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

Patrick McDonald

Tomatometer-approved critic

Reviews

Movies TV Shows
Hazel's Heart (2025) 3.5/5 EDIT “Passionate storytelling about a different time and place, South Dakota in the 1920s, practically an alien planet now. All the ensemble cast delivers the community and faith necessary to find a trapped 16-year-old and her siblings.” – HollywoodChicago.com Jan 24, 2026 Full Review Atropia (2025) 41% 4/5 EDIT “It's hard to satire the past (2006) living in our special now, but this story is sharp, witty and has something to say about the fog of war. Alia Shawkat carries the film on her back as the lead, and an all-star indie cast provides essential support. ” – WBGR-FM (93.7 FM - Monroe, WI) Jan 23, 2026 Full Review Mercy (2026) 24% 2.5/5 EDIT “Bottom line, the visual part of this film ... substantial and unusual ... should not take the precedent of a story based on using AI to distill and sentence on justice. What should have been a Kafka-esque trial became a bad police procedural. Ugg. ” – WBGR-FM (93.7 FM - Monroe, WI) Jan 23, 2026 Full Review Signing Tony Raymond (2025) 82% 3.5/5 EDIT “An indie with a great script, with two themes clashing between wacky comedy & redemptive melodrama. Writer/director Glen Owen gives his performers room to create, & the result is a decent serio-comic look into the college football recruitment process.” – HollywoodChicago.com Jan 19, 2026 Full Review The Testament of Ann Lee (2025) 88% 4.5/5 EDIT “By far one of the most unusual films and story structures in the last year. Amanda Seyfried is a literal force of nature as a based-on-truth religious zealot whose fire includes a tragic journey, and some song & dance. Well Shake it Up, Baby Now ...” – WBGR-FM (93.7 FM - Monroe, WI) Jan 16, 2026 Full Review 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (2026) 92% 4/5 EDIT “Another well done entry in this series, punctuated by an outrageous set piece deception near the conclusion. Ralph Fiennes is the iodine man you can't take your eyes off of, and the Jimmy Cult sets torture porn to new level. Alpha filmmaking.” – WBGR-FM (93.7 FM - Monroe, WI) Jan 16, 2026 Full Review Dead Man's Wire (2025) 91% 4/5 EDIT “Smart filmmaking from the iconic Gus Van Sant, with a based-on-truth story from 1977 using real footage from the incident and care in re-creating the time and place. Great and earnest performances, esp from Bill S. and Colman D. during Jimmy Carter time!” – WBGR-FM (93.7 FM - Monroe, WI) Jan 10, 2026 Full Review Primate (2025) 79% 3/5 EDIT “If you have a horror itch, this film will scratch it, but it's not very fair to its predator ... a rabid monkey. He's a relentless and gory killer, he's got a constant rabies drool and big sharp monkey teeth in close up! Run away! I love u, Dr Zaius!” – WBGR-FM (93.7 FM - Monroe, WI) Jan 10, 2026 Full Review The Plague (2025) 97% 4/5 EDIT “Too close for comfort for most cisgender males, nicely paced and with beautiful cinema. What stands out in this water polo 'Lord of the Dives' is the natural performances from the young boy actor, which add a determined cringe factor. Adolescence sucks!” – WBGR-FM (93.7 FM - Monroe, WI) Jan 3, 2026 Full Review Is This Thing On? (2025) 86% 4/5 EDIT “Although it gets a bit stuck in its own premise, this ardent story is well directed by Cooper and well realized by Arnett and Dern. The key is that the best stand up comedy is telling the truth, because if we don't laugh we cry. Take my wife... please.” – HollywoodChicago.com Dec 28, 2025 Full Review Peter Hujar's Day (2025) 92% 4.5/5 EDIT “One of the sleepers of the year ... Adapter/Director Ira Sachs and DP Alex Ashe create a two person/one apartment drama with space, timing of the day and creativity in use of both. Whislaw/Hall are dynamic & it all works. W/Sachs interview.” – HollywoodChicago.com Dec 27, 2025 Full Review No Other Choice (2025) 97% 5/5 EDIT “One of the best of the year ... relatable corporate drone material, even in murder (heh-heh). Lead actor Lee Byung-hun is properly maniacal and sociopathic, and director Park Chan-wook creates symbolic and emotional cinema. He's Hired!” – HollywoodChicago.com Dec 27, 2025 Full Review Song Sung Blue (2025) 78% 4/5 EDIT “Since I've seen the act 'Lightning & Thunder' in the 1990s, there is nice authenticity to Jackson and Hudson's performance as the duo. The film flags a bit post a tragic event, but there is enough Hugh Jackman charisma to bring it home. So good!” – HollywoodChicago.com Dec 27, 2025 Full Review Marty Supreme (2025) 93% 5/5 EDIT “One of the most wholly original stories in a long time, both an absurdist journey and metaphor for the post WW2 American Dream. Chalamet shines in the frantic life of Marty, with stellar support from Odessa A'zion and the sublime Gwyneth Paltrow. Pong!” – HollywoodChicago.com Dec 27, 2025 Full Review Anaconda (2025) 48% 3.5/5 EDIT “Weirdly introspective enough to work, but it took the combined powers of Black, Rudd and Zahn to keep something going ... the CGI snake is an afterthought. Not the powerhouse Christmas comedy, but not a bomb either. Snakes on Everything!” – HollywoodChicago.com Dec 26, 2025 Full Review Avatar: Fire and Ash (2025) 66% 3/5 EDIT “Barest recco but just for visuals, James Cameron needs to go back to creative writing class, because his same-o themes won't carry these films forever ... especially at three hours plus. Also, the good guys always have a magic device to get out of jams.” – WBGR-FM (93.7 FM - Monroe, WI) Dec 20, 2025 Full Review Sentimental Value (2025) 97% 5/5 EDIT “An emotional masterpiece by rising star director Joachim Trier, playing off themes of past trauma that permeates and rots the family tree. With overviews of mental health and shades of Ingmar Bergman, its value in cinema is a gold standard. Don't miss. ” – WBGR-FM (93.7 FM - Monroe, WI) Dec 12, 2025 Full Review Train Dreams (2025) 95% 4.5/5 EDIT “The film is like a lyrical poet of a "simple life" full of sh*t happens moments. Joel Edgerton interprets the delicate character with an awards level performance, and the actions of the character is both appropriately emotional and understated. ” – HollywoodChicago.com Dec 12, 2025 Full Review Ella McCay (2025) 22% 1.5/5 EDIT “James L. Brooks is too old & too rich to properly comment on the political scene, and this bit of hokum plays out as complete B.S. Newcomer Mackey is completely miscast as a Lt Gov, but that's only one of many problems. Brooksie lays an egg!” – WBGR-FM (93.7 FM - Monroe, WI) Dec 12, 2025 Full Review Under the Stars (2025) 3.5/5 EDIT “Garcia & Collette are the highlights of this romantic scenario ... great chemistry, taking ordinary dialogue to seductive heights. Pettyfer and De Dominici are both beautiful actors, and create tension themselves in a will-they-or-won’t-they struggle.” – HollywoodChicago.com Dec 10, 2025 Full Review Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery (2025) 92% 2.5/5 EDIT “Sorry no ... these mysteries in the KNIVES OUT series practically beg us to love them for their hip nowness, but they are nothing more than Scooby-Doo "pull off the masks." One plus is that it went after the Catholic Church, almost too harshly. KNIVES!” – HollywoodChicago.com Dec 1, 2025 Full Review Eternity (2025) 77% 2/5 EDIT “Ack! Too many rules for one Eternity. Didn't connect with this odd story of a young hot love vs. a long-timer, and the way they get the situation together in the afterlife would make bureaucracy look efficient. There was no appeal here. Hello Miles!” – HollywoodChicago.com Dec 1, 2025 Full Review Left-Handed Girl (2025) 98% 4/5 EDIT “Nicely done cultural film from Taiwan, rising on the performances of the ensemble cast, esp Nina Ye as the precocious five-year-old lefty. Suffered a bit from the heaviness of multiple/almost soap opera stories, Broke some molds, built others. Taipei!” – HollywoodChicago.com Dec 1, 2025 Full Review Hamnet (2025) 86% 4/5 EDIT “A bit too artsy ponderous, but Jessie Buckley is quite compelling in the impossible position of Shakespeare's wife ... she is an open wound during her son Hamnet's death. Art is proved to be healing in the authentic first performance of HAMLET. To be ...” – WBGR-FM (93.7 FM - Monroe, WI) Nov 28, 2025 Full Review Zootopia 2 (2025) 91% 4.5/5 EDIT “Jumping on the ZOOTOPIA train, as this sequel is superior to the first film. It starts with the story, and this one is bright, funny and a decent action film. The combo of Jason Bateman snark and superior comedy makes this on a Disney winnah! Hopp on by.” – HollywoodChicago.com Nov 28, 2025 Full Review
No Reviews Yet
Load More