Daily coverage of Criticism by Vulture

Criticism

  1. movie review
    American Utopia Speaks to the Recent Past and, Even More, the PresentIn a way, even the Spike Lee–directed version of David Byrne’s Broadway show, streaming on HBO, allows us to “leave our homes.”
    By Jen Chaney
  2. tv review
    The Right Stuff Has the Halfway Decent StuffDisney+ and Nat Geo’s glossy new series is a traditionally presented space drama that chips away at our traditional notions about the space program.
    By Jen Chaney
  3. tv review
    What, Exactly, Is a Docusoap? Deaf U Is Here to Explain.Netflix’s new series weaves in and out of journalistic observation and voyeuristic, messy stories about cliques, sex, and snobbery.
    By Kathryn VanArendonk
  4. movie review
    Did I See The War With Grandpa? I Don’t Remember.Paycheck De Niro is back, baby.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  5. movie review
    In the Extraordinary Doc Time, a Family Chronicles Two Decades of IncarcerationGarrett Bradley’s remarkable film folds together years of home-movie footage to provide a glimpse into activist Fox Rich’s fight for her family.
    By Alison Willmore
  6. tv review
    The Haunting of Bly Manor Is Unnerving Yet UnevenMike Flanagan’s Hill House follow-up uses the folds of a ghost story we know to tell a story about the boundaries of love.
    By Angelica Jade Bastién
  7. movie review
    Hubie Halloween Lets Adam Sandler Be Adam Sandler AgainRejoice! The weird voice is back.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  8. movie review
    The Forty-Year-Old Version Isn’t the Quirky Underdog Comedy It Might Sound LikeGet past the goofy premise and Radha Blank’s debut, headed to Netflix, is about the frustrations of being a Black creator in a white theater scene.
    By Alison Willmore
  9. radio vulture
    We’re No Closer to Knowing Jay ElectronicaPerhaps that is by design.
    By Craig Jenkins
  10. tv review
    The Good Lord Bird Is a Historical Epic That Speaks of and for the PresentEthan Hawke’s fiery John Brown is ultimately a supporting player in this savage, often corrosively funny portrait of the lead-up to the Civil War.
    By Matt Zoller Seitz
  11. review
    Mortality Plays: Two Live Performances in New York Look Steadily at DeathLive, in-person performances are springing up everywhere.
    By Helen Shaw
  12. movie review
    Possessor Is a Spectacularly Violent Sci-Fi Thriller From David Cronenberg’s SonBrandon Cronenberg claims more territory on behalf of Canadian sci-fi and horror in his second film.
    By Alison Willmore
  13. movie review
    The Antenna Mixes Body Horror, Building Horror, and Political AllegoryThis is one deeply creepy movie.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  14. album review
    What’s Left of America for Sufjan Stevens to Dream About?The nation’s triumphs have always been undercut by a grisly capacity for violence, one that’s as present in Sufjan’s states albums as The Ascension.
    By Craig Jenkins
  15. movie review
    The Glorias Only Does Gloria Steinem Partial JusticeBy jumping through time and four different performances, the movie paints a portrait that is fractured instead of illuminating.
    By Jen Chaney
  16. movie review
    Save Yourselves! Is a Small, Charming Comedy About the ApocalypseSunita Mani and John Reynolds bicker and mull their way through an alien invasion.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  17. tv review
    Emily in Paris Is Going to Seduce YouYou will binge Darren Star’s latest in an entire evening, and any shame you feel about that will disappear when you binge it again.
    By Jen Chaney
  18. movie review
    Ava Didn’t Have to Be a CatastropheHow do you screw up a movie in which Jessica Chastain, Colin Farrell, and John Malkovich face off against each other?
    By Bilge Ebiri
  19. tv review
    Love Torture and Conspiracies? Utopia Is for You.If you can grind your way through the blood and horror, this Gillian Flynn adaptation occasionally makes its way into mesmerizing territory.
    By Kathryn VanArendonk
  20. movie review
    Enola Holmes Is Millie Bobby Brown’s Show, and She Owns ItSherlock Holmes has a teenage sister, and she’s hilarious.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  21. movie review
    Miranda July Returns with What Might Be Her Best Film YetBefore Kajillionaire, it was tempting to think July’s style of filmmaking had gone out of … well, style.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  22. tv review
    The Comey Rule Shows the Scarier Side of Donald TrumpYes, the flawed docuseries is a rehash of recent history, but it’s a history that’s repeating itself right now.
    By Jen Chaney
  23. tv review
    Fargo Disappears Into Its Own NavelEvery season of Noah Hawley’s crime anthology series is a veritable monologuefest, but season four seems especially top-heavy.
    By Matt Zoller Seitz
  24. tv review
    The 2020 Emmys ParadoxNormalcy was invited to this year’s Emmys, but its plus-one was a pervasive sense of abnormality.
    By Jen Chaney
  25. movie review
    RBG Is the Best Imaginable Retaliation to MansplainingYes, the Ruth Bader Ginsburg doc is a hagiography, but it has its cheeky aspect.
    By David Edelstein
  26. movie review
    Netflix’s The Devil All the Time Is a Sadistic SlogChoose Your Own Adventure, but for generational trauma.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  27. movie review
    Jude Law and Carrie Coon Are Gorgeously Dysfunctional in The NestIn the new film from the director of Martha Marcy May Marlene, a family slowly implodes after moving into a crumbling house in the U.K. countryside.
    By Alison Willmore
  28. streaming theater review
    Almost the Real Miracle: Brian Friel’s Faith Healer, Streaming From the Old VicIt feels a little like … theater!
    By Helen Shaw
  29. tv review
    Ratched Is the Worst Thing That Could Have Happened to Nurse RatchedRyan Murphy’s latest Netflix series is a craven, banal origin story that reduces an iconic character to a vessel for trauma.
    By Angelica Jade Bastién
  30. tv review
    PEN15 Goes Deeper in Season 2Maya Erskine’s and Anna Konkle’s adolescent alter egos are still hilarious, but this time around they’re also going to break your heart.
    By Jen Chaney
  31. obits
    Stanley Crouch, Influential Jazz Critic and Cultural Commentator, Dead at 74He was an advocate for traditional jazz.
    By Justin Curto
  32. tv review
    Challenger: The Final Flight Unpacks a Moment of American Hope and HeartbreakIn revisiting the tragedy of 1986’s space shuttle explosion, the new Netflix docuseries draws out some compelling parallels to our present.
    By Jen Chaney
  33. creepy-ass islands
    At What Point in The Third Day Would I Have Run Away Forever?On the one hand: this weird island has cool festival puppets. On the other: pretty much everything else.
    By Kathryn VanArendonk
  34. movie review
    I Am Tired of Films Like AntebellumThis movie had the opportunity to show a more dynamic side of slavery narratives, but it ends up reaffirming the very horror it is trying to critique.
    By Angelica Jade Bastién
  35. theater review
    Andrew Scott Is Extraordinary in Three KingsThe performance is a demonstration of the actor’s charismatic power.
    By Helen Shaw
  36. tv review
    We Are Who We Are Is Coming-of-Age PoetryLuca Guadagnino’s leisurely aesthetic translates beautifully to television, where it can spread out and just be.
    By Jen Chaney
  37. theater on tv
    Coastal Elites Is As Distanced As Its SubjectMonologues that play to a crowd don’t work without that audience.
    By Helen Shaw
  38. rebecca is a food critic now
    What’s All the Hype About the McDonald’s Travis Scott Meal?Does it come with a toy? Is it worth it? We found out.
    By Rebecca Alter
  39. album review
    Big Sean’s Detroit 2 Is a Career BestIt is the rare rap event album that feels both wise to current events in rap and culture and also tethered to a specific location.
    By Craig Jenkins
  40. close reads
    P-Valley Reclaimed TV Strip-Club Drama for the DancersThe pole-dancing workplace drama is a rebuttal to the Bada Bings of the TV world, but it’s also so much more than that.
    By Kathryn VanArendonk
  41. movie review
    Class Action Park Forces Us to Wrestle With Toxic NostalgiaThe HBO Max documentary starts out a fun flashback to a recklessly operated theme park, but it says something deeper about America’s nature.
    By Jen Chaney
  42. song review
    SZA Knows How to Make an R&B Jam Hit DifferentHer new single with Ty Dolla $ign feels fresh and fuss-free.
    By Craig Jenkins
  43. movie review
    Mulan Is a Dour Drag of a Movie (But a Fascinating Cultural Object)In trying to square Disney girl-power tendencies with perceived Chinese values, the new remake ends up in a baffling limbo of motivations.
    By Alison Willmore
  44. movie review
    Hell Is Our Own Neuroses in I’m Thinking of Ending ThingsCharlie Kaufman’s new Netflix movie is wry, surreal, and an artistic dead end.
    By Alison Willmore
  45. tv review
    Away Is on a Low-Key Mission to MarsHilary Swank and Josh Charles lead this new Netflix drama, in which the stakes are low and the threat of space schmaltz is high.
    By Jen Chaney
  46. tv review
    The Boys Are Back to Blow Your Mind, Literally and FigurativelyGleefully violent as ever, Amazon’s dark superhero story ups the ante on its most suggestive ideas about media image-making and corporate control.
    By Kathryn VanArendonk
  47. movie review
    Forget What You’ve Heard, Cuties Is a Moving Coming-of-age DramaA young girl torn between two cultures tries to find her place in the coming-of-age Netflix movie condemned sight unseen by many online.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  48. Theatre for One Wants You to Sit Up Straight and Pay AttentionOne-on-one, face-to-face theater performances in a digital window.
    By Helen Shaw
  49. movie review
    Bill & Ted Face the Music Feels As Unstuck in Time As Its CharactersThat’s not a bad thing!
    By Alison Willmore
  50. the inside track
    Dua Lipa’s Maximal Turn Yields Minimal ResultsMark Ronson’s Gwen Stefani-featuring “Physical” remix is one of Club Future Nostalgia’s most unnecessary tracks.
    By Justin Curto
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