Rotten Tomatoes
Cancel Movies Tv shows RT App News Showtimes
Critics list

Lisa Johnson Mandell

Tomatometer-approved critic
Publications:

Reviews

Movies TV Shows
Mercy (2026) 23% EDIT “There's something very meta and annoying about watching inert characters on the big screen scroll through incriminating videos on small screens. We do enough doom scrolling on our own time.” – AtHomeInHollywood.com Jan 24, 2026 Full Review Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery (2025) 92% EDIT “It has the three necessary things we expect from a Knives Out film: gleeful direction by Rian Johnson; Daniel Craig as Southern fried gentleman detective Benoit Blanc, and a killer cast (literally).” – AtHomeInHollywood.com Dec 22, 2025 Full Review The Housemaid (2025) 74% EDIT “It’s fine, in fact it’s refreshing, to openly giggle at the obvious and roll your eyes at the torrid plot twists. This movie gives you an excuse to let off some pent up steam. Hottie holidays!” – AtHomeInHollywood.com Dec 22, 2025 Full Review Song Sung Blue (2025) 78% EDIT “This is a big Hollywood take on a small, true story of a Milwaukee couple’s Neil Diamond tribute band. Bouncing between comedy and tragedy at a heartbreaking pace, it's surprisingly entertaining, mostly thanks to Kate Hudson's astonishing performance.” – AtHomeInHollywood.com Dec 22, 2025 Full Review Avatar: Fire and Ash (2025) 66% EDIT “From the opening frames, Fire and Ash reminds us why IMAX screens and 3D technology were invented. Cameron's world-building continues to astound.” – AtHomeInHollywood.com Dec 16, 2025 Full Review Sentimental Value (2025) 97% EDIT “It’s a nice, quiet contrast to the over indulgences of explosions, cruelty, blood and terror we see in so many films, but it’s hardly overflowing with wonder, awe or creativity. I found it lacking in sentimental value. ” – AtHomeInHollywood.com Dec 13, 2025 Full Review If I Had Legs I'd Kick You (2025) 92% EDIT “Byrne’s performance is electric, but audiences may feel as if they’re being electrocuted by it. It’s not exactly the entertaining experience most people hope for when they go to the theater.” – AtHomeInHollywood.com Dec 13, 2025 Full Review Die My Love (2025) 74% EDIT “The cinematography is interesting, but it’s not enough to convince an audience to be invested in such an and completely unlikable character, her depression or her mania.” – AtHomeInHollywood.com Dec 13, 2025 Full Review Jay Kelly (2025) 75% EDIT “More than an inside Hollywood spoof, Jay Kelly is a tender, amusing, and sometimes ironic look at a gifted man taking stock of his life and occasionally coming up short. Surprisingly enough, most of us can relate.” – AtHomeInHollywood.com Dec 10, 2025 Full Review Tapawingo (2023) 80% EDIT “It’s like someone asked, "What if we gave Napoleon Dynamite a job, aged him up a decade, and threw him into a Charles Bronson revenge fantasy?"” – AtHomeInHollywood.com Dec 1, 2025 Full Review Hamnet (2025) 86% EDIT “It’s impossible to watch director Chloé Zhao’s tender yet masterful film without shedding a heartfelt tear or two or two hundred. She tells this subtle yet shattering story with originality and sublimely soulful style. ” – AtHomeInHollywood.com Dec 1, 2025 Full Review Bugonia (2025) 88% EDIT “Yes the film is bloody, absurd, and manipulative—in a good way. Audiences teeter back and forth as the plot unfolds. Is he…? Is she…? Are they…? And that’s half the fun of this dark and merciless comedy.” – AtHomeInHollywood.com Dec 1, 2025 Full Review Now You See Me: Now You Don't (2025) 60% EDIT “Too smug to be engaging, the fun and titillating magic are gone—sacrificed to the overwhelm of obvious CGI. When the audience realizes a trick couldn’t possibly be executed outside of a server farm, all sense of wonder evaporates.” – AtHomeInHollywood.com Nov 24, 2025 Full Review Wicked: For Good (2025) 66% EDIT “Wicked: For Good is so much more than a mere continuation of its predecessor. It's a dazzling cinematic event—a lavish expansion of the Oz mythology that demonstrates director Jon M Chu’s mastery of brilliant, large-scale musical storytelling.” – AtHomeInHollywood.com Nov 24, 2025 Full Review Frankenstein (2025) 85% EDIT “Of all the countless renditions of Mary Shelley’s classic Gothic tale of the manmade monster, this may be the most lavish, poignant and profoundly beautiful work yet.” – AtHomeInHollywood.com Oct 26, 2025 Full Review Good Fortune (2025) 78% EDIT “A playful yet poignant riff on It’s a Wonderful Life, updated for an era of wealth disparity and disappearing job security, told with Ansari’s trademark sardonic humor and the most engaging performance ever from Keanu Reeves.” – AtHomeInHollywood.com Oct 16, 2025 Full Review A Time for Sunset (2025) EDIT “What impressed me was how sophisticated this looks despite its modest budget. The lighting creates genuine atmosphere with moody shadows and strategic highlights. Also, the score enhances without overpowering, which is refreshing these days.” – AtHomeInHollywood.com Oct 14, 2025 Full Review Roofman (2025) 87% EDIT “The down to earth humility is what makes this film so appealing. It depicts small town America at its faithful, trusting, hopeful best. It’s so nice not to be blasted by car chases and super powers and giddy special effects for a change.” – AtHomeInHollywood.com Oct 11, 2025 Full Review After the Hunt (2025) 37% EDIT “The characters are not very likable or relatable, so it’s hard to care about what happens to any of them. It doesn’t help matters that the plot has very little bark or bite. Neither the performances nor the script are anything to text home about.” – AtHomeInHollywood.com Oct 11, 2025 Full Review Anemone (2025) 53% EDIT “Regardless of the stellar performances and Ronan Day-Lewis’s stylish vision, I can’t, in good conscience, recommend it. The obscenely vile monologuing overwhelms the film’s virtues, and leaves unwanted and unshakeable images.” – AtHomeInHollywood.com Oct 7, 2025 Full Review The Smashing Machine (2025) 70% EDIT “Yet for all its weaknesses, it has its strengths. I admire Safdie for making an unconventional sports biopic, eschewing the stereotypical tropes of the genre. I also admire Johnson for breaking boundaries and putting in a performance unlike any other.” – AtHomeInHollywood.com Oct 7, 2025 Full Review One Battle After Another (2025) 94% EDIT “The movie races at head-spinning speed from start to finish, and is packed with action, drama, comedy, outrageously good performances, plot twists, irony and shocking surprises along the way.” – AtHomeInHollywood.com Sep 27, 2025 Full Review Eleanor the Great (2025) 67% EDIT “Scarlett Johansson’s directorial debut is a triumph, as is June Squibb’s performance. Tender and intimate, it’s a film overflowing with humanity—no boisterous CGI or special effects necessary to tell this remarkably moving story.” – AtHomeInHollywood.com Sep 22, 2025 Full Review HIM (2025) 30% EDIT “It appears Jordan Peele may have let the other producers do most of the heavy producing lifting (if there is such a thing), because Peele’s signature touches of nuanced storytelling have been gorily savaged, not unlike the characters in the film.” – AtHomeInHollywood.com Sep 21, 2025 Full Review Waltzing with Brando (2024) 56% EDIT “Despite a co-lead stumble and a lack of cinematic gravitas—Waltzing with Brando is an engaging exploration of a fascinating chapter in the life of an American icon, with an uncanny performance by Billy Zane that deserves kudos galore.” – AtHomeInHollywood.com Sep 17, 2025 Full Review
No Reviews Yet
Load More