By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) The lead character in the pitch black crime comedy I Care a Lot is Marla Grayson (Rosamund Pike), a sociopathic caregiver who makes her money off the backs of seniors who have legally become wards of the state. Marla works as a court-appointed guardian, and she has found… Read More #TIFF20 Review: I Care a Lot (Gala Presentations)
By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) The title character in The Father is Anthony (Anthony Hopkins), an elderly man with dementia who is reluctant to leave the London flat where he lives, despite no longer being to take care of himself. When his daughter Anne (Olivia Colman) comes over to visit in the opening… Read More #TIFF20 Review: The Father (Special Presentations)
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) A breakout film for both first time feature director Emma Seligman and star Rachel Sennott, Shiva Baby is an engaging comedy set at a Jewish funeral that finds humour in this unlikely setting. The film’s main character is Danielle (Sennott), a perpetual college student who gets dragged by… Read More #TIFF20 Review: Shiva Baby (Discovery)
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Pete Souza, the former White House photographer for both Barack Obama and Ronald Reagan, shares his story in the documentary The Way I See It. A behind the scenes figure who previously kept quiet about his own political leanings, Souza became more vocal in the wake of Donald… Read More #TIFF20 Review: The Way I See It (Special Events)
By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) Billy Tipton was an American jazz musician whose career as a pianist and bandleader spanned from the 1930s to the 1970s. At the time of his death in 1989, it was revealed that Tipton was transgender, having been assigned female at birth but living and publicly presenting as… Read More #TIFF20 Review: No Ordinary Man (TIFF Docs)
By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) A selection of films from this year’s online edition of Hot Docs continue to be available to stream on their website. Tickets are $9 apiece, $8 for members, with screenings geo-blocked to Ontario. The full lineup can be found here. “If we have a husband, we won’t have a clitoris.… Read More Hot Docs Online Review: Breaking the Silence
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) A selection of films from this year’s online edition of Hot Docs continue to be available to stream on their website. Tickets are $9 apiece, $8 for members, with screenings geo-blocked to Ontario. The full lineup can be found here. Tam and Bay have been living in Germany for… Read More Hot Docs Online Review: Mein Vietnam
By John Corrado This year’s special online edition of Hot Docs officially came to a close last night, and tonight the winners of the festival’s coveted Audience Award were announced during a live stream, which you can revisit on YouTube. The first place finisher was The Walrus and the Whistleblower, director Nathalie Bibeau’s film about… Read More Hot Docs Festival Online Audience Award Winners
By John Corrado While the in-person edition of Hot Docs was cancelled this year due to COVID-19, roughly 140 films that were set to screen at the festival were selected to stream online during a digital festival from May 28th to June 6th, with many titles being available for even longer until June 24th. Tickets… Read More Hot Docs Festival Online Reviews (Part 3)
By John Corrado While the in-person edition of Hot Docs was cancelled this year due to COVID-19, roughly 140 films that were set to screen at the festival were selected to stream online during a digital festival from May 28th to June 6th, with many titles being available for even longer until June 24th. Tickets… Read More Hot Docs Festival Online Reviews (Part 2)
By John Corrado While the in-person edition of Hot Docs was cancelled this year due to COVID-19, roughly 140 films that were set to screen at the festival will be streamed online instead from May 28th to June 6th, with some being available for even longer. Tickets are $9 apiece, $8 for members, with select… Read More Hot Docs Festival Online Reviews
By John Corrado The 17th annual Human Rights Watch Film Festival kicks off tonight in Toronto, showcasing a total of six timely and relevant films over the next six nights, most of which played at other Toronto festivals over the past year. All of the screenings will be taking place at the Hot Docs Ted… Read More Previewing the 2020 Toronto Human Rights Watch Film Festival
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) The latest film from Chilean director Pablo Larraín, following up his radical English-language biopic Jackie, Ema opens with an image of a street light on fire, and this provides an oddly fitting start to the film. Ema (Mariana di Girolamo) is a professional dancer who adopted a young son from… Read More #TIFF19 Review: Ema (Special Presentations)
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Set in a sleepy Irish town that offers little in the way of economic opportunity, Calm With Horses follows Douglas “Arm” Armstrong (Cosmo Jarvis), a physically imposing former boxer who struggles with anger management issues. Desperate for cash, he is hired to be an enforcer for the Devers, a… Read More #TIFF19 Review: Calm With Horses (Discovery)
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) The winner of the Midnight Madness People’s Choice Award, The Platform is a grisly and nasty Spanish thriller that boasts a really interesting premise. The film is set in a vertical prison called The Pit that has hundreds of floor, and two people trapped on each. At the start… Read More #TIFF19 Review: The Platform (Midnight Madness)
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Shot on a shoestring budget in the slums of Kampala, Uganda, Crazy World is the latest action movie from Wakaliwood filmmaker IGG Nabwana. Starring Nabwana’s own kids and other locals, the loose plot involves the Waka Stars, a group of kids who are trained in kung-fu. When they get… Read More #TIFF19 Review: Crazy World (Midnight Madness)
By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) Taking place over a single night, and often unfolding in long takes, The Vast of Night is one heck of a filmmaking debut for first time director Andrew Patterson. The film is set in the 1950s, with the Space Race still in its infancy. While a basketball game goes… Read More #TIFF19 Review: The Vast of Night (Midnight Madness)
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) A rare horror movie rooted in Judaism, The Vigil uses Jewish traditions and beliefs as the basis for its haunted house story, rather than the Christian beliefs that usually inform these sorts of narratives. The film opens with Yakov Ronen (Dave Davis) meeting with other young adults who have… Read More #TIFF19 Review: The Vigil (Midnight Madness)
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Ling (Yeo Yann Yann) is a Mandarin teacher at a high school in Singapore, whose home life is increasingly depressing. She has been trying unsuccessfully for years to conceive a child, and is tasked with looking after her father-in-law (Yang Shi Bin), who is in the advanced stages… Read More #TIFF19 Review: Wet Season (Platform)
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) The second film directed by celebrated Mexican actor Gael García Bernal, following his 2007 directorial debut Déficit, Chicuarotes follows teenaged friends Cagalera (Benny Emmanuel) and Moloteco (Gabriel Carbajal), who live in the impoverished neighbourhood of San Gregorio Atlapulco in Mexico City. The film opens with them on a… Read More #TIFF19 Review: Chicuarotes (Contemporary World Cinema)
The Joy of Movies 