By John Corrado Based on August Wilson’s stage play, Fences follows the slow unravelling of a working class family in Pittsburgh in the 1950s, as patriarch Troy Maxson (Denzel Washington) struggles to provide for his wife Rose (Viola Davis) and their teenage son (Jovan Adepo), while dealing with his own dashed dreams of playing baseball. Winning Viola Davis a… Read More Blu-ray Review: Fences
By John Corrado Taking place a week after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy (Caspar Phillipson), Jackie centres its main narrative around an interview between Jacqueline Kennedy (Natalie Portman) and a reporter (Billy Crudup), to offer a complex and nuanced portrait of how the First Lady and sudden widow meticulously managed her place in the public spotlight to… Read More Blu-ray Review: Jackie
By John Corrado ★★ (out of 4) Some films really feel like they are trying too hard to please, and The Last Word is guilty of this. This is the sort of cliche-riddled Sundance dramedy that follows its formula to a tee, trying to tackle potentially poignant subject matter through a sunny disposition. The film feels… Read More Review: The Last Word
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) The most revealing character moment in Hello Destroyer comes when star hockey player Tyson Burr (Jared Abrahmson) lies in a dimly lit hotel room, icing his knuckles after a fight during the game, and tells one of his teammates about how he could never stand silence as a child.… Read More Review: Hello Destroyer
By John Corrado Moana (Auli’i Cravalho) is a restless teenager in the South Pacific who wants to follow in the footsteps of her explorer ancestors. When the crops on their island start to die due to an ancient curse, she sets out on an ocean journey in search of demigod Maui (Dwayne Johnson), in order to… Read More Blu-ray Review: Moana
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) The easiest way to describe Before I Fall would be as a sort of YA Groundhog Day, but this richly textured and wholly engaging high school time loop drama still has enough originality and smarts to become something really good on its own terms. It’s “Cupid’s Day,” and Samantha… Read More Review: Before I Fall
By John Corrado Days after winning a trio of much deserved Academy Awards, including Best Supporting Actor for Mahershala Ali’s immaculate performance as a kind drug dealer, Best Adapted Screenplay and finally Best Picture, Moonlight is now available on Blu-ray, and at this point I couldn’t recommend it any more highly. The story of a young… Read More Blu-ray Review: Moonlight
By John Corrado The most recent piece of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Doctor Strange introduces us to Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), a neurosurgeon who injures his hands and searches for healing in Nepal, leading him to be trained in the dark arts of being able to manipulate space and time by the Ancient One (Tilda… Read More Blu-ray Review: Doctor Strange
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) Max Vatan (Brad Pitt) is a Canadian paratrooper who is sent to Morocco during World War II, and teams up with French Resistance fighter Marianne Beauséjour (Marion Cotillard) on a mission to assassinate the German Ambassador. Posing as husband and wife, the two embark on a steamy love affair… Read More Blu-ray Review: Allied
Get Out Review By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) Chris Washington (Daniel Kaluuya) and Rose Armitage (Allison Williams) have been dating for several months, and the time has finally come for him to meet her parents. But he is black and she is white, and Chris is worried about how her rich and very… Read More Three Views: Get Out
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Melanie (Sennia Nanua) is a young girl who is kept locked up in a cell, being fed worms and strapped to a wheelchair so she can attend classes with her sympathetic teacher, Ms. Justineau (Gemma Arterton). You see, human civilization has been all but destroyed by a zombie… Read More Review: The Girl With All The Gifts
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Desmond Doss (Andrew Garfield) was an army medic from Virginia, who enlisted in World War II on the condition that he wouldn’t have to carry a rifle or take any lives. Despite initially facing accusations of cowardice from his fellow soldiers, and the threat of being court marshalled, he become… Read More Blu-ray Review: Hacksaw Ridge
By John Corrado To mark the release of the new live action Beauty and the Beast next month, Disney is hosting a special exhibit at Casa Loma in Toronto this weekend. We got the chance to preview the exhibit last night at a special event, complete with an aerial show and ballroom dance, and the whole… Read More #BeOurGuestTO: Beauty and the Beast Exhibit at Casa Loma
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Taking a very meta approach to exploring its material, My Scientology Movie becomes just as much about the intense blowbacks that come with trying to make a documentary about Scientology, as it is about the infamous organization and its cultish ideology. The film follows the BBC’s Louis Theroux as he tries to investigate… Read More Review: My Scientology Movie
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) After becoming known as a hero in Iraq when his attempts to rescue Seargeant Shroom (Vin Diesel) are caught on camera, young private Billy Lynn (James Alwyn) is brought back to Texas with his fellow soldiers from Bravo Squad for a victory tour in 2004. The soldiers are set to… Read More Blu-ray Review: Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk
By John Corrado Nominated for eight Oscars including Best Picture, Arrival follows linguistics professor Dr. Louise Banks (Amy Adams) who is recruited by the military to try and communicate with otherworldly visitors, after twelve giant egg-shaped alien spaceships land around the world. Carried by a moving performance from Amy Adams, whose lack of an Oscar nomination is… Read More Blu-ray Review: Arrival
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Based on those classic dolls with the big hair that originated in the 1960s, DreamWorks Animation’s Trolls is a film that has enough genuine charm to work on its own terms as a highly entertaining musical. The Trolls live a blissfully happy existence in a colourful village, with designated… Read More Blu-ray Review: Trolls
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Aishoplan Nurgaiv is a thirteen year old girl in Mongolia who dreams of being an eagle hunter, a tradition in their nomadic community that is usually passed down from fathers to sons. But with the help of her father, who believes that girls can do anything boys can do, Aishoplan… Read More Blu-ray Review: The Eagle Huntress
By John Corrado ★½ (out of 4) John (Paul Rudd) dreams of being a movie star, and his roommate Elliot (Patton Oswalt) is trying to get his career going as a screenwriter. Desperate for fame before hitting thirty, the two slackers set out to become instant celebrities, seeking attention at all costs. First they unsuccessfully try… Read More Blu-ray Review: Nerdland
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) After being forced to flee their Tehran apartment due to sudden construction that threatens to topple the building, Emad (Shabab Hosseini) and his wife Rana (Taraneh Alidoosti) take out a lease on a shabby new room. But the old tenant refuses to remove her stuff, and when an incident… Read More Review: The Salesman
