Featured Voices
Culture Shift: How ‘And Just Like That’ Is Showing More of New York’s Rich Diversity (Guest Column)
For 25 years, Carrie, Miranda, Charlotte and others in their orbit (especially their unforgettable fourth bestie, Samantha), have pushed boundaries. In the 1990s and early 2000s, the friends — then in their 30s — normalized the idea of women as sexual beings and depicted women’s full lives as inclusive of both work and play. As […]
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Emmys: How Nominated Game Shows Will Fare
For the first time since the category was introduced in 1974, the Emmy for outstanding game show will be handed out at the primetime ceremony, having graduated from the daytime counterpart as part of a realignment of categories between the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (which presents the daytime awards) and the Academy […]
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‘Sound of Freedom’ Filmmakers: “No Single Interest Group Owns the Issue of Trafficking”
As co-writers and director of the movie Sound of Freedom, it has been difficult to watch controversy and partisanship distract, even a little, from the deep intention of our work: to use the power of film to bring awareness to the reality of child trafficking. Way back in 2015, when we began researching and writing this project, […]
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A Disney Sale to Apple? Don’t Count It Out This Time
A few weeks before Bob Iger sat down for that CNBC interview in which he said Disney’s linear TV networks, like ABC and FX, “may not be core” to the company’s business, a veteran Hollywood executive mused to The Hollywood Reporter on the possibility of a deal that would rock the industry: Apple buying Disney. […]
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James Gray on William Friedkin: “Beneath the Unsentimental Toughness, a Wellspring of Soul and Sensitivity”
The 'Armageddon Time' and 'Ad Astra' filmmaker remembers a director whose uncompromising films, unabashed honesty and personal friendship left an indelible mark on him.
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Guest Essay: How ‘Indian Matchmaking’ Creator Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Hate-Watch
It started with a curious text message from a friend, which stood out among the usual messages of congratulations coming through to my phone for the premiere of the third season of my Netflix show Indian Matchmaking: “To the devil w the NYT! You keep making, we’ll keep watching. Trust that your viewer isn’t dumb. […]
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The William Friedkin I Knew: Feisty, Opinionated and Exceptionally Open to Others
Sitting with William Friedkin a few years ago, I was suddenly caught by surprise. After taking out his iPad, the master filmmaker began to scroll through a series of photos, all taken inside a small room in Vatican City, where he’d been invited to attend a real-life exorcism. That might not seem so odd to […]
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Guest Essay: Seeing Myself in Mary Tyler Moore
When Lena Waithe called and asked if I wanted to direct a film about Mary Tyler Moore, I said, “Absolutely.” But I quickly added that I knew nothing about Mary and had never seen any of her work: “Maybe I’m the wrong person?” “But you’ll do a deep dive; you’ll be thorough,” Lena replied, “and […]
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Guest Column: How Greta Gerwig’s ‘Barbie’ Tends to Her Superpowers
Greta Gerwig’s Barbie begins with a humorous — but nonetheless brutally fitting — homage to Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. It features the same moment of sheer, speechless awe, but instead of a black monolith, the little girls who inhabit this planet discover a monolithic version of the original 1959 Barbie, iconic black cat eye […]
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Critic’s Appreciation: Paul Reubens and Pee-wee Herman Left a Timeless and Ageless Mark on the Culture
Paul Reubens took his eternally youthful and immature alter ego from improv comedy stages to the big screen to Saturday morning television and Broadway, because Pee-wee Herman was a character for all ages and all generations.
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Critic’s Notebook: A Generation’s Chords of Celebration, Elegy and Reckoning Resound in Two New Brit-Rock Docs
'Squaring the Circle (The Story of Hipgnosis)' and 'Have You Got It Yet? The Story of Syd Barrett and Pink Floyd' join a vibrant crop of recent documentaries that illuminate the epochal music scenes of the ’60s and ’70s.
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Critics’ Conversation: Despite Heartening Inclusions, Emmy Voters Struggle to Broaden Their Horizons
The dominance of 'Succession,' 'The White Lotus' and 'The Last of Us' revealed the Television Academy's ongoing tradition of loving a handful of shows but failing to recognize the breadth and depth of the medium.
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