Jennifer Lawrence’s No Hard Feelings Is a Class-Conscious Comedy That Almost Works
Jennifer Lawrence is a fantastic comic actor. So it’s too bad that No Hard Feelings trades in the raunchy laughs for feel-good sentimental dramedy.
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Elemental Takes Pixar’s Propaganda to a Whole New Level
The once great animation studio continues its fall with Elemental, another clumsy Pixar parable about the joy of finding a career.
Feud: Capote vs. The Swans Reminds Us to Never Trust a Writer
The second season of Ryan Murphy’s Feud follows Truman Capote’s infamous breakup with the East Coast socialites he called “the Swans,” showing how his charm and talent as a raconteur couldn’t save him from being banished by wealthy elites.
Boots Riley’s I’m a Virgo Is a Blast of Fresh Air
I’m a Virgo is a superhero satire about a 13-foot-tall black teenager making his way in Oakland. It’s far more wild and surprising than almost anything we normally see on TV.
RIP Alan Arkin, Hollywood’s Last Brilliant Mensch
Actor, director, musician, and certified New York “red diaper baby” Alan Arkin (1934–2023) was the rare Hollywood talent whose onscreen genius grew out of his own innate warmth and kindness.
It’s Kind of Amazing That Barbie Manages to Be as Good as It Is
With a clever opening sequence and an excellent cast, Barbie manages to overcome cumbersome plotting and feminist pieties to provide a delightful spectacle of funny moments that add up to something pretty good.
The Bear’s Second Season Is Yet Another Triumph
FX’s second season of The Bear gives both dignity and drama to the realities of work.
Steven Soderbergh’s New Crime Series Full Circle Is Off to a Bumpy Start
The new neo-noir series Full Circle, directed by Steven Soderbergh, has big ideas to share about class, race, nationality, and crime. But so far it’s a slog to watch.
Christopher Nolan’s Martyrdom of Saint Oppenheimer
Oppenheimer ignores the darker sides of the life and work of J. Robert Oppenheimer in order to deliver a crowd-pleasing, blockbuster spectacle.
The Joyous Blast of Pee-wee Herman Will Be Deeply Missed
Paul Reubens and his brilliant character Pee-wee Herman offered viewers a kind of weird, joyful, hilarious television and film that we aren’t lucky enough to get very often.
Let Bradley Cooper’s Maestro Be the Death of the Biopic
In Maestro, Bradley Cooper plays famed conductor Leonard Bernstein, but the film leaves out the complicating — and fascinating — real-life details for a more streamlined, tear-jerking product. It will doubtless do well at the Oscars.
Strange Planet’s Socially Awkward Blue Aliens Are Now on TV
Making the leap from four-paneled comic to animated series, Nathan W. Pyle’s Apple TV+ show Strange Planet drowns its unique and subtle charms with far too much plot, character, and story. It’s unfortunately boring as hell.
The New Willy Wonka Prequel Is Fun, but It Doesn’t Hold a Candle to Its 1971 Predecessor
In Wonka, Timothée Chalamet dons the eccentric chocolatier’s purple jacket in yet another film adaptation of the Roald Dahl classic Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. This one is playful and harmless, but it can’t touch the 1971 original movie.
Telemarketers Is a Fantastically Wild, Scam-Filled Gem
The new HBO docuseries Telemarketers is a wonderfully weird trip through a scammer call center that swindled money for police and lined the pockets of a clutch of entrepreneurial creeps. You should watch it right away.
The Changeling Desperately Wants to Be a Very Important and Very Scary Show
LaKeith Stanfield is great in Apple TV+’s new horror-fantasy series The Changeling, based on the best-selling novel. The show itself, though, is a convoluted mess.
In El Conde, Chilean Dictator Augusto Pinochet Is a Literal Vampire
El Conde is a fantastic satirical movie in which the late Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet stars in black and white as a ravenous vampire. Yes, you read that right.
Agatha Christie Deserves Better Than Kenneth Branagh’s A Haunting in Venice
An Agatha Christie murder mystery has once again been made a mess by director Kenneth Branagh, this time with A Haunting in Venice.
Dumb Money, the New Movie About the 2021 GameStop Short Squeeze, Is Very Funny
Director Craig Gillespie’s new film Dumb Money transforms the 2021 GameStop short squeeze into a rousing comedy about everyday Americans turning the tables against the financial elite. It’s the best “COVID movie” so far.
Poor Things Is a Light and Gorgeous Lanthimos Fantasy That Could Use More Weight
Poor Things, Yorgos Lanthimos’s new film, is gorgeous, thought-provoking, and wonderfully acted. All it’s missing is some more weight behind its feminist spirit.
The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar Is Another Day at the Office for Wes Anderson
In The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, the first of four Roald Dahl mini adaptations, I was hoping for something like Fantastic Mr. Fox — but it’s the same old Wes Anderson. Still, he claims it took “years to decide how to shoot the story.”