Laugh at Trump’s convention lineup all you want. Reality TV is coming for you

From its first line — “Hi, my name is Dory, and I suffer from short-term memory loss” — it’s clear that Pixar’s “Finding Dory” will deliver very pointed messages about disability and how society treats members of the disabled community. The film opens on a flashback. Dory is tiny, her voice making clear that she’s […]

Five things Hillary Clinton definitely shouldn’t do at the Democratic convention

Just what the Republican convention in Cleveland might look like has been the subject of much morbid speculation. But as Politico and other outlets have started to report on Hillary Clinton’s plans for the Democratic convention in Philadelphia, it’s worth thinking about what she shouldn’t do. As with everything about the campaign, the portable insanity generator that […]

In praise of Albert Brooks, who makes everything he’s in just a little bit better

As “Finding Dory” continues to rack up beaucoup bucks at the box office, I wanted to take a moment to appreciate the work done by one of its stars, Albert Brooks. For 40 years now, he has been making everything he’s in just a little bit better. Brooks’s turn in “Finding Dory” — playing the […]

The only thing worse than a Trump presidency? What he might do if he loses.

Losing the election wouldn’t necessarily be the end of Donald Trump, as nice as that might be to imagine. It might only be the beginning. Indeed, there’s one particular second act for Trump that makes an uncanny amount of sense. A Trump-branded TV network, whether online or on cable, could simultaneously be profitable for Trump, […]

Community radio has to partner with podcasters to stay competitive

This month, at the National Federation of Community Broadcasters conference in Denver, writer and activist Malkia Cyril told an audience of radio professionals, “Black speech has never been free. It’s up to us to become 21st century abolitionists.” It quickly became clear during her keynote address, as Cyril was met with head-nods and applause, that […]

On ‘Game of Thrones,’ will women rule any differently than men?

For years, “Game of Thrones” has been leaning into the idea that if women got power in Westeros and Essos, the world might be run a little differently. The show has been unsparing in its depiction of the bad decisions made by men in charge, from King Aerys’s (David Rintoul) genocidal madness, to Robert Baratheon’s […]

What Hollywood can learn from ‘Finding Dory’

The folks at “CBS This Morning” were kind enough to interview me for a segment on “Finding Dory” and disability, pegged in part to this piece I wrote last week about “Finding Dory” and “Finding Nemo.” The producers asked me two really terrific questions that didn’t make it into the final segment, and I wanted […]

‘UnREAL’s’ exposé of ‘The Bachelor’ is the most politically dangerous show on TV

“UnREAL,” Sarah Gertrude Shapiro’s incendiary riff on shows such as “The Bachelor,” returned last week with its two leads — Quinn (Constance Zimmer, perfection as always) and her protege, Rachel (Shiri Appleby) — getting matching tattoos, diving into a platter of cocaine and announcing their latest innovation. They were doing what real-world television producers haven’t […]

How the Smithsonian is preparing to stage a national conversation on race

As Lonnie Bunch, the founding director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, prepares to open the latest installment of the Smithsonian in September, he’s planning for an opening kickoff that will include as many as 7,000 VIP guests and 10,000 members of the public who see the event as a “coda […]

‘Game of Thrones’ Season 6, Episode 9 Review: “Battle of the Bastards”

Note: I’m reviewing “Game of Thrones” from the perspective of someone who has read all of George R.R. Martin’s novels, while my colleague David Malitz, who hasn’t read the books, will be writing straight recaps. His write-up of episode 9, “Battle of the Bastards” will appear at The Post’s Style Blog. This post discusses the […]

Tony Kushner’s ‘Angels in America’ is the play I needed after Orlando

For the past couple of weeks, I’ve been recommending pop culture that’s ephemeral and fun and will help take your minds off the worst parts of the ongoing presidential election. But sometimes the things we need to get through difficulty and tragedy aren’t ephemeral or light: Nancy Meyers’s gorgeous kitchens and Hawaiian waves are nice distractions, […]

‘Finding Dory’ and ‘Finding Nemo’ change the way we see disability

Forget “Me Before You,” the weepy romantic drama about a quadriplegic man, the young woman who falls in love with him while working as his caregiver and his plans to commit suicide, which has come under fire from disability activists. The biggest movie about characters with disabilities hits theaters Friday, and if history is any […]

Amazon’s disappointing adaptation of ‘The Interestings’

It’s fitting that a dear friend from college introduced me to Meg Wolitzer’s novel “The Interestings” the saga of a group of friends who meet at Spirit in the Woods, a summer arts camp, and stay together in various complex configurations for the rest of their lives.  Since the first time I read it, “The […]

How to make ‘thoughts and prayers’ meaningful again

The massacre at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, where 49 people were murdered this past weekend, has prompted outrage at the impossibility of gun control in the United States, memorials at and for gay bars, and sharp debates about whether the shooting was primarily a hate crime, an act of terrorism or both at once. And […]

Angry about Peter Thiel’s pursuit of Gawker? Tort reform is the best solution.

The response from the media to Gawker’s declaring bankruptcy after losing a lawsuit to professional wrestler Hulk Hogan funded by tech billionaire Peter Thiel has been slightly fractured, in large part because no one is saying two magic words: tort reform. On the one hand, it’s nice to see members of the media realize that the courts […]

‘Homegoing’ raises impossible questions about the legacy of slavery

It’s fortuitous that Yaa Gyasi’s “Homegoing,” an intergenerational family novel that traces a path from the slave trade in Ghana to the United States in the present day, arrived in bookstores shortly after the History Channel aired a remake of the famous miniseries based on Alex Haley’s “Roots.” Sprawling even further — if not more […]

How O.J. Simpson killed white people’s ideas about America

In the first episode of Ezra Edelman’s massive documentary, “O.J.: Made In America,” one of his sources describes Orenthal James Simpson as “a counterrevolutionary athlete.” It’s a phrase that aptly sums up the way Simpson avoided becoming involved in the civil rights movement as other athletes took up the causes of black power and black equality. […]

How Ken Burns built his blistering attack on Donald Trump

“For nearly forty years now, I have diligently practiced and rigorously maintained a conscious neutrality in my work, avoiding the advocacy of many of my colleagues, trying to speak to all of my fellow citizens,” the documentarian Ken Burns told the students, parents and faculty assembled at Stanford University’s commencement Sunday. Shortly after stating the […]

‘Game of Thrones’ Season 6, Episode 8 Review: ‘No One’

Note: I’m reviewing “Game of Thrones” from the perspective of someone who has read all of George R.R. Martin’s novels, while my colleague David Malitz, who hasn’t read the books, will be writing straight recaps. His write-up of episode 8, “No One” will appear at The Post’s Style Blog. This post discusses the events of the […]

How to survive the 2016 election: ‘Hawaii Five-O’

The 2016 election has exacted a formidable psychological toll already, and it’s likely to get worse as the Democratic contest draws to a close and the general-election contest begins in earnest. So to help you all in your continued self-care, I’ll be writing regular posts about things that I think you might find purely pleasurable. […]

Can white fans love black artists without exploiting them?

In the 2008 musical “Passing Strange,” the Youth (Daniel Breaker), a black man from Los Angeles, takes an extended trip through Europe. One of his stops is in Berlin, where he wows white audiences with a piece of performance art that leaves one member of the audience sighing, “In my next life, I want to […]

‘The Americans’ is the best family horror show on TV

This post discusses the fourth season of FX’s “The Americans,” including the concluding moments of last night’s finale. “The Americans” has long been the best family drama on television, a piercing portrait of the pressures that professions and patriotism can put on parents and progeny alike. But last night it shifted ever so slightly, becoming […]

‘The Americans’ continues its quietly devastating case against the Soviet Union

This post discusses the fourth season of “The Americans,” which ended last night, in its entirety. The last season of “The Americans,” FX’s drama about a pair of married KGB agents living in deep cover outside Washington, D.C., ended with a lit fuse. Paige Jennings (Holly Taylor), who had recently discovered that her parents were […]

I didn’t want to watch ‘Roots’ again. But it taught me an unexpected lesson.

“Roots” was an emotional roller coaster I hadn’t intended to ride. When the promos first began running, I had planned not to watch. I was in the process of watching and recapping WGN’s “Underground” and felt as though I had reached my slavery/civil rights movement/police brutality film and TV series limit for the year. (I […]

As Clinton makes history, remember the women whose talents America wasted

Tuesday morning, after the Associated Press had called the Democratic nomination for Hillary Clinton, and before the round of primaries that put her over the top with pledged delegates Tuesday night, I sent out a call for readers favorite fictional female presidents, now that this particular fantasy is a step closer to becoming an American reality. The […]

Dwayne Johnson says he might want to run for president. He could actually win.

Conservatives’ efforts to recruit a candidate to compete against Donald Trump may have only been able to come up with David French, a National Review writer, who is merely contemplating the possibility of running. But last week, a new potential candidate stepped up to the stage, if not for this race, possibly for a future one. […]

‘Me Before You’ and the stories we need to tell about people with disabilities

One of the reasons “political correctness” has become such a powerful and incendiary term is that it implies a school of thinking that’s not just coercive but predictable. At their best, though, political critiques are anything but. And the conversation that’s emerged around “Me Before You,” the adaptation of Jojo Moyes’ novel about a young […]

‘Game of Thrones’ Season 6, Episode 7 Review: “The Broken Man”

Note: I’m reviewing “Game of Thrones” from the perspective of someone who has read all of George R.R. Martin’s novels, while my colleague David Malitz, who hasn’t read the books, will be writing straight recaps. His write-up of episode 7, “The Broken Man” will appear at The Post’s Style Blog. This post discusses the events […]

How to survive the 2016 election: ‘The Intern’

The 2016 election has exacted a formidable psychological toll already, and it’s likely to get worse as the Democratic contest draws to a close and the general election contest begins in earnest. So to help you all in your continued self-care, I’ll be writing regular posts about things that I think you might find purely pleasurable. These […]

‘Roots’ is a sweeping history. It’s also a series of great love stories.

Having grown up without much access to television can sometimes leave me feeling culturally illiterate. But in an era of near-constant remakes and resurrections, the inexperience I haven’t yet been able to remedy can sometimes be a blessing, allowing me to see new works without the shadow the originals cast over them. Such was the case […]

Artists need to step away from their most obsessed fans

“Zealots urge death penalty for public figure who blasphemed idol.” A headline inspired by the Islamic State or al-Qaeda or the Taliban? Nope. It’s another brand of fanatic: the pop culture fan. A variation on this headline could be attached to stories on fan reaction to Marvel Comics’ revelation that Captain America has been an […]

If aliens invade, maybe humanity deserves to lose

The political mood in the United States has grown increasingly grim in recent weeks, darkened by Donald Trump’s petulant, bravura press conferences and the folly of Republican attempts to stop him, long after his nomination became inevitable. And perhaps this gloomy atmosphere has clouded my reading, but I’ve been noticing a through-line to a lot of big […]

Need help co-parenting? Chance the Rapper could be your new role model.

Chance the Rapper begins his latest mixtape, “Coloring Book,” smiling audibly. The smile, infectious as it is, acts as an instrumentation all its own. It’s no coincidence that the verse lines directly following it are about his family: a girlfriend he hopes to marry, Kirsten Corley, and their daughter, Kinsley: Tryna turn my baby mama […]

What will it take for Hollywood to drop famous, dangerous men?

Last week, when Amber Heard filed for divorce from Johnny Depp, the story initially seemed like just another dissolution of a celebrity misalliance. But the news quickly became uglier: Heard alleged that Depp had abused her during their brief marriage and filed for a restraining order against him as Depp’s latest family-friendly movie, “Alice Through the Looking […]

Action movies get better when they let women throw punches

Last week, when I filed a rather cranky brief against the idea that a woman should play James Bond, an equally cranky reader wrote in to say I’d gotten it all wrong. A woman shouldn’t be Bond, he wrote, not because James Bond is a study in masculinity, but because men are stronger than women. […]

‘Game of Thrones’ Season 6, Episode 6 Review: “Blood of My Blood”

Note: I’m reviewing “Game of Thrones” from the perspective of someone who has read all of George R.R. Martin’s novels, while my colleague David Malitz, who hasn’t read the books, will be writing straight recaps. His write-up of episode 6, “Blood of my Blood” will appear at The Post’s Style Blog. This post discusses the events […]

How the ‘Weiner’ directors made one of the best documentaries of 2016

“Weiner,” the documentary that chronicles Anthony Weiner’s 2013 run for mayor of New York City, and the way his campaign crashed and burned in the resurgence of his sexting scandal, isn’t just the best political documentary I’ve seen in 2016; it’s one of the best campaign movies in years. As “Weiner” opens in Washington this […]

‘Doctor Thorne’ and why virtue rewarded is so boring to watch

In Oscar Wilde’s “The Importance of Being Earnest,” Miss Prism tells Cecily, the young woman for whom she serves as a companion, that in the three-volume novel “The good ended happily, and the bad unhappily. That is what Fiction means.” I thought of this line frequently while watching Julian Fellowes’s miniseries adaptation of “Doctor Thorne,” […]

In ‘Game of Thrones,’ it’s time to start rooting for the White Walkers

Plot points from this week’s episode of “Game of Thrones” discussed below.  Last year, I joked that the darkest way that George R.R. Martin* and HBO could end “Game of Thrones” would be to put a White Walker on the Iron Throne. But after a few minutes of thought, I realized that, given the options, […]

On Capitol Hill, Asian American representation in pop culture is on the agenda

As debates about diversity spread beyond the century-old discussion of how African Americans are represented on-screen, some of the sharpest debates have been about the depiction of Asians and Asian Americans, who, when they aren’t being presented as mystical sages, have often been pigeon-holed as sexless, socially awkward geeks. And amidst those debates, a group […]

No, a woman shouldn’t play James Bond

As happens periodically, a number of prominent actresses have recently said that they wouldn’t be averse to playing James Bond should the iconic role be gender-flipped and proffered to them. Gillian Anderson approvingly tweeted a fan-made poster of her as the famous British spy. And “Quantico” star Priyanka Chopra told Complex that she had no interest […]

Writers v. Donald Trump — and literature’s long, losing war against TV

Yesterday morning, a large group of prominent American writers released an eloquent statement explaining the many reasons that “we, the undersigned, as a matter of conscience, oppose, unequivocally, the candidacy of Donald J. Trump for the Presidency of the United States.” I agree with the list of propositions these authors have articulated, and their vision […]

What a Bill Cosby trial can — and can’t — do for our debates about art

The news that Bill Cosby, after years of attempts to discredit the legion of women who have accused him of rape, will stand trial for aggravated indecent sexual assault this summer is long overdue. The judge’s ruling sending Cosby to trial feels significant not simply because the women who allege that Cosby attacked them have waged […]

What HBO needs to do when ‘Game of Thrones’ is over

As a critic who has spent an enormous amount of the past six years covering “Game of Thrones,” I spend a certain amount of time thinking about what my career will look like when HBO’s epic fantasy series comes to its conclusion. But if this is a question of pleasure for “Game of Thrones” fans, […]

Ten picture books that belong in every child’s library

I grew up surrounded by a truly astonishing library of children’s books, and for years I’ve been promising that I’d put together a comprehensive list of the all-time greats. But having entered the phase of life where baby showers have replaced weddings as my primary source of summer social obligations, I’ve been buying a lot […]

‘Game of Thrones’ Season 6, Episode 5 Review: ‘The Door’

Note: I’m reviewing “Game of Thrones” from the perspective of someone who has read all of George R.R. Martin’s novels, while my colleague David Malitz, who hasn’t read the books, will be writing straight recaps. His write-up of episode 5, “The Door” will appear at The Post’s Style Blog. This post discusses the events of the […]

‘Weiner’ is a spectacular portrait of a political marriage

Anthony Weiner is the perfect subject for a documentary, in that he has enough self-awareness to reflect on his mistakes, but not nearly enough self-control to stop himself from making them, even, and perhaps especially, when the cameras are on him. His decision to run for mayor of New York in 2013 is the meta-miscalculation […]

‘The Nice Guys’ is a totally unexpected environmentalist action movie

“Mr. Healy, if you kill this man, I will never speak to you again,” a preteen girl snaps at a middle-aged man who is choking the life out of a dapper assassin toward the end of Shane Black’s period action comedy “The Nice Guys.” It’s a fitting moment of dramatic tension for a film I can […]

‘All the Way’ is the must-watch political movie of the 2016 election

Given the failures of political prognostication to explain the 2016 presidential election, it makes a lot of sense that people are looking to popular culture to get a psychological handle on what, exactly, is happening in America right now. From claiming Mike Judge’s “Idiocracy” as a prophetic document, to looking at how fictional Hillary Clintons […]

Lindy West’s ‘Shrill’ is an eloquent chronicle of the costs of activism

By the time a review copy of Lindy West’s “Shrill,” which was published yesterday, landed on my desk at The Post, I’d already read a lot of it. The sections about West’s wedding and her decision to confront a troll who impersonated her deceased father ran in the Guardian last year, and her writing and advocacy […]

‘Hamilton’ tickets are out of reach. It’s time for a ‘Hamilton’ movie.

Last week, when the Kennedy Center announced its ticketing plans for “Hamilton,” which will arrive in Washington in 2017, it made a serious public relations blunder. The center, one of the premiere arts institutions in the region, emphasized that the best way to guarantee access to tickets was to buy two seasons-worth of very expensive […]

Megyn Kelly’s special wasn’t even good entertainment journalism