By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) It always feels good to find a Canadian film that takes some of the most recognizable tropes of homegrown cinema, including a dark sense of humour and scenic shots of our country’s many beautiful landscapes, and uses them in service of telling a story that still feels unique… Read More Review: Borealis
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Just four films into his career, all of which have featured Michael Shannon in one form or another, Jeff Nichols has proven himself to be one of our most promising filmmakers, a visual storyteller with a genuine eye for crafting unique character studies. With his debut feature, Shotgun Stories, he… Read More Review: Midnight Special
By John Corrado Arriving after years of feverish anticipation, and becoming the highest grossing film of last year, Star Wars: The Force Awakens is finally coming to Blu-ray this week, and the set comes highly recommended for fans. The film itself is a lot of fun, minor narrative faults aside, and does a solid job of continuing… Read More Blu-ray Review: Star Wars: The Force Awakens
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) After going on a alcohol-fuelled joyride in a stolen car, troubled and rebellious teenager Billy Wyatt (Emory Cohen) is put in the Bernville Camp for Boys, a youth detention centre where intense pecking orders develop between the kids, and the guards (John Leguizamo and Paul Sparks) abuse their power.… Read More DVD Review: Stealing Cars
By John Corrado A few weeks back, the animated special Ice Age: The Great Egg-Scapade was released on iTunes. When the eggs that Sid (John Leguizamo) is supposed to be watching are taken by a pirate bunny (Seth Green), it’s up to the rest of the gang to find them, thus creating a new Easter tradition. Very… Read More Digital Release: Ice Age: The Great Egg-Scapade
By John Corrado ★★★★ (out of 4) Richard Linklater is the undisputed master of hangout movies. His films beautifully show characters simply existing within a period of time, from the almost real time narrative framing of Before Sunset, to the collection of moments from a young life that he so poignantly captured in his masterpiece Boyhood. And… Read More Review: Everybody Wants Some!!
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) The title of 10 Cloverfield Lane is the first bit of deception that this crafty and often surprisingly inventive thriller has to offer. It leads us to believe that the film will be a direct sequel to Cloverfield. While it does share a few strands of DNA with… Read More Review: 10 Cloverfield Lane
By John Corrado Although Toronto has too many film festivals to reasonably count, one of the quickest rising of them is the Canadian Film Fest, a celebration of independent homegrown cinema that I’ve started looking forward to every March. Celebrating its tenth anniversary this year, the festival kicks off tonight with How to Plan An Orgy in… Read More Previewing the 2016 Canadian Film Fest
By John Corrado A masterpiece of the Italian neorealist movement, Vittorio De Sica’s 1948 classic Bicycle Thieves is being released on the Criterion Collection this week, in a beautifully restored Blu-ray edition. When the bicycle he needs for work is stolen on the first day of his coveted new job, Antonio (Lamberto Maggiorani) sets out with his… Read More Criterion Review: Bicycle Thieves
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) Based on a true story, Concussion follows the research of Dr. Bennet Omalu (Will Smith), a Nigerian immigrant and celebrated pathologist in Pittsburgh, who found evidence of severe head trauma in the brains of football players who died prematurely from suicide. But the doctor faced severe pushback from the NFL when he tried… Read More Blu-ray Review: Concussion
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Life Off Grid opens at the Bloor Hot Docs Cinema today, tickets and showtimes can be found right here. Funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, Life Off Grid looks at different people across Canada who have all found ways to live completely or almost entirely off… Read More Bloor Cinema Release: Life Off Grid
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) At the start of About Scout, a coming of age dramedy that treads a well worn but always enjoyable path, we are introduced to our two main characters over a montage that cuts back and forth between them to show the state of their lives. Scout (India Ennega) is a… Read More Review: About Scout
By John Corrado ★★ (out of 4) Today, Paramount is releasing the family comedy Daddy’s Home on Blu-ray. Brad Whitaker (Will Ferrell) is happily married to Sara (Linda Cardellini), and is a doting stepdad to her two little kids (Owen Vaccaro and Scarlett Estevez). But when their biological dad Dusty Mayron (Mark Wahlberg) shows up, their household… Read More Blu-ray Review: Daddy’s Home
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) Last week, 20th Century Fox released the kids film Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip on Blu-ray, the fourth entry in the franchise. When Dave (Jason Lee) starts dating a doctor (Kimberly Williams-Paisley), who brings with her a moody teenaged son Miles (Josh Green), the chipmunks become terrified that… Read More Blu-ray Review: Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip
By John Corrado Director John Frankenheimer’s groundbreaking political thriller The Manchurian Candidate is being released on Blu-ray this week, as part of the Criterion Collection. This 1962 classic follows a celebrated Korean War veteran (Laurence Harvey), who has been brainwashed to become an assassin who coldly kills in a trance-like state, and his controlling mother (Angela Lansbury), who is married… Read More Criterion Review: The Manchurian Candidate
By John Corrado Today, Paramount is releasing The Big Short on Blu-ray, one of the best movies of last year. The film recounts the true story of financial outsiders Dr. Michael Burry (Christian Bale), Jared Vennett (Ryan Gosling) and Mark Baum (Steve Carell), who predicted the Wall Street crash and hatched a scheme to get rich in… Read More Blu-ray Release: The Big Short
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) John (Jack Reynor) is a young man struggling to make money as a taxi driver in Ireland, forced to take care of his severely alcoholic mother (Toni Collette), who is slowly killing herself in drunken stupors, finding it too painful to face her broken life. But the pressure… Read More Review: Glassland
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) A Canadian-funded escape thriller, River follows John Lake (Rossif Sutherland), a volunteer doctor in Laos who is dealing with patients of trauma and emergency surgeries, as evidenced in the almost relentlessly graphic opening scenes. But when he intervenes in a violent rape after a night at the bar, accidentally… Read More Review: River
By John Corrado Sony is releasing Community: The Complete Final Season on DVD today, including all thirteen episodes from the excellent sixth season of the cult classic show that started in 2009. All in all, this is a remarkably consistent collection of episodes, and easily the best since the first three seasons. Released on Yahoo! after the network cancelled… Read More DVD Release: Community: The Complete Final Season
By John Corrado A hit on the festival circuit, the single take thriller Victoria is now available on digital platforms, including iTunes. Director Sebastian Schipper never stopped the camera once throughout the overnight shoot, opening in a throbbing nightclub where Victoria (Laia Costa) meets the charismatic Sonne (Frederick Lau) and his gang, and becomes involved in their… Read More Digital Release: Victoria
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