Criticism

performance review

For the Love of God, Give This Woman an Oscar Nomination

 No one last year gave a performance that comes close to what Marianne Jean-Baptiste does in Hard Truths. By Alison Willmore
album review

Bad Bunny Phoned Home

 His new album, a spirited homage to Puerto Rico, smokes its predecessor. By Craig Jenkins
endings

Juror #2 Delivers a Surprisingly Hopeful Closing Argument

 Downbeat endings are a Clint Eastwood speciality. But the final scene of his new legal thriller delivers a surprisingly hopeful closing argument. By A.A. Dowd
  1. book review
    Fear and Loathing in BerlinAn Afghan girl seeks solace in sex and drugs in an ambitious but bloated debut.
    By Jasmine Vojdani
  2. movie review
    Gerard Butler Letting Loose Is a Beautiful Thing to BeholdIf the first Den of Thieves was a meathead remake of Heat, the sequel feels like a meathead remake of Miami Vice.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  3. movie review
    You Can’t Ignore Pamela Anderson’s FaceAnderson’s performance in Gia Coppola’s The Last Showgirl often elevates a rote, repetitive plot.
    By Roxana Hadadi
  4. movie review
    Saving the Hummingbirds of Los Angeles, Despite the OddsSally Aitken’s sublime new documentary, Every Little Thing, shows us that healing society begins with healing the most vulnerable.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  5. movie review
    Thank the Cinema Gods, Mike Leigh Is BackHard Truths might be his funniest film in a long time, but as always, it’s the kind of laughter that comes with unnerving inevitabilities.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  6. tv review
    Bury Me in The PittI powered through Max’s not-an-ER reboot with so much delight that I was annoyed when I had to pause to watch something ostensibly better.
    By Kathryn VanArendonk
  7. tv review
    American Primeval Is Three Westerns in OneOne of them is gripping and good, one of them is fine, and one of them is basically The Revenant.
    By Roxana Hadadi
  8. tv review
    It Was Worth the WaitSeverance season two delivers answers. But its greatest pleasure is returning to this world and finding it still exists.
    By Kathryn VanArendonk
  9. album review
    Must We Demand This Much Music From Artists?SZA’s SOS Deluxe: Lana reinforces how much stronger the original is.
    By Craig Jenkins
  10. movie review
    Flow Is an Animal Adventure That’s Endearing and a Little Too PrettyThe Latvian animated film is a wordless survival story that lets its animals act like animals.
    By Alison Willmore
  11. movie review
    The Music Industry Couldn’t Handle Luther VandrossHe longed for the same acclaim and freedom awarded to his white contemporaries in yacht rock.
    By Craig Jenkins
  12. no. 1 angel
    They Don’t Build Statues of Letterboxd CriticsCharli XCX promptly removed the negative movie reviews on her leaked account.
    By Jason P. Frank
  13. view from the ridge
    The Best TV Valleys of 2024For every peak there is a valley, and the TV of 2024 is full of them.
    By Kathryn VanArendonk
  14. best of 2024
    The Best TikToks of 2024, According to Julie KlausnerFeaturing a bubbe’s visible contempt for a Star Wars ride and everything starring Ellie the Elephant.
    By Julie Klausner
  15. best of 2024
    The Weepiest TV Moments of 2024Sobbing over a television show is a gift, and these are the cries we’re most grateful for.
    By Maggie Fremont
  16. close read
    The Pervert’s BeverageThe adult milk drinker is a consummate freak.
    By Allison P. Davis
  17. close read
    The Recruiter’s Squid Game Return Hits HardGong Yoo’s demented performance in the second season premiere delivers a different sort of slap in the face.
    By Roxana Hadadi
  18. best of 2024
    The 2024 Very Specific TV AwardsBestowing high honors in the esteemed fields of fart-based communication, cringe-worthy pricks, and being Angela Bassett.
    By Brian Grubb
  19. best of 2024
    Our 93 Favorite Comedy Moments of 2024We’ve got gay hamsters, computer wives, and Corey.
    By Vulture Staff
  20. best of 2024
    This Was the Year of Elevated TrashThere’s no shame in being a little trashy. Three of the year’s best movies are silly, soapy, or vulgar, but with a prestige sheen.
    By Louis Peitzman
  21. tv review
    Squid Game Rebukes Its Own PopularitySeason two of the Netflix phenomenon sinks its claws into the proletariat.
    By Roxana Hadadi
  22. a complete babyratu christmas
    Nosferatu Is So Cozy, ActuallyAm I the only one who finds Wisberg a suitable spot for a snowy romantic getaway? (Ignore the plague.)
    By Nicholas Quah
  23. that’s all i wanted
    Be Our Father Figure, HarrisBabygirl’s best scene is when its upstart intern reaches for the brown liquor.
    By Roxana Hadadi
  24. endings
    Nosferatu’s Final Moment Is an Act of ConsentIn deliberately weaponizing her body, Nosferatu’s Ellen becomes her own hero.
    By Roxana Hadadi
  25. movie review
    BETTER MAN
    The Craziest Musical of the Year Is Finally HereTrying to describe the Robbie Williams biopic Better Man, one sounds like a lunatic.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  26. quotables
    The Many Things that Celebrities Said in 2024We rounded up the best quotes that celebrities were brave enough to say (or comment) this year.
    By Anne Victoria Clark
  27. best of 2024
    The 10 Best TV Needle Drops of 2024From righteous intensity to bittersweet nostalgia to unabashed horniness, these songs gave the scenes they soundtracked that little something extra.
    By Sophie Brookover
  28. close read
    The Ted Lasso-ing of ShrinkingBill Lawrence’s therapy dramedy didn’t start as a harmony-at-all-costs clone of his other TV shows. But it unfortunately became one.
    By Roxana Hadadi
  29. masters of press
    The Year Movie Stars Cried, Flirted, and Cosplayed for FameIn 2024, we watched movie stars eat chicken, talk to Theo Von, and cry (a lot), all in the name of promotion.
    By Fran Hoepfner
  30. movie review
    Shouldn’t Nosferatu Be Scarier?Lily Rose-Depp stars in a vampire movie from The Witch director Robert Eggers that’s gorgeous and weirdly inert.
    By Alison Willmore
  31. theater review
    The Sit-Down Comedy of All InJohn Mulaney and friends deliver bright readings of slight tales.
    By Sara Holdren
  32. movie review
    Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton Are Perfectly Imperfect TogetherWho could blame Pedro Almodóvar’s The Room Next Door for being more interested in its leading ladies than in contemplating death?
    By Alison Willmore
  33. movie review
    Tyler Perry’s Cosplay of a War Movie Hardly Does Its Subjects JusticeThe Six Triple Eight ends up being more about what these women endured than about what they accomplished.
    By Alison Willmore
  34. movie review
    Jim Carrey (and Jim Carrey) Elevate Sonic the Hedgehog 3These movies aren’t anything if they’re not fun, and Jim Carrey understands that better than anyone. Sonic the Hedgehog 3 gives us two of him.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  35. guiltless pleasure
    Give Your Brain an ’80s Bubble Bath and Watch RivalsAn unabashedly horny British drama about … a television network in the Cotswolds?
    By Jackson McHenry
  36. year in culture
    The Bests of 2024All the books, podcasts, and anime (plus TV, movies, music, and more) that captivated our critics (and John Waters) this year.
    By Vulture Editors
  37. movie review
    Hollywood’s Forgotten How to Make Movies Like The Count of Monte CristoPeriod action-adventures used to be Hollywood’s thing. But we never see movies like this thrilling new French adaptation of the Dumas classic anymore.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  38. movie review
    The Brutalist Is Half Of A Great MovieA terrific Adrien Brody anchors this three-and-a-half-hour American saga whose ambitions end up exceeding its grasp.
    By Alison Willmore
  39. theater review
    Is It Swell? Is It Great? Audra McDonald Takes Over GypsyDespite some iffy production choices, she delivers the world on a plate.
    By Sara Holdren
  40. best of 2024
    The 19 Best Horror Movies of 2024Here’s to the movies that spoke to and sometimes literalized the nagging fears in the back of our minds.
    By Louis Peitzman
  41. movie review
    All the Technological Wizardry in the World Can’t Save Mufasa: The Lion KingBarry Jenkins’s prequel to the 2019 “live-action” remake of the 1994 Disney animated classic leaves much to be desired.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  42. album review
    Missionary Is a Museum ExhibitDr. Dre and Snoop make an edgeless return to their old stomping grounds.
    By Craig Jenkins
  43. best of 2024
    Vulture’s 25 Most-Read TV Recaps of 2024The shows (and comment sections) our readers couldn’t get enough of.
    By Vulture Editors
  44. movie review
    It’s Everyone Around Bob Dylan That Makes A Complete Unknown Worth WatchingTimothée Chalamet is good as the enigmatic musician, but this is really a movie about what it’s like to bob around in the wake of greatness.
    By Alison Willmore
  45. theater review
    In Eureka Day, the Jabs Are Verbal, TooA send-up of the leftist battles over vaccination and the weaponization of kindness.
    By Sara Holdren
  46. year in culture
    Vulture’s 20 Most-Read Stories of 2024From brat summer to a scandalous fall, here’s what our readers loved most this year.
    By Vulture Editors
  47. endings
    Joker: Folie à Deux’s Twist Ending Is a Lot Like Lightyear, in a WayTurns out we were watching the origin story of the human that the Joker is based on.
    By Rebecca Alter
  48. movie review
    Is a Movie About Electing a Pope Allowed to Be This Entertaining?Conclave combines the pulp velocity of a great airport read with the gravitas of high drama.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  49. endings
    The Deeper Meaning Behind Conclave’s Surprise Ending, ExplainedThe conclusion of this gossipy Vatican drama makes one distinct change from the book it’s based on, in service of a message about progress.
    By Louis Peitzman
  50. movie review
    September 5 Is Almost Nauseatingly SuspensefulWe know what happened at Munich in 1972, yet we find ourselves living through the events as if their outcome was unwritten.
    By Bilge Ebiri
Load More