Maitland McDonagh

Maitland McDonagh
Tomatometer-approved critic
Biography:
Maitland McDonagh is TV Guide Online's Senior Movie Editor, and has been writing about movies for more than 15 years. She is the author of three books on film: </i>Broken Mirrors/Broken Minds: The Dark Dreams of Dario Argento, Filmmaking on the Fringe: The Good, the Bad and the Deviant Directors and </i>The 50 Most Erotic Films of All Time, and has written for publications ranging from </i>The New York Times to </i>Paper and </i>Time Out New York.
Publications: Boxoffice Magazine, Film Comment Magazine, Film Journal International, Hollywood Reporter, Miss FlickChick, AMCtv.com, Horror Hacker, AWFJ Women on Film, TV Guide
Critics' Group: New York Film Critics Online, Online Film Critics Society
Location: New York, USA
Official Websites: tvguide.com/movies

Movie Reviews Only

T-Meter Title | Year
94% Before Stonewall (2019) Before Stonewall captures an impressive array of voices and is especially noteworthy for the number of men and women of color with whom Schiller spoke. - AWFJ Women on Film EDIT
Read More | Posted May 28, 2020
3/5 100% Forbidden City, USA (1989) Dong's juxtaposition of vintage clips and photographs and contemporary interviews with Forbidden City dancers, singers, patrons and employees create a rich portrait of both the club itself and the larger cultural forces that shaped it. - TV Guide EDIT
Read More | Posted May 1, 2020
87% Luz (2019) Luz is a tight, sharp little shocker that works well on its own terms and suggests that Singer is a filmmaker to watch. - AWFJ Women on Film EDIT
Read More | Posted Aug 8, 2019
92% The Cat Rescuers (2019) But the work of the women and men chronicled in this film is heartening... It's Faulknerian: They endure. - AWFJ Women on Film EDIT
Read More | Posted Jul 8, 2019
3/5 38% She Creature (2001) A surprisingly imaginative made-for-cable horror picture. - TV Guide EDIT
Read More | Posted Jul 3, 2019
2/5 41% Equilibrium (2002) It's hard not to feel you've just watched a feature-length video game with some really heavy back story. - TV Guide EDIT
Read More | Posted Apr 17, 2019
3/5 No Score Yet The Nest (2002) Though THE NEST eventually bogs down in ever-escalating firefights, for most of its running time it's a lean, intense, white-knuckle thriller distinguished by above average performances. - TV Guide EDIT
Read More | Posted Apr 11, 2019
1.5/5 22% Practical Magic (1998) Mind-boggling miscalculations strangle this adaptation of Alice Hoffman's popular novel before it can find its feet. - TV Guide EDIT
Read More | Posted Mar 30, 2019
11% Welcome Home (The Getaway) (2018) Features surprisingly strong performances from Ratajkowski, Scamarcio and Paul. - Film Journal International EDIT
Read More | Posted Nov 15, 2018
40% The Super (2018) How surprising the story's twist ending turns out to be depends on how thoroughly steeped in horror moves the viewer is, but it's well executed down to small details. - Film Journal International EDIT
Read More | Posted Nov 9, 2018
81% Overlord (2018) American soldiers take on zombie Nazis in this gory horror picture that also features a solid story and characters you can actually care about. - Film Journal International EDIT
Read More | Posted Nov 8, 2018
No Score Yet Speed Kills (2018) Speed Kills feels startlingly like a 1990s direct-to-video action movie with an inexplicably inflated budget. - Film Journal International EDIT
Read More | Posted Nov 7, 2018
83% Daughters of the Sexual Revolution: The Untold Story of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders (2018) A truly engrossing film, one that balances the big picture and the small one. - Film Journal International EDIT
Read More | Posted Nov 2, 2018
39% Don't Go (2018) In this handsomely made psychological thriller, a troubled couple tries to move on after the loss of their young daughter, but find themselves mired in the past. - Film Journal International EDIT
Read More | Posted Oct 26, 2018
No Score Yet London Fields (2018) London Fields simply does not work on any level. - Film Journal International EDIT
Read More | Posted Oct 26, 2018
65% Suspiria (2018) A smart reimagining, but not a particularly compelling one, which is the problem overall. - Film Journal International EDIT
Read More | Posted Oct 23, 2018
2.5/5 No Score Yet New Jersey-born, Taiwan-raised director/cowriter Bay-Sa Pan gives the conflict a culturally particular spin and elicits strong performances from her appealing cast. - TV Guide EDIT
Read More | Posted Oct 19, 2018
2/4 61% Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer (2007) [A] cheerfully gross, deliberately retro horror picture. - TV Guide EDIT
Read More | Posted Oct 17, 2018
17% Look Away (2018) Not especially distinctive. - Film Journal International EDIT
Read More | Posted Oct 12, 2018
80% A Crooked Somebody (2018) Features excellent performances and a plot firmly rooted in relationships rather than stunts. - Film Journal International EDIT
Read More | Posted Oct 4, 2018
82% Chasing the Blues (2018) The film's pleasures are small ones, but they're perfectly pitched. - Film Journal International EDIT
Read More | Posted Oct 4, 2018
9% Maximum Impact (2018) Neither particularly funny nor conspicuously thrilling. - Film Journal International EDIT
Read More | Posted Sep 27, 2018
12% Peppermint (2018) Fundamentally forgettable, the kind of movie whose details begin to disappear the moment the credits roll. - Film Journal International EDIT
Read More | Posted Sep 6, 2018
50% Blood Fest (2018) Though never particularly scary, 'Blood Fest' is entertaining and gives genre fans the opportunity to feel clever as they spot the references to a wide range of horror films. - Film Journal International EDIT
Read More | Posted Aug 30, 2018
82% What Keeps You Alive (2018) Features excellent performances by leads Brittany Allen and Hannah Emily Anderson and some tidy plot twists. - Film Journal International EDIT
Read More | Posted Aug 23, 2018
70% Puppet Master: The Littlest Reich (2018) Funny little Nazis require rather more finesse than The Littlest Reich possesses. - Film Journal International EDIT
Read More | Posted Aug 16, 2018
4% 211 (2018) Adhering to a formula is one thing, but this cliché overload pushes 211 over the line that divides undistinguished movies from bad ones. - Film Journal International EDIT
Read More | Posted Aug 14, 2018
52% Elizabeth Harvest (2018) Both great genre fun and genuinely horrifying. - Film Journal International EDIT
Read More | Posted Aug 9, 2018
22% 14 Cameras (2018) The sequel to the 2015 high-tech peeping Tom thriller '13 Cameras' takes the premise up a notch with genuinely creepy results. - Film Journal International EDIT
Read More | Posted Jul 27, 2018
100% King Cohen: The Wild World of Filmmaker Larry Cohen (2018) This briskly entertaining documentary about low-budget filmmaker Larry Cohen gives the writer plenty of time to tell his own story of making smart movies on the cheap. - Film Journal International EDIT
Read More | Posted Jul 24, 2018
No Score Yet Black Water (2018) A thoroughly forgettable formulaic action movie. - Film Journal International EDIT
Read More | Posted Jun 29, 2018
2/5 45% Deep Impact (1998) A three-hankie weeper in disaster-movie drag, and its tear-jerking bull's-eyes are separated by long stretches of tedium. - TV Guide EDIT
Read More | Posted Jun 25, 2018
13% China Salesman (2018) If it were half an hour shorter, China Salesman might be a candidate for "so bad it's good (or at least kind of fun)" status. - Film Journal International EDIT
Read More | Posted Jun 15, 2018
51% Superfly (2018) Slick but not cool and has nothing much to say. - Film Journal International EDIT
Read More | Posted Jun 13, 2018
78% Discreet (2018) A disturbed loner begins to unravel in this contemplative thriller that's less interested in conventional thrills than in drawing viewers into the protagonist's off-kilter world view. - Film Journal International EDIT
Read More | Posted May 31, 2018
47% In Darkness (2018) Fans of the genre will appreciate the clever script and strong performances. - Film Journal International EDIT
Read More | Posted May 24, 2018
48% How to Talk to Girls at Parties (2018) [A] sweetly daffy picture about coming of age in punk-era England. - Film Journal International EDIT
Read More | Posted May 24, 2018
No Score Yet Dark Crimes (2018) [S]tumbles at every turn. - Film Journal International EDIT
Read More | Posted May 17, 2018
27% Breaking In (2018) Breaking In keeps the pace up, the pressure on and the action fairly plausible. - Film Journal International EDIT
Read More | Posted May 10, 2018
53% Bad Samaritan (2018) In this tightly constructed thriller, a stone-cold sociopath is pitted against a small-time grifter who rediscovers his long-neglected moral compass. - Film Journal International EDIT
Read More | Posted May 2, 2018
85% Ghost Stories (2018) This modern-day portmanteau horror film cleverly ties together three stories of the supernatural through one character's search to debunk the apparently undebunkable. - Film Journal International EDIT
Read More | Posted Apr 20, 2018
27% Traffik (2018) 1970s exploitation lives in this lean, mean tale of vacationing city folk who accidentally run afoul of rural human traffickers. - Film Journal International EDIT
Read More | Posted Apr 20, 2018
2/4 69% The Leading Man (1998) While buff, blandly handsome and a pleasant enough screen presence, Jon Bon Jovi can't suggest the bottomless reserves of guile, intelligence and resolve his role demands. - TV Guide EDIT
Read More | Posted Apr 17, 2018
67% Mercury (2018) Contains several genuinely suspenseful sequences reminiscent of Fede Alvarez's acclaimed 2016 Don't Breathe and of '70s gialli in general. - Film Journal International EDIT
Read More | Posted Apr 12, 2018
47% Allure (2018) Bad love comes in several varieties in this thriller about a woman whose relationship with a teenager has dire consequences. - Film Journal International EDIT
Read More | Posted Mar 15, 2018
100% Keep the Change (2018) Surprisingly sweet rom-com featuring two people with autism benefits from affecting performances by leads Samantha Elisofon and Brandon Polansky. - Film Journal International EDIT
Read More | Posted Mar 15, 2018
18% Death Wish (2018) [I]n the end it's just another macho fantasy about "good guys" with guns. - Film Journal International EDIT
Read More | Posted Mar 2, 2018
80% Pickings (2018) Pickings may not be a genre-changer, but it's handsomely stylish and a cut above the average neo-noir pastiche. - Film Journal International EDIT
Read More | Posted Mar 1, 2018
47% Curvature (2018) Once it sets up its "What if?" premise [...] it doesn't do a whole lot with it...at least, not a whole lot that's especially interesting. - Film Journal International EDIT
Read More | Posted Feb 23, 2018
7% 7 Guardians of the Tomb (2018) Incredibly dumb and tedious. - Film Journal International EDIT
Read More | Posted Feb 22, 2018