By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol is one of the most beloved holiday stories of all time, and The Man Who Invented Christmas delves into the story behind the story, dramatizing the author’s mad dash to get the book finished in a matter of weeks. The film transports us back… Read More Review: The Man Who Invented Christmas
By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) Based on the children’s novel of the same name by Canadian author Deborah Ellis, The Breadwinner is a timely and moving animated tale for both kids and adults, which has been lovingly brought to the screen by director Nora Twomey with the help of Angelina Jolie, who serves as… Read More Review: The Breadwinner
Coco Review By John Corrado ★★★★ (out of 4) At this point, Pixar has a pretty stellar track record of delivering films that draw us in with their dazzling animation, and keep us hooked with precision storytelling, memorable characters, and powerfully moving scenes. And Coco, the studio’s latest – which I have been anticipating for several… Read More Three Views: Coco
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) James (Kyle Mooney) is a young man who has lived a sheltered life, still watching and obsessing over his VHS tapes of Brigsby Bear, the endearingly cheesy children’s show that he has grown up with. But when he discovers that no new episodes of Brigsby Bear have been made,… Read More Blu-ray Review: Brigsby Bear
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) Jake (Tom Taylor) is a teenager in New York who starts having nightmares involving Roland (Idris Elba), a lone Gunslinger who’s mission is to defeat the evil Man in Black (Matthew McConaughey), a devilish figure who is trying to topple the Dark Tower, which stands at the centre of… Read More Review: The Dark Tower
By John Corrado ★½ (out of 4) Gene (T.J. Miller) is a “meh” emoji, who lives in the messenger app inside the phone of a constantly texting high schooler named Alex (Jake T. Austin). The trouble is that Mel has more than one emotion, much to the chagrin of his parents (Steven Wright and Jennifer… Read More Blu-ray Review: The Emoji Movie
By John Corrado Picking up right after where we first met him in Captain America: Civil War, Spider-Man: Homecoming brings Peter Parker (Tom Holland) back to being an awkward high schooler, who’s growing restless and is desperate to prove himself as a real hero. Going against the wishes of his mentor Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.),… Read More Blu-ray Review: Spider-Man: Homecoming
By John Corrado ★★★★ (out of 4) The latest from writer-director Martin McDonagh, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri is a film that plays with a remarkably handled tone, oscillating seamlessly between pitch black comedy and crime drama, and kept grounded by its great screenplay and amazing ensemble cast. Mildred Hayes (Frances McDormand) is grieving the rape and murder… Read More Review: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) Thelma (Eili Harboe) is a university student who is trying to get away from her fundamentalist parents (Henrik Rafaelsen and Ellen Dorrit Peterson), having moved away from home to live on campus and study in Oslo. But when she starts having mysterious fainting spells, and also comes to… Read More Review: Thelma
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Taking place in Japan during World War II, In This Corner of the World follows Suzu (Laura Post), a young woman who leaves her childhood home in Hiroshima to get married, and moves to the nearby city of Kure to live with her husband Shusaku (Todd Haberkorn) and… Read More Blu-ray Review: In This Corner of the World
By John Corrado ★★★★ (out of 4) The solo directorial debut of Greta Gerwig, who also wrote the impeccable screenplay, Lady Bird is a lovely and deeply poignant coming of age film that finds the perfect balance between being funny, moving, bittersweet, and a little edgy, just like its main character. The film unfolds over the… Read More Review: Lady Bird
By John Corrado Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) is forced to confront the end of his racing career following a terrifying crash in Cars 3. Wanting to go out as a champion, but realizing that he is struggling to keep up in a world of newer racers, Lightning teams up with a perky young trainer named Cruz… Read More Blu-ray Review: Cars 3
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) A long-belated follow up to his Oscar-winning 2006 documentary An Inconvenient Truth, An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power follows former Vice President Al Gore as he continues to travel around the world, raising awareness of climate change and advocating for renewable energy sources like solar and wind, both here… Read More Blu-ray Review: An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power
Thor: Ragnarok Review By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Thor (Chris Hemsworth) is back in Thor: Ragnarok, the third solo adventure for the God of Thunder and the first in the series to be directed by Taika Watiti, who brings a sense of playfulness and levity to the Marvel franchise. This time around, Thor… Read More Three Views: Thor: Ragnarok
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Steven Murphy (Colin Farrell) is a celebrated cardiac surgeon who strikes up a strange and unlikely friendship with an offbeat teen named Martin (Barry Keoghan) in The Killing of a Sacred Deer. When Steven brings the troubled teen home to meet his wife (Nicole Kidman), as well as his… Read More Review: The Killing of a Sacred Deer
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Taking place in the 1960s, when the Catholic Church was facing the changes of Vatican II, Novitiate offers a compelling look at life in the convent that explores why people choose to dedicate their lives to the church. The film follows Cathleen (Margaret Qualley), a young woman who wasn’t raised… Read More Review: Novitiate
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) The latest from Swedish filmmaker Ruben Östlund, and the winner of this year’s Palme d’Or at Cannes, The Square is an entertaining satire of the post-modern art world, that holds nothing back in its sendup of the pretentious and often ridiculous things that are celebrated within the contemporary art scene.… Read More Review: The Square
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Dina Buno is a middle aged woman in Philadelphia who has autism and a “smorgasbord” of other challenges as her mother puts it, and Dina is a candid vérité documentary that follows her as she prepares to marry Scott Levin, who has Asperger’s syndrome and works as a… Read More Review: Dina
By John Corrado On October 17th, Shout! Factory released special edition Blu-ray and DVD combo packs of the six Studio Ghibli films My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki’s Delivery Service, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle and Ponyo, which are all directed by the legendary animator Hayao Miyazaki. These updates from the Disney releases not only… Read More Blu-ray Reviews: My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki’s Delivery Service, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle, Ponyo
By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) While countless horror movies about demonic possession, including The Exorcist and The Omen, have become staples to watch around this time of year, the documentary Libera Nos provides a chilling companion piece to these Halloween classics. This is an “inspired by true events” horror movie in the most literal… Read More Review: Libera Nos
The Joy of Movies 