By John Corrado ★★★★ (out of 4) John Green’s debut novel Looking for Alaska, first published in 2005, is a modern classic that would easily deserve a spot on a list of the greatest young adult novels of all time. That’s high praise, I know, (especially from me, a self-avowed fan of YA literature), but… Read More DVD Review: Looking for Alaska
By John Corrado After delivering the comedy classic Airplane! in 1980, directors David Zucker, Jerry Zucker and Jim Abrahams reunited with one of the stars of that film – the late, great Canadian actor Leslie Nielsen – and brought their talents to the small screen for the tragically short-lived ABC television series Police Squad! in 1982. An… Read More Blu-ray Review: Police Squad!: The Complete Series
By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) With this year’s edition of Hot Docs cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a selection of festival films are being given broadcast premieres every Thursday night from April 16th to May 28th on CBC, documentary Channel, and the CBC Gem streaming app, as part of the Hot Docs… Read More Hot Docs At Home Review: 9/11 Kids
By John Corrado ★★ (out of 4) Rose Byrne was one of the stars of Bridesmaids, and Tiffany Haddish was the breakout star of Girls Trip, so it makes sense from a casting perspective to have them team up for a girl power comedy of their own. The result is Like a Boss, a comedy… Read More Blu-ray Review: Like a Boss
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) The Hot Docs Film Festival in Toronto has come to be one of the biggest showcases of documentary cinema in the world, and it’s an event that, on a personal note, I look forward to attending every spring, as I have done since 2011. But this year, the… Read More Hot Docs At Home Review: Made You Look: A True Story About Fake Art
By John Corrado Greta Gerwig’s Little Women, the writer/director’s new adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s classic novel, was one of my favourite movies of last year. It’s now available to rent and own digitally, and was released on Blu-ray last week. Gerwig’s beautifully crafted film is brought to life by a wonderful cast that includes… Read More Blu-ray Review: Little Women
By John Corrado Please note that this article contains major spoilers for the film The Last Temptation of Christ. It’s Good Friday, a day designated by Christians to recognize Jesus Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross, and a day that is meant to serve as a time of quiet reflection before the more jubilant celebration… Read More The Rebel Jesus: Reflecting on Martin Scorsese’s The Last Temptation of Christ
By John Corrado ★½ (out of 4) In writer-director Michael Cristofer’s The Night Clerk, a tired and frustrating crime drama that tries and fails to be a modern answer to Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window, Bart Bromley (Tye Sheridan) is a young man with Asperger’s Syndrome who works the night shift at a hotel front desk.… Read More DVD Review: The Night Clerk
By John Corrado Despite only opening in theatres a mere four weeks ago on March 6th, Disney and Pixar’s Onward is now available to watch on Disney+ as of today in Canada and the United States, for anyone with a subscription to the streaming service. This move comes after the animated film was previously made… Read More Disney and Pixar’s Onward is Now Available on Disney+ in Canada
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) The latest film from Canadian director Jeremy LaLonde, who previously made the raunchy comedies The Go-Getters and How to Plan An Orgy in a Small Town, James vs. His Future Self is not only his highest concept film as of yet, but also quite possibly his sweetest. James… Read More Review: James vs. His Future Self
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) We are currently in uncharted territory. With the COVID-19 pandemic ravaging the world, the economy has been brought to its knees, and one of the big casualties of this are movie theatres. Due to medical recommendations to practise social distancing and stay at home, all theatres have been… Read More Review: Sonic the Hedgehog (Early Digital Release)
By John Corrado Exactly 25 years ago today, on March 31st, 1995, the road trip comedy Tommy Boy was released in theatres in North America. In honour of the occasion, Paramount sent me over a copy of the 2017 Blu-ray re-release, dubbed the Holy Schnike Edition, for review. I had seen the film before, and… Read More Blu-ray Review: Tommy Boy: Holy Schnike Edition (25th Anniversary)
By John Corrado The ninth and final chapter in the Skywalker Saga, J.J. Abrams’ Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is now available to watch digitally, and it’s being released on Blu-ray today. While I personally found the film to be a bit disappointing, especially as the conclusion to a saga over forty years in… Read More Blu-ray Review: Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
By John Corrado Created by the late Stephen Hillenburg, the talking yellow sea sponge named SpongeBob SquarePants first made his debut on TV in 1999, and the wildly popular cartoon is still going strong over twenty years later. Now the complete eleventh season of the show is being released on DVD this week, in a… Read More DVD Review: SpongeBob SquarePants: The Complete Eleventh Season
By John Corrado Sam Mendes’ 1917 was not only one of the finest movies of 2019 but also one of the year’s most technically brilliant, with the entire film assembled to appear as a single take, putting us in the trenches right alongside two young soldiers (George MacKay and Dean-Charles Chapman) in World War I.… Read More Blu-ray Review: 1917
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Richard Jewell was a security guard in Atlanta who always dreamed of being in law enforcement, and finally got his moment when he saved countless lives while he was on duty at Centennial Park during the 1996 Summer Olympics, and spotted a suspicious bag under a bench that… Read More Blu-ray Review: Richard Jewell
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) The Irish ghost comedy Extra Ordinary, which was the opening night film at the Toronto After Dark Film Festival last year where it played extremely well with the packed audience of horror fans, offers a fun and surprisingly charming twist on the supernatural genre. Laced with a quirky… Read More Review: Extra Ordinary
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) Written and directed by British screenwriter William Nicholson, who based the story on his own parents, Hope Gap is the sort of quiet drama that gets by almost entirely on its performances. The main characters are Grace (Annette Bening) and Edward (Bill Nighy), an old married couple who… Read More Review: Hope Gap
By John Corrado ★★ (out of 4) Dave Bautista tries to pull a Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in My Spy, seemingly copying the career choices of his fellow wrestler turned actor to star in this kids action comedy as a CIA agent who becomes the unlikely father figure to a precocious child. And if Bautista… Read More Review: My Spy
By John Corrado Cecil B. DeMille’s 1956 Bible epic The Ten Commandments, starring Charlton Heston in one of his most iconic roles as Moses and based on stories from the Old Testament, remains among the most famous Biblical films of all time. The film is being reissued on Blu-ray this week in a limited edition… Read More Blu-ray Review: The Ten Commandments: 1923 & 1956 Feature Films DigiBook
The Joy of Movies 