Goings On
What to watch, listen to, and do in New York City, online, and beyond.
Goings On
It’s Taylor Swift Day, Again
Upon the release of “The Tortured Poets Department,” an appraisal, and a Pick Three.
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What We’re Reading
Under Review
Trump’s America, Seen Through the Eyes of Russell Banks
In his last book, “American Spirits,” Banks took stories from the news about rural, working-class life and turned them into fables of national despair.
By Casey Cep
Under Review
The Best Books We’ve Read in 2024 So Far
Our editors and critics review notable new fiction, nonfiction, and poetry.
By The New Yorker
Page-Turner
When Preachers Were Rock Stars
A classic New Yorker account of the Henry Ward Beecher adultery trial recalls a time in America that seems both incomprehensible and familiar.
By Louis Menand
Page-Turner
When the World Goes Quiet
“The Hearing Test” probes the inner life of a narrator stricken by sudden deafness.
By Katy Waldman
Listen to lively debates about the art of the moment.Follow Critics at Large wherever you get your podcasts »
What We’re Eating
The Food Scene
Mexican-ish Fine Dining, with Detours
Corima offers attention-grabbing tortillas, Japanese flourishes, and an ambitious tasting menu that hasn’t quite found its stride.
By Helen Rosner
On and Off the Menu
In the Kitchen with the Grande Dame of Jewish Cooking
Any home cook who’s hosted a Passover Seder or a Rosh Hashanah dinner has likely consulted a recipe by Joan Nathan.
By Hannah Goldfield
Tables for Two
Hyper-Telegenic Noodles, at Okiboru House of Udon
The beguilingly wide Himokawa udon noodles at this new East Village spot are already famous, thanks to fervent foodie TikTokers.
By Jiayang Fan
The Food Scene
Caribbean Staples Made “Healthy as a Motha”
HAAM, in Williamsburg, veganizes Dominican and Trinidadian food without diminishing it.
By Helen Rosner
What We’re Watching
The Front Row
The Rediscovery of a Depression-Era Masterpiece
A new restoration of Frank Borzage’s “Man’s Castle,” starring Loretta Young and Spencer Tracy, showcases the visionary Hollywood director’s lusty yet spiritual artistry.
By Richard Brody
On Television
“The Sympathizer” Has an Identity Crisis
The HBO adaptation of Viet Thanh Nguyen’s novel is part espionage thriller, part war drama, and part Hollywood satire—wild genre shifts that come at the expense of its protagonist’s interiority.
By Inkoo Kang
The Front Row
The Counterculture Counter Culture of Kim’s Video
A new documentary revels in the legend of the downtown rental store and seeks to recover its treasures.
By Richard Brody
The Front Row
“The People’s Joker” Is an Outlaw Vision of the Superhero Movie
Vera Drew’s D.I.Y. parody of “Joker” has all the wild humor and transgressive freedom of John Waters’s films.
By Richard Brody
What We’re Listening To
Pop Music
The Tortured Poetry of Taylor Swift’s New Album
“The Tortured Poets Department” has moments of tenderness. But it suffers from being too long and too familiar.
By Amanda Petrusich
Pop Music
Olivia Rodrigo’s Relatable Superstardom on the Guts Tour
The pop star appears to revel in pleasure—even when she knows that whatever it is she’s thirsting after will probably get her into trouble.
By Amanda Petrusich
Podcast Dept.
What a Right-Wing Militia Sounds Like, from the Inside
“Chameleon: The Michigan Plot” is the latest podcast to show how extremist groups pair dangerous beliefs with an ordinary desire for community.
By Sarah Larson
Pop Music
Vampire Weekend Doesn’t Want Your Defeatist Grousing
The band’s new album, “Only God Was Above Us,” is a treatise on inheritance, decay, generational dissonance, and the delicate idea of choosing optimism.
By Amanda Petrusich
More Recommendations
Goings On
Alex Garland and Park Chan-wook Reckon with America
Also: the Martha Graham Dance Company celebrates its centennial, Method Man & Redman play Terminal 5, “The People’s Joker” parodies the Batman universe, and more.
Goings On
Andrew Scott Joins the Pantheon of Talented Mr. Ripleys
Also: a Polaroid-inspired oratorio at PAC NYC, the mesmerizing art of Francesca Woodman, a documentary about Kim’s Video, and more.
Goings On
Harrowing Melodrama in “A Different Man”
Also: Emotion experiments in “Jerrod Carmichael Reality Show,” the art of Sonia Delaunay, Reyna Tropical’s electro-cumbia, and more.
Tables for Two
Exquisite Beach Vibes at Quique Crudo
A seafood-focussed counter from the owners of Casa Enrique—the first Mexican restaurant in the city to earn a Michelin star—opens in the West Village.
By Shauna Lyon
Goings On
Peter Morgan’s “Patriots” Heads to Broadway
Also: The soft-rock palette of Arlo Parks, the tearjerker musical “The Notebook,” Eric Fischl’s paintings of bourgeois cocoons, and more.
The Food Scene
Café Carmellini Is Fine Dining That Knows a Good Time
Andrew Carmellini’s latest venture is a serious, sophisticated restaurant, with white linens on the tables and bow-tied service captains, but it never sacrifices a sense of fun.
By Helen Rosner
Goings On
Kim Gordon Is at the Peak of Her Powers
Also: Adventurous shows at Carnegie Hall, “The Effect” at the Shed, and more.
The Food Scene
Missy Robbins’s Lowest Key Pasta Paradiso
Robbins’s chic flagship restaurant Lilia is perpetually booked. Her follow-up, Misi, is stuck in a charmless space. With her latest place, Misipasta, I feel like Goldilocks.
By Helen Rosner