By John Corrado The 2025 Hot Docs Film Festival ran from April 24th to May 4th in Toronto In their aptly titled documentary They’re Here, co-directors Daniel Claridge and Pacho Velez introduce us to a group of UFO enthusiasts from upstate New York. They all claim to have their own experiences with sightings or encounters,… Read More #HotDocs25 Review: They’re Here
By John Corrado The 2025 edition of Hot Docs has just come to a close, and the winners of the festival’s Audience Awards have just been announced. Coming in first for the Hot Docs Audience Award is Ryan White’s incredibly moving Come See Me in the Good Light, which was also my personal favourite of… Read More #HotDocs25 Audience Award Winners
By John Corrado The 2025 Hot Docs Film Festival runs from April 24th to May 4th in Toronto When standup comedian Tig Notaro, one of the producers of Come See Me in the Good Light, faced her own cancer diagnosis, she announced it to the world by opening a show with the line “good evening,… Read More #HotDocs25 Review: Come See Me in the Good Light
By John Corrado The 2025 Hot Docs Film Festival runs from April 24th to May 4th in Toronto In their documentary Deaf President Now!, co-directors Nyle DiMarco and Davis Guggenheim take us back to the student protests to elect the first Deaf president of Gallaudet University, offering a fantastic, cinematically rendered time capsule of this… Read More #HotDocs25 Review: Deaf President Now!
By John Corrado The 2025 Hot Docs Film Festival runs from April 24th to May 4th in Toronto The provocative title of My Boyfriend the Fascist refers to the relationship between self-identified left-wing Italian filmmaker Matthias Lintner and his Cuban boyfriend Sadiel Gonzalez, a right-wing activist fighting communist influences. Lintner’s film takes a verite approach,… Read More #HotDocs25 Review: My Boyfriend the Fascist
By John Corrado New releases for the week of May 2nd, 2025. Theatrical Releases: Thunderbolts* (Wide Release): This latest entry into the Marvel Cinematic Universe finds a group of misfits being assembled to save the world in the absence of the Avengers. The team includes Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), Red Guardian… Read More New This Week (05/02/2025): Thunderbolts*, & More!
By John Corrado The 2025 Hot Docs Film Festival runs from April 24th to May 4th in Toronto In her documentary Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore, director Shoshannah Stern crafts an engaging, intimate portrait of actress Marlee Matlin, who become the first Deaf actor to win an Oscar for her lead performance in the 1986… Read More #HotDocs25 Review: Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore
By John Corrado The 2025 Hot Docs Film Festival runs from April 24th to May 4th in Toronto The title of #skoden refers to an Indigenous phrase that is the shorthand of “let’s go, then” said with an Indigenous accent. The saying became immortalized as a meme through a viral image of a Blackfoot man… Read More #HotDocs25 Review: #skoden
By John Corrado One of the upcoming summer films I’m most intrigued by is Weapons, writer-director Zach Cregger’s highly anticipated follow-up to his memorable breakout film Barbarian. This one is a missing person thriller heavily inspired by Paul Thomas Anderson’s Magnolia, with its intersecting storylines. Warner Bros. has just released the first trailer for the… Read More First Trailer for Zach Cregger’s Weapons
By John Corrado The 2025 Hot Docs Film Festival runs from April 24th to May 4th in Toronto In their documentary Marriage Cops, co-directors Shashwati Talukdar and Cheryl Hess take us inside a police station in northern India, where a team of female officers provide marriage counselling to couples experiencing marital problems. It’s a way… Read More #HotDocs25 Review: Marriage Cops
By John Corrado The 2025 Hot Docs Film Festival runs from April 24th to May 4th in Toronto Shot on luminous 16mm film, Agatha’s Almanac is a portrait of Agatha Bock, a subject who, in her mid-eighties, is proudly carrying on the traditions of rural farm living in southern Manitoba. The film is directed by… Read More #HotDocs25 Review: Agatha’s Almanac
By John Corrado The 2025 Hot Docs Film Festival runs from April 24th to May 4th in Toronto Ai Weiwei’s Turandot looks at the Chinese artist and activist’s modern re-staging of Puccini’s opera at the Teatro dell’Opera in Rome. The film opens with the quote “everything is art, everything is politics,” before dramatic footage from… Read More #HotDocs25 Review: Ai Weiwei’s Turandot
By John Corrado New releases for the week of April 25th, 2025. Theatrical Releases: The Accountant 2 (Wide Release): This long-awaited sequel to the 2016 action thriller finds director Gavin O’Connor returning, and Ben Affleck reprising his role as autistic accountant Christian Wolff. Jon Bernthal is also back as the brother. I was a pretty… Read More New This Week (04/25/2025): The Accountant 2, The Legend of Ochi, & More!
By John Corrado The 2025 Hot Docs Film Festival runs from April 24th to May 4th in Toronto Director Noam Gonick’s documentary Parade: Queer Acts of Love & Resistance, which opens this year’s Hot Docs Film Festival, looks at the history of gay rights in Canada, and the origins of our country’s first Pride Parades as… Read More #HotDocs25 Review: Parade: Queer Acts of Love & Resistance
By John Corrado Disneynature’s Earth Day releases have been an annual tradition since 2009, when the studio released Earth. The films have since shifted away from being theatrical releases and migrated to being released direct to streaming on Disney Plus, but the tradition remains largely the same. In Sea Lions of the Galapagos, the latest… Read More Movie Review: Sea Lions of the Galapagos (Disney+)
By John Corrado New releases for the week of April 18th, 2025. Theatrical Releases: Sinners (Wide Release): Ryan Coogler (Black Panther, Creed) directs this period piece vampire movie, starring Michael B. Jordan in a dual role. Reviews have been stellar for the film, which was shot on 65mm film by cinematographer Autumn Durald Arkapaw. I’ve… Read More New This Week (04/18/2025): Sinners, The Wedding Banquet, & More!
By John Corrado A contemporary remake of the 1993 Ang Lee film of the same name, The Wedding Banquet is a queer crowdpleaser that could best be described as a modern screwball comedy. This updated version focuses on two same-sex couples, instead of just one, and moves the setting to Seattle. But the basic setup… Read More Movie Review: The Wedding Banquet
By John Corrado Disney has just released the new trailer for Marvel’s The Fantastic Four: First Steps. This is the highly anticipated reboot that officially brings Marvel’s “First Family” into the fold of the MCU. And it looks fun. I’m mainly interested to see Marvel playing around in the Space Age 1960s. Pedro Pascal stars… Read More New Trailer for The Fantastic Four: Four Steps
By John Corrado Distributor NEON has just released the new official trailer for TIFF People’s Choice Award winner The Life of Chuck. This trailer reveals more of director Mike Flanagan’s Stephen King adaptation, including glimpses of Tom Hiddleston’s titular Chuck. The dance sequence is wisely being kept hidden, but is hinted at. We also hear… Read More Official Trailer for The Life of Chuck
By John Corrado A24 has released the first teaser trailer for writer-director Ari Aster’s Eddington. This is the latest film from Aster, following his acclaimed horror films Hereditary and Midsommar and the highly divisive “nightmare comedy” Beau is Afraid in 2023. This one finds Aster re-teaming with Beau star Joaquin Phoenix, and is described as… Read More Teaser Trailer for Ari Aster’s Eddington
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