Daily coverage of Criticism by Vulture

Criticism

  1. endings
    Anora’s Ending Is No Fairy TaleAre we seeing a rapturous consummation of two people’s growing feelings for each other, or a bittersweet commiseration?
    By A.A. Dowd
  2. tributes
    Gary Indiana’s Exuberant VenomThe late critic and novelist documented the seedy vanities and sorrows of American life with bitchiness and, sometimes, sympathy.
    By Brandon Sanchez
  3. endings
    Conclave’s Surprise Twist Ending Has a Deeper MeaningThe conclusion of this gossipy Vatican drama makes one distinct change from the book it’s based on, in service of a message about progress.
    By Louis Peitzman
  4. movie review
    Is a Movie About Electing a Pope Allowed to Be This Entertaining?Conclave combines the pulp velocity of a great airport read with the gravitas of high drama.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  5. theater review
    Kissing by the Book: Connor and Zegler in Romeo & JulietA production that’s all shimmer with little grasp of Shakespeare’s words. (Plus: The silly joys of Drag: The Musical.)
    By Sara Holdren
  6. theater review
    Left on Tenth Goes Right Down the MiddleJulianna Margulies and Peter Gallagher reenact Delia Ephron’s memoir, long on charm and short on dramatic tension.
    By Jackson McHenry
  7. album review
    This Is Not How to End Your BandThe final Japandroids album sounds like a retread of better Japandroids albums.
    By Brady Gerber
  8. movie review
    Venom: The Last Dance Is Bad on PurposeAnd even though Tom Hardy’s digitally enhanced hand-puppet act is fun to watch, that starts to feel insulting.
    By Alison Willmore
  9. album review
    Riverside
    Warriors Come Out and GrateLin-Manuel Miranda and Eisa Davis’s remake devolves into kumbaya.
    By Craig Jenkins
  10. close read
    No One Is Afraid of The ApprenticeTrump decided he has nothing to fear from a movie about his infamous relationship with Roy Cohn. And he’s mostly right.
    By Sarah Jones
  11. close read
    Why Did Sean Baker Avoid Politics in His Films Until Anora?If his previous work implies a stacked deck, it stays vague about who stacked it. Anora just tells us: It was the ultrarich.
    By Madeline Leung Coleman
  12. theater review
    A Madly Showy Sunset Blvd.As Norma Desmond, Nicole Scherzinger is gargantuan and almost feral.
    By Sara Holdren
  13. movie review
    Union Is a Reminder That Documentaries Can Be Artful As Well As PoliticalStephen Maing and Brett Story’s film is a gorgeously made document of a labor battle against the behemoth that is Amazon.
    By Alison Willmore
  14. movie review
    Netflix’s Woman of the Hour Makes a Wild True Story Feel Dry and AcademicAnna Kendrick shows some promise as a director, and the film’s real-life serial-killer story is insane. But the whole film feels a bit too careful.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  15. movie review
    Rumours’ Goofy Political Satire Has a Giant Glowing BrainRumours, the latest from legendary Canadian director Guy Maddin, has a glorious B-movie sheen.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  16. movie review
    It’s No Wonder That Everyone Falls for AnoraSean Baker’s Anora latest is a movie about the way people look at each other, though it may not seem that way on the surface.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  17. close read
    Shrinking Doesn’t Work Without Harrison FordIn a show that threatens to be too much, he’s giving just enough.
    By Jen Chaney
  18. movie review
    Goodrich Feels More Like a Therapy Session Than a MovieThe new film from Hallie Meyers-Shyer stars Michael Keaton as a genial bad dad.
    By Alison Willmore
  19. art review
    The Met’s Siena Renaissance Show Is a MasterpieceGo see it now.
    By Jerry Saltz
  20. nobody wants this
    Lonely Planet Is the Most Evil of This Year’s Age-Gap RomancesWhat if the only person who understood you was a guy in private equity who hates his girlfriend?
    By Fran Hoepfner
  21. endings
    The Platform 2’s Ending Casts the Original in a Depressing New LightIn its bleak final minutes, the sequel reverses the first film’s message about hope as a force of political change.
    By A.A. Dowd
  22. relationship goals
    PASCAL, GUY C., JONATHAN R., CHOCK, JORDAN H., JOAN VASSOS
    Actually, They Are Here to Make FriendsIn an age when casts prioritize camaraderie, reality TV has finally retired its most infamous cliché.
    By Kathryn VanArendonk
  23. movie review
    Smile 2’s Ideas Are Scarier Than the Movie ItselfWhat starts off as a thoughtful thriller set in the world of pop stardom winds up mired in the usual horror-movie clichés.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  24. theater review
    Adam Driver Going Huge: Hold on to Me DarlingHe takes a role in hand as if it were an old carpet, shamelessly beating the dust out of it.
    By Sara Holdren
  25. theater review
    Truth, Meet Power: Erika Sheffer’s VladimirOn 20 years of Putinism.
    By Sara Holdren
  26. theater review
    Drama Afloat in Red Hook: The Wind and the RainA play about Sunny’s Bar and the world it embodies.
    By Sara Holdren
  27. nyff 2024
    Blitz Is the Worst Movie Steve McQueen Has MadeBy any wider standard, that means that the World War II drama is still not bad at all.
    By Alison Willmore
  28. tv review
    Disclaimer Is a Flaccid, Pretentious SlogAlfonso Cuarón’s first episodic outing takes all the wrong lessons from prestige TV.
    By Nicholas Quah
  29. movie review
    The Lego Pharrell Movie Has a Lego Black Lives Matter SegmentSome thoughts on Piece by Piece and the dangers of committing to the bit.
    By Alison Willmore
  30. movie review
    We Live in Time Failed to Move My Cold, Cold HeartI never really bought the onscreen relationship, in part because I could constantly feel the movie trying too hard.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  31. movie review
    The Apprentice Gets Dumber the Longer It Goes OnDirector Ali Abbasi’s portrait of a young Donald Trump never lives up to its strongest performance: Jeremy Strong as Roy Cohn.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  32. politics
    In Praise of Bad ReadersIn a time of war, there is a danger in surveying the world as if it were a novel.
    By Andrea Long Chu
  33. art review
    A Black Surrealist Finally Gets His DueA solo exhibition of the poet and visual artist Ted Joans is a mostly fitting tribute to an artistic visionary.
    By Jack Denton
  34. theater review
    Stage, Managed: A TV-Star-Driven Our TownKenny Leon’s production is gentle where it could bite.
    By Sara Holdren
  35. theater review
    Climate Hopefulness Faces the Fire in Deep HistoryDavid Finnigan’s play starts as lecture, then takes a turn.
    By Jackson McHenry
  36. close read
    Politics Won’t Tear Love Is Blind ApartMarissa and Ramses’s conversation marks a watershed moment for the series — and reveals a truth about what makes or breaks the show’s relationships.
    By Kathryn VanArendonk
  37. theater review
    What’s In a Name? Surface and Substance In The Counter and Dirty LaundryMeghan Kennedy goes deep in a diner, and Mathilde Dratwa gets personal with grief.
    By Sara Holdren
  38. nyff 2024
    How to Make an Elevated Dog MovieLiterate, sober, and bathed in Mozart needle drops, The Friend is a pet film for book clubs and graduate writing seminars.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  39. tv review
    Slow Horses Got the Chance to Get ComfortableWhen a series perfects its formula, even the weakest seasons feel like a triumph.
    By Kathryn VanArendonk
  40. nyff 2024
    Grand Tour Is a Deliberately Ramshackle Yet Captivating Work of ArtMiguel Gomes’s globetrotting, language-spanning film gently refutes any conventional moviegoing expectations.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  41. art review
    A World Without WeatherThe flat and deep paintings of Hilary Pecis.
    By Jerry Saltz
  42. theater review
    Marla Mindelle Is Back, Ridiculously, in The Big Gay JamboreeQueen of the world!
    By Jackson McHenry
  43. theater review
    In a Pair of Musicals, Gabriel Kahane Seeks America and HimselfHe performs ‘Magnificent Bird’ and ‘Book of Travelers’ on alternating nights.
    By Jackson McHenry
  44. big spoon vs little spoon
    Culinary Class Wars Revolutionizes the Cooking ShowThe K-reality series smashes conventions of the genre and pokes holes in the distinction between fine dining and street food.
    By Roxana Hadadi
  45. theater review
    Hannah Gadsby Won’t Give You ClosureThe comedian’s new show, Woof!, offers a kaleidoscopic tour of their current state of mind but no pat takeaways.
    By Kathryn VanArendonk
  46. book review
    Alan Hollinghurst Tries to AtoneThe writer has tended to fetishize marginal POC characters in his novels. In Our Evenings, he puts a biracial man at the center for the first time.
    By Sam Worley
  47. tv review
    The Franchise Isn’t Super Satire, But It Is a Fun HangVeep’s Armando Iannucci sends up superhero fatigue with a workplace comedy that thrives when it’s not succumbing to cynicism.
    By Jackson McHenry
  48. movie review
    The Best Doc of the Year Is Like a 5.5 Hour-Long Panic AttackJulia Loktev’s My Undesirable Friends drops you into a group of independent Russian journalists in the last months before the invasion of Ukraine.
    By Alison Willmore
  49. movie review
    A Second Helping of The Platform Isn’t as Tasty as the FirstAt what point does a great premise start to feel a little picked over? There’s definitely a leftover quality to The Platform 2.
    By A.A. Dowd
  50. endings
    Joker: Folie à Deux’s Twist Ending Is a Lot Like Lightyear, in a WayTurns out we were watching the origin story of the human that the Joker is based on.
    By Rebecca Alter
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