Criticism

best of 2025

The Best Podcasts of 2025 (So Far)

 If you really want to absorb something, immerse yourself in the wonkiest podcasts imaginable. By Nicholas Quah
best of 2025

The Best Anime Series of 2025 (So Far)

 It’s been a great year for anime of all sorts. By Kambole Campbell
theater review

Of Fossil Fuels and Fury: Kyoto and Jewish Plot

 And playing to your audience vs. confronting it. By Jackson McHenry
  1. best of 2025
    The Best Video Games of 2025 (So Far)The Hollow Knight sequel alone makes this a great year for video games.
    By Lewis Gordon
  2. best of 2025
    The Best TV Shows of 2025 (So Far)Great television will not be confined nor defined by genre.
  3. tv review
    I Love LA Is Young, Dumb, and Full of FunDon’t be fooled by the lackluster pilot — Rachel Sennott’s 20-something comedy grows into a delusional delight.
    By Nicholas Quah
  4. close read
    It: Welcome to Derry Delivers a Mother of a NightmareTV’s fixation with gruesome childbirth gets a horrifying new spin in the latest episode’s standout sequence.
    By Roxana Hadadi
  5. theater review
    What Happens When Bat Boy Grows Up?The cult musical gets a full-out production at City Center, and the scaling-up takes a little bite out of its sense of mischief.
    By Jackson McHenry
  6. theater review
    You Won’t Stop Watching Laurie Metcalf in Little Bear Ridge RoadSamuel D. Hunter’s play is custom-tailored to her onstage skills. Is that enough to make it great?
    By Jackson McHenry
  7. movie review
    Maybe the Conclave Guy Is Actually Bad at Making Movies?Edward Berger’s latest is a humorless, adrift mess starring Colin Farrell.
    By Alison Willmore
  8. checkmate
    Long Live Claude Whelan, Slow Horses’s Finest FailureEveryone on this show is incompetent in their own little way, but his personal brand of incompetence was something special.
    By Brian Grubb
  9. theater review
    Re-Encountering Bess Wohl’s Liberation on BroadwayIts emotional power, discovered through reporting and deep feeling, still comes through in a larger house.
    By Jackson McHenry
  10. tv review
    Talamasca Can’t Stand on Its OwnThe third entry in Anne Rice’s Immortal Universe mines thin connective tissue for an Interview with the Vampire follow-up that disappoints.
    By Roxana Hadadi
  11. movie review
    Regretting You Is Absolutely PsychoticAllison Williams’s death stare is the secret weapon that turns grief into comedy, drama into lunacy.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  12. here comes the boom
    Like It or Not, A House of Dynamite Had to End That WaySure to be polarizing, the final beat is nonetheless consistent with the film’s larger design.
    By Nicholas Quah
  13. movie review
    A Tale of Two SpringsteensJeremy Allen White shines as the Boss in Deliver Me From Nowhere, whether he’s being sad and poetic or exploding onstage.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  14. movie review
    A House of Dynamite Is Kathryn Bigelow at Her BestThe director’s latest, her first film in seven years, is an absurdly riveting thriller with the kind of ticking-clock suspense Bigelow does so well.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  15. movie review
    With Bugonia, Yorgos Lanthimos Enters the Real World, Sort OfThat also makes it maybe the saddest film he’s ever made.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  16. tv review
    Murdaugh: Death in the Family Isn’t Like Other True-Crime ShowsThere are no big surprises, no major secrets that subvert what you thought you knew, and the series is better for it.
    By Roxana Hadadi
  17. endings
    Nobody Wants This Wants Feeling Jewish to Be EnoughThe show has backed down from focusing on conversion, but now there’s nothing left to talk about.
    By Fran Hoepfner
  18. movie review
    A Silent-Film Festival Gives a Breathtaking Perspective on PalestineA 30-minute montage of century-old newsreels stands as one of the most emotional film experiences I’ve had this year.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  19. art review
    The Shades of Sasha GordonThe painter’s new show at David Zwirner is packed with her demon identities.
    By Jerry Saltz
  20. tv review
    Give Welcome to Derry This: It Has a Killer First EpisodeUnfortunately, what follows soon deflates into an ungainly blob of franchise-building obligation.
    By Nicholas Quah
  21. tv review
    Boots Drained My Spirit EntirelyThis fascinatingly repressed series about a closeted teen who enlists in the Marines argues that the brutality of the military makes you a better man.
    By Jackson McHenry
  22. tv review
    Mr. Scorsese Could Be Twice as Long and It Still Wouldn’t Be EnoughAt 287 minutes, the five-part docuseries covers just enough of the filmmaker’s life and career to leave you wanting more.
    By Roxana Hadadi
  23. movie review
    Give Black Phone 2 Credit for Daring to Be DifferentIn bringing back the Grabber, the sequel turns out to be weirder and maybe scarier than the first film.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  24. movie review
    The Truth Hurts in the Extraordinarily Powerful It Was Just an AccidentJafar Panahi’s gripping film won the big prize at Cannes this year. It’s not hard to see why.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  25. theater review
    America in Major and Minor Keys: Ragtime ReturnsA dreamy story of a nation facing a new century.
    By Jackson McHenry
  26. movie review
    Ethan Hawke Lives for ThisRichard Linklater’s new film Blue Moon finds a phenomenal Hawke playing Broadway songwriter Lorenz Hart.
    By Alison Willmore
  27. book review
    Brandon Taylor’s Limited Notions of BlacknessHis Black characters treat whiteness as all-powerful but also blameless and beyond reproach.
    By Tembe Denton-Hurst
  28. theater review
    Jen Tullock in 'Nothing Can Take You From the Hand of God.'
    Two Plays Where the Lord Might Be Found Back HomeJen Tullock’s Nothing Can Take You From the Hand of God and Jordan E. Cooper’s Oh Happy Day! seek the divine in their characters’ hometowns.
    By Jackson McHenry
  29. tv review
    Is Devil in Disguise Actually Good, or Did I Just Watch Monster?Two infamous serial killers, two streaming services, one lesson in getting true crime right.
    By Roxana Hadadi
  30. tv review
    One Abominable Day, Two Incomplete TV SeriesIsraeli productions One Day in October and Red Alert omit more than they show.
    By Kathryn VanArendonk
  31. movie review
    Bradley Cooper’s Marriage StoryThe actor-director’s new film, Is This Thing On?, is much more about a relationship than it is about comedy.
    By Alison Willmore
  32. movie review
    There’s an Interesting Movie Trapped Inside RoofmanBut the Channing Tatum vehicle is too enamored of its main character to let it out.
    By Alison Willmore
  33. movie review
    Rose Byrne Is Incredible and Unbearable in If I Had Legs I’d Kick YouDirector Mary Bronstein’s dark comedy feels like the Uncut Gems of motherhood.
    By Alison Willmore
  34. art review
    Fossils From a Future ApocalypseThe fragile visions of Andra Ursuța.
    By Jerry Saltz
  35. tv review
    The Chair Company Is a Rich Text for Tim Robinson SickosThe new HBO series burrows into the comedian’s fixations in ways that may not always be hilarious but are reliably fascinating.
    By Nicholas Quah
  36. close read
    The Uncanceling of Chris BrownThe singer claims he’s been overlooked, but his blockbuster stadium tour suggests otherwise.
    By Craig Jenkins
  37. theater review
    The Outsiders: The Least Problematic Woman in the World and MexodusDylan Mulvaney’s one-woman show puts her story into a bright-pink frame; Mexodus aims for something quieter and more lyrical.
    By Jackson McHenry
  38. movie review
    AI Is Inevitable and Looks Like Jared LetoTron: Ares’s vision of what’s to come is as upbeat as we can ask for, I guess.
    By Alison Willmore
  39. tv review
    English Teacher Assumes We’re All on the Same PageBrian Jordan Alvarez’s sitcom is nostalgic for an imaginary time when everyone could take a joke.
    By Kathryn VanArendonk
  40. book review
    Pynchon-heads, This One’s for UsShadow Ticket is about rising fascism. It’s his most urgent novel yet.
    By Jack Denton
  41. spoilers
    Task Is No Great MysteryThis week’s big reveal was always hiding in plain sight, if you knew how to see it.
    By Roxana Hadadi
  42. album review
    Taylor Swift Chooses ChaosThe Life of a Showgirl may be her most polarizing album yet.
    By Craig Jenkins
  43. best of 2025
    The Best Songs of 2025 (So Far)Keep track of the best tracks of the year.
  44. nyff 2025
    Jim Jarmusch Wants You To Call Your MotherJim Jarmusch’s new film finds the director in a minor key, which is sometimes his best key.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  45. best of 2025
    Best Albums of 2025 (So Far)Including an arsenal of snappy, hooky nods to early B-boy culture and aughts club bangers.
    By Craig Jenkins
  46. tv review
    Joe Wright Won’t Let You Look Away from MussoliniThe director jams as many moving parts and flourishes he can fit into his portrait of Italy’s descent into fascism. It’s appropriately mesmerizing.
    By Roxana Hadadi
  47. best of 2025
    The Best Movies of 2025 (So Far)Despite all the sequels, spinoffs, and remakes, audiences are still hungry for original stories.
    By Alison Willmore, Bilge Ebiri, and Angelica Jade Bastién
  48. theater review
    On the Road, in Three Dimensions: CarolinePreston Max Allen’s characters grapple with the consequences of broken trust and the ways we protect those we love.
    By Sara Holdren
  49. movie review
    Play Dirty Is Just Stupid Enough to EntertainShane Black is back from movie jail with a gonzo action extravaganza starring Mark Wahlberg.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  50. theater review
    The Call Is Coming From Inside the Opera House: MasqueradeTwo critics on the immersive return of Phantom of the Opera.
    By Sara Holdren and Jackson McHenry
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