By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) A few years back in the summer of 2011, Rise of the Planet of the Apes practically came out of nowhere to become one of the best moviegoing surprises in recent memory, a briskly paced franchise reboot that was as exciting as it was smart. Now comes Dawn… Read More Review: Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

By John Corrado ★★★★ (out of 4) Mason (Ellar Coltrane) is lying in the grass and staring up at the blue sky, the distinctive sound of Coldplay’s “Yellow” playing on the soundtrack, as his single mother (Patricia Arquette) arrives and picks him up from school.  This is the already iconic opening scene of Boyhood, a… Read More Review: Boyhood

By John Corrado ★★★★ (out of 4) Roger Ebert is one of the main reasons why I became a writer, and like so many of us in this field, his reviews are the sole inspiration behind my choice to become a film critic.  Because of this, Life Itself is somewhat ironically hard for me to… Read More Review: Life Itself

By John Corrado *** (out of 4) With slightly grainy handheld cinematography, mostly captured at director Joe Swanberg’s own Chicago home, Happy Christmas couldn’t be farther from the summer blockbusters that are currently dominating the box office. But that’s precisely the charm of this low key and very entertaining little film.  After premiering at Sundance… Read More Review: Happy Christmas

By John Corrado *** (out of 4) It’s an unwritten rule of comedy that sequels are rarely as funny as their predecessors, with the majority of followups to comedic classics being easily forgotten over the years.  But rules were made to be broken, and that’s something directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller obviously know very… Read More Review: 22 Jump Street

By John Corrado ***1/2 (out of 4) The Double is a film that quietly grows on you and is impossible to shake afterwards, a fascinating tragicomedy filled with perfectly mannered character quirks and dark subtext about the often futile struggle for individuality. This is what the work of Wes Anderson might look like if he… Read More Review: The Double

By John Corrado ***1/2 (out of 4) Even amongst the massive landscape of books that fall into the increasingly lucrative Young Adult bracket, few novels have had the lasting impact and unlikely popularity of author John Green’s 2012 bestseller The Fault in Our Stars. This love story between two teens who fall in love through… Read More Review: The Fault in Our Stars

By John Corrado ***1/2 (out of 4) Audiences will have no problem virtually reliving the same day over again in Edge of Tomorrow, which has a plot that ingeniously repeats itself, while still feeling fresh every step of the way. Warner Bros. is releasing Edge of Tomorrow today, and the studio should score big.  This is… Read More Review: Edge of Tomorrow

By John Corrado *** (out of 4) At the start of Maleficent, we are told by narrator Janet McTeer that things are going to be different from the story we already know.  And right from the opening scenes, we realize that this isn’t quite the same version of Sleeping Beauty that was first told by… Read More Review: Maleficent

By John Corrado *** (out of 4) X-Men: Days of Future Past is predominantly a sequel to the 2011 prequel First Class, that also serves as a continuation of where the original trilogy left off in 2006 with The Last Stand, and could very well lead into a reboot of the entire series.  The fact… Read More Review: X-Men: Days of Future Past

By John Corrado *** (out of 4) Can people who have kids ever return to their days of staying up late and partying, or will they always become the overtired neighbours begging the college kids to “keep it down?” This is the central question asked in Neighbors, a raunchy comedy that opened in a surprise… Read More Review: Neighbors

By John Corrado *** (out of 4) It’s never an easy task to adapt a beloved story, let alone one of the most famous tales of all time, one that has been told for centuries all over the world and has become a cornerstone of multiple religions including Judaism and Christianity. But director Darren Aronofsky… Read More Review: Noah

By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) The first thing audiences will see when attending Muppets Most Wanted is Party Central, the latest short from Pixar.  Expanding on the wonderful characters of Oozma Kappa that were first introduced in last year’s Monsters University, this is a hilarious party film that makes great use of the… Read More Review: Muppets Most Wanted

By John Corrado **** (out of 4) The distinctive style that Wes Anderson has developed throughout his seven previous features is fully on display in The Grand Budapest Hotel, as the iconic Texas director adds another thematically rich and beautifully produced picture to his perfect filmography. This is the work of a genuine auteur at… Read More Review: The Grand Budapest Hotel

By John Corrado ** (out of 4) The car chases in Need for Speed are often cool, and pretty much anyone who ever had fun spinning Hot Wheels cars around a plastic racetrack as a kid is sure to get some enjoyment out of watching these extended sequences. Now if only even half as much… Read More Review: Need for Speed