John C. "Jay" Cocks Jr. (born January 12, 1944) is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is a graduate of Kenyon College.[1] He was a critic for Time, Newsweek, and Rolling Stone, among other magazines, before shifting to screenplay writing.[1] For his work, Cocks has received three Academy Award nominations: two for Best Adapted Screenplay, The Age of Innocence (1993) and A Complete Unknown (2024); and one for Best Original Screenplay, Gangs of New York (2002).