Culture

The Shadow That’s Haunting Will Smith

He’s still a movie star. But both of his latest films reflect an actor terrified of fading into obscurity.

• David Sims
• 8:00 AM ET

The Books Briefing: Short Stories to Read and Reread This Weekend

Get ready for more original fiction from The Atlantic. Your weekly guide to the best in books.

• Rosa Inocencio Smith
• January 24, 2020

Matthew McConaughey Can Do Better Than This

The actor gives a listless performance in The Gentlemen, an unpleasant muddle of bigoted humor and tired clichés.

• David Sims
• January 24, 2020

How The Two Popes Condemns Current-Day Authoritarianism

The film’s references to radical pedagogical texts can be read as a subtle rebuke of Brazil’s Bolsonarismo.

• Vincent Bevins
• January 24, 2020

Finally, Apple Has Made a Great TV Show With Little America

The new anthology series is a refreshing break from the lackluster programming the streaming service has offered thus far.

• Hannah Giorgis
• January 23, 2020

Cheer Is Built on a Pyramid of Broken Bodies

Netflix’s new docuseries doesn’t flinch at the danger that cheerleaders regularly subject themselves to.

• Amanda Mull
• January 22, 2020

The LSU Championship Game Further Exposed the NCAA’s Hypocrisy

With the recent victory, the association has shown signs that it cannot defend its amateurism model for much longer.

• Stephen A. Miller
• January 22, 2020

Harvey Weinstein’s Pain

As his criminal trial begins, the mogul seems to believe that the language of pain used by his accusers applies just as readily to himself.

• Megan Garber
• January 22, 2020

What Critics Are Looking Forward to at Sundance 2020

The annual film festival will kick off a new year in independent cinema this week.

• David Sims
• January 22, 2020

Halsey, Selena Gomez, and Pop That Acknowledges Mental Struggle

Two new albums, Manic and Rare, air inner turmoil bluntly while staying catchy and controlled.

• Spencer Kornhaber
• January 21, 2020

Schitt’s Creek Has Been Building to This Point About Love

On the feel-good sitcom, now in its final season, romances signal a more surprising attachment: to home.

• Hannah Giorgis
• January 21, 2020

A Film About Teens Finding Love Amid Climate Apocalypse

Makoto Shinkai’s bold and charming Weathering With You is set in a world ending so gradually, people barely notice it anymore.

• David Sims
• January 20, 2020

Gwyneth Paltrow’s Netflix Show Is Painful to Watch

The streaming service has turned the star’s controversial e-commerce brand into a series. Soft-lit chaos ensues.

• Megan Garber
• January 18, 2020

Eminem Slips Into the Mind of the Las Vegas Shooter

The rapper’s “Darkness” video tries to fight gun violence while also glorifying it.

• Spencer Kornhaber
• January 17, 2020

Stephen King’s Comments About the Oscars Explain the Oscars

The author, who is an Academy Award voter, inadvertently captured why Hollywood’s biggest ceremony faces a diversity problem year after year.

• Hannah Giorgis
• January 17, 2020

The Books Briefing: What’s White and Black and Read All Over?

The journalists who help us contextualize: Your weekly guide to the best in books

• Myles Poydras
• January 17, 2020

Mac Miller Was Trying to Tell a Survival Story

The absorbing posthumous album Circles shows the rapper considering his own fragility.

• Spencer Kornhaber
• January 16, 2020

Dolittle Is One of the Worst Movies in Years

The new film starring Robert Downey Jr. as a doctor who talks to animals is transfixing at times, if only because it’s such a disaster.

• David Sims
• January 16, 2020

The Frank Bidart Poem That Sums Up How Artists Innovate

In writing, originality doesn’t have to mean rejecting traditional forms.

• Joe Fassler
• January 16, 2020