By John Corrado New releases for the week of December 30th, 2022. Theatrical Releases: Broker (TIFF Bell Lightbox): The latest from Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda, working in Korea for the first time, Broker is a captivating story about found family showing the bonds that form between two “baby brokers” (played by Parasite‘s Song Kang-ho and… Read More New This Week (12/30/2022): Broker, White Noise, & More!
By John Corrado New releases for the week of December 21st, December 23rd, and December 25th, 2022. Theatrical Releases: The Whale (Limited Release): Brendan Fraser delivers the performance of a lifetime – and the comeback story of the year – in director Darren Aronofsky’s stunning and devastating character drama The Whale. Aided by prosthetics, Fraser… Read More New This Week (12/23/2022): The Whale, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, Women Talking, & More!
By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) How long can you keep running from death before it catches up to you? That’s the surprisingly deep question being asked at the centre of DreamWorks Animation’s almost shockingly good sequel Puss in Boots: The Last Wish. As a followup to 2011’s Puss in Boots, which was itself… Read More Review: Puss in Boots: The Last Wish
By John Corrado Please note that this is a review of the Blu-ray release of Bros. For my full thoughts on the film itself, you can read my original review from TIFF right here. Following its world premiere at TIFF and release in theatres at the end of September, the Judd Apatow-produced rom-com Bros is… Read More Blu-ray Review: Bros (Collector’s Edition)
By John Corrado New releases for the week of December 16th, 2022. Theatrical Releases: Avatar: The Way of Water (Wide Release): It’s understandable that this is the only big theatrical release this week, with other studios making way for James Cameron’s surefire blockbuster. Arriving a full thirteen years after the first Avatar in 2009, Cameron’s… Read More New This Week (12/16/2022): Avatar: The Way of Water, Bardo, & More!
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) It’s been thirteen years since director James Cameron first took us to Pandora in his 2009 sci-fi blockbuster Avatar, a film that some have erroneously claimed had no cultural impact, but won a trio of Oscars, lit the box office on fire, and ushered in a new 3D… Read More Review: Avatar: The Way of Water
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) The surprise box office hit Smile is an original horror movie from writer-director Parker Finn, that mixes the paranoia of It Follows, with the ticking time bomb once-you-see-it-you-die conceit of The Ring, and the dysfunctional family drama mixed with supernatural horror of Hereditary. Despite these obvious influences, Finn’s… Read More 4K Ultra HD Review: Smile
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Based on the classic 1960s picture books by Bernard Waber, Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile is a modestly enjoyable live action musical featuring original songs by Benji Pasek and Justin Paul that follows the adventures of a singing crocodile in New York City. The title character, Lyle (voiced by Shawn… Read More Blu-ray Review: Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile
By John Corrado ★★ (out of 4) A group of rich young adults in their twenties gather for a weekend getaway during a hurricane in the A24-backed Bodies Bodies Bodies, a vapid mix of indie party comedy and murder mystery that often feels more like a spoof of an A24 movie. At the start of… Read More Blu-ray Review: Bodies Bodies Bodies
By John Corrado ★★ (out of 4) In Emancipation, a runaway slave drama that is somewhat okay as an action movie but feels heavy-handed as awards bait, Antoine Fuqua directs the story of Peter (Will Smith), a slave who escapes to find freedom following Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation in 1861. In the opening scenes, Peter… Read More Review: Emancipation (Apple TV+)
By John Corrado New releases for the week of December 9th, 2022. Theatrical Releases: Spoiler Alert (Wide Release): Jim Parsons stars as TV writer Micheal Ausiello in this Christmas dramedy from director Michael Showalter (The Big Sick). Based on Ausiello’s memoir Spoiler Alert: The Hero Dies, the film tracks the months he spent caring for… Read More New This Week (12/09/2022): Spoiler Alert, Empire of Light, The Eternal Daughter, & More!
By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio (official title) is a passion project for the Mexican filmmaker, who crafts an emotional stop-motion retelling of author Carlo Collodi’s classic book. The story of the wooden boy brought to life has been adapted for the screen countless times, perhaps most famously in Disney’s… Read More Review: Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio
By John Corrado New releases for the week of December 2nd, 2022. Theatrical Releases: White Noise (TIFF Bell Lightbox): Noah Baumbach’s latest is an apocalyptic dark comedy starring Adam Driver and Greta Gerwig as a 1980s suburban couple grappling with their existential fear of death while trying to survive a “toxic airborne event.” I was… Read More New This Week (12/02/2022): White Noise, All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, The Inspection, & More!
By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) Leave it to Noah Baumbach to follow up his stunning 2019 drama Marriage Story with White Noise, an apocalyptic dark comedy about the existential fear of dying that still feels distinctly like a part of his filmography. Baumbach’s latest finds the writer-director tackling Don DeLillo’s “unfilmable” 1985 post-modernist… Read More Review: White Noise
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