By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) David Harbour stars as a drunk, badass Santa Claus in Violent Night, a Christmas action comedy from Norwegian director Tommy Wirkola (Kill Buljo) that is at it’s best when embracing being a goofy, unabashed B-movie We first meet Harbour’s Santa in a bar on Christmas Eve, taking a… Read More Blu-ray Review: Violent Night (Collector’s Edition)
By John Corrado ★★ (out of 4) Little Dixie is a brooding revenge thriller that stars Frank Grillo as Doc Alexander, an ex-Special Forces Operative who has helped broker a truce between corrupt Oklahoma governor Richard Jeffs (Eric Dane) and a Mexican drug cartel. When the deal falls through following the governor’s public celebration of… Read More DVD Review: Little Dixie
By John Corrado At the beginning of January, I shared my picks for the best movies of 2022, fully intending to follow it up with my picks for the best non-fiction films of last year soon after. But time kept getting away from me, and I had several docs that I wanted to catch up… Read More The Best Documentaries of 2022
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) The latest film from writer-director Christopher Landon, who gave us clever horror comedy riffs with Freaky and the Happy Death Day movies, We Have a Ghost mainly serves as the filmmaker’s homage to the Amblin films of the 1980s. The story of a family who discovers a ghost… Read More Review: We Have a Ghost (Netflix)
By John Corrado New releases for the week of February 24th, 2023. Theatrical Releases: Cocaine Bear (Wide Release): This is the directorial debut of Elizabeth Banks and, from what I’ve heard, Cocaine Bear delivers exactly what you expect from the title; a bear gets hooked on coke, goes on a rampage, and kills some people.… Read More New This Week (02/24/2023): Cocaine Bear, We Have a Ghost, & More!
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) Shot on a tight budget in Alberta, Guitar Lessons is a small Canadian drama from writer-director Aaron James (Hank Williams First Nation). The film stars Canadian country singer Corb Lund in his first leading role as Ray Mitchell, a former musician turned ornery oilfield worker who is befriended… Read More Review: Guitar Lessons
By John Corrado Presented by GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Film Critics (of which I am a fairly new member), the winners of the 14th Dorian Film Awards have just been announced. Leading the pack is Everything Everywhere All at Once, which swept with wins for Film of the Year and LGBTQ Film of the… Read More Winners of the 14th Dorian Film Awards, presented by GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Film Critics
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) The latest film from M. Night Shyamalan, Knock at the Cabin is an adaptation of Paul G. Tremblay’s 2018 novel The Cabin at the End of the World. Shyamalan has crafted the material into a solid chamber piece thriller that is infused with Biblical allegories, and builds tension… Read More Review: Knock at the Cabin
By John Corrado New releases for the week of February 17th, 2023. Theatrical Releases: Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (Wide Release): Marvel’s latest arrives in theatres this weekend, and it’s maybe the weakest one yet in the 31 film deep MCU. I saw it earlier this week, and it’s an exposition-heavy film that is so… Read More New This Week (02/17/2023): Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Of An Age, Sharper, & More!
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Director Mye Hoang’s Cat Daddies is a charming documentary that focuses on the bonds between a variety of men and their cats, and if you are in any way a cat person, it’s pretty irresistible. Like any good collection of cat videos, the scenes range from lighthearted and… Read More Review: Cat Daddies
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) The feature debut of Benjamin Caron, a TV director whose credits include Andor, The Crown and, perhaps most notably, the final episode of Sherlock, Sharper is a slick A24 and Apple TV+ thriller that keeps shifting perspectives to keep us on our toes. The film opens with a… Read More Review: Sharper (Apple TV+)
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Set in Australia at the turn of the new millennium, writer-director Goran Stolevski’s sophomore feature Of An Age is an engaging and poignant portrait of two young men, Kol (Elias Anton) and Adam (Thom Green), who connect over a whirlwind 24 hours in the last few weeks of… Read More Review: Of An Age
By John Corrado ★★ (out of 4) Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is the 31st film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (the first in Phase Five), and I’d have to give a few others a rewatch to say for sure, but it might just be the weakest and most disappointing entry yet in the long-running… Read More Review: Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania
By John Corrado ★½ (out of 4) In Marlowe, Liam Neeson stars as a private detective sniffing about the sleazy side of the movie industry in late-1930s Los Angeles, taking on a role inspired by author Raymond Chandler’s detective character Philip Marlowe, who first appeared onscreen played by Humphrey Bogart in The Big Sleep. The… Read More Review: Marlowe
By John Corrado Please note that this is a review of the 4K Ultra HD release of The Fabelmans. For my full thoughts on the film itself, you can read my original review from TIFF right here. My favourite movie of 2022, Steven Spielberg’s Oscar-nominated The Fabelmans is now arriving on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray… Read More 4K Ultra HD Review: The Fabelmans
By John Corrado Please note that this is a review of the DVD release of On the Come Up. For my full thoughts on the film itself, you can read my original review from TIFF right here. After its TIFF premiere and streaming debut in September, the Paramount+ drama On the Come Up is now… Read More DVD Review: On the Come Up
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) The directorial debut of screenwriter Aline Brosh McKenna, who cut her teeth in the romantic comedy genre writing films like 27 Dresses and The Devil Wears Prada, Your Place or Mine is a Netflix rom-com ready made for Valentine’s Day that delivers exactly what you expect from both… Read More Review: Your Place or Mine (Netflix)
By John Corrado New releases for the week of February 10th, 2023. Theatrical Releases: Titanic: 25th Anniversary (Wide Release): James Cameron’s record-breaking, Oscar-winning 1997 classic Titanic is back in theatres this week in honour of its just passed 25th anniversary. Starring Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio in iconic roles, it’s a movie that has held… Read More New This Week (02/10/2023): One Fine Morning, Titanic: 25th Anniversary, Your Place or Mine, & More!
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) A movie about the two female journalists who helped break the Harvey Weinstein story, She Said is an exploration of the still-recent events which led to the toppling of a Hollywood giant and the start of the #MeToo movement, that struggles at times to be as compelling as… Read More Blu-ray Review: She Said (Collector’s Edition)
By John Corrado New releases for the week of February 3rd, 2023. Theatrical Releases: Knock at the Cabin (Wide Release): M. Night Shyamalan’s latest film stars Jonathan Groff and Ben Aldridge as a couple on vacation with their young daughter at an isolated cabin, who get held hostage by four strangers with a sinister request.… Read More New This Week (02/03/2023): Close, 80 for Brady, Knock at the Cabin, & More!
The Joy of Movies 