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NBC Saturday Night Live’s Confusing Celebration of Jeff Bezos
Steve Carell played the Amazon CEO as an anti-Trump crusader in one of the show’s more baffling sketches.
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Stephanie Law / Tachyon One of the Best Fantasy Novels Ever Is Nothing Like The Lord of the Rings
In The Last Unicorn, there are no maps, invented languages, or epic battles. But the 1968 tale has a timely message about the importance of reality over magic.
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Yuri Gripas / Reuters How Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Plain Black Jacket Became a Controversy
The backlash against the incoming congresswoman’s “very nice” outfit is both tedious and predictable.
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HBO The Gorgeous Savagery of My Brilliant Friend
The HBO adaptation of Elena Ferrante’s first Neapolitan novel is a strikingly faithful achievement.
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Mario Anzuoni / Reuters Mariah Carey on the Warpath
Caution, the singer’s first album in four years, is both silky and sharp.
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Universal Pictures Green Book: A Flimsy Tale Elevated by Two Great Performances
The director Peter Farrelly’s film about transcending race is saved by bravura turns by Viggo Mortensen and Mahershala Ali.
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Francisco Seco / AP Isabel Allende’s Unconventional Advice for Finding Writing Inspiration
At Wednesday’s National Book Awards ceremony, the Chilean American novelist demystified the creative process with warm candor.
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Netflix The Kominsky Method Is a Strange, Slapdash Show
Chuck Lorre’s new Netflix series about an aging acting coach and his bereaved best friend is a curiously confused affair.
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20th Century Fox Steve McQueen’s Widows Is the Smartest Blockbuster of the Year
The Oscar-winning 12 Years a Slave director has made an intelligent, crowd-pleasing heist film with a powerhouse ensemble led by Viola Davis.
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Netflix The Ballad of Buster Scruggs Doesn’t Quite Add Up
Though its “chapters” are individually compelling, the Coen brothers’ Western anthology film is an ungainly whole.
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Courtesy of Neon The Unsettled Place of the Gay Teen in Film History
Prior to the recent boom in movies about queer kids, their struggles played out in boundary-pushing indie films and entertaining sidekick roles.
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WELL GO USA How Burning Captures the Toll of Extreme Inequality in South Korea
Lee Chang-dong’s new film paints a deft and intimate portrait of a young generation beset by economic desperation.
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Doug McLean The Closest of All Possible Encounters
John Wray describes how a wilderness survival guide taught him to face his fears while completing his most challenging book yet.
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AP / Bettmann / Getty / Kathy Hutchins ... Karina Longworth Makes Old Hollywood New
The writer and critic has found a cult following with her podcast, You Must Remember This, unpacking the myths to show age-old stories and stars in a new light.
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Joe Raedle / Getty / Katie Martin / ... The Uncommon, Requisite Resolve of Michelle Obama
The former first lady’s new memoir is notable for the revealing glimpses it offers into private moments of fear and frustration.
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Warner Bros. J.K. Rowling Enters George Lucas Mode With the New Fantastic Beasts Movie
The Harry Potter author is pouring a wealth of ideas about her wizarding world into a mold that doesn’t have the space for it.
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AP Stan Lee Was Synonymous With American Superhero Comics
The industry legend, who created beloved Marvel characters like the Fantastic Four and Spider-Man, died at the age of 95.
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Steve Liss / The LIFE Images Collection / ... Remembering Matthew Shepard in Today’s Climate of Hate
During a time that finds Americans grappling anew with the horrors of normalized bigotry, the icon’s personal belongings have found a new home at the Smithsonian.
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Tim Mosenfelder / Getty Smino’s Funky Raps Soothe the Soul
On his masterly sophomore album, NØIR, the St. Louis–born rapper incorporates gospel, R&B, and jazz influences with an inventive flourish.
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Viktoriia1208 / Shutterstock / Arsh Raziuddin / The ... A Road-Trip Novel That Punctures Political Myopia
Carol Bensimon’s We All Loved Cowboys features a difficult protagonist whose myopia belies the wide, complex world outside her car window.
