Cannonball with Wesley Morris

Wesley has a practice as a new year begins of saying goodbye to those who won’t be coming with us. He could have easily done an episode on any number of household names. He could have done the same with people who weren’t the biggest names, yet still loomed large for many. But out of all the artists who passed in 2025, Wesley decides to dedicate time to Roberta Flack. The critic and scholar Daphne...

When a book publisher asked Wesley to write an introduction for a new edition of “The Great Gatsby,” he was confused. So many people had already written about F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel since it was first published in 1925. What could he add? And why him? But eventually, he realized he does in fact have a special relationship with this book. He has read it in three different phases of life, and e...

Wesley has been thinking a lot this week about what Rob Reiner gave us. Not the best movies. But our favorite ones. He wanted us to feel good. And for Wesley, no movie hit that pleasure center more than “When Harry Met Sally.” He watched it over and over as a teenager. It’s probably why he moved to New York. He wanted what they were having. This week, Wesley reflects on the impact Reiner had on hi...

On today’s show, Wesley reveals his favorite film performances of the year — but his list is not an ordinary best-of list. He zeroes in on the specific details that make a performance great. Like, who did the best acting in a helmet this year? Who were the most convincing on-screen best friends? And who refused to play it safe? Find out in our first annual Cannonball Great Performers special. Subs...

The world is different once an artist dies. The same goes for their music. Since D’Angelo’s death, Wesley keeps returning to “Black Messiah” — to him, a perfect final album. What makes an artist’s last record resonate with us long after they’re gone? Wesley invites his friend Alex Pappademas, a senior culture editor at GQ Magazine, to listen back to some last albums that have haunted them both. Su...

Cannonball is off this week for the holiday. But I wanted to share something with you from our friends over at The Interview. It’s a conversation that my colleague David Marchese had awhile back with one of our biggest stars, Eddie Murphy. I've been thinking about it recently because there's a new documentary about Murphy that just came out on Netflix -- and I highly recommend this conversation as...

Netflix has a hit in “The Perfect Neighbor,” a documentary attracting a lot of attention for both its subject and its form. Using police camera footage, the film shows the events leading up to the killing of a Black mother of four by her white neighbor. It’s unquestionably powerful and difficult viewing. But for Wesley and his fellow Times critic Parul Sehgal, it raises all kinds of moral and ethi...

Every December, Wesley’s hometown radio station, 88.5 WXPN, does some kind of end-of-year countdown, as voted on by listeners. This year, it’s the 885 greatest cover songs. This was exciting news for Wesley, who loves himself a good cover — and considers their near disappearance from pop music to be a kind of national tragedy. He talks all things covers with one of his favorite reinterpreters of m...

For Wesley, the most interesting thing about Taylor Swift’s latest album didn’t have much to do with the music. It was the critical response. Sure, there was plenty of enthusiasm. But there was also some exasperation and weariness. And to Wesley, that felt like a needed shift in pop music criticism. Which has gotten awfully nice lately. A little too nice. That idea — that pop music criticism has l...

Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson’s new movie, “The Smashing Machine,” sends him back to his natural habitat: the ring. But for the first time ever, Johnson finds himself in a role that grapples with what it means to move through the world in a body like his. Wesley talks to Sam Anderson, who recently spent a day with Johnson for a Times Magazine profile . They think about the line between artifice and re...

Wesley Morris doesn’t go for cheap jump scares or gratuitous gore. Instead, his favorite horror movies fill him with a sense of dread. This Halloween, he invites film curator Eric Hynes to rewatch scenes from some of the scariest movies they’ve ever seen — some you’ll find in the horror section and some you won’t. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can al...

Wesley Morris didn’t love Lady Gaga’s new album “Mayhem.” Then Caryn Ganz, The Times’s pop music editor, took him to see Mayhem — the tour — on its final night at Madison Square Garden. It totally changed the way both of them think about Gaga and what she’s been up to all this time. In short: All hail Mother Monster. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can...

Wesley Morris has been talking about movie stardom with Bill Simmons of The Ringer for as long as they’ve known each other. The actor and director Robert Redford is often invoked in their conversations as the definition of a movie star. In today’s episode, Wesley invites Bill to remember the roles that made Redford a household name and to ruminate on the state of the movie star in 2025. Do we have...

Paul Thomas Anderson is a very rare figure in Hollywood — he’s widely considered to be one of the very best directors of his generation, but he’s never really had a hit when it comes to making money. One Battle After Another might change that. It’s a big budget action movie with a bankable star. And to Wesley’s relief, that didn’t come with any compromises. Wesley invites The Ringer’s Sean Fenness...

This season, “South Park” is taking on the Trump administration the only way it knows how: with stop-motion, expletives and jokes about the size of the president’s penis. But how is the show getting away with it? Wesley Morris and the comedian Wyatt Cenac discuss the special sauce that is allowing "South Park" creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone to survive the political pressure that’s come for th...

Six years ago, with the publication of The 1619 Project, Nikole Hannah-Jones argued that slavery was a foundational institution upon which the United States was built. President Trump called the project a crusade against American history — ideological poison that, “if not removed,” would “dissolve the civic bonds that tie us together.” Now, his administration is making a similar argument to attack...

We're taking a break this week. See you next Thursday! Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher.  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising...

It’s been a long time since MTV was appointment viewing. And yet, billions of people are still watching music videos on the regular — on YouTube. Where does that leave a decades-old awards show dedicated to the craft? Wesley invites Niela Orr, a culture critic, on the show to discuss what makes an unforgettable video and to review this year’s nominees to see which ones should go home with the moon...

Wesley was formed in the glory days of the summer movie: “Total Recall.” “Ghost.” “Pretty Woman.” All from the same epic summer of 1990. He found this year’s slate disappointing by comparison. So in this episode, Wesley invites his friend, the New York Times Magazine writer Sam Anderson, to travel back in time with him — to reimmerse themselves in the movies that shaped their adolescences, and may...

“Highest 2 Lowest” is an over-the-top, bougie and unapologetically New York movie. It might also be Spike Lee’s most conservative offering to date. Wesley invites critic Vinson Cunningham to discuss whether the 68-year-old director is picking up an old refrain, and telling young Black men to pull up their pants. Thoughts? Email us at cannonball@nytimes.com Watch our show on YouTube: youtube.com/@C...

Wesley is joined by another unapologetic fan of the “Sex and the City” reboot, Taffy Brodesser-Akner. Together, they celebrate a show about old friendships and middle age. And blame you for its untimely end. Thoughts? Email us at cannonball@nytimes.com Watch our show on YouTube: youtube.com/@CannonballPodcast For transcripts and more, visit: nytimes.com/cannonball Subscribe today at nytimes.com/po...

Wesley went to the final stop of the Cowboy Carter Tour. He talks through what he saw — the genre of it all, and the quietly powerful politics — with Salamishah Tillet, Times contributing critic and the professor behind an entire class about Beyoncé. Thoughts? Email us at cannonball@nytimes.com Watch our show on YouTube: youtube.com/@CannonballPodcast For transcripts and more, visit: nytimes.com/c...

What does Ryan Coogler’s vampire movie “Sinners” have in common with the Drake-Kendrick beef? Wesley has a theory that he’s been sitting with for weeks. He shares it with the writer Rembert Browne, and together they consider the vampiric threats facing Black art in America right now. Thoughts? Email us at cannonball@nytimes.com Watch our show on YouTube: youtube.com/@CannonballPodcast For transcri...

Twenty-four years ago, Wesley Morris and the film curator Eric Hynes were just a couple of “cooler-than-you” cinephiles working at Kim’s Video , the beloved New York City video store. They recently got together to dissect the trends, snubs and outliers on the Times’s 100 Best Movies of the 21st Century list and to shed a few tears over their own top 10s, which we've shared below.  FROM WESLEY MORR...

Wesley Morris talks with Samin Nosrat, a chef and food writer, about her love-hate relationship with “The Bear,” a show that’s always racing against the clock. She says the best moments, in the show and in our own kitchens, happen when things slow down. Thoughts? Email us at cannonball@nytimes.com Watch our show on YouTube: youtube.com/@CannonballPodcast For transcripts and more, visit: nytimes.co...