By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Gaining fame as a champion weightlifter and bodybuilder, and also serving in the US Marines, Matt “Kroc” Kroczaleski was seen as a symbol of stereotypical masculinity, and came across as a classic “strong man.” But Matt always felt there was something different about himself, which he tried to keep… Read More Review: Transformer
To celebrate the digital releases of Mary Shelley and The King this week, levelFILM has provided us with a couple of iTunes promo codes for each film to giveaway to some lucky Canadian readers! Mary Shelley is a biopic of the iconic Frankenstein author that is carried by a good performance from Elle Fanning in the… Read More Contest: Win iTunes Promo Codes of Mary Shelley and The King!
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) A sequel to 2015’s Ant-Man, and the most recent piece of the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe, Ant-Man and the Wasp opens with Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) still under house arrest following the events of Captain America: Civil War. As part of his bail conditions, he is not allowed… Read More Blu-ray Review: Ant-Man and the Wasp
By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) When Tupac Shakur talked about the “THUG LIFE”, he said it stood for “The Hate U Give Little Infants Fucks Everybody.” This is where the title of The Hate U Give comes from, and the meaning of this quote is discussed throughout the film. What Tupac was referring to… Read More Review: The Hate U Give
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Damian Chazelle follows up his Oscar-winning films Whiplash and La La Land with First Man, a space race drama that follows Neil Armstrong (Ryan Gosling) over seven years as he prepares to become the first man to walk on the moon. The film charts Armstrong’s journey from his… Read More Review: First Man
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Lisa Spinelli (Maggie Gyllenhaal) is a kindergarten teacher in New York going through a bit of a midlife crisis, seemingly unhappy with her family life. When she overhears one of her young students, Jimmy (Parker Sevak), reciting a poem he has written, she is convinced that he is… Read More Review: The Kindergarten Teacher
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) Based on the true story of the men who built an entire fitness empire from the ground up, Bigger dramatizes the life of Joe Weider (Tyler Hoechlin) and his younger brother Ben (Aneurin Barnard), a pair of working class Jewish kids from Montreal who founded the Mr. Olympia bodybuilding competition,… Read More Review: Bigger
By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) The latest film from David Lowery, following his haunting minimalist drama A Ghost Story and his charming remake of Disney’s Pete’s Dragon, The Old Man & The Gun is as light as a feather, and just as buoyant. The film recounts the true story of Forrest Tucker (Robert Redford),… Read More Review: The Old Man & The Gun
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Based on Canadian author Patrick deWitt’s acclaimed book of the same name, The Sisters Brothers follows Eli (John C. Reilly) and Charlie Sisters (Joaquin Phoenix), a pair of outlaw brothers in 1851, Oregon. The brothers are hired by a mysterious crime boss known only as The Commodore (Rutger Haur)… Read More Review: The Sisters Brothers
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Directed by her longtime friend Steve Loveridge, and featuring a wealth of her own personal videos alongside concert footage, Matangi/Maya/M.I.A. is an engaging and often exciting look at the life and career of the socially conscious Tamil hip hop star M.I.A., and the controversies that she has courted.… Read More Review: Matangi/Maya/M.I.A.
By John Corrado ★★★★ (out of 4) “I’m falling, in all the good times I find myself longing for change, and in the bad times, I fear myself…” This is the pre-chorus refrain of “Shallow,” the soaring ballad at the centre of A Star is Born that serves as an incredible showcase for the combined… Read More Review: A Star is Born
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) The fourth entry into the popular horror franchise, The First Purge is a prequel that explores the origins of the annual event that sees all crime including murder being legalized for twelve hours across the United States. The film opens with a burgeoning third party known as the… Read More Blu-ray Review: The First Purge
By John Corrado ★★★★ (out of 4) Filmmaker Bing Liu returns to his hometown of Rockford, Illinois in his remarkably powerful documentary Minding the Gap, to tell the stories of himself and two other young guys who all grew up together skateboarding around the city. There’s Zack Mulligan, who is struggling to come to terms with… Read More Review: Minding the Gap
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) The latest from director Wash Westmoreland, who helped guide Julianne Moore to her first Oscar in Still Alice, Colette is a biopic of French writer Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette (Keira Knightley) that features a similarly awards worthy performance from its lead actress. The film takes place at the turn of the… Read More Review: Colette
By John Corrado Disney’s most recent entry into the Star Wars franchise, Solo: A Star Wars Story is arriving on Blu-ray this week, following its theatrical release over the summer. While I had some issues with this film, starting with the fact that I didn’t entirely believe Alden Ehrenreich in Harrison Ford’s iconic role, this… Read More Blu-ray Review: Solo: A Star Wars Story
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) How did America get to the point in 2016 where the ubiquitous businessman turned realty show star Donald Trump was able to win the presidency? This is the basic question fuelling Michael Moore’s latest film, Fahrenheit 11/9, a sometimes engaging but mostly frustrating and ultimately overly simplistic and… Read More Review: Fahrenheit 11/9
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) Sam Levinson’s Assassination Nation, which is opening in theatres today fresh off of playing as part of TIFF’s Midnight Madness, is the first movie I have ever seen that opens with a series of “trigger warnings.” These warnings, which are presented in a firmly tongue-in-cheek way and are… Read More Review: Assassination Nation
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) The latest film from Dan Fogelman, best known as the creator of the hit TV show This Is Us, Life Itself is a film that has inspired a myriad of reactions since it premiered at TIFF. I spoke to a lot of people at the festival who loved the… Read More Review: Life Itself
By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) An excellent portrait of the late comic superstar Gilda Radner, Love, Gilda is a documentary that strikes just the right balance between being funny and moving. The film takes us through the entirety of her career, from her early start in the star-studded Toronto production of Godspell, to her big break… Read More Review: Love, Gilda
By John Corrado ★★ (out of 4) A female-driven spinoff of Steven Soderbergh’s slickly entertaining Ocean’s trilogy, Ocean’s 8 focuses on Debbie Ocean (Sandra Bullock), the sister of George Clooney’s title character, and the results are very mixed. The story here begins as Debbie is just getting out of jail after five years, with her brother… Read More Blu-ray Review: Ocean’s 8
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