Daily coverage of Criticism by Vulture

Criticism

  1. theater review
    Shadows and Seams, Both Visible: No Good Things Dwell in the FleshIn Christina Masciotti’s play about a Queens tailor facing her career’s end, the principal characters are everything.
    By Sara Holdren
  2. tiff 2023
    The GameStop Movie Is More Entertaining Than It Has Any Right to BeIs Dumb Money the first Pete Davidson role that works in its entirety?
    By Alison Willmore
  3. best of 2023
    The Best New Board Games and Tabletop Games of 2023 (So Far)Roll the dice and be rewarded with analog thrills.
    By Keith Law
  4. album review
    Olivia Rodrigo Would Rather Go Through ItOn Guts, the pop star sidesteps her winning formula.
    By Craig Jenkins
  5. art review
    The Deadpan Precision of Ed RuschaCars, suntans, palm trees, and swimming pools.
    By Jerry Saltz
  6. movie review
    My Big Fat Greek MessThe third time is … whatever is the opposite of a charm.
    By Jen Chaney
  7. close read
    Aaron Rodgers Enters His Housewives EraHard Knocks sets up the future Hall of Famer for what could be a riveting reality-television career.
    By Nicholas Quah
  8. venice 2023
    Sofia Coppola’s Elvis Movie Brings Priscilla Presley to TearsThe subject of the dark, complex biopic called Priscilla “amazing” and reaffirmed that the rock star was the love of her life.
    By Rachel Handler
  9. book review
    How Zadie Smith Lost Her TeethSince her audacious debut, she has been moving toward character-driven realism. In the process, she’s become the least interesting version of herself.
    By Andrea Long Chu
  10. movie review
    Denzel Washington’s Weird-Uncle Energy Remains Unmatched in The Equalizer 3This last installment feels tired, but Washington still brings the goods, i.e., the air of a local oddball who happens to be incredible at murder.
    By Alison Willmore
  11. tv review
    One Piece Is the Joyful Exception That Proves the RuleNetflix adapts Eiichiro Oda’s epic, silly, radical anime in live action and manages the impossible: It works.
    By Angelica Jade Bastién
  12. album review
    Burna Boy Sounds Creatively ExhaustedThe Nigerian superstar’s new album was supposed to be a victory lap. But he comes across as bitter and paranoid.
    By Lawrence Burney
  13. venice 2023
    The Blood Is Everywhere in Pablo Larraín’s Mesmerizing El CondeIt’s fun to imagine this piece of agitprop provocation just appearing on the screens of millions of Netflix subscribers across the world.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  14. theater review
    A Tempest in the Park That’s (Mostly) No Thoughts, Just VibesIn tone and temperament, this production owes much more to Disney than it does to Shakespeare.
    By Sara Holdren
  15. into it
    Brandon Taylor Wants to Bring Gatekeeping Back to Book CriticismThe internet didn’t invent argument-driven criticism, but it did breed a culture of forming an opinion on a piece of media before consuming it.
    By Sam Sanders
  16. finales
    Miracle Workers’ Endgame Is Predictable in the Best WayThe anthology series’ eternal pairing of Daniel Radcliffe and Geraldine Viswanathan was a simultaneous promise of familiarity and creativity.
    By Roxana Hadadi
  17. movie review
    Bottoms Is an Exercise in Kamikaze FeminismAyo Edebiri and Rachel Sennott’s comedy argues that true equality means that everyone should get a chance to be a dirtbag.
    By Alison Willmore
  18. movie review
    Liam Neeson Is Stuck in a Car and All Is Right With the WorldRetribution is a simple little thriller that works despite plot holes and predictability.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  19. movie review
    Nepo Babies Make Good in You Are So Not Invited to My Bat MitzvahAdam Sandler stars alongside his daughters in this sweet, spiky film about the dramas of middle school.
    By Alison Willmore
  20. movie review
    Gran Turismo Isn’t a MovieIt’s an ad.
    By Alison Willmore
  21. london calling
    Samantha’s Return Was Perfectly Nice. What a Waste.With Kim Cattrall’s much-anticipated cameo, And Just Like That … set itself up for the worst of both worlds.
    By Jason P. Frank
  22. text messaging
    Ahsoka’s Opening Crawl Declares the Future of Star WarsThe curtain-raising text introduces some important proper nouns as it repositions the center of this franchise’s universe.
    By James Grebey
  23. theater review
    Improv on the Roof, Catharsis in Aisle 5What Else Is True? and Joan of Arc in a Supermarket in California leave our critic saying, “Yes, and …?”
    By Sara Holdren
  24. movie review
    Strays Is Crude, Rude, and Very FunnyGood dogs being bad are somehow the best dogs.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  25. movie review
    Blue Beetle Does the Superhero Thing RightIt’s funny, bighearted, and actually seems to like spending time with its characters.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  26. tv review
    Telemarketers Calls It Like It Sees ItThe scrappy, compulsively watchable series upends a corrupt industry — and what we expect from documentaries in the first place.
    By Roxana Hadadi
  27. close read
    Outlander Used to Be About Desire. Now It’s About Survival.As the best sex on television takes a backseat, the series taps into a different need: seeing our fears actualized and overcome.
    By Vanessa Armstrong
  28. the outsiders
    Bethennys All the Way DownThe RHONY reboot remixes one of the franchise’s most compelling archetypes. But who will claim the mantle?
    By Kathryn VanArendonk
  29. album review
    Noname Shakes the TableOn Sundial, the rapper is pushing back against everyone — including herself.
    By Craig Jenkins
  30. movie review
    The Last Voyage of the Demeter Is a Delightfully Nasty Piece of WorkThick atmosphere and a gleeful mean streak make up for a premise with a foregone conclusion.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  31. remembrance
    Brice Marden’s Infinitesimal HingeThe artist, who died this week at the age of 84, made minimalism new.
    By Jerry Saltz
  32. theater review
    The Shark Is Broken Goes Chumming for Your AffectionIan Shaw’s play bemoans big action movies’ death grip on the culture — while also venerating the voracious progenitor of them all.
    By Jackson McHenry
  33. close read
    And Just Like That … Can’t Stop Failing Its New CharactersI couldn’t help but wonder, Why is this show patently unable to render Lisa, Seema, Nya, and Che in unembarrassing ways?
    By Roxana Hadadi
  34. tv review
    Painkiller Wants This to HurtNetflix’s righteously angry opioid-epidemic miniseries refuses to humanize its villains.
    By Roxana Hadadi
  35. tv review
    High School Musical: The Musical: The Series Gets Away With ItDisney+’s extremely meta sorta-sequel series goes out with its heart on its sleeve.
    By Jackson McHenry
  36. movie review
    The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Have Never Looked BetterThe easygoing Mutant Mayhem is a marvel of animation.
    By Alison Willmore
  37. movie review
    Meg 2: The Trench Should Have Been StupiderIt’s all ridiculous and, in an alternate universe, it might have even been genuinely entertaining.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  38. movie review
    Passages’ Bad Boyfriend Only Leaves You Wanting MoreDespite its love triangle, Passages isn’t about polyamory—it’s about a man who elides his awfulness under the guise of urban sophistication.
    By Alison Willmore
  39. movie review
    A Helpful Reminder Never to Underestimate Walton GogginsVenice has been filled with lots of big, bold, showy turns. Then there’s Goggins quietly yanking our heartstrings by simply being present.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  40. theater review
    You Made a Musical … Out of a DeLorean?Back to the Future: The Musical is a carefully faithful spectacle.
    By Jackson McHenry
  41. tv review
    Heartstopper Can’t Stop Asking If You’re Okay With ThisAs the tender teen romance series extends outward, it starts to feel notably careful, like it’s been written from a defensive stance.
    By Kathryn VanArendonk
  42. album review
    Travis Scott Is Raging Into OblivionOn Utopia, the rapper is too scared to mess with the blueprint.
    By Craig Jenkins
  43. close read
    One Weird Trick to Tolerating And Just Like That …Remember: It’s not a continuation of the original series; it’s a continuation of the second movie.
    By Tom Smyth
  44. theater review
    Pregaming With Three Postcollege Brats (Plus a Dog) at Toros“The play keeps reminding you it’s a performance, which is nice in a time when many shows feel like they just want to be adapted into film or TV.”
    By Jackson McHenry
  45. close read
    There’s Still Life in What We Do in the Shadows’s Energy-Vampire GagFive seasons in, Colin Robinson’s limited character motivations could run the risk of monotony. Enter the Energy Vampire Council.
    By Hershal Pandya
  46. theater review
    The Epic and Hyperspecific in Half-God of Rainfall and Let’s Call Her PattyThe gods shoot hoops; Rhea Perlman chops onions.
    By Jackson McHenry
  47. let’s talk about
    Full Circle’s Artful EndBy opening and closing on the same two images, the Solomon/Soderbergh series examines the lies that fueled two families’ decades of delusions.
    By Roxana Hadadi
  48. tv review
    Twisted Metal Runs on EmptyPeacock’s adaptation of the car-combat video-game series says “yes” to guns, wisecracks, and shit that looks dope, and “no” to thinking too hard.
    By Kathryn VanArendonk
  49. movie review
    A Few Decent Laughs Can’t Save Haunted MansionDisney’s new theme-park movie is a hot mess, even if it’s a sporadically entertaining one.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  50. movie review
    Communing With the Dead Just to Feel AliveThe new A24 horror movie Talk to Me is an impressively slick piece of work, from two button-pushers who came up on the internet.
    By Alison Willmore
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