Justin Chang
Justin Chang is a film critic for the Los Angeles Times and NPR's Fresh Air, and a regular contributor to KPCC's FilmWeek. He previously served as chief film critic and editor of film reviews for Variety.
Chang is the author of FilmCraft: Editing, a book of interviews with seventeen top film editors. He serves as chair of the National Society of Film Critics and secretary of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association.
-
Spielberg's new thriller centers on a massive U.S. conspiracy to hide the fact that aliens have been visiting Earth for decades. If anything, though, the movie's pleasures feel more retro than timely. -
Backrooms, by 20-year-old filmmaker Kane Parsons, is set in a mysterious maze of abandoned offices. Curry Barker, 26, tells a horror story about consent and male loneliness in Obsession. -
Though the 2026 festival featured less Hollywood razzle-dazzle than in years past, there were still plenty of great films. Most notable: All of a Sudden, from the Japanese director Ryûsuke Hamaguchi. -
A new art-house drama tells three stories that span the century — and connect to one tree. Silent Friend will open your eyes to the beauty of the natural world. -
Sophy Romvari's semi-autobiographical drama touches on her childhood in British Columbia and her family's experience of tragedy. Blue Heron has won numerous prizes at international film festivals.
-
In Steven Soderbergh's new dark comedy, Ian McKellen plays a famous painter, and Michaela Coel is an art restorer hired to infiltrate his home by his greedy grown-up children. -
Robert Pattinson and Zendaya play an engaged couple whose happiness is derailed when a boozy game of "What's the Worst Thing You've Ever Done?" uncovers a dark secret from the past.
-
After the sudden death of her boyfriend, a young Berlin woman is taken in by a family she meets in the countryside. In showing the ache of love and loss, Miroirs No. 3 holds up a mirror to us all. -
Ryan Gosling plays an astronaut in this derivative, carefully manufactured crowd-pleaser; Project Hail Mary doesn't feel like storytelling so much as mechanical engineering.
-
A young environmental activist transforms herself into a beaver in this off-the-wall eco-themed comedy. It's the liveliest film to emerge from Pixar in years.
