By John Corrado ★★★★ (out of 4) The solo directorial debut of Greta Gerwig, who also wrote the impeccable screenplay, Lady Bird is a lovely and deeply poignant coming of age film that finds the perfect balance between being funny, moving, bittersweet, and a little edgy, just like its main character. The film unfolds over the… Read More Review: Lady Bird
By John Corrado Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) is forced to confront the end of his racing career following a terrifying crash in Cars 3. Wanting to go out as a champion, but realizing that he is struggling to keep up in a world of newer racers, Lightning teams up with a perky young trainer named Cruz… Read More Blu-ray Review: Cars 3
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) A long-belated follow up to his Oscar-winning 2006 documentary An Inconvenient Truth, An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power follows former Vice President Al Gore as he continues to travel around the world, raising awareness of climate change and advocating for renewable energy sources like solar and wind, both here… Read More Blu-ray Review: An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power
Thor: Ragnarok Review By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Thor (Chris Hemsworth) is back in Thor: Ragnarok, the third solo adventure for the God of Thunder and the first in the series to be directed by Taika Watiti, who brings a sense of playfulness and levity to the Marvel franchise. This time around, Thor… Read More Three Views: Thor: Ragnarok
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Steven Murphy (Colin Farrell) is a celebrated cardiac surgeon who strikes up a strange and unlikely friendship with an offbeat teen named Martin (Barry Keoghan) in The Killing of a Sacred Deer. When Steven brings the troubled teen home to meet his wife (Nicole Kidman), as well as his… Read More Review: The Killing of a Sacred Deer
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Taking place in the 1960s, when the Catholic Church was facing the changes of Vatican II, Novitiate offers a compelling look at life in the convent that explores why people choose to dedicate their lives to the church. The film follows Cathleen (Margaret Qualley), a young woman who wasn’t raised… Read More Review: Novitiate
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) The latest from Swedish filmmaker Ruben Östlund, and the winner of this year’s Palme d’Or at Cannes, The Square is an entertaining satire of the post-modern art world, that holds nothing back in its sendup of the pretentious and often ridiculous things that are celebrated within the contemporary art scene.… Read More Review: The Square
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Dina Buno is a middle aged woman in Philadelphia who has autism and a “smorgasbord” of other challenges as her mother puts it, and Dina is a candid vérité documentary that follows her as she prepares to marry Scott Levin, who has Asperger’s syndrome and works as a… Read More Review: Dina
By John Corrado On October 17th, Shout! Factory released special edition Blu-ray and DVD combo packs of the six Studio Ghibli films My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki’s Delivery Service, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle and Ponyo, which are all directed by the legendary animator Hayao Miyazaki. These updates from the Disney releases not only… Read More Blu-ray Reviews: My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki’s Delivery Service, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle, Ponyo
By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) While countless horror movies about demonic possession, including The Exorcist and The Omen, have become staples to watch around this time of year, the documentary Libera Nos provides a chilling companion piece to these Halloween classics. This is an “inspired by true events” horror movie in the most literal… Read More Review: Libera Nos
By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) Agnes Varda is one of the most influential filmmakers from the French New Wave, and JR is a young street photographer. He is young, and she is old, but they are able to see eye to eye on many things and they share a similar artistic spirit. Together,… Read More Review: Faces Places
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) Based on the book of the same name by Brian Selznick, the same author who provided the novel behind Martin Scorsese’s Hugo, Wonderstruck is an example of film that is decent enough, but also doesn’t entirely live up to its source material or potential. The film tells two stories.… Read More Review: Wonderstruck
By John Corrado ★½ (out of 4) Based on a decades old screenplay by Joel and Ethan Coen that they never produced, which has since been touched up by George Clooney and Grant Heslov, Suburbicon is the sort of uneven work that feels like it has had too many hands on it over the years. After being… Read More Review: Suburbicon
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) A prequel to the 2015 film Annabelle, which was itself both a spinoff and prequel to The Conjuring, Annabelle: Creation offers a well made tale of demonic possession, involving the creepy doll that acts as a conduit for evil spirits. The prologue introduces us to Samuel (Anthony LaPaglia)… Read More Blu-ray Review: Annabelle: Creation
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Dramatizing the life of disability rights advocate Robin Cavendish (Andrew Garfield), Breathe is a pretty good biopic that is notable for being the directorial debut of Andy Serkis, a celebrated actor who has delivered memorable motion-capture performances in both the Lord of the Rings and Planet of the Apes series. At the… Read More Review: Breathe
By John Corrado Celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, the seminal John Hughes holiday classic Planes, Trains and Automobiles has been reissued once again on Blu-ray. The film of course follows uptight businessman Neal Page (Steve Martin), who is trying desperately to get home to his family for Thanksgiving, but is faced with a cancelled… Read More Blu-ray Review: Planes, Trains and Automobiles: 30th Anniversary Edition
By John Corrado Over a decade after first releasing the film in theatres, director Bill Condon has gone back to his 2006 musical Dreamgirls to finally release the more complete cut of the film that he worked on, before the studio put out the slightly condensed theatrical version. Adding back in some extra scenes and… Read More Blu-ray Review: Dreamgirls: Director’s Extended Edition
By John Corrado It’s hard to believe that SpongeBob SquarePants has been on the air for nearly two decades after premiering in 1999, but the ninth season of the long running animated series wrapped up earlier this year, and is now available on DVD. This set features all 26 episodes from the season which mostly… Read More DVD Review: SpongeBob SquarePants: The Complete Ninth Season
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Beatriz (Salma Hayek) is a Mexican immigrant working as a healer in Los Angeles, whose car breaks down at the home of her wealthy client Cathy (Connie Britton). Cathy’s husband (David Warshofsky) is having business associates over for dinner, and she invites Beatriz to stay for the evening.… Read More DVD Review: Beatriz at Dinner
By John Corrado ★★★★ (out of 4) The first feature film ever made about a single scene, the stunning documentary 78/52 offers a deep dive into the shower scene from Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, a sequence so iconic that it has almost gone beyond the film itself to take on a life of its own. As a lifelong Hitchcock… Read More Review: 78/52
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