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The Season for Obsessions
There’s arguably no better time for falling down a cultural rabbit hole than the languid, transitory summer months. On this episode of Critics at Large, Vinson Cunningham, Naomi Fry, and Alexandra Sc…
Published on 7 months ago
The Grand Spectacle of Pope Week
In the weeks since Pope Francis’s passing, the internet has been flooded by papal memes, election analysis, and even close readings of the newly appointed Pope Leo XIV’s own posts. On this episode of…
Published on 7 months, 1 week ago
I Need a Critic: May 2025 Edition
In a new installment of the Critics at Large advice hotline, Vinson Cunningham, Naomi Fry, and Alexandra Schwartz field calls from listeners on a variety of cultural dilemmas, and offer recommendatio…
Published on 7 months, 2 weeks ago
How “Sinners” Revives the Vampire
The vampire has long been a way to explore the shadow side of society, and “Sinners,” Ryan Coogler’s new blockbuster set in the Jim Crow-era South, is no exception. On this episode of Critics at Larg…
Published on 7 months, 3 weeks ago
War Movies: What Are They Good For?
For nearly as long as we’ve been waging war, we’ve sought ways to chronicle it. “Warfare,” a new movie co-directed by the filmmaker Alex Garland and the former Navy SEAL Ray Mendoza, takes an unortho…
Published on 8 months, 1 week ago
“The Studio” Pokes Fun at Hollywood’s Existential Struggle
The tension between art and commerce is a tale as old as time, and perhaps the most dramatic clashes in recent history have played out in Hollywood. On this episode of Critics at Large, Vinson Cunnin…
Published on 8 months, 2 weeks ago
Gossip, Then and Now
Gossip, an essential human pastime, is full of contradictions. It has the potential to be as destructive to its subjects as it is titillating to its practitioners; it can protect against very real th…
Published on 8 months, 3 weeks ago
Joe Rogan, Hasan Piker, and the Art of the Hang
The first episode of “The Joe Rogan Experience,” released in 2009, consisted mostly of its host smoking weed, cracking jokes, and futzing with technical equipment. But Rogan quickly proved adept at t…
Published on 8 months, 4 weeks ago
Critics at Large Live: The Right to Get It Wrong
In 1939, reviewing the beloved M-G-M classic “The Wizard of Oz” for The New Yorker, the critic Russell Maloney declared that the film held “no trace of imagination, good taste, or ingenuity.” The use…
Published on 9 months ago
Our Modern Glut of Choice
For many of us, daily life is defined by a near-constant stream of decisions, from what to buy on Amazon to what to watch on Netflix. On this episode of Critics at Large, Vinson Cunningham, Naomi Fry…
Published on 9 months, 1 week ago