Rotten Tomatoes
Cancel Movies Tv shows
Critics list

John McDonald

Tomatometer-approved critic
Biography:

Since 2011 I've been writing a weekly film column for the Australian Financial Review, which is also posted on my personal website, johnmcdonald.net.au which has a free subscription.

Reviews

Movies 온라인카지노추천 Shows
The Penguin Lessons (2024) 80% “The filmmakers apparently believe that if you put a penguin in a starring role, you can’t go wrong...” – johnmcdonald.net.au Apr 25, 2025 Full Review National Theatre Live: Dr. Strangelove (2025) “This stage version is a curiosity, a nostalgia trip, with sufficient connection to our present-day anxieties to give it a sense of relevance.” – johnmcdonald.net.au Apr 25, 2025 Full Review The Count of Monte Cristo (2024) 96% “Dumas may be a shambolic author but he knew how to cast a spell on his readers. He had the knack of writing pot-boilers that have survived as great works of literature.” – johnmcdonald.net.au Apr 19, 2025 Full Review Small Things Like These (2024) 94% “Ultimately, Bill’s dilemma is our dilemma. Can we stand by and watch crimes being perpetrated by those in a position of power, thinking only of preserving our own skins? ” – johnmcdonald.net.au Apr 11, 2025 Full Review The Return (2024) 78% “ Most of the action takes place in Odysseus’s head as he struggles to overcome feelings of guilt, shame and anxiety, to reclaim his family and his kingdom.” – johnmcdonald.net.au Apr 7, 2025 Full Review Disney's Snow White (2025) 40% “While I never expected a masterpiece, I’m still a little stunned by the sheer awfulness of this remake. ” – johnmcdonald.net.au Mar 31, 2025 Full Review I'm Still Here (2024) 97% “Although he plays the story straight, Salles sentimentalises by sheer perseverance. We begin to wonder if the Paiva family ever has a serious argument or a tantrum that can’t be resolved in an instant.” – johnmcdonald.net.au Mar 18, 2025 Full Review Hard Truths (2024) 95% “His characters are a function of social classes, dysfunctional families, personal obsessions, and dumb luck. They are instantly relatable because we meet such people everywhere.” – johnmcdonald.net.au Mar 9, 2025 Full Review The Seed of the Sacred Fig (2024) 97% “Not only does Rasoulof say the unsayable, he virtually shouts: “J’accuse!”” – johnmcdonald.net.au Feb 24, 2025 Full Review The Last Showgirl (2024) 83% “For a movie set in the world of Las Vegas showgirls who dance in a burlesque review called Le Razzle Dazzle, it’s some sort of achievement to never lift the mood out of pathos. ” – johnmcdonald.net.au Feb 18, 2025 Full Review A Complete Unknown (2024) 82% “In this portrayal, the young Dylan is no study in pouting cuteness. For much of the time he comes across as a jerk – selfish, arrogant, ambitious and manipulative. ” – johnmcdonald.net.au Feb 10, 2025 Full Review Babygirl (2024) 76% “In our prudish, moralistic age, Babygirl portrays an aspect of the sexual impulse that doesn’t fit the prevailing templates but feels unnervingly true. ” – johnmcdonald.net.au Feb 9, 2025 Full Review The Brutalist (2024) 93% “The lead character, László Tóth, shares his name with the disturbed, Hungarian-born, Australian iconoclast who took a hammer to Michelangelo’s Pietà in 1972. Although this Tóth is a builder, we can also discern a destructive side to his personality.” – johnmcdonald.net.au Feb 2, 2025 Full Review Emilia Pérez (2024) 72% “Although the subject matter of this film is immensely provocative, to get hung up on the Mexican or trans content may be missing the point. ” – johnmcdonald.net.au Jan 23, 2025 Full Review Conclave (2024) 93% “The election of a new Pope may be a secretive affair, steeped in ritual and tradition, but it’s indisputably a political process in which candidates must wrestle with their own egos and ambitions.” – johnmcdonald.net.au Jan 19, 2025 Full Review Nosferatu (2024) 84% “As soon as the papers are signed, Thomas feels he’s had enough of the Count’s dubious hospitality but finds it impossible to leave. When Orlok asks you to stay for drink it’s hard to say no” – johnmcdonald.net.au Jan 12, 2025 Full Review Parthenope (2024) 45% “We are mesmerised by surfaces and puzzled by the depths revealed in tantalising fashion. One thinks of the ocean in which the lead character is born, and where she swims like a mermaid.” – johnmcdonald.net.au Jan 12, 2025 Full Review Anora (2024) 93% “Baker has made a film about what happens when the ordinary meets the extraordinary, but by the end we’re wondering which is which.” – johnmcdonald.net.au Dec 27, 2024 Full Review The Room Next Door (2024) 81% “The viewer is drawn to identify with Ingrid. With her, we provide an audience for Martha’s reflections. We share the same tense feelings, wondering when and how the deed will be done. ” – johnmcdonald.net.au Dec 27, 2024 Full Review A Real Pain (2024) 96% “The ambition, and the odd magnetism of this story, is to portray the Kaplans’ tense relationship as not inconsiderable in the face of the Holocaust.” – johnmcdonald.net.au Dec 19, 2024 Full Review My Favourite Cake (2024) 100% “It requires a good deal of bravery to make a film such as My Favourite Cake, kicking against the boundaries of what is permissable under this regime.” – johnmcdonald.net.au Dec 10, 2024 Full Review Gladiator II (2024) 70% “As the wackiest, most bloodthirsty Roman emperors seem to have lodged themselves in the public imagination, Scott gives the people what they want. ” – johnmcdonald.net.au Dec 10, 2024 Full Review Wicked (2024) 87% “The Wizard of Oz may have its ambiguities, but in Wicked, the whole story boils down to one proposition: “It’s not easy being green”.” – johnmcdonald.net.au Dec 10, 2024 Full Review A Different Man (2024) 93% “Although Guy is now handsome and normal he finds himself shaping up poorly alongside Oswald in every other department. ” – johnmcdonald.net.au Oct 24, 2024 Full Review The Apprentice (2024) 83% “If I tell you that Abbasi and his scriptwriter, Gabriel Sherman, portray Cohn as a more sympathetic character than Trump, it gives you a rough idea of what to expect from this film. ” – johnmcdonald.net.au Oct 24, 2024 Full Review
No Reviews Yet
Load More