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) A long-belated follow up to his Oscar-winning 2006 documentary An Inconvenient Truth, An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power follows former Vice President Al Gore as he continues to travel around the world, raising awareness of climate change and advocating for renewable energy sources like solar and wind, both here… Read More Blu-ray Review: An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Dina Buno is a middle aged woman in Philadelphia who has autism and a “smorgasbord” of other challenges as her mother puts it, and Dina is a candid vérité documentary that follows her as she prepares to marry Scott Levin, who has Asperger’s syndrome and works as a… Read More Review: Dina
By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) While countless horror movies about demonic possession, including The Exorcist and The Omen, have become staples to watch around this time of year, the documentary Libera Nos provides a chilling companion piece to these Halloween classics. This is an “inspired by true events” horror movie in the most literal… Read More Review: Libera Nos
By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) Agnes Varda is one of the most influential filmmakers from the French New Wave, and JR is a young street photographer. He is young, and she is old, but they are able to see eye to eye on many things and they share a similar artistic spirit. Together,… Read More Review: Faces Places
By John Corrado ★★★★ (out of 4) The first feature film ever made about a single scene, the stunning documentary 78/52 offers a deep dive into the shower scene from Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, a sequence so iconic that it has almost gone beyond the film itself to take on a life of its own. As a lifelong Hitchcock… Read More Review: 78/52
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) John and Amanda Leyden are an older married couple who have spent over forty years working together and teaching students at the Headfort School, the last remaining preparatory boarding school in Ireland for elementary school kids aged 7 to 13. John and Amanda are the subjects of School… Read More Review: School Life
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 ★★★½ (out of 4) Filmed over five years at four different donkey sanctuaries in the UK, Ireland, New York State and Guelph, Ontario, Do Donkeys Act? is an experimental art documentary that offers a quiet yet often profound exploration of animal sentience, guided along by Willem Dafoe’s poetic narration. These sanctuaries provide… Read More Review: Do Donkeys Act?
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 ★★★ (out of 4) Abacus: Small Enough to Jail opens with its main subject Robert Sung, the founder of the independent Abacus Federal Savings Bank in New York’s Chinatown, watching It’s a Wonderful Life on TV with his wife, and relating himself to the character of selfless do-gooder George Bailey. Regardless of whether… Read More Review: Abacus: Small Enough to Jail
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 ★★★ (out of 4) With radio host Joe Cristiano telling stories on air about his own mother and asking other men to call in as the narrative through line, Mom & Me offers an exploration of the bonds between tough guys and their mothers in Oklahoma, which is said to be the “manliest state.”… Read More Review: Mom & Me
By John Corrado The 24th edition of Hot Docs has come to a close, and below are my thoughts on the final few films that I saw at the festival, including Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World, which took home the $50,000 Rogers Audience Award for Best Canadian Documentary before an encore screening on Sunday, and was announced as… Read More #HotDocs17: Final Batch of Reviews
By John Corrado We have reached the last day of Hot Docs, and below are my thoughts on five films that I saw over the last few days of the festival. Please come back tomorrow for my final set of reviews, and you can find more information through the links in the film titles. Enjoy! Let There… Read More #HotDocs17: Fourth Batch of Reviews
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) The door of Salam Kahil’s Vancouver delicatessen warns customers about coarse language and nudity, both of which are on full display in his shop, and in director Lewis Bennett’s documentary about him, The Sandwich Nazi. Salam is a former male escort from Lebanon who opened the deli when he moved… Read More Review: The Sandwich Nazi
By John Corrado The 24th edition of Hot Docs is running until May 7th, and below are my thoughts on the six films I have seen over the last few days of the festival. You can find more information on tickets and showtimes through the links in the film titles. Enjoy! Libera Nos – ★★★ (out of 4)… Read More #HotDocs17: Third Batch of Reviews
By John Corrado The 24th edition of Hot Docs is running until May 7th, and below are my thoughts on ten films I had the chance to see over the first weekend of the festival. You can find more information on tickets and showtimes through the links in the film titles. Enjoy! Rat Film – ★★½ (out of… Read More #HotDocs17: Second Batch of Reviews
By John Corrado The 24th edition of Hot Docs kicks off tonight with the premiere of Bee Nation, and will be running until May 7th. Below are my thoughts on a dozen films I had the chance to screen in advance, and you can find more information on tickets and showtimes through the links in… Read More #HotDocs17: First Batch of Reviews
The Joy of Movies 