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Reviews

  1. tv review
    Starstruck Conjures the Magic of Everyday RomanceThe second season of Rose Matafeo’s delightfully off-kilter rom-com carries a distinctive thrill of emotional realism.
    By Kathryn VanArendonk
  2. tv review
    Bridgerton Takes It Slow in Season TwoHeavy with sexual tension but light on actual sex, the new season isn’t quite a Whistledowner, but it’s not a ton of fun, either.
    By Jen Chaney
  3. tv review
    Pachinko Builds Epic Family Drama on an Exquisitely Intimate ScaleApple TV+’s adaptation of Min Jin Lee’s generational saga finds satisfying poignance in the space between the remarkable and the ordinary.
    By Kathryn VanArendonk
  4. tv review
    Amy Schumer’s Life & Beth Feels Like a Prestige-Comedy Hallmark MovieIn the best possible way.
    By Kathryn VanArendonk
  5. tv review
    WeCrashed Disrupts NothingThis tedious series’ top-down, voyeuristic focus on the notorious couple behind WeWork is impressively ill conceived.
    By Roxana Hadadi
  6. tv review
    Renée Zellweger Makes The Thing About Pam InexplicableWhatever it is this miniseries is trying to accomplish via its fictionalized extension of existing true-crime IP, Zellweger is a distraction.
    By Roxana Hadadi
  7. tv review
    Winning Time Certainly Puts on a ShowThe HBO series about the Los Angeles Lakers during the Magic Johnson era is flashy as hell, and purposefully so.
    By Jen Chaney
  8. tv review
    Better Things Is One of TV’s Best ThingsThe fifth and final season of Pamela Adlon’s treasure of a series shimmers with humanity down to its very last moments.
    By Jen Chaney
  9. tv review
    Super Pumped Is Super ExhaustingThe anthology series’s Uber-focused first season mirrors the overconfident posture of its tech-iconoclast protagonist, for better and worse.
    By Jen Chaney
  10. tv review
    Morena Baccarin Is the Spark That Brings The Endgame to LifeThe charismatic TV veteran simply eats up everything this series gives her.
    By Roxana Hadadi
  11. tv review
    Prepare to Give Yourself Over to SeveranceApple TV+’s immersive, Philip K. Dick–esque mystery-thriller is one of the best new series of 2022.
    By Roxana Hadadi
  12. tv review
    Inventing Anna Is a Long Con With a Dwindling PayoffIn elevating its central scammer into some kind of girlboss champion, this bloated miniseries denies its subject the responsibility of her actions.
    By Roxana Hadadi
  13. close reads
    The Fundamental Flaw in And Just Like That …Sex and the City made life over 30 look fun. And Just Like That … makes life over 50 seem confusing and sad.
    By Jen Chaney
  14. movie review
    The Tender Gut Punch of The Worst Person in the WorldWith heart, splendor, and yearning, co-writer and director Joachim Trier ends his Oslo Trilogy.
    By Angelica Jade Bastién
  15. tv review
    Janet Jackson. Can Reveal Only So Much About Janet JacksonThe Lifetime docuseries is a testament to both Jackson’s tenacity and the limits of showing us who she really is.
    By Jen Chaney
  16. tv review
    We Need to Talk About Cosby Wrestles With a Fractured LegacyW. Kamau Bell has made a thought-provoking docuseries that reckons with the two Bill Cosbys — up to a point.
    By Jen Chaney
  17. wine and crime
    A Run-on Review of The Woman in the House Across the Street …TL;DR: Maybe just rewatch Dead to Me.
    By Jen Chaney
  18. tv review
    The Gilded Age Rings HollowJulian Fellowes’s newest historical confection has ample surface appeal, but when it comes to reasons to care, it comes up short.
    By Kathryn VanArendonk
  19. tv review
    On the High Seas or in Court, La Fortuna Excels in David-vs.-Goliath ModeIf the Lincoln Lawyer author Michael Connelly were to secretly write fanfiction for the National Treasure universe, it might look like this.
    By Roxana Hadadi
  20. sitcoms
    It’s the Perfect Time for Abbott ElementaryTeachers need to feel seen right now, and this very funny workplace comedy has its eyes wide open.
    By Jen Chaney
  21. endings
    The Yellowjackets Finale Gave Us All It Needed to GiveNot all mystery-box shows are built to sustain the speculation and scrutiny they invite, but this one has laid a strong foundation.
    By Jen Chaney
  22. reboots
    The Wonder Years Is Exactly What a Good Reboot Should BeThis week’s “Brad Mitzvah” episode is a great example of how a show can honor its predecessor while charting its own course.
    By Jen Chaney
  23. tv review
    Beneath the Clichés, Archive 81 Is a Slow-Burning Horror ScorcherRebecca Sonnenshine’s podcast-inspired Netflix series effectively chips away at the conviction of our senses.
    By Roxana Hadadi
  24. close reads
    Hanya’s BoysThe novelist tends to torture her gay male characters — but only so she can swoop in to save them.
    By Andrea Long Chu
  25. tv review
    Cheer Season Two Puts the ‘Real’ in Sports RealityIn confronting its own success, the breakout Netflix docuseries goes to some darker, heavier places in its extended sophomore season.
    By Jen Chaney
  26. movie review
    The Pitiless Excellence of The Lost DaughterMaggie Gyllenhaal’s Elena Ferrante adaptation for Netflix is the best movie of the year.
    By Alison Willmore
  27. movie review
    The Matrix Resurrections Is a Messy, Imperfect TriumphDirecting solo for the first time, Lana Wachowski creates a thrillingly romantic blockbuster that expands the possibilities of the form.
    By Angelica Jade Bastién
  28. movie review
    Being the Ricardos Isn’t a Biopic, It’s a Filmed Wikipedia PageIt’s not just that Sorkin is a better scripter than director — it’s that he’s kind of a lousy director.
    By Jason Bailey
  29. tv review
    The Witcher Spreads Itself Thin in Season TwoAn ambitious but uneven sophomore season piles on new villains, new prophecies, and new allegiances — and becomes unwieldy in the process.
    By Roxana Hadadi
  30. tv review
    Station Eleven Is a Profound Television ExperienceThe pandemic subject matter may seem daunting, but this limited series is an incredibly gratifying must-watch.
    By Jen Chaney
  31. tv review
    And Just Like That… Is Sexless in the CityThe fact that Carrie Bradshaw is now a podcaster tells you everything you need to know.
    By Jen Chaney
  32. reality check
    Maybe Wheel of Time Doesn’t Need to Look So RealisticThe series’s elaborate, expensive fantasy world is gorgeous to behold and boring to spend extended time in.
    By Kathryn VanArendonk
  33. tv review
    In Sort Of, Love Means Not Having All the AnswersThe HBO Max show follows a gender-fluid 20-something who knows how to care for others but is still figuring out how to care for themselves.
    By E. Alex Jung
  34. too much marvel
    Hawkeye Closes Out an Exhausting Year in Marvel TVDespite a strong start that’s looking more and more like an anomaly, Phase Four has begun to feel like an ongoing homework assignment.
    By Jen Chaney
  35. movie review
    Joaquin Phoenix Gives a Career-Best Performance in C’mon C’monMike Mills’s latest film is a balm for these chaotic, heartbreaking times.
    By Angelica Jade Bastién
  36. tv review
    Malfunction: The Dressing Down of Janet Jackson Will Make You Mad All Over AgainThe New York Times Presents’ examination of the Janet Jackson Super Bowl debacle implies our culture has progressed, but it feels more like a warning.
    By Jen Chaney
  37. tv review
    The Brutal, Bloody, Bawdy, Beautiful Return of The GreatSeason two of Hulu’s “occasionally true” drama about the Russian monarch takes its characters to a place of implausible but fully convincing humanity.
    By Kathryn VanArendonk
  38. tv review
    Cowboy Bebop’s New Shine Can’t Replace Its Old SoulWhat Netflix’s adaptation of the cult-classic anime gains in visual thrill, it loses in its understanding of the original’s melancholy center.
    By Roxana Hadadi
  39. tv review
    In Yellowjackets, the Girls Are Hungry to LiveShowtime’s coming-of-age-meets-cannibalism drama has lots of familiar elements, but forms its own compelling teen/adult psychological study.
    By Jen Chaney
  40. movie review
    Eternals Is Nobody’s FilmChloé Zhao’s MCU entry is stuffed to the gills with movie stars, yet it has no idea what to do with all that shine.
    By Angelica Jade Bastién
  41. movie review
    Spencer Is a Portrait of a Princess Too Sane to Play the Royals’ GameKristen Stewart may not resemble the real Diana, Princess of Wales, but she does an incredible job of capturing the woman’s charisma and her sadness.
    By Alison Willmore
  42. tv review
    Dr. Brain Gets Trapped in Its HeadApple TV+’s first South Korean series is at its best when it gets weird and owns its nightmarish horror spectacle.
    By Kathryn VanArendonk
  43. tv review
    Love Life’s New Season Is a CharmerThe HBO Max rom-com levels up in its second season thanks in large part to William Jackson Harper’s leading-man charisma.
    By Jen Chaney
  44. tv review
    Insecure Remains Magical and Messy in Its Final SeasonThe series draws to a close with a characteristically effervescent yet uneven exploration of the dynamics of 30-something life.
    By Angelica Jade Bastién
  45. tv review
    Invasion Made Me Root for the AliensIn the Apple TV+ series, characters across the globe bumble around in their own misery, resentful that aliens keep interrupting their tragic lives.
    By Kathryn VanArendonk
  46. movie review
    Dune Doesn’t Care If You Like ItDenis Villeneuve’s gloriously unfriendly take on Frank Herbert’s sci-fi classic wants to feel as alien as possible.
    By Alison Willmore
  47. spoilers
    Let’s Talk About the Ending of Only Murders in the Building… and how it and the entire season consistently surprised us.
    By Jen Chaney
  48. tv review
    You Is the Best It’s Ever BeenSeason three of Netflix’s dark, stalker-narrated murder drama shifts into an exciting new gear.
    By Kathryn VanArendonk
  49. tv review
    Dopesick’s Ambitious Scope Dulls Its ImpactThe Hulu limited series about the how and why of America’s opioid crisis is frequently moving but bites off more than it can reasonably chew.
    By Jen Chaney
  50. tv review
    Succession Returns, Nastier Than EverSeason three means all-out war in the Roy family. What a treat.
    By Jen Chaney
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