By John Corrado The 40th edition of the Toronto International Film Festival kicked off last night, and will be going strong in the city until September 20th. My first batch of reviews from yesterday are right here, and below are my thoughts on five more films that I had the chance to screen in advance. As always,… Read More #TIFF15 Reviews: London Road, Black, We Monsters, Legend, She Stoops to Conquer
By John Corrado The 40th edition of the Toronto International Film Festival kicks off tonight, with the world premiere of Canadian director Jean-Marc Vallée’s Demolition, and will be going strong in the city until September 20th. To start things off, below are my thoughts on my five top picks from what I’ve seen so far,… Read More #TIFF15 Reviews: The Rainbow Kid, Room, Al Purdy Was Here, Keeper, Sleeping Giant
By John Corrado ★★ (out of 4) Perhaps the most interesting thing that could be said about Before We Go, the directorial debut of Chris Evans, is that nobody would have expected the actor behind Captain America to make such a corny and predictable romance. After Brooke (Alice Eve) misses the last train of the… Read More Review: Before We Go
By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) When it comes to pointing out the foibles of this generation, and poking holes in the carefully manicured personas that people build for themselves, there are few more vital voices in filmmaking right now than that of writer-director Noah Baumbach, the modern master of heartfelt social satire. Having… Read More Review: Mistress America
By John Corrado This week, Two Days, One Night is being released on Blu-ray, through Criterion. Sandra (Marion Cotillard) is a working class mother in Belgium, suffering from severe depression. When she is unfairly fired from her job, with her coworkers voting in favour of getting a hefty bonus for themselves instead of keeping her… Read More Criterion Release: Two Days, One Night
By John Corrado After premiering during Midnight Madness at TIFF last year, Elevation Pictures is releasing Big Game on Blu-ray today. Sent out to prove himself as a man on his thirteenth birthday, young hunter Oskari (Onni Tomilla) stumbles upon President William Moore (Samuel L. Jackson) in the middle of the wilderness in Finland, after… Read More Blu-ray Release: Big Game
By John Corrado After playing at TIFF last year, Remstar Films is releasing Good Kill on Blu-ray today. Major Thomas Egan (Ethan Hawke) is a drone pilot, locked in a bunker firing unmanned missiles at selected targets in Afghanistan, before going home to his wife (January Jones) and kids. But he can only manage living this… Read More Blu-ray Release: Good Kill
By John Corrado After just being released in theatres earlier this summer, Sony Pictures is releasing Aloha on DVD today. Brian Gilcrest (Bradley Cooper) is a military contractor who returns to Hawaii to oversee the private launch of a satellite for Carson Welch (Bill Murray). The scenic trip allows him to reconnect with his ex… Read More DVD Release: Aloha
By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) “What were his values as a citizen,” director Alex Gibney asks in voiceover of his widely celebrated title subject in Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine. “Was he interested in power to change the world, or the right to have power without responsibility?” This compelling debate about… Read More Bloor Cinema Release: Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) After picking up the Special Jury Prize for Canadian Feature Documentary at Hot Docs earlier this year, the real life mystery The Amina Profile opens at the Bloor Cinema today, tickets and showtimes can be found right here. When Montrealer Sandra Bagaria started an online relationship with Amina… Read More Bloor Cinema Release: The Amina Profile
By John Corrado ★★ (out of 4) Jason Bourne on drugs was probably the original log line that screenwriter Max Landis sent to the studio for American Ultra, and what little plot this late summer action comedy does have is pretty basic and also kind of stupid. Mike Howell (Jesse Eisenberg) is a well meaning but… Read More Review: American Ultra
By John Corrado Today, the Walt Disney Animation Studios Short Films Collection is being released on Blu-ray. The excellent set features a selection of twelve short films that the studio has produced over the past fifteen years, all boasting unique visual styles and worth seeing for their own reasons. First up is John Henry (2000), a gospel-infused… Read More Blu-ray Release: Walt Disney Animation Studios Short Films Collection
By John Corrado Today, Sony Pictures Classics is releasing the recent rock documentary Lambert and Stamp on Blu-ray. The film tells the story of Kit Lambert and Chris Stamp, a pair of aspiring filmmakers who wanted to direct a movie about a rock band and ended up mentoring and managing The Who in the process,… Read More Blu-ray Release: Lambert and Stamp
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) The title of The Gift, a psychological thriller that ratchets up a considerable amount of suspense as the intentions of its characters are slowly revealed, takes on different meaning throughout. It’s these constantly evolving mind games that keep us gripped to this thematically rich and surprisingly smart film, a nail biter… Read More Review: The Gift
By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) Adapting their popular TV series to the big screen, the fine folks at Aardman have delivered one of the nicest surprises of the summer filmgoing season with Shaun the Sheep Movie. Expanding the action to feature length, and playing out on a much larger scale than the show, this spry… Read More Review: Shaun the Sheep Movie
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, the fifth and latest entry into the long running series, follows all the check points of the previous franchise entries. We’ve got a tangled web of a plot that involves lots of double crossings and surprise twists, witty banter between the characters, and… Read More Review: Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation
By John Corrado This week, 20th Century Fox is releasing DreamWorks Animation’s surprise hit Home on Blu-ray. After our planet is taken over by aliens, Tip (Rihanna) ends up separated from her mom (Jennifer Lopez), and is travelling across the country to get her back. When Oh (Jim Parsons) becomes an outlaw amongst his race,… Read More Blu-ray Release: Home
By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) When the Indonesian military ordered the killing of anyone considered a “communist” in 1965, nearly a million people were rounded up and brutally murdered by death squad leaders, in a mass genocide that remains a blight on their country, which the government would still rather keep out of the history books.… Read More Bloor Cinema Release: The Look of Silence
By John Corrado Last week, 20th Century Fox released the recent sequel The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel on Blu-ray. With the highly opinionated Muriel Donnelly (Maggie Smith) acting as his advisor, overeager manager Sonny Kapoor (Dev Patel) is trying to juggle the purchase of a new property to expand the hotel with preparations for his upcoming marriage, while also feeling… Read More Blu-ray Release: The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
By John Corrado Last week, 20th Century Fox released X-Men: Days of Future Past: The Rogue Cut on Blu-ray, an extended version of last year’s summer blockbuster. Through two previously unreleased scenes and a lot of alternate takes, this new cut includes about fifteen minutes of extra footage, mainly to expand a subplot involving Rogue (Anna Paquin). Although your willingness… Read More Blu-ray Release: X-Men: Days of Future Past: The Rogue Cut
