By John Corrado The 24th edition of Hot Docs kicks off tonight with the premiere of Bee Nation, and will be running until May 7th. Below are my thoughts on a dozen films I had the chance to screen in advance, and you can find more information on tickets and showtimes through the links in… Read More #HotDocs17: First Batch of Reviews
By John Corrado With human civilization having been all but destroyed by a zombie virus, Melanie (Sennia Nanua) is a young girl who represents the next evolution of the disease and is being kept locked up so that her organs can be harvested to create a cure. But when their safe military compound comes under… Read More Blu-ray Review: The Girl With All the Gifts
By John Corrado Recounting the true story of how McDonald’s became what it is today, The Founder focuses on the slick salesman Ray Kroc (Michael Keaton), who discovered a family burger joint in the 1950s run by brothers Mac (John Carroll Lynch) and Dick McDonald (Nick Offerman), and got them to franchise their business so he could take… Read More Blu-ray Review: The Founder
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Taking place between the 2010 film Tangled and the short film followup Tangled Ever After, Tangled Before Ever After is a TV movie that finds spunky princess Rapunzel (Mandy Moore) wanting to delay her marriage to Eugene (Zachary Levi), so that she can explore more of the kingdom. But… Read More DVD Review: Tangled Before Ever After
By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) Based on the fascinating true story of Percy Fawcett (Charlie Hunnam), The Lost City of Z compellingly centres its narrative around the three expeditions that the British army colonel turned explorer took into the Amazon between 1906 and 1925. Although the expeditions were initially being funded for colonialist purposes involving the rubber… Read More Review: The Lost City of Z
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Playing like an extended and impressively choreographed shootout that unfolds pretty much in real time, Free Fire could be accused of delivering style over substance, but it’s hard to really care when the style is this polished and well presented. Taking place in 1978, the film follows Justine (Brie Larson), who is organizing… Read More Review: Free Fire
Born in China Review By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) The latest Earth Day release from Disneynature, after taking a break last year, Born in China is another beautifully filmed and often lovely entry into the studio’s growing roster of modern day True Life Adventures. This time around, we are given a rare glimpse into… Read More Three Views: Born in China
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Ines Conradi (Sandra Hüller) is a workaholic, who doesn’t really have much time to spend with her practical joking father Winfried (Peter Simonischek) in Germany. So Winfried travels to Bucharest, where his daughter is working with a consulting firm that is looking at downsizing the amount of workers in the oil field, and… Read More DVD Review: Toni Erdmann
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) It’s fitting that Their Finest, a movie about a British film crew in 1940 trying to craft a hit that will raise the spirits of audiences during World War II, should be released now as we inch ever closer into another era of historic uncertainty. The film actually… Read More Review: Their Finest
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) After a sleazy small town oil drilling operation accidentally shakes a trio of ancient sea creatures back to the surface from an ecosystem deep underground, the unscrupulous boss (Rob Lowe) convinces his geologist (Thomas Lennon) to keep the discovery hidden. But one of the tentacled beings ends up finding his… Read More Blu-ray Review: Monster Trucks
By John Corrado Directed by Garth Brooks, Lion recounts the true story of Saroo Brierly’s journey to reconnect with his birth family after getting lost on the crowded streets of India. The first half focuses on Saroo as a young boy (Sunny Pawar) who gets lost in Calcutta, and is adopted by an Australian couple (Nicole Kidman and… Read More Blu-ray Review: Lion
By John Corrado ★★★★ (out of 4) Already the highest grossing anime film of all-time, and a giant blockbuster hit in its native Japan, Your Name is finally arriving in North American theatres, and I’m happy to report that the film deserves every bit of the hype that has been surrounding it for months now. This… Read More Review: Your Name
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) Josh Parker (Jason Bateman) is the chief technical officer at the Chicago branch of a struggling tech firm, working for the well-meaning but somewhat irresponsible department head Clay Vanstone (T.J. Miller), who inherited the position from his late father. They are in the process of planning a “non-denominational… Read More Blu-ray Review: Office Christmas Party
By John Corrado Focusing on the events of the rebellion that was hinted at in the opening crawl of the original 1977 film, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story follows Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones), who is recruited by a group of rebel soldiers to help steal the plans for the Death Star, a super weapon that her… Read More Blu-ray Review: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
By John Corrado Directed by Mike Mills, loosely basing the story on his own childhood, 20th Century Women follows teenage protagonist Jamie (Lucas Jade Zumann) who is essentially being raised by the three women in his life, including single mother Dorothea (Annette Bening), their tenant Abbie (Greta Gerwig), and his best friend Julie (Elle Fanning). With outstanding… Read More DVD Review: 20th Century Women
By John Corrado Chad Cutler (Michael Fassbender) lives with his wife (Lyndsey Marshal) and their two young kids in the same trailer park as his notorious crime boss father Cal (Brendan Gleeson). Chad is desperate to break away from a life of crime and go clean, not wanting his son to grow up like him,… Read More DVD Review: Trespass Against Us
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