Matthew Monagle

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Austin Chronicle, The Playlist
For 78 reviews, this critic has graded:
  • 55% higher than the average critic
  • 2% same as the average critic
  • 43% lower than the average critic
On average, this critic grades 3.8 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)

Matthew Monagle's Scores

  • Movies
  • TV
Average review score: 62
Highest review score: 100 Saint Maud
Lowest review score: 11 Maneater
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 44 out of 78
  2. Mixed: 27 out of 78
  3. Negative: 7 out of 78
78 movie reviews
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    • 56 Metascore
    • 40 Matthew Monagle
    Drive-Away Dolls
    Perhaps time will be kind to Drive-Away Dolls; the cast of rising stars seems destined for greatness, and the setting will sharpen into focus the farther we move away from the decade. But it’s hard not to feel that Drive-Away Dolls is the sum of its production history: a decades-old concept that missed its window for relevance.
    • 53 Metascore
    • 50 Matthew Monagle
    Silent Night
    Silent Night looks just a little too much like every other action movie to serve as a celebration of action auteurism.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 50 Matthew Monagle
    Nyad
    While Flamin’ Hot might be of questionable truthfulness, Longoria used that history to craft an undeniably charming Mexican American success story. Nyad offers shades of that same charm, but more than a few creative choices get between the film and success.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 40 Matthew Monagle
    On Fire
    On Fire does the best it can with what it has. It’s still not enough to move the needle.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 40 Matthew Monagle
    The Creator
    For each of the film’s visual achievements, there are narrative and developmental issues. As much as Edwards’ world invites us in, we are constantly befuddled by the way his characters move through their environments.
    • 30 Metascore
    • 40 Matthew Monagle
    Expend4bles
    We may live in a golden era of action steamers and stunt choreographers-turned-filmmakers, but Expend4bles never learns to embrace its own limitations. It strains for spectacle and only intermittently delivers on its actual strengths.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 50 Matthew Monagle
    Talk to Me
    Talk to Me is hardly a bad horror film, but the disconnect between what was and what could be looms large over the final act.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 50 Matthew Monagle
    The Boogeyman
    The direction and performance do the heavy lifting, but we have seen so many versions of this movie in recent years – films about mourning characters in a spiral of death and demons – that it is admittedly hard to engage honestly with a film that falls into the same traps.
    • 47 Metascore
    • 40 Matthew Monagle
    Shazam! Fury of the Gods
    The original Shazam! may not have broken new ground as a superhero movie, but it did what the rest of the recent Warner Bros. superhero films seemed unwilling to do: Restore compassion to the realm of heroes. Shazam! Fury of the Gods loses the thing that made it special.
    • 37 Metascore
    • 50 Matthew Monagle
    The Devil Conspiracy
    For those of a certain age, who cut their teeth on terrible creature features and bloated blockbusters at the turn of the century, The Devil Conspiracy will offer a kind of twisted nostalgia.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 50 Matthew Monagle
    Don't Look at the Demon
    Lee’s film can genuinely rip when the prosthetics and wirework take center stage. And that makes Don’t Look at the Demon a not-terrible choice for audiences searching for a new release to complement their annual rewatches.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 50 Matthew Monagle
    Lightyear
    Whatever magic Lightyear musters onscreen is undermined by the unfulfilled potential of the narrative.
    • 38 Metascore
    • 40 Matthew Monagle
    Jurassic World Dominion
    In the end, Dominion brings back likable characters and has the good grace to move at a fast clip. It is a testament to how low the bar has gotten that those two elements feel like enough to make it a passable summer movie.
    • 39 Metascore
    • 50 Matthew Monagle
    Escape the Field
    Escape the Field won’t change the world, but it is a solid showing for everyone involved, and it works overtime to keep the audience entertained throughout – at least until the sequel-bait ending for a movie that will probably never happen.
    • 52 Metascore
    • 50 Matthew Monagle
    The Contractor
    The Contractor seems torn between two types of films: the direct-to-video staple of a reluctant soldier bearing arms to protect his family, and a bleaker condemnation of private contracting (and the systems of power that necessitate its survival). It is the second film that blinks first, leaving Pine and Foster to carry the remaining scenes to their generic conclusion.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 40 Matthew Monagle
    Antlers
    Time may ultimately be kind to Cooper’s first foray into the horror genre, but the present holds nothing but darkness.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 50 Matthew Monagle
    The Guilty
    Ultimately, The Guilty is a worthwhile remake, even if it fails to perfectly calibrate performance and production.
    • 43 Metascore
    • 50 Matthew Monagle
    Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins
    Compared to other Hollywood blockbusters, Snake Eyes is better than fine — but there are hundreds of Asian and Southeast Asian action movies that run circles around the final product here.
    • 48 Metascore
    • 50 Matthew Monagle
    Escape Room: Tournament of Champions
    Ultimately, Tournament of Champions remains a welcome balance of YA and horror, featuring inventive puzzle sequences with enough talent on both sides of the camera to consistently entertain.
    • 53 Metascore
    • 50 Matthew Monagle
    The Forever Purge
    The Forever Purge does have its finger on the pulse of America at a particularly violent moment in time, but for a series defined by glorious chaos, this one paints pretty much by the numbers.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 50 Matthew Monagle
    Us Kids
    The sad truth is that Us Kids feels a bit too much like the thing the students hoped to avoid: a celebration of a moment in time, not the start of a revolution.
    • 36 Metascore
    • 40 Matthew Monagle
    The Unholy
    It’s a credit to Brown, Morgan, and Sadler that the story works at all. These actors maintain the illusion that The Unholy is a competent horror movie for far longer than it deserves. But in the end, there are just too many pieces missing to make this a coherent whole.
    • 44 Metascore
    • 40 Matthew Monagle
    City of Lies
    Ultimately, City of Lies is more James Elroy than docudrama, resulting in a tired police thriller that hitched its wagon to an untenable star.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 50 Matthew Monagle
    Barb & Star Go to Vista Del Mar
    Had the creative team sharpened the focus just a little – and perhaps cast someone a bit more charismatic than, well, whatever it is that Dornan is doing – there’s a chance Barb and Star could’ve been a Popstar-esque revelation for these characters. As it stands, though, Wiig and Mumolo have crafted a cute little comedy that seems destined to be a cult classic for a lot of moviegoers.
    • 54 Metascore
    • 40 Matthew Monagle
    The Little Things
    Whatever points The Little Things scores for a morally ambiguous ending are washed away in the hours it takes to get there.
    • 52 Metascore
    • 50 Matthew Monagle
    No Man's Land
    If Roger Ebert was right and cinema is a machine that generates empathy, then for all its uneven steps, No Man’s Land may worm its way into the hearts of Americans who see Mexico as a supporting character (or worse) in our grand narrative. For the rest of us, it’s a film whose reach exceeds its grasp.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 50 Matthew Monagle
    Ip Man: Kung Fu Master
    For moviegoers with a mind for historiography – who enjoy the rewriting of history onscreen as much as the contents of the films themselves – this can be a surprisingly meaty bite of B-movie martial arts. And for the rest of us? There are crowds, and raindrops, and a climactic showdown with a foreign enemy. That should hew close enough to the Ip Man formula to keep any martial arts fan satisfied.

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