Tina Turner was greater than a rock star
She was something much more universal: a survivor
Culture
The good, the bad and the ugly in books, exhibitions, cinema, TV, dance, music, podcasts and theatre.
Aaron Sorkin’s new Camelot has nothing to say
Scenes are rushed and hidden — and in the end, the musical is empty
May 24, 2023
Poet laureate can’t define a ‘ban’
Amanda Gorman’s poem got moved from the elementary-school section of a library to a middle-school one
Mrs. Davis makes getting off grid seriously tempting
The show is a prophetic a warning about AI and the pervasiveness of the internet
May 23, 2023
Rock ’n’ roll Dolly Parton’s political wake-up call
Her new song is more fire and brimstone than climate anthem
What Succession gets wrong about politics
The show’s election night was gripping and realistic. Everything that follows is a hot mess
Netflix’s Queen Cleopatra girlbosses against historical fact
Watching it felt alarmingly like witnessing the death of scholarship
May 21, 2023
Bringing back Stephen Sondheim and enduring a new Andrew Lloyd Webber
Books and ArtsBad Cinderella is a pumpkin, while Parade becomes an exercise in emotional torture porn
How Madonna turned pop culture Catholic
Books and ArtsOn the fortieth anniversary of her debut album, Madonna remains a good Catholic girl at heart
What makes Berthe Morisot’s nudes so unique?
Books and ArtsShe provides a new lens to look at Impressionism
What museums can learn from contemporary technology
Books and ArtsThe National Gallery of Art has quietly but steadily undergone a major culture shift
May 19, 2023
Phoebe Waller-Bridge is a franchise murderer — and Indiana Jones is her next victim
She is bent on undermining every masculine hero
Does Johnny Depp have a future in Hollywood?
This most quixotic of performers doesn’t seem at all bothered by his fall from grace
May 17, 2023
Mission: Impossible makes the Daniel Craig Bond movies seem anemic and dull
The Craig films appear ‘made by people who are embarrassed to make a Bond film’
May 16, 2023
Is Taylor Swift the problem?
Her fans are mad that she’s dating ‘problematic’ 1975 singer Matty Healy
May 15, 2023
The election episode put the ‘suck’ in Succession
Never go full Newsroom …
May 13, 2023
Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret is dull and emotionally hollow
The movie’s most authentic moment doesn’t involve Margaret at all. Judy Blume deserves better
So long, Orson Welles
His standing among the cognoscenti has taken a tumble over the past decade or so
May 12, 2023
Get in loser, we’re canceling Bluey
This animated dog has gone too far
May 9, 2023
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is a cry of pain
It feels less like a summer blockbuster than a director’s effort to exorcise some demons of his own
May 8, 2023
The National is the next great American rock band
So much more than America’s Radiohead
May 5, 2023
Why Beef is in a class of its own
The Netflix hit defies well-worn templates for shows about Asian Americans
May 2, 2023
White House Plumbers is a busted flush
HBO’s new Watergate show is caricature, not drama
April 26, 2023
Joaquin Phoenix, the anti-Hollywood star
He is the most eccentric and in-demand leading man of his time
April 25, 2023
How to Blow Up a Pipeline is an ecoterrorist heist movie
This momentum is sometimes hamstrung by the film’s choppy narrative structure
April 20, 2023
Broadway brings back Bob Fosse’s Dancin’
Books and ArtsThe first revival of Dancin’ on Broadway is a treasure trove for Fosse fanatics
Noël Coward, the English playwright who loved all things American
Books and ArtsIn order to take over the globe, he had to succeed in the largest English-language market
Is the New York subway the city’s best gallery?
Books and ArtsBeneath the Big Apple’s streets, the MTA has amassed the largest collection of public art in the world
Why are there no paintings in Star Wars?
Books and ArtsThey are not talked about, reflected upon or even alluded to
