By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) The 2021 Hot Docs Festival is running virtually from April 29th to May 9th, all films are available to stream for audiences across Canada The “ISIS brides” as they are called, the Western woman who travelled overseas from Europe and North America to join the terrorist group in… Read More #HotDocs21 Review: The Return: Life After ISIS
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) 2021 Academy Award nominee for Best Documentary Feature A dark horse contender for the Best Documentary Feature Oscar, The Mole Agent is a low-key charmer of a film that follows an elderly gentleman in Chile who is hired to go undercover in a nursing home to investigate suspected mistreatment,… Read More Review: The Mole Agent
By John Corrado ★★ (out of 4) 2021 Academy Award nominee for Best International Feature The title of filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania’s The Man Who Sold His Skin, notably the first film from Tunisia to receive an Oscar nomination, ends up being pretty self-explanatory. It’s literally about a man who sells his skin and has… Read More Review: The Man Who Sold His Skin
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) 2021 Academy Award nominee for Best International Feature Director Derek Tsang’s anti-bullying film Better Days, which became a massive box office hit in China upon its release in 2019, is a sprawling teen melodrama that mixes elements of romance and crime drama to pretty good if at times… Read More Review: Better Days
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) 2021 Academy Award nominee for Best Original Song – “Io Sì (Seen)” Directed by her son Edoardo Ponti, The Life Ahead mainly serves as a late-career showcase for Italian actress Sophia Loren. Now in the twilight of her career, it’s easy to think of the film as a… Read More Netflix Review: The Life Ahead
By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) 2021 Academy Award nominee for Best Adapted Screenplay An Indian entrepreneur’s rise from the bottom to the top of the class system is charted in filmmaker Ramin Bahrani’s latest film The White Tiger, a dark and incredibly entertaining drama that kept me hooked from start to blistering finish.… Read More Netflix Review: The White Tiger
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Danish filmmaker Christina Rosendahl’s period piece drama The Good Traitor joins the wide range of films that have been made about World War II from the American and British perspectives, and sets itself apart by exploring Denmark’s complicated role in the conflict with the Nazis. The film serves… Read More VOD Review: The Good Traitor
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Set in 1981 during South Africa’s apartheid rule, Moffie explores the effects of the country’s compulsory military service through the eyes of a young man discovering his sexuality. The main character is Nicholas van der Swart (Kai Luke Brümmer), a quiet young man who, at the start of… Read More VOD Review: Moffie
By John Corrado ★★★★ (out of 4) Set in July of 1995 at the height of the conflict between Bosnia and Serbia, the Oscar-nominated Quo Vadis, Aida? is a gripping and startling film that takes these historical events from nearly three decades ago and puts them into sharp, chilling focus. This conflict is explored through… Read More VOD Review: Quo Vadis, Aida?
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Dramatizing the life of Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen (Pål Sverre Hagen), who became the first man to reach the South Pole with his team of explorers on December 14th, 1911, Amundsen: The Greatest Expedition offers a mix of adventure movie and biographical drama that is mostly successful on… Read More VOD Review: Amundsen: The Greatest Expedition
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) The 2016 South Korean zombie movie Train to Busan is an incredible exercise in genre cinema, a tight, suspenseful thrill ride that unfolds mostly on a train and almost entirely in real time. Seriously, it’s a great action film, and one that I would highly recommend. Now, director… Read More Blu-ray Review: Train to Busan Presents: Peninsula
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Eddie (Fionn O’Shea) and Amber (Lola Petticrew) are two closeted gay teenagers in Ireland circa 1995, who are tired of the constant homophobic taunts from their classmates and decide to put rumours about their sexuality to rest by pretending to date each other. Despite the destined to be… Read More Inside Out 2020 Review: Dating Amber
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) The Alba truffle, which grows in the Piedmont region of Northern Italy, is considered to be one of the world’s rarest and most exclusive food items, and directors Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw take us into the unique world of the men who forage for them in their… Read More #TIFF20 Review: The Truffle Hunters (Special Events)
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) Welcome to New Order, the latest film from Mexican director Michel Franco that brutally shows a dystopic nightmare unfolding in Mexico City. The action starts at the wedding of Marianne (Naian Gonzaléz Norvind), an upperclass woman in a rich neighbourhood who is trying to get married as the… Read More #TIFF20 Review: New Order (Contemporary World Cinema)
By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) A swooning, tragic romance that unfolds on the coast of Normandy and is set against the perfect backdrop of the 1980s, director François Ozon’s queer melodrama Summer of 85 is a film that won’t work for everyone, but it really worked for me. When we first meet teenaged… Read More #TIFF20 Review: Summer of 85 (Special Presentations)
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) The Indonesian superhero movie Gundala, which premiered as part of Midnight Madness at TIFF last year and is now available on Blu-ray, is an example of a film that deserves credit for its ambition and what it is able to pull off with a limited budget. Subtitled “Rise… Read More Blu-ray Review: Gundala
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) In the kung-fu comedy Enter the Fat Dragon, Donnie Yen disappears beneath padding and makeup for much of the film to take on the role of Fallon Zhu, a once fit and trim cop in Hong Kong who is put on desk duty and ends up gaining a… Read More Blu-ray Review: Enter the Fat Dragon
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) The latest and supposedly final instalment in this heavily dramatized saga of the man who taught Bruce Lee martial arts, Ip Man 4: The Finale finds Wing Chun grandmaster Ip Man (Donnie Yen) coming to America and battling racism in San Francisco circa 1964. At the start of… Read More Blu-ray Review: Ip Man 4: The Finale
By John Corrado One of the five films nominated for Best International Film at this year’s Oscars, Les Misérables is a stirring modern day fable from director Ladj Ly that explores timely themes about racial tensions and police brutality in contemporary France. As of yesterday, the film is now available for rent and purchase on… Read More VOD Release: Les Misérables
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) The Irish ghost comedy Extra Ordinary, which was the opening night film at the Toronto After Dark Film Festival last year where it played extremely well with the packed audience of horror fans, offers a fun and surprisingly charming twist on the supernatural genre. Laced with a quirky… Read More Review: Extra Ordinary
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