By John Corrado The third film in the popular series, Kung Fu Panda 3 follows Dragon Warrior Po (Jack Black) as he reunites with his birth father (Bryan Cranston), and has to save their panda village from the otherworldly villain Kai (J.K. Simmons). Boasting beautifully rendered animation, and enough heartfelt themes to make it resonate… Read More Blu-ray Release: Kung Fu Panda 3
By John Corrado A “spiritual sequel” to Dazed and Confused, Everybody Wants Some!! follows baseball player Jake (Blake Jenner) over his party-fuelled first days of college in 1980. Boasting a great soundtrack and game young cast, and very much in tune with the tone and feel of its predecessor, this is a wildly entertaining and also sweetly… Read More Blu-ray Release: Everybody Wants Some!!
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) An animal-focused adventure from Illumination Entertainment, the same studio behind the Despicable Me franchise, The Secret Life of Pets is an enjoyable caper that injects cute characters into a familiar formula to offer a fast-paced and easily likeable diversion. The prologue introduces us to Max (Louis C.K.), an adorable… Read More Review: The Secret Life of Pets
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Rex (Michael Caton) is a lonely old cab driver in central Australia, who is diagnosed with stomach cancer and given three months to live. This is the setup for Last Cab to Darwin, an evocative and quietly affecting drama that sensitively explores the timely subject of terminally ill patients… Read More Review: Last Cab to Darwin
By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) I have never been to the New Beverly Cinema, a repertory theatre in Los Angeles that thrives on showing double bills of classic films on 35mm prints. But I would love to go there after seeing Out of Print, an enjoyable documentary that provides a sweet ode to the importance of the… Read More Review: Out of Print
By John Corrado ★★ (out of 4) Giving the biopic treatment to one of country music’s legends, I Saw the Light recounts the life and career of prolific singer-songwriter Hank Williams (Tom Hiddleston), touching on his rocky first marriage to Audrey Williams (Elizabeth Olsen), the tenacity that he held to get his music heard, and the reliance on… Read More DVD Review: I Saw the Light
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) From his impassioned hubris to his pun-ready name, you would be hard pressed to find a fictional political figure as fascinating and conflicted as Anthony Weiner, the popular and married Democratic congressman who was forced to resign amidst a sexting scandal, and saw his chance for a comeback… Read More Review: Weiner
The BFG Review By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) Adapting Roald Dahl’s beloved 1982 children’s book to the big screen, Steven Spielberg brings his good old fashioned magic to The BFG, which also happens to be the director’s first production at Disney. The result is an incredibly charming and emotionally resonant all ages fantasy film, that harkens… Read More Three Views: The BFG
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Based on a true story, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot follows news copy writer Kim Baker (Tina Fey) who leaves her desk job in New York and is sent to cover the war in Afghanistan, where she forges relationships with a no-nonsense Colonel (Billy Bob Thornton), a fellow reporter (Margot Robbie), and a… Read More Blu-ray Review: Whiskey Tango Foxtrot
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) “I have a great deal of trouble imagining myself as an old lady,” Leslie Caron says at the start of Larry Weinstein’s documentary portrait Leslie Caron: The Reluctant Star, and at 85 years old, the veteran actress appears as alive as ever. Being interviewed at her home and at some… Read More Review: Leslie Caron: The Reluctant Star
By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) Ricky Baker (Julian Dennison) is a “bad egg,” at least that’s what we are told by deranged child services officer Paula (Rachel House) at the beginning of Hunt for the Wilderpeople. But as the film goes on, we discover that this rambunctious gangsta-wannabe kid is actually pretty sweet and just… Read More Review: Hunt for the Wilderpeople
By John Corrado ★★★★ (out of 4) When New Zealand pop culture reporter David Ferrier found bizarre videos online of a sport called Competitive Endurance Tickling, where half-naked young guys are paid to be tied up and tickled by other men, he reached out for an interview with the company behind it. But he never could… Read More Review: Tickled
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) Nobby (Sacha Baron Cohen) is a working class football fanatic from the small English fishing town of Grimsby, who has spent 28 years awaiting the return of his younger brother, Sebastian (Mark Strong), who turns out to be a top secret agent working for MI6. When Nobby reunites with… Read More DVD Review: The Brothers Grimsby
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) Taking place in 1980, when widespread fear of satan worship and occult rituals are spreading across the nation, Regression follows police detective Bruce Kenner (Ethan Hawke), who is investigating a young woman (Emma Watson) who alleges that her father (David Dencik) sexually assaulted her, despite him having no memory… Read More DVD Review: Regression
By John Corrado To coincide with the release of the excellent documentary De Palma, TIFF Bell Lightbox is hosting Split/Screen: The Cinema of Brian De Palma, a retrospective of the director’s films over the summer. It starts tonight with his Vietnam War drama Casualties of War (1989), and culminates on September 3rd with his most recent erotic thriller… Read More Previewing Split/Screen: The Cinema of Brian De Palma at TIFF Bell Lightbox
Finding Dory Review By John Corrado ★★★★ (out of 4) Arriving thirteen years after the huge success of Finding Nemo, Finding Dory joins the ranks of rare sequels that we didn’t think we needed, but turn out to be emotionally resonant continuations of the stories set in motion by their predecessors. Pixar has a long history… Read More Three Views: Finding Dory
By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) Brian De Palma sits in front of a fireplace in a medium closeup, discussing his filmmaking career, as clips from his films and other influences are interspersed between. This is the simple visual conceit behind De Palma, an extremely engaging documentary portrait that allows the director to talk candidly… Read More Review: De Palma
By John Corrado ★★★★ (out of 4) Watching Raiders! The Story of the Greatest Fan Film Ever Made gave me the same feeling I had seeing Raiders of the Lost Ark for the first time as a kid. And that’s no small praise of this genuine crowdpleaser that is finally being released after playing at last year’s Hot Docs, and… Read More Review: Raiders! The Story of the Greatest Fan Film Ever Made
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Doris (Sally Field) is a lonely older woman who has worked at the same office job for years, and lives with her cats in the junk-filled Staten Island house where she devoted her life to taking care of her recently deceased mother. When an attractive and much younger new recruit (Max… Read More DVD Review: Hello, My Name is Doris
By John Corrado One of the best surprises of the year so far, 10 Cloverfield Lane is a crafty and inventive thriller that follows a young woman (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) who ends up trapped in a bunker with an insane older man (John Goodman), who warns that disaster has struck and the outside world has… Read More Blu-ray Release: 10 Cloverfield Lane
The Joy of Movies 