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)

By John Corrado ★ (out of 4) Following a bad breakup, Daphne (Shailene Woodley), a typical twenty-something millennial, decides to take a six month sabbatical from both alcohol and dating as she tries to find her footing and get her life back on track. But it doesn’t last long, because shortly after announcing her hiatus… Read More #TIFF19 Review: Endings, Beginnings (Special Presentations)

By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Rudy Ray Moore (Eddie Murphy) was a self-described entrepreneur and fledgling musician who worked in a record shop in the 1970s, when he decided to branch out into doing comedy records. Creating a flamboyant alter-ego named Dolemite, a foul-mouthed pimp who speaks in verse, Moore ended up becoming… Read More #TIFF19 Review: Dolemite Is My Name (Special Presentations)

By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) Howard Ratner (Adam Sandler) is a jeweler in New York City, who is always looking for his next big score. When he imports a chunk of rock from a mine in Ethiopa that is studded with rare opals, he intends to sell it at an auction, but ends… Read More #TIFF19 Review: Uncut Gems (Special Presentations)

By John Corrado ★★★★ (out of 4) Director Bong Joon-ho’s first film in Korean following his two English-language movies Snowpiercer and Okja, Parasite made history earlier this year when it took home the coveted Palme d’Or at Cannes, becoming the first film from South Korea to win the award. And now that I’ve seen the… Read More #TIFF19 Review: Parasite (Special Presentations)

By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) Bruce Springsteen’s latest album, Western Stars, is an introspective, often bittersweet concept album of sorts that tells the story of a fading Western movie star, and finds the iconic American rocker branching out to country music and performing with a thirty piece orchestra. Not intending to go on… Read More #TIFF19 Review: Western Stars (Gala Presentations)

By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) The latest social realist drama from veteran filmmaker Ken Loach, Sorry We Missed You explores many of the same themes of systemic poverty and the struggles faced by those who aren’t at the top of the economic ladder as his Palme d’Or-winning previous film I, Daniel Blake. This… Read More #TIFF19 Review: Sorry We Missed You (Masters)

By John Corrado ★ (out of 4) The feature directorial debut of Noah Hawley, who is best known for his work on the shows Fargo and Legion, Lucy in the Sky is a complete misfire, and watching it feels like being trapped in space. After returning from two weeks in space, astronaut Lucy Cola (Natalie Portman)… Read More #TIFF19 Review: Lucy in the Sky (Special Presentations)

By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) Set in the 1950s in New York, Motherless Brooklyn follows Lionel Essrog (Edward Norton), a private detective with Tourette syndrome. He twitches and tics, his mind obsessing over certain phrases and making him repeat them, but he also has an incredible ability to retain information and never forgets… Read More #TIFF19 Review: Motherless Brooklyn (Special Presentations)

By John Corrado ★★★★ (out of 4) Tyler (Kelvin Harrison Jr.) is an all-American teenager who has the façade of a perfect life. He’s on his high school’s wrestling team, and has a steady girlfriend, Alexis (Alexa Demie). But his father (Sterling K. Brown) pushes him a little too hard, keeping him on a gruelling… Read More #TIFF19 Review: Waves (Special Presentations)

By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) On the night that he finally comes out to his parents, high schooler Tunde Johnson (Steven Silver) is driving to his boyfriend Soren’s (Spencer Neville) birthday party, when he is shot and killed by police during a traffic stop. Then he wakes up in his own bed, and… Read More #TIFF19 Review: The Obituary of Tunde Johnson (Discovery)

By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) Written by Shia LaBeouf while he was in rehab, and inspired by his own troubled upbringing as a child actor being raised by an abusive father, Honey Boy is a unique and emotional film about addiction and processing trauma. The film begins with its main character, Otis Lort,… Read More #TIFF19 Review: Honey Boy (Gala Presentations)

By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) Satire is a tricky thing to properly pull off, but New Zealand actor and filmmaker Taika Waititi succeeds in his latest film Jojo Rabbit, an original and daring World War II satire that is equal parts funny and moving. The main character is Jojo Betzler (Roman Griffin Davis),… Read More #TIFF19 Review: Jojo Rabbit (Special Presentations)

By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) Set in London of 1862, The Aeronauts tells the story of James Glaisher (Eddie Redmayne), a pioneering meteorologist who believes he will be able to use changes in sky temperatures to predict the weather, making him the laughing stock of the scientific community at the time. Determined to… Read More #TIFF19 Review: The Aeronauts (Gala Presentations)

By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) Françoise Crémont (Isabelle Huppert), affectionately referred to as Frankie, is an aging French actress who invites her family and friends to a sprawling villa in Sintra, Portugal for a vacation together that could end up being their last. There’s her son Paul (Jérémie Renier), current husband Jimmy (Brendan… Read More #TIFF19 Review: Frankie (Special Presentations)

By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) Terrence Malick used to take long hiatuses between his films, but the reclusive director has become quite prolific in the years since his 2011 magnum opus The Tree of Life, having released multiple films since then. Now Malick returns once again with A Hidden Life, a World War… Read More #TIFF19 Review: A Hidden Life (Masters)

By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) Lloyd Vogel (Matthew Rhys) is a cynical journalist who is assigned to write a short magazine profile of Fred Rogers (Tom Hanks), the star of the TV show Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. While Lloyd initially scoffs at having to interview a children’s entertainer, he forms a bond with Mr.… Read More #TIFF19 Review: A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (Gala Presentations)