Justin Chang
Stories
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'Sinners' is one of the most interesting and audacious movies this year
This latest Ryan Coogler/Michael B. Jordan collaboration is set in 1930s Mississippi — it's awash in gorgeous music, turbulent romance, pan-African spiritualism and, by the end, buckets of blood.
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'Warfare' embeds the audience in the chaos of modern combat
Inspired by the true story of a squad of Navy SEALs who came under fire in Iraq in 2006, Warfare offers a moment-by-moment view that manages to say something new about the combat experience.
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A young man's homecoming sets off erotic shockwaves in this unsettling French thriller
Misericordia is one of the most surprising films our critic's seen this year. It focuses on a man who returns to his small village for a funeral — only to become enmeshed in countless entanglements.
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'The Alto Knights' is a mob drama with a double dose of De Niro and ... not much else
Robert De Niro plays rival mob bosses in a new biographical crime drama. But while it's fun to watch De Niro argue with himself, The Alto Knights ultimately feels dubious and derivative.
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There's a lot to unpack in 'Black Bag' — a witty, sexy spy thriller
Cate Blanchett and Michael Fassbender play a high-ranking spy couple in Steven Soderbergh's new film. Black Bag offers Bond-style globe-trotting intrigue and marital dramedy.
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Live, die, repeat: Bong Joon Ho offers a farcical vision of the future in 'Mickey 17'
Robert Pattinson plays a space traveler who's repeatedly killed and resurrected in the name of scientific research in this otherworldly farce. It's Bong's first movie since his Oscar-winning Parasite.
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This long-buried 1999 film offers a new chance to see James Earl Jones
There are many reasons to seek out Charles Burnett's long-buried 1999 film, but perhaps primary among them: The rare chance to see Lynn Redgrave, Margot Kidder and James Earl Jones share the screen.
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Palestinian and Israeli filmmakers team up to create 'No Other Land'
This Oscar-nominated documentary, which tells the story of the Israeli military's demolition of Palestinian homes in the West Bank, was created by a team of two Palestinian and two Israeli filmmakers.
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In this haunted house horror you see what the ghost sees — and it's terrifying
In Steven Soderbergh's supernatural thriller Presence, a family finds they aren't alone in their new house. It's a ghost story told masterfully from the ghost's point of view.
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Film offers 'Hard Truths' about why some people are happy — and others are miserable
Marianne Jean-Baptiste gives a phenomenal performance as a profoundly unhappy woman. There isn't a lot of plot, but director Mike Leigh builds his stories from the details and detritus of daily life.
