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MacGuffin or Meaning (Substack)

MacGuffin or Meaning (Substack) is not a Tomatometer-approved publication. Reviews from this publication only count toward the Tomatometer® when written by the following Tomatometer-approved critic(s): Alise Chaffins.

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Rating Title | Year Author Quote
2/5
Mercy (2026) Alise Chaffins There’s a potentially interesting idea in Mercy (but) it is abandoned for innumerable plot conveniences, an overabundance of CGI screens, and an AI judge that seems to think the guy she’s trying to execute is actually pretty swell deep down.
Posted Jan 26, 2026  Edit critic review
3.5/5
Signing Tony Raymond (2025) Alise Chaffins Signing Tony Raymond is a sweet, caring film that highlights some of the issues surrounding college football recruitment while also casting a light on how that impacts families.
Posted Jan 23, 2026  Edit critic review
4/5
28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (2026) Alise Chaffins ...in 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, Nia DaCosta takes the directing reins and steers the franchise in a way that somehow feels both nihilistic and hopeful at the same time.
Posted Jan 20, 2026  Edit critic review
4.5/5
The Life of Chuck (2024) Alise Chaffins This film is a magical, uplifting story that urges us to find joy and connection in whatever circumstances we find ourselves in.
Posted Jan 19, 2026  Edit critic review
4/5
Primate (2025) Alise Chaffins Primate, from director Johannes Roberts, is a tense and gory creature feature short on story, but filled with thrills.
Posted Jan 13, 2026  Edit critic review
2.5/5
People We Meet on Vacation (2026) Alise Chaffins People We Meet on Vacation...is an overlong, flat romance that will no doubt have its fans, but is not interesting enough to be anything more than background entertainment.
Posted Jan 12, 2026  Edit critic review
4/5
The Plague (2025) Alise Chaffins This psychological thriller about the pain of isolation due to bullying is one of the most poignant and horrifying films I’ve ever seen on the subject.
Posted Jan 06, 2026  Edit critic review
4/5
Homegrown (2024) Alise Chaffins There have been a number of documentaries that have pulled footage from (January 6), but director Michael Premo and his crew were there to film one of the participants in his documentary Homegrown.
Posted Jan 04, 2026  Edit critic review
4/5
Song Sung Blue (2025) Alise Chaffins Yes, this is a melodramatic, cheesy movie. But there is something more under all of the goofiness. ...this film is a heartwarming tale about sharing a dream with another person.
Posted Dec 30, 2025  Edit critic review
3.5/5
31 Candles (2025) Alise Chaffins Part Christmas movie, part coming-of-age, part reconnecting with your religious roots, part rom-com, 31 Candles is a lovely movie.
Posted Dec 30, 2025  Edit critic review
5/5
Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery (2025) Alise Chaffins Discussions of Christian Nationalism have been rising for the past few years...Rian Johnson’s Wake Up Dead Man tackles this topic with humor and thoughtfulness and a pretty decent locked-door mystery.
Posted Dec 29, 2025  Edit critic review
4/5
Is This Thing On? (2025) Alise Chaffins Is This Thing On? works because of the incredible performances of Arnett and Dern. In a film where a couple is struggling, we are often forced to choose sides, but these two allow us to feel empathy for both without denigrating the other.
Posted Dec 23, 2025  Edit critic review
3.5/5
Tapawingo (2023) Alise Chaffins ...this movie is an off-beat, hilarious, silly story that is bright and incredibly watchable.
Posted Dec 22, 2025  Edit critic review
4/5
Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair (2006) Alise Chaffins If you have only watched the Kill Bill movies on your television like me, or it has been a long time since you’ve seen them on the big screen, Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair is worth a (long) trip to the cinema.
Posted Dec 17, 2025  Edit critic review
3.5/5
Jay Kelly (2025) Alise Chaffins Noah Baumbach gets close to nailing the formula in his new film, Jay Kelly, streaming on Netflix, but even with some incredible casting and some genuinely heartfelt moments, the film felt like it was missing something.
Posted Dec 15, 2025  Edit critic review
3.5/5
Dust Bunny (2025) Alise Chaffins ...there was a time when we allowed movies for kids to be truly scary. Bryan Fuller remembers and brings us an enchanting, beautiful, and yes, frightening film with Dust Bunny.
Posted Dec 11, 2025  Edit critic review
3.5
Serious People (2025) Alise Chaffins While the movie takes a minute to really settle into the story, once it does, this comedy of errors is absolutely hilarious.
Posted Dec 09, 2025  Edit critic review
3.5/5
Eternity (2025) Alise Chaffins A beautiful and funny film, filled with exceptional performances across the board, the ending felt like it wanted to explore every outcome, but instead, it was afraid to commit to something real.
Posted Dec 08, 2025  Edit critic review
2.5/5
The Thing with Feathers (2025) Alise Chaffins Even with some wonderful acting and some powerful moments of grief, The Thing with Feathers is just too disjointed to make it a truly entertaining or emotionally moving watch.
Posted Dec 04, 2025  Edit critic review
3.5/5
Luv Ya, Bum! (2025) Alise Chaffins Luv Ya, Bum! is, by all accounts, a standard documentary, including footage of the Oilers back then and copious interviews with people who knew him...that made me want to put down my Terrible Towel and pick up a powder blue pom pom.
Posted Dec 02, 2025  Edit critic review
4/5
Wicked: For Good (2025) Alise Chaffins I went to Jon M. Chu’s Wicked: For Good...and found it to be yet another delightful trip to Oz, if not quite as strong as part one.
Posted Nov 25, 2025  Edit critic review
5/5
Train Dreams (2025) Alise Chaffins This is a beautiful film, both visually and thematically, and choosing to engage with it completely is a worthwhile endeavor.
Posted Nov 24, 2025  Edit critic review
3.5/5
The Running Man (2025) Alise Chaffins Based on the novel by the same name, this movie manages to disguise a very direct message about propaganda and wealth inequality as a popcorn blockbuster with varying degrees of success.
Posted Nov 18, 2025  Edit critic review
4.5/5
Frankenstein (2025) Alise Chaffins The theme of finding humanity in that which many find monstrous is one that del Toro seems drawn to, so watching him tackle Frankenstein is quite thrilling, and he does it masterfully.
Posted Nov 17, 2025  Edit critic review
3/5
Christy (2025) Alise Chaffins More than anything, Christy feels safe...What Martin has overcome is astounding, and as a West Virginian, I’m thrilled that she is having it told on the big screen. I only wish this movie could have been as bold as she is.
Posted Nov 11, 2025  Edit critic review
4/5
John Candy: I Like Me (2025) Alise Chaffins This movie is far more hagiography than biography....but John Candy: I Like Me proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was surrounded by people who loved him, and there is a lot of value in that.
Posted Nov 10, 2025  Edit critic review
2/5
Die My Love (2025) Alise Chaffins Die My Love is so broad in the way that it can be interpreted, it can read more as a “b*tches be crazy” film than a deep look at the mental health struggles of a woman with PPD.
Posted Nov 07, 2025  Edit critic review
4/5
Séance (2024) Alise Chaffins Séance does an amazing job of creating an engrossing period piece that allows us to examine topics that feel more modern, while reminding us that there is nothing new under the sun.
Posted Nov 04, 2025  Edit critic review
4/5
Bugonia (2025) Alise Chaffins Yet even in the most nihilistic moment of Bugonia, there is a sense of remorse that suggests that there is something worth saving in the midst of all the mess. Maybe it just takes us remembering our humanity.
Posted Nov 03, 2025  Edit critic review
2.5/5
The Hand That Rocks The Cradle (2025) Alise Chaffins If there’s something that no thriller should ever aspire to, it’s being boring.
Posted Oct 27, 2025  Edit critic review
3.5/5
Good Fortune (2025) Alise Chaffins What Good Fortune gets right is that we need to rely on one another. Whether it’s collective action by forming a union...or simply grabbing tacos with someone after work, our greatest strength lies in the communities we form.
Posted Oct 21, 2025  Edit critic review
3.5/5
Scared Shitless (2024) Alise Chaffins Scared Shitless isn’t necessarily going to be the most terrifying film that you see this Halloween season, but it manages to take a silly, gross idea and turn it into a story that has some great laughs and some genuinely heartfelt moments.
Posted Oct 20, 2025  Edit critic review
3.5/5
The Wilderness (2025) Alise Chaffins What allows this film to feel grounded and authentic is a stellar performance from Doohan. He is restrained when he needs to be, but allows moments of genuine vulnerability that will enable the character to feel three-dimensional.
Posted Oct 15, 2025  Edit critic review
3/5
Roofman (2025) Alise Chaffins While Roofman has a really fantastic cast, it never feels like it lives up to its potential, focusing more on how friendly and sweet Manchester is, while avoiding any introspection into how someone with his intelligence ended up on a criminal path.
Posted Oct 14, 2025  Edit critic review
5/5
A Beast Touch the Mountain (2025) Alise Chaffins The beast of the shadow corporations that funded the MVP did more than simply touch the mountain. While they may have won this battle, the people of Bent Mountain have found one another, and that is how they will ultimately win.
Posted Oct 13, 2025  Edit critic review
4/5
Hard Hat Riot (2025) Alise Chaffins There is much in Hard Hat Riot that feels incredibly timely right now, as America is in the grips of another clash of ideas and rise in political violence.
Posted Oct 11, 2025  Edit critic review
2.5/5
The Smashing Machine (2025) Alise Chaffins In Benny Safdie’s new film, The Smashing Machine, Johnson flexes his acting (and literal) muscles, but unfortunately, there isn’t much there to support him in this aimless biopic about UFC fighter Mark Kerr.
Posted Oct 07, 2025  Edit critic review
3.5/5
The Queen of My Dreams (2023) Alise Chaffins While this movie does have some story issues that blunt its efficacy, it is a beautiful, heartfelt film that highlights the love that mothers and daughters can share, even as they navigate their differences.
Posted Oct 06, 2025  Edit critic review
4/5
Good Boy (2025) Alise Chaffins When you are trying to tell a story with the concept as the primary draw, that can become a hindrance to a quality piece of filmmaking. Fortunately, the filmmaking itself in Good Boy works to make it something more than just a gimmick.
Posted Oct 01, 2025  Edit critic review
3/5
Dead of Winter (2025) Alise Chaffins Dead of Winter is an effective thriller with enough heart to make it worth a watch. And perhaps casting two middle-aged women in the starring roles is enough to make it feel unique.
Posted Sep 30, 2025  Edit critic review
2/5
All of You (2024) Alise Chaffins The lack of real character development, the casting aside of the main conceit, and the stagnant story structure in the third act make All of You a wildly frustrating watch.
Posted Sep 25, 2025  Edit critic review
5/5
The Long Walk (2025) Alise Chaffins Despite the simplicity of the premise and the monotony of watching a group of boys walk hundreds of miles without stopping to sleep, use the bathroom, or remove a rock out of their shoes, the tension remains as we wait to see who will fall.
Posted Sep 23, 2025  Edit critic review
3.5/5
Night of the Reaper (2025) Alise Chaffins Even though The Night of the Reaper doesn’t cut a new path in the slasher genre, it travels down the well-worn road in style.
Posted Sep 22, 2025  Edit critic review
4/5
Hamlet (2025) Alise Chaffins Aneil Karia’s new take on Hamlet, set in modern London, may have you seeing eye to eye with that teacher about the pertinence of the story to current times.
Posted Sep 20, 2025  Edit critic review
3/5
Steve (2025) Alise Chaffins Steve is less about a long-term story of kids overcoming unspeakable odds with the help of one kind teacher, and more about the actual problems that kids face and a single day of a teacher trying to figure out how to simply keep them out of jail.
Posted Sep 15, 2025  Edit critic review
5/5
Hamnet (2025) Alise Chaffins By laying so much raw emotion bare on the screen, Hamnet encourages all of us to keep our hearts open. Open to grief, but also open to healing.
Posted Sep 10, 2025  Edit critic review
4/5
Rental Family (2025) Alise Chaffins Rental Family is life-affirming in ways that I didn’t fully expect, particularly if you’re willing to engage with a movie that is incredibly earnest in its ambitions.
Posted Sep 09, 2025  Edit critic review
4.5/5
Blue Moon (2025) Alise Chaffins Blue Moon has a love for Hart that is undeniable, and serves as a deep reminder that to have the whole world inside of you must include the dark parts as well.
Posted Sep 05, 2025  Edit critic review
3/5
The Roses (2025) Alise Chaffins Even though this new film isn’t exactly kind or gentle, it is certainly a kinder, gentler version of (the original). Whether or not that works will likely depend on how much the viewer needs this to be the previous movie.
Posted Sep 02, 2025  Edit critic review
2/5
Honey Don't! (2025) Alise Chaffins Most of the individual components are interesting - some are funny, some are salacious, some are gruesome - but there is never quite enough of a narrative through line, or even a thematic thread, to tie them all together.
Posted Aug 26, 2025  Edit critic review
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