Movies Update: Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk hit the big screen

October 9, 2026

	By Kellina Moore

Hey movie fans!

It’s attack of the tech bros at the theater this week.

First up is Aaron Sorkin’s return to the Facebook beat, “The Social Reckoning.” This time, the C.E.O. Mark Zuckerberg (played here by Jeremy Strong) takes a back seat to The Wall Street Journal reporter (Jeremy Allen White) and the whistle-blowing Facebook employee (Mikey Madison) who try to take him down. And the stakes are higher than ever before: “Sorkin isn’t just taking aim at social media, he is also sounding the alarm about American democracy,” Manohla Dargis writes in her review. We’ve come a long way from those flip flops.

On the documentary side, (and speaking of the connection between social media and American democracy), is the Elon Musk documentary, “Musk,” directed by Alex Gibney and clocking in at nearly 4 hours long. Though our critic Alissa Wilkinson argues there’s not much new to be gleaned, “The strongest and most damning parts of ‘Musk’ come in conversations with two women,” she writes: Musk’s exes Justine Musk and Ashley St. Clair. We have more from St. Clair about the experience here, and the major takeaways from the movie here if watching a sprawling movie about the tech giant sounds too excruciating (I don’t blame you).

Enjoy (or white-knuckle your way through) the movies!

Jeremy Allen White and Mikey Madison, sitting on a sofa.

Leah Gallo/Columbia Pictures

‘The Social Reckoning’ Review: Sounding the Alarm

Aaron Sorkin’s latest movie is about how social-media platforms like Facebook have rewired our brains and the larger world.

By Manohla Dargis

Against a dark background, a man in a blue suit, white shirt and purple tie looks angrily down to the left.

Leah Gallo/Sony Pictures

What to Know About ‘The Social Reckoning’

Aaron Sorkin’s sort-of sequel to the 2010 “Social Network” dramatizes a whistle-blowing case at Facebook. Here’s what to know.

By Sarah Bahr

Elon Musk, in a buttoned-up suit and tie, stands with his arms outstretched, hands balled up in fists, at a lectern adorned with the seal of the president of the United States.

UPI / Alamy Stock Photo/Bleecker Street

Documentary Lens

‘Musk’ Film Asks How He Got So Powerful. The Answers Don’t Satisfy.

Alex Gibney’s nearly four-hour documentary is deeply researched. But because the mogul has long been in the spotlight, little is new.

By Alissa Wilkinson

A woman with long dark hair wearing a brown sleeveless top looks toward the camera.

Elinor Kry for The New York Times

Q&A

She Was Offered $40 Million for Silence on Elon Musk. She Spoke Out Instead.

In the documentary “Musk,” Ashley St. Clair, a former right-wing influencer and mother of one of Musk’s children, speaks about her relationship with him.

By Coralie Kraft

CRITICS’ PICKS

The actress Rosalind Eleazar, dressed in a criss-crossing green top, has her arms folded over a ledge with the ocean in the background.

Merrick Morton/A24

Critic’s Pick

‘Misty Green’ Review: An Actor and the Pleas That Drive L.A.

The actor Rosalind Eleazar and the writer-director Chris Rock give us a portrait of struggle in a city of air kisses and transactional fondness.

By Lisa Kennedy

A woman leans on a sleeping woman in a cab.

Cinetic

Critic’s Pick

‘My Undesirable Friends: Part II — Exile’ Review: What Is Truth?

The second half of Julia Loktev’s epic chronicle of independent journalists in Russia is essential viewing.

By Alissa Wilkinson

MOVIE REVIEWS

A couple sits on a blue couch with drinks in front of them, while other guests at a dinner party drink and eat.

Neon

‘Fjord’ Review: A Moral Rorschach Test

Cristian Mungiu’s latest psychological thriller stars Sebastian Stan as the Romanian patriarch of a devout family in Norway, with Renate Reinsve as his wife.

By Manohla Dargis

A woman in a blue sweater and a man in a dress shirt and tie stand side by side in a home, looking ahead with concerned expressions.

Warrick Page/Netflix

‘Animals’ Review: The Politician’s Dilemma

Ben Affleck plays a mayoral candidate who’s having a very bad day in this fizz-free political thriller.

By Jeannette Catsoulis

John Cena runs in between cars on the street.

Jasin Boland/ Apple TV

‘Matchbox the Movie’ Review: We Like the Cars That Go Boom

John Cena is in the driver’s seat of this stilted movie adaptation of the Mattel-brand toy cars.

By Brandon Yu

Samuel L. Jackson, in a suit, stands over a body in a dark area with eerie blue lighting.

Aura Entertainment

‘The Beast’ Review: Samuel L. Jackson in the Driver’s Seat

Jackson plays a president under siege from a well-armed militia in this action film where his heavily armored car is hiding a few tricks.

By Glenn Kenny

Lesley Manville, in a fur hat and plaid jacket, looks distressed on a gray, snowy street.

Cohen Media

‘Winter of the Crow’ Review: Life in Communist Warsaw

Lesley Manville plays a professor in 1981 who gets swept up in the declaration of martial law in Poland in this slow-burning film.

By Ben Kenigsberg

ANATOMY OF A SCENE

Split-screen view showing a man in a dark suit on the left and a man in a light blazer and glasses on the right.

Left, Columbia Pictures; right, The New York Times

Anatomy of a Scene

Aaron Sorkin on ‘The Social Reckoning’

The writer and director explains how he evolved the character of Mark Zuckerberg in the sort-of sequel to “The Social Network.”

By Mekado Murphy

NEWS & FEATURES

A man cradles a young boy in his arms while standing in the ocean.

David Bornfriend/A24

‘Moonlight’ at 10: How the Movie Made an Impact

Filmmakers consider the influence of Barry Jenkins’s seminal Oscar-winner and the circumstances that helped create it.

By Brian Josephs

Cristian Mungiu wears dark oval sunglasses and a leather jacket outdoors against a leafy green background.

Damien Maloney for The New York Times

He Won’t Tell You What to Think. Some Viewers Can’t Forgive Him for That.

Cristian Mungiu, a two-time Palme d’Or winner, insists that his job is to test your empathy, not validate your opinions.

By Thomas Rogers

Max Miechowski for The New York Times

A Scottish Hip-Hop Hoax Helped James McAvoy Find His Movie-Making Voice

In “California Schemin’,” the actor’s directorial debut, two Scottish rappers pretend to be American to make it in the business. It was much more personal than he thought.

By Jillian Rayfield

STREAMING RECOMMENDATIONS

A black-and-white photo of a man smoking a cigarette, leaning against a door frame and cradling the neck of a woman in lingerie.

Columbia Pictures

10 Great Eva Marie Saint Performances to Stream

From “On the Waterfront” to “North by Northwest,” Saint specialized in complex sympathetic women who did their best to weather domestic and cultural storms.

By Scott Tobias

A man, standing in a into a large, empty, brightly lit yellow room, looks through a square opening.

A24