Focus – A Warner Bros. Release http://focusmovie.com Release Date: February 27th, 2015 Rated 14A for coarse language and sexual content Running Time: 105 minutes Glenn Ficarra (director) John Requa (director) Glenn Ficarra (writer) John Requa (writer) Nick Urata (music) Will Smith as Nicky Margot Robbie as Jess Adrian Martinez as Farhad Gerald McRaney as Owens… Read More Three Views: Focus
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) What if the plots of old movies ended up being mistaken for real news? That’s the amusing premise behind Big News from Grand Rock, an easily enjoyable Canadian comedy that opens in limited release this weekend, after a successful run on the TIFF Film Circuit. This is a… Read More Review: Big News from Grand Rock
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) A promising young dancer relegated to the lowest level of the company, Justin Peck was given the rare opportunity in 2013 to choreograph the 422nd new piece performed by the New York City Ballet. The process is showcased in the pretty good backstage documentary Ballet 422, which opens at the Bloor Hot… Read More Bloor Cinema Release: Ballet 422
By John Corrado Fresh off winning the Oscar for Best Animated Feature, Disney is releasing Big Hero 6 on Blu-ray today. Following teenaged robotics genius Hiro Hamada (Ryan Potter) and his huggable health care companion Baymax (Scott Adsit), this is a beautifully animated film that mixes a superhero origin story with poignant themes of grief and… Read More Blu-ray Release: Big Hero 6
By John Corrado Today, Sony Pictures is releasing the recent Oscar-winner Whiplash on Blu-ray. Following the tense and often volatile relationship between aspiring jazz drummer Andrew (Miles Teller), and his abusive teacher Fletcher (J.K. Simmons), this is a stunning music drama that plays with the charged intensity of a thriller. Winning much deserved trophies for… Read More Blu-ray Release: Whiplash
By John Corrado Director Martin Rosen’s 1978 animated classic Watership Down is being released on Blu-ray today, through the Criterion Collection. Adapted from the classic novel by Richard Adams, the story follows a community of rabbits, who are under threat from modern development. Although Watership Down takes its time in telling the story, this is a mature and beautifully animated film… Read More Criterion Release: Watership Down
By John Corrado The 87th Oscars unfolded last night, with Birdman taking home the top prize for Best Picture, along with Best Director and Best Original Screenplay trophies for Alejandro G. Iñárritu, and Best Cinematography for Emmanuel Lubezki’s mesmerizing work behind the single take magic trick. The film triumphed over the early favourite Boyhood which many initially… Read More Some Thoughts on the 87th Oscars
McFarland – A Walt Disney Pictures Release http://movies.disney.com/mcfarland-usa Release Date: February 20th, 2015 Rated PG for thematic material, some violence and language Running Time: 128 minutes Niki Caro (director) Christopher Cleveland (writer) Bettina Gilois (writer) Grant Thompson (screenplay) Antonio Pinto (music) Kevin Costner as Jim White Ramiro Rodriguez as Danny Diaz Carlos Pratts as Thomas… Read More Three Views: McFarland
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) After premiering at the Inside Out LGBT Film Festival last year, the gutting and critically acclaimed documentary Matt Shepard is a Friend of Mine is finally coming back to Toronto and opening at the Carlton today. Tickets and showtimes are right here. Matthew Shepard had just moved to… Read More Review: Matt Shepard is a Friend of Mine
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) After premiering at TIFF in 2013, and kicking around the festival circuit since then, the Indian drama Siddharth is finally circling back to Toronto and starting a limited run at the Bell Lightbox this weekend. Tickets and showtimes can be found right here. Desperate for money to support… Read More Review: Siddharth
At noon EST today, the International Film Music Critics Association announced its winners for musical scoring in 2014. Congratulations to all the nominees and winners! Taking home the award for Film Score of the Year is composer Hans Zimmer for Interstellar. This is his nineteenth nomination and third win since the awards started in 2004. … Read More Winners of 11th Annual IFMCA Awards Announced Today
By John Corrado Last week, Paramount released the 1977 animated feature Race for Your Life, Charlie Brown for the first time on DVD. This adventure follows Charlie Brown and the rest of the Peanuts gang to summer camp, where they end up competing against each other and a group of bullies in a river race.… Read More DVD Release: Race for Your Life, Charlie Brown
By John Corrado Two weeks ago, D Films released My Old Lady on DVD. When his father dies, depressed New Yorker Mathias Gold (Kevin Kline) returns to the Paris apartment that was left to him with plans to sell the large property, only to find the place occupied by the feisty elderly woman Mathilde (Maggie… Read More DVD Release: My Old Lady
By John Corrado The acclaimed author of the classic children’s book Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, Judith Viorst seemed to be having a good day when I spoke to her on the phone, and there’s no reason why she shouldn’t be enjoying herself. First published in 1972, her picture book has become a… Read More Interview: Judith Viorst on Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) The characters in Canadian director Albert Shin’s South Korean drama In Her Place are nameless, and the majority of the story takes place at a rural farmhouse, but the complex situations at the centre of the story are simply compelling to watch unfold. Although the release is flying… Read More Review: In Her Place
By John Corrado ★½ (out of 4) Director Matthew Vaughn clearly aspires to reach the level of greats like Edgar Wright and Quentin Tarantino with Kingsman: The Secret Service. But instead, the filmmaker has firmly planted himself as just another wannabe, delivering an awkward mix of silly spy spoof and sadistic violence, with a sexist… Read More Review: Kingsman: The Secret Service
By John Corrado Sony Pictures is releasing Predestination on Blu-ray today, a hidden gem from last year’s festival circuit, that demands and deserves your attention. The film follows a Temporal Agent (Ethan Hawke) who has the ability to travel through time, and is on his final mission to stop a devastating bombing before it occurs.… Read More Blu-ray Release: Predestination
By John Corrado Today, Elevation Pictures is releasing the great Nightcrawler on Blu-ray. Louis Bloom (Jake Gyllenhaal) is a small time thief who discovers the competitive world of freelance crime journalism, filming various emergencies and selling his unflinching footage to a local TV station. There he meets Nina (Rene Russo), a cutthroat news director equally willing… Read More Blu-ray Release: Nightcrawler
By John Corrado Today, Disney is releasing Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day on Blu-ray. Feeling like nobody understands his rotten luck, young Alexander (Ed Oxenbould) wishes that his family would know what it’s like to have a truly bad day, and that’s exactly what his parents (Steve Carell and Jennifer… Read More Blu-ray Release: Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
By John Corrado Disney is releasing their delightful 1961 animated classic 101 Dalmatians for the first time on Blu-ray today as part of the Diamond Edition series, and it’s a must have for fans of the film. When their puppies are dognapped by “devil woman” Cruella De Vil (Betty Lou Gerson), dalmatians Pongo (Rod Taylor)… Read More Blu-ray Release: 101 Dalmatians
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