By John Corrado Ridley Scott’s Gladiator, the filmmaker’s Oscar-winning modern classic from 2000, is remembered for many things, including star Russell Crowe throwing his arms open in the arena and asking the immortal question, “are you not entertained?” It’s a moment that has become somewhat of a meme, but it’s impossible not to think about… Read More Movie Review: Gladiator II
By John Corrado Payal Kapadia, the filmmaker behind the 2021 documentary A Night of Knowing Nothing, makes her narrative feature debut with All We Imagine as Light. Kapadia’s film, which was awarded the Grand Prix at Cannes earlier this year, is a touching and very heartfelt slice-of-life portrait of women in modern India. The film mainly focuses… Read More Movie Review: All We Imagine as Light
By John Corrado Michael Keaton returns to one of his most iconic roles in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, a legacy sequel that finds director Tim Burton going back to the world of his 1988 film. The result is the filmmaker’s freest and most spirited work in some time, with a refreshing sense of playfulness and creativity to it.… Read More 4K Ultra HD Review: Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
By John Corrado In 2009, director Adam Elliot, the Australian animator behind the 2003 Oscar-winning short film Harvie Krumpet, released his debut feature Mary & Max. The excellent claymation film had a lovingly hand-crafted feel to it, and told the tender story of the pen-pal friendship between a girl and an autistic man, which Elliot explored with… Read More Movie Review: Memoir of a Snail
By John Corrado In A Real Pain, his sophomore feature as writer and director, actor Jesse Eisenberg crafts a sensitive, richly textured character study of two cousins reuniting for a Holocaust tour in Poland. This unlikely premise paves the way for a dramedy that takes the bones of a mismatched buddy comedy, as Eisenberg graciously shares… Read More Movie Review: A Real Pain
By John Corrado The latest “event movie” from writer-director M. Night Shyamalan, Trap is basically pitched as a thriller set at a pop concert with a serial killer trying to escape the auditorium, and it delivers on this conceit. Josh Hartnett stars in the film as Cooper Abbott, a working class dad taking his daughter… Read More 4K Ultra HD Review: Trap
By John Corrado Adapted from the 1972 children’s novel by Barbara Robinson, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever tells the story of a town’s Christmas pageant that gets upended when the local outcast kids audition for roles. In the hands of director Dallas Jenkins (creator of the Bible-based TV series The Chosen), Robinson’s book is turned into a charming… Read More Movie Review: The Best Christmas Pageant Ever
By John Corrado Thirty years after Forrest Gump, director Robert Zemeckis reunites with stars Tom Hanks and Robin Wright as well as screenwriter Eric Roth for the ambitious drama Here. An adaptation of the 2014 graphic novel by Richard McGuire, Here is built around the conceit of watching life unfold in a single location across millions of years, from… Read More Movie Review: Here
By John Corrado Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band is the latest Springsteen documentary from director Thom Zimny, and it’s an electrifying mix of concert doc and intimate snapshot of The Boss on tour. Where as Zimny’s recent portraits Western Stars and Letter to You focused on those specific albums, Road Diary expands its scope to his current world… Read More Movie Review: Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band (Disney+)
By John Corrado Please note that this is a review of the Blu-ray release of Twisters. For my full thoughts on the film itself, you can read my theatrical review right here. Twisters, the legacy sequel to the 1996 blockbuster Twister, is getting a physical media release this week, following its run in theatres over… Read More Blu-ray Review: Twisters (Collector’s Edition)
By John Corrado The film Goodrich opens with protagonist Andy Goodrich (Michael Keaton) being awoken by a phone call from his younger wife Naomi (Laura Benanti), who tells him that she has just checked herself into a rehab facility for the next ninety days. Unbeknownst to Andy, Naomi was dealing with a prescription pill addiction,… Read More Movie Review: Goodrich
By John Corrado The 2022 horror movie Smile rode the wave of a concept ready-made for viral marketing campaigns to become a hit at the box office. Add in the fact that the film’s premise basically allowed for near-endless follow-ups, and a sequel was an inevitable case of not if, but when. Writer-director Parker Finn (who expanded… Read More Movie Review: Smile 2
By John Corrado The choice to make a Donald Trump biopic at this point in time, when the man himself is already so ubiquitous and overexposed in our media landscape, is both an obvious and somewhat curious one. In our polarized age, the mere presence of a film like this raises questions about what audience… Read More Movie Review: The Apprentice
By John Corrado How the heck do you even begin to approach making a sequel to the 2019 smash hit Joker? You know, the R-rated comic book villain origin story from the director of Old School and The Hangover, that was inspired by the films of Martin Scorsese, somehow won the Golden Lion at Venice,… Read More Movie Review: Joker: Folie à Deux
By John Corrado Saoirse Ronan takes on the role of a young alcoholic in The Outrun. It’s a role that allows the actress to deliver an incredible performance showcasing her full depth and range, as the drama depicts the addiction and recovery process as an ongoing journey. It’s based on author Amy Liptrot’s memoir of the… Read More Movie Review: The Outrun
By John Corrado The movie Lee is a biopic of photojournalist Elizabeth “Lee” Miller (played by Kate Winslet), who worked as a photographer for Vogue magazine during World War II. The film serves as the feature directorial debut of cinematographer Ellen Kuras (who first worked with Winslet on Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), and… Read More Movie Review: Lee
By John Corrado In her debut feature documentary Seeking Mavis Beacon, director Jazmin Jones tries to find the elusive model that became the face of the ubiquitous computer program Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing. If you are of a certain age, the educational game is likely responsible for teaching you computer skills. Though Mavis Beacon herself… Read More Movie Review: Seeking Mavis Bacon
By John Corrado Kevin Costner’s Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 is the first in what the actor and filmmaker intends to be a four part saga chronicling America in the 1860s. And it’s hard not to admire Costner for betting everything on crafting this largely self-financed Western saga. The film finds Costner returning… Read More 4K Ultra HD Review: Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1
By John Corrado The latest film in Illumination’s blockbuster animated franchise that began in 2010, Despicable Me 4 is largely about offering more of the same, which in this case can mostly be seen as a good thing. By now, Illumination has this series down to a formula. But Despicable Me 4 still manages to… Read More Blu-ray Review: Despicable Me 4 (Collector’s Edition)
By John Corrado Transformers One is technically the latest entry in the blockbuster franchise based on the Hasbro toys, but sets itself apart by being both a prequel and the first fully animated film since 1986’s The Transformers: The Movie. And it’s a decent animated film that easily ranks as one of the better entries… Read More Movie Review: Transformers One
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