Thirty-five years of crying to Planes, Trains and Automobiles
I like to spend every Thanksgiving with John Candy
Culture
The good, the bad and the ugly in books, exhibitions, cinema, TV, dance, music, podcasts and theatre.
November 21, 2022
Murillo the masterful
Books and ArtsThe Spaniard’s painterly skill outshines his congenital weakness for schmaltz
The shock value of Lena Dunham
Books and ArtsShe was the low-culture Mary Tyler Moore
Why is there no great Thanksgiving movie?
The holiday lacks the magic of Christmas and already has too much drama
The return of Lindsay Lohan
Books and ArtsFalling for Christmas looks bound to be tragicomic and artless pulp, but so what?
David Bowie is bigger than ever
Books and ArtsHis stature as rock music’s greatest iconoclast shows no sign of being threatened
November 17, 2022
Taylor Swift is one of America’s great storytellers
She’s trained the Swifties to read between the lines
November 16, 2022
Blockbuster is the best argument in favor of That ’90s Show
TV’s worst-reviewed show makes you nostalgic for Gen X
November 15, 2022
Happy birthday Martin Scorsese, the Don of movies
He has given the art of cinema more than virtually any other filmmaker
November 11, 2022
Keep your California out of my country music
The Country Music Awards revealed a genre in crisis
Black Panther’s claws are still sharp
Is Ryan Coogler’s sequel worth the watch?
November 10, 2022
The White Lotus is a comic feast for the ‘eat the rich’ generation
A hit show for those who prefer their billionaires medium-rare
November 9, 2022
A subtly mournful Crown lands in the post-Elizabeth era
Factual inaccuracies aside, the fifth season sits very well in our current time
November 7, 2022
Elections are always better in the movies
Reality, alas, will always struggle to improve on fiction
November 4, 2022
Does Rihanna have a method to her madness?
The singer and entrepreneur has risked a lot just to give Johnny Depp the spotlight
The romcom’s ‘Ticket to Paradise’? Women
Why the new Clooney-Roberts flick succeeded where Bros failed
November 3, 2022
Paul Newman was and wasn’t the nicest of men
His memoir suggests a kernel of decency that saw him through his dark nights of the soul
November 2, 2022
Ryan Murphy goes cruising
American Horror Story: New York City is Grindr as a thriller
Baldwin and Buckley clash on the New York stage
The play succeeds in affirming a certain anti-liberalism
October 31, 2022
Apple Music cynically exploits Kanye West by deplatforming him
Getting them tons of free media impressions. How convenient
October 29, 2022
Kanye West just can’t shut up
Can anyone save the old Kanye from the new Kanye?
October 28, 2022
Bram Stoker’s Dracula was a grand and glorious folly
Scorned at the time, it’s today recognized as The Godfather of vampire movies
October 23, 2022
Taylor Swift’s Midnights is a bright spot in a bland music industry
Kanye West 0, Swift 1
Dawn party
Books and ArtsThe Whitney Museum is digging back to the dawn of American Modernism
A chronicler of enormities
Books and ArtsLeonard Baskin was not to everyone’s taste, and the feeling was mutual
The heart of The Rings of Power
Books and ArtsAmazon’s Tolkien adaptation does justice to the aesthetics as well as the ethics of his world
Is this Tom Stoppard’s last act?
Books and ArtsIf Leopoldstadt does not convince the theatergoing public, then what will?
At eighty, Casablanca embodies Hollywood high style
Books and ArtsThe movie still resonates with viewers even to this day
October 19, 2022
The myopia of the ‘Sunflowers’ protesters
They could not be farther from the beauty of this earth
