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BERJAYA
best of 2026

The Best TV of the Year So Far

 2026’s highlights include a satisfying final course, a new vampire in the spotlight, and a true comedy-horror hybrid.
BERJAYA
album review

Madonna Finally Remembered She’s Madonna

 After two decades of musical follow-the-leader, Confessions II realizes Madonna is a trend worth chasing. By Craig Jenkins
BERJAYA
movie review

Enola Holmes 3 and the Case of Diminishing Returns

 Millie Bobby Brown can still be fun to watch, but Netflix’s young detective series is slowly losing its reason to exist. By Bilge Ebiri
  1. theater review
    BERJAYA
    Taking the Long View, Brilliantly: Birthright and CampingTwo powerful new works trace the way we grow up and draw closer — or come apart.
    By Sara Holdren
  2. movie review
    BERJAYA
    In Angelina Jolie’s Couture, the Metatextual Is the StarWriter-director Alice Winocour gives Angelina Jolie and her cast of women the opportunity to craft a yearning emotional state.
    By Angelica Jade Bastién
  3. movie review
    BERJAYA
    There’s a Good Story This Netflix Documentary Isn’t TellingYou can sense the more thoughtful film lurking beneath Skywalkers: A Love Story, about the illegal and exhilarating influencer-sport of “rooftopping.”
    By Bilge Ebiri
  4. movie review
    BERJAYA
    After All, Why Not? Why Shouldn’t the Minions Make a Love Letter to Cinema?Minions & Monsters is kind of like The Artist or Babylon, only with a giant orange blob-monster attack at the end.
    By Alison Willmore
  5. spoilers
    BERJAYA
    Farewell to House of the Dragon’s Best HangHe went out as he came in: sassy, well-fed, and eternally dissatisfied.
    By Nicholas Quah
  6. yelling
    BERJAYA
    No, The Bear Didn’t Copy The PittThe single-shift structure is both a familiar TV trope and distinctly well-suited to this farewell season.
    By Kathryn VanArendonk
  7. movie review
    Jackass: Best and Last
    Jackass: Best and Last Is Not the Best Jackass, and It Might Not Be the LastRectal exams. Colonoscopies. Lip injections. Office parties. The latest Jackass movie is all about growing old.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  8. new noise
    BERJAYA
    The Bear Abandons Its SoundWithout any needle drops, the show no longer feels like itself.
    By Roxana Hadadi
  9. close read
    BERJAYA
    Cape Fear’s Destination UnknownApple TV’s puzzle-box adaptation plays coy with what should be this story’s driving questions.
    By Roxana Hadadi
  10. movie review
    BERJAYA
    The Invite Is Occasionally Funny, But That’s About ItOlivia Wilde returns to directing with a stagy, uneven comedy starring Seth Rogen.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  11. tv review
    BERJAYA
    The Bear Trims the FatA pared-down final season reveals a fundamental truth about one of the most electrifying series of the past decade.
    By Nicholas Quah
  12. movie review
    BERJAYA
    Supergirl Is Fun, But Supergirl Is a Real LetdownMilly Alcock stars in the follow-up to last year’s revamped Superman, but the movie has no idea what to do with her or her character.
    By Alison Willmore
  13. movie review
    BERJAYA
    The Beautifully Handcrafted Rose of Nevada Is a Ghost Story Like No OtherCallum Turner and George MacKay are very good in Mark Jenkin’s bewitching folk tale.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  14. movie review
    BERJAYA
    Maddie’s Secret Feels Like an Attempt to Outrun IronyJohn Early’s directorial debut, in which he plays a food influencer with an eating disorder, is a strange, delightful homage to TV movies.
    By Alison Willmore
  15. movie review
    BERJAYA
    The Death of Robin Hood Is Logan on … Well, Not Steroids, ExactlyHugh Jackman has been here before, it seems.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  16. tv review
    BERJAYA
    House of the Dragon Finally Addresses the Dragon in the RoomIn embracing all-out nihilism, the Game of Thrones prequel reaches its potential in season three.
    By Roxana Hadadi
  17. movie review
    BERJAYA
    Toy Story 5 Chickens Out on Its Critique of Our Tech AddictionsThe latest installment in Pixar’s flagship franchise pits Woody, Buzz, and Jessie against devices, but can’t make the tough points.
    By Alison Willmore
  18. international affairs
    BERJAYA
    Kumail Nanjiani Is a Taskmaster Cautionary TaleHis middling performance is a warning for future celebrity contestants.
    By Roxana Hadadi
  19. endings
    BERJAYA
    Widow’s Bay Is Built to Survive the Second-Season CurseThere are no guarantees, in life or on hellmouth islands, but if any show can pull it off, it’s this one.
    By Kathryn VanArendonk
  20. album review
    BERJAYA
    Olivia Rodrigo Fights Her Way Out of the Third-Album RutEven when the ’80s-rock experiments don’t land, she remains an effective storyteller of heartbreak on You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love.
    By Craig Jenkins
  21. theater review
    BERJAYA
    June’s Off Broadway Productions to SeeXhloe & Natasha and Todd Almond’s Fringe imports, plus a bracing dose of anti-McCarthyism at City Center.
    By Sara Holdren
  22. movie review
    BERJAYA
    The Furious Is an Action Nerd’s DreamA Pan-Asian cast gives this attempt to bring back the glory days of Hong Kong cinema a more worldly edge.
    By Alison Willmore
  23. stand-up
    BERJAYA
    Oof, What a MessTony Hinchcliffe’s Netflix special isn’t bad because it’s offensive. It’s bad because it’s incompetent.
    By Hershal Pandya
  24. theater review
    BERJAYA
    A Romeo and Juliet That Ignores Its Own StrengthA production that rejects Shakespeare’s poetry puts itself at a disadvantage from the start.
    By Sara Holdren
  25. close read
    BERJAYA
    Reality TV’s Midlife CrisisIn season ten, Summer House stopped being about fun and started being about existential dread.
    By Kathryn VanArendonk
  26. movie review
    BERJAYA
    Questlove’s Earth, Wind & Fire Doc Is a Must-seeHe captures what made Maurice White both innovative and self-sabotaging.
    By Craig Jenkins
  27. movie review
    BERJAYA
    Disclosure Day Is Not the Movie You Think It IsSteven Spielberg returns to UFOs but this time from an even more spiritual angle.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  28. movie review
    BERJAYA
    Office Romance Is Almost What We Need From a Rom-ComJennifer Lopez’s new Netflix movie is cute, but it also reminds us that Hollywood rom-coms are in dire need of reinvention.
    By Angelica Jade Bastién
  29. movie review
    BERJAYA
    We Laugh Because We’re DefeatedScary Movie, a.k.a. Scary Movie 6, has some laughs. How can it not? It has thousands of jokes. But the signal-to-noise ratio is deafening.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  30. movie review
    BERJAYA
    Masters of the Universe Has Something to Say About MasculinityIt just isn’t sure what, exactly.
    By Alison Willmore
  31. tv review
    BERJAYA
    Black Rabbit Runs on Jason Bateman and Jude Law’s Sublime Brother ActThe riveting Netflix thriller is anchored by two of the most mercurial TV performances you’ll see this year.
    By Roxana Hadadi
  32. theater review
    BERJAYA
    Music in the Darkness: Girl, Interrupted Comes to the StageA new adaptation of the book incorporates music by Aimee Mann.
    By Jackson McHenry
  33. album review
    BERJAYA
    Paul McCartney Is Back Outside and on FireHis new album feels like a Beatles prequel — and it’s his best work since the 2000s.
    By Craig Jenkins
  34. best of 2026
    BERJAYA
    The Best Movies of the Year So Far2026’s highlights include a surprising sequel, an artful two-hander, and the sheep that made you cry.
    By Bilge Ebiri, Roxana Hadadi, and Alison Willmore
  35. bring on season 2
    BERJAYA
    The Fall and Rise Transcends Reggie DinkinsOver its exemplary first season, the mockumentary about one man’s image rehabilitation grew into a Hall of Fame hangout show.
    By Roxana Hadadi
  36. tv review
    BERJAYA
    Not Suitable for Work Can’t Decide If It’s In on the JokeMindy Kaling’s latest seems to ask, ‘Would you watch a sitcom about everyone you swipe past on Hinge?’
    By Jackson McHenry
  37. theater review
    BERJAYA
    The Loneliness of the Ghost-Town Throuple: JeromeIn John J. Caswell Jr.’s play, a gay couple living in the Arizona desert meet a stranger with a secret.
    By Jackson McHenry
  38. close read
    BERJAYA
    The Mess Was the PointEuphoria ended as a tug-of-war between extreme absurdity and realism, but that was always the show.
    By Craig Jenkins
  39. book review
    BERJAYA
    Maggie O’Farrell Goes MaximalistThe Hamnet author’s new novel, Land, is her most ambitious work to date.
    By Rachel Vorona Cote
  40. book review
    BERJAYA
    I Keep Falling for Ann Patchett’s Slightly Maudlin NovelsHer latest, Whistler, is full of unusually decent people. But it still made me tear up.
    By Emma Alpern
  41. movie review
    BERJAYA
    Making a Movie Out of a Vibe Is Harder Than It SoundsA24’s new horror movie Backrooms has incredible atmosphere — too bad about the rest of it.
    By Alison Willmore
  42. song review
    BERJAYA
    Ariana Grande’s New Single Is One of Her Worst“Hate That I Made You Love Me” could’ve been an interesting fan diss track, instead it comes off more like a sleepy shrug.
    By Craig Jenkins
  43. movie review
    BERJAYA
    Somewhere in Movie Heaven, a Cable Channel Is Showing Pressure on LoopAndrew Scott showcases his range and Brendan Fraser gets to play Dwight D. Eisenhower in this story about the weather forecast for D-Day.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  44. endings
    BERJAYA
    Hacks Was a Death DreamLet no one say the series didn’t go out on its own terms.
    By Nicholas Quah
  45. tv review
    BERJAYA
    Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed Practices a Lost TV ArtToo many current crime stories neglect an important feature of the amateur detective.
    By Kathryn VanArendonk
  46. theater review
    BERJAYA
    Video Killed The MaidsIn the hands of Kip Williams, Genet’s dark drama somehow becomes a play about how you look at your phone too much.
    By Jackson McHenry
  47. tv review
    BERJAYA
    At Least Nicolas Cage Is Having FunThe actor’s signature twitchy weirdness is the only thing keeping the snoozy Spider-Noir alive.
    By Nicholas Quah
  48. movie review
    BERJAYA
    I Love Boosters Is Colorful, Gonzo, and an Absolute MessBoots Riley’s audacious sophomore film lacks curiosity about the interior lives of his characters, undermining his political message.
    By Angelica Jade Bastién
  49. cannes 2026
    BERJAYA
    The Black Ball Is a Sublime and Clumsy Look at Gay Men Across a CenturyThe second feature from the Javis set Cannes aflame, but will it play the same way once it’s picked up for theaters?
    By Alison Willmore
  50. tv review
    BERJAYA
    There’s Something Big Beneath The BoroughsNetflix’s senior-community Stranger Things riff grapples with more than just nostalgia and monsters.
    By Roxana Hadadi
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