’71 – An Elevation Pictures Release https://www.facebook.com/71filmuk Release Date: March 13th, 2015 (Limited) Rated 14A for coarse language and graphic violence Running Time: 99 minutes Yann Demange (director) Gregory Burke (screenplay) David Holmes (music) Jack O’Connell as Gary Hook Sam Reid as Lieutenant Armitage Sean Harris as Captain Sandy Browning Barry Keoghan as Sean Bannon… Read More Three Views: ’71
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) After making waves with his work on The Corporation, director Harold Crooks turns his attention to the subject of technically legal offshore tax havens in The Price We Pay. After premiering at TIFF, and being chosen as one of Canada’s Top Ten of 2014, the documentary is opening… Read More Review: The Price We Pay
By John Corrado Today, 20th Century Fox is releasing Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb on Blu-ray. Larry Daly (Ben Stiller) faces a new challenge when the reanimated historical figures at the Museum of Natural History start to lose control. With the tablet that allows them to come alive quickly losing power, the only… Read More Blu-ray Release: Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb
By John Corrado The fifth annual Toronto Irish Film Festival is happening at the TIFF Bell Lightbox this weekend, showcasing a solid lineup of four narrative films that all range from good to great. Things kick off this evening with the Toronto premiere of Standby, which will have lead actor Brian Gleeson in attendance for a Q&A.… Read More A Preview of the Toronto Irish Film Festival
By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) Decades before whistleblowers like Edward Snowden and WikiLeaks released classified information through secure digital networks, in 1971 a group of eight political activists broke into an FBI office in Media, Pennsylvania, and stole over a thousand private documents which they mailed out to newspapers. But much like the revelations… Read More Bloor Cinema Release: 1971
By John Corrado ★★ (out of 4) Although first time feature director Kyle Thomas shows promise, The Valley Below is a film that somehow manages to feel both mundane and overreaching at the same time. After premiering at TIFF, the Canadian drama is opening in limited release at the Carlton this weekend. The story is… Read More Review: The Valley Below
Focus – A Warner Bros. Release http://focusmovie.com Release Date: February 27th, 2015 Rated 14A for coarse language and sexual content Running Time: 105 minutes Glenn Ficarra (director) John Requa (director) Glenn Ficarra (writer) John Requa (writer) Nick Urata (music) Will Smith as Nicky Margot Robbie as Jess Adrian Martinez as Farhad Gerald McRaney as Owens… Read More Three Views: Focus
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) What if the plots of old movies ended up being mistaken for real news? That’s the amusing premise behind Big News from Grand Rock, an easily enjoyable Canadian comedy that opens in limited release this weekend, after a successful run on the TIFF Film Circuit. This is a… Read More Review: Big News from Grand Rock
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) A promising young dancer relegated to the lowest level of the company, Justin Peck was given the rare opportunity in 2013 to choreograph the 422nd new piece performed by the New York City Ballet. The process is showcased in the pretty good backstage documentary Ballet 422, which opens at the Bloor Hot… Read More Bloor Cinema Release: Ballet 422
By John Corrado Fresh off winning the Oscar for Best Animated Feature, Disney is releasing Big Hero 6 on Blu-ray today. Following teenaged robotics genius Hiro Hamada (Ryan Potter) and his huggable health care companion Baymax (Scott Adsit), this is a beautifully animated film that mixes a superhero origin story with poignant themes of grief and… Read More Blu-ray Release: Big Hero 6
By John Corrado Today, Sony Pictures is releasing the recent Oscar-winner Whiplash on Blu-ray. Following the tense and often volatile relationship between aspiring jazz drummer Andrew (Miles Teller), and his abusive teacher Fletcher (J.K. Simmons), this is a stunning music drama that plays with the charged intensity of a thriller. Winning much deserved trophies for… Read More Blu-ray Release: Whiplash
By John Corrado Director Martin Rosen’s 1978 animated classic Watership Down is being released on Blu-ray today, through the Criterion Collection. Adapted from the classic novel by Richard Adams, the story follows a community of rabbits, who are under threat from modern development. Although Watership Down takes its time in telling the story, this is a mature and beautifully animated film… Read More Criterion Release: Watership Down
By John Corrado The 87th Oscars unfolded last night, with Birdman taking home the top prize for Best Picture, along with Best Director and Best Original Screenplay trophies for Alejandro G. Iñárritu, and Best Cinematography for Emmanuel Lubezki’s mesmerizing work behind the single take magic trick. The film triumphed over the early favourite Boyhood which many initially… Read More Some Thoughts on the 87th Oscars
McFarland – A Walt Disney Pictures Release http://movies.disney.com/mcfarland-usa Release Date: February 20th, 2015 Rated PG for thematic material, some violence and language Running Time: 128 minutes Niki Caro (director) Christopher Cleveland (writer) Bettina Gilois (writer) Grant Thompson (screenplay) Antonio Pinto (music) Kevin Costner as Jim White Ramiro Rodriguez as Danny Diaz Carlos Pratts as Thomas… Read More Three Views: McFarland
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) After premiering at the Inside Out LGBT Film Festival last year, the gutting and critically acclaimed documentary Matt Shepard is a Friend of Mine is finally coming back to Toronto and opening at the Carlton today. Tickets and showtimes are right here. Matthew Shepard had just moved to… Read More Review: Matt Shepard is a Friend of Mine
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) After premiering at TIFF in 2013, and kicking around the festival circuit since then, the Indian drama Siddharth is finally circling back to Toronto and starting a limited run at the Bell Lightbox this weekend. Tickets and showtimes can be found right here. Desperate for money to support… Read More Review: Siddharth
At noon EST today, the International Film Music Critics Association announced its winners for musical scoring in 2014. Congratulations to all the nominees and winners! Taking home the award for Film Score of the Year is composer Hans Zimmer for Interstellar. This is his nineteenth nomination and third win since the awards started in 2004. … Read More Winners of 11th Annual IFMCA Awards Announced Today
By John Corrado Last week, Paramount released the 1977 animated feature Race for Your Life, Charlie Brown for the first time on DVD. This adventure follows Charlie Brown and the rest of the Peanuts gang to summer camp, where they end up competing against each other and a group of bullies in a river race.… Read More DVD Release: Race for Your Life, Charlie Brown
By John Corrado Two weeks ago, D Films released My Old Lady on DVD. When his father dies, depressed New Yorker Mathias Gold (Kevin Kline) returns to the Paris apartment that was left to him with plans to sell the large property, only to find the place occupied by the feisty elderly woman Mathilde (Maggie… Read More DVD Release: My Old Lady
By John Corrado The acclaimed author of the classic children’s book Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, Judith Viorst seemed to be having a good day when I spoke to her on the phone, and there’s no reason why she shouldn’t be enjoying herself. First published in 1972, her picture book has become a… Read More Interview: Judith Viorst on Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
The Joy of Movies 