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Review

  1. movie review
    Netflix’s The Devil All the Time Is a Sadistic SlogChoose Your Own Adventure, but for generational trauma.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  2. movie review
    Kate Winslet and Saoirse Ronan Have a Sexy, Empty Romance in AmmoniteThe pair’s period courtship doesn’t have to be Portrait of a Lady on Fire — but it doesn’t have to feel so hollow, either.
    By Alison Willmore
  3. movie review
    Jude Law and Carrie Coon Are Gorgeously Dysfunctional in The NestIn the new film from the director of Martha Marcy May Marlene, a family slowly implodes after moving into a crumbling house in the U.K. countryside.
    By Alison Willmore
  4. streaming theater review
    Almost the Real Miracle: Brian Friel’s Faith Healer, Streaming From the Old VicIt feels a little like … theater!
    By Helen Shaw
  5. tv review
    PEN15 Goes Deeper in Season 2Maya Erskine’s and Anna Konkle’s adolescent alter egos are still hilarious, but this time around they’re also going to break your heart.
    By Jen Chaney
  6. tv review
    Challenger: The Final Flight Unpacks a Moment of American Hope and HeartbreakIn revisiting the tragedy of 1986’s space shuttle explosion, the new Netflix docuseries draws out some compelling parallels to our present.
    By Jen Chaney
  7. movie review
    Frances McDormand Has Gone To Look For America In NomadlandThe devastating new film from Chloé Zhao could be the feature of the year — an uncertain prize in 2020.
    By Alison Willmore
  8. review
    The Patti LaBelle–Gladys Knight Verzuz Was a GiftThe collard greens practically made themselves.
    By Hunter Harris
  9. movie review
    I Am Tired of Films Like AntebellumThis movie had the opportunity to show a more dynamic side of slavery narratives, but it ends up reaffirming the very horror it is trying to critique.
    By Angelica Jade Bastién
  10. tv review
    We Are Who We Are Is Coming-of-Age PoetryLuca Guadagnino’s leisurely aesthetic translates beautifully to television, where it can spread out and just be.
    By Jen Chaney
  11. theater on tv
    Coastal Elites Is As Distanced As Its SubjectMonologues that play to a crowd don’t work without that audience.
    By Helen Shaw
  12. album review
    Big Sean’s Detroit 2 Is a Career BestIt is the rare rap event album that feels both wise to current events in rap and culture and also tethered to a specific location.
    By Craig Jenkins
  13. movie review
    Mulan Is a Dour Drag of a Movie (But a Fascinating Cultural Object)In trying to square Disney girl-power tendencies with perceived Chinese values, the new remake ends up in a baffling limbo of motivations.
    By Alison Willmore
  14. tv review
    The Boys Are Back to Blow Your Mind, Literally and FigurativelyGleefully violent as ever, Amazon’s dark superhero story ups the ante on its most suggestive ideas about media image-making and corporate control.
    By Kathryn VanArendonk
  15. movie review
    Forget What You’ve Heard, Cuties Is a Moving Coming-of-age DramaA young girl torn between two cultures tries to find her place in the coming-of-age Netflix movie condemned sight unseen by many online.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  16. vmas 2020
    The 2020 VMAs Tried Like Hell to Avoid the Elephant in the RoomReally, it was a pop-star pageant, and the girls delivered.
    By Craig Jenkins
  17. opera review
    Lise Davidsen’s Recital Provides the Hit of Joy Every Operagoer Is MissingA little of what fans are craving.
    By Justin Davidson
  18. movie review
    Bill & Ted Face the Music Feels As Unstuck in Time As Its CharactersThat’s not a bad thing!
    By Alison Willmore
  19. the inside track
    Dua Lipa’s Maximal Turn Yields Minimal ResultsMark Ronson’s Gwen Stefani-featuring “Physical” remix is one of Club Future Nostalgia’s most unnecessary tracks.
    By Justin Curto
  20. album review
    Katy Perry Is Still in a Lane All Her OwnThe great Smile tracks recall the era where Katy singles didn’t miss. The patchy ones are reminders that she’s always been a work in progress.
    By Craig Jenkins
  21. movie review
    Dev Patel Does Dickens Well in The Personal History of David CopperfieldVeep creator Armando Iannucci has a light touch with the Victorian classic.
    By Alison Willmore
  22. song review
    BTS Is Way Ahead of UsBTS has made inroads with American listeners before, but never quite like this.
    By Craig Jenkins
  23. movie review
    Train to Busan Presents: Peninsula Is No Train to BusanThe sequel is more like a tepid Mad Max knockoff.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  24. song review
    Jay-Z and Pharrell Are Making History, But Both Could Stand to Learn From ItThe achievements of Black billionaires don’t necessarily trickle down and set us all free.
    By Craig Jenkins
  25. movie review
    Russell Crowe’s Road-Rage Thriller Unhinged Isn’t Worth Getting COVID-19 ForCrowe gets good and glowering as a driver on a killing spree, but this thriller isn’t nearly clever enough to merit any sense of moviegoing urgency.
    By Alison Willmore
  26. podcast review
    You Can’t Get Rid of Nice White ParentsThe just-wrapped podcast shines a light on power, race, and educational inequality.
    By Nicholas Quah
  27. movie review
    Tesla Is a Bizarre, Bewitching Anti-BiopicSee Ethan Hawke sing “Everybody Wants to Rule the World.”
    By Bilge Ebiri
  28. song review
    Somehow, Somewhere Drake Is Still One of UsDrake can buy and sell most of us, but he watches games from the sidelines like everyone else.
    By Craig Jenkins
  29. movie review
    Sputnik Is a Thoughtful, If Modest, Russian Riff on AlienWe’ll take it.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  30. movie review
    Boys State Is an Enthralling Doc About How the Kids Are (and Aren’t) All RightA mock state election among Texas teens ends up being an entertaining reflection of the American political id in this Apple TV+ documentary.
    By Alison Willmore
  31. album review
    Brandy Remains a True RarityThis year, the singer known as the “vocal Bible” steps out from under the dark clouds that long plagued her career.
    By Craig Jenkins
  32. podcast review
    The Michelle Obama Podcast Is the Comfort Food You’d ExpectA closer look at the former First Lady’s new series.
    By Nicholas Quah
  33. movie review
    The Burnt Orange Heresy Is Light on Thrills, Heavy on Beautiful ThingsClaes Bang and Elizabeth Debicki star in a suspenseless noir that’s worth watching mainly for how luxurious everyone and everything in it is.
    By Alison Willmore
  34. song review
    Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion’s ‘WAP’ Is Hall of Fame FilthA torrent of horny one-liners that restores the feeling of sneaking and listening to rap songs with X-rated lyrics as a kid.
    By Craig Jenkins
  35. movie review
    An American Pickle Is a Two-Man Show, and Both Men Are Seth RogenSeth Rogen stars opposite himself in this HBO Max original movie about a Brooklyn man united with his pickled great-grandfather.
    By Alison Willmore
  36. movie review
    She Dies Tomorrow Is One of the Scariest Films I’ve Seen in a Long WhileIt’s about more than a pandemic, but it is also about a pandemic.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  37. visual album review
    Beyoncé’s Black Is King Does Everything It Needs ToThe richness of the Black experience is the point. There’s almost too much excellence to keep track of.
    By Craig Jenkins
  38. the inside track
    Dominic Fike Still Has a Lot to LearnWith lines like “I hope I get Me Too’d,” from “Cancel Me,” the breakout alt-rapper only muddies the statement he’s trying to make.
    By Justin Curto
  39. book review
    Caste Offers a New Word for Injustice in America, Not a New Way of ThinkingIn Isabel Wilkerson’s book, caste replaces racism as the most accurate term to describe the inequities of American society.
    By Lauren Michele Jackson
  40. song review
    Billie Eilish’s Future Is in Good HandsHer new single suggests the O’Connell siblings have made good use of the quiet time.
    By Craig Jenkins
  41. podcast review
    It’s Illuminating to Hear a Podcaster Talk About Cam NewtonThe Cam Chronicles explores the impossible expectations the NFL star faced — and helped create.
    By Nicholas Quah
  42. album review
    folklore Isn’t a Return to Taylor Swift’s Roots, But Somewhere She’s Never BeenHer stories here are more purposeful, if a little less personal.
    By Craig Jenkins
  43. book review
    Zadie Smith’s Intimations Makes a Joyful Case for InconsistencyIn every essay, there is a moment when Smith revises herself or catches herself in a mistake.
    By Molly Young
  44. the inside track
    Taylor Swift and Bon Iver Find Perfect Harmony on ‘exile’This isn’t the indie record that’s much cooler than hers. This is what she makes after she’s listened to that record.
    By Justin Curto
  45. movie review
    Dave Franco’s The Rental Needs an EndingDid [redacted] really have to [redacted] so [redacted]?
    By Bilge Ebiri
  46. theater review
    This Sceptered Dial: Richard II on the RadioShakespeare in the Park in your headphones.
    By Helen Shaw
  47. album review
    The Chicks Scorch the Earth on GaslighterIt is the kind of pop-country killer some people have been haranguing Taylor Swift for ever since 1989.
    By Craig Jenkins
  48. movie review
    Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets Is the Next-Best Thing to Going Out to a BarRemember bars? The Ross brothers’ boozy hybrid of a movie is a sensational elegy to a local one that never really existed.
    By Alison Willmore
  49. movie review
    Greyhound Proves Tom Hanks Is the Ultimate Navy GeekHe’s the captain, now and forever.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  50. movie review
    In Kelly Reichardt’s First Cow, Capitalism Continues to Divide and ConquerWhat you register in the 19th-century frontier drama is what’s absent: a sense of community, of a shared enterprise.
    By David Edelstein
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