MOST RECENT ARTICLES BY:

Matt Zoller Seitz

  1. strong streak of good
    The ’70s Wasn’t All BadCynicism, paranoia, mayhem was the dominant mode of New York cinema in the 1970s. But there was a countermovement.
  2. new york in your bones
    The 101 Best New York City Movies, RankedSome movies reflect the perilous reality of living here, others the urbane fantasy. The greatest do both.
  3. too much birthday
    Should Connor Have Taken Off His Jacket at Kendall’s Party?The most vexing etiquette question of our era.
  4. a long shot
    ‘You Just Have to Accept That Wes Is Right’The French Dispatch crew explains how it pulled off the movie’s quietly impossible long shot.
  5. a long talk
    ‘God, I’m Crying Over Kendall?’A guided tour of Succession’s descent into birthday hell with director Lorene Scafaria.
  6. q&a
    Many Saints of Newark’s Alessandro Nivola on the Tragedy of Dickie MoltisantiThe actor who plays Tony Soprano’s mentor talks Raging Bull, whether Uncle Sally is real, and his own Italian American experience.
  7. close reads
    Decoding The Many Saints of Newark’s Parallels With The SopranosSeven ways the new Sopranos film echoes the original series and treats its story as mythology that can be retold, reinterpreted, and revised.
  8. profile
    How Do You Follow The Sopranos?David Chase returns to the masterpiece he’s been unable to escape since it went off the air 14 years ago.
  9. in memoriam
    Death of a StorytellerRare is the actor who can locate the specific in the universal and vice versa. Michael K. Williams was that actor.
  10. a long talk
    Barry Jenkins Felt His Way Through The Underground RailroadThe filmmaker reflects on the intuition and instinct that shaped his most ambitious project to date.
  11. tv review
    The Mosquito Coast Is Filled With Unpleasant WisdomAt its best, the Justin Theroux–starring series delivers the horror-adjacent excitement that comes from wondering how things could possibly get worse.
  12. godzilla vs. kong
    My Heart Belongs to the MonsterVerseMatt Zoller Seitz on why Godzilla and King Kong deliver more compelling cinematic glory than the other multiverses in the movie business.
  13. tv review
    Gangs of London: Come for the Fights, Stay for the FightsThere’s more to this crime-thriller series from action maestro Gareth Evans than just bloody mayhem, but none of it transcends the bloody mayhem.
  14. light the lights
    The Muppet Show Must Go OnThe enduring troupe of felt players has always existed on a continuum of self-awareness, and it all began on The Muppet Show.
  15. tributes
    A Letter to Nick Nolte on His 80th BirthdayYou always were a character actor who just happened to be blessed with a movie-star face.
  16. obits
    The Adoration of Christopher PlummerThe late Sound of Music star was a workhorse actor with matinee-idol looks and an aversion to fuss. That’s why everyone wanted to work with him.
  17. tv review
    We Are the Brooklyn Saints’ Concerns Go Well Beyond Winning and LosingRudy Valdez’s Netflix docuseries reclaims dignity for its characters by seeking beauty, even poetry, in outwardly unremarkable scenarios.
  18. friday night movie club
    The Exquisite Violence of The Age of InnocenceThere are no shootings or beatdowns. No one gets run over by a carriage or slapped with a glove. But there’s emotional violence. And it’s unrelenting.
  19. close reads
    Has The Mandalorian Succumbed to the Dark Side?The final moments of the season-two finale represent the galaxy-collapsing shortsightedness that has come to define Disney-era Star Wars stories.
  20. best of 2020
    The Best TV of 2020These aren’t just very good TV shows. These were our escapes from despair.
  21. tv review
    The Good Lord Bird Is a Historical Epic That Speaks of and for the PresentEthan Hawke’s fiery John Brown is ultimately a supporting player in this savage, often corrosively funny portrait of the lead-up to the Civil War.
  22. tv review
    Fargo Disappears Into Its Own NavelEvery season of Noah Hawley’s crime anthology series is a veritable monologuefest, but season four seems especially top-heavy.
  23. tv review
    In Lovecraft Country, Monsters Past and Present ConvergeA present-tense correction of science fiction’s racist past, the new HBO series is what academics would call a “rich text.”
  24. filmmaking
    I’ll Be Gone in the Dark and the Power of Point of ViewVeteran documentary filmmaker Liz Garbus breaks down the process behind the HBO miniseries’ delicate balance of true crime and personal trauma.
  25. movies
    Amy Seimetz’s Mirror WorldsIn her new absurdist thriller, She Dies Tomorrow, the director-actress dares to think the unthinkable.
  26. tv review
    Kingdom Feels Like a Nightmare of NowThe South Korean zombie series is set in the 16th century and was filmed in 2017, but seems to be riffing on headlines from five minutes ago.
  27. tv review
    I’ll Be Gone in the Dark Sheds Light on a Remarkable True-Crime CrusaderThe miniseries is a brilliant retelling of Michelle McNamara’s quest to identify the Golden State Killer.
  28. vulture recommends
    Hannibal Is Your Next Great Binge-WatchBryan Fuller’s brilliant crime drama is finally on Netflix. What are you waiting for?
  29. cancellations
    Good Riddance to CopsFor three decades, the show was a key cheerleader of American law enforcement’s manicured self-image.
  30. george floyd protests
    The Quiet Trauma of Watching Police Brutality on a ScreenA conversation with a psychologist about how violent footage can “absolutely” traumatize viewers.
  31. movies
    Bill Duke on the Making of His Essential ’90s Thriller Deep CoverThe director contemplates the legacy of his neo-noir about cops and criminals, and what he sees in the protests sweeping the country today.
  32. legacies
    On Watching Mad Men in the Middle of a PandemicYou can see our world’s present-day crisis peeking through the negative spaces in Matthew Weiner’s 1960s saga.
  33. show guides
    Mad Men Is a Show That’s Built to LastYour complete guide to watching (or rewatching) the Matthew Weiner series.
  34. tv history
    How Soap Operas Changed TV ForeverThe ABC special The Story of Soaps makes a strong case for soaps as a legitimate but underappreciated and influential art form.
  35. overnights
    Mad Men Recap: SlideshowThe final two episodes of Mad Men’s first season are fully loaded, very different, and yet complementary picture wheels.
  36. overnights
    Mad Men Recap: They See What They AreMad Men’s first unmistakably meta episode is essentially a rewrite of Billy Wilder’s The Apartment.
  37. overnights
    Mad Men Recap: Special AngelA Betty-centric episode explores her and other characters’ sense of confinement and the potential downsides of escape.
  38. overnights
    Mad Men Recap: Business As UsualA series of beguiling character moments reveal how capitalism, advertising, and workplaces can warp the mind and kill the spirit.
  39. overnights
    Mad Men Recap: Total OwnershipA dishonest man lives here.
  40. overnights
    Mad Men Recap: Kid StuffMad Men’s characters constantly scold others for acting childish. But it’s pot-kettle all the way.
  41. overnights
    Mad Men Recap: Executive AccountsDon and Betty are conjoined by marriage, but they still feel alone.
  42. overnights
    Mad Men Recap: What Do Women Want?There are three potential utopias in Don’s current sexual landscape, and he’s endangering them all.
  43. overnights
    Mad Men Recap: InvestmentsPete’s anxiety in his father’s presence is not about dollars and cents; it’s about the shame Pete feels at having to ask for help in the first place.
  44. overnights
    Mad Men Recap: Old Dick WhitmanDon is not who he appears to be — and whoever he really is, he’s miserable.
  45. overnights
    Mad Men Recap: Nannies and EggsWe explore the world outside Sterling Cooper in the first fully formed example of Mad Men using symbolism to complicate its stories.
  46. overnights
    Mad Men Series Premiere Recap: It’s ToastedWho is Donald Draper? We don’t know yet. When will we find out? When the show is ready to tell us.
  47. tv review
    Mrs. America Isn’t Just a History LessonLed by an all-star cast, the FX on Hulu limited series is an addictive retelling of the Equal Rights Amendment fight.
  48. tv review
    Even Outside the Park, Westworld Gonna WestworldThe most frustratingly not-quite-there show on TV remains structurally bold, visually arresting, and woefully predisposed to turn subtext into text.
  49. eulogy
    Ellen Burstyn Remembers Inside the Actors Studio Host James Lipton“To know Jim was to constantly encounter more.”
  50. tv review
    Better Things Season 4 Is a Rare and Precious GiftPamela Adlon’s nervy, magnificent series makes almost every other American TV show, even excellent ones, seem formulaic and timid in comparison.
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