Moira Macdonald

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The Seattle Times
For 615 reviews, this critic has graded:
  • 71% higher than the average critic
  • 3% same as the average critic
  • 26% lower than the average critic
On average, this critic grades 8 points higher than other critics. (0-100 point scale)

Moira Macdonald's Scores

  • Movies
  • TV
Average review score: 74
Highest review score: 100 Parallel Mothers
Lowest review score: 25 Fifty Shades Darker
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 505 out of 615
  2. Mixed: 74 out of 615
  3. Negative: 36 out of 615
615 movie reviews
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    • 66 Metascore
    • 63 Moira Macdonald
    Speak No Evil
    That’s why we watch films like this, for that sensation of safely squirming from our comfortable seats — and for performances like McAvoy’s. With a smile like a demon elf — his teeth practically seem to be vibrating — and eyes that seem to pierce the house’s malevolent darkness, he’s wickedness personified. It’s a huge, pitched-to-the-balconies performance, and shivery fun to watch.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 63 Moira Macdonald
    Anna and the Apocalypse
    Does “Anna” deliver on its billing? Well, it does for a while. For its first half, the movie’s blend of earnest teen crooning and dismembered blood-geyser heads is pretty entertaining.
    • 52 Metascore
    • 63 Moira Macdonald
    Death on the Nile
    While Poirot is always witty, few of the other characters are. Michael Green’s screenplay often feels weirdly detached, like we missed some crucial early scenes that tell us why we should care about these people. All that said, it’s no great hardship to watch Death on the Nile; it looks pretty, feels pleasantly old-school and is over within shouting distance of the two-hour mark.
    • 48 Metascore
    • 63 Moira Macdonald
    Paris Can Wait
    Paris Can Wait isn’t exactly a feast, but it’s a snack worth having.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 63 Moira Macdonald
    mother!
    mother!, for this viewer, felt long and punishing; artful yet self-sabotaging, eventually crumbling. I never looked away — but I never want to see it again.
    • 48 Metascore
    • 63 Moira Macdonald
    Tomb Raider
    Vikander doesn’t have much to play, script-wise, but she makes a tough, appealing action star.
    • 40 Metascore
    • 63 Moira Macdonald
    Come Away
    It just feels like a pretty idea that didn’t get fully developed; an origin story that we didn’t need.
    • 54 Metascore
    • 63 Moira Macdonald
    Cézanne et Moi
    Cézanne et Moi sounds more fascinating than it actually is; essentially, it’s just under two hours of exquisitely art-directed conversation, little of which is especially compelling.
    • 52 Metascore
    • 63 Moira Macdonald
    After the Hunt
    It’s odd that Guadagnino clearly wanted to make a movie that people would talk about, but doesn’t seem quite sure of what he wanted it to say.
    • 50 Metascore
    • 63 Moira Macdonald
    Now You See Me: Now You Don't
    Ultimately, Now You See Me: Now You Don’t is never quite as much fun as you expect it to be, particularly when Pike isn’t on screen. Despite a character intoning that we all “need magic more than ever,” this movie didn’t have enough of it.
    • 54 Metascore
    • 63 Moira Macdonald
    Eddie the Eagle
    While Eddie the Eagle feels formulaic and overstuffed with weirdly random scenes...it’s still a charmer.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 63 Moira Macdonald
    Joker
    While Phoenix is always more than watchable (his scary-Fred-Astaire dance moves, born from Arthur’s habit of watching old movies with his mother, are both mesmerizing and disturbing), “Joker” really has nowhere to go. Its characters are one-note cartoony, but fun is the last thing on this movie’s mind; it’s all despair, from its opening scenes on downward.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 63 Moira Macdonald
    Isle of Dogs
    Isle of Dogs is full of delightful touches, but it’s not Anderson’s best. Nice fur, though.
    • 39 Metascore
    • 63 Moira Macdonald
    The Nutcracker and the Four Realms
    An enjoyably nutty more-is-more family holiday extravaganza.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 63 Moira Macdonald
    The Glass Castle
    Filmmaker Destin Daniel Cretton (“Short Term 12”) can’t quite find that magical balance that Walls hits, and tilts the story too far toward sentiment.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 63 Moira Macdonald
    Dark Waters
    Ruffalo, as a character more polished and reserved than he usually plays, is compelling as ever; he’s able to convey the sense of time passing, with the case weighing down on him more heavily as years slip by.
    • 48 Metascore
    • 63 Moira Macdonald
    The Mountain Between Us
    In the hands of lesser actors I shudder to think of what a slog The Mountain Between Us might be, with its endless catastrophes and near-deaths and melodramatic declarations. But Winslet — who gets her own superhero moment near the end — and Elba are so likable and charismatic together, they just about sell it.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 63 Moira Macdonald
    Wuthering Heights
    This Wuthering Heights is a mess, but an occasionally irresistible one.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 63 Moira Macdonald
    The Girl Without Hands
    Those fascinated by the art of animation will find much to ponder here — the hand-drawn brush strokes, the lush colors, the way just a few quickly sketched lines suddenly take vivid life.
    • 53 Metascore
    • 63 Moira Macdonald
    Anemone
    It’s a promising but uneven debut, not quite worthy of its star.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 63 Moira Macdonald
    Complete Unknown
    Because these actors are Weisz, on whose beautiful face emotions flicker like fireflies, and Shannon, whose faintly mournful expressions imply a profound story not yet told, the film is never less than interesting.
    • 39 Metascore
    • 63 Moira Macdonald
    Ella McCay
    If Brooks could have mustered up a screenplay half as good as “Broadcast News,” this movie would have been a delight; instead, it disappears into agreeable blandness and earnest platitudes. It’s not at all unpleasant spending two hours with Ella and her family and colleagues, but it leaves you feeling a little nostalgic for what it could have been.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 63 Moira Macdonald
    Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
    Should you be looking for narrative cohesion, look elsewhere. “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” is bananas, in its high-end way — bananas wrapped in gorgeous Colleen Atwood costumes, and performed by actors who are clearly having a ball.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 63 Moira Macdonald
    Jason Bourne
    The movie gets lost in its focus on flash and speed, and forgets about the man — and the fine, quiet actor — at its center.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 63 Moira Macdonald
    Downsizing
    Perhaps Downsizing needed to be downsized a bit; as it is, it’s an intriguing concept that slips away.
    • 50 Metascore
    • 63 Moira Macdonald
    Snow White
    Of all the stories in all the world to remake on the big screen, why “Snow White”?
    • 53 Metascore
    • 63 Moira Macdonald
    Renfield
    There are pleasures to be found in Renfield, particularly a stylish black-and-white sequence early on, and in Hoult’s wistfully debonair portrayal of a well-meaning chap trapped in a job he never applied for. But even with its brief running time, the movie runs out of steam too quickly, and Awkwafina’s character in particular seems like a first draft
    • 73 Metascore
    • 63 Moira Macdonald
    The Killer
    The Killer is both disappointing and satisfying, with pleasure and competence to be had.
    • 53 Metascore
    • 63 Moira Macdonald
    Book Club
    Book Club is very silly and feather-light, but let me say this: Spending time with this quartet is way more fun than reading “Fifty Shades of Grey.”
    • 58 Metascore
    • 63 Moira Macdonald
    Lights Out
    Lights Out is an effective, tidy little chiller; basically the same sneak-up-in-the-dark scare over and over. But hey, as we’ve learned through decades of horror movies, that stuff works.
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