Top Stories

Stories in Critique that you'll love, handpicked by our team.

Jack Kerouac raked my brain. Winner in The Most Overrated Challenge. Top Story - August 2026.
When I was about seventeen, I had a phase. It was a kind of hippie-rock'n'roll phase, although calling it a phase now makes it sound much more serious than it actually was. I was living with my grandmother's sister, who had been a hippie herself, or as close as anyone could get to being one in communist Hungary.
By Imola Tóth2 months ago in Critique
LaLaLand: All That Jazz and Absolutely No Joy. Top Story - August 2026.
I wanted to love La La Land . In fact, for approximately five glorious minutes, I did. The film opens on a Los Angeles motorway, where an ordinary traffic jam explodes into colour, movement and music. Drivers climb out of their cars, dancers leap across bonnets and an entire gridlocked road becomes the stage for “Another Day of Sun.” It is bold, joyful and unapologetically theatrical. Here, at last, was a modern film musical that understood the sheer pleasure of the genre. It was not embarrassed by people bursting into song. It did not apologise for its choreography or try to disguise its sentimentality beneath layers of irony. It promised romance, spectacle and a little bit of magic.
By Millie Hardy-Sims2 months ago in Critique
The Lights Went Out. Now What?. Top Story - August 2026.
In my not-so-humble opinion, most of the Eurovision songs are not strong enough to compete in a song competition. There. I said it.
By Cristal S.2 months ago in Critique
An Archaeologist's Review of Nolan's Odyssey. Top Story - August 2026.
As any archaeologist or historian will tell you, don't study our field unless you want to be angry or disappointed all the time. This joke is largely pointed to films, novels, and video games, all of which those of us in these professions still enjoy despite our seemingly contradictory reservations. The method most of us use is simple: we separate our acknowledgement of its value as entertainment from its historical or literary accuracy. As such, this is how I will structure my review in order to maintain fairness to Christopher Nolan and the entire cast and crew of his 2026 adaptation of Homer's Odyssey.
By Ian Read2 months ago in Critique
Obsessed With Inde Navarette, Not Obsession. Runner-Up in The Most Overrated Challenge. Top Story - August 2026.
Obsession has garnered an obsession-worthy cult following from both critics and audiences alike. Not only that, but the indie project (helmed by first-time feature film director Curry Barker, a then 25-year-old with a smattering of YouTube shorts to his credit) has so far grossed over $480 million at the worldwide box office — from a meager budget of $750,000.
By Edward Swafford3 months ago in Critique
The Odyssey. Honorable Mention in The Most Overrated Challenge. Top Story - August 2026.
Of course, Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey is not your usual summer blockbuster. It is neither a star-filled rom-com nor an action-packed, car-chasing thriller. It isn't based on a DC comic, nor set in the Marvel Universe. It has a very different interpretation of intellectual property. Despite this, it has set box office records that even The Avengers failed to reach.
By Rachel Robbins3 months ago in Critique
Not Going My Way. Runner-Up in The Most Overrated Challenge. Top Story - July 2026.
“Schmaltz isn’t selling this season.” So declares Father O’Dowd to Father O’Malley in Going My Way , the movie that won the Best Motion Picture Oscar in 1945. But apparently schmaltz was selling that season because this piece of excessively sentimental mash was nominated for ten Oscars - and won seven.
By Marie Wilson3 months ago in Critique
Sunflowers (1888). Top Story - July 2026.
I'd been in the National Portrait Gallery in London for an hour, and so far, I had seen a lot of paintings. Huge rooms filled with shire horses, fields of wheat, depictions of the Virgin Mary, and well-nourished Lords of Tudor courts.
By Matthew Smith3 months ago in Critique
Don't Be Afraid To Do The Unusual Thing. Top Story - July 2026.
“Last saved 2 years ago”. That’s what my draft page says, though I know it’s actually been more like 3. This is a true story, about a real person who was born over 130 years ago. It’s the first piece that I ever started writing for Vocal Media, and it has been sitting in publishing limbo since the very first day I got the nerve to try and be a real writer on a public platform.
By Mama Magdalene3 months ago in Critique
Haunted by Potential. Top Story - July 2026.
It started in June of 2021. I was visiting the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains in Southwest Virginia, where my mother-in-law is from. One night during my stay, after a few glasses of wine, my mother-in-law and her cousin decided it would be a good idea to show me the Haunted Graham Mansion.
By Ashley Lima3 months ago in Critique
Reflections on A Languishing Manuscript. Top Story - July 2026.
Years ago, I was president of a town’s writing group, but it disbanded. Ten years ago, a character appeared in my mind and poured onto the page, words frothing from my fingers like sudsy waves at the shore. My hip replacement cemented my decision to retire, and recovery meant long hours outdoors on sunny days with my aging dog. Her love and devotion grounded me. I finished the book that summer. Two years later, my faithful companion was gone, and the manuscript remained untouched, saved in a file that moved only when the computer did, still unseen.
By Andrea Corwin 4 months ago in Critique
Brackets. Runner-Up in Not Quite There Yet Challenge. Top Story - July 2026.
She appears in brackets before she has a name. Was it cowardice? Afraid to let her on the page, so close to my words. Or was it craft? Clarification: she was in the same story she was kept out of.
By Nicky Frankly4 months ago in Critique