By John Corrado A live action remake of Disney’s beloved animated classic, Beauty and the Beast updates the story of a prince (Dan Stevens) cursed to live as a beast, and the young woman (Emma Watson) who sees through his appearance and starts to fall in love with him. The highest grossing movie of the… Read More Blu-ray Review: Beauty and the Beast
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Abacus: Small Enough to Jail opens with its main subject Robert Sung, the founder of the independent Abacus Federal Savings Bank in New York’s Chinatown, watching It’s a Wonderful Life on TV with his wife, and relating himself to the character of selfless do-gooder George Bailey. Regardless of whether… Read More Review: Abacus: Small Enough to Jail
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) When we first meet our protagonist William Bowman (Jake Croker) in #AnAmericanDream, he is a high school football star living in farmland America, who gets overwhelmed whenever his parents try to talk about his future. Then he suffers a concussion on the football field, and suddenly the narrative shifts… Read More Review: #AnAmericanDream
By John Corrado Samantha (Zoey Deutch) is a popular small town high schooler who goes to a “Cupid’s Day” party with her trio of mean girl friends, only to have their car flip over on the way home after an unfortunate series of events causes them to leave. The next morning, Samantha wakes up in bed, and the whole… Read More Blu-ray Review: Before I Fall
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) It’s the last day of classes at an underfunded American high school, and tensions are on the rise amongst the teachers, with the students pulling increasingly extreme pranks, and the board threatening imminent downsizing across all departments. But when mild mannered English teacher Andy Campbell (Charlie Day) accidentally causes… Read More Blu-ray Review: Fist Fight
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales Review By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) The fifth entry in the blockbuster series, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales is a sequel that has the distinction of being both not as good as the still-best first film The Curse of the… Read More Three Views: Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) The Vancouver housing market has gotten so out of reach that the majority of young people aren’t able to afford properties in the city, and many older retirees can no longer afford to live there. Coupled with a boom in expensive condo developments that are exploiting the city… Read More Review: Vancouver: No Fixed Address
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) When Agent Gibbons (Samuel L. Jackson) is taken down, and a satellite-controlling device known as Pandora’s Box is stolen by a rebel group led by Xiang (Donnie Yen), extreme athlete turned special agent Xander Cage (Vin Diesel) is called back into action to work for the government. Refusing to work with other… Read More Blu-ray Review: xXx: Return of Xander Cage
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) With radio host Joe Cristiano telling stories on air about his own mother and asking other men to call in as the narrative through line, Mom & Me offers an exploration of the bonds between tough guys and their mothers in Oklahoma, which is said to be the “manliest state.”… Read More Review: Mom & Me
By John Corrado Celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, director John Badham’s iconic 1977 classic Saturday Night Fever has now gotten a beautifully restored new Blu-ray edition, which includes both the theatrical version and the slightly longer director’s cut of the film. Tony Manero (John Travolta) is a working class Italian-American teenager in Brooklyn, who works part time… Read More Blu-ray Review: Saturday Night Fever: 40th Anniversary Director’s Cut
By John Corrado Loosely based on a true story, Gold follows Texas prospector Kenny Wells (Matthew McConaughey) who is desperate for a big break and becomes convinced that he can strike gold in the jungles of Indonesia, teaming up with geologist Michael Acosta (Edgar Remírez) to help him excavate and get their commodity on the stock market. Although the… Read More Blu-ray Review: Gold
By John Corrado The 24th edition of Hot Docs has come to a close, and below are my thoughts on the final few films that I saw at the festival, including Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World, which took home the $50,000 Rogers Audience Award for Best Canadian Documentary before an encore screening on Sunday, and was announced as… Read More #HotDocs17: Final Batch of Reviews
By John Corrado We have reached the last day of Hot Docs, and below are my thoughts on five films that I saw over the last few days of the festival. Please come back tomorrow for my final set of reviews, and you can find more information through the links in the film titles. Enjoy! Let There… Read More #HotDocs17: Fourth Batch of Reviews
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Review By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) When we first catch up with Peter Quill (Chris Pratt), Gamora (Zoe Saldana), Drax (Dave Bautista), Rocket (Bradley Cooper) and Baby Groot (Vin Diesel) in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, they are getting ready to slay a giant tentacled space monster.… Read More Three Views: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) After suffering a major heart attack on a construction site, Daniel Blake (Dave Johns), a widowed 59-year-old carpenter who has been a hard worker and proud taxpayer all his years, is trying to go after government support in order to pay his bills. But he ends up stuck in… Read More Review: I, Daniel Blake
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) The door of Salam Kahil’s Vancouver delicatessen warns customers about coarse language and nudity, both of which are on full display in his shop, and in director Lewis Bennett’s documentary about him, The Sandwich Nazi. Salam is a former male escort from Lebanon who opened the deli when he moved… Read More Review: The Sandwich Nazi
By John Corrado The 24th edition of Hot Docs is running until May 7th, and below are my thoughts on the six films I have seen over the last few days of the festival. You can find more information on tickets and showtimes through the links in the film titles. Enjoy! Libera Nos – ★★★ (out of 4)… Read More #HotDocs17: Third Batch of Reviews
By John Corrado Celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, the 1992 classic A League of Their Own is inspired by the true story of The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, which was founded by Philip K. Wrigley in 1943 as a way to keep Major League Baseball alive during World War II, when all the best male… Read More Blu-ray Review: A League of Their Own: 25th Anniversary Edition
By John Corrado The 24th edition of Hot Docs is running until May 7th, and below are my thoughts on ten films I had the chance to see over the first weekend of the festival. You can find more information on tickets and showtimes through the links in the film titles. Enjoy! Rat Film – ★★½ (out of… Read More #HotDocs17: Second Batch of Reviews
By John Corrado The 24th edition of Hot Docs kicks off tonight with the premiere of Bee Nation, and will be running until May 7th. Below are my thoughts on a dozen films I had the chance to screen in advance, and you can find more information on tickets and showtimes through the links in… Read More #HotDocs17: First Batch of Reviews
The Joy of Movies 