Lauren Vanderveen
Minx
The streaming series about the intersection between feminism and smut could endear even the most skeptical. And what it might lack in delicacy, it certainly makes up for in swagger.
Love & Gelato
Love & Gelato is pretty corny but it’s the exact kind of sweetly innocent confection that will melt in your mouth. What’s more, the film offers a slightly more authentic ending than the average rom-com fare.
Becoming Elizabeth
Becoming Elizabeth goes beyond mere court intrigue and makes a testimony to the influence of the powerful over the powerless. It’s assisted majorly by an eager and incredibly telling arrangement of sounds that stitches the lofty narrative together. In short, it’s a bold entry in the arena of historical dramas.
Watercooler Guide: What You Need to Know about The Staircase
Our Watercooler guide to The Staircase will help you jump right into the conversation about HBO Max’s new true-crime series.
Outlander: What We Talk About When We Talk About Assault
It’s no coincidence every major character in Outlander has experienced some form of assault. I’d argue that’s what the whole show is about.
The Adam Project
The Adam Project is one of those movies you go into imagining big explosions and kids hilariously making life-or-death decisions (like Zathura, for example). And, to be sure it throws everything it has at the wall and then some: time-travel jiu jitsu soldiers, a stacked all-star cast, and lots of heart.
The Alpinist
Joie de vivre never looked so effortless as it does in The Alpinist. While the spectacular cinematography wows the senses, the beautiful character portrait at its core of an eccentric, backwoods mountain climber stirs the humanity in us all.
The Best New Movies and TV Shows in February 2022
Love, history, and choices well off the beaten path are arriving on streaming platforms this month. See our picks in categories you won’t find anywhere else.
The Best New Movies and Shows to Stream in December 2021
This month’s picks include big stars, highly anticipated returns, sci-fi epics, and an international Oscar contender—all for your streaming pleasure!
Lauren Vanderveen
Robert Redford’s Impact: Four Films to Watch
He was “one of the lions,” as Meryl Streep put it, an American touchstone who changed filmmaking and opened the gates for new generations of storytellers, becoming a central force in independent cinema. To understand the impact his films have had – on previous generations, on our culture, on so many other films – we’ve
The Back-to-College Binge Watch Playlist
Remember when you could sleep until noon, stumble to class in pajamas, and stay up until 2am watching weird art films? Fall is when many of us become wistful about that bumpy chapter of extended adolescence, when you start to discover who you truly are and make some truly regrettable choices. In honor of all
Eddington is a pandemic parable. But what is it trying to say?
Set in May 2020 in a fictional New Mexico town, Pedro Pascal and Joaquin Phoenix’s new film Eddington draws some parallels to two of the biggest breakout shows of the past decade: The Last of Us and The Walking Dead. It’s a story about a virus that’s less about death and more about exposing the living.
A Watercooler Watch: Barbara Walters: Tell Me Everything
Before social media and podcasts, there was one undeniable truth about news-making interviews: if a story mattered, Barbara Walters would be the one to tell it. Landing a one-on-one with her didn’t just mean publicity, it meant you had become part of a national conversation. But while the interview signified that you had made it,
A Need-to-Know Guide to The Buccaneers
Was life in the Gilded Age all that gilded? In the HBO Max series, penned by Downton Abbey’s creator Julian Fellowes, the focus is on the class divide between America’s old money aristocrats and new money industrialists, and the often exhausting rules of “society.” Apple TV’s The Buccaneers, which just returned for its second season,
A Watercooler Guide to The Phoenician Scheme: Wes Anderson’s Oil-Baron Fever Dream
Wes Anderson films are easy to spot, but not always easy to describe. Watching them feels like stepping inside a handcrafted diorama of history: symmetrical, stylized, and slightly sentimental. From the wry narration and sharp color palettes to his signature whip pans and deadpan dialogue, Anderson crafts cinematic worlds where emotions are bottled then uncorked
A Need-to-Know Guide to And Just Like That…
It’s been a two year wait, but Carrie Bradshaw and her tribe of fabulous fifty-somethings are finally back with their third season. You’d be forgiven if you lost track of the Sex and the City sequel and its storylines. But with summer’s planes, trains, and automobiles and rained-in weekends, And Just Like That might be
Bring Her Back
A psychological horror film with standout performances, Bring Her Back isn’t just about summoning the dead, it’s about confronting the parts of ourselves we lose in the process. The Philippou brothers have crafted a film that dares to ask whether the true horror lies in what we’re willing to do in the name of love.
Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey
A sweet, fun, magical musical fairy tale that deserves to become a new holiday classic.
Holiday Musicals for Your Living Room
Nothing can compare to live theater electrified by dancing, singing performers who can make music soar to the rafters. Theater productions are a holiday tradition that will be sorely missed by many this year. But there’s some good news: for the first time, several of the most in-demand holiday productions can be watched on a
Tehran Season 1
A timely, nail-biting spy thriller that you won’t be able to stop watching, Tehran is as illuminating as it is gripping.
Mrs. America
Mrs. America is a good place to start exploring where our current political and cultural divisions started widening. Anyone who lived through these years can vouch that there was a lot at stake.
The Family Stone
An all-star classic that inflicts just enough discomfort to feel cathartic because of its familiarity. You’ll feel like a member of this functioning dysfunctional family.
Dash & Lily
If all the usual formulaic holiday movies are starting to blend into each other, this YA Christmas love story is refreshingly different.
My Octopus Teacher
A stunning, often magical and emotional documentary that inspires awe and empathy, My Octopus Teacher brings a personal narrative to a nature documentary and captures the brilliance of a familiar sea creature like nothing before it.
Why are We So Obsessed with the NXIVM Cult?
As you might have heard, this year has seen the premiere of not one but two premium cable series focused on the rise and fall of NXIVM, the cult (or self-help organization, or pyramid scheme, depending on your point of view) at the center of an ongoing criminal investigation and court battle. First there was