Brad Pitt is nothing short of phenomenal in this remarkable, poignant and visually arresting film from James Gray.

| Original Score: 4.5/5 | Oct 19, 2019

There's larger social commentary here, but the root of the drama is about a man learning to embrace the emotions he's kept buried for years.

| Sep 30, 2019

For most of its running time, Ad Astra amounts to a rather somber and sterile two-hour orbit.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Sep 27, 2019

The film's Latin title means "to the stars." But the satisfactions of James Gray's project lie in a special branch of astronomy-not the study of planets, but of the supernova at the center of "Ad Astra": Brad Pitt.

| Sep 27, 2019

It's a very somber and moody film. The atmosphere is achieved beautifully.

| Original Score: A | Sep 25, 2019

McBride is a man living without feeling, and Pitt's performance is beautifully restrained, expressing whole continents of emotion with the furrow of an eyebrow.

| Sep 23, 2019

This is slow, obtuse filmmaking with little emotional connection.

| Original Score: C | Sep 23, 2019

In a world in which Star Wars movies still rule the roost, it's encouraging to find an $80m space-based movie setting its artistic sights on the stars rather than simply recycling intergalactic horse-opera cliches.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Sep 22, 2019

James Gray's Ad Astra, as a reflection upon loss and masculinity is as illuminating as the sun, personal in its careful inspection, and a repressed masterpiece.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Sep 22, 2019

Gray is such an exquisite cinematic craftsman it's unlikely I could have torn my eyes away from the screen even if I had wanted to try and do so.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Sep 22, 2019

In a mesmerizing, minimalist performance, Pitt forms the gravitational center of a film that takes its place in the firmament of science fiction films by fearlessly quoting classics of the genre (as well as those outside it).

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Sep 20, 2019

Brad Pitt reminds us why he's a goddamn star in James Gray's gorgeous, contemplative, and masculinity-puncturing Ad Astra.

| Sep 20, 2019

To lavish too much praise on Mr. Pitt's performance would be to somehow suggest he isn't already among the best actors on screen. He is.

| Sep 20, 2019

..."Ad Astra" uses science fiction for very intimate, personal purposes-and what's distinctive about this gripping, sometimes preposterous film is the way that Gray sticks his neck out to balance the demands of intimacy and wham-bam spectacle.

| Sep 20, 2019

Ad Astra is technologically breathtaking, but its narrative is a sleepy tale of daddy issues with Brad Pitt emerging from his most engaging role in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, left to make sad eyes for two hours.

| Sep 20, 2019

Gray has a gift for shrinking massive set pieces and enlarging private dramas.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Sep 20, 2019

At times the film is so thoughtful, so interior, the dialogue can sound like it came from a classy mindfulness app.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Sep 20, 2019

I could hardly agree more with the humanist message of Ad Astra, while at the same time my inner Trekkie is saying, "We came millions of miles for this?"

| Sep 20, 2019

This is rare, nuanced storytelling, anchored by one of Brad Pitt's career-best performances and remarkable technical elements on every level. It's a special film.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Sep 20, 2019

The canniness of Gray's procedure is matched by the boldness, even the recklessness, of the extremes to which he pushes it-along with his characters, his story, his emotions, and his techniques.

| Sep 20, 2019