Our reviewer did his best. But even with an abundance of movies to choose from, this year’s offerings weren’t quite as good as he’d hoped...

Late-summer memories of magical swimming spots, past and present, in Yonkers and Port Washington, not to mention Singapore and Tokyo—plus...

European elegance—slightly ersatz—at a French establishment that was once a mainstay on Central Park South By George Blecher April 19,...

Spellbinding. Nothing short of phenomenal. So says our reviewer, George Blecher, of this 80-minute two-hander that starts out as a...

A rundown of six New York Film Festival films (two of them terrific; the rest—not so much), plus concerns about serious films in the age...

The night the music came alive at the Loew’s Sheridan Theatre, New York City By George Blecher The main event: Billie Holiday topping the...

A child of the boroughs ventures forth in midcentury Manhattan By George Blecher Photos by Angelo Rizzuto. Library of Congress, Prints &...

We start with four novels, telling tales—and tales within tales. Because…isn’t reality overrated? The Swedish writer Lina Wolff wears her...

Tom Stoppard’s highly anticipated take on the tragedy of Austro-German Jews is only occasionally riveting By George Blecher 1899: Two...

Riffing on the sly and guileful beauty of roses By George Blecher The author, no doubt about to get thorn-scratched as he tends the...

The knives are out in this scathing review of the Sam Gold production starring Daniel Craig and Ruth Negga By George Blecher APRIL 28,...

Paul Thomas Anderson’s rollicking, serious, endearing Licorice Pizza is well worth a trip to a movie theater. It’s an eccentric take on...

Super-professional acting, glossy production—but do they make a full theatrical meal? Is this play any more than an inflated biopic? By...

Want to be enticed by movies again? These offerings from this year’s 59th Lincoln Center Film Festival will do it By George Blecher Table...

After three months away from New York, my first impression was that someone had hit it in the stomach with a baseball bat. The city...

My adult son, worried about my health, urged me to flee. But New York doesn’t let go easily. I didn’t want to leave the city. If the...

Selected as a Notable Essay of 2020 in Best American Essays of 2021, edited by Kathryn Schultz and Robert Atwan. The following is an...

LATELY, MADISON SQUARE PARK has provided a staging area for provocative art installations, pop-up food courts and outdoor work spaces....

I owned the cottage right from the beginning. Or it owned me. For one thing, it was so old. Later we found it on maps dating back to the...

He pointed a way for American fiction out of the doldrums of postmodernism, writes George Blecher. For a culture troubled by the...