Daily coverage of Criticism by Vulture

Criticism

  1. spoilers
    I Am Not Okay With This Goes Out With a BangThe blood-splattered finale of Netfilx’s superpowered coming-of-age story is the culmination of a season-long remix of classic teen movies.
    By Jen Chaney
  2. song review
    Lady Gaga’s Message Remains Clear on ‘Stupid Love’: Just DanceGaga knows her audience too well.
    By Craig Jenkins
  3. movie review
    Wendy Takes a Children’s Classic Into Art-House NeverlandBenh Zeitlin’s follow-up to Beasts of the Southern Wild is a soggy riff on Peter Pan.
    By David Edelstein
  4. theater review
    Lifeboats and Lifelines: Two Musicals Make the Case for Not Giving Up’We’re Gonna Die’ and ‘The Unsinkable Molly Brown.’
    By Helen Shaw
  5. movie review
    Elisabeth Moss Makes The Invisible Man Worth SeeingThis reboot is better with concepts than execution, but Moss is tremendous as a woman being stalked by her unseen abusive spouse.
    By Alison Willmore
  6. theater review
    Lucas Hnath’s Dana H. Is the Real ThingRipped not from the headlines but straight from life.
    By Helen Shaw
  7. album review
    Is Grimes an Anti-Hero or Villain?Her new album, Miss Anthropocene, doesn’t make the question any easier.
    By Craig Jenkins
  8. theater review
    Men to Watch in Cambodian Rock Band, Blues for an Alabama Sky, and The HeadlandsPerformers who hold your attention, even with uneven material.
    By Helen Shaw
  9. tv review
    Better Call Saul Finally Gets to the GoodmanIn the fifth and penultimate season, there’s a sense of impending doom and decay in the air. But in a good way.
    By Jen Chaney
  10. theater review
    Horror Stories of Womanhood: Dracula, Frankenstein, and Anatomy of a SuicideThe horrors.
    By Helen Shaw
  11. movie review
    A Kinder, Gentler Call of the Wild Cancels Jack London’s OriginalThe original novel is surprisingly brutal. This version, with its computer-generated dogs, is weak stuff.
    By David Edelstein
  12. movie review
    Pixar’s Onward Is a Lot of Empty Emotional CaloriesBut Chris Pratt is pretty good.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  13. movie review
    Shaun the Sheep Meets E.T. in Netflix’s FarmageddonThe beloved characters are back in a Netflix sequel to the 2015 animated classic.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  14. theater review
    In the New West Side Story, When You’re Onstage You’re Onscreen All the WayFrom your first tracking shot to your last camera play.
    By Helen Shaw
  15. tv review
    Hunters’ Over-the-Top Holocaust Revenge Fantasy Misses the MarkAmazon’s new Nazi-hunting pastiche goes out on many limbs, but can’t hold its balance on any of them.
    By Jen Chaney
  16. movie review
    Not Quite Revisionist, Not Quite Faithful, Emma. Is an Eventual DelightThis millennial-branded Jane Austen adaptation is a perplexing but satisfying take on a classic.
    By Alison Willmore
  17. album review
    Tame Impala and Justin Bieber Return 5 Years Later Changed MenThe Slow Rush and Changes are dispatches about married life, each from different vantage points.
    By Craig Jenkins
  18. theater review
    Why We Gather: Three Shows As Three MeetingsWhere We Stand, Darling Grenadine, and Fragments, Lists & Lacunae all bring the audience into the production.
    By Helen Shaw
  19. movie review
    The Photograph Is an Imperfect DelightThe romantic drama is undoubtedly elevated by LaKeith Stanfield, who has proved over his short career that he has tremendous range.
    By Angelica Jade Bastién
  20. movie review
    There’s No Need to Watch More Than the Trailer for Fantasy IslandThe horror adaptation of a cheeseball Aaron Spelling affair from the late ’70s is wretchedly unenjoyable.
    By Alison Willmore
  21. song review
    Billie Eilish and James Bond Are a Perfect Marriage“No Time to Die” is possibly the quietest Bond song ever, and one of the few times you get to hear Eilish raise her voice to a shout.
    By Craig Jenkins
  22. tv review
    High Fidelity Is a Great Cover of the OriginalThe similarities between Hulu’s take on the Nick Hornby novel and 2000 film are unmistakable, but its changes to the source push it in new directions.
    By Jen Chaney
  23. movie review
    To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You Almost Argues Itself Out of RomanceIn the sequel to Netflix’s hit 2018 teen rom-com, Lana Condor and Noah Centineo explore what comes after the happily ever after.
    By Alison Willmore
  24. movie review
    In Sonic the Hedgehog, It’s Like Golden-Era Jim Carrey Never Left UsThe movie is fine, but the villain’s a delight.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  25. performance
    Put a Mustache on It: Working Out the Genre-Bending in NateTwo critics try to get at the core of Natalie Palamides’s comedy-theater-clowning-drag hybrid.
    By Helen Shaw and Kathryn VanArendonk
  26. theater review
    Ruth Negga’s Hamlet Is a Sweet Prince—But It’s Not a Good NightAlas.
    By Helen Shaw
  27. the gold rush
    The Oscars Ceremony Was Too Long, for No Good ReasonWhat could have been an all-timer of a broadcast was merely a good one, because too much unnecessary material was added.
    By Jen Chaney
  28. theater review
    House Plant Brightens Up the RoomA light surreal comedy starring Ugo Chukwu at NYTW.
    By Helen Shaw
  29. tv review
    A Show Called Briarpatch Shouldn’t Be This SlickThe new USA mystery crime series from Andy Greenwald and Sam Esmail boasts a proudly weird, stylish exterior that obscures a hollow center.
    By Kathryn VanArendonk
  30. tv review
    Locke & Key Can’t Unlock Its Most Intriguing ThemesNetflix’s lightweight adaptation of the Joe Hill horror comic fails its own ideas about memory and grief.
    By Angelica Jade Bastién
  31. theater review
    Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice Is Odd & Sexless & Flat & TiredAnd generally not what we want from the movie or its musical adaptation.
    By Helen Shaw
  32. tv review
    The 2020 Super Bowl Ads Almost Made America Seem NormalAmid the familiar wash of celebrities and nostalgia trips, a few of this year’s commercials evoked the sense of unease that has become our new normal.
    By Jen Chaney
  33. tv review
    McMillions: We’re Lovin’ ItThe HBO docuseries is an absorbing Soderbergh-esque look at a scheme to hamburgle the McDonald’s Monopoly promotion.
    By Jen Chaney
  34. album review
    Kesha’s High Road Is the Freest She’s Ever SoundedKesha has crafted her most upbeat, free-spirited batch of songs in almost a decade.
    By Craig Jenkins
  35. theater review
    Zora Howard’s Stew Remixes the PotboilerA play that takes place mostly in the kitchen.
    By Helen Shaw
  36. theater review
    How Do You Solve a Problem Like Medea?Simon Stone rewrites Euripides, and Bobby Cannavale and Rose Byrne star.
    By Helen Shaw
  37. radio vulture
    Taylor Swift Finally Invites You Into Her Narrative on Miss AmericanaMiss Americana peels away some of Taylor Swift’s complexities to reveal even more complexities.
    By Craig Jenkins
  38. tv review
    Star Trek: Picard Stumbles Over Its Own LegacyPatrick Stewart is as great as ever in the series’s title role, but the show around him is struggling to live up to the standards of its predecessor.
    By Angelica Jade Bastién
  39. tv review
    In the End, BoJack Horseman Is So Much More Than BoJack HorsemanOn of TV’s best anti-heroes gets a fitting farewell that stretches far beyond the concerns of one single, flawed equine male.
    By Jen Chaney
  40. sundance 2020
    There’s Nothing Funny About Julia Louis-Dreyfus’s Performance in DownhillThe remake of Force Majeure (starring the Veep actress alongside Will Ferrell) sounds like a fake movie. But it’s real, and genuinely unnerving.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  41. sundance 2020
    The Assistant Is the First Great Movie About Me TooKitty Green’s film about a day in the life of a young woman at a Weinstein-like company is a spare, searing story of abuse and complicity.
    By Alison Willmore
  42. sundance 2020
    Into the Deep Chronicles the Monstrousness of Danish Inventor Peter MadsenEmma Sullivan began filming her documentary one year before he murdered and dismembered journalist Kim Wall.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  43. theater review
    Scary Stuff: Paris and The Woman in BlackOn a proscenium at the Atlantic, and in the McKittrick Hotel.
    By Helen Shaw
  44. going solo
    Hayley Williams’s Solo Debut Was Worth the 15-Year WaitI would’ve guessed the Paramore front woman’s first solo single would be a full-tilt pop-radio assault. I’m happy I was wrong.
    By Craig Jenkins
  45. theater review
    The Sparkle and Glow of Grand HorizonsStarring national treasures Jane Alexander and James Cromwell, not to mention Michael Urie’s contortionist reactions.
    By Helen Shaw
  46. movie review
    The Gentlemen Is a Throwback Crime Caper With Some Throwback RacismGuy Ritchie’s latest has a host of stars — like Matthew McConaughey, Charlie Hunnam, Henry Golding, Hugh Grant — and little else.
    By Alison Willmore
  47. theater review
    A Soldier’s Play Is a Procedural With BiteDavid Alan Grier’s performance “has size and precision, monstrosity and humanity.”
    By Helen Shaw
  48. tv review
    The Goop Lab Is Less Goop-y Than You Might ThinkSorry to break the news, but it’s hard to seriously hate on the Netflix series inspired by Gwyneth Paltrow’s lifestyle brand.
    By Jen Chaney
  49. theater review
    A Timon of Athens for the Age of Peter Thiel“We know what the wealthy do when they feel cheated and insulted.”
    By Helen Shaw
  50. theater reviews
    Just Talk But Sometimes More: The Conversationalists and The Truth Has ChangedThe pleasures, and pitfalls, of pure narration theater.
    By Helen Shaw
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