By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) The 2023 Hot Docs Film Festival runs from April 27th to May 7th in Toronto, more information on tickets and showtimes can be found right here. When Reyhaneh Jabbari was nineteen years old, she was sentenced to death in Iran for stabbing Morteza Abdolali Sarbandi, to stop him from… Read More #HotDocs23 Review: Seven Winters in Tehran
By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) The 2023 Hot Docs Film Festival runs from April 27th to May 7th in Toronto, more information on tickets and showtimes can be found right here. Simon Chambers was in India trying to finish a documentary about car culture in the country when he got a call from his… Read More #HotDocs23 Review: Much Ado About Dying
By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) The 2023 Hot Docs Film Festival runs from April 27th to May 7th in Toronto, more information on tickets and showtimes can be found right here. Augusto Góngora is a celebrated former journalist in Chile, who protested against dictator Augusto Pinochet’s regime. Paulina Urrutia is an actress and former… Read More #HotDocs23 Review: The Eternal Memory
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) The 2023 Hot Docs Film Festival runs from April 27th to May 7th in Toronto, more information on tickets and showtimes can be found right here. In her investigative documentary Cynara, director Sherien Barsoum reexamines the case of Cindy Ali, a Trinidadian immigrant in Toronto who was convicted of… Read More #HotDocs23 Review: Cynara
By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) The 2023 Hot Docs Film Festival runs from April 27th to May 7th in Toronto, more information on tickets and showtimes can be found right here. When Ken Meyer was diagnosed with systemic scleroderma, an autoimmune disease that is slowly stretching out his skin and making him appear doll-like,… Read More #HotDocs23 Review: Angel Applicant
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) The 2023 Hot Docs Film Festival runs from April 27th to May 7th in Toronto, more information on tickets and showtimes can be found right here. Where does music come from and how is it able to connect us across cultures? Following a profound experience around a campfire that… Read More #HotDocs23 Review: Echo of Everything
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) The 2023 Hot Docs Film Festival runs from April 27th to May 7th in Toronto, more information on tickets and showtimes can be found right here. At Rowdy Girl Sanctuary deep in the heart of Texas, reformed cattle rancher turned staunch vegan Renee King-Sonnen has created a safe haven… Read More #HotDocs23 Review: Rowdy Girl
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) The 2023 Hot Docs Film Festival runs from April 27th to May 7th in Toronto, more information on tickets and showtimes can be found right here. Filmmaker Cecilia Aldarondo digs into her adolescent memories of first crushes and awkward school dances in You Were My First Boyfriend, which unfolds… Read More #HotDocs23 Review: You Were My First Boyfriend
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) The 2023 Hot Docs Film Festival runs from April 27th to May 7th in Toronto, more information on tickets and showtimes can be found right here. In their new documentary Satan Wants You, co-directors Steve J. Adams and Sean Horlor offer a fascinating look at how the best-selling Canadian… Read More #HotDocs23 Review: Satan Wants You
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) The 2023 Hot Docs Film Festival runs from April 27th to May 7th in Toronto, more information on tickets and showtimes can be found right here. There has been somewhat of a modern resurgence in witchcraft and Wicca from women who see reclaiming these ancient spiritual practises as part… Read More #HotDocs23 Review: Coven
By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) The 2023 Hot Docs Film Festival runs from April 27th to May 7th in Toronto, more information on tickets and showtimes can be found right here. Danish filmmaker Christian Einshøj digs into his family history in his symbolic, deeply personal documentary The Mountains. Einshøj draws upon a vast… Read More #HotDocs23 Review: The Mountains
By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) Directed by documentary filmmaker Morgan Neville (20 Feet from Stardom, Won’t You Be My Neighbor?), Bono & The Edge: A Sort of Homecoming, with Dave Letterman is a very enjoyable mix of music documentary, concert film, and docu-special that finds Letterman interviewing U2’s lead singer Bono and guitarist… Read More Review: Bono & The Edge: A Sort of Homecoming, with Dave Letterman (Disney+)
By John Corrado At the beginning of January, I shared my picks for the best movies of 2022, fully intending to follow it up with my picks for the best non-fiction films of last year soon after. But time kept getting away from me, and I had several docs that I wanted to catch up… Read More The Best Documentaries of 2022
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Director Mye Hoang’s Cat Daddies is a charming documentary that focuses on the bonds between a variety of men and their cats, and if you are in any way a cat person, it’s pretty irresistible. Like any good collection of cat videos, the scenes range from lighthearted and… Read More Review: Cat Daddies
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Love, Charlie: The Rise and Fall of Chef Charlie Trotter is a documentary portrait of the brilliant but troubled celebrity chef, whose self-named Chicago restaurant Charlie Trotter’s became known as one of the best restaurants in the world during its heyday. Directed by Rebecca Halpern, Love, Charlie mainly… Read More Review: Love, Charlie: The Rise and Fall of Chef Charlie Trotter
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) Directed by Ukrainian filmmaker Roman Liubiy, Iron Butterflies is a documentary that sets itself up as an investigation into the downing of Malaysian airlines flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine, which was accidentally shot down by a Russian anti-aircraft missile in 2014, killing all 298 people on board. But… Read More #Sundance2023 Review: Iron Butterflies
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) How did Mickey Mouse go from lovable cartoon character to ubiquitous corporate symbol? That’s the question asked in the enjoyable Disney+ documentary Mickey: The Story of a Mouse, which explores the history of how Mickey’s visage – made out of three simple circles – has become one of… Read More Disney+ Review: Mickey: The Story of a Mouse
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) The documentary And Still I Sing follows three female singers in Afghanistan; the controversial pop star Aryana Sayeed who has courted a backlash in her country for speaking out in support of women’s rights, and Zahra Elham and Sadiqa Madagar, who are both contestants on the American Idol-esque… Read More Review: And Still I Sing
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) The documentary Blind Ambition follows Joseph Dhafana, Marlvin Gwese, Tinashe Nyamudoka and Pardon Taguzu, four men from Zimbabwe living in South Africa, who form the first Zimbabwean team to compete in the annual World Blind Wine Tasting Championships in France. The men had gone most of their lives… Read More Review: Blind Ambition
By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) The 2022 Toronto International Film Festival ran from September 8th to 18th. In Moonage Daydream, documentary filmmaker Brett Morgan weaves an exciting and highly cinematic portrait of late music and queer icon David Bowie. The film blends concert footage with old interviews to offer a compelling window into… Read More #TIFF22 Review: Moonage Daydream (Special Presentations)
The Joy of Movies 