Top Stories
Stories in Critique that you'll love, handpicked by our team.
X as in Madame. Top Story - September 2026.
Lana Turner excels as the sacrificial wife and mother in this superb hanky soaker, released in 1966. Madame X plays like a Sirk melodrama but they couldn't get the master to helm, so David Lowell Rich got the job and it's obvious he knew his way around a melodrama. The source material was a 1908 play that received a few cinematic versions, none as good as this one.
By Marie Wilson5 days ago in Critique
Technically Brilliant, Emotionally Dead. Top Story - August 2026.
What makes something overrated? Surely it is that acclaim and praise that has been bestowed upon it has been largely accepted as the general consensus. When people suggest something is the greatest and others nod in agreement for fear of speaking ill of that which should not be derided or criticised.
By Paul Stewartabout a month ago in Critique
It Could Have Been good…. Top Story - August 2026.
I was introduced to Dhar Mann videos rather reluctantly, via them showing up everywhere I scrolled. YouTube, Facebook... All I wanted to do was scroll through some videos while exercising, and bam! Every other clip was one of those infernal, badly-acted Morality videos that made it very easy to understand why Morality Plays were only ever popular when people didn't have a choice in their entertainment.
By Natasja Roseabout a month ago in Critique
All that Glitters. Top Story - August 2026.
My mother said, “if you have nothing nice to say, say nothing at all.” She didn’t, actually. But somebody did, and many have repeated it since. I confess, I am uncomfortable. I will not pretend to be a creature of such gracious loving kindness that to level criticism at my fellow man would be entirely foreign to my nature, but I will own a hesitance here. Do I have opinions that some books are shit, some movies suck and the budget for some TV shows might have been better spent on compensatory measures for the flatulence that the studio has issued forth? Of course I do. Do I own, too, that those opinions might be wrong? In almost every case, yes. Do I, in the privacy of a personal relationship, espouse these views anyway? Honestly not that often. The co-incidence of me finishing my consumption of a work of creativity and of me spending time with other humans with the mutual leisure to discuss said work is as rare as a baby panda. But I would, if life were more clement currently.
By Hannah Mooreabout a month ago in Critique
You'll Never Guess the Ending!. Honorable Mention in The Most Overrated Challenge. Top Story - August 2026.
I've always loved a thriller. A quick read with twists and turns and short, snappy chapters- sign me up! Especially when there's a mysterious dead body or a long-dead small town or family secret to uncover. But lately I've noticed something I absolutely HATE in two of the most recent thrillers I read, a kind of trend I wasn't aware was happening until I read two of the books that had been sitting on my TBR list for months, and was disappointed and driven to rage (lol- but really) over the same thing twice in a row.
By Raistlin Allenabout a month ago in Critique
The Fishnet Delusion. Runner-Up in The Most Overrated Challenge. Top Story - August 2026.
I haven't written any criticism since my Master's, so I'm really grateful for the Overrated Challenge for encouraging me to do so. I have thoroughly enjoyed the process. Having always held reservations about The Rocky Horror Picture Show , it feels great to finally get them off my chest!
By Alyson Smith about a month ago in Critique
The Fly (1986). Top Story - August 2026.
Confession. I kept bouncing from movies to TV shows to bands to actors, spoiled for choice and unable to commit to a topic. After a while, I started to wonder if the tired man staring back at me from the mirror was right. Maybe I am a contrarian hater.
By Aaron Morrisonabout a month ago in Critique
Don't Tell Anyone I Didn't Like Alien. Top Story - August 2026.
Any good divisive opinion should start with a preface, and here’s mine: I watched Alien a couple years ago, long after its initial release, and I’m sure it was unprecedented for its time. I am not in that time. I am in now. There is something to be said about the fact that this plot was never spoiled for me before a watch, so it did have that going for it. I liked the cat. Spoilers abound, you’ve been warned.
By Raine Neal2 months ago in Critique
Breaking Bad? No, Just Bad.. Honorable Mention in The Most Overrated Challenge. Top Story - August 2026.
There was a period in time during which not having watched Breaking Bad felt like being an undercover witch in the heart of 17th Century Salem, Massachusetts. Colleagues, acquaintances, Facebook friends and drunks on public transport seemed to know instinctually that I had not watched it and made it their personal mission to impress upon me that this was a Good Show™, a masterpiece, an absolutely-must-watch-ground-breaking-so-much-going-for-it smoke show of a story.
By S. A. Crawford2 months ago in Critique
More Like Citizen Lame. Runner-Up in The Most Overrated Challenge. Top Story - August 2026.
Spoiler Alert? I guess it’s technically true that I’ll be revealing the end of the movie, though I find it hard to believe you won’t already know it from umpteen-bajillion pop culture references. You’ve been forewarned!
By C. Rommial Butler2 months ago in Critique
