By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Nate Foster (Rueby Wood), the title character in Disney’s surprisingly charming Better Nate Than Ever, is an honest to goodness theatre kid. You know, the sort that sings into his hairbrush, memorizes Fiddler on the Roof, and fantasizes about winning a Tony. He has big Broadway dreams, if… Read More Disney+ Review: Better Nate Than Ever
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) The Eyes of Tammy Faye is nominated for Best Actress (Jessica Chastain) and Best Makeup & Hairstyling at the 94th Academy Awards. The first thing we see in The Eyes of Tammy Faye is a closeup on Jessica Chastain’s face, buried under a heavy layer of makeup and… Read More Review: The Eyes of Tammy Faye
By John Corrado ★★ (out of 4) Cheaper by the Dozen, the latest Disney+ Original Movie that is being dropped on the streaming service this week, styles itself as a remake of the 2003 Steve Martin comedy of the same name, which was itself a remake of a 1950 film that was in turn based… Read More Disney+ Review: Cheaper by the Dozen
By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) We can all surely remember what it was like to experience growing pains and pubescent mood swings brought on by deep hormonal changes. But what if those mood swings caused you to physically transform into, say, a giant red panda? That’s the predicament that Meilin Lee (Rosalie Chiang),… Read More Disney+ Review: Turning Red
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) The setup for director Mimi Cave’s Fresh is a classic “meet cute” between two people, of the sort that any good romantic comedy should have. Her name is Noa (Daisy Edgar-Jones). She is a young woman who’s tired of the dating game, from swiping right on apps to… Read More Disney+ Review: Fresh
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) First time director Max Lowe explores his family history in the National Geographic documentary Torn, offering a complex and moving portrait of paternal figures and how families heal in the aftermath of tragedy. Lowe’s father was famed mountain climber Alex Lowe, who died in an avalanche on Shishapangma… Read More Disney+ Review: Torn
By John Corrado ★★ (out of 4) Despite unceremoniously shutting down Blue Sky Studios last year following their acquisition of 20th Century Fox, Disney continues the company’s signature prehistoric franchise with The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild, an in-house spinoff that is being released straight to Disney Plus. The sixth film in the Ice… Read More Disney+ Review: The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Hawkeye, the first two episodes of which premiered today on Disney+, is Marvel’s fourth television series this year, and it’s somewhat of a departure for the studio in terms of how grounded it feels. Following on the heels of WandaVision, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and Loki,… Read More Disney+ Review: Hawkeye (First Two Episodes)
By John Corrado ★½ (out of 4) The inevitable downside of the Disney-Fox merger was always going to be that the Mouse House would take advantage of having even more beloved franchises in their roster to capitalize on with remakes, reboots and retreads, all the “re’s” that studios turn to in order to make a… Read More Disney+ Review: Home Sweet Home Alone
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) The first ever Halloween special featuring the Muppets, Muppets Haunted Mansion is a pretty irresistible crossover event that serves as both a return to form for Jim Henson’s creations, and also a fine tribute to Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion. The special is set in a Muppet version of the… Read More Disney+ Review: Muppets Haunted Mansion
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Billie Eilish is one of the biggest pop stars on the planet at the moment, and now she has her own concert film in the form of Happier Than Ever: A Love Letter to Los Angeles. Premiering on Disney+ today, the film serves as a companion piece to… Read More Disney+ Review: Happier Than Ever: A Love Letter to Los Angeles
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) What’s the difference between “real” friends and “vacation” friends? The former stick by you through thick and thin, where as the latter you befriend for a limited amount of time, fully expecting the interactions to be transitory. But what happens if vacation friends come back into your life… Read More Review: Vacation Friends
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) Following the wild successes of Loki, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and WandaVision on Disney+ earlier this year, the Marvel Cinematic Universe is now delivering its first official animated series with What If…?, which takes advantage of the medium to offer a series of condensed side adventures… Read More Disney+ Review: What If…? (First Three Episodes)
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Disney’s Jungle Cruise isn’t the first movie to be based on one of their theme park attractions, with the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise being the most famous example, and I’m sure it won’t be the last, either. What it is, though, is a pleasingly diverting film that… Read More Review: Jungle Cruise
By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) The latest Disney+ show, Behind the Attraction, is a very good ten-part docuseries that sheds light on some of the famous attractions at Disney Parks and Resorts around the world. Five of the ten episodes in the series, which features Dwayne Johnson as one of its executive producers… Read More Disney+ Review: Behind the Attraction (First Five Episodes)
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) Over a decade after her big screen debut in Iron Man 2, Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) has finally gotten her own long-awaited solo film in Black Widow, the latest entry into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And the film is indeed long-awaited by fans, especially after having its initial… Read More Disney+ Review: Black Widow
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) Twenty years after the release of Monsters, Inc., which already got an official prequel in 2013 with Monsters University, we are now getting a spinoff and continuation of that Pixar classic in the form of the new Disney+ series Monsters at Work. The ten-episode series is set in… Read More Disney+ Review: Monsters at Work (First Two Episodes)
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Wolfgang Puck is credited as being the first “celebrity” chef, a title that he obtained by attracting a dedicated guest list of Hollywood stars to his restaurant Spago, before gaining a broader following through charming TV appearances, and building a food empire around frozen pizzas. Puck’s story is… Read More Disney+ Review: Wolfgang
By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) Enrico Casarosa, the director behind Pixar’s wonderful new feature Luca, has cited the works of Hayao Miyazaki and the Japanese animated films of Studio Ghibli as sources of inspiration for his Italy-set film. While this might seem like an odd thing to say, since Pixar has its own… Read More Disney+ Review: Luca
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Disney’s latest live action film to be based on one of their classic animated properties, Cruella is the weirdest and most unique of the studio’s recent remakes, which is to say that it’s also one of their best. After a string of fine but needless retreads like Aladdin,… Read More Disney+ Review: Cruella
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