By John Corrado ★★★★ (out of 4) A slow burn psychological thriller turned full on horror movie freakout in the shocking and unforgettable last act, mother! is the latest work from Darren Aronofsky, and it’s the sort of film that should be seen knowing as little as possible, but with ample time to think and talk… Read More Review: mother!
By John Corrado ★★★★ (out of 4) I watched The Tragically Hip’s final concert in a movie theatre that was showing it live last summer. I couldn’t be in Kingston that night but, like a third of all Canadians, I was glued to that screen for every single song. I was thankful for the chance… Read More Review: Long Time Running
By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) One of the first images we see in Good Time is a closeup of Nick Nikas’s (Ben Safdie) expressive eyes, with pain and confusion flashing behind them as he is given a mental examination. Nick is a young man with a developmental disability, and though he gives seemingly… Read More Review: Good Time
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) It’s the fall of 1995, and Ali (Abby Quinn) is a teenager who lives with her parents Alan (John Turturro) and Pat (Edie Falco) in a Manhattan apartment. Meanwhile, her older sister Dana (Jenny Slate) is living with her fiancé Ben (Jay Duplass), and on the surface their family… Read More Review: Landline
By John Corrado ★★★★ (out of 4) Named for Link Wray’s highly influential guitar piece “Rumble,” the only instrumental song to be banned for radio play in the United States for fear that the driving chord progressions and percussion might start a riot, Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World offers an extensive history of Native… Read More Review: Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World
War for the Planet of the Apes Review By John Corrado ★★★★ (out of 4) One of the greatest moviegoing experiences I’ve ever had was going to a press screening of Rise of the Planet of the Apes back in 2011 not really knowing what to expect from the franchise reboot, and realizing early on… Read More Three Views: War for the Planet of the Apes
Baby Driver Review By John Corrado ★★★★ (out of 4) Edgar Wright’s Baby Driver is like the cinematic equivalent of a guitar solo, an example of a singular filmmaker showing complete control over his craft, while riffing on a wide variety of genres and proving the full extent of what he is capable of. It’s thrilling… Read More Three Views: Baby Driver
Spider-Man: Homecoming Review By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) Peter Parker (Tom Holland) is back to being an awkward high schooler in Spider-Man: Homecoming, and the result is the best outing for the webslinger since Sam Raimi’s first two films. This reboot forgoes any sort of origin story, which is just fine this time… Read More Three Views: Spider-Man: Homecoming
By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) One of my favourite things about The Big Sick, a romantic comedy with deep dramatic undertones that reinvigorates the well-worn genre, is how little moments from the film keep coming back to me a week after seeing it. This is a wonderful film on so many levels, at… Read More Review: The Big Sick
Cars 3 Review By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) is back on the racetrack in Cars 3, but now he is faced with confronting the end of his career as a world champion racer following a brutal crash, and thinking about how he will leave his mark in a world… Read More Three Views: Cars 3
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) The narrative debut of documentarian Gabriela Cowperthwaite, who made waves with her hard-hitting SeaWorld exposé Blackfish in 2013, Megan Leavey is a solid and inspiring “based on a true story” drama, that gets to the heart of the human-animal bond. The film recounts the story of Corporal Megan… Read More Review: Megan Leavey
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Abacus: Small Enough to Jail opens with its main subject Robert Sung, the founder of the independent Abacus Federal Savings Bank in New York’s Chinatown, watching It’s a Wonderful Life on TV with his wife, and relating himself to the character of selfless do-gooder George Bailey. Regardless of whether… Read More Review: Abacus: Small Enough to Jail
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) When we first meet our protagonist William Bowman (Jake Croker) in #AnAmericanDream, he is a high school football star living in farmland America, who gets overwhelmed whenever his parents try to talk about his future. Then he suffers a concussion on the football field, and suddenly the narrative shifts… Read More Review: #AnAmericanDream
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales Review By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) The fifth entry in the blockbuster series, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales is a sequel that has the distinction of being both not as good as the still-best first film The Curse of the… Read More Three Views: Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) The Vancouver housing market has gotten so out of reach that the majority of young people aren’t able to afford properties in the city, and many older retirees can no longer afford to live there. Coupled with a boom in expensive condo developments that are exploiting the city… Read More Review: Vancouver: No Fixed Address
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) With radio host Joe Cristiano telling stories on air about his own mother and asking other men to call in as the narrative through line, Mom & Me offers an exploration of the bonds between tough guys and their mothers in Oklahoma, which is said to be the “manliest state.”… Read More Review: Mom & Me
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Review By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) When we first catch up with Peter Quill (Chris Pratt), Gamora (Zoe Saldana), Drax (Dave Bautista), Rocket (Bradley Cooper) and Baby Groot (Vin Diesel) in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, they are getting ready to slay a giant tentacled space monster.… Read More Three Views: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) After suffering a major heart attack on a construction site, Daniel Blake (Dave Johns), a widowed 59-year-old carpenter who has been a hard worker and proud taxpayer all his years, is trying to go after government support in order to pay his bills. But he ends up stuck in… Read More Review: I, Daniel Blake
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) The door of Salam Kahil’s Vancouver delicatessen warns customers about coarse language and nudity, both of which are on full display in his shop, and in director Lewis Bennett’s documentary about him, The Sandwich Nazi. Salam is a former male escort from Lebanon who opened the deli when he moved… Read More Review: The Sandwich Nazi
By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) Based on the fascinating true story of Percy Fawcett (Charlie Hunnam), The Lost City of Z compellingly centres its narrative around the three expeditions that the British army colonel turned explorer took into the Amazon between 1906 and 1925. Although the expeditions were initially being funded for colonialist purposes involving the rubber… Read More Review: The Lost City of Z
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