By John Corrado This year’s special online edition of Hot Docs officially came to a close last night, and tonight the winners of the festival’s coveted Audience Award were announced during a live stream, which you can revisit on YouTube. The first place finisher was The Walrus and the Whistleblower, director Nathalie Bibeau’s film about… Read More Hot Docs Festival Online Audience Award Winners
By John Corrado While the in-person edition of Hot Docs was cancelled this year due to COVID-19, roughly 140 films that were set to screen at the festival were selected to stream online during a digital festival from May 28th to June 6th, with many titles being available for even longer until June 24th. Tickets… Read More Hot Docs Festival Online Reviews (Part 3)
By John Corrado While the in-person edition of Hot Docs was cancelled this year due to COVID-19, roughly 140 films that were set to screen at the festival were selected to stream online during a digital festival from May 28th to June 6th, with many titles being available for even longer until June 24th. Tickets… Read More Hot Docs Festival Online Reviews (Part 2)
By John Corrado Three years after delivering his iconic, Oscar-nominated performance as a young, working class Italian-American guy drifting through New York’s nightlife in Saturday Night Fever, John Travolta traded the white suit for a Stetson hat in Urban Cowboy, and went from disco dancing to doing the Texas two-step. Based on Aaron Latham’s 1978… Read More Blu-ray Review: Urban Cowboy: 40th Anniversary Edition
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) The latest and supposedly final instalment in this heavily dramatized saga of the man who taught Bruce Lee martial arts, Ip Man 4: The Finale finds Wing Chun grandmaster Ip Man (Donnie Yen) coming to America and battling racism in San Francisco circa 1964. At the start of… Read More Blu-ray Review: Ip Man 4: The Finale
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) Directed by Nisha Ganatra, fresh off of helming the superior Mindy Kaling and Emma Thompson vehicle Late Night which just came out last year, The Hight Note is a music-themed romantic comedy that follows a mostly predictable path but still features some enjoyable elements. The film centres around… Read More VOD Review: The High Note
By John Corrado While the in-person edition of Hot Docs was cancelled this year due to COVID-19, roughly 140 films that were set to screen at the festival will be streamed online instead from May 28th to June 6th, with some being available for even longer. Tickets are $9 apiece, $8 for members, with select… Read More Hot Docs Festival Online Reviews
By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) With this year’s in-person edition of Hot Docs cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a selection of festival films are being given broadcast premieres every Thursday night from April 16th to May 28th on CBC, documentary Channel, and the CBC Gem streaming app, as part of the Hot… Read More Hot Docs At Home Review: The Walrus and the Whistleblower
By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) Written and directed by Australian horror filmmaker Leigh Whannell, The Invisible Man is a modern reimagining of the classic H.G. Wells novel and 1933 film of the same name, this time told from the perspective of a domestic abuse victim who makes her escape but continues to be… Read More Blu-ray Review: The Invisible Man
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Jack Cunningham (Ben Affleck) is an alcoholic. He works in construction during the day and spends his nights at the local bar, getting drunk to the point of needing to be helped home. In the morning, he sips a beer while in the shower, and starts the whole… Read More Blu-ray Review: The Way Back
By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) The Painter and the Thief, director Benjamin Ree’s excellent documentary about friendship and the healing power of art, documents a coming together of two people that is so remarkable and interesting that if it had been fiction, it likely would have been accused of being contrived. The painter… Read More VOD Review: The Painter and the Thief
By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon are back at it again in The Trip to Greece, the fourth instalment in this series that finds the two comic actors playing versions of themselves enjoying good food, having great conversations, and arguing over who does the better celebrity impressions. It all… Read More VOD Review: The Trip to Greece
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) The poster for Military Wives boasts that the film comes to us “from the director of The Full Monty,” and this really is a case of there being truth in advertising. The director is Peter Cattaneo, and like his surprise Oscar nominee from 1997, this film also functions… Read More VOD Review: Military Wives
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) With this year’s edition of Hot Docs cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a selection of festival films are being given broadcast premieres every Thursday night from April 16th to May 28th on CBC, documentary Channel, and the CBC Gem streaming app, as part of the Hot Docs… Read More Hot Docs At Home Review: Influence
By John Corrado This week, Paramount is giving the 4K Ultra HD treatment to a trio of their catalogue titles; Top Gun, Days of Thunder, and War of the Worlds (2005). What all three of these films have in common, aside from them being extremely well suited to being watching in high definition, is that they all star Tom… Read More 4K Ultra HD Reviews: Top Gun, Days of Thunder and War of the Worlds (2005)
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) A beautifully crafted and dryly humorous adaptation of Jane Austen’s classic novel of the same name, Emma. is a very enjoyable period piece that finds the perfect sweet spot between feeling sparkling and fresh while also remaining true to its 1815 setting. The film stars Anya Taylor-Joy in… Read More Blu-ray Review: Emma.
By John Corrado By virtue of being one of the few big movies this year to get a theatrical release in February before COVID-19 forced most theatres to shut down in March, Sonic the Hedgehog carries the distinction of being one of the highest grossing movies of 2020. After receiving an early digital release two… Read More Blu-ray Review: Sonic the Hedgehog
By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) With this year’s edition of Hot Docs cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a selection of festival films are being given broadcast premieres every Thursday night from April 16th to May 28th on CBC, documentary Channel, and the CBC Gem streaming app, as part of the Hot Docs… Read More Hot Docs At Home Review: They Call Me Dr. Miami
By John Corrado One of the five films nominated for Best International Film at this year’s Oscars, Les Misérables is a stirring modern day fable from director Ladj Ly that explores timely themes about racial tensions and police brutality in contemporary France. As of yesterday, the film is now available for rent and purchase on… Read More VOD Release: Les Misérables
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Damon (Kristian Bruun), the main character in the enjoyable Canadian dramedy Red Rover which opened the Canadian Film Festival last year and is being released on VOD today, is a lonely geologist in Toronto, who feels like he doesn’t have much left for him on earth. He lives… Read More VOD Review: Red Rover
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