  14. album review
    Zayn’s Solo Career Still Makes No Sense, Yet the Intrigue Remains EarnedNobody Is Listening offers a subtle refinement of the sounds and ideas he has pursued since striking out on his own.
    By Craig Jenkins
  15. movie review
    The Gorgeous, Moving News of the World Features Tom Hanks at His BestA Western from the director of Captain Phillips and The Bourne Ultimatum, if you can believe that.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  16. hbo
    In Tiger, a Portrait of a Phenom Who Was Never Allowed to Be a KidA two-part HBO documentary shows the toll of an overbearing father and life as a golf prodigy.
    By Jen Chaney
  17. theater review
    It’s Theater-Festival Season, in a Year When Everything’s Avant-Garde AnywayThe January of the Weird has arrived.
    By Helen Shaw
  18. tv review
    Marvel’s WandaVision Is a Time-Traveling DelightElizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany hopscotch through sitcom history in a new Disney+ series.
    By Jen Chaney
  19. movie review
    In a Year Without Live Performance, Regina King’s One Night in Miami SingsThe intimate Amazon Studios film, based on a play, re-creates a historic motel-room meeting between Sam Cooke, Malcolm X, Jim Brown, and Cassius Clay.
    By Helen Shaw
  20. close reads
    The Key to Dickinson Season Two Is a Woman Named Lola MontezA legendary and scandalous figure from the 19th century is only a tiny part of the plot, but she plays a major role in the season’s central theme.
    By Kathryn VanArendonk
  21. album review
    Sorry, But Get Used to Morgan WallenHe’s after the keys to the country-music kingdom … and succeeding like clockwork.
    By Craig Jenkins
  22. movie review
    The Dissident Is a Grisly Look at the Life and Death of Jamal KhashoggiIt’s a complex, damning portrait of how Saudi Arabia dealt with a citizen who turned on the regime.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  23. tv review
    Mr. Mayor Is a Nice Political Comedy at a Very Not-Nice TimeComprising a sitcom dream team, Tina Fey and Robert Carlock’s latest is amusing, if not exactly dialed into the current climate.
    By Jen Chaney
  24. movie review
    In The Midnight Sky, George Clooney the Director Fails George Clooney the ActorBut Clooney the actor almost saves Clooney the director’s butt, so there’s that.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  25. movie review
    The Empty Spectacle of Wonder Woman 1984The disappointing sequel highlights not only the dire state of the live-action superhero genre, but the dire state of Hollywood filmmaking as a whole.
    By Angelica Jade Bastién
  26. movie review
    Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom Fails the Woman Behind a LegendIn Netflix’s rote adaptation of August Wilson’s play, Viola Davis falters while Chadwick Boseman fares better.
    By Angelica Jade Bastién
  27. respect the classics
    The 2020 Boomer Rock Renaissance No One Saw ComingMcCartney, Dylan, Stevie, Springsteen, and so many of rock’s immortals offered life lines in dire times.
    By Craig Jenkins
  28. movie review
    Soul Is Pixar at Its Most Unpredictably WeirdAnd while the movie doesn’t always work, that part is kind of nice.
    By Alison Willmore
  29. movie review
    Promising Young Woman Is an Incendiary Revenge Movie With a Sugar-Sweet ShellCarey Mulligan is outrageously great as a Me Too vigilante in an unsettling first film from Emerald Fennell.
    By Alison Willmore
  30. tv review
    Bridgerton Is a Heady, Inviting Fantasy of Pleasure and True LoveThe Shondaland Netflix series will make you want to whisper obscene gossip, pop Champagne, and run giddily through a hedge maze.
    By Kathryn VanArendonk
  31. movie review
    Monster Hunter Is Loud, Unapologetic FunIt’s filled with scary monsters, gnarly weapons, and terrific visual storytelling.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  32. theater review
    The Holidays Are a Drag: Taylor Mac and Joshua William Gelb Dress for ItReviews of Taylor Mac’s Holiday Sauce: Pandemic!, and Joshua William Gelb in Heather Christian’s I Am Sending You the Sacred Face.
    By Helen Shaw
  33. album review
    After 10 Years on the Moon, Kid Cudi Comes Back Down to EarthWorking with Travis Scott inspired Cudi to tighten up foundations as a lyricist; as with Travis, style sometimes leapfrogs substance.
    By Craig Jenkins
  34. movie review
    Greenland Might Actually Be Too EffectiveI wanted to see Gerard Butler fight a comet named Clarke. Instead, I got a real movie.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  35. tv review
    The Stand Is Both Too Real and Too Unreal for 2020A new adaptation of the Stephen King novel may be more than you can handle at the end of this hideous year.
    By Jen Chaney
  36. putting on heirs
    In Reality Show House of Ho, a Fat Inheritance Comes at a PriceThis new reality show about a super-wealthy Vietnamese American family goes cliché when it should go specific.
    By Terry Nguyen
  37. album review
    Taylor Swift Is Done Self-MythologizingAs folklore did, the stories in evermore ask us to consider what motivates women when they act desperately against their interests.
    By Craig Jenkins
  38. movie review
    Wolfwalkers Will Charm You. Wolfwalkers Will Save You.Prepare to be astonished by this animated film from Ireland.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  39. tv review
    HBO’s New Bee Gees Documentary Does More Than Just DiscoThe Bee Gees: How Can You Mend a Broken Heart smartly contextualizes the story of one of the most successful groups in pop history.
    By Jen Chaney
  40. movie review
    We Should Probably Talk About Wild Mountain ThymeBecause WTF.
    By Alison Willmore
  41. podcast review
    Appearances Is Unlike Any Podcast You’ve Ever HeardSharon Mashihi leads a chaotic, semi-fictional journey into herself.
    By Nicholas Quah
  42. vulture recommends
    Veneno Is a KnockoutThe show is a jolting reminder of how big the world is.
    By E. Alex Jung
  43. movie review
    This Is an Ode to the Best Movie Ending of the YearOn the bittersweet pleasures of watching Mads Mikkelsen dance in 2020.
    By Alison Willmore
  44. movie review
    Steven Soderbergh and Meryl Streep Went on a Luxury Cruise and Made a Good MovieLet Them All Talk is a charming comedy that gets at some personal truths.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  45. tv review
    Bryan Cranston Makes Your Honor’s Crime Story Clichés CompellingThe performances elevate this Showtime series, but the focus on plot thickening gums up the works.
    By Jen Chaney
  46. movie review
    Netflix’s The Prom Isn’t the Party We Hoped ForLet’s just say, I think that there’s room in the universe for another attempt at putting this beloved and big-souled property on film.
    By Helen Shaw
  47. movie review
    Let Us Now Praise Riz Ahmed in Sound of MetalIs there an actor who is more interesting to look at these days?
    By Bilge Ebiri
  48. movie review
    Mank Is David Fincher’s Flawed Fable About a Hollywood CynicGary Oldman plays the co-writer of Citizen Kane in a period showbiz story that could stand to go through another few drafts.
    By Alison Willmore
  49. album review
    Shawn Mendes Still Leaves Too Much to Wonder AboutWonder is the most interesting-sounding music he has ever made, but the album has little to say about the man at the middle of it.
    By Craig Jenkins
  50. tv review
    Selena the Netflix Series Is Remarkably Uninterested in Selena the PersonIt’s infuriating, really.
    By Kathryn VanArendonk
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