By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Franky (Josh Wiggins) is a popular high schooler who has his world upended after his 17th birthday party leads to a drunken but reciprocal sexual encounter with his best friend, Ballas (Darren Mann). The encounter leaves Franky struggling to define his own sexuality, and bullying amps up at… Read More Review: Giant Little Ones
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Lou (Michaela Kurimsky) and Chantal (Karena Evans) are best friends who are both trapped in the small Ontario town where they grew up, and they are trying to save up enough money so that they can hitch a ride to New York. But their plans to escape are… Read More Review: Firecrackers
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Tim Burton’s Dumbo, the latest in Disney’s lineup of live action retellings of their earlier classics, serves as more of a reimagining of the 1941 animated film than it does a straight up remake. This is not to say that the film strays quite as far from the… Read More Review: Dumbo
By John Corrado Leading up to the release of the new adaptation on April 5th, Paramount is releasing the original 1989 film version of Stephen King’s novel Pet Sematary on Blu-ray this week in a brand new 30th anniversary edition. The story follows Louis Creed (Dale Midkiff), a doctor who moves with his wife Rachel… Read More Blu-ray Review: Pet Sematary: 30th Anniversary Edition
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Arthur Curry (Jason Momoa), who first appeared as part of the DC Extended Universe in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice before playing a much larger role as a member of the superhero ensemble in Justice League, gets his own origin story in director James Wan’s Aquaman. As we… Read More Blu-ray Review: Aquaman
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) Maya (Jennifer Lopez) is a woman in her forties who is fed up by the fact that “street smarts” aren’t given as much value as “book smarts.” She dropped out of high school and is now stuck working at a big box grocery store, with nobody else wanting to… Read More Blu-ray Review: Second Act
By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) Despite being 26 years older than Vincent van Gogh was at the time of his death from a gunshot wound at 37 in 1890, it turns out that Willem Dafoe is the perfect actor to bring the Dutch painter to the screen in At Eternity’s Gate, having earned… Read More DVD Review: At Eternity’s Gate
By John Corrado A father-son collaboration between director Peter Hedges and his son Lucas Hedges, who stars in the title role as a young drug addict, Ben is Back is one of the films from last year’s awards season that I wish had gotten more attention. So now that it’s available on DVD, I would… Read More DVD Review: Ben is Back
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) The latest from Canadian filmmaker Kim Nguyen, following his very good Arctic romance Two Lovers and a Bear and the Oscar-nominated War Witch, The Hummingbird Project is a flawed but mildly entertaining dramedy that is set in the financial sector. The film takes place in 2011 and follows Vincent… Read More Review: The Hummingbird Project
By John Corrado I have been covering the Canadian Film Fest for several years now. The annual festival – the 13th edition of which starts tonight – always offers an interesting and entertaining showcase of homegrown cinema, and this year is no different, screening nine features and twenty eight shorts over the next several days.… Read More Previewing the 2019 Canadian Film Fest
By John Corrado One of my favourite films of last year was Mary Poppins Returns, which is arriving on Blu-ray today. A belated sequel to Disney’s 1964 classic starring Julie Andrews, Rob Marshall’s new film is simply delightful to watch, from the wonderful music and dance numbers, to Emily Blunt’s impeccable performance in the title role.… Read More Blu-ray Review: Mary Poppins Returns
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) After losing his beloved wife to cancer, Shmuel (Géza Röhrig), a Hasidic Jewish cantor, becomes obsessed with finding out how her body is decomposing post-burial, to make sure her soul has properly left its earthly vessel so that she may find peace. This is the entirely original premise… Read More Review: To Dust
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter prequel series continues with somewhat diminished results in the sequel Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, which follows the entertaining 2016 film Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. This film opens with Gellert Grindelwald (Johnny Depp) breaking out of prison. The Dark wizard is… Read More Blu-ray Review: Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) A sequel to the surprisingly strong 2015 boxing drama Creed, which was itself a spinoff from and continuation of the Rocky franchise, Creed II finds the reigning heavyweight champion Adonis Creed (Michael B. Jordan) being challenged to face off against Viktor Drago (Florian Munteanu). The fight is personal for… Read More Blu-ray Review: Creed II
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Due to the spotty track record of director Sean Anders, who previously helmed the pair of not very good Daddy’s Home films, you would be forgiven for not expecting much from his latest Mark Wahlberg collaboration, Instant Family. But this film is actually far better than expected, thanks… Read More Blu-ray Review: Instant Family
By John Corrado Two weeks ago, Green Book was awarded the Oscar for Best Picture, as well as trophies for Best Original Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor, and now the film is arriving on Blu-ray just in time to capitalize on this success. Based on a true story, the film follows working class Italian bouncer… Read More Blu-ray Review: Green Book
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s The Little Prince is one of the most beloved literary works of the past century. The story of a lonely pilot who crash lands in the desert and befriends a young boy from asteroid B-612, the beautifully written novella has the ability to connect with… Read More Review: Invisible Essence: The Little Prince
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) The Marvel Cinematic Universe has been grinding its gears for over a decade now, a timespan that has already seen the release of twenty movies, including last year’s insanely successful double hitter of Black Panther and Avengers: Infinity War. Together, they are two of the highest grossing movies… Read More Review: Captain Marvel
By John Corrado Last month, HBO released the complete second season of The Deuce on Blu-ray. Created by George Pelecanos and David Simon, the series offers a gritty look at the rise of the porn industry in New York in the 1970s, set against the backdrop of the ongoing women’s rights, gay rights and sexual liberation… Read More Blu-ray Review: The Deuce: The Complete Second Season
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) Gaspar Noé has always been a filmmaker who revels in the extremes, and the director’s latest film Climax sends us into sensory overload with its often hallucinatory cinematography, thumping club music soundtrack, and hellish setting. The year is 1996, and the film unfolds almost entirely at a dance… Read More Review: Climax
The Joy of Movies 