A video leaked earlier this week of an ABC News anchor ranting into a hot mic showed once again how smaller independent news outlets are outshining the mainstream news media. On Nov.

One night in 2016, New York resident Joel Darling accompanied some friends to the Tribeca Film Festival and watched a film he knew little about. El Clásico, from Kurdish director Halkawt Mustafa, tells the story of two bickering, soccer-obsessed brothers in Iraq. Both of the brothers are little people (dwarfs) who travel to Madrid on a mission to meet a famous soccer player. 

Darling loved it.

Among the many genres that have suffered in our age of superhero domination, perhaps none has been harder hit than the romantic comedy.

If anyone can bring holiday romance back to the big screen in a big way, however, it’s screenwriter/actress Emma Thompson. In her latest, Last Christmas (rated PG-13 for language), Thompson steals every scene she’s in as the domineering, immigrant mother of the lovely but self-destructive Kate (Emilia Clarke).

A single-propeller Spitfire loops and soars over the green British countryside, its pilot reveling in the craft’s liveliness. Spitfire, a documentary available on Netflix, tells the tale of the last of the fighter planes without a jet engine, a plane that became a symbol of British courage during the Second World War.

In Waves, writer-director Trey Edward Shults’ latest feature, characters suffer tragedy caused by little sins that compound. The film shows a family overcoming darkness through forgiveness, but objectionable material—and a negative portrayal of the pro-life cause—makes this Oscar contender difficult to recommend.

A New York moment: 

Election Day is a time when New York City feels like a small town. When I strolled into my precinct voting location midmorning on Tuesday—a school gym, where wall posters reminded students to think about how their actions affect others—I was the 55th person to cast a vote. 

A New York moment: