The new Tom Hanks play is a drag
This World of Tomorrow is a waste of time travel
Culture
The good, the bad and the ugly in books, exhibitions, cinema, TV, dance, music, podcasts and theatre.
December 15, 2025
RIP Rob Reiner
Remember him for his great works, not his horrific end
December 13, 2025
Liberation is a witty, genuine snapshot of second-wave feminism
Books and ArtsIn the second act of Liberation the main cast quietly, and without fuss, starts to undress. By the time the lights go up, all six women are naked. In this masterful play by Bess Wohl, the moment does not feel shocking or gratuitous but somehow comforting. In 1970s Ohio, a group of women meet weekly
Stoppard, Sappho and me
Books and ArtsMany years ago, and well retired, I was working in my study at home when the phone rang and a voice said, “This is Tom Stoppard. David West put me onto you.” David was the professor of Latin at Newcastle University and it emerged that Tom used him when he had queries about Latin, but
December 12, 2025
The Diddy documentary is required viewing
Give him no second chances
December 10, 2025
The Golden Globes loves Paul Thomas Anderson
Hollywood might be in trouble, but the director isn’t
December 8, 2025
The fight for the future of Warner Bros.
The sale would create a monopoly the likes of which has never been seen before in the film industry
December 5, 2025
Will the new Avatar be the last?
We should hope so
December 2, 2025
Is there such a thing as right-wing art?
Books and ArtsA durable national identity cannot be asserted into being
Reconciling dreams with reality
Books and ArtsTruth to tell, surrealism lent itself to individuals who were inherently off-the-beam
The contingent talent of Emily Sargent
Books and ArtsCreativity in proximity to genius without its obligations
Monet’s Venetian moment
Books and ArtsMonet also captured another element of the open air: smog
Portrait of a frontier life
Books and ArtsTrain Dreams, often hailed as a ‘miniature masterpiece,’ is not a story of defeat
November 28, 2025
The new Stranger Things is loopy and sweet
The fifth season is full of self-referential excess, but it’s also an example of great homage
November 26, 2025
When will the Beatles bandwagon end?
Anthology 4 makes the extraordinary band seem ordinary
November 25, 2025
They should never make another James Bond film
The spy learned his final lesson in No Time to Die
November 22, 2025
What if the Emerald Fennell Wuthering Heights is good?
Jacob Elordi might well be about to capture Heathcliff’s mixture of brutality and magnetism
November 21, 2025
Nuremberg and the overpowering greatness of Russell Crowe
He skillfully suggests what a fascinatingly complex character Herman Göring was
November 19, 2025
Give Stellan Skarsgård an Oscar for Sentimental Value
Joachim Trier’s film shows us what compassion is
November 18, 2025
South America is flush with Nazi-looted art
Books and ArtsSleuths rediscovered a stolen painting, galvanizing efforts to uncover even more
Rauschenberg is a bore
Books and ArtsHis new exhibition at the Guggenheim is a sour birthday party
Man Ray is alluring in the way a psychopath is
Books and ArtsThe Met’s exhibition shows that the artist tried to destroy everything human about himself
Is Martin Scorsese America’s greatest living director?
Books and ArtsApple’s new paean to the man certainly suggests as much
A new Phantom comes to Broadway
Books and ArtsMasquerade honors and innovates the legacy of Phantom of the Opera
November 14, 2025
The Running Man runs out of steam
Glen Powell is great, but this movie feels distinctly dated
November 13, 2025
Vince Gilligan wins again with Pluribus
Apple has finally got its act together when it comes to original content
Will Disney strike a deal to end its YouTube TV blackout?
YouTubeTV knows it remains in the driver’s seat
November 9, 2025
On less famous presidential assassins
Death by Lighting is uproarious fun
November 8, 2025
Bryan Garner has recovered a lost master
In The Etcher: The Life and Art of Oskar Stoessel, he has lifted a great artist from obscurity
