Daily coverage of Criticism by Vulture
  1. album review
    Ariana Grande Is Telling This Story HerselfEternal Sunshine stares directly into the past — and recontextualizes it.
  2. theater review
    Corruption’s Heroes Are Not Serious PeopleMurdoch’s phone-hacking scandal, recounted by thinly drawn archetypes.
  3. theater review
    The Old-Weird-America Pleasures of Dead OutlawFrom the team behind The Band’s Visit, another musical that is more than meets the eye.
  4. close read
    The Traitors - Season 2
    How The Traitors Gamed the EditSeason two’s strategy of moments-based storytelling helped it win over reality-TV veterans and newbies alike.
  5. tv review
    Your Assignment This Weekend: Watch ExtraordinaryEmma Moran’s clever comedy about a girl with no superpowers in a world full of them is the British cousin of The Good Place.
  6. movie review
    Netflix’s Damsel Is Sweaty, Snarly, Slithery FunMillie Bobby Brown might have the lead role in the new fantasy thriller, but the dragon steals the show.
  7. art review
    Byzantium RegainedThe Met’s exhibition of art from the African territories of the Byzantine Empire was a triumph.
  8. theater review
    Doubt Returns in a Traditionalist ProductionJohn Patrick Shanley’s dialogue still packs heat, but the fire’s been turned down this time.
  9. album review
    Schoolboy Q Is Following in the Footsteps of GiantsOn Blue Lips, he rummages through decades of Black American history.
  10. trope tracker
    How Does The Gentlemen Do It?A terrible movie becomes a surprisingly entertaining TV series thanks to its handling of Guy Ritchie’s favorite tropes.
  11. movie review
    Problemista Could Use a Little Less Tilda SwintonAnd how often can you say that?
  12. movie review
    Adam Sandler Is All Wrong for SpacemanSandler plays a Czech astronaut. Paul Dano plays a giant spider from outer space that comes out of his nose. This movie should have been a lot better.
  13. theater review
    Brooklyn Laundry’s Drama Has Been Worn to DeathJohn Patrick Shanley’s play needs a little starch.
  14. tv review
    Elsbeth Knows What to DoThe Kings’ Good Wife and Good Fight spinoff sets Carrie Preston’s character loose on NYC to remind us that procedural drama can still be fizzy fun.
  15. tv review
    If Only Someone Had Overthrown The RegimeHBO’s latest limited series is desperate to say things about fascism but can only get as far as noticing them.
  16. love is blind club
    Is This What Heterosexuality Is?Unpacking the subtext of Chelsea and Jimmy’s wine-bars-and-breweries clash.
  17. theater review
    In The Ally, Impossible Conversations We’re All HavingItamar Moses’s drama about a lefty Israeli American caught up in the complexity of pro-Palestine academia is confident and eloquent in its humility.
  18. movie review
    Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom Doesn’t Give a Damn That the DC Universe Is EndingWinningly goofy but blemished by behind-the-scenes tinkering, The Lost Kingdom is disappointing in the usual sequel way.
  19. book review
    In Wandering Stars, Tommy Orange Writes a New Secret HistoryThe author’s second novel, after the dazzling There There, follows family members who are inheriting more than they know.
  20. theater review
    Fiasco’s Smooth-Sailing PericlesAn affable, legible take that intermittently sings.
  21. theater review
    Cynthia Nixon Does Anything But Vanish in The Seven Year DisappearShe and Taylor Trensch lead an ambitious, if rangy, survey of mother-son dynamics.
  22. theater review
    Tobias Menzies and Aerina DeBoer in The Hunt.
    Through a Glass, Familiarly: The HuntIn this adaptation of a Danish thriller, almost all the characters conform to movie-trope behavior and movie-trope actions.
  23. movie review
    Let the Hypnotic, Caustic Beauty of About Dry Grasses Consume YouDirector Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s Cannes award winner is one of the best films of this or any other year.
  24. album review
    What Is Kim Petras Doing?She could have reminded fans why she’s actually worth listening to. Instead, we got Slut Pop Miami.
  25. art review
    The Met’s Tremendous Harlem Renaissance Show Redefines ModernismJerry Saltz says we’ve gotten everything wrong about the big bang of 20th century art.
  26. theater review
    Encores!
Jelly’s Last Jam
    The Jazz Age Re-reborn: At Encores!, Jelly’s Last JamFrom tap to vocals, an astonishing achievement for such a short run.
  27. tv review
    Constellation Is a Mother of a Space StoryMove over, sad space dad. Noomi Rapace’s space mom is here to challenge assumptions about the galactic void as a place for self-discovery.
  28. theater review
    Sunset Baby’s Troubled Children of the RevolutionDominique Morisseau’s play looks at the time after revolutionary fire is reduced to a simmer.
  29. endings
    Time Is a Flat Circle After AllTrue Detective: Night Country’s parallels to season one are more than just simple callbacks.
  30. art review
    Pictures From a GenocideAn astonishing new show of Native American ledger drawings brings a historic crime into focus.
  31. theater review
    Alone in the Dark: I Love You So Much I Could Die and On Set With Theda BaraTwo solo shows, looking to make the most of limited resources—and one, at least, soars.
  32. movie review
    There’s a Great Movie to Be Made About Bob Marley. One Love Is Not It.You’ll leave knowing less about Marley than you did going in.
  33. theater review
    Two Queens (and Some Dancing): The ApiaryVirtuosic performances in a play that can’t quite get airborne.
  34. theater review
    Reviews: Onstage, Trauma Times 3Reviews of Munich Medea, Self Portraits (DELUXE), and you don’t have to do anything.
  35. song review
    Beyoncé’s New Country Songs Are Plain Ol’ FunAnd bound to upset the worst kind of people.
  36. theater review
    Too Too Solid: Eddie Izzard’s HamletThe British comedian, so deft on a standup stage, has a go at Shakespeare—and tightens up.
  37. movie review
    The Taste of Things Is Ravishing, Delectable, and Maybe Even a Little RadicalStarring Juliette Binoche and Benoît Magimel, Tran Anh Hung’s film immediately joins the pantheon of great food movies.
  38. theater review
    Oh, Mary! The Play Was Hilarious, Mrs. LincolnCole Escola goes berserk as the First Lady.
  39. theater review
    The Trouble With Trolls, in Russian Troll FarmSarah Gancher’s play takes us to the bunker where disinformation begins its journey.
  40. endings
    Mr. and Mrs. Smith’s Faux Love StoryThe series’ open ending amounts to little more than anticlimax thanks its misrepresentation of what John and Jane really care about.
  41. theater review
    We’re in This Together: Bark of Millions and The Following EveningA maximalist performance and a quiet, inward-looking play—both, somehow, about creative legacy and earthly mystery.
  42. movie review
    Under the Fig Trees Lets Its Women Talk BackThe Tunisian film is a beautifully shot exploration of love, life, and labor.
  43. theater review
    Editorial Notes on The Connector“Can we get more specific in this section right here?”
  44. album review
    Boygenius Is Here to Blunt Whatever Life Throws Our WayTheir Grammy-winning debut album is about finding strength in themselves.
  45. theater review
    Quiet Obsessions, Unplugged: Aberdeen and The Animal KingdomA verse play about Kurt, and a therapy play about hurt.
  46. movie review
    Mads Mikkelsen’s Cold, Hard Stare Awaits Us in the Epic Promised LandI cannot adequately express to you how perfect Mikkelsen is in this role; that sensuous frown of his has infinite layers.
  47. movie review
    How to Have Sex Is a Journey Through Euphoria and DreadDirected by Molly Manning Walker, the film’s elliptical style has the quality of a dark, fragile memory.
  48. movie review
    Wim Wenders Has Been Trying to Make Perfect Days His Whole LifeThe director’s latest is probably the best film he’s made since Until the End of the World.
  49. movie review
    Argylle Delivers Twisty-Turny Tedium, But Its Action Scenes Are GreatMatthew Vaughn might not be able to tell a story, but he can choreograph some wild mayhem.
  50. tv review
    Feud Sees Capote in Black and WhiteDespite a great cast and compelling premise, this ham-fisted bit of cable excess can’t deliver.
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