Culture
From NYT ARTS section
movies
The Year’s Best Fight Scenes Had One Thing in Common
Everywhere you looked this year, men were feuding. In movies like “Splitsville,” “Eddington” and “Friendship,” it was gloriously pathetic.
By Max Cea
movies
Did We Underestimate Kate Hudson?
For years she was pigeonholed as a rom-com star. Her turn as a blue-collar mom with a love of Neil Diamond just might vault her back to the Oscars.
By Brooks Barnes and Thea Traff
movies
‘The Testament of Ann Lee’ Review: A Woman Clothed With the Sun
In an extraordinary performance, Amanda Seyfried plays the founder of the Shakers in a singular film.
By Alissa Wilkinson
theater
‘Tartuffe’ Gets a Colorfully Modern Makeover
With its profanity-laced script, Lucas Hnath’s Molière adaptation, starring Matthew Broderick, is a mischievous clash of the old and the new.
By Tim Teeman
movies
The Ping-Pong Hustler Who Inspired ‘Marty Supreme’
Volleying questions with the table tennis champ Marty Reisman, an inspiration for Timothée Chalamet’s new film, showed that he was a character in his own right.
By Matt Flegenheimer
arts
In 2025, They Asked What Racial Solidarity Really Looks Like
Across film (“Sinners,” “One Battle After Another”), theater (“Ragtime”) and TV (“The Lowdown”), four works suggested what achieving racial equality in America would take.
By Salamishah Tillet
movies
Kate Winslet’s Unhappy Family Christmas
The British actress’s directorial debut, “Goodbye June,” is based on a script written by her son and follows a fractured family reuniting in the hospital over the holidays.
By Eleanor Stanford and Thea Traff
arts
9 Artists to Watch
A gifted Queens rapper (Lexa Gates), a noisy British band (Maruja), a Drake-approved emo songwriter (Julia Wolf), a lo-fi power-pop project (Sharp Pins) and more.
By Jon Caramanica, Joe Coscarelli, Jon Pareles and Lindsay Zoladz
arts
‘Heated Rivalry’ Scores Big With Hockey and Sex
Adapted from romance novels, this Canadian series has been a surprise hit for HBO Max.
By Erik Piepenburg
arts
Artists We Lost in 2025, in Their Words
Robert Redford, Roberta Flack, Diane Keaton and Brian Wilson are among the cultural luminaries who died this year.
By Gabe Cohn
arts
Miracle on 64th Street: Options for Holiday Opera
Usually, holiday opera is scarce on major stages in New York. But this year, there are two at Lincoln Center alone.
By Joshua Barone
movies
‘Jingle All the Way,’ and the Super Bad Dad Superhero
Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sinbad, Phil Hartman and Rita Wilson served a platter of high-octane holiday high jinks in this unhinged 1996 comedy.
By Maya Salam
arts
In These K-Dramas, Women Are Unjustly Accused (Maybe)
Netflix’s “The Price of Confession” and Hulu’s “Nine Puzzles” are thrillers with complicated plots and complicated protagonists.
By Mike Hale
arts
The Rockettes, at 100, Need a Kick in the Right Direction
This year, “Christmas Spectacular Starring the Radio City Rockettes” pays homage to the legacy of the group, but its future seems to be more about sisterhood than dancing.
By Gia Kourlas
books
Phyllis Lee Levin, Times Fashion Reporter and Biographer, Dies at 104
Her 1960 essay about the frustrations of educated women prefigured Betty Friedan’s “The Feminine Mystique.” She later wrote books on John Quincy Adams and others.
By Richard Sandomir
movies
‘Marty Supreme’ Review: Timothée Chalamet Sprints to the Top
The actor stars as a magnetic, striving table-tennis champ in Josh Safdie’s new movie, one of the most exciting movies of the year.
By Manohla Dargis
movies
‘The Choral’ Review: Singing to Keep the Fear at Bay
As England goes to war, a provincial choir master played by Ralph Fiennes is challenged to find available voices in this poignant drama set in 1916.
By Glenn Kenny
movies
‘Song Sung Blue’ Review: A Christmas ‘Caroline’
Craig Brewer’s toe-tapping weepie about the triumphs and tragedies of a Neil Diamond tribute band is exactly the movie we need right now.
By Jeannette Catsoulis
movies
‘The Plague’ Review: Pool of the Flies
A stunner of a debut film follows a group of boys at a water polo camp, where an outsider is just trying to fit in.
By Alissa Wilkinson
movies
‘Anaconda’ Review: Back in the Jungle
The movie gets at least one thing right: Rebooting the shlocky, widely-panned creature-feature, starring Jack Black and Paul Rudd, is a goofy idea.
By Beatrice Loayza
movies
‘Father Mother Sister Brother’ Review: Families, Untied
Jim Jarmusch’s uneven triptych, a prizewinner at Venice, saves its best segment for last.
By Ben Kenigsberg
podcasts
Andrew Garfield Wants to Crack Open Your Heart (Encore)
The actor knows life is fleeting, but he wants to hold on to every moment.
By Anna Martin, Reva Goldberg, Emily Lang, Davis Land, Amy Pearl, Sara Curtis, Elisa Gutierrez, Jen Poyant, Lynn Levy, Daniel Ramirez, Dan Powell, Aman Sahota and Diane Wong
movies
‘Goodbye June’ Review: Terms of Endearment, and Estrangement
Kate Winslet directs a formulaic script by her son, Joe Anders, about a dying matriarch and her quarreling adult children.
By Natalia Winkelman
arts
‘Stranger Things’ Creators Break Down Their Latest Influences
With a new batch of episodes arriving on Christmas Day, Matt and Ross Duffer discuss the sometimes obscure movie and video game references in the final season so far.
By Austin Considine
arts
An Ecological Tale Gives Life to Metroid Prime 4
A slow start is overcome while learning about an extinct alien race that welcomed a savior.
By Harold Goldberg
arts
Sean Combs’s Lawyers File Appeal, Arguing His Sentence Was Unjust
The mogul’s lawyers say that a judge issued an excessively steep sentence for prostitution offenses after Mr. Combs was acquitted of more serious charges.
By Julia Jacobs and Ben Sisario
movies
Robert Nakamura, ‘Godfather’ of Asian American Film, Dies at 88
In his work, he often returned to Manzanar, the camp in which he and his family, along with thousands of other people of Japanese descent, were interned during World War II.
By Jeré Longman
arts
10 Songs That Explain My Year
From Gustav Mahler to Lady Gaga, a peek into Lindsay’s past 12 months in music.
By Lindsay Zoladz
arts
British Police Drop Case Against Band That Chanted ‘Death, Death to the I.D.F.’
Bob Vylan, a punk-rap duo, caused international outrage by chanting the message at the Glastonbury music festival this year.
By Alex Marshall
arts
Russell Brand Is Charged With Additional Counts of Rape and Sexual Assault
The actor, comedian and YouTuber now faces seven counts of rape and sexual assault in Britain.
By Alex Marshall
theater
‘The Queen of Versailles’ Bombed on Broadway. What Went Wrong?
The show reunited Kristin Chenoweth and Stephen Schwartz for the first time since “Wicked.” It wasn’t enough to counter poor word of mouth and other challenges.
By Michael Paulson
arts
What Song Did You Discover, or Rediscover, in 2025?
We want to know why it resonated with you.
By Lindsay Zoladz
arts
In Ontario, the Uplifting Case of the Stolen ‘Nutcracker’ Sets
Ballet Jörgen’s holiday scare reaffirmed its mission: taking the art form to remote towns and outposts where most people have never seen a pas de deux.
By Martha Schabas and Brett Gundlock
arts
Taylor Swift Caps Her Eras Tour Era
Seven takeaways from the final episodes of “The End of an Era,” the Disney+ series exploring her globe-trotting concert extravaganza.
By Esther Zuckerman
arts
Influencers Get Their Night at the Opera as the Met Courts New Fans
The Metropolitan Opera has invited 70 influencers to help convince a younger, online audience that opera isn’t scary or even unaffordable.
By Adam Nagourney
arts
The Best Animated Shows and Movies of 2025
Yes, “KPop Demon Hunters” makes the list. But that was just one of the standouts in a great year.
By Maya Phillips
books
From ‘Mona’s Eyes’ to ‘Theo of Golden’: This Year’s Surprise Hit Novels
These days, most best sellers are written by authors with household names. Not these five breakout books.
By Alexandra Alter and Elizabeth A. Harris
movies
May Britt, 91, Dies; Her Marriage to Sammy Davis Jr. Sparked Outrage
She was a white actress, he was a popular Black entertainer, and their relationship elicited racist reactions in 1960, worrying John F. Kennedy’s presidential campaign.
By Clay Risen
us
Lawmaker Sues to Remove Trump’s Name From the Kennedy Center
Representative Joyce Beatty, Democrat of Ohio, argues that only Congress is authorized to rename the D.C. performing arts institution.
By Shawn McCreesh