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☆ Barbie and Bella: Two Different Shades of Female Liberation
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-02 | by ( Maya Phillips | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

One takes place in a bright, plastic world where everything is coated in pink. The other takes place in an isolated black-and-white world that transforms, “Wizard of Oz” style, into a flashy, steampunk domain. Though they’re very different stylistically, the Oscar-nominated films “Barbie” and “Poor Things” are both modern feminist fables about the making of a woman. Here the Dr. Frankenstein is Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe), and his monstrous creation is Bella (Emma Stone), a woman he has resurrected. At first Bella babbles and stumbles around like a precocious toddler, learning to speak and move by imitating the adults around her.

Persons: Oz, Oscar, “ Barbie ”, Yorgos Lanthimos, Mary Shelley’s “, jigsaws, Frankenstein, Godwin Baxter, Willem Dafoe, Bella, Emma Stone, Bella babbles

☆ ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’: Been There, Saved That
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-22 | by ( Maya Phillips | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Nickelodeon’s 2005 series “Avatar: The Last Airbender” was a sprawling odyssey that combined intricate world-building, meticulous references to Asian and Native cultures, lively humor and sharply plotted drama, all animated in a charming, anime-inspired style. In 2010 there was the famously whitewashed live-action film “The Last Airbender,” which was, deservedly, met with a ferocious torrent of fan-fury. The sequel series, “Avatar: The Legend of Korra,” was more in touch with the original, but still unnecessary. And the same can be said for Netflix’s “Avatar: The Last Airbender,” the streamer’s latest big money, live-action adaptation that proves just how difficult it is to capture the magic of a beloved original. Like the original series, Netflix’s “Avatar: The Last Airbender” also takes place in a fictional Eastern world of four nations: Air Nomads, Water Tribe, Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation.

Persons: deservedly, ”, Netflix’s, Ian Ousley, Gordon Cormier, Michael Dante DiMartino, Bryan Konietzko Organizations: Air, Fire, Nation, Nickelodeon

The Oscar-nominated short films are being presented in three programs: live action, animation and documentary. Each program is reviewed below by a separate critic. Live ActionWhatever your takeaways from the live action section of this year’s Oscar-nominated short films, a good laugh is unlikely to be among them. Those Danes, though! Although, bathed in the sickly spill of the morgue’s fluorescents, no one’s complexion here is exactly glowing.

Persons: Oscar, Wes Anderson, Lasse Lyskjer, “ Knight, Fortune, ” Organizations: Danes

☆ 10 Performances That Pushed Emotional Limits
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-03 | by ( Maya Phillips | More About Maya Phillips | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

‘Jaja’s African Hair Braiding’Even if the hairstyles in this play weren’t as fabulous as they were, Jocelyn Bioh’s “Jaja’s African Hair Braiding,” about a day in the life of African immigrants working in a Harlem hair-braiding shop, would still be a sparkling Broadway delight. That’s thanks to Bioh’s colorful characters and brisk, playful dialogue. I didn’t know until I saw David Adjmi’s “Stereophonic,” which kept me fully engaged through its full three-hour running time. We learn about the characters through the parts they play in making and performing this music — which, by the way, is amazing, and written by Will Butler, formerly of Arcade Fire. (Read our review of “Flex.”)

Persons: ‘, Jocelyn Bioh’s “, Whitney, it’s, guiltily, Daisy Jones, ”, Fleetwood Mac, David Adjmi’s, Will Butler, David Zinn’s, Ryan, you’re, Erica Matthews, Mitzi E, Newhouse, “, Lileana Blain Organizations: Broadway, Center Theater Locations: Harlem, Arkansas

☆ ‘Scott Pilgrim Takes Off,’ Almost
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-19 | by ( Maya Phillips | More About Maya Phillips | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Did you know that at some point in the ’90s there were two separate, very different Sonic the Hedgehog TV series running simultaneously? “And the same guy played Sonic in both shows,” Scott Pilgrim, the doofy 23-year-old layabout of “Scott Pilgrim Takes Off,” shares, unprompted, to his love interest, Ramona Flowers. The same guy playing two different versions of the same guy? It’s almost like how the same guy (Michael Cera) has now played two different versions of this same guy (Scott Pilgrim) — first in Edgar Wright’s damn-near-perfect 2010 film, “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World,” and now in this underwhelming Netflix anime adaptation, both based on Bryan Lee O’Malley’s beloved graphic novel series. “Scott Pilgrim Takes Off” isn’t a reboot or a sequel; it begins almost identically to the film but takes a sharp turn at the end of the first episode that sets it up as essentially an alternate-reality scenario.

Persons: ” Scott Pilgrim, “ Scott Pilgrim, Ramona Flowers, “, Michael Cera, Scott Pilgrim, —, Edgar Wright’s, Bryan Lee O’Malley’s, Scott, Ramona Organizations: Netflix Locations: Toronto, “

☆ When a Seat in the Theater Means a Seat in the Salon
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-13 | by ( Maya Phillips | More About Maya Phillips | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

In a scene in Jocelyn Bioh’s “Jaja’s African Hair Braiding,” a man rolls in a cart of items to sell to the clients and stylists at the titular salon. I wasn’t the only one: A small contingency of the audience at the Samuel J. Friedman Theater started snickering and laughing before he had even fully stepped onstage. “Jaja’s African Hair Braiding” draws its comedy from this world — a world familiar to many Black women audience members like me. Bioh’s salon isn’t an abstraction or callback; it’s a Black business set in modern-day Harlem. Bioh’s writing captures the quirks of a Black hair salon, and the characters who populate it: the unfortunate early-bird client who’s first to arrive when the shop’s late to open, the internal salon politics of stylists competing for clients, the inappropriate gossip, the sense of community.

Persons: Jocelyn Bioh’s “, ”, Samuel J, “, Whitney White, it’s Organizations: Friedman Locations: Harlem, Jaja’s

☆ What to Know About the Anime Coco Gauff Watches Before Playing
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-08 | by ( Maya Phillips | More About Maya Phillips | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

But those really looking to level up take a different approach: watching anime. Or at least that’s what the 19-year-old American tennis sensation Coco Gauff does. Gauff, who qualified for her first U.S. Open singles final on Thursday night by defeating Karolina Muchova, said that her postmatch plans would include watching anime. In particular, Gauff said, she’s a fan of “My Hero Academia.” When asked how she would be spending the rest of her evening, Gauff responded: “Press. Izuku Midoriya, a young superhero fanboy, is one of the rare “quirkless” individuals, though he still dreams of somehow becoming the top hero.

Persons: Coco Gauff, Karolina Muchova, Gauff, she’s, ”, ‘, Academia ’, Izuku, Midoriya Organizations: “ Press, Marvel Locations: American, U.S

☆ Liberating? Exploitative? A Nude Scene Summer Report Card.
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-03 | by ( Maya Phillips | More About Maya Phillips | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

This has been a summer of women being liberated — from their wardrobes, mostly. Depending on the context of the story, the director’s intention, the work’s perspective or the execution of the shot, a nude scene may serve as shorthand for a character’s newfound physical or spiritual freedom, or even an emotional or psychological breakthrough. Or it may be another case of entertainment using a woman’s body for shock value. The setup: On “The Idol,” a young pop star named Jocelyn (Lily-Rose Depp), feeling artistically frustrated and in the midst of a nervous breakdown, thrives under the tutelage of a mysterious club owner named Tedros (Abel Tesfaye, a.k.a. The scene: It’s tough to pick just one nude scene in this disaster of a television show because Jocelyn is perennially stuck in a state of partial undress.

Persons: “, “ Oppenheimer ”, Beauvoir, ”, Jocelyn, Lily, Rose Depp, Tedros, Abel Tesfaye

☆ This Netflix Anime Uses Alt-History to Explore Gender Norms
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-14 | by ( Maya Phillips | More About Maya Phillips | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Gender is a trap. That’s some of the subtext in the fascinating Netflix anime series “Ōoku: The Inner Chambers,” which tells a complex love story in an alternate-reality Edo Japan in which an illness upends society’s gender norms and expectations. (Iemitsu is based on the real-life shogun of the Tokugawa clan with the same name; “Ōoku” cleverly builds up its world from select real historical characters and events.) Forced to present herself as a man, Iemitsu grows into a brutal, violent misogynist. She struggles to find her place within the limitations of the gender binary.

Persons: Tokugawa, Iemitsu, Ōoku ” Locations: Edo Japan, Japan, ”

☆ When the Scientific Method Is an Accessory to Murder
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-08 | by ( Maya Phillips | More About Maya Phillips | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

LIQUID SNAKES, by Stephen KearseSomeone sound the alarms, bar the labs and give Dr. Fauci a ring — the scientists have gone mad. Not in real life, thankfully, but in “Liquid Snakes,” Stephen Kearse’s new novel, in which two C.D.C. epidemiologists try to track down a man’s home-brewed drug that he plans to wield as a bioweapon for revenge. Clever, pretentious and a bit sociopathic, Kenny is the mad scientist Walter White-ing his way through an unnecessarily involved revenge plot. But unlike Walter, Kenny is awfully dull.

Persons: Stephen Kearse, Fauci, Stephen Kearse’s, epidemiologists, Kenny Bomar, Kenny milks, Kenny, Walter White, Walter, don’t Organizations: Valencia

☆ ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem’ Review: Superfly’s Revenge
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-02 | by ( Maya Phillips | More About Maya Phillips | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

There’s a refreshing sense of nostalgia in “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem” — and it doesn’t just have to do with the fact that the eternally youthful ninja turtles have been around since the 1980s, in the form of the original comic book series, as well as TV adaptations, films, toys and video games. After all, what’s more adolescent than that? Now, as teenagers, the turtles — pugnacious Raphael (Brady Noon), doofy Michelangelo (Shamon Brown Jr.), nerdy Donatello (Micah Abbey) and their ever-earnest leader, Leonardo (Nicolas Cantu) — dream of having a normal life with humans. But the aboveground masses face their own threat: Another mutated creature, Superfly (Ice Cube), aims to overtake the human world, Magneto-style. The turtles team up with a student journalist named April (Ayo Edebiri) to try to save the day and hopefully be accepted into human society.

Persons: Jackie Chan, who’s, pugnacious Raphael, Brady, doofy Michelangelo, Shamon Brown, Donatello, Micah Abbey, Leonardo, Nicolas Cantu, —, Ayo Locations: New York

☆ ‘The Great Gatsby’ Review: Raising a Glass to an American Tragedy
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-29 | by ( Maya Phillips | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

There ain’t no party like a Jay Gatsby party — in “The Great Gatsby,” F. Scott Fitzgerald’s debonair poster boy of American ambition and the nouveau riche never lets the festivities stop. Neither does Immersive Everywhere’s “The Great Gatsby: The Immersive Show,” a jovial feast for the senses that never, in its lagging two-and-a-half-hour running time, truly rises above the status of a mere attraction. Gatsby’s neighbor, Nick Carraway, narrates Gatsby’s tragic — and, ultimately, fatal — fall from the world of the rich and famous. Gatsby hopes to woo Nick’s cousin Daisy, with whom he had a love affair that he’s never forgotten. Main plot points, including major introductions and confrontations, are played as set scenes that everyone witnesses together in the main space.

Persons: Jay Gatsby, ”, Scott Fitzgerald’s, riche, Gatsby, Nick Carraway, Daisy, he’s, Tom Buchanan, Alexander Wright, Rob Brinkmann, Joél Acosta, Nick Locations: “

☆ Where Does ‘Unicorn: Warriors Eternal’ Rank in the Tartakovsky Canon?
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-27 | by ( Maya Phillips | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

On Friday, “Unicorn: Warriors Eternal,” the latest series from the famed animator Genndy Tartakovsky, will wrap up its first season on Adult Swim. What does “Unicorn” do well and less well? And what should you watch next if the series served as your introduction to Tartakovsky? I have broken down the good, the bad and the middling of his oeuvre — specifically TV series that he created and had the most creative control over (so no “Powerpuff Girls” or “Hotel Transylvania”) — and how “Unicorn” fits in with the rest. ‘Dexter’s Laboratory’ (1996-2003)

Persons: Genndy Tartakovsky, Jack, ”, ‘ Locations: “, Transylvania

☆ In ‘A Simulacrum,’ Steve Cuiffo Has Nothing Up His Sleeves
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-20 | by ( Alexis Soloski | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Cuiffo and Hnath have created “A Simulacrum,” which includes both classic tricks (the ambitious card, the torn and restored newspaper) and some new ones. Because “A Simulacrum,” running through July 2 at Atlantic Stage 2, is less a demonstration of magic than a deconstruction of how and why magic is made. To perform it, Cuiffo, 45, had to unlearn most of his habits, to strip away any vestige of showmanship. His offstage persona is fairly close to the stage one he favors — rumpled, excitable, mildly sardonic, casually authoritative. Cuiffo, a familiar face Off Broadway, is unusual both in how he fuses magic and theater, which few performers do, and in how he appears to combine rigor with a seeming spontaneity.

Persons: ”, —, Maya Phillips Organizations: Atlantic, The Locations: Chelsea, The Times

Tony voters struck a perfect equilibrium with the awards for scenic design. Beowulf Boritt won for the musical “New York, New York,” a big, buoyant throwback of a show whose aesthetic is decidedly classic Broadway. “There’s no video wall in ‘New York, New York,’” he assured the audience, which sounded glad to hear it. Recognizing such different kinds of excellence, the Tonys gracefully embraced both tradition and tradition-breaking. LAURA COLLINS-HUGHESSmall is beautiful

Persons: Tony, Beowulf Boritt, ”, “, ’ ”, Tim Hatley, Andrzej Goulding, LAURA COLLINS, HUGHES Organizations: “ Locations: York , New York, ‘ New York , New York

☆ ‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’ Review: Worlds Wide Web
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( Maya Phillips | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Both “Spider-Verse” films, in what will be a trilogy, create dimension in these kinds of details, and I don’t just mean the animation. Because what else is adolescence but a confrontation with the various possibilities in life, the infinite selves you can be? The fact that Miles and Gwen also shoot webs and swing around skyscrapers is incidental to their emotional arcs in the film. “Spider-Verse” also asks intriguing questions about the limitations of the canon, and whether tragedy is a prerequisite for a Spider-Man origin story — the death of an Uncle Ben or Aunt May or Uncle Aaron. But “Across the Spider-Verse” is never dull, nor precious with its characters and comedy.

Persons: Gwen, Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, Justin K, Thompson, Miles, Uncle Ben, Uncle Aaron, —, three’s Locations: New York, Jamaican, two’s

☆ Tony Awards 2023: Who Will Win (and Who Should)
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Jesse Green | Maya Phillips | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

We love theater; theater awards, not so much. So take our annual Tony Awards “ballot” (though we don’t actually get to vote) with a shaker of salt — and these caveats. In the “Will Win” category, we guess what the 769 actual voters will choose. We don’t mean to suggest that the people and productions listed in the “Should Win” category are more deserving than those in the “Will Win” category. It salutes work that was eligible for nomination — but also, indicated by an asterisk, work that wasn’t.

☆ ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’ Review: Raccoon Tears and a Final Mixtape
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Maya Phillips | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

A powerful god-figure, the High Evolutionary has genetically altered Rocket, other animals and even children to create a perfect race to inhabit his imagined utopia. But the shift also feels belabored and emotionally manipulative; scenes upon scenes of shot, blown up, tortured and incinerated C.G.I. It seems “Guardians” needs this much gratuitous trauma bait to establish its stakes and prove that the bad guy is, in fact, bad. Something like Thanos Lite or a knockoff Dr. Frankenstein, the High Evolutionary represents one of the central problems the franchise is facing in a post-“Endgame” M.C.U. “There is no god — that’s why I stepped in,” the High Evolutionary says at one point.

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