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Angelica Jade Bastién

Critic
See all their articles from across New York Magazine
@angelicabastien
angelica.bastien@nymag.com

Angelica Jade Bastién is a critic for New York and Vulture focusing on pop culture. She was once described by a close friend as “deliciously vulgar”.

  1. best of 2023
    The Best TV Shows of 2023 (So Far)It’s certainly one of the more interesting TV years in recent memory.
  2. best of 2023
    The Best Movies of 2023 (So Far)This year has delivered a bounty of independent, meticulously assembled cinematic stunners along with actually good superhero movies.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. hold my purse
    Blow Her, Don’t Shrink HerAnd Just Like That … season two owes Sarita Choudhury an apology.
  6. movie review
    What Happened to the Frothy Pleasures of The Little Mermaid?Halle Bailey is a delight in the Disney live-action remake, but everything around her is mercilessly dull and misguided.
  7. summer preview 2023
    Here Come Fast X, Tom Cruise, and a Summer of Big MoviesBut which will be the biggest? In a post-Maverick glow, anything is possible.
  8. performance review
    Who Can Top Rachel Weisz?She’s giving the greatest performance of her career in Dead Ringers, proving Rachel Weisz’s ideal scene partner is Rachel Weisz.
  9. close read
    Let’s Talk About the Black Madwoman in SwarmThe show is at once frustrating and fascinating in how it fails to disrupt the conventions of a potent pop-culture archetype.
  10. movie review
    The Limits and Wonders of John Wick’s Last FightIn John Wick: Chapter 4, bodies are cut, shot, broken, and strangely beautiful when meeting their ends. If only every end were earned.
  11. performance review
    The Self-possession of Angela BassettShe has an unmatched ability to portray the interior complications and cultural reverberations of Black women’s anger — onscreen and off.
  12. movie review
    With Return to Seoul, a Star Is BornPark Ji-min’s remarkable lead performance elevates this withholding yet moving meditation on identity and culture to a masterwork.
  13. best of 2022
    The Best Movie Performances of 2022From the deliciously jittery Jake Gyllenhaal to a perfectly arch Rebecca Hall to Taylor Russell as a cannibal, and so much more.
  14. movie review
    There’s History in Babylon, But Where’s the Thrill?Damien Chazelle is too worried about the extinction of film to make one capable of truly titillating.
  15. best of 2022
    Did We Want Too Much From Movies in 2022?Our film critics continue to chase that feeling of being utterly obliterated by what they see onscreen.
  16. movie review
    Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Doesn’t Have the AnswersHow can any one film manage the expectations put on Ryan Coogler’s sequel and make space for grief? It can’t.
  17. profile
    Nikyatu Jusu’s FablesThe director of Nanny, this year’s most acclaimed film at Sundance, blends West African folklore and horror.
  18. performance review
    What Was Brangelina?The couple were always known for their image-making savvy. Now, as their divorce reenters the press cycle, we’re reminded of who’s better at it.
  19. close read
    The Hollow Impersonation in BlondeIn life, Marilyn Monroe was a complex artist and human being. In the hands of Ana de Armas, she’s an eternal victim.
  20. close read
    Harley Quinn Grows UpThe animated series’s third season excavated some deep emotional terrain, at the expense of its gonzo humor.
  21. vulture lists
    Every Marilyn Monroe Movie, RankedShe was more than a dumb blonde.
  22. let’s do it again
    The 102 Best Movie Sequels of All TimeWho in the world wanted a Top Gun sequel? Not even Tom Cruise, but that didn’t stop Maverick from getting made and soaring in our ranks.
  23. behind the seams
    The Tantalizing Failures of Irma VepOlivier Assayas’s remix of his own film is playful and wild, but it lacks what it needs to succeed: a true star performance.
  24. urgent reconsideration
    Atlanta Season Three Was a Bad TripAfter a four-year break, Donald Glover’s FX series returned unsure of what it wanted to say. Four Vulture writers and critics try to make sense of it.
  25. emergency discussion
    Hooray, Star Trek Feels Like Star Trek AgainStrange New Worlds is the best the franchise has been in decades. Two lifelong fans break down why it works so well.
  26. summer preview
    What Will Be the Biggest Movie of the Summer?Vulture bets on five films that will break through the hottest months of 2022, in whatever ways they can.
  27. movie review
    The Horror of Men Doesn’t Go Far EnoughAlex Garland’s latest body-mangling film lacks the depth and bravado it needs to succeed.
  28. movie review
    There Is Hell, and Then There Is Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of MadnessFaced with infinite plot possibilities, Marvel couldn’t come up with a less sexist Wanda story line?
  29. let’s do it again
    An Emergency Discussion of Blade Runner 2049 in 2022What a five-year-old movie can tell us about the future of franchises and whether movies are moving backward.
  30. endings
    Killing Eve Chose CrueltyLet’s talk about the galling ending of Eve and Villanelle.
  31. movie review
    Ambulance Is the Kind of Thrill Ride Theaters Were Made ForDoes the characterization work? Not all the time. But is the film fun? Hell, yeah.
  32. it’s coming
    Kathleen Turner Made the Modern Femme FataleShe rewrote the rules of the cinematic seductress in the 1981 erotic thriller Body Heat.
  33. movie review
    The Lost City Can’t Quite Capture That Old Movie-Star MagicHow can we expect audiences to respond to adult movies like this if they lack the charm of the genres they’re plundering for inspiration?
  34. sequential art
    The Nine Lives of Catwoman in Comic RecommendationsWant to know more about one of superhero comics’ greatest anti-heroes? Start here.
  35. tv review
    Bel-Air Is a Frustrating Reminder That Representation Isn’t EnoughThe Peacock revamp isn’t just a misfire. It’s a heartbreaking reminder of what Hollywood imagines its Black audiences desire.
  36. 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.
  37. 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.
  38. best of 2021
    The Best Movies of 2021Snapshots of moviegoing in the year in-person cinema returned with a vengeance.
  39. best of 2021
    What Made a Movie Great in 2021?Our critics break down what goes into naming the best of the year.
  40. new york in your bones
    The 101 Best New York City Movies, RankedSome movies reflect the perilous reality of living here, others the urbane fantasy. The greatest do both.
  41. 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.
  42. endings
    The Cast of Queen Sugar Closes the Book on Season Six“A lot of the flowers we see in season six,” says Nicholas L. Ashe, “were planted as seeds in season one.”
  43. tv review
    Claws Is Perfect Summer TVThe candy-colored noir is also a great venue for Niecy Nash’s indelible performance.
  44. chat room
    Niecy Nash on the Claws Finale and Why Desna Is a ‘Strip-Mall Superhero’“How long can you run around in skintight jumpsuits, you know?”
  45. 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.
  46. legacies
    The Enduring Legacy of Buffy the Vampire SlayerThe series was at its best charting women in moments of fraught transition.
  47. 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.
  48. profile
    Writing Through the MomentThe Kings are known for making TV that captures the Zeitgeist. It’s a high-wire act that’s gotten trickier post-Trump.
  49. tv review
    The Handsome Tragedies of Y: The Last ManThe FX on Hulu show poses spiky questions about gender, family, and human nature in the midst of trauma. Does it have the skill to answer them?
  50. movie review
    Candyman Is a Soulless, Didactic ReimaginingNia DaCosta and Jordan Peele’s horror sequel gravely misunderstands the allure of the original and has nothing meaningful to say on its own.
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