By John Corrado ★★★★ (out of 4) Walt Disney’s motto was that for every laugh there should be a tear, so it’s only fitting that Life, Animated, a documentary about the profound affects the studio’s animated classics have had on a young autistic man, would offer plenty of both emotions. This is the story of Owen… Read More Review: Life, Animated
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) A longtime passion project for Don Cheadle, who directs and stars in the film as Miles Davis, Miles Ahead offers a look at the legendary musician and jazz trumpeter at two different stages in his complicated life, both at the height of his career and in the midst… Read More DVD Review: Miles Ahead
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) A starkly surreal dark comedy packed with eerily relevant social metaphors, The Lobster imagines a dystopic near-future society where single people are sent to a strangely clinical hotel where they are given forty five days to choose a partner. And if they do not meet this deadline, they are… Read More Review: The Lobster
By John Corrado ★★★★ (out of 4) I have always been fascinated by time travel, both the way it is used in movies and other stories, as well as the actual possibilities of being able to move along the space-time continuum. I have also always loved building models and collecting movie memorabilia, to remind me of… Read More Review: How to Build a Time Machine
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Although filmed under the close watch of officials, and featuring a script written by the North Korean government, who clearly intended the project to be self-serving propaganda, Under the Sun actually becomes a fascinating exploration of censorship. Gaining permission to tell the story of a young family as their daughter Zin-mi prepares… Read More Review: Under the Sun
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) The gutsy feature debut of young director Stephen Dunn, Closet Monster is a Canadian film that takes its inspiration from both Xavier Dolan and David Cronenberg. These fellow homegrown filmmakers couldn’t be further apart in their own work, but their influences are both felt in this self-assured and often ambitious… Read More Review: Closet Monster
By John Corrado ★½ (out of 4) Although Equals has a mildly intriguing premise, it leaves much of it unexplored in favour of crafting a clichéd emo love story that will have little resonance beyond heartsick teenagers. The film takes place in a dystopic future society where people are made to be completely devoid of emotions,… Read More Review: Equals
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Based on a true story that became a bestselling memoir, Miracles From Heaven follows Anna Beam (Kylie Rogers), a young girl from a Christian family who suddenly becomes sick and is diagnosed with an incurable disorder that stops her brain from sending signals to her digestive tract. Her mother… Read More Blu-ray Review: Miracles From Heaven
By John Corrado The third film in the popular series, Kung Fu Panda 3 follows Dragon Warrior Po (Jack Black) as he reunites with his birth father (Bryan Cranston), and has to save their panda village from the otherworldly villain Kai (J.K. Simmons). Boasting beautifully rendered animation, and enough heartfelt themes to make it resonate… Read More Blu-ray Release: Kung Fu Panda 3
By John Corrado A “spiritual sequel” to Dazed and Confused, Everybody Wants Some!! follows baseball player Jake (Blake Jenner) over his party-fuelled first days of college in 1980. Boasting a great soundtrack and game young cast, and very much in tune with the tone and feel of its predecessor, this is a wildly entertaining and also sweetly… Read More Blu-ray Release: Everybody Wants Some!!
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) An animal-focused adventure from Illumination Entertainment, the same studio behind the Despicable Me franchise, The Secret Life of Pets is an enjoyable caper that injects cute characters into a familiar formula to offer a fast-paced and easily likeable diversion. The prologue introduces us to Max (Louis C.K.), an adorable… Read More Review: The Secret Life of Pets
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Rex (Michael Caton) is a lonely old cab driver in central Australia, who is diagnosed with stomach cancer and given three months to live. This is the setup for Last Cab to Darwin, an evocative and quietly affecting drama that sensitively explores the timely subject of terminally ill patients… Read More Review: Last Cab to Darwin
By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) I have never been to the New Beverly Cinema, a repertory theatre in Los Angeles that thrives on showing double bills of classic films on 35mm prints. But I would love to go there after seeing Out of Print, an enjoyable documentary that provides a sweet ode to the importance of the… Read More Review: Out of Print
By John Corrado ★★ (out of 4) Giving the biopic treatment to one of country music’s legends, I Saw the Light recounts the life and career of prolific singer-songwriter Hank Williams (Tom Hiddleston), touching on his rocky first marriage to Audrey Williams (Elizabeth Olsen), the tenacity that he held to get his music heard, and the reliance on… Read More DVD Review: I Saw the Light
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) From his impassioned hubris to his pun-ready name, you would be hard pressed to find a fictional political figure as fascinating and conflicted as Anthony Weiner, the popular and married Democratic congressman who was forced to resign amidst a sexting scandal, and saw his chance for a comeback… Read More Review: Weiner
The BFG Review By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) Adapting Roald Dahl’s beloved 1982 children’s book to the big screen, Steven Spielberg brings his good old fashioned magic to The BFG, which also happens to be the director’s first production at Disney. The result is an incredibly charming and emotionally resonant all ages fantasy film, that harkens… Read More Three Views: The BFG
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Based on a true story, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot follows news copy writer Kim Baker (Tina Fey) who leaves her desk job in New York and is sent to cover the war in Afghanistan, where she forges relationships with a no-nonsense Colonel (Billy Bob Thornton), a fellow reporter (Margot Robbie), and a… Read More Blu-ray Review: Whiskey Tango Foxtrot
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) “I have a great deal of trouble imagining myself as an old lady,” Leslie Caron says at the start of Larry Weinstein’s documentary portrait Leslie Caron: The Reluctant Star, and at 85 years old, the veteran actress appears as alive as ever. Being interviewed at her home and at some… Read More Review: Leslie Caron: The Reluctant Star
By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) Ricky Baker (Julian Dennison) is a “bad egg,” at least that’s what we are told by deranged child services officer Paula (Rachel House) at the beginning of Hunt for the Wilderpeople. But as the film goes on, we discover that this rambunctious gangsta-wannabe kid is actually pretty sweet and just… Read More Review: Hunt for the Wilderpeople
By John Corrado ★★★★ (out of 4) When New Zealand pop culture reporter David Ferrier found bizarre videos online of a sport called Competitive Endurance Tickling, where half-naked young guys are paid to be tied up and tickled by other men, he reached out for an interview with the company behind it. But he never could… Read More Review: Tickled
