‘I’m Just Ken’ is the breakout song of the summer
It’s enough
Culture
The good, the bad and the ugly in books, exhibitions, cinema, TV, dance, music, podcasts and theatre.
August 29, 2023
With The Killer, will David Fincher return to his former greatness?
The keepers of the Fincher flame have been disappointed in recent decades
August 28, 2023
What does Dune: Part Two’s postponement mean for the movies?
Audiences want to go and see films, but the writers’ strikes are denying them the chance
Everyone must watch this One America News rap song
A white rapper from South Florida is changing the game
August 25, 2023
Red, White & Royal Blue leaves you feeling infringed upon
Some part of it may live in my brain forever. That seems unjust
August 21, 2023
The rise of the comic murder mystery
The perfect comfort viewing in these rather more treacherous times
August 18, 2023
Apple’s foray into streaming
Books and ArtsApple TV+ will not be the next Netflix, and that is the whole point
Finding the warmth in Alfred Hitchcock’s filmography
Books and ArtsWhen I look at the Hitchcock movies, I don’t see icy detachment. Instead what strikes me is their intimacy, gentleness and passion
Here Lies Love is too scared to be serious
Books and ArtsThe musical is like the disco ball that spins above its audience: beautiful but fractured. And, at its core, hollow
The death of Superman
Books and ArtsHow Hollywood killed the American hero
The demands and joys of contemporary art
Books and ArtsArtist Alberto Guerrero’s career has been driven by a desire to look for what is behind everything that we perceive at present
August 17, 2023
Roman Polanski at ninety: what will be his legacy?
Over the last forty-five years he’s become a sort of human Rorschach test
August 14, 2023
Oliver Anthony and the sorry state of Rolling Stone
The once-great magazine’s coverage of the viral country star is embarrassing
August 7, 2023
Why didn’t William Friedkin get much credit when he was alive?
There’s more to the late director than The Exorcist and The French Connection
August 3, 2023
The Real Housewives of the Picket Line
Reality TV stars have been Hollywood’s fallback option of late. During these writers’ and actors’ strikes, that could change
August 1, 2023
Paul Reubens lived life on his own terms
His strange talent was one that Hollywood could never quite handle
July 31, 2023
Cardi B is dangerous with a mic — literally
Throw something at the rapper and she will retaliate…
Barbenheimer, strikes and Hollywood’s uncertain tomorrow
The future of cinema is up for grabs
July 26, 2023
The dishonesty of Netflix’s Eldorado: Everything the Nazis Hate
Its conflation of small-‘c’ conservatism and fascism is not only morally dubious but historically dishonest
July 25, 2023
Allan’s big moment: discontinued doll’s price rises thanks to Barbie
The eBay value of Ken’s friend is skyrocketing
Elon Musk slams Barbie, echoing the right’s lamest pundits
Aren’t the joyless dullards meant to be on the left these days?
The Hollywood strikers have a Schrödinger’s Cat problem
Why streaming viewership figures are crucial to the residuals debate
July 24, 2023
Oppenheimer and the triumph of Christopher Nolan
The director has made a lot of people a lot of money, so he is allowed to do what he likes
Mick Jagger at eighty: the beginnings of a Rolling Stone
No other major rock star is as obviously a product of his time and place as the Stones frontman
July 23, 2023
Japan deserves to see Oppenheimer
The country as a whole is far less bitter about World War Two than many Americans think it is
Oppenheimer’s passenger
Christopher Nolan and Cormac McCarthy’s fissile Westerns
July 19, 2023
Why What We Do in the Shadows works
A vampire sitcom that doesn’t suck
July 17, 2023
Arnold Schwarzenegger is back
Books and ArtsWith a new Netflix documentary and series, the actor is ubiquitous once again
Jane Clark Scharl delivers artful truths in Sonnez Les Matines
Books and ArtsThe play is, alas, unlikely to attract a large following in the theater