The Rise of CliffsNotes Cinema
Oversimplified literary remakes miss the point of the works they are adapting.
Culture
Why Justin Bieber Played YouTube Onstage for Thousands of People
The pop star transformed the normal act of browsing your laptop into something interesting—and unsettling.
The New Age of Performance Anxiety
With the rise of screen culture, all the world has stage fright.
Where Did ‘Let Them’ Come From?
Years before Mel Robbins published her best-selling self-help book, a struggling writer posted a poem with a similar message.
What People Don’t Understand About Black Nationalism
The long-overlooked activist Audley Moore knew that achieving radical goals sometimes required cooperation and dexterity.
The Savage Empathy of the Mosh Pit
The frontmen are demagogues, the crowds are fanatical, and yet a rugged compassion abides
The Art of Airing Your Dirty Laundry
Confessional outbursts after a failed relationship have a long history—and some people do them better than others.
A Daring New Take on Shakespeare’s Most Famous Soliloquy
The film adaptation of Hamnet gives new meaning to “To be, or not to be.”
Rob Reiner Was a Quiet Titan of Storytelling
The director and actor, who died yesterday, built a remarkable career that went far beyond his comic origins.
‘The Sun Rises and Sets With Her, Man’
The director Michael Mann isn’t thought of as a romantic, but the men of Heat, which turns 30 today, are fueled by their relationships.
The SNL Sketch That Captures the Absurdity of Life-Maxxing
The show mocked prettily packaged year-end features, such as Spotify “Wrapped,” that spit data collected about consumers back at them.
Inside a Flame
A poem
A Throwback Rom-Com About One Millennial Trying to Have It All
James L. Brooks’s Ella McCay is wacky and weird—but it doesn’t quite work.
The 10 Best Albums of 2025
This year’s most interesting artists invented their own grammar and tunneled in idiosyncratic directions.