By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) Troy (Steve Zahn) is the father of Joe (Sasha Knight), who was assigned female at birth but has recently revealed that he is transgender and was born in the wrong body. When Joe’s mother Sally (Jillian Bell) refuses to accept who he is, Troy escapes with him into… Read More Inside Out 2020 Review: Cowboys
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Eddie (Fionn O’Shea) and Amber (Lola Petticrew) are two closeted gay teenagers in Ireland circa 1995, who are tired of the constant homophobic taunts from their classmates and decide to put rumours about their sexuality to rest by pretending to date each other. Despite the destined to be… Read More Inside Out 2020 Review: Dating Amber
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Russell (Thomas Duplessie) is a young drag queen in Toronto, who has turned to drag as a way to perform and express himself after his career as a young actor stalled out. When his boyfriend (Andrew Bushell) dumps him, Russell packs his bags and heads to Prince Edward… Read More Inside Out 2020 Review: Jump, Darling
By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) While we hear his voice on the phone beforehand, Bill Murray doesn’t actually show up onscreen until nearly twenty minutes into On The Rocks, his latest collaboration with writer/director Sofia Coppola. But there’s no arguing that his presence is the main selling point of the film. And Coppola… Read More Review: On The Rocks
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Brandon Cronenberg, son of the famed Canadian director David Cronenberg, really does his father proud with his shot in Toronto second feature Possessor, a high concept thriller that offers a mix of graphic violence, graphic sex, and good old fashioned body horror. It’s a potent combination that will… Read More Review: Possessor Uncut
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Jack (John Reynolds) and Su (Sunita Mani) are a typical millennial hipster couple living in Brooklyn. Feeling too attached to their phones, and worried about getting disconnected from each other, they decide to spend a week at a friend’s cabin in upstate New York, vowing not to check… Read More Review: Save Yourselves!
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Jane (Sally Hawkins), the lead character in the indie dramedy Eternal Beauty, is a woman living in Wales who has paranoid schizophrenia. At first, Jane just comes across as sort of quirky, including an amusing early scene where she brings herself pre-wrapped Christmas presents for her family members… Read More VOD Review: Eternal Beauty
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) How much you enjoy The Glorias, director Julie Taymor’s highly stylized biopic of the trailblazing women’s rights activist Gloria Steinem, will partially depend on how much you enjoy Taymor’s other work. As someone who generally admires her audacious theatrical impulses, as bold as they may sometimes be, (I’ve… Read More VOD Review: The Glorias
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) The latest feature from indie filmmaker Miranda July, her first since The Future in 2011 and third overall following her 2005 breakout Me and You and Everyone We Know, Kajillionaire is an oddball crime comedy that is chock full of the writer/director’s usual eccentricities. The film is populated… Read More Review: Kajillionaire
By John Corrado ★★★★ (out of 4) A moving first feature from writer/director Edson Oda, Nine Days is the sort of high concept indie film that I love to discover, using the imaginative premise of souls competing to be born to explore no less than what it means to feel and be alive. The film… Read More Review: Nine Days
By John Corrado Last week, Paramount released a new five film collection of Stephen King adaptations on Blu-ray, right in time for the annual October horror movie marathons leading up to Halloween. Below is a brief rundown of the films included in the five disc set, which span from 1983 to 2019 and are compactly… Read More Blu-ray Review: Stephen King 5-Movie Collection
By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) Directed by Spike Lee, David Byrne’s American Utopia is a film version of the Broadway show that the former frontman for the band Talking Heads staged in 2019 at the Hudson Theatre in New York. It was the opening night film at TIFF eleven days ago, and watching… Read More #TIFF20 Review: David Byrne’s American Utopia (Gala Presentations)
By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) Making his feature directorial debut, actor David Oyelowo crafts a wonderful and nostalgic throwback to the classic kids adventure films of the 1980s with The Water Man, which I’m pleased to say is one of the nicest surprises of this year’s festival. The film’s protagonist is Gunner Boon… Read More #TIFF20 Review: The Water Man (Special Events)
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) Based on the true story of a father who started walking across America to raise awareness of bullying in honour of his son, Good Joe Bell is a well-intentioned drama that includes some moving moments, but makes an equal number of questionable and frustrating storytelling choices. Joe Bell… Read More #TIFF20 Review: Good Joe Bell (Gala Presentations)
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) The Alba truffle, which grows in the Piedmont region of Northern Italy, is considered to be one of the world’s rarest and most exclusive food items, and directors Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw take us into the unique world of the men who forage for them in their… Read More #TIFF20 Review: The Truffle Hunters (Special Events)
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) The directorial debut of Viggo Mortensen, who also stars in the film in addition to serving as the writer, producer and composer on the project, Falling explores the relationship between a middle aged son and his ailing, elderly father. And it’s the sort of rugged, powerful drama that… Read More #TIFF20 Review: Falling (Special Presentations)
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Lily (Susan Sarandon) is terminally ill, and wants to get her whole family back together again for one final weekend, before she ends her own life with the assistance of her physician husband Paul (Sam Neill). Once she is ready to say goodbye, Lily will drink a toxic… Read More VOD Review: Blackbird
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Credited to directors Hao Wu and Weixi Chen, as well as another filmmaker who remains anonymous, 76 Days is a ripped from the headlines documentary made up entirely of candid footage that was shot in Wuhan, China earlier this year at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. The… Read More #TIFF20 Review: 76 Days (TIFF Docs)
By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) The English-language debut of Hungarian director Kornél Mundruzcó, Pieces of a Woman is a very emotional drama that is built around a striking performance by Vanessa Kirby as a woman forging her own path through grief, which just won her the Best Actress prize at the Venice Film… Read More #TIFF20 Review: Pieces of a Woman (Gala Presentations)
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) Welcome to New Order, the latest film from Mexican director Michel Franco that brutally shows a dystopic nightmare unfolding in Mexico City. The action starts at the wedding of Marianne (Naian Gonzaléz Norvind), an upperclass woman in a rich neighbourhood who is trying to get married as the… Read More #TIFF20 Review: New Order (Contemporary World Cinema)
The Joy of Movies 