Alexandra MacAaron
Tomatometer-approved critic
Movies reviews only
| Rating | T-Meter | Title | Year | Review |
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You People (2023) |
'You People' awkwardly (and often offensively) alternates between its rom-com set-up and decidedly un-funny observations on racism. - Women's Voices for Change
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| Posted Mar 15, 2023
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Alice, Darling (2022) |
What makes 'Alice, Darling' so engaging is the central theme of women supporting women, and just how powerful friendship and community can be. - Women's Voices for Change
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| Posted Mar 15, 2023
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Women Talking (2022) |
A movie with so little plot, so constricted a setting relies on the talents of its cast. Sarah Polley's ensemble is nothing less than superb. - Women's Voices for Change
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| Posted Mar 15, 2023
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Corsage (2022) |
On the one hand, Elisabeth was held up to an almost unbearable level of scrutiny by both the palace and the public. On the other, she was expected to keep her opinions (that is, if she even had any) to herself. - Women's Voices for Change
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| Posted Jan 25, 2023
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The Menu (2022) |
Both 'Glass Onion' and 'The Menu' owe some of their success and much of our enjoyment to the late, great Lady Mallowan. We are deep into Agatha Christie territory here. - Women's Voices for Change
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| Posted Jan 25, 2023
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Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022) |
Both 'Glass Onion' and 'The Menu' owe some of their success and much of our enjoyment to the late, great Lady Mallowan. We are deep into Agatha Christie territory here. - Women's Voices for Change
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| Posted Jan 25, 2023
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Disenchanted (2022) |
The conundrum with sequels: Is it better to risk tarnishing a beloved original in order to make more money? In this case, maybe not. I'm afraid the title sums it up pretty well. - Women's Voices for Change
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| Posted Jan 25, 2023
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The Woman King (2022) |
'The Woman King' artfully and seamlessly blends some familiar movie genres — following in the tradition of big-screen sagas like Gladiator, Braveheart, and Last of the Mohicans — with a fresh female perspective. And, Viola Davis rules! - Women's Voices for Change
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| Posted Nov 28, 2022
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Blonde (2022) |
Aside from the jarring directorial choices and overall bleakness of 'Blonde,' what bothered me the most is that while individual predators and the Hollywood machine are condemned for exploiting Marilyn, 'Blonde' feels just as exploitive. - Women's Voices for Change
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| Posted Nov 28, 2022
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The Princess (2022) |
Disney Princess meets Kill Bill in the style of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. This fractured fairy tale follows a badass young royal who rejects her husband, escapes from a tower, rescues her family, reclaims her kingdom, and generally wreaks havoc. - Women's Voices for Change
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| Posted Nov 28, 2022
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Catherine Called Birdy (2022) |
Birdy challenges assumptions and rewrites rules so they are better suited to everyone. As her story ends, she wishes she could “Help every girl in the world.” Dunham’s delightful movie is a step in the right direction. - Women's Voices for Change
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| Posted Nov 28, 2022
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The Good House (2021) |
Hildy deserves a second chance at love, but the core of the film — in Weaver’s remarkably capable hands — is her love/hate relationship with alcohol. It’s a relationship many of us can relate to. Weaver’s performance makes 'The Good House' pretty great. - Women's Voices for Change
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| Posted Nov 28, 2022
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Call Jane (2022) |
While Call Jane is what I referred to earlier as an abortion drama, the abortions are one of the film’s least dramatic elements — which makes a fairly dramatic statement in itself. Of course, right now, any abortion drama feels appallingly timely - Women's Voices for Change
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| Posted Nov 28, 2022
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The Rise and Fall of LuLaRoe (2021) |
Thorough journalism and a satisfying, if often disturbing, feature-length watch. The moral of the LuLaRoe story is this. If something sounds too good to be true . . . it probably is.
- Women's Voices for Change
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| Posted Aug 25, 2022
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How to Please a Woman (2022) |
Much of How to Please a Woman’s success can be credited to Phillips’s twinkling performance. Although life (in the form of age discrimination, an empty nest, and an uninterested spouse) has been disappointing lately, Gina doesn’t give up. - Women's Voices for Change
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| Posted Aug 24, 2022
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Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris (2022) |
Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris could have been made fifty or sixty years ago (although its gorgeous cinematography and inclusive casting would have suffered). It’s the sort of feel-good movie that is all too rare these days. - Women's Voices for Change
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| Posted Aug 15, 2022
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Beans (2020) |
'Beans' is not a masterpiece, but it’s a significant debut. I look forward to watching Deer hone her craft as a filmmaker — perhaps next time with a bigger budget and wider distribution. Because I’m sure she still has stories to tell. - Women's Voices for Change
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| Posted Jul 22, 2022
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Being the Ricardos (2021) |
'Being the Ricardos' is a neat piece of filmmaking, but it didn’t make me feel I knew the couple any better than I had before. - Women's Voices for Change
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| Posted Jul 22, 2022
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The Eyes of Tammy Faye (2021) |
Jessica Chastain's ability to create a whole and sympathetic person under a virtual, and sometimes seemingly immobile, mask is surely what her Oscar nomination is honoring (and for which she just won the SAG Award). - Women's Voices for Change
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| Posted Jul 22, 2022
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Turning Red (2022) |
'Turning Red' is the first Pixar feature solely directed by a woman. Domee Shi's exuberant film tells girls (and boys) that it’s okay to change, to feel strong emotions, to take the time to become your true self — even if the process is a little messy. - Women's Voices for Change
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| Posted Jul 22, 2022
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Downton Abbey: A New Era (2022) |
If you've missed the Crawley households, and the lives they lead (interrupted only by — hmmm, let’s see — World War I, the Spanish Flu, wrongful convictions for murder, illegitimate children), then by all means, catch the very next showing. - Women's Voices for Change
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| Posted Jul 22, 2022
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Charlotte (2021) |
The full-length animated feature traces Charlotte Salomon’s life from her teens as an art student in Berlin, through her escape to France, and her eventual capture and murder. The treatment is sensitive and affectionate, a sweet tribute to a tragic life. - Women's Voices for Change
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| Posted Jul 22, 2022
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The Janes (2022) |
At once historic and timely, The Janes underscores the dangerous and often deadly threat of unwanted pregnancy pre-Roe v. Wade. A compelling and sobering documentary. - Women's Voices for Change
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| Posted Jul 22, 2022
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Good Luck to You, Leo Grande (2022) |
Nancy Stokes is a retired religious education teacher, mother of two adult children, and recently widowed. You might think that sex would be low on her list. You’d be wrong. And it would be particularly wrong to miss this smart, sweet, funny film. - Women's Voices for Change
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| Posted Jul 22, 2022
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Watcher (2022) |
And elegant thriller and feminist cautionary tale. 'Watcher' (and there is some question as to who is the watcher and who is being watched) is genuinely frightening. - Women's Voices for Change
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| Posted Jul 22, 2022
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Mr. Malcolm's List (2022) |
With its enthusiastic young cast, yummy art direction, and satisfying, if one-thousand-percent predictable, plotline, 'Mr. Malcolm’s List' may be exactly the right way to spend some time this summer - Women's Voices for Change
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| Posted Jul 22, 2022
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Where the Crawdads Sing (2022) |
I found the film to be both moving and memorable. And, if that makes me part of a minority, that’s fine with me. - Women's Voices for Change
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| Posted Jul 22, 2022
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Spencer (2021) |
'Spencer' is not a fairy story; in fact, many of its scenes and sequences feel more like horror. As a meditation on the crisis of mental health that Princess Diana lived through, it's devastatingly effective. And Stewart is stunning. - Women's Voices for Change
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| Posted Nov 19, 2021
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Found (2021) |
Lipitz's film is an intimate story about three Chinese-American girls on a quest to discover where they came from and, in doing so, who they really are. In their journey together, they learn they were never unloved. - Women's Voices for Change
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| Posted Nov 09, 2021
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Passing (2021) |
Although Hall's impressive debut is about very specific people in a particular place and time, the questions it raises and the experiences it dramatizes are broader, more universal. - Women's Voices for Change
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| Posted Nov 03, 2021
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Rare Beasts (2019) |
Piper is endearingly human and messy as Mandy, and her film includes interesting and surreal touches. Chaos abounds,but in the end, Mandy's mother love proves stronger than any challenge or even the most unhinged storyline. - Women's Voices for Change
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| Posted Aug 17, 2021
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Confetti (2021) |
"Lovable" is the most apt description of Confetti. The film is quiet and warm; even conflicts, and there certainly are some, are resolved without much negativity. Confetti professes a faith in humanity; there's a kindness inherent in unlikely individuals. - Women's Voices for Change
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| Posted Aug 17, 2021
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Playing With Sharks (2021) |
The charismatic subject of writer-director and Emmy-nominee Sally Aitkin's new documentary, 'Playing with Sharks: the Valerie Taylor Story,' has been at home in - and in love with - the ocean since she was in her early twenties. - Women's Voices for Change
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| Posted Aug 05, 2021
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Cruella (2021) |
Cruella de Vil has incredible style and evil minions at her beck and call. She is certainly a feminist, she's all-Disney, and if she turns out to be more anti-heroine than heroine, well, that's part of the fun. - Women's Voices for Change
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| Posted Jul 07, 2021
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Chasing Childhood (2020) |
The loss of childhood fun as we knew it isn't just something to feel wistful about. 'Chasing Childhood' points out that the disappearance of free play can have tangible and terrifying results. - Women's Voices for Change
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| Posted Jun 30, 2021
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Plan B (2021) |
Along the way, a friendship is tested; secrets are revealed; and - in a sweet touch, unusual for the genre - relationships with parents are strained but emerge strong. Stronger even than the Indian Mafia. - Women's Voices for Change
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| Posted Jun 08, 2021
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Never Rarely Sometimes Always (2020) |
Slow-moving and tough to watch, but ultimately rewarding. The dialogue is sparse, but the acting is superb. It's damned powerful and it will stay with you. - Women's Voices for Change
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| Posted Jun 08, 2021
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Unpregnant (2020) |
Unpregnant is rightly marketed as a comedy, but there are tough lessons wrapped up in its humor. It's the story of a complicated journey 990 miles to the nearest abortion clinic for a mother-to-be who's also a minor. - Women's Voices for Change
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| Posted Jun 08, 2021
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Picture a Scientist (2020) |
Finely crafted, beautifully filmed, thoroughly engaging. But, it's a sobering film. It would be downright depressing if each of our heroines hadn't found her own way to overcome the nearly insurmountable obstacles she faced solely on the basis of sex. - Women's Voices for Change
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| Posted Jun 01, 2021
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Amy Tan: Unintended Memoir (2021) |
Tan shattered a glass ceiling for Asian-American, as well as other immigrant group storytellers; she helped Hollywood expand its depictions of Asian women beyond stereotypes and inspired filmmaker James Redford to produce this marvelous documentary. - Women's Voices for Change
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| Posted Jun 01, 2021
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Pieces of a Woman (2020) |
Losing a baby before or immediately after birth is a profound and deeply personal experience. It's one that screenwriter Kata Wéber and Oscar-nominee Vanessa Kirby dramatize powerfully. - Women's Voices for Change
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| Posted Apr 08, 2021
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'Til Kingdom Come (2020) |
Maya Zinshtein has uncovered startling links between religion and politics but, after watching her provocative documentary 'Til Kingdom Come, you may have more questions than answers. - Women's Voices for Change
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| Posted Mar 23, 2021
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Promising Young Woman (2020) |
In 'Promising Young Woman,' the mind-blowing feature film debut of director/screenwriter Emerald Fennell, there are lots of "good men" willing to do a bad thing. - Women's Voices for Change
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| Posted Mar 16, 2021
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Nomadland (2020) |
'Nomadland's' willingness to shine a light on a shadowy alternative lifestyle and its use of non-actors make the film uniquely relevant and emotionally affecting. - Women's Voices for Change
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| Posted Mar 02, 2021
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Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (2020) |
I don't believe we've ever seen Viola Davis turn in a less than extraordinary performance, and she gives her all once again as Ma Rainey. - Women's Voices for Change
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| Posted Feb 16, 2021
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One Night in Miami (2020) |
Based on the 2013 stage play by Kemp Powers, it imagines an evening with four iconic Black figures: Cassius Clay, Malcom X, Jim Brown, and Sam Cooke. Regina King has brilliantly brought it to the screen. - Women's Voices for Change
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| Posted Feb 16, 2021
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Farewell Amor (2020) |
It may be true that, "absence makes the heart grow fonder." But, it's also true that people are constantly changing and evolving. How wonderful, if unlikely, that two changed people might remain in love - or slowly rediscover it - after 17 years. - Women's Voices for Change
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| Posted Jan 22, 2021
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Misbehaviour (2020) |
'Misbehaviour' tells parallel stories about two sets of young women trying to improve things. Both the feminists and the contestants want more and better opportunities - they're just using diametrically opposed methods of getting there. - Women's Voices for Change
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| Posted Jan 22, 2021
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Happiest Season (2020) |
Really wanted to like 'Happiest Season.' On the one hand, there should be more inclusive titles in every genre, including holiday. On the other hand, inclusivity alone doesn't make a film great or even all that good. - Women's Voices for Change
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| Posted Jan 22, 2021
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The Prom (2020) |
Alas, The 'Prom' is a little too slick. Murphy loses the camp that made the story's silliness acceptable on Broadway. It's easy (and fun) to leave common sense behind when you're watching a staged show. It's harder onscreen. - Women's Voices for Change
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| Posted Jan 22, 2021
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