By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Brian and Charles is the story of Brian (David Earl), a lonely, eccentric Welsh inventor who makes himself a sentient robot friend named Charles Petrescu (Chris Hayward), whose “tummy is a washing machine.” Directed by Jim Archer, and co-written by Earl and Hayward, who are collectively adapting their… Read More Review: Brian and Charles
By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) A confident sophomore feature from writer-director-star Cooper Raiff (who also serves as one of the producers and editors), Cha Cha Real Smooth is a delightful and touching heart-on-sleeve dramedy that delivers a pretty big emotional wallop while remaining sensitive to its characters. Raiff stars in the film (which… Read More Review: Cha Cha Real Smooth
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) The 2022 Toronto Jewish Film Festival runs from June 9th to 26th, more information on tickets and showtimes can be found right here. Filmmaker David Hoffert’s years-in-the-making documentary The Rhapsody recounts the life story of Leo Spellman (born Leon Szpilman), a Polish-Canadian Holocaust survivor and composer who finally… Read More Toronto Jewish Film Festival Review: The Rhapsody
By John Corrado There are few films as synonymous with the adventure movie genre as Raiders of the Lost Ark, Steven Spielberg’s 1981 film that first introduced audiences to Harrison Ford’s archeologist Indiana Jones and spawned three sequels (with a fourth on the way next year). Following the release of the complete collection in 4K… Read More 4K Ultra HD Review: Raiders of the Lost Ark (SteelBook Edition)
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) Pixar’s Lightyear, a spinoff from the Toy Story film series that purports to show the origin story of the famous space ranger, opens with subtitles explaining that, in 1995, a boy named Andy saw a movie that made him want a Buzz Lightyear action figure, and “this is… Read More Review: Lightyear
By John Corrado ★★ (out of 4) Jurassic World Dominion is the sixth film in the Jurassic Park series, and it’s a pretty clear case of diminishing returns. This is not to say that the franchise has ever fully lived up to the greatness of Steven Spielberg’s 1993 original (even Spielberg’s own 1997 followup The… Read More Review: Jurassic World Dominion
By John Corrado Brian De Palma’s The Untouchables, the director’s 1987 film adaptation of the classic TV series, is celebrating its 35th anniversary this year. In honour of the occasion, Paramount has released the film for the first time on 4K Ultra HD, in both regular and SteelBook editions. De Palma’s film is set during… Read More 4K Ultra HD Review: The Untouchables: 35th Anniversary (SteelBook Edition)
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) The 2022 Inside Out 2SLGBTQ+ Film Festival runs from May 26th to June 5th in Toronto, more information on tickets and showtimes can be found right here. In their new documentary Pat Rocco Dared, co-directors Morris Chapdelaine and Bob Christie offer an enjoyable introduction to groundbreaking gay filmmaker Pat… Read More Inside Out 2022 Review: Pat Rocco Dared
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) The 2022 Inside Out 2SLGBTQ+ Film Festival runs from May 26th to June 5th in Toronto, more information on tickets and showtimes can be found right here. Directed, written and produced by Canadian filmmaker Kevin Hegge, Tramps! is a documentary that explores the history of the New Romantics, a… Read More Inside Out 2022 Review: Tramps!
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) The 2022 Inside Out 2SLGBTQ+ Film Festival runs from May 26th to June 5th in Toronto, more information on tickets and showtimes can be found right here. A gay dwarf named Peter (Matthew August Jeffers) is roped into taking his sex worker neighbour Winona (Sarah Hay) on an… Read More Inside Out 2022 Review: Unidentified Objects
By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) It’s been 36 years since the release of the original Top Gun, but watching the new legacy sequel Top Gun: Maverick, which sees Tom Cruise reprising his iconic role as hot shot fighter pilot Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, it’s almost hard to believe that this much time has passed.… Read More Review: Top Gun: Maverick
By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) It’s been a decade since Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy came to a close with The Dark Knight Rises in 2012 and ended Christian Bale’s run as the character, with Ben Affleck taking over as the Caped Crusader in the interim for a couple of films before stepping back… Read More 4K Ultra HD Review: The Batman
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) The latest documentary from Canadian filmmaker Jennifer Baichwal, Into the Weeds: Dewayne “Lee” Johnson vs. Monsanto Company examines the massive coverup that agrochemical giant Monsanto engaged in to hide the fact that glyphosate, the key ingredient in their weed-killer Roundup, was carcinogenic to humans. The film, which recently… Read More Review: Into the Weeds: Dewayne “Lee” Johnson vs. Monsanto Company
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers is technically the latest in Disney’s long line of live action reboots, reviving the fan favourite Disney Channel cartoon series. But in the hands of director Akiva Schaffer (from comedy troupe The Lonely Island), this one serves as a satirical sendup of the… Read More Disney+ Review: Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) A well-meaning parking valet in Beverly Hills gets roped into a scheme pretending to be the boyfriend of a famous movie star to hide her affair with a married man in the new romantic comedy The Valet, which serves as a surprisingly charming remake of the 2006 French… Read More Disney+ Review: The Valet
By John Corrado John Ford’s great 1962 Western The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, which brought together iconic screen stars John Wayne and James Stewart for the first time, is turning sixty years old this year, and Paramount Home Entertainment is celebrating by releasing the film for the first time on 4K Ultra HD this… Read More 4K Ultra HD Review: The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)
By John Corrado In honour of the film’s 35th anniversary this year, Paramount Home Entertainment is releasing the 1987 action comedy sequel Beverly Hills Cop II for the first time on 4K Ultra HD this week. This follow up to the 1984 smash hit Beverly Hills Cop sees rough and tumble Detroit cop Axel Foley… Read More 4K Ultra HD Review: Beverly Hills Cop II: 35th Anniversary (1987)
By John Corrado ★★ (out of 4) Homebound, writer-director Sebastian Godwin’s feature debut, opens with Holly (Aisling Loftus) and her new husband Richard (Tom Goodman-Hill) driving to his ex-wife’s house in the English countryside so that she can meet his three kids and celebrate his youngest daughter Anna’s (Raffiella Chapman) birthday. But they arrive to… Read More VOD Review: Homebound
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) Sneakerella, the latest Disney+ Original Movie, is a modern, gender-swapped take on Cinderella, that updates the setting to Queens, New York, adds a selection of upbeat hip-hop songs, and centres around sneaker subculture. This sounds like a bit of a mad gambit, but Sneakerella actually works as a… Read More Disney+ Review: Sneakerella
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) Marry Me has so many contrivances within its first twenty minutes that it feels extreme even by the standards of the romantic comedy genre. It relies on a number of far-fetched coincidences in order to bring its two unlikely love interests together, but the film is good-natured enough to… Read More Blu-ray Review: Marry Me
The Joy of Movies 