Monica Castillo

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RogerEbert.com, The A.V. Club, The New York Times, The Playlist, TheWrap, Village Voice
For 369 reviews, this critic has graded:
  • 50% higher than the average critic
  • 5% same as the average critic
  • 45% lower than the average critic
On average, this critic grades 1.9 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)

Monica Castillo's Scores

  • Movies
  • TV
Average review score: 64
Highest review score: 100 Hokum
Lowest review score: 0 The Departure
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 236 out of 369
  2. Mixed: 67 out of 369
  3. Negative: 66 out of 369
369 movie reviews
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    • 47 Metascore
    • 50 Monica Castillo
    Gunpowder Milkshake
    [Papushado] creates a world that’s so strange, in both a visually striking sense and one that doesn't always work, that even when a performance sputters out or a line of dialogue rings false, it doesn’t tank the movie. However, that level of spectacle through eye-catching production design and visual style means that sometimes the movie’s vivid colors and bullets outshine the star-studded cast.
    • 47 Metascore
    • 50 Monica Castillo
    Dead & Beautiful
    There are some fun ideas and moments in Dead & Beautiful, but Verbeek seems to want to avoid offending anyone with the suggestion that the rich are vampires—which is the premise his movie is built on.
    • 46 Metascore
    • 30 Monica Castillo
    Crash Pad
    The movie’s premise isn’t as bad as the forced, unnatural dialogue. Even the reliable Ms. Applegate and Mr. Church can’t salvage the screenwriter Jeremy Catalino’s clumsy lines.
    • 46 Metascore
    • 40 Monica Castillo
    El Chicano
    For his part, Castillo makes the best of the clunky dialogue and cliché lines, but the story never lets his acting chops shine through.
    • 46 Metascore
    • 50 Monica Castillo
    Measure for Measure
    Based on the Shakespeare play of the same name, Paul Ireland’s Measure for Measure is filled with drama, although perhaps not the kind you’d expect from the Bard. No, this is a modern-day adaptation—one grappling with xenophobia, drug addiction, and gun violence. There are no period costumes here, but there’s a stone-faced Hugo Weaving to make up for it.
    • 46 Metascore
    • 60 Monica Castillo
    The Good Catholic
    Fortunately, Mr. Spicer’s earnest performance bolsters many of the weaker spots in Mr. Shoulberg’s script.
    • 46 Metascore
    • 50 Monica Castillo
    Resort to Love
    At least the movie features a few solid performances to make it a worthwhile diversion for some viewers. Others less inclined to easily resolved romances may want to book some other excursion.
    • 46 Metascore
    • 38 Monica Castillo
    Lonely Planet
    So, if the couple at the center of this romantic comedy lacks chemistry, can you at least enjoy the scenery or the retreat’s resort? Unfortunately, this is not “White Lotus.”
    • 45 Metascore
    • 50 Monica Castillo
    Brave New Jersey
    The film’s narrative simplicity can be charming or frustrating, depending on your feelings about awkward dialogue and overreacting actors.
    • 45 Metascore
    • 38 Monica Castillo
    Seance
    With leaden performances and puzzling camerawork, it’s hard to feel in tune with the movie’s frights outside of the occasional jump scare.
    • 44 Metascore
    • 25 Monica Castillo
    Foe
    Foe stumbles rather spectacularly by leaning more on melodrama than logic and choosing cliche over originality. Aside from rehashing tropes and offering some laughably bad moments, the film accomplishes little.
    • 44 Metascore
    • 38 Monica Castillo
    Ricky Stanicky
    Ricky Stanicky feels like a throwback, and not in a nostalgic fun way either. It’s more like a rehash of tired bits and jokes with nothing particularly innovative or clever to say.
    • 43 Metascore
    • 50 Monica Castillo
    Hunter Killer
    It’s also an odd time to release a movie that embraces collaborating with the Russians and painting bad and good guys with such broad strokes. This puts Hunter Killer in murky geopolitical waters I don’t think it knows how to navigate. Neither the movie or Butler is nearly entertaining enough to distract us.
    • 43 Metascore
    • 63 Monica Castillo
    No One Gets Out Alive
    No One Gets Out Alive builds its suspense through scares both real and supernatural. While I’m less satisfied with its ultimate execution, Jon Croker and Fernanda Coppel's script has a lot going in its favor.
    • 43 Metascore
    • 60 Monica Castillo
    Maleficent: Mistress of Evil
    Tragically, Maleficent: Mistress of Evil does not give Jolie and Pfeiffer nearly enough time to face off against each other.
    • 43 Metascore
    • 40 Monica Castillo
    Glass
    Performances aside, Glass is a pretty mixed bag of exposition-filled dull moments and pedantic dialogue.
    • 42 Metascore
    • 50 Monica Castillo
    Swiped
    At a time when it seems like women’s representation seems to be regressing, the intention of the film feels more timely now than when the film ends in 2019, before the pandemic, and the fondness for dating apps starts to wear off. But it was the user experience of the film—where its simplistic narrative design leaves no surprises and plenty of shallow characters—that felt unsatisfying.
    • 42 Metascore
    • 40 Monica Castillo
    Papi Chulo
    Well-intentioned but at times insensitive, Papi Chulo is a complicated movie. It wants so badly to do the right thing when the situation is all wrong.
    • 42 Metascore
    • 25 Monica Castillo
    Love Hard
    Some moments are sweeter than others, but overall, this cookie cutter rom-com has nothing more or less than what its subgenre demands.
    • 42 Metascore
    • 25 Monica Castillo
    Back Roads
    Not all tearful screaming sessions translate well from the page to the screen, and this is an excruciating example of overkill.
    • 42 Metascore
    • 50 Monica Castillo
    Sight
    On reflection, “Sight” is a beat-by-beat wholesome biopic built to leave its audience feeling good and inspired by its sermon.
    • 41 Metascore
    • 38 Monica Castillo
    If Not Now, When?
    Between its amateurish direction, pedestrian cinematography, and overly plotted script, the narrative and visuals don’t coalesce into a story that feels restorative, cathartic, or even joyful.
    • 41 Metascore
    • 33 Monica Castillo
    Desert Warrior
    The movie’s basic appeal––that of rebels rising up against evil empires––still works to some extent, but Desert Warrior does little to make it memorable beyond its historic production.
    • 41 Metascore
    • 50 Monica Castillo
    In the Lost Lands
    Ultimately, the threadbare quality of Constantin Werner’s screenplay cannot be smoothed over with gobs of CGI effects (impressive as some of these sequences look) and the star power of Milla Jovovich and Dave Bautista.
    • 41 Metascore
    • 25 Monica Castillo
    Love Wedding Repeat
    Our characters here are not so much stuck in a time loop, as they are in a very lazy movie filled with cliches and middle school-level humor, and which starts over half-way through the events for no reason. The joke is on anyone who mistakes this movie for entertainment.
    • 41 Metascore
    • 25 Monica Castillo
    Protector
    Dragged down by over-explanatory dialogue and tired narrative tropes, Protector brings nothing new to the table–except maybe for a confounding 11th hour twist that I won’t spoil that defies reasoning and frankly, good taste. If anyone needs rescuing, it’s Jovovich from this movie.
    • 41 Metascore
    • 50 Monica Castillo
    Stage Mother
    A sweet but ineffective comedy that cashes in on drag culture’s new mainstream fame. While the movie brings up a handful of important topics, the way it handles issues like drug addiction and physical abuse ultimately feel superficial and hollow. Fortunately, a few sparkling performances salvage the show from becoming too maudlin.
    • 41 Metascore
    • 50 Monica Castillo
    The Curse of La Llorona
    It’s frustratingly simple, the dialogue over-explains everything and while there are a few solid moments of suspense, there’s too much dead air in-between.
    • 41 Metascore
    • 63 Monica Castillo
    House Party
    While this remix of "House Party" may leave some nostalgic for the original, it smartly doesn't try to copy the first film. However, it does stay true to the first version's celebration of friendship.
    • 41 Metascore
    • 50 Monica Castillo
    Miss Bala
    The Mexican film now has a Hollywood remake, one that adds new elements to the story but is less coherent in its message.
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