NYT Critic’s Pick Movie(s)

Artie Shaw: Time Is All You’ve Got
NYT Critic’s Pick | Not Rated | Documentary, Biography, Music | Directed by Brigitte Berman
Brigitte Berman’s dazzling 1985 look at the self-taught virtuoso clarinetist and bandleader is showing after a restoration.


Artie Shaw as seen in “Artie Shaw: Time Is All You’ve Got.”
By GLENN KENNY

Good Grief
NYT Critic’s Pick | R | Comedy, Drama, Romance | Directed by Dan Levy
In his feature directorial debut, Daniel Levy applies a light but wise hand to a man navigating life after loss.


Daniel Levy, left, with Arnaud Valois in “Good Grief.”
By ALISSA WILKINSON

— Of Possible Interest —

Who the Academy Should Nominate in 2024 According to Times Movie Critics Manohla Dargis and Alissa Wilkinson

Barbenheimer, big stars and high stakes: it’s Golden Globes time again
Benjamin Lee

Food! Glorious Food! Now that the hurly-burly’s done.

A GOOD APPETITE
An Easy, Thrilling Tofu Recipe for Just About Any Resolution
This grain bowl, finished in with a sweet chile sauce, is perfect for the vegetarian curious or anyone wanting lighter fare.


A simple to make, complex in flavor sauce anchors this adaptable grain bowl.
By MELISSA CLARK

What’s With All the Different Salts? Here’s How to Use Them.
Table salt, kosher salt, finishing salt: The choice can be confusing, but we offer a little explanation and advice.


Salt comes in many varieties. Black salt often gets its color from purified charcoal. Red and gray salts have traces of clay; pink salt can get its hue from algae or clay; smoking salt over an open fire turns it golden-beige.
By MELISSA CLARK

Making a Cooking Resolution? These 9 Recipes Will Get You Started.
Whether you want to eat less meat, bake more crowd-pleasing desserts or (finally) learn how to cook, here are some first steps for the new year.
By TANYA SICHYNSKY

Mike Grgich Dies at 100; His Wine Stunned the French by Besting Theirs
A Croatian immigrant’s California chardonnay was judged the top one in a famous Paris tasting. He later established his own acclaimed winery in Napa Valley.


Mike Grgich in 1980 with a bottle his California winery produced. A Croatian immigrant, he struggled for years to establish himself in Napa Valley.
By ERIC ASIMOV

Bill Granger, Chef Who Brought Avocado Toast to the World, Dies at 54
His breakfast cuisine catapulted Australian cafe culture to international acclaim, although some saw his best-known dish as an example of millennial excess.


Bill Granger handing out plates of scrambled eggs in Tokyo in 2006. Known for serving unfussy but sophisticated fare, he popularized Australian cafe culture around the globe.
By NATASHA FROST

NYT Critic’s Pick Movie(s)

Rose
NYT Critic’s Pick | Not Rated | Comedy, Drama | Directed by Niels Arden Oplev
Niels Arden Oplev’s drama about two sisters, one of whom is a woman with schizophrenia, on a bus tour of France brims with genuine feeling.


Sofie Grabol in “Rose.”
By NATALIA WINKELMAN

Ferrari
NYT Critic’s Pick | R | Biography, Drama, History | Directed by Michael Mann
The director’s portrait of the Italian racecar impresario roars to life on the road, but home is a torment. Adam Driver stars with Penélope Cruz and Shailene Woodley.


Adam Driver as the auto maker Enzo Ferrari. All the world wants something from Ferrari, who in turn only seems to care about his racecars.
By MANOHLA DARGIS

Occupied City
NYT Critic’s Pick | PG-13 | Documentary, History, War | Directed by Steve McQueen
In his four-and-half-hour documentary, the British director Steve McQueen charts the fate of Amsterdam’s Jewish population during the Nazi occupation.


“Occupied City” doesn’t use archival imagery to recreate a sense of Nazi-era Amsterdam; instead the documentary surveys a staggering 130 addresses as they exist today in the city.
By MANOHLA DARGIS

The Crime Is Mine
NYT Critic’s Pick | Not Rated | Comedy, Crime | Directed by François Ozon
In this showbiz screwball, an aspiring actress and her lawyer best friend spin a murder accusation into a shot at fame.


Nadia Tereszkiewicz and Rebecca Marder in “The Crime Is Mine.”
By BEATRICE LOAYZA

The Teachers’ Lounge
NYT Critic’s Pick | PG-13 | Drama | Directed by Ilker Çatak
An idealistic teacher in a German school meets reality, and it’s messier than she could have imagined.


Leonie Benesch as Carla Nowak in “The Teachers’ Lounge.”
By ALISSA WILKINSON

NYT Critic’s Pick Movie(s)

All of Us Strangers
NYT Critic’s Pick | R | Drama, Fantasy, Romance | Directed by Andrew Haigh
Playing a man alienated from himself and looking for answers, Andrew Scott makes this film sing.
By ALISSA WILKINSON

— Of Possible Interest —

Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire
PG-13 | Action, Adventure, Drama, Fantasy, Sci-Fi | Directed by Zack Snyder
Zack Snyder creates a space opera that’s bloated but rarely buoyant.
By JEANNETTE CATSOULIS

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom
PG-13 | Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Sci-Fi | Directed by James Wan
The Atlantean hero-king returns as a new father, a bit worse for wear. But this sequel feels like a film for grown-ups who like fun.
By ALISSA WILKINSON

NYT Critic’s Pick Movie(s)

Godard Cinema
NYT Critic’s Pick | Not Rated | Documentary | Directed by Cyril Leuthy
This documentary looks at the work of Jean-Luc Godard, who sought with each new work to confound assumptions about how movies could look and sound.


Jean-Luc Godard, the filmmaker and subject of the documentary “Godard Cinema.”
By BEN KENIGSBERG

American Fiction
NYT Critic’s Pick | R | Comedy, Drama | Directed by Cord Jefferson
The first film from the director Cord Jefferson stars Jeffrey Wright as an author who becomes a pseudonymous success writing a potboiler he loathes.


Erika Alexander and Jeffrey Wright in “American Fiction.”
By AMY NICHOLSON

— Of Possible Interest —

Wonka
PG | Adventure, Comedy, Family, Fantasy, Musical | Directed by Paul King
Timothée Chalamet stars as the chocolatier in this musical origin story, playing a wide-eyed innocent instead of an eccentric mad-hatter.
By MANOHLA DARGIS

Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget
PG | Animation, Adventure, Comedy, Family | Directed by Sam Fell
This sequel is in many respects a cover song, a repeat of the beats and characters of “Chicken Run.”
By ALISSA WILKINSON

NYT Critic’s Pick Movie(s)

Concrete Utopia
NYT Critic’s Pick | Not Rated | Action, Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller | Directed by Tae-hwa Eom
Love thy neighbor is far from mind when disaster strikes a Seoul apartment complex in this blackhearted social satire.


Park Bo-young in “Concrete Utopia.”
By JEANNETTE CATSOULIS

Anselm
NYT Critic’s Pick | Not Rated | Documentary | Directed by Wim Wenders
The history and thought of the artist Anselm Kiefer is threaded throughout this exceptional documentary from Wim Wenders.


A scene from the documentary “Anselm.”
By ALISSA WILKINSON

Origin
NYT Critic’s Pick | PG-13 | Drama, History | Directed by Ava DuVernay
Ava DuVernay’s new feature film, adapted from the Isabel Wilkerson book “Caste,” turns the journalist into a character who examines oppression.


Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor as the journalist Isabel Wilkerson in “Origin.”
By MANOHLA DARGIS

Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé
NYT Critic’s Pick | Not Rated | Music | Directed by Beyoncé, James B. Merryman, Mark Ritchie
The concert film offers a comprehensive look at a world-conquering tour and rare insight into the process of one of the world’s biggest stars.


Beyoncé in July on the Toronto stop of her Renaissance tour.
By WESLEY MORRIS

— Of Possible Interest —

Our Son
R | Drama | Directed by Bill Oliver
A simple yet engaging melodrama, starring Billy Porter and Luke Evans, explores what it means for two fathers to divorce.
By BEATRICE LOAYZA


Park Bo-young in “Concrete Utopia.”
By JEANNETTE CATSOULIS

Concrete Utopia
NYT Critic’s Pick | Not Rated | Action, Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller | Directed by Tae-hwa Eom
Love thy neighbor is far from mind when disaster strikes a Seoul apartment complex in this blackhearted social satire.


Park Bo-young in “Concrete Utopia.”
By JEANNETTE CATSOULIS

Anselm
NYT Critic’s Pick | Not Rated | Documentary | Directed by Wim Wenders
The history and thought of the artist Anselm Kiefer is threaded throughout this exceptional documentary from Wim Wenders.


A scene from the documentary “Anselm.”
By ALISSA WILKINSON

Origin
NYT Critic’s Pick | PG-13 | Drama, History | Directed by Ava DuVernay
Ava DuVernay’s new feature film, adapted from the Isabel Wilkerson book “Caste,” turns the journalist into a character who examines oppression.


Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor as the journalist Isabel Wilkerson in “Origin.”
By MANOHLA DARGIS

Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé
NYT Critic’s Pick | Not Rated | Music | Directed by Beyoncé, James B. Merryman, Mark Ritchie
The concert film offers a comprehensive look at a world-conquering tour and rare insight into the process of one of the world’s biggest stars.


Beyoncé in July on the Toronto stop of her Renaissance tour.
By WESLEY MORRIS

— Of Possible Interest —

Our Son
R | Drama | Directed by Bill Oliver
A simple yet engaging melodrama, starring Billy Porter and Luke Evans, explores what it means for two fathers to divorce.
By BEATRICE LOAYZA

A scene from the documentary “Anselm.”
By ALISSA WILKINSON

Origin
NYT Critic’s Pick | PG-13 | Drama, History | Directed by Ava DuVernay
Ava DuVernay’s new feature film, adapted from the Isabel Wilkerson book “Caste,” turns the journalist into a character who examines oppression.


Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor as the journalist Isabel Wilkerson in “Origin.”
By MANOHLA DARGIS

Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé
NYT Critic’s Pick | Not Rated | Music | Directed by Beyoncé, James B. Merryman, Mark Ritchie
The concert film offers a comprehensive look at a world-conquering tour and rare insight into the process of one of the world’s biggest stars.


Beyoncé in July on the Toronto stop of her Renaissance tour.
By WESLEY MORRIS

— Of Possible Interest —

Our Son
R | Drama | Directed by Bill Oliver
A simple yet engaging melodrama, starring Billy Porter and Luke Evans, explores what it means for two fathers to divorce.
By BEATRICE LOAYZA

Food! Glorious Food!

Woman Who Threw Food at Chipotle Employee Sentenced to Work Fast-Food Job
A judge reduced Rosemary Hayne’s jail sentence after she agreed to work in a fast-food restaurant for 20 hours a week for 60 days.
By Rebecca Carballo

A GOOD APPETITE
This Vegetarian Main Is Ready to Shine on Your Holiday Table
Layers of buttery phyllo surround a silky spiced vegetable stew in this showstopping dish.
By MELISSA CLARK

Cookies!

12 gluten-free holiday cookies to spread the joy far and wide


Chocolate-Raspberry Truffle Sandwich Cookies.
By Becky Krystal and Kari Sonde

12 holiday cookie recipes to savor and share this season

By Becky Krystal

7 Brilliant Cookies to Keep Your Holidays Bright
Make one or make them all.

Technicolor Cookies | Sam Seneviratne | NYT Cooking https://www.youtube.com/embed/t2RPXn1b7Ec?si=dss8-l1babJOwaYr

Gingerbread Blondies | Melissa Clark | NYT Cooking https://www.youtube.com/embed/Ja83fMcBa2E?si=MafWxjz3fDLbiycg

Mexican Hot Chocolate Cookies | Vaughn Vreeland | NYT Cooking https://www.youtube.com/embed/vUEgs7iDwC0?si=QCF0h9I57qsa8A_q

Lemon Butter Curls | Yewande Komolafe | NYT Cooking https://www.youtube.com/embed/KCkjYbGR8y4?si=mJbXlkvoomJgl-9M

Rainbow Rave Cookies | Sohla El-Waylly | NYT Cooking https://www.youtube.com/embed/3K0iTSsTQhw?si=MnLYfm_NjgUD5wuB

Matcha Latte Cookies | Eric Kim | NYT Cooking https://www.youtube.com/embed/cBSHebMz_Uk?si=OJUKbwArDXGoSIZY

Neapolitan Checkerboard Cookies | Sue Li | NYT Cooking https://www.youtube.com/embed/KyY9ZHIazV0?si=QcWqJN2qU108ALCP

Beth Dimino is in My Bubbie’s Kitchen: Pignoli Cookies https://www.youtube.com/embed/NvSxuOFEhxo?si=fQUQzagO9GBJ8HeQ

The History of the Chocolate Chip Cookie – Depression vs WW2 https://www.youtube.com/embed/RVDVbu0d4i8?si=L5Zvgdgv0gDLGOd-

Trying the BEST & CLASSIC German Christmas Snacks & Candy!! https://www.youtube.com/embed/V0_sgR4Hc7o?si=81co0m5vIavfp5hw

Gift Lists

If your gifting includes those in the jet set, here’s a gift list for you:

If existential angst over the impermanence of all things is destroying your holiday spirit, here’s a gift list for you!

If you have people (or families) you hate, here’s the gift link for you!

Here’s a slightly more reasonable gift list for people or families you don’t hate!

If you haz too much monies and want to blow it over the holidays, here’s a list for you!

NYT Critic’s Pick Movie(s)

Eileen
NYT Critic’s Pick | R | Drama, Mystery, ThrillerDirected by William Oldroyd
Thomasin McKenzie and Anne Hathaway star in a period thriller that brings cathartic nastiness to a cold New England Christmas.


Thomasin McKenzie, right, with Anne Hathaway in “Eileen.”
By ALISSA WILKINSON

Silent Night
NYT Critic’s Pick | R | ActionDirected by John Woo
John Woo’s latest is as violent and merciless a revenge thriller as you can imagine.


Joel Kinnaman in “Silent Night.”
By GLENN KENNY

American Symphony
NYT Critic’s Pick | PG-13 | Documentary, Biography, MusicDirected by Matthew Heineman
This portrait of the musician Jon Batiste and the author Suleika Jaouad follows an artistic couple through ambition and adversity.


From left, Suleika Jaouad and Jon Batiste in a moment at home.
By BEN KENIGSBERG

Bad Press
NYT Critic’s Pick | Not Rated | DocumentaryDirected by Rebecca Landsberry-Baker, Joe Peeler
The battle to claw back press freedoms is the nerve-racking subject of this civic-minded documentary.


Angel Ellis in the documentary “Bad Press.”
By NICOLAS RAPOLD

— Of Possible Interest —

What’s It Like to Work With Hayao Miyazaki? Go Behind the Scenes.
The anime master is a creature of habit who talks every day with his longtime producer, and keeps it more hands off with his regular composer.
By CARLOS AGUILAR

Five Science Fiction Movies to Stream Now
A rom-com in space, a coming-of-age quest and a high-tech birthing plan are among the films worth checking out this month.
By ELISABETH VINCENTELLI

Food! Glorious Food!

How Mortadella Went From Cold Cut to Hot Item
Helped by its millennial-pink hue and the rise of the charcuterie board, the Italian specialty is winning a new fan base of American chefs and consumers.


Mortadellas in Bologna can be so large that skilled workers need a coltellina, a sawlike knife, to cut them.
By JULIA MOSKIN

A GOOD APPETITE
A Cozy One-Pot Chicken for a Fuss-Free Holiday
With carrots, sweet potatoes and dates, this braise is a colorful main course for your Hanukkah table.


This recipe, inspired by tsimmes, keeps ease in mind, turning a simple side dish into a main.
By MELISSA CLARK

The Best Black Cake, a West Indian Delight, Starts at Home
For many in the Caribbean diaspora, there is no substitute for this deeply flavorful fruitcake.


Dense with puréed fruits and rum, black cake is a must-have specialty for the Caribbean holiday season.
By RAMIN GANESHRAM

A Simple, Lemony Pasta for Catching Your Breath
With braised white beans and juicy marinated cherry tomatoes, it’s the sort of vegetarian dinner I crave this time of year.


By MELISSA CLARK

The Longer This Cake Soaks, the Better It Is
The faint bitterness of Thai tea gets absorbed into tres leches, checking the sweetness, so it’s just enough.


By LIGAYA MISHAN

Which potato for which dish? How to choose the right spud for your recipe
Should you mash a maris? Do you know your king edwards from your duke of yorks? Our panel washes the mud off the mysteries of spud varieties


Never trust a recipe that asks for just any potato – if you use the wrong type, it might ruin your dish.
Anna Berrill

The best allergy-friendly nut substitutes for cooking and baking


Substitutes for nuts include dried fruit, chocolate and seeds, such as pumpkin or sunflower.
Advice by Becky Krystal

At 90, Madhur Jaffrey relishes her role as a groundbreaking food writer


Madhur Jaffrey at her home in Hillsdale, N.Y.
By Mayukh Sen

6 Indian recipes for curry, dal and more from Madhur Jaffrey


By Anna Luisa Rodriguez

Spicy soup, roast squash and nasu dengaku: Michael Wignall’s recipes for winter pumpkin and squash
Roast pumpkin and chilli soup with feta; butternut squash, parma ham and a pumpkin and sunflower-seed pesto on toast; and roast squash with a Japanese glaze


P-pick up a pumpkin: (clockwise from top right) Michael Wignall’s pumpkin and chilli soup with feta; squash, parma ham and seed pesto bruschetta; and squash nasu dengaku (AKA with a miso, soy and toasted sesame seed glaze)
Michael Wignall

The 20 best Christmas biscuit recipes – from brandy snaps to nutmeg shortbreads


George Fuest’s chocolate, rye and festive spice cookies, Ren Behan’s Polish gingerbread cookies, Becky Excell’s cranberry pistachio biscotti, Ana Ortiz’s alfajores de dulce de leche, Georgina Hayden’s tahini, almond and honey cookies, Ferdinand ‘Budgie’ Montoya’s paciencia cookies.
Allan Jenkins compiled by Holly O’Neill
https://youtu.be/DrcXr0X8W38?si=Vv27LGImljL91ZOy

For Her Next Round, Toni Tipton-Martin Orders Up a Book of Cocktails
The author of “The Jemima Code” has distilled 200 years of African American drinking know-how into her new “Juke Joints, Jazz Clubs and Juice.”


Ms. Tipton-Martin’s new cookbook shows how African Americans influenced American cocktail culture.
By CHRISTINA MORALES

NYT Critic’s Pick Movie(s)

Against the Tide
NYT Critic’s Pick | Not Rated | Documentary | Directed by Sarvnik Kaur
Sarvnik Kaur’s breathtaking documentary about Indigenous fishermen in Mumbai brings to life an ecosystem wrecked by corporate greed and climate change.


The fishermen Ganesh, left, and Rakesh in the documentary “Against the Tide.”
By DEVIKA GIRISH

Napoleon
NYT Critic’s Pick | R | Action, Adventure, Biography, Drama, History, War | Directed by Ridley Scott
Joaquin Phoenix is oddly mesmerizing as the French emperor in Ridley Scott’s historical epic charting his rise and ruin.


Joaquin Phoenix as Napoleon Bonaparte in one of the expansive battle scenes of Ridley Scott’s “Napoleon.”
By MANOHLA DARGIS

Menus-Plaisirs — Les Troisgros
NYT Critic’s Pick | Not Rated | Documentary | Directed by Frederick Wiseman
For his 44th documentary, Frederick Wiseman journeys to the French countryside to examine the workings of a family-owned, Michelin-starred restaurant.


César Troisgros, right, with staff at the restaurant Le Bois Sans Feuilles outside Lyon, France.
By MANOHLA DARGIS

Monster
NYT Critic’s Pick | PG-13 | Drama, Thriller | Directed by Kore-eda Hirokazu
This drama from Hirokazu Kore-eda traces a series of events from the perspectives of a single mother, her preteen son and his fifth-grade teacher.


Hinata Hiiragi and Soya Kurokawa in “Monster.”
By NATALIA WINKELMAN

Maestro
NYT Critic’s Pick | R | Biography, Drama, Music, Romance | Directed by Bradley Cooper
As director and star, Bradley Cooper delivers an intimate portrait of the composer and his many private and public selves.


Bradley Cooper as Leonard Bernstein and Carey Mulligan as his wife, Felicia Montealegre, in “Maestro.”
By MANOHLA DARGIS

The Boy and the Heron
NYT Critic’s Pick | PG-13 | Animation, Adventure, Drama, Family, Fantasy | Directed by Hayao Miyazaki
The anime filmmaker returns at 82 with the enigmatic tale of a boy growing up amid war and fear, much as the director did.


Mahito Maki has a lot in common with his creator, Hayao Miyazaki.
By ALISSA WILKINSON

Beyond the Aggressives: 25 Years Later
NYT Critic’s Pick | Not Rated | Documentary | Directed by Daniel Peddle
This documentary from Daniel Peddle offers an update on the transmasculine people of color who participated in ballroom culture in the 1990s.


Octavio Sanders in the documentary “Beyond the Aggressives: 25 Years Later.”
By TEO BUGBEE

— Of Possible Interest —

Wish
PG | Animation, Adventure, Comedy, Family, Fantasy, Musical | Directed by Chris Buck, Fawn Veerasunthorn
Celebrating Disney’s 100th anniversary, the animated musical starring Ariana DeBose and Chris Pine, is a reminder of the studio’s vaunted past.
By AMY NICHOLSON