Justin Chang

Joaquin Phoenix plays a shattered soul who makes his way as a thug-for-hire in director Lynne Ramsay's brutal and unsparing new crime film. Justin Chang calls the movie "superior art-house pulp."

Writer-director Chloé Zhao's new film tells the true story of a Lakota cowboy recovering from a serious rodeo accident. Critic Justin Chang says The Rider has "a bone-deep authenticity."

Spielberg's new action-adventure is set in future world where people use virtual-reality goggles to escape a dreary city. Critic Justin Chang calls it both "spectacular — and spectacularly empty."