Daily coverage of Criticism by Vulture

Criticism

  1. album review
    Katy Perry Is Still in a Lane All Her OwnThe great Smile tracks recall the era where Katy singles didn’t miss. The patchy ones are reminders that she’s always been a work in progress.
    By Craig Jenkins
  2. tv review
    Once You Start Watching Love Fraud, You Can’t StopShowtime’s true crime-meets-revenge thriller about a con artist/bigamist plays like a wild mix of Kill Bill, Dirty John, and Catfish.
    By Jen Chaney
  3. movie review
    Dev Patel Does Dickens Well in The Personal History of David CopperfieldVeep creator Armando Iannucci has a light touch with the Victorian classic.
    By Alison Willmore
  4. phineas and ferb
    In the New Phineas and Ferb Movie, There Is Justice for CandaceThe Disney+ movie based on the animated series is a fun trip that is both familiar and a little bit new.
    By Jen Chaney
  5. movie review
    Tenet Is a Locked Puzzle Box With Nothing InsideChristopher Nolan’s new movie can feel like Timecop with a superiority complex. It’s mostly entertaining and entirely baffling.
    By Christina Newland
  6. song review
    BTS Is Way Ahead of UsBTS has made inroads with American listeners before, but never quite like this.
    By Craig Jenkins
  7. movie review
    Train to Busan Presents: Peninsula Is No Train to BusanThe sequel is more like a tepid Mad Max knockoff.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  8. song review
    Jay-Z and Pharrell Are Making History, But Both Could Stand to Learn From ItThe achievements of Black billionaires don’t necessarily trickle down and set us all free.
    By Craig Jenkins
  9. movie review
    Russell Crowe’s Road-Rage Thriller Unhinged Isn’t Worth Getting COVID-19 ForCrowe gets good and glowering as a driver on a killing spree, but this thriller isn’t nearly clever enough to merit any sense of moviegoing urgency.
    By Alison Willmore
  10. podcast review
    You Can’t Get Rid of Nice White ParentsThe just-wrapped podcast shines a light on power, race, and educational inequality.
    By Nicholas Quah
  11. close reads
    At the DNC, Nostalgia Went Backward and ForwardThe four-night virtual political event sought to take us, in the words of Don Draper, “back home again to a place where we know we are loved.”
    By Jen Chaney
  12. tv review
    The Vow Takes a Deep, Compelling Dive Into the NXIVM CultThe HBO docuseries gives viewers an insider’s view of the so-called sex cult as it’s in the midst of falling apart.
    By Jen Chaney
  13. movie review
    Tesla Is a Bizarre, Bewitching Anti-BiopicSee Ethan Hawke sing “Everybody Wants to Rule the World.”
    By Bilge Ebiri
  14. tv review
    Hoops Is a @#%ing MissThe Netflix animated comedy starring Jake Johnson as a disgruntled coach hits the same note over and over, and that note is “gleeful profanity.”
    By Jen Chaney
  15. theater review
    How Parents, Children (and Playwrights) Made Oedipus Rex and Antigone at HomeSophocles in Staten Island is a family affair.
    By Helen Shaw
  16. song review
    Somehow, Somewhere Drake Is Still One of UsDrake can buy and sell most of us, but he watches games from the sidelines like everyone else.
    By Craig Jenkins
  17. movie review
    Sputnik Is a Thoughtful, If Modest, Russian Riff on AlienWe’ll take it.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  18. movie review
    Project Power Is a Depressingly Uninspired Off-Brand Superhero StoryJoseph Gordon-Levitt, Dominique Fishback, and Jamie Foxx star in a would-be Netflix blockbuster with a clever premise and crummy follow through.
    By Alison Willmore
  19. tv review
    Ted Lasso Fails Upward, CheerfullyAn improbably pleasant continuation of a 2013 marketing gimmick, the new Apple TV+ series nonetheless feels like a time warp to the recent past.
    By Kathryn VanArendonk
  20. movie review
    Boys State Is an Enthralling Doc About How the Kids Are (and Aren’t) All RightA mock state election among Texas teens ends up being an entertaining reflection of the American political id in this Apple TV+ documentary.
    By Alison Willmore
  21. album review
    Brandy Remains a True RarityThis year, the singer known as the “vocal Bible” steps out from under the dark clouds that long plagued her career.
    By Craig Jenkins
  22. podcast review
    The Michelle Obama Podcast Is the Comfort Food You’d ExpectA closer look at the former First Lady’s new series.
    By Nicholas Quah
  23. tv review
    In Lovecraft Country, Monsters Past and Present ConvergeA present-tense correction of science fiction’s racist past, the new HBO series is what academics would call a “rich text.”
    By Matt Zoller Seitz
  24. movie review
    The Burnt Orange Heresy Is Light on Thrills, Heavy on Beautiful ThingsClaes Bang and Elizabeth Debicki star in a suspenseless noir that’s worth watching mainly for how luxurious everyone and everything in it is.
    By Alison Willmore
  25. song review
    Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion’s ‘WAP’ Is Hall of Fame FilthA torrent of horny one-liners that restores the feeling of sneaking and listening to rap songs with X-rated lyrics as a kid.
    By Craig Jenkins
  26. tv review
    Lower Decks Is Fun, But Star Trek Is Suffering an Identity CrisisFor all its raucous pleasures, the new animated series maintains an ironic posture at odds with what made this franchise great.
    By Angelica Jade Bastién
  27. theater review
    These Two New Theater Works Need You to ListenOne of the surprises of pandemic theater-making has been this embrace of audio work.
    By Helen Shaw
  28. movie review
    An American Pickle Is a Two-Man Show, and Both Men Are Seth RogenSeth Rogen stars opposite himself in this HBO Max original movie about a Brooklyn man united with his pickled great-grandfather.
    By Alison Willmore
  29. movie review
    She Dies Tomorrow Is One of the Scariest Films I’ve Seen in a Long WhileIt’s about more than a pandemic, but it is also about a pandemic.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  30. visual album review
    Beyoncé’s Black Is King Does Everything It Needs ToThe richness of the Black experience is the point. There’s almost too much excellence to keep track of.
    By Craig Jenkins
  31. the inside track
    Dominic Fike Still Has a Lot to LearnWith lines like “I hope I get Me Too’d,” from “Cancel Me,” the breakout alt-rapper only muddies the statement he’s trying to make.
    By Justin Curto
  32. book review
    Caste Offers a New Word for Injustice in America, Not a New Way of ThinkingIn Isabel Wilkerson’s book, caste replaces racism as the most accurate term to describe the inequities of American society.
    By Lauren Michele Jackson
  33. song review
    Billie Eilish’s Future Is in Good HandsHer new single suggests the O’Connell siblings have made good use of the quiet time.
    By Craig Jenkins
  34. movie review
    God Bless the Go-Go’s and This Documentary About the Go-Go’sThe Go-Go’s, debuting on Showtime, is a rollicking portrait of a seminal band, and an acute examination of female ambition.
    By Jen Chaney
  35. podcast review
    It’s Illuminating to Hear a Podcaster Talk About Cam NewtonThe Cam Chronicles explores the impossible expectations the NFL star faced — and helped create.
    By Nicholas Quah
  36. tv review
    The Umbrella Academy’s Second Season Takes a Trip to NonsensevilleWhat the new season lacks in internal logic or consistent stakes, it makes up for in violent fight scenes set to peppy, ironically cheerful pop songs.
    By Kathryn VanArendonk
  37. album review
    Beyoncé’s Lion King Soundtrack Puts the Focus Back Where It Belongs: AfricaBeyoncé, as usual, knows better.
    By Craig Jenkins
  38. tv review
    Muppets Now Brings the Golden Age of Muppetry Into the YouTube EraUnlike other recent attempts to update the felty franchise, the Disney+ series is a smart, broadly appealing blend of the classic and contemporary.
    By Jen Chaney
  39. album review
    folklore Isn’t a Return to Taylor Swift’s Roots, But Somewhere She’s Never BeenHer stories here are more purposeful, if a little less personal.
    By Craig Jenkins
  40. tv review
    In My Skin Is Another British Coming-of-age Winner for HuluA breakout performance from Gabrielle Creevy is just one reason to watch this BBC dramedy about a teen coping with parents incapable of raising her.
    By Jen Chaney
  41. book review
    Zadie Smith’s Intimations Makes a Joyful Case for InconsistencyIn every essay, there is a moment when Smith revises herself or catches herself in a mistake.
    By Molly Young
  42. the inside track
    Taylor Swift and Bon Iver Find Perfect Harmony on ‘exile’This isn’t the indie record that’s much cooler than hers. This is what she makes after she’s listened to that record.
    By Justin Curto
  43. movie review
    Dave Franco’s The Rental Needs an EndingDid [redacted] really have to [redacted] so [redacted]?
    By Bilge Ebiri
  44. theater review
    This Sceptered Dial: Richard II on the RadioShakespeare in the Park in your headphones.
    By Helen Shaw
  45. album review
    The Chicks Scorch the Earth on GaslighterIt is the kind of pop-country killer some people have been haranguing Taylor Swift for ever since 1989.
    By Craig Jenkins
  46. tv review
    Brave New World Is Worth the Price of Admission (Which Is Free)Peacock’s centerpiece original series offers an attractive, straightforward, and unnervingly comforting adaptation of Aldous Huxley’s dystopian novel.
    By Kathryn VanArendonk
  47. synergy
    The 30 Rock Reunion Is Advertisements All the Way DownIn the original run of the show, the ads were usually jokes. In NBC’s one-off reunion special, most of the jokes are ads.
    By Kathryn VanArendonk
  48. movie review
    Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets Is the Next-Best Thing to Going Out to a BarRemember bars? The Ross brothers’ boozy hybrid of a movie is a sensational elegy to a local one that never really existed.
    By Alison Willmore
  49. tv review
    Little Voice Wears Its Heart on Its SleeveThe new Apple TV+ series, featuring original songs by Sara Bareilles, is achingly, sometimes cloyingly earnest, but also inviting in its own way.
    By Jen Chaney
  50. movie review
    Relic Is a Wrenching, Frustrating Horror Story of DementiaThe performances in writer-director Natalie Erika James’s debut film are haunting, but the movie seems hesitant to push its genre’s potential.
    By Angelica Jade Bastién
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