Daily coverage of Criticism by Vulture

Criticism

  1. theater review
    Theater Review: Jagged Little Pill Is Missing the Essence of AlanisWasn’t she iconic?
    By Helen Shaw
  2. theater review
    London Theater Review: My Brilliant Friend, in Five Hours Onstage, Still PlayfulElena Ferrante’s four books become four acts.
    By James Frankie Thomas
  3. tv review
    Truth Be Told Tells an Underwhelming Crime TaleThe Apple TV+ series starring Octavia Spencer as a true-crime podcaster sounds great on paper, but is a classic case of prestige-TV overreach.
    By Jen Chaney
  4. movie review
    Queen & Slim Bursts With Style, But It Can’t Live on Beauty AloneMelina Matsoukas’s movie asks: In a country that is built on black suffering, is it not radical to capture joy wherever you can?
    By Angelica Jade Bastién
  5. movie review
    In Rian Johnson’s Knives Out, Rich White Bigots Get Their ComeuppanceMacabre as it is, there’s something comfy about the universe of this ensemble whodunit.
    By David Edelstein
  6. movie review
    The Two Popes Is Not As Stuffy As It Might SoundAnthony Hopkins and Jonathan Pryce make a talky drama about the Catholic Church into something that’s actually pretty damn compelling.
    By Alison Willmore
  7. movie review
    Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman Is His Most Satisfying Film in DecadesThe director has made his most stylishly daring movie: one that is pointedly sapped of style.
    By David Edelstein
  8. theater reviews
    The Wild Invention of Fefu and Her Friends and A Bright Room Called DayFornés and Kushner, wild inventors both.
    By Helen Shaw
  9. movie review
    There Is No Resisting Little WomenGreta Gerwig’s take on the Louisa May Alcott classic is a fresh, affectionate reimagining that’s impossible not to love.
    By Alison Willmore
  10. tv review
    Servant Is Extremely Silly, and Extremely WatchableThe M. Night Shyamalan–produced Apple TV+ thriller is overwrought, overacted, and withholding, and yet I just kept watching.
    By Jen Chaney
  11. movie review
    Netflix’s Klaus Is Just Weird Enough to Get You to Watch ItThis animated holiday movie is set in a surreally gruesome place, filled with surreally gruesome people. Somehow, that works.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  12. looking back
    Fantastic Four Director Josh Trank Reviews 2015’s Fantastic Four on Letterboxd“I was expecting it to be much worse than it was.”
    By Halle Kiefer
  13. album review
    Don’t Look Now, But Coldplay Are Good Again Everday Life is a big bang for a band believed to be dead or dying.
    By Craig Jenkins
  14. movie review
    Todd Haynes’s Dark Waters Shows You Hell on EarthIs this what happens every day in a country controlled by companies with vast coffers, armies of lobbyists, and politicians leased by the year?
    By David Edelstein
  15. theater review
    Theater Review: A Christmas Carol Gets a Cute Scrooge With Daddy IssuesIs this the Ghost of Broadway Future?
    By Helen Shaw
  16. movie review
    Frozen 2 Exists Because the Market, Not the Story, Demanded ItIs it fair to call a sequel unnecessary when it’s going to make a jillion dollars?
    By Alison Willmore
  17. theater review
    What Makes the Man: Édouard Louis’s Autobiographies, OnstageHistory of Violence at St. Ann’s and The End of Eddy at BAM.
    By Helen Shaw
  18. movie review
    A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood Ought to Make You Roll Your Eyes, and Yet …Our nicest Hollywood star playing our nicest-ever children’s show host: There’s peer pressure to succumb.
    By David Edelstein
  19. theater review
    Tragedy Plus Comedy Plus Melodrama in The InheritanceThree hours that are impossibly absorbing, and then three and a half more.
    By Helen Shaw
  20. movie review
    Waves Is Gorgeous and Frustrating — Great Soundtrack, ThoughKelvin Harrison Jr. and Taylor Russell play siblings in a bifurcated movie with style to burn and shakier credibility.
    By Alison Willmore
  21. movie review
    The Report Is a Dry, Arm’s-Length Movie That Seeps Into Your BloodAccidentally or on purpose (or a bit of both), Scott Z. Burns’s movie reminds us how hard it is to be a whistle-blower.
    By David Edelstein
  22. movie review
    Ford v Ferrari Is an Old-fashioned RouserJames Mangold doesn’t misuse his head-rattling techniques. He brings a lot of new-fashioned virtuosity, too.
    By David Edelstein
  23. movie review
    The Empty Corporate Feminism of Charlie’s AngelsIn Elizabeth Banks’s reboot of the women detective franchise, girl power feels less like a guiding principle than something you’d stick on a T-shirt.
    By Alison Willmore
  24. tv review
    Dollface Is a Frothy Feminist Comedy in Search of Deeper MeaningThe Kat Dennings–led Hulu series tries to speak to millennial women’s concerns but ends up talking down to them.
    By Angelica Jade Bastién
  25. song review
    Billie Eilish Has a Freak-out About Sudden Fame on ‘Everything I Wanted’It’s an impostor-syndrome fantasy, feeling like the love and respect you enjoy are undeserved and easily withdrawn.
    By Craig Jenkins
  26. tv review
    The Mandalorian Has the Droids (and Bounty Hunter) You’re Looking ForThe new Disney+ live-action Star Wars series shows enough promise in its sleek, stylish first episode to keep fans coming back for more.
    By Jen Chaney
  27. tv review
    High School Musical Swallows Itself WholeThe Disney+ original High School Musical: The Musical: The Series is as absurdly referential as its convoluted title suggests.
    By Kathryn VanArendonk
  28. movie review
    In Marriage Story, Noah Baumbach’s Self-Pity Comes With Stretches of BrillianceThe best parts of this divorce saga are the small moments that resonate like mad.
    By David Edelstein
  29. movie review
    Last Christmas Is a Mess, But It’s a Lovable OnePaul Feig and Emma Thompson’s holiday movie has way too much going on — but sometimes you just have to surrender to the excess.
    By Alison Willmore
  30. tv review
    Back to Life Finds the Sweet Spot Between Melancholy and ComedyIt’s tempting to compare the BBC/Showtime series starring Daisy Haggard to Fleabag, but it’s both darker and lighter in its approach.
    By Jen Chaney
  31. album review
    FKA Twigs Reaches New Creative Heights on MagdaleneIt’s a breakup album, written in a period of upheaval not only limited to the artist’s romantic life.
    By Craig Jenkins
  32. theater review
    Theater Review: Electric Jolts From a Jukebox in Tina: The Tina Turner Musical“The show rests on three pillars: the excellent production, the most galvanizing catalogue in showbiz, and Adrienne Warren.”
    By Helen Shaw
  33. theater review
    Theater Review: A Cyrano Without the Nose? Even If He Sings?Peter Dinklage plays the secret romancer in this musical adaptation.
    By Helen Shaw
  34. movie review
    Doctor Sleep Is a Horror Film of Messy PleasuresMike Flanagan’s spiritual sequel to The Shining is elevated by great performances. But King’s and Kubrick’s legacies loom large.
    By Angelica Jade Bastién
  35. movie review
    Shia LaBeouf Uses Filmmaking As Radical Therapy in Honey BoyThe actor attempts to understand his troubled father by becoming him in an autobiographical movie that’s a lot more than celeb self-indulgence.
    By Alison Willmore
  36. theater review
    Theater: The Slow Launch and Rapid Rise of Dr. Ride’s American Beach HousePlus Radiohole’s Now Serving.
    By Helen Shaw
  37. tv review
    The End of the F***ing World Should’ve Ended With Season OneThe second season of the British series starts off strong, but quickly runs out of gas.
    By Jen Chaney
  38. album review
    Earl Sweatshirt Keeps the Power of Underground Rap AliveFeet of Clay is Earl and his favorite collaborators spitballing ideas over scenes of disarray.
    By Craig Jenkins
  39. tv review
    The Crown Carries on Splendidly in Season 3A seamless casting change, in which the great Olivia Colman takes over as Her Majesty, marks the Netflix series’ smooth transition into a new era.
    By Jen Chaney
  40. movie review
    Harriet Can’t Conjure the Humanity of Its Iconic LeadKasi Lemmons’s film, starring Cynthia Erivo as Harriet Tubman, brings up a lot of questions about the purpose of slavery epics.
    By Angelica Jade Bastién
  41. theater review
    Theater Review: Alas, Poor HamnetShakespeare’s son, who died at 11, now has a smartphone.
    By Helen Shaw
  42. tv review
    For All Mankind Is Lost in SpaceApple TV+’s alternate-history space-race drama struggles to live up to the promise of its premise.
    By Kathryn VanArendonk
  43. movie review
    Paradise Hills Isn’t As Fun As It Sounds, But It Sure Looks PrettyIf the movie, starring Emma Roberts, were as sharp as its visuals, it’d have a guaranteed future as a cult classic.
    By Alison Willmore
  44. tv review
    His Dark Materials Is a Gorgeous Adaptation in Need of a PurposeHBO’s imagining of Philip Pullman’s book trilogy boasts unabashedly lovely visuals, strong performances, and seemingly no idea what to do with either.
    By Kathryn VanArendonk
  45. tv review
    Dickinson Is a Different, Better Kind of Origin StoryThe new Apple TV+ comedy starring Hailee Steinfeld is the sexy, queer, goth coming-of-age tale of your surrealist dreams.
    By Kathryn VanArendonk
  46. theater review
    Theater Review: Theresa Rebeck’s Seared Is a Pretty Light MealBackstage at a restaurant, romcom devices at play.
    By Helen Shaw
  47. album review
    The Gospel According to Kanye WestOn Jesus Is King, can music’s biggest ego be tamed?
    By Craig Jenkins
  48. movie review
    Nadav Lapid’s Synonyms Is a Dream, Then a Dance, Then an Existential ThreatThe artful, elliptical film tells the story of a young Israeli man trying to shed his identity in Paris.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  49. tv review
    The Morning Show Wants You to WatchThe Apple TV+ series is eager to draw you in and be taken seriously. For the most part, it succeeds.
    By Jen Chaney
  50. theater reviews
    John Doyle’s Blankie Macbeth and Zawe Ashton’s Memorable for all the women…John Doyle’s severity, now with security blankets.
    By Helen Shaw
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