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David Rooney

Chief Film Critic

As Chief Film Critic, David Rooney reviews the latest releases and premieres from major festivals including Sundance, Berlin, Cannes, Venice and Toronto. He was formerly THR’s Chief Theater Critic and continues to review Broadway when time permits. Based in New York City, he is a member of the New York Film Critics Circle, National Society of Film Critics and New York Drama Critics Circle. Prior to joining THR, he was Chief Italian Correspondent for Variety before moving to New York, where he became Chief Theater Critic. Rooney's work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times and Rolling Stone. He has served on the nominating panel for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and multiple times for the Gotham Awards. David’s writing for THR has won five Southern California Journalism Awards and three National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards.

More from David Rooney

‘The Spiral’ Review: Jasmine Trinca’s Real Housewife of Bari Makes a Faustian Pact With Valeria Bruni Tedeschi’s Enigmatic Stranger in Crackling Chiller

Italian genre specialist Paolo Strippoli’s Venice competitor traces the escalating horror of a wife and mother whose fear of having a less-than-perfect family takes her to dark places.

‘Bunker’ Review: Penélope Cruz and Javier Bardem Are Riveting as a Married Couple Growing Apart in Needling but Schematic Psychological Drama

Stephen Graham and Patrick Schwarzenegger also star in Florian Zeller’s latest, about the ethical and emotional questions raised when an architect considers a lucrative commission from a tech billionaire.

‘Musk’ Review: Alex Gibney’s Mammoth Elon Musk Doc Is a Poleaxing Portrait of the Tech Titan as a Con Man Given Way Too Much Power to Be Stopped

The Oscar-winning docmaker gets around the hiccup of Musk’s refusal to participate by creating a CG avatar of the world’s richest man.

‘Look Back’ Review: Hirokazu Koreeda’s Lovingly Crafted Manga Adaptation Is a Delicate Charmer About Teen Friendship and Art, Joy and Sorrow

Based on the celebrated standalone manga by Tatsuki Fujimoto, the tender story was previously translated to the screen in a 2024 medium-length anime retelling.

‘Possible Love’ Review: Korean Master Lee Chang-dong’s Transfixing Meditation on Economic and Emotional Unease Is a Quiet Powerhouse

The 'Burning' director returns after an eight-year absence with this complex drama for Netflix, about the awkward commingling of two couples on either side of the wealth divide.

‘Primetime’ Review: You Might Feel the Need to Shower After Watching Robert Pattinson as ‘To Catch a Predator’ Host Chris Hansen

Merritt Wever, Skyler Gisondo and Phoebe Bridgers also star in Lance Oppenheim’s first narrative feature, revisiting the ethically muddy ‘Dateline NBC’ ratings phenomenon.

‘Elsinore’ Review: Andrew Scott Is Shattering as British Actor Ian Charleson, Throwing Himself Into Playing Hamlet While Succumbing to AIDS

Simon Stone’s drama about the sustaining power of art is a time capsule of late 1980s London, also starring Olivia Colman, Billie Piper and Johnny Flynn.

‘A Long Winter’ Review: Fred Hechinger and Ebon Moss-Bachrach Shine as Family Thrust Into Uneasy Isolation in Andrew Haigh’s Fine-Grained Drama

Also featuring Caitríona Balfe, Kit Connor and D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, the film — adapted from Colm Tóibín's novella — measures the after-effects of a disappearance in the Rocky Mountains in the 1950s.

‘Burgundy’ Review: The Classic French Vin Rouge Is a Way of Life in Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw’s Captivating Oenology Doc

The directors behind ‘The Truffle Hunters’ and ‘Gaucho Gaucho’ continue their ethnographic exploration of age-old traditions inextricably embedded in the land.

‘Wild Horse Nine’ Review: John Malkovich and Sam Rockwell Make a Perfect Pair in Martin McDonagh’s Poignant, Blood-Dipped Buddy Comedy

Steve Buscemi also stars in this story of two CIA operatives who take a trip to Easter Island while readying for the Chilean military coup that would overthrow the Salvador Allende government.

‘Bucking Fastard’ Review: Kate and Rooney Mara Embrace the Weirdness in Werner Herzog’s Nutty but Thin Tale of Two Sisters Who Behave as One

Orlando Bloom and Domhnall Gleeson also star in this mock-Irish fable about siblings whose hunger for love compels them to tunnel through a mountain.

‘Ink’ Review: Jack O’Connell and Guy Pearce Trace Rupert Murdoch’s Fleet Street Rise in Breathlessly Paced, Morally Opaque Danny Boyle Drama

Claire Foy also stars in this Venice opener adapted by James Graham from his play about the transformation of U.K. tabloid culture into mass-market low-brow entertainment.