The picture is elevated by its handling of melancholy themes of ageing and loneliness, and a superb gruff-yet-vulnerable performance from Kingsley.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 31, 2023

The real power in the film, however, besides the soothing layer of whimsy and Kingsley’s achingly vulnerable performance, is in the metaphorical implication of the title character.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 29, 2023

This is a sentimental and folksy film, and the ending is a little garbled, but there is a gentleness and sweetness there, and Kingsley carries it off very well.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 26, 2023

a gentle, somewhat mawkish allegory of Milton’s encroaching twilight years – for coinciding with Jules’ arrival is the early onset of the widower’s cognitive decline, so that he too is on a slow, difficult journey both home and heavenwards.

| Dec 23, 2023

Director Marc Turtletaub keeps the mood light, though there's a poignant undertow to a story that's as much about being allowed to grow old with dignity as it is about an extraterrestrial.

| Oct 25, 2023

Sensitive, intelligent, sweet, and presented with considerable integrity, right down to the direction, which is scrupulous in not showing anything that doesn't actually need to be seen.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Oct 25, 2023

Quon, a Hollywood stuntwoman wearing a prosthetic suit, turns in an astonishingly moving silent performance.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Oct 25, 2023

Director Marc Turtletaub, who has a long track as a producer and finds himself within the age range of his actors, treats this theme with the correct finesse. [Full review in Spanish]

| Oct 5, 2023

What sounds like the same old story is actually one of the year’s most pleasant surprises.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Oct 3, 2023

Jules is a slight film but an enjoyable one. I’ve come to value any film that offers actors I like something offbeat to add to their resumé.

| Aug 28, 2023

“Jules” utilizes the alien encounter not to explore the possibilities of extraterrestrial life but to paint a portrait of life on Earth. It’s a simple tale, simply told, but with a lot of heart and humanity at the center of it all.

| Aug 15, 2023

A compassionate character study that accomplishes what few current films do: a sweet, simple sense of wonder.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 14, 2023

While watching this film, I heard someone say “What the [F-bomb]?” three times.

| Original Score: 1/4 | Aug 11, 2023

This is a low-key charmer, a kind of “E.T” for AARP, with a gentleness to the story that is very endearing.

| Original Score: B+ | Aug 11, 2023

Ostensibly, this is a film about rediscovering one’s humanity by way of otherworldly emotional connection, but the relationship between the central trio and Jules himself never feels particularly resonant.

| Original Score: 2.5/5 | Aug 10, 2023

It often feels as though Turtletaub would rather you be curled up in your seat with a mug of cocoa than on the edge of it. But the sweetness isn’t entirely unwelcome — not every alien movie can be “Alien.”

| Aug 10, 2023

The cast is a delight, especially Kingsley, whose befuddled glances make your heart swell to the bursting point once you start to realize this is but a sci-fi-laced parable on the alienation that so many mature adults experience in today’s society.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Aug 10, 2023

It's less a sci-fi parable... than a fairy tale reminding us that the tribulations of getting old are more natural than sad, and best done in the company of loved ones.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Aug 9, 2023

A movie that’s often too content with its own weirdness to work on any other grounds. "Jules” isn’t funny enough or heartbreaking enough or anything enough to meaningfully expand on its basic idea.

| Original Score: C+ | Aug 8, 2023

We spend most of our time with Kingsley, who makes the audience care about Milton without pandering through emotional shortcuts.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 8, 2023