By John Corrado The Jonas Brothers are back in A Very Jonas Christmas Movie, the Disney Plus Original that finds the boyband brothers trying to get back home for Christmas. The film opens with brothers Kevin, Joe and Nick Jonas finishing up their tour in London just days before Christmas, and looking forward to getting… Read More Movie Review: A Very Jonas Christmas Movie (Disney+)
By John Corrado A struggling improv comic in Baltimore needs an emergency dentist appointment on Christmas Eve. It sounds like the setup for a joke (and maybe it is), but it’s also the inciting incident of The Baltimorons, a tender and funny chance encounter romance from director Jay Duplass. Duplass crafts the film as a… Read More Movie Review: The Baltimorons
By John Corrado Red One, directed by Jake Kasdan (Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, Jumanji: The Next Level), is a not as bad as it could have been but still thoroughly mediocre film that takes the Santa Claus story and turns it into a bloated, big budget action fantasy. The movie (which played in theatres for a… Read More Movie Review: Red One (Prime Video)
By John Corrado Adapted from the 1972 children’s novel by Barbara Robinson, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever tells the story of a town’s Christmas pageant that gets upended when the local outcast kids audition for roles. In the hands of director Dallas Jenkins (creator of the Bible-based TV series The Chosen), Robinson’s book is turned into a charming… Read More Movie Review: The Best Christmas Pageant Ever
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) ‘Tis the season for direct-to-streaming Christmas movies. The latest offering from Disney+ is Dashing Through the Snow, a mildly watchable if overly familiar comedy from director Tim Story (Barbershop, The Blackening) that imagines Santa as a wise-cracking fellow played by comedian Lil Rel Howery. The film stars Chris… Read More Review: Dashing Through the Snow (Disney+)
By John Corrado Director Richard Donner’s Scrooged is celebrating its 35th anniversary this year, and Paramount has given the film a 4K Ultra HD upgrade in honour of the occasion. This 1988 adaptation of Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol is set in New York City, and follows self-centred TV executive Frank Cross (Bill Murray) as… Read More 4K Ultra HD Review: Scrooged: 35th Anniversary
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) David Harbour stars as a drunk, badass Santa Claus in Violent Night, a Christmas action comedy from Norwegian director Tommy Wirkola (Kill Buljo) that is at it’s best when embracing being a goofy, unabashed B-movie We first meet Harbour’s Santa in a bar on Christmas Eve, taking a… Read More Blu-ray Review: Violent Night (Collector’s Edition)
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) Based on Michael Ausiello’s autobiographical book Spoiler Alert: The Hero Dies, the point of the movie Spoiler Alert (and the book that preceded it) is to tell a sweeping love story where we already know the tragic outcome. The film succeeds at this with mostly satisfying but somewhat… Read More Review: Spoiler Alert
By John Corrado Frank Capra’s beloved 1946 classic It’s a Wonderful Life is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year, and Paramount is honouring the occasion with a new Blu-ray edition. The film, of course, tells the story of George Bailey (James Stewart) who is visited by an angel named Clarence (Henry Travers) on Christmas Eve… Read More Blu-ray Review: It’s a Wonderful Life: 75th Anniversary Edition
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) Written and directed by filmmaking brothers Eshom and Ian Nelms, the offbeat Christmas movie Fatman is one of those films that many will watch based on the absurdity of its premise alone, which was revealed in a pretty wild trailer. What is the premise, you might ask? Well,… Read More VOD Review: Fatman
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) Disney pays tribute to the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special in the LEGO Star Wars Holiday Special, which is premiering on Disney Plus today. The original TV special, which aired in 1978 between the releases of the first Star Wars and Empire Strikes Back, was so widely panned… Read More Disney+ Review: The LEGO Star Wars Holiday Special
By John Corrado One of my favourite movies of all time, and a perennial favourite that gets revisited every holiday season, is It’s a Wonderful Life. Frank Capra’s 1946 classic, about a suicidal man named George Bailey (James Stewart) who gets visited by an angel (Henry Travers) on Christmas Eve, is a film that always… Read More 4K Ultra HD Review: It’s a Wonderful Life (Steelbook)
By John Corrado Christmas is just under a week away. Hanukkah starts on December 22nd. It’s gift giving season, and here is my holiday gift guide, featuring a selection of recent movies, TV shows, books and even a board game that I can personally recommend. There’s something for everyone on this list, and all of… Read More 2019 Holiday Gift Guide
By John Corrado ★½ (out of 4) There is something inherently appealing about the idea of seeing Angela Lansbury and Dick Van Dyke, both legends in their own right, back on screen, and I will admit that their presence is what peaked my interest in Buttons: A Christmas Tale. But aside from the fact that they… Read More DVD Review: Buttons: A Christmas Tale
By John Corrado A father-son collaboration between director Peter Hedges and his son Lucas Hedges, who stars in the title role as a young drug addict, Ben is Back is one of the films from last year’s awards season that I wish had gotten more attention. So now that it’s available on DVD, I would… Read More DVD Review: Ben is Back
By John Corrado After becoming a smash hit at the box office throughout the holiday season, Illumination’s surprisingly great animated Dr. Seuss adaptation The Grinch is being released on Blu-ray this week. I really enjoyed this one when I first saw it at a screening back in November, and it’s actually grown on me quite a… Read More Blu-ray Review: The Grinch
By John Corrado Disney’s The Nutcracker and the Four Realms, which is arriving on Blu-ray today following its holiday release back in November, is one of those films that is often beautiful to look at but also feels sort of empty. It’s not a bad film, but it is a somewhat disappointing one, starting off… Read More Blu-ray Review: The Nutcracker and the Four Realms
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) Elliot (Josh Hutcherson) is a miniature horse who has always dreamed of flying with the reindeer, and when Blitzen (Martin Short) announces his retirement right before Christmas, leaving Santa (George Buza) scrambling to find a replacement to fill his spot on the sleigh team, he sees an opportunity… Read More DVD Review: Elliot the Littlest Reindeer
By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) Ben (Lucas Hedges) is a young drug addict, who cuts out of rehab to return home on Christmas Eve. While his mother Holly (Julia Roberts) reluctantly agrees to let him stay for the night, despite disasters over the past two holidays, she goes into panic mode and tries… Read More Review: Ben is Back
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) There have been some great examples over the years of movies that blend Christmas cheer with horror elements. Bob Clark’s iconic slasher Black Christmas certainly springs to mind as one of the darkest examples, as does Joe Dante’s holiday monster movie Gremlins, and Michael Dougherty’s more recent Krampus.… Read More Review: Anna and the Apocalypse
The Joy of Movies 