Christopher Orr

Christopher Orr The Atlantic Jan 7, 2026 In Out of the Past, Mitchum is an actor in the fullness of his powers, an unforgettable and supremely American combination of subtlety and commonness, an icon of cool. Go to Full Review Out of the Past (1947) 88% 92%

Christopher Orr Forbes Oct 22, 2020 What I missed in the trailer-and, honestly, one could almost miss in the film itself-is the detail that elevates it to an entirely different level of fascination: The Mole Agent is a documentary. Go to Full Review The Mole Agent (2020) 95% 84%

Christopher Orr The Atlantic Jun 15, 2020 Stillman sketches his characters with gentle humor, capturing not only their foibles and foolishnesses but the earnest intentions behind them. Go to Full Review Metropolitan (1990) 94% 84%

Christopher Orr Forbes Jun 12, 2020 For those attuned to its delicate balance of whimsy and melancholy--not to mention anyone eager to see Bill Nighy at the very top of his game--it is, by design, a magnificent trifle. Go to Full Review Sometimes Always Never (2018) 82% 65%

Christopher Orr Forbes Jun 12, 2020 While eminently enjoyable, the film has a slightly loose and lazy quality. Storylines appear and then are forgotten for long stretches. Though the elements are individually solid, the fit between them is awkward. Go to Full Review The King of Staten Island (2020) 76% 83%

Christopher Orr Forbes Jun 8, 2020 This awful moment in America, beset by sicknesses both cultural and epidemiological, is precisely the moment for The Vast of Night, the rookie feature by director Andrew Patterson. Go to Full Review The Vast of Night (2019) 92% 66%

Christopher Orr Forbes Jun 4, 2020 Is Showgirls a masterpiece because it contains hidden depths and meanings that were unappreciated upon its release? Or is it a masterpiece because its awfulness is so unremitting that it transcends any conception of taste or quality? How about neither? Go to Full Review You Don't Nomi (2019) 89% 66%

Christopher Orr The Atlantic May 18, 2020 Unpacks a fascinating peculiarity of Iran's sexual culture wars... Go to Full Review Be Like Others (2008) 100% 89%

Christopher Orr The Atlantic Nov 5, 2019 The tagline for Love Actually is "The Ultimate Romantic Comedy." Perhaps. But not in the sense the producers intended. Go to Full Review Love Actually (2003) 65% 72%

Christopher Orr The Atlantic Apr 2, 2019 It's hardly an insult to acknowledge that The Highwaymen is no classic on the level of Bonnie and Clyde. But it is, in its way, the perfect corrective to Penn's film. Go to Full Review The Highwaymen (2019) 58% - -

Christopher Orr The Atlantic Mar 21, 2019 We now have an official subgenre in which a woman is initially presented as unattractive; is concussed into a fantasy in which she becomes impossibly desirable; and from the experience gleans important, affirmative lessons about believing in herself. Go to Full Review Isn't It Romantic (2019) 70% - -

Christopher Orr The Atlantic Mar 21, 2019 While Farhadi is a master of the drama, his gifts are at times an awkward fit for a kidnapping thriller. It is almost as if one bought a ticket for a Liam Neeson movie and wound up instead in a Strindberg play. Go to Full Review Everybody Knows (2018) 78% 60%

Christopher Orr The Atlantic Mar 21, 2019 Alas, just as broken clocks have their moments of accuracy, even the most gifted directors occasionally offer up disappointments. Such is the case with J.C. Chandor's fourth film, Triple Frontier. Go to Full Review Triple Frontier (2019) 71% - -

Christopher Orr The Atlantic Feb 1, 2019 Like von Donnersmarck's 2006 debut film, The Lives of Others, (and overlooking The Tourist, a terrible English-language misfire he directed in the interim), Never Look Away is a marvel. Go to Full Review Never Look Away (2018) 77% 87%

Christopher Orr The Atlantic Jan 29, 2019 What is perhaps most remarkable about Bale's and Adams's performances is that they supply depth and nuance to a film whose director appears to have had no appetite for either quality. Go to Full Review Vice (2018) 64% 61%

Christopher Orr The Atlantic Dec 19, 2018 Mary Poppins Returns serves as a reminder that, for all its global scope and hegemonic ambition, Disney still has a little magic left up its sleeve. Go to Full Review Mary Poppins Returns (2018) 80% 64%

Christopher Orr The Atlantic Dec 19, 2018 Roma captures, as well as any film I have seen, the spirit of "magical realism," without ever hinting at the supernatural. Its magic is pure, stunning cinematic technique. Go to Full Review Roma (2018) 96% 72%

Christopher Orr The Atlantic Dec 19, 2018 First-rate execution can't solve all of a film's problems, but Mortensen and Ali offer a reminder that it can solve an awful lot of them. Go to Full Review Green Book (2018) 77% 91%

Christopher Orr The Atlantic Dec 19, 2018 Though the stories are individually captivating and very much worth the price of admission-see the film on a big screen if you can-they fit together awkwardly. Go to Full Review The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018) 90% 78%

Christopher Orr The Atlantic Jun 18, 2018 As heists go, it's a moderately ingenious idea, and for the most part, the movie floats along amiably on the tide of its stars' charisma and the capable if uninspired direction of Ross, who also co-wrote the script with Olivia Milch. Go to Full Review Ocean's 8 (2018) 69% 44%