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.
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Jane Campion's Western plays out like a tightly wound psychological thriller, featuring Benedict Cumberbatch as one of the scariest characters you're likely to meet this year.
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In a rare dive into personal territory, Branagh details growing up amid the Troubles in Northern Ireland. But despite some lovely moments, Belfast feels guarded in its telling.
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Filmmaker Joanna Hogg conceived her 2019 semi-autobiographical drama The Souvenir as a two-part work. The second installment is a wonderfully generous movie, sardonic in tone but rich in emotion.
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Denis Villeneuve's adaptation of Frank Herbert's novel is undeniably staggering. But his Dune also feels rudimentary, as if he's managed his source material without fully mastering it.
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Ridley Scott's epic, which opens in 1386 Paris, tells the story of a duel between a squire of a knight from three points of view — including that of the woman they're fighting over.
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Craig has been a terrific James Bond, maybe even the best. But there's something a little too strained about the tragic emotional arc his character has carried with over the past several movies.
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A Korean American man faces deportation because his adoption in the 1980s was never finalized. Blue Bayou may be heavy handed, but it tells a fundamental truth about our flawed immigration system.
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After serving time in prison for war crimes, a former military interrogator starts a new life as a professional gambler. But as this complex drama shows, it's not always easy to escape the past.
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Simu Liu plays a young kung fu master who returns home to battle his evil father. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is a superhero movie packed with an unusual emotional intensity.
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The hit of the 2021 virtual Sundance Film Festival centers on a teenager who's the only hearing member of her close-knit family. CODA strikes some false notes, but it also delivers heartfelt emotion.