Michael Ordoña

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Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle
For 192 reviews, this critic has graded:
  • 49% higher than the average critic
  • 5% same as the average critic
  • 46% lower than the average critic
On average, this critic grades 7.4 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)

Michael Ordoña's Scores

  • Movies
  • TV
Average review score: 58
Highest review score: 100 Ne Zha 2
Lowest review score: 0 Saw 3D
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 83 out of 192
  2. Mixed: 87 out of 192
  3. Negative: 22 out of 192
192 movie reviews
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    • 71 Metascore
    • 50 Michael Ordoña
    Erupcja
    At its best, “Erupcja” feels truthful, even insightful. At its worst, it’s an off-putting selfie of the chronically self-absorbed, like a big-screen “Girls.” It does offer an interesting perspective on its case of apparent synchronicity late in the film, but leaves plenty for viewers to ponder on their own.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 50 Michael Ordoña
    Die My Love
    Die My Love is not plot-driven, with events that don’t necessarily follow one another in cause and effect. Rather, it’s a slow-burn psychological drama populated by imperfect people struggling with painful realities. Instead of a dramatic arc, it’s a dramatic decline.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 50 Michael Ordoña
    The Lost Bus
    The narrative is hamstrung by cliché attempts to build McKay’s backstory, shamelessly changing key facts. McConaughey’s performance is just fine, as is Ferrera’s, but the personal stuff feels like a distraction.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 50 Michael Ordoña
    The Long Walk
    Ultimately, “The Long Walk” is a heartfelt metaphorical drama about people bonding under duress. Instead of focusing on the darker side of human nature one might expect from the average dystopian film, it finds power in small acts of connection.
    • 35 Metascore
    • 50 Michael Ordoña
    Kraven the Hunter
    Kraven the Hunter will sate fans with Taylor-Johnson’s action bona fides and its fine cast. But those same fans may be less-than enthusiastic about the idea that, with no Spider-Man and no franchise to move forward, this one essentially has nowhere to go.
    • 45 Metascore
    • 40 Michael Ordoña
    Joker: Folie à Deux
    It’s so detached from the supervillain narrative that it’s almost meta. But as the musical numbers become lengthy detours rather than lending further insight into Arthur, the sequel doesn’t sing as a character study. And it sure ain’t a thriller.
    • 36 Metascore
    • 50 Michael Ordoña
    The Killer's Game
    Don’t expect surprises or something to ideologically critique. This is kooky carnage. You came for Dave Bautista stomping a motorcycle into submission, and damn it, that’s what you’re gonna get.
    • 42 Metascore
    • 60 Michael Ordoña
    Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom
    Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom may not be consequential in the long run, but it’s a mostly diverting, upbeat closer, one that could hint at the tone of things to come.
    • 47 Metascore
    • 50 Michael Ordoña
    Candy Cane Lane
    You want to see Eddie Murphy surrounded by some Christmas-themed silliness. And on that score, it’s fine enough, but destined for regifting.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 40 Michael Ordoña
    Sisu
    It may have benefited from a quickened pace, or touches of humor, or heightened stakes because — at least in this film — watching Nazis get theirs is a vein of amusement that runs dry.
    • 41 Metascore
    • 60 Michael Ordoña
    That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime the Movie: Scarlet Bond
    The movie isn’t unusual-looking or surprising, but my daughter assures me fans of the show will not want to miss it. The rest of us will be immersed in warm confusion as things we just don’t understand unspool before us.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 60 Michael Ordoña
    Alice, Darling
    Ultimately, it’s about the bonds of sisterhood and how those who know you best and love you most can help you heal, or at least start you on that path. Its vagueness serves almost as a Rorschach test. How effective it is as a drama may depend on your perspective.
    • 43 Metascore
    • 50 Michael Ordoña
    The Almond and the Seahorse
    The cast is game. Unfortunately, what should be gut punches feel like glancing blows.
    • 53 Metascore
    • 60 Michael Ordoña
    Project Wolf Hunting
    No moment on this anything-but-love boat has the impact of, say, the seasickness sequence of “Triangle of Sadness,” but slaughter stans will get their butchery bellyfuls.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 50 Michael Ordoña
    Breaking
    Brown-Easley’s story is interesting and the film’s acting is committed. Unfortunately, as a cinematic experience, Breaking fails to compel.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 60 Michael Ordoña
    Emergency Declaration
    The performances are uniformly solid, especially by the two leads, and the generally low-key cinematic style keeps us in the pocket of the story.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 40 Michael Ordoña
    The Devil You Know
    While it does put an interesting spin on the phrase from which it takes its title, the family drama with crime elements The Devil You Know stumbles.
    • 42 Metascore
    • 50 Michael Ordoña
    A Journal for Jordan
    The picture’s too rosy to feel real. Its elements of posthumous, loving advice and inevitable tragedy make for good bones. But this portrait is too clean, too unquestioning, too accepting, to get to the marrow.
    • 43 Metascore
    • 50 Michael Ordoña
    Mother/Android
    While it gets mileage out of its two fine lead performances and the story has deep emotional roots for the filmmakers, its journey fails to capture the imagination.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 50 Michael Ordoña
    Mosley
    Mosley feels well-intentioned, though its lessons are unclear, especially considering its ending. And more humor and more fully developed characters could have enlivened the familiar hero’s journey template.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 50 Michael Ordoña
    Encounter
    Encounter has its moments, but it suffers from multiple storytelling approaches that don’t mesh.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 50 Michael Ordoña
    A Boy Called Christmas
    Fascinatingly muddled.
    • 52 Metascore
    • 60 Michael Ordoña
    Bruised
    The superb fight choreography and committed execution by the two women in the ring (real-life UFC champ Valentina Shevchenko is convincing as Jackie’s opponent), informed by Berry’s skill as an actor conveying Jackie’s desperation, make the final fight thrilling and cringe-inducing — in a good way.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 50 Michael Ordoña
    Ron's Gone Wrong
    Ron’s Gone Wrong dots its primer on friendship with chase scenes and warnings about Big Tech, with only mixed success.
    • 42 Metascore
    • 50 Michael Ordoña
    Needle in a Timestack
    Odom, surely one of the busiest actors working today, gives a committed performance but lacks chemistry with either of his onscreen wives. A sense of lightness, of fun, of the alchemy between two people is missing, though it would seem crucial to drive the story.
    • 51 Metascore
    • 60 Michael Ordoña
    Malignant
    If you can hang with the slow gestation of the first hour or so of Malignant, the final third may grow on you.
    • 47 Metascore
    • 60 Michael Ordoña
    Kate
    Kate has its charms.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 60 Michael Ordoña
    Vivo
    Vivo takes off with a cute kinkajou, some good music and some interesting visuals, but ultimately doesn’t stick the landing.
    • 48 Metascore
    • 60 Michael Ordoña
    The Last Mercenary
    The plot chugs along with no surprises, but that’s beside the point. While it’s not exactly a laugh riot, the film’s humor tends to land.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 50 Michael Ordoña
    All the Streets Are Silent: The Convergence of Hip Hop and Skateboarding (1987-1997)
    “All the Streets” feels niche to a fault.
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