In a New ‘Simon Boccanegra,’ Family Ties Are Tightened

Carl Andre, one of the most influential and ascetic pioneers of Minimalist sculpture, whose career was overshadowed by the accusation that he played a role in the death of his wife, the Cuban American artist Ana Mendieta, died on Wednesday in Manhattan. He was 88. His death, in a hospice facility, was confirmed by Steven…

In her own world, Barbie can accomplish just about anything. But in the real world, “Barbie” was dealt a significant setback Tuesday morning: Though Greta Gerwig’s colorful comedy skewering the patriarchy was the biggest blockbuster of last year and set a record for the highest-grossing movie ever directed by a woman, Gerwig failed to receive…

John Pilger, a muckraking foreign correspondent and documentarian who trained his often righteous anger on injustices around the globe, like the Khmer Rouge’s genocide in Cambodia and human rights abuses in East Timor, died on Dec. 30 in London. He was 84. His son, Sam, said the cause of death, in a hospital, was pulmonary…

Nearly 20 years ago, when Sleater-Kinney released its towering seventh album, “The Woods,” there was a convincing case to be made that the trio was the most vital, and underrated, working American rock band. Born of the fervent feminist spirit of the riot grrrl movement and the Pacific Northwest’s fertile D.I.Y. scene, the group spent…

Robert de Forest Whitman Jr. was born on May 23, 1935, in Manhattan to a family that traced its roots to the earliest Huguenot settlers of New York. Among his forebears were the painter and designer Lockwood de Forest (1850-1932) and Robert W. de Forest (1848-1931), a president of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in…

‘Tropic’ Rent or buy it on Vudu or Microsoft. We are in the near future and the European space agency is preparing to launch a mission that will last years if not decades — a length that means filling it with a young crew. Teenage twins Lázaro (Pablo Cobo) and Tristán (Louis Peres) are training…