By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Named for the Spanish word for “heaven,” Cielo is a documentary that takes a long look at the night sky in Chile’s Atacama Desert. Directed by Alison McAlpine, the film focuses on the scientists and astronomers who have devoted their lives to studying what goes on up above at… Read More Review: Cielo
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) Set in the seedy underground world of Toronto tow-truck drivers, 22 Chaser follows Ben (Brian J. Smith), a driver for the Jackrabbit towing company who is trying to make an honest living, but is stuck doing by-law duty and finds himself struggling to support his wife (Tiio Horn) and… Read More Review: 22 Chaser
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) Based on the novel by the late author Richard Wagamese, Indian Horse tells the story of Saul Indian Horse, an Ojibwe boy who is taken from his family in Northwestern Ontario in the 1960s, and brought to a Catholic Residential School. At the school, Saul is faced with abuse and is… Read More Review: Indian Horse
By John Corrado The 12th edition of the Canadian Film Fest starts tomorrow night at the Scotiabank Theatre in Toronto, showcasing a selection of ten features and twenty shorts, all from homegrown filmmakers. I had the chance to preview six of the features, including opening and closing night films Becoming Burlesque and The Go-Getters, and… Read More Previewing the 2018 Canadian Film Fest
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) Saxon Gamble (Jack Kesy) is a young outlaw who returns to the hometown where he grew up following his mother’s sudden death, dredging back to the surface problems with his brother Dean (David Cubitt) and father Leonard (Peter McRobbie). But things take a darker turn when Saxon becomes… Read More Review: Juggernaut
By John Corrado ★★ (out of 4) Bea (Charlotte Salisbury) is a shy and awkward tween girl from Toronto who travels with her mother (Delphine Roussel) to a small town in Northern Ontario, where her father (Christopher Bolton) has inherited the local diner. While her parents struggle to patch up their fraying marriage, Bea strikes up… Read More Review: Porcupine Lake
By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) Rob Grant and Mike Kovac are a pair of friends and independent filmmakers from Vancouver, and at the beginning of their documentary project Fake Blood, Rob tells us in voiceover that they are no longer on speaking terms. The film then goes back to tell us what happened… Read More Review: Fake Blood
By John Corrado ★★ (out of 4) Ben Layton (Thomas Middleditch) is in the throes of depression, finding himself unable to cope after his wife left him for another man. But he finds a new purpose in life when he finds out that his parents nearly adopted a baby girl, who they had to give… Read More Review: Entanglement
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) Wink (Ian McLaren) is a member of the Badsville Kings, a greaser gang that tries to rule over the depressed title town in Badsville, a gritty crime drama that takes place just outside of Los Angeles and explores themes of loyalty and rivalry between gang members. When Wink falls… Read More Review: Badsville
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Betty (Reid Asseltine) is a lonely young woman who has just started working as a security guard in a parking lot at a rundown Scarborough strip mall. But when she makes a pass at bartender Danny (Darrel Gamotin) while he is drunk, both of their lives start to… Read More Review: Wexford Plaza
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) Ronnie (Grace Glowicki) has turned to alcohol as a way to cope after the death of her brother Garrett two months earlier, who her best friend Faye (Erin Carter) had briefly dated the year before, but broke up with when he was diagnosed with testicular cancer. When Faye… Read More Review: Suck It Up
By John Corrado Here’s a release that has been a long time coming. After premiering at Hot Docs in 2015, and then getting held back for two years due to some behind the scenes disagreements, The Sandwich Nazi is finally being released on a variety of VOD platforms today, including Vimeo on Demand, iTunes, Amazon… Read More VOD Release: The Sandwich Nazi
By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) Francine is a young black girl living in North York’s Villaways neighbourhood. But the affordable housing units where she lives with her father, grandmother and two autistic brothers are facing a forced revitalization project set forth by the city, meaning that the residents will have to leave their homes… Read More Review: Unarmed Verses
By John Corrado ★★★★ (out of 4) I watched The Tragically Hip’s final concert in a movie theatre that was showing it live last summer. I couldn’t be in Kingston that night but, like a third of all Canadians, I was glued to that screen for every single song. I was thankful for the chance… Read More Review: Long Time Running
By John Corrado ★★★★ (out of 4) Named for Link Wray’s highly influential guitar piece “Rumble,” the only instrumental song to be banned for radio play in the United States for fear that the driving chord progressions and percussion might start a riot, Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World offers an extensive history of Native… Read More Review: Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) When we first meet our protagonist William Bowman (Jake Croker) in #AnAmericanDream, he is a high school football star living in farmland America, who gets overwhelmed whenever his parents try to talk about his future. Then he suffers a concussion on the football field, and suddenly the narrative shifts… Read More Review: #AnAmericanDream
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) The Vancouver housing market has gotten so out of reach that the majority of young people aren’t able to afford properties in the city, and many older retirees can no longer afford to live there. Coupled with a boom in expensive condo developments that are exploiting the city… Read More Review: Vancouver: No Fixed Address
By John Corrado The Canadian Film Fest is back again and, dare I say, bigger than ever. For starters this year, the festival has moved from The Royal Cinema to Scotiabank, and will be running for a full five days, up from the previous four. The festival is also boasting its largest ever lineup of ten… Read More Previewing the 2017 Canadian Film Fest
By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) The latest from veteran Canadian filmmaker Bruce McDonald, Weirdos is an endlessly charming and surprisingly touching coming of age story, that finds the director in top form delivering one of his best and most heartfelt films. The year is 1976, and Kit (Dylan Authors) and his best friend Alice… Read More Review: Weirdos
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) The most revealing character moment in Hello Destroyer comes when star hockey player Tyson Burr (Jared Abrahmson) lies in a dimly lit hotel room, icing his knuckles after a fight during the game, and tells one of his teammates about how he could never stand silence as a child.… Read More Review: Hello Destroyer
The Joy of Movies 