'Riotsville, U.S.A.' Explores the Origins of Police Militarization
Sierra Pettengill's documentary focuses on the fake towns, built by the Army in the 1960s, to train law enforcement.
Movies
Star-Studded Amsterdam Is a Tedious, Terrible Warning About the Rise of Fascism
A stacked cast and an Oscar-nominated director can't save this flop.
Review: Antero Alli's Low-Budget Psychedelic Naturalism
Tracer takes mind control to a new level.
The Woman King Rewrites History for a Feminist Twist on the Slave Trade
Hollywood often takes liberties. But there's a distinction to be made between poetic license and historical revisionism.
Netflix's Athena Is a Masterpiece About Police Violence and Social Unrest
A technically astounding film that turns a French housing block into a political warzone.
A White Woman's Documentary About Muslim Extremists Is Being Canceled. Guess Why.
Numerous critics object to the fact that the filmmaker, Meg Smaker, is a white woman.
The Feminist Dystopia Don't Worry Darling Isn't a Big Idea Movie. It's a Dumb Idea Movie.
A wannabe prestige picture that works better as a pulpy mind-trip.
The Dark Knight Rises Was a Cautionary Tale About Populism
Ten years after its release, the final film of Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy is possibly even more relevant.
Review: When Britain Banned Home Sales of The Exorcist
Even as it gained fans around the world, home sales of the film remained illegal in the U.K. until 1999.
Obi-Wan Kenobi and the Era of Cultural Stagflation
On streaming and the big screen, we're paying more for less, even as new ideas seem few and far between.
Review: Apollo 10 1/2
The new movie offers a funny nod both to NASA's glitch-prone engineering and its can-do spirit
Jurassic World Dominion Is a Sad, Desperate Nostalgia Trip
The original Jurassic Park is the best summer movie ever. The latest sequel just wants to remind you the original exists.
David Cronenberg's Crimes of the Future Is a Gross-Out Sci-Fi Film About Bodily Autonomy
Disturbing, eerie, and strangely relevant, it's a return to form for the Canadian horror master.
Alex Garland's Provocative Men Asks: Are Men OK?
A surrealist nightmare of gender terror from one of Hollywood’s most distinctive directors.
Review: The Batman
The movie's whole idea seems to be that if Batman truly wanted to make Gotham a better place, he'd find some other way to do it, perhaps involving politics.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness Isn't Strange or Mad Enough
A Sam Raimi fun house burdened by the Marvel universe's not-so-glorious purpose
The Northman Is a Bloody, Brutal, Brilliant Viking Revenge Epic
No moral judgment, just Viking honor, pagan ritual, and inevitable death.
Surfers Chase Freedom in Cuba
Havana Libre tells the story of Cuba’s underground surfers struggling to practice their sport.
Morbius Is a Superhero Vampire Movie That Really Sucks
Jared Leto stars in a not-quite-Marvel film that inadvertently demonstrates the strengths of the MCU.
Nathan Rabin: Why Gen X Is Super Media-Literate
The Joy of Trash author talks about how D.A.R.E., bad TV, Weird Al Yankovic, and 9/11 created a generation of ironic idealists.
Nathan Rabin: Confessions of a Trash-Culture Connoisseur
Nathan Rabin celebrates The Joy of Trash—and Gen X irony and cynicism—one terrible movie, book, and TV show at a time.
Be Like Chris Rock
The comedian won last night's Oscars by telling bad jokes, dealing with the consequences, refusing to escalate or apologize, and doing his damn job.
The Batman Wrestles With a Gloomy, Problematic Billionaire Version of Batman
It's a Batman movie that seems distinctly uncomfortable with the idea of Batman.
The Awful Uncharted Raises the Question: Are Video Game Movies Art?
Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg star in another timid, lifeless video game adaptation.
Death on the Nile Is a Lifeless, Plodding Take on Agatha Christie
Kenneth Branagh's murder mystery lacks glamour.
Jackass Embodied Gen X's Casual Indifference to Authority
Beneath all the harm, humiliation, and non-consensual hair-shaving was a love of freedom.
Kat Rosenfield: Meet Joe Rogan's Dumbest Fans
The novelist and essayist attacked CNN's handling of Neil Young vs. Joe Rogan—and promptly drew the ugly ire of the podcaster's admirers!
A Hero Is a Movie in Which Everyone Both Is and Isn't a Hero
A new Iranian thriller is both an elaborate social parable and an extended advertisement for the U.S. bankruptcy system.
