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Review

  1. theater review
    Slapstick and Plague, in Mary Gets HersWacky fun with medieval horrors.
    By Sara Holdren
  2. art
    A 19th Century Masterpiece That Scandalizes StillManet’s Olympia, now on view at the Met, remains as disturbing as ever.
    By Jerry Saltz
  3. theater review
    Little Shop of Blah-Blah: Theresa Rebeck’s DigA redemption play that betrays its own premise.
    By Jackson McHenry
  4. theater review
    Did a Bot Write This Review of Prometheus Firebringer? No, and Here’s Why Not.A script written and performed by AI in real time has unexpected effects on an audience.
    By Sara Holdren
  5. theater review
    Job Pays Off and Clocks Out“Like a good TV crime drama, it’s manipulative in a value-neutral sense: It knows the position it wants to put you in, and it puts you there.”
    By Sara Holdren
  6. theater review
    In Swing State, Bleak Politics in the Tall GrassRebecca Gilman’s story is hemmed in on all sides.
    By Jackson McHenry
  7. movie review
    A Luchador Sheds His Masks in the Triumphant CassandroGael García Bernal is exceptional as the exótico who became a wrestling star.
    By Jen Chaney
  8. movie review
    The Wry and Wistful Fremont Speaks Volumes With Just a StareFirst-time actor Anaita Wali Zada molds the film with her hushed agitation, breathing life and interiority into its visual extremes.
    By Roxana Hadadi
  9. movie review
    Kenneth Branagh Needs to Make 10 More of TheseThe creepy, moody Agatha Christie adaptation A Haunting in Venice is far from perfect, but it feels like the work of a man rejuvenated.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  10. comedy review
    Michelle Wolf Dodges SpecialnessTaping a stand-up set doesn’t have to look like a big important hour.
    By Kathryn VanArendonk
  11. theater review
    Rachel Bloom Sets Avoidance to Song in Death, Let Me Do My ShowA terrible March 2020, exposed but not too exposed.
    By Jackson McHenry
  12. tiff 2023
    To Its Credit, Nyad Makes Its Subject Look Like a Real AssholeNyad may be a frustrating biopic, but at least it doesn’t soften the self-mythologizing long-distance swimmer’s rougher edges.
    By Alison Willmore
  13. theater review
    The Mortal Truths of Annie Baker’s Infinite Life“This is part of Baker’s brilliance: to ruffle feathers with the calmest of breezes.”
    By Sara Holdren
  14. tiff 2023
    Paul Giamatti Is Never Better Than When He’s in an Alexander Payne MoviePrep school dramedy The Holdovers, the pair’s first collaboration since Sideways, showcases Giamatti’s capacity for the prickly and the heartbreaking.
    By Alison Willmore
  15. tiff 2023
    Is Taika Waititi Even Trying Anymore?The New Zealand filmmaker’s new film, Next Goal Wins, is so sloppily made that it might make you wonder why he even bothered.
    By Alison Willmore
  16. 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
  17. tiff 2023
    We’re Going to Be Talking About This Book-World Satire All FallCord Jefferson’s directorial debut, American Fiction, is a sharp comedy about racial commodification anchored by a terrific Jeffrey Wright.
    By Alison Willmore
  18. venice 2023
    The Most Terrifying Film at Venice Is Spiders All the Way DownThe first time an army of tiny spider-babies appeared, my body bent into a shape it has never taken before or since.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  19. venice 2023
    Jessica Chastain and Peter Sarsgaard Are So Weirdly Right Together in MemoryNot a lot of Michel Franco’s somber drama makes sense, but it’s a movie clearly meant to be carried by its leads.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  20. tiff 2023
    Miyazaki Didn’t Lose a StepBack from temporary retirement, Hayao Miyazaki’s new film, The Boy and the Heron, is a reminder of what makes him an animation legend.
    By Alison Willmore
  21. venice 2023
    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.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  22. movie review
    My Big Fat Greek MessThe third time is … whatever is the opposite of a charm.
    By Jen Chaney
  23. venice 2023
    If Glen Powell’s Not Already a Star, This Movie Will Make Him OneRichard Linklater’s Hit Man is a genuinely fresh and surprisingly gentle addition to the assassin genre.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  24. venice 2023
    Ava DuVernay’s Origin Devastates VeniceThe new film is both essay and melodrama, though neither description quite does it justice.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  25. 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
  26. 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
  27. venice 2023
    The Killer Could Be a Great Comedy If David Fincher Let ItThere’s a thin line between self-reflection and self-parody, and The Killer comes dangerously close to crossing it a few too many times.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  28. venice 2023
    Harmony Korine’s New Anti-Movie Aggro Dr1ft Looks Cool For a Few MinutesThe night-vision hit-man feature starring Jordi Molla and Travis Scott is a unique exercise in tedium.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  29. venice 2023
    Maestro Is a Masterful Reconstruction That Remains Just ThatThe Leonard Bernstein biopic somehow proves that Bradley Cooper is a director of genuine vision, even though it’s not a particularly successful movie.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  30. venice 2023
    There’s a Simple Enough Conceit in The Wonderful Story of Henry SugarA quaint, optimistically naive short kicks off Wes Anderson’s Roald Dahl film series.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  31. venice 2023
    Emma Stone Is Masterfully, Shamelessly Sexual in Poor ThingsHer character in Yorgos Lanthimos’s latest movie is her best role yet, one that is primed to earn her another Oscar nomination.
    By Rachel Handler
  32. 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
  33. 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
  34. 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
  35. 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
  36. 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
  37. movie review
    The Flash in a PanThe latest DC movie is the cinematic equivalent of a snake eating its own tail. This isn’t a film so much as brand management in flailing motion.
    By Angelica Jade Bastién
  38. 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
  39. 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
  40. movie review
    Gran Turismo Isn’t a MovieIt’s an ad.
    By Alison Willmore
  41. 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
  42. movie review
    Strays Is Crude, Rude, and Very FunnyGood dogs being bad are somehow the best dogs.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  43. comedy review
    What Fresh Hell Is This?Chris Fleming’s new special is the kind of comedy that dares to ask, “Would you buy a Driscoll’s or a gerbil?”
    By Kathryn VanArendonk
  44. 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
  45. 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
  46. 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
  47. movie review
    The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Have Never Looked BetterThe easygoing Mutant Mayhem is a marvel of animation.
    By Alison Willmore
  48. 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
  49. 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
  50. 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
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