Jonathan Rosenbaum

Jonathan Rosenbaum Chicago Reader Mar 20, 2026 Skillful made-for-cable satire. Go to Full Review The Second Civil War (1997) 62% 61%

Jonathan Rosenbaum Chicago Reader Feb 22, 2026 Sometimes the restraint may be less than felicitous, but Noiret seems perfectly cast, and the film's warmth and sympathy are underlined by some intelligence. Go to Full Review The Postman (1994) 92% 94%

Jonathan Rosenbaum jonathanrosenbaum.net Feb 18, 2026 Lucas’s use of northern California locations is inventive; costar Donald Pleasence is mainly tiresome. Go to Full Review THX 1138 (1971) 72% 73%

Jonathan Rosenbaum Chicago Reader Feb 1, 2026 I’ve never been much of a Julia Roberts fan, but I have to admit that director Steven Soderbergh coaxes a very lively performance out of her in this docudrama, which intermittently reminds me of Silkwood. Go to Full Review Erin Brockovich (2000) 87% 85%

Jonathan Rosenbaum Sight & Sound Dec 18, 2025 It becomes conventionally digestible only when it occasionally turns into an old-fashioned love story. Go to Full Review Megalopolis (2024) 46% - -

Jonathan Rosenbaum Chicago Reader Dec 11, 2025 Most of the circus freaks are as synthetic as Pee-wee himself, and while the level of imagination here is scaled to the bite-size dimensions of TV, the sense of an alternate universe felt in Herman’s TV show is woefully lacking. Go to Full Review Big Top Pee-wee (1988) 30% 30%

Jonathan Rosenbaum Chicago Reader Sep 23, 2025 Notwithstanding its occasional grotesque nods to postmodernist convention, this is highly entertaining Hollywood filmmaking, full of spark and vigor. Go to Full Review Boogie Nights (1997) 91% 89%

Jonathan Rosenbaum Chicago Reader Sep 17, 2025 The film can’t simply be discounted as a skim job on the original; Romero’s dark social commentary, which grew in impact over his entire Dead trilogy, is still very much present here, even if it no longer has the same bite and urgency Go to Full Review Night of the Living Dead (1990) 58% 68%

Jonathan Rosenbaum Chicago Reader Jul 28, 2025 This movie feels like it was made by a bank rather than a person. Go to Full Review Waterworld (1995) 61% 43%

Jonathan Rosenbaum Chicago Reader Jul 16, 2025 While the animation isn’t top drawer, the plot and characters are fairly diverting. Go to Full Review DuckTales, the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp (1990) 65% 69%

Jonathan Rosenbaum jonathanrosenbaum.net Jun 3, 2025 Rollerball postulates an unlikely future society... but then resolutely refuses to show it, reserving all its heavy hardware for the brutal mechanics of an exceedingly dull sport that is presumed to make this invisible anti-utopia possible. Go to Full Review Rollerball (1975) 55% 62%

Jonathan Rosenbaum Chicago Reader Apr 29, 2025 If only it had shown some nostalgia for the silent thrillers of Louis Feuillade and Fritz Lang, I might have had some fun. Go to Full Review Mission: Impossible II (2000) 58% 42%

Jonathan Rosenbaum Sight & Sound Mar 18, 2025 Even at its most lacklustre and tasteless junctures, Tommy is never boring, and always full of energy; and given the very loose narrative framework and imprecise plot that Russell has to work with, this is no small achievement. Go to Full Review Tommy (1975) 71% 71%

Jonathan Rosenbaum Monthly Film Bulletin Mar 11, 2025 Despite a reasonable amount of high spirits, the shrill ugliness and witlessness of the Gestalt cabinet scenes are sufficient to sink this shaky vehicle without a trace. Go to Full Review My Pleasure Is My Business (1974) 10% - -

Jonathan Rosenbaum Sight & Sound Feb 27, 2025 One proceeds through this constant play between organisation and chaos as though in a mystery, picking out threads that may be either loose ends or clues to future events -- and aspect that makes Nashville well worth repeated visits. Go to Full Review Nashville (1975) 89% 84%

Jonathan Rosenbaum Chicago Reader Aug 21, 2024 Its paper-thin characters turned into caricatures by egregious hamming, this 1996 Japanese comedy drama about shy ballroom dancers is sentimental goo and downright interminable. Go to Full Review Shall We Dance? (1996) 90% 89%

Jonathan Rosenbaum Chicago Reader Nov 29, 2023 The movie is quite enjoyable as long as it explores the fantasy of a neglected little boy having an entire house of his own to explore and play in, and it still manages to be fun when he exhibits superhuman ingenuity and resourcefulness. Go to Full Review Home Alone (1990) 66% 84%

Jonathan Rosenbaum Chicago Reader Nov 8, 2023 Good-natured but haunting, elliptical and repetitive as narrative but extremely likable, this is a poignant and sometimes funny story. Go to Full Review Smoke Signals (1998) 90% 82%

Jonathan Rosenbaum Chicago Reader Nov 8, 2023 This totally absorbing 172-minute feature, winner of the Camera d’Or at Cannes, is exciting not as ethnography but as storytelling, as drama, and as filmmaking. Go to Full Review Atanarjuat the Fast Runner (2001) 93% 83%

Jonathan Rosenbaum Chicago Reader Sep 12, 2023 Tries way too hard to be clever and shrewd. Danny Leiner (Dude, Where’s My Car?, Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle) directed a script by Sam Catlin, and though both have their moments, they’re rarely the same moments. Go to Full Review The Great New Wonderful (2005) 73% 45%