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J.R. Jones

Film Critic

United States

Close (2022)

Publish Date: February 2, 2023
"Moving 2022 French drama"

Chicago Reader
Tehran Taboo (2017)

Publish Date: February 14, 2018
"It not only excels as social realism, it tells the story of a society so warped by Islamic fundamentalism that it's unable to process reality (…) Rating: *** (out of 4)"

Chicago Reader
The Old Dark House (1932)

Publish Date: October 26, 2017
"What gives the film real power, however, is one's growing sense of the house not as a building but as a psyche, and of the individual characters as its emotional components."

Chicago Reader
Tickling Giants (2016)

Publish Date: March 15, 2017
"'Tickling Giants' makes you feel lucky to live in a country where TV comedians needn't fear for their lives"

Chicago Reader
Behemoth (2015)

Publish Date: March 9, 2017
"Eye-popping images dominate this film (...) 'Behemoth' takes as its ostensible subject the pollution of the planet—but it also explores the pollution of the soul (…) Rating: *** (out of 4)"

Chicago Reader
Dying Laughing (2016)

Publish Date: February 22, 2017
"'Dying Laughing' dwells on the emotional demands of performing stand-up, most powerfully in the 20 solid minutes devoted to bombing onstage."

Chicago Reader
Inquiring Nuns (1968)

Publish Date: July 21, 2016
"What's extraordinary about 'Inquiring Nuns' is how variously people on the street pursue fulfillment."

Chicago Reader
Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (1979)

Publish Date: April 14, 2016
"It's not clear whether Pennebaker understands what it's about-he can only grope for a visual equivalent with cliched shots of overwhelmed fans"

Chicago Reader
Burnt (2015)

Publish Date: October 31, 2015
"The hero spends an inordinate amount of time screaming at his kitchen staff and hurling plates of food at the wall, which is more fun to watch than the canned relationships that constitute most of the movie"

Chicago Reader
The Summer of Sangaile (2015)

Publish Date: September 17, 2015
"There's something cold about 'Sangaile'. (...) Rating: ** (out of four)"

Chicago Reader
The Kid (1921)

Publish Date: April 16, 2014
"Its mixture of surefire gags and raw emotion was unlike anything moviegoers had ever seen"

Chicago Reader
The Day He Arrives (2011)

Publish Date: July 6, 2012
"This feature seems like a trifle compared to his best work"

Chicago Reader
Lakeview Terrace (2008)

Publish Date: September 18, 2008
"One of the toughest racial dramas to come out of Hollywood (...) To his credit LaBute manages to keep the viewer morally off balance"

Chicago Reader
Persepolis (2007)

Publish Date: January 10, 2008
"The story's greatest value lies in its elegant twining of the universal and the obscure (…) Rating: *** (out of 4)"

Chicago Reader
The Phantom of the Opera (1925)

Publish Date: October 25, 2007
"Critics rank this 1925 feature by Rupert Julian well below 'Nosferatu' and 'The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari', but Lon Chaney’s performance (...) is still a cornerstone of gothic horror"

Chicago Reader
Sunshine (2007)

Publish Date: July 19, 2007
"On a visceral level, no other film I've seen has made such a palpable on-screen presence of the sun's deadly heat and blinding light (…) Rating: *** (out of 4)"

Chicago Reader
The Host (2006)

Publish Date: March 8, 2007
"The mix of dark humor, creeping suspense, and a sort of apocalyptic tenderness makes this the best horror flick in years."

Chicago Reader
Miss Potter (2006)

Publish Date: January 5, 2007
"The twee romance was too much for me, though the movie’s more interesting first half notes the innovations Warne introduced to popularize illustrated picture books for children."

Chicago Reader
Sweet Land (2005)

Publish Date: November 17, 2006
"[Selim] makes his feature directing debut with this simple and beautifully paced drama, letting the characters breathe and the land speak."

Chicago Reader
The Departed (2006)

Publish Date: October 5, 2006
"'The Departed' is completely engrossing, a master class in suspense. But in moral terms it may be the least involving story that Scorsese--an artist much preoccupied with morality--has ever taken on."

Chicago Reader

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