New This Week (09/25/2026): Primetime, Heart of the Beast, The Stunt Driver, & More!

By John Corrado New releases for the week of September 25th, 2026. Theatrical Releases: Primetime (Wide Release): Documentary filmmaker Lance Oppenheim makes his narrative debut with this stylish, disturbing thriller focusing on Chris Hansen (Robert Pattinson), the host of NBC’s To Catch a Predator. Pattinson is mesmerizing to watch, with former child actor Skyler Gisondo… Read More New This Week (09/25/2026): Primetime, Heart of the Beast, The Stunt Driver, & More!

thejoyofmovies.caLeave a comment

Movie Review: Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty!

By John Corrado In director Josef Kubota Wladyka’s Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty!, which won the Directing Award at Sundance earlier this year, Rinko Kikuchi stars as Haru, a Japanese woman who loves ballroom dancing. Haru lives in Tokyo, and performs in ballroom dance competitions with her husband Luis (Alejandro Edda). Then Luis dies suddenly, and… Read More Movie Review: Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty!

thejoyofmovies.caLeave a comment

#TIFF26 Review: Darlene Love: I Know Where I’ve Been (TIFF Docs)

By John Corrado In his latest film, Darlene Love: I Know Where I’ve Been, Canadian documentary filmmaker Barry Avrich puts the spotlight on singer Darlene Love. The film won the People’s Choice Documentary Award at TIFF (the second year in a row for Avrich, following his The Road Between Us: The Ultimate Rescue last year),… Read More #TIFF26 Review: Darlene Love: I Know Where I’ve Been (TIFF Docs)

thejoyofmovies.caLeave a comment

#TIFF26 Review: The Stunt Driver (Special Presentations)

By John Corrado The latest film from Canadian director Michael Dowse (Goon, The F Word, Fubar), The Stunt Driver is a period biopic of Ken Carter, the eccentric Québécois stunt driver who planned to jump a rocket car over the St. Lawrence River in the 1970s. Jay Baruchel stars in the film as Carter, aka… Read More #TIFF26 Review: The Stunt Driver (Special Presentations)

thejoyofmovies.caLeave a comment

#TIFF26 Review: Everest: The Other Side (Special Presentations)

By John Corrado Everest: The Other Side is the latest thrill-seeking documentary from filmmakers Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, the team behind the Oscar-winning mountain climbing film Free Solo. Their latest is a surprisingly harrowing portrait of mountaineer Jim Morrison’s unstoppable journey to ski down the North Face of Mount Everest. While many have… Read More #TIFF26 Review: Everest: The Other Side (Special Presentations)

thejoyofmovies.caLeave a comment

#TIFF26 Review: La Bola Negra (Special Presentations)

By John Corrado La Bola Negra, the new film from co-directors Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi known collectively as Los Javis, is an ambitious multi-character drama mixing elements of war movie, love story, and portrait of the persecution faced by gay men throughout Spanish history. It’s a sweeping film, that comes together beautifully by the… Read More #TIFF26 Review: La Bola Negra (Special Presentations)

thejoyofmovies.caLeave a comment

#TIFF26 Review: Look Back (Special Presentations)

By John Corrado Live-action adaptations of animated films can be a contentious thing, but if only they were all as lovely as Look Back, Japanese master Hirokazu Kore-eda’s live-action adaptation of the popular anime and manga of the same name. The story follows Fujino (Furi Nanase), a young manga artist in elementary school who draws… Read More #TIFF26 Review: Look Back (Special Presentations)

thejoyofmovies.caLeave a comment

#TIFF26 Review: Possible Love (Special Presentations)

By John Corrado Eight years ago, Korean filmmaker Lee Chang-dong made Burning, a masterful slow-burn thriller. Now, in Possible Love, Lee’s belated follow up to that 2018 film, the director crafts a complex character drama focused on the entanglements between two married couples. Ho-seok (Sul Kyung-gu) and Mi-ok (Jeon Do-yeon) are a working class couple… Read More #TIFF26 Review: Possible Love (Special Presentations)

thejoyofmovies.caLeave a comment

#TIFF26 Review: Anchors Aweigh (Midnight Madness)

By John Corrado In Anchors Aweigh, writer-director-star Matt Barats delivers the most deadpan of deadpan comedies, mixed with video essay and home movie collage of loosely connected vignettes. The result is a mix of breakup comedy and meta mockumentary that feels destined for cult status. Playing a version of himself, Barats stars in the film… Read More #TIFF26 Review: Anchors Aweigh (Midnight Madness)

thejoyofmovies.caLeave a comment

#TIFF26 Review: Ladies and Gentlemen, Brian Mulroney (Midnight Madness)

By John Corrado The latest work from Winnipeg filmmaker Matthew Rankin (The 20th Century, Universal Language), Ladies and Gentlemen, Brian Mulroney is a gonzo Canadian political documentary by way of archival footage collage, and, well, it rocks. Backed by the National Film Board, this portrait of Canada’s 18th Prime Minister is a lot wackier than… Read More #TIFF26 Review: Ladies and Gentlemen, Brian Mulroney (Midnight Madness)

thejoyofmovies.caLeave a comment

#TIFF26 Review: Wild Horse Nine (Special Presentations)

By John Corrado Martin McDonagh is no stranger to the hitman buddy comedy, something that he did brilliantly in his 2008 feature debut In Bruges and 2012’s Seven Psychopaths. McDonagh’s latest, Wild Horse Nine, adds surprisingly somber and soulful notes to the formula, mixing his usual very funny dialogue with surprisingly moving themes of memory and… Read More #TIFF26 Review: Wild Horse Nine (Special Presentations)

thejoyofmovies.caLeave a comment

#TIFF26 Review: Elsinore (Special Presentations)

By John Corrado Director Simon Stone’s Elsinore, a moving drama about literally giving your life to art, is ostensibly a biopic of Scottish actor Ian Charleson. But it emotionally focuses on one key aspect of the actor’s legacy, who found success with Oscar-winner Chariots of Fire in 1981, and had opportunities mostly dry up afterwards.… Read More #TIFF26 Review: Elsinore (Special Presentations)

thejoyofmovies.caLeave a comment

#TIFF26 Review: The Man I Love (Special Presentations)

By John Corrado In his latest work, The Man I Love, celebrated filmmaker Ira Sachs crafts an understated AIDS drama, guided by an excellent performance from Rami Malek as a theatre actor in 1988. Malek’s Jimmy lives with his partner Dennis (Tom Sturridge) in New York City. A new love interest emerges when Vincent (Luther… Read More #TIFF26 Review: The Man I Love (Special Presentations)

thejoyofmovies.caLeave a comment