This Christmas, listen to Mary Did You Know?
Trads and progressive Christians alike wrongfully criticize this powerful song
Culture
The good, the bad and the ugly in books, exhibitions, cinema, TV, dance, music, podcasts and theatre.
December 18, 2025
Does Spielberg’s new movie have real UFOs?
Steven Spielberg might be the most beloved and popular American director of the 20th century, but it is also unavoidably the case that, since 2005’s Munich, he has been on something of a disappointing run. While many of his films, not least The Fabelmans and West Side Story, have been critically acclaimed and Oscar-nominated, there
December 17, 2025
Have Americans lost their sense of humor?
Books and ArtsHumor has become serious business. A nation of anxious primates trapped in a silicon casino of likes, retweets and dopamine-soaked drudgery, America is suffering from what the comedian Norm Macdonald called a “crisis of clapter.” Terrified of saying the wrong thing, needing punchlines to be spoon-fed – what was once the funniest place on Earth
In defense of Renoir’s pretty pictures
Books and ArtsThose who think it’s chic to dismiss Renoir have a rethink coming, courtesy of the absorbing, highly informative exhibit Renoir Drawings, now on view in New York. Not so long ago, the idea of ousting Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919) from the canon of western art sparked a movement of sorts. “RENOIR SUCKS AT PAINTING,” proclaimed a protester’s
What monuments stand to teach Americans about themselves
Books and ArtsWhy do we raise monuments? Why do we tear them down? These questions hover over MONUMENTS, now on view at Los Angeles’s Museum of Contemporary Art and the Brick. The premise is straightforward enough: gather the remains of America’s shattered sculptural conscience – decommissioned Confederate statues and their graffiti-marred plinths – and display them alongside
Arcade Fire extinguished
Books and ArtsAmid the many disappointments and commercial flops the music industry saw this year, perhaps the most egregious was the complete failure of Arcade Fire’s album Pink Elephant. The failure represents not merely the probable end of the band, but also the death of Obama-era rock. Pink Elephant received dismal reviews and didn’t even chart on the Billboard
When Dylan went folk
Books and ArtsFor all the billions Taylor Swift has made from guiding her career into carefully delineated “eras,” it was Bob Dylan who pioneered this career path. With practically every new album, Dylan traded one persona for another. There’s the folkie hobo of The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan, the pill-popping beat poet of Blonde on Blonde, the cleaned-up country crooner
The Seven Rules of Trust sees Wikipedia as a blueprint
Books and ArtsEverybody criticizes Wikipedia, but everybody uses it. Having spent my childhood cross-legged on my carpet reading dictionaries and encyclopedias, I found it a revelation and refuge from the get-go. Google could never emotionally compete. While some AI products have become useful knowledge tools, there is still nothing like Wikipedia’s hyperlink paradise, which allows nights to
Louis C.K. fails to follow in Faulkner’s footsteps
Books and ArtsThe Great American Novel is a holy obsession – the Everest every writer dreams of summiting. For most, that dream begins and ends with William Faulkner, whose winding sentences and sunburned Southern landscapes birthed prose that seemed to breathe. His words marched; crookedly, yes, but always with purpose. Louis C.K., a would-be Faulkner disciple, trudges
Mitfordmania in Carla Kaplan’s Troublemaker
Books and ArtsI won’t attempt to explain Mitfordmania; we’d be here all night. Suffice it to say that fascination with the British sisters – Nancy, Pamela, Diana, Unity, Jessica and Deborah, born to the 2nd Baron Redesdale between 1904 and 1920 – shows no sign of waning. This year alone, the six have inspired Outrageous, a lavish
Why are Lawrence Osborne’s novels suddenly popular in Hollywood?
Books and ArtsThe film Ballad of a Small Player opens with a blast of classical music, a shot of the Macau skyline and Lord Doyle (Colin Farrell) waking up in a hotel suite littered with Champagne bottles, cigarette butts and designer loafers that are starting to show their wear. While he dresses and shaves, a voice-over informs
December 16, 2025
The new Tom Hanks play is a drag
This World of Tomorrow is a waste of time travel
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
