Matt Donato

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Collider, IGN, Paste Magazine, Slashfilm, The A.V. Club, TheWrap, We Got This Covered
For 599 reviews, this critic has graded:
  • 57% higher than the average critic
  • 7% same as the average critic
  • 36% lower than the average critic
On average, this critic grades 4.3 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)

Matt Donato's Scores

  • Movies
  • TV
Average review score: 61
Highest review score: 100 Guardians of the Galaxy
Lowest review score: 15 Dashcam
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 284 out of 599
  2. Mixed: 280 out of 599
  3. Negative: 35 out of 599
599 movie reviews
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    • 55 Metascore
    • 70 Matt Donato
    The Boogeyman
    The Boogeyman is a capable creepshow built for mass appeal that gets the job done because at the end of the day, scary is as scary does.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 70 Matt Donato
    Aquaman
    Aquaman is imaginatively ambitious superhero cinema with no rules, which is more positive than negative as Wan's vision is realized like an underwater laser light spectacle that the DCEU so desperately needs right now.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 70 Matt Donato
    Skinamarink
    Skinamarink is an experience of warped mundanity, dreary moods, and repressed paranoias most prevalent in our youths, which Ball recreates with alarming intimacy. We often seek comfort in feeling like kids again, but in this case, Ball presents a monkey's paw solution brimming with supreme juvenile terrorization.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 70 Matt Donato
    Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
    Rogue One makes up for a shaky first act by punching into overdrive for an outstanding third act battle sequence that overwhelms in scale and intensity.
    • 47 Metascore
    • 70 Matt Donato
    The Ardennes
    The Ardennes may be saturated in dark blues and snow-covered blankness, but it burns with bright fury as Robin Pront inches closer to his film’s inevitable breaking point.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 70 Matt Donato
    Eileen
    Eileen is a nifty little shapeshifter of a thriller made of tremendous parts, just lacking a bit of steam upon exit.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 70 Matt Donato
    Virus: 32
    Virus: 32 is another entry into an overdone niche that gets the job done through competent storytelling with an emphasis on trauma, monster terrors and hasty pacing that sprints ahead with berserker fierceness. It’s too familiar to be outstanding, but fulfilling enough as a reliable treat.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 70 Matt Donato
    John Wick: Chapter 2
    John Wick: Chapter 2 tempts fate with a 122-minute running time, but the "Gun Fu" is back and it's just as deathly awesome as it was in the first film.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 70 Matt Donato
    Saloum
    There’s something of an it-factor that Saloum possesses, though it doesn’t have the steadiest handling of entertaining distractions that relieve major plotlines along the way. Still, the way of the gun wins out for Herbulot, putting Senegalese horror hybrids on the map.
    • 48 Metascore
    • 70 Matt Donato
    Spirit Halloween: The Movie
    Spirit Halloween dodges the bargain bin by opening its doors to a proficient gateway horror tale that plays like Goosebumps Lite in a seasonal decoration store.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 70 Matt Donato
    Air
    Air is an underdog crowd-pleaser with a standout ensemble cast sharpened to a point. As both director and co-star, Ben Affleck finds a balance between comedy and explanation that remains accessible to all audiences.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 70 Matt Donato
    Terrifier 2
    Terrifier 2 rips, tears, hacks, shreds, butchers, disembowels, decapitates, devours, pulverizes, tenderizes, slices, dices, skewers — I'm missing plenty — and knock-em-out-dead eviscerates the current competition when it comes to low-budget slasher effects.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 70 Matt Donato
    12 Hour Shift
    12 Hour Shift never takes itself seriously enough to make the calamity that ensues anything more than “dumb fun,” and I mean that positively.
    • 51 Metascore
    • 70 Matt Donato
    The Advent Calendar
    Ridremont succeeds in crunching bones and raising hell, all with a seasonal waft of cloves and corpses from behind a wishgiver’s crooked smile. It’s chilling, teeters between moral stances and is a hellish-jolly greeting that should please horror fans in the mood for merriness gone malevolent.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 70 Matt Donato
    Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark
    Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark is gateway horror that treats intended audiences to many a scream, pulling no punches nor watering down nightmarish conjurings that remind how healthy fearful emotions can be at any age.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 70 Matt Donato
    The LEGO Batman Movie
    When it counts, The LEGO Batman Movie delivers everything you’d want from such a farcical superhero creation.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 70 Matt Donato
    The Wasp
    Harris and Dormer are the best of frenemies in this sneakily stupendous character study, as relentless as it is mysterious.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 70 Matt Donato
    VFW
    If you’re into “Splatterhouse Cinema” that respects its elders and tenderizes human bodies without remorse, Joe Begos has a pile of discarded corpses waiting for you. It’s vile, slick with repugnance, and appropriately inhumane. A canon full of guts blasted straight into your face – the Fangoria way.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 70 Matt Donato
    Deadpool 2
    Deadpool 2 is an overstuffed cinematic burrito of raunchy insults, dismembering violence and a "no f#*ks given" attitude that's ready to burst at any second, but somehow holds together bite after enjoyable bite.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 70 Matt Donato
    Blue My Mind
    Blue My Mind is a provocative Swiss origin story about sex, drugs and trials no person can possibly be prepared for. Whether Mia’s transformation is true or a ruse, the proposition of underwater DNA is only bested by Lisa Brühlmann’s execution.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 70 Matt Donato
    Heavier Trip
    Heavier Trip is another gift to metalheads that has me hungry for a third, hopefully with a return to the more renegade nature of their original kitchen-sink odyssey.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 70 Matt Donato
    V/H/S/99
    V/H/S/99 understands the ‘90s assignment and crafts low-budget chaos that delivers a unified anthology slathered in guts, heavy on nostalgia, and with a punk-as-hell attitude.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 70 Matt Donato
    Hundreds of Beavers
    It's a hilarious low-low-budget, rough-around-the-edges oddity that makes me very happy, and I hope someday it'll make you feel the same crisp beaver-beatin' joy.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 70 Matt Donato
    Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon
    Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon sizzles like a heated cajun fairytale that tells humanity how it is, brimming with Amirpour's distinctly creative voice that keeps me coming back for more.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 70 Matt Donato
    Beyond the Gates
    Beyond The Games plays to the nostalgia crowd instead of adopting 21st century scares, but still finds a way to explore untapped VHS potential.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 70 Matt Donato
    Atomic Blonde
    Atomic Blonde strikes a deafening blow thanks to enjoyable characters, furious fight-play and Charlize Theron’s brand of screen command. She’s always in control, whether toying with feminine wilds or slugging another glass of Stoli on the rocks.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 70 Matt Donato
    Ant-Man and the Wasp
    Ant-Man And The Wasp is the kind of playtime entertainment suited for Scott Lang's better-when-on-a-team personality, loaded with size-shifty sight gags and lower stakes worth Paul Rudd's ensemble stardom.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 70 Matt Donato
    Baby Driver
    Baby Driver proves why we should never doubt Edgar Wright's vision, because few filmmakers can back their ambition with such quality thrills.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 70 Matt Donato
    The Transfiguration
    A concrete horror flick that burns with consequence, ignited by strong characters who are far more tested in their experiences than anyone of similar age. Bloody, emotional and visualized with a damning spirit – what an outspoken genre manipulation for first-timer Michael O’Shea.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 70 Matt Donato
    Offseason
    It's rough around the edges when heavy special effects are required, yet proficient in shanty-shady tones and detectable darkness that hides secrets from one sequence to the next. It's an experience that lulls you in with hospitality and scored choral chants, plunging its stinger once you've become helpless beyond defense.
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