Justin Chang

With its frank treatment of an adolescent girl's inner life, 'Are You There God?' become a huge bestseller and an enduring touchstone. And now, more than 50 years later, it's been terrifically adapted to the big screen by the writer-director Kelly Fremon Craig, with nearly all its warmth, humor and wry wisdom intact.

Having made a name for himself with the A24-released horror pictures "Hereditary" and "Midsommar," the writer-director Ari Aster has a new movie in theaters. It's called "Beau Is Afraid." And it tells the darkly comic story of a man named Beau, played by Joaquin Phoenix, who's just trying to get home to visit his mother.

The fourth movie that Kelly Reichardt and Michelle Williams have made together, Showing Up is the first Reichardt movie that could be described as a comedy. But like all her films, it's a model of indie realism,

Ben Affleck's film is a dramatization of how Nike signed NBA rookie Michael Jordan in a legendary deal that would forever change the landscape of celebrity endorsements and professional sports.

Ben Affleck's film is a dramatization of how Nike signed NBA rookie Michael Jordan in a legendary deal that would forever change the landscape of celebrity endorsements and professional sports.

Justin Chang says, if A Thousand and One were just a story about a mother and son overcoming the odds, it would be moving enough. But the writer-director A.V. Rockwell, gives this intimate drama a sharp sociopolitical context.

Justin Chang says of the film Tori & Lokita, "The story is swift and relentless; it runs barely 90 minutes and never slows down. But at every moment, the filmmakers' compassion for their characters bleeds through, along with their rage at the injustices that we're seeing."

Palm Trees and Power Lines marks a confident new filmmaking voice in the director Jamie Dack, who adapted the film from her 2018 short of the same title with her co-screenwriter, Audrey Findlay. They've written a disturbing cautionary tale about grooming and trafficking.

'The Quiet Girl' recently made Oscar history by becoming the first Irish-language production ever to be nominated for best international feature.

Our film critic, Justin Chang, has a review of the new movie "Emily," which he describes as a richly imagined portrait of the novelist Emily Bronte in the years before she wrote "Wuthering Heights." The movie stars Emma Mackey as Bronte and marks the directing debut of the actress Frances O'Connor.