Last month, New York Times bestselling author Karen Abbott published a nonfiction book called Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy, with its subject four fascinating women who became spies during the Civil War—Belle Boyd, teenage rebel and "Secesh Cleopatra"; Emma Edmonds, dressed as a soldier, her nom de guerre "Frank";…

Remember when a micro-violin had to be specially made and tuned to assuage Washington Post columnist Richard Coen's anxiety about how James Bond's screen evolution from slack-limbed inebriate to P90X infomercial model meant that cantankerous old lechers like Richard Coen might no longer be able to impress attractive…

Rihanna debuted a collection of assorted fabrics Saturday night at River Island as part of London Fashion Week, and, if the outrage expressed by Tom Sykes of The Daily Beast is any indication of the prevailing critical sentiment, things did not go well.

Earlier this week, the perpetually entertaining film critic Roger Ebert (fast fact: Roger Ebert, a true hometown hero, has a good word for pretty much every movie that was ever filmed in Chicago) posted a very long, very discursive story from a film critic in Buffalo named Michael Calleri, who felt compelled —…

In spite of — or because of, you masochistic television viewer, you — the thoroughly terrible Liz & Dick trailer, you probably won't be able to help yourself from at least DVRing Lindsay Lohan's small screen biopic comeback when it premieres on Lifetime Nov. 25. Maybe this is because you really liked Mean Girls and…

At a Wednesday session of this summer's Television Critics Association press tour, Aaron Sorkin took the stage alongside Newsroom accomplices Jeff Daniels and executive producer Alan Poul to pedantically explain to critics and journalists who, on the whole, don't much care for his new show that The Newsroom is…

In a recent NPR interview with David Greene, author Jennifer Weiner — whose bestselling fiction has often been derided by literary critics as "chick lit" — talked about her latest novel, the dearth of women in Hollywood writers' rooms, and her ongoing feud with the New York Times, which hasn't been very kind to…

Well, this rarely happens! Just when you think the fashion press has completely given up and finally become the toothless lap dogs of their advertisers, a critic will really let rip on one of the industry's holiest of sacred cows.

Lady Gaga's highly anticipated album, Born This Way, has arrived! And the reviews are…mixed. The critics seem to struggle not with the artists's message, but the delivery — the word "bombastic" was used more than once.

While Eat Pray Love is generally faithful to Elizabeth Gilbert's memoir, critics say the film cut most of the book's "self-realization lessons" to make time for more shots of Julia Roberts eating and loving her way through sun-bathed locales.

The documentary Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist and Rebel claims to go beneath Hef's bathrobed persona to reveal the man who championed civil rights, equality, and free speech. Critics say it's a two-hour infomercial that glosses over Playboy's objectification of women.

Though every review of Salt notes that it's ludicrous, critics say Angelina Jolie makes it an enjoyable (albeit mindless) thriller, and reaffirms that she's one of the few actresses who can compete with any male action star.

It's the summer's most-anticipated movie, though no one seems to know exactly what it's about. For the most part, critics say it lives up to the hype, even if it's low on actual emotion.

Critics say The Kids Are All Right, starring Julianne Moore and Annette Bening as lesbian moms, is a rare gem: "A comedy that doesn't take cheap shots, a drama that doesn't manipulate, a movie of ideas that doesn't preach."

The reviews are in for Twilight: Eclipse, which opens today, and critics are declaring it the best film of the series. But that may be faint praise, considering that they generally hated the previous installments.

Knight and Day is basically another "big, dumb summer movie," with too many pointless action sequences and poorly-developed characters. However, Tom and Cameron's general affability makes the movie a "light and breezy way to while away a couple of hours."

While Warner Bros. is hoping a corseted Megan Fox can lure teenage boys into seeing Jonah Hex, several critics suggest everyone was drunk and/or high while making the film, and say it "fails to establish a viable reason to exist."