movies

Williams as Monroe.

Michelle Williams in Yet Another Impossibly Starmaking Turn with a Sublime Performance as Marilyn Monroe

In the weekly grind of seeing, suffering through, and writing about what passes for movies today, perfection is a word I rarely have the occasion to use. A warm, wonderful and enchanting work of artistry such as My Week With Marilyn is the exception to that problem. What an extraordinary thrill to leave a movie exhilarated instead of drained, sated instead of empty, rejuvenated instead of depressed. It’s a magical experience. Read More

This Year’s Tony Tip-Offs: Can Jersey Be Stopped?

The June 11 Tony Awards ceremony on CBS is sure to be the usual riveting event, and I’ll certainly be watching the broadcast along with the other 322 viewers across the nation. Not to be too cynical, but at least 199 of them will be from New Jersey. They’ll be cheering for Jersey Boys, the Read More

This Year’s Tony Tip-Offs: Can Jersey Be Stopped?

The June 11 Tony Awards ceremony on CBS is sure to be the usual riveting event, and I’ll certainly be watching the broadcast along with the other 322 viewers across the nation. Not to be too cynical, but at least 199 of them will be from New Jersey. They’ll be cheering for Jersey Boys, the Read More

Bennett’s The History Boys: Telling Witty Tales of School

Alan Bennett’s The History Boys is all the good things you’ve surely heard about it. I’ve seen Nicholas Hytner’s acclaimed National Theatre production twice now and doubled my pleasure. Mr. Bennett has written a wonderfully engaging play about an English obsession—schooldays. It sparkles with wit and intelligence, and it couldn’t be better acted. And I’m Read More

Bennett’s The History Boys: Telling Witty Tales of School

Alan Bennett’s The History Boys is all the good things you’ve surely heard about it. I’ve seen Nicholas Hytner’s acclaimed National Theatre production twice now and doubled my pleasure. Mr. Bennett has written a wonderfully engaging play about an English obsession—schooldays. It sparkles with wit and intelligence, and it couldn’t be better acted. And I’m Read More

A Briefly Brilliant Editor, And His Long, Slow Twilight

The second act of Willie Morris’ life could be a sequel to The Great Gatsby—in which we learn what became of Gatsby’s brooding confidant Nick Carraway, blasted out of the Manhattan high life by a brutal calamity, and spending the balance of his days back home in the provinces, savoring simpler pleasures and sizing up Read More

A Briefly Brilliant Editor, And His Long, Slow Twilight

The second act of Willie Morris’ life could be a sequel to The Great Gatsby—in which we learn what became of Gatsby’s brooding confidant Nick Carraway, blasted out of the Manhattan high life by a brutal calamity, and spending the balance of his days back home in the provinces, savoring simpler pleasures and sizing up Read More

The Shakespeare Code: Is Times Guy Kind Of Bard ‘Creationist’?

It started out amusing, in a way, but now it’s getting ugly—the little-noticed battle over The New York Times’ Shakespeare coverage.

Earlier this month, invocations of creationism and Holocaust denial were injected into the debate by no less an authority than Harvard’s Stephen Greenblatt, author of the best-seller Will in the World. On Sept. 4, Read More

The Shakespeare Code: Is Times Guy Kind Of Bard ‘Creationist’?

It started out amusing, in a way, but now it’s getting ugly—the little-noticed battle over The New York Times’ Shakespeare coverage.

Earlier this month, invocations of creationism and Holocaust denial were injected into the debate by no less an authority than Harvard’s Stephen Greenblatt, author of the best-seller Will in the World. On Sept. 4, Read More