Wanted this Halloween: terror films, not horror
No more joyless Michael Myers slogs!
Culture
The good, the bad and the ugly in books, exhibitions, cinema, TV, dance, music, podcasts and theatre.
October 14, 2021
Dave Chappelle’s last special is no masterpiece
The comic has developed the irritating habit of emphasizing how transgressive he is being
October 13, 2021
Succession is the wittiest, darkest show on TV
The narcissism of the self-absorbed rich is always fun to watch
October 11, 2021
The Rolling Stones cancel themselves
The group is canceling a ‘problematic’ hit, but that could sum up half their repertoire
October 6, 2021
Squid Game’s bloody attack on inequality and dehumanization
Netflix’s biggest hit ever startles us with our own powerlessness
September 30, 2021
The Sting paradox
Just because he detected the modern tendency to confuse celebrity with profundity doesn’t mean he necessarily avoided it
September 20, 2021
The Crown will long reign o’er the Emmys
The show is a comforting reminder of when the British royal family was unassailable
September 16, 2021
Shakespeare is getting trigger warnings
Books and ArtsShakespeare, after decades of being found to be Problematic, is now being reclaimed as the wokemeister-in-chief
The triumph of bedroom pop
Books and ArtsFrom Joe Meek to Taylor Swift: a short history of lo-fi
September 15, 2021
Norm Macdonald’s comedic danger
As comedy becomes safer, he offered a sense of the unpredictable that will be sorely missed
September 14, 2021
Flagging energy
Books and ArtsJasper Johns, an art-world darling for decades, is getting a massive museum retrospective
Time for Another Round
Books and ArtsAnother Round reviewed
September 13, 2021
Titian meets Isabella Stewart Gardner
Books and ArtsThe masterpieces of Titian’s old age have come to Boston
September 8, 2021
Stillwater and the rise of the blue-collar American in Hollywood
The movie humanizes the camo-hat and cutoff shirt-wearing segment of America while still telling an entertaining story
September 1, 2021
Britain: please take James Corden back
His schtick is wearing thin
August 31, 2021
Could the Chinese gaming clampdown backfire?
The CCP now permits minors just three hours of gaming a week
August 24, 2021
An ode to Charlie Watts, the politest man in rock music
The Rolling Stones drummer was one-of-a-kind
August 22, 2021
Fatty Arbuckle’s fall
Books and ArtsArbuckle was an accidental pioneer of cancel culture
The art of politics: what ministers hang on their walls
Books and ArtsThe people have a right to know what’s on Boris’s wall
August 21, 2021
Perry Mason was America’s Sherlock Holmes
Books and ArtsPerry Mason personified the country that won World War Two and was enjoying well-deserved prosperity
Somebody’s watching me
Books and ArtsAll Light, Everywhere reviewed
August 1, 2021
Black Widow and the bungling of female superhero movies
Is the Scarlett Johansson lawsuit Disney’s latest unforced error?
July 26, 2021
Hollywood’s vacuous moral turn
Black Widow, Luca and Nomadland are films for decaffeinated protesters
July 22, 2021
I remember Halston
Books and ArtsHalston made American sportswear as chic as anything Paris couture houses were turning out
Yet more death in Venice
Books and ArtsBjörn Andrésen is now tall and painfully thin with long silver hair and a matching beard that belong on Merlin
The techniques of totalitarianism are still fully in play today
Instead of examining the dictators individually, How to Become a Tyrant explores their careers thematically
July 21, 2021
The lost king of the blues
Books and ArtsNo one played the blues like Mike Bloomfield
July 20, 2021
Affluent white female killer
Books and ArtsI Care a Lot reviewed
July 17, 2021
Abolishing museums serves nobody
Activist demands will destroy museums — and make us all poorer
