By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Based on a true story, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot follows news copy writer Kim Baker (Tina Fey) who leaves her desk job in New York and is sent to cover the war in Afghanistan, where she forges relationships with a no-nonsense Colonel (Billy Bob Thornton), a fellow reporter (Margot Robbie), and a… Read More Blu-ray Review: Whiskey Tango Foxtrot
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) “I have a great deal of trouble imagining myself as an old lady,” Leslie Caron says at the start of Larry Weinstein’s documentary portrait Leslie Caron: The Reluctant Star, and at 85 years old, the veteran actress appears as alive as ever. Being interviewed at her home and at some… Read More Review: Leslie Caron: The Reluctant Star
By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) Ricky Baker (Julian Dennison) is a “bad egg,” at least that’s what we are told by deranged child services officer Paula (Rachel House) at the beginning of Hunt for the Wilderpeople. But as the film goes on, we discover that this rambunctious gangsta-wannabe kid is actually pretty sweet and just… Read More Review: Hunt for the Wilderpeople
By John Corrado ★★★★ (out of 4) When New Zealand pop culture reporter David Ferrier found bizarre videos online of a sport called Competitive Endurance Tickling, where half-naked young guys are paid to be tied up and tickled by other men, he reached out for an interview with the company behind it. But he never could… Read More Review: Tickled
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) Nobby (Sacha Baron Cohen) is a working class football fanatic from the small English fishing town of Grimsby, who has spent 28 years awaiting the return of his younger brother, Sebastian (Mark Strong), who turns out to be a top secret agent working for MI6. When Nobby reunites with… Read More DVD Review: The Brothers Grimsby
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) Taking place in 1980, when widespread fear of satan worship and occult rituals are spreading across the nation, Regression follows police detective Bruce Kenner (Ethan Hawke), who is investigating a young woman (Emma Watson) who alleges that her father (David Dencik) sexually assaulted her, despite him having no memory… Read More DVD Review: Regression
By John Corrado To coincide with the release of the excellent documentary De Palma, TIFF Bell Lightbox is hosting Split/Screen: The Cinema of Brian De Palma, a retrospective of the director’s films over the summer. It starts tonight with his Vietnam War drama Casualties of War (1989), and culminates on September 3rd with his most recent erotic thriller… Read More Previewing Split/Screen: The Cinema of Brian De Palma at TIFF Bell Lightbox
Finding Dory Review By John Corrado ★★★★ (out of 4) Arriving thirteen years after the huge success of Finding Nemo, Finding Dory joins the ranks of rare sequels that we didn’t think we needed, but turn out to be emotionally resonant continuations of the stories set in motion by their predecessors. Pixar has a long history… Read More Three Views: Finding Dory
By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) Brian De Palma sits in front of a fireplace in a medium closeup, discussing his filmmaking career, as clips from his films and other influences are interspersed between. This is the simple visual conceit behind De Palma, an extremely engaging documentary portrait that allows the director to talk candidly… Read More Review: De Palma
By John Corrado ★★★★ (out of 4) Watching Raiders! The Story of the Greatest Fan Film Ever Made gave me the same feeling I had seeing Raiders of the Lost Ark for the first time as a kid. And that’s no small praise of this genuine crowdpleaser that is finally being released after playing at last year’s Hot Docs, and… Read More Review: Raiders! The Story of the Greatest Fan Film Ever Made
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Doris (Sally Field) is a lonely older woman who has worked at the same office job for years, and lives with her cats in the junk-filled Staten Island house where she devoted her life to taking care of her recently deceased mother. When an attractive and much younger new recruit (Max… Read More DVD Review: Hello, My Name is Doris
By John Corrado One of the best surprises of the year so far, 10 Cloverfield Lane is a crafty and inventive thriller that follows a young woman (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) who ends up trapped in a bunker with an insane older man (John Goodman), who warns that disaster has struck and the outside world has… Read More Blu-ray Release: 10 Cloverfield Lane
By John Corrado Arguably the most famous of all the Star Trek films, longtime fan favourite Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan has gotten an impressive new Blu-ray transfer, including both the theatrical version and director’s cut of the 1982 classic. The second entry into the motion picture anthology, the film follows Admiral James T. Kirk… Read More Blu-ray Release: Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan: Director’s Cut
By John Corrado It’s hard to believe that it has been fifteen years since Shrek was released. I was a kid when the film came out in 2001, and my first experience with it was on a VHS tape. Now things have come full circle with a brand new Blu-ray to commemorate the fifteenth anniversary of this… Read More Blu-ray Release: Shrek: Anniversary Edition
By John Corrado ★★★★ (out of 4) A haunting and visually stunning cinematic tone poem, and winner of the Hot Docs Best Canadian Feature award, Konelīne: Our Land Beautiful is a gorgeously captured documentary that offers a powerful and moving hymn to living in harmony with the land. Director Nettie Wild doesn’t confine the film to a single narrative arc,… Read More Bloor Cinema Release: Konelīne: Our Land Beautiful
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Maggie (Greta Gerwig) is perpetually single, but wants to have a baby and considers herself ready to be a mother. Determined to raise the raise the child on her own, she is all set to go through with artificial insemination with her friend (Travis Fimmel), when she meets the… Read More Review: Maggie’s Plan
By John Corrado Arriving just five months after the initial Blu-ray release, The Martian: Extended Edition is now available. This new version of Ridley Scott’s excellent space adventure includes both the theatrical and extended cuts of the seven time Oscar-nominated film starring Matt Damon, boasting an extra ten minutes of added footage and scenes, as well over two… Read More Blu-ray Release: The Martian: Extended Edition
By John Corrado My favourite movie of the year so far, Zootopia takes place in a seemingly utopic mammal metropolis where animals start mysteriously going missing, forcing newly recruited bunny police officer Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin) to work with the smooth con artist fox Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman) to solve the case, uncovering deep rooted fear… Read More Blu-ray Release: Zootopia
By John Corrado A unique and critically acclaimed animated film from co-directors Charlie Kaufman and Duke Johnson, Anomalisa follows Michael (David Thewlis), a depressed and lonely customer service expert who has a chance encounter with Lisa (Jennifer Jason Leigh), a shy woman who is seemingly not like everyone else, at a hotel in Cincinnatti. Watching Anomalisa again,… Read More Blu-ray Release: Anomalisa
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) Directed by Michael Bay, 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi recounts the events that unfolded on September 11th, 2012 when a United States compound in Libya came under fire by heavily armed militants, leaving a security team of six fearless men (John Krasinski, James Badge Dale, Pablo Schreiber, David Denman, Dominic Fumusa and… Read More Blu-ray Review: 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi
The Joy of Movies 