By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Maybe it’s just that I have a soft spot for movies about film critics, or can admittedly somewhat relate to the title character, but I really enjoyed Ben’s At Home, a micro budget picture that offers big rewards. After winning the award for Best Feature at the Canadian Film… Read More Review: Ben’s At Home
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) What exactly constitutes a “good kill?” And is there even such a thing as one, or are these two fundamentally different words just put together to try and justify war and conflict? With drone warfare becoming an increasingly more common tactic in the arsenal of tools used by… Read More Review: Good Kill
By John Corrado ★★ (out of 4) After moving to the United States and working as a sitcom writer, Rob Cohen returns to his native land of Canada after two decades, taking a road trip from Nova Scotia to Vancouver, and interviewing various Canadians in attempts to shine a light on what gives our country… Read More Review: Being Canadian
Avengers: Age of Ultron – A Walt Disney Studios Release http://marvel.com/avengers Release Date: May 1st, 2015 Rated PG for violence and language Running Time: 141 minutes Joss Whedon (director) Joss Whedon (writer) Danny Elfman (music) Brian Tyler (music) Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark/Iron Man Chris Hemsworth as Thor Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner/Hulk Chris… Read More Three Views: Avengers: Age of Ultron
By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) The latest Earth Day release from Disneynature, Monkey Kingdom is arguably the best film yet in the studio’s ongoing series of impressively photographed wildlife documentaries, striking the perfect balance between adorable animals, and emotionally affective drama of the natural world. Taking place in Sri Lanka, the film follows a troop of macaques… Read More Review: Monkey Kingdom
Danny Collins – An Elevation Pictures Release http://www.bleeckerstreetmedia.com/#!danny-collins/cfvg Release Date: April 10th, 2015 Rated 14A for coarse language and substance abuse Running Time: 107 minutes Dan Fogelman (director) Dan Fogelman (screenplay) Ryan Adams (music) Theodore Shapiro (music) Al Pacino as Danny Collins Bobby Cannavale as Tom Donnelly Jennifer Garner as Samantha Leigh Donnelly Giselle Eisenberg… Read More Three Views: Danny Collins
By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) The first thing we see in While We’re Young are excerpts from Henrik Ibsen’s The Master Builder. “I’ve become so disturbed by younger people, they upset me so much that I’ve closed my doors,” a man says, and the response to his fear of youth comes just as… Read More Review: While We’re Young
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) After closing the Canadian Film Fest, and winning their award for “Most Awkward Sex Scene,” the charming romance Pretend We’re Kissing is opening at the Carlton today, and will also be playing at Landmark Cinemas across the country. This is the sort of homegrown film that has the… Read More Review: Pretend We’re Kissing
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) The 1996 film Fargo is one of the most iconic movies of the past twenty years, and an achievement that is nearly impossible to replicate. Now the Coen Brothers classic has received an offbeat followup of sorts in the unlikely form of Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter, an arthouse curiosity… Read More Review: Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Throughout their filmography of over thirty features, DreamWorks Animation has had a somewhat mixed output, evident just last year with three films ranging in quality from the surprisingly good Mr. Peabody & Sherman and the outstanding How To Train Your Dragon 2, to the very disappointing Penguins of Madagascar.… Read More Review: Home
By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) After questioning the meaning behind his own art, Ethan Hawke had a chance encounter with the elderly Seymour Bernstein, an acclaimed classical pianist in New York who gave up performing publicly decades ago to focus on being a teacher and composer. This dinner party meeting came at a… Read More Review: Seymour: An Introduction
Cinderella – A Walt Disney Studios Release http://movies.disney.com/cinderella/ Release Date: March 13th, 2015 Rated PG for mild thematic elements Running Time: 105 minutes Kenneth Branagh (director) Chris Weitz (screenplay) Patrick Doyle (music) Lily James as Cinderella Richard Madden as Prince Cate Blanchett as Stepmother Helena Bonham Carter as Fairy Godmother Nonso Anozie as Captain Stellan… Read More Three Views: Cinderella
’71 – An Elevation Pictures Release https://www.facebook.com/71filmuk Release Date: March 13th, 2015 (Limited) Rated 14A for coarse language and graphic violence Running Time: 99 minutes Yann Demange (director) Gregory Burke (screenplay) David Holmes (music) Jack O’Connell as Gary Hook Sam Reid as Lieutenant Armitage Sean Harris as Captain Sandy Browning Barry Keoghan as Sean Bannon… Read More Three Views: ’71
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) After making waves with his work on The Corporation, director Harold Crooks turns his attention to the subject of technically legal offshore tax havens in The Price We Pay. After premiering at TIFF, and being chosen as one of Canada’s Top Ten of 2014, the documentary is opening… Read More Review: The Price We Pay
By John Corrado ★★ (out of 4) Although first time feature director Kyle Thomas shows promise, The Valley Below is a film that somehow manages to feel both mundane and overreaching at the same time. After premiering at TIFF, the Canadian drama is opening in limited release at the Carlton this weekend. The story is… Read More Review: The Valley Below
Focus – A Warner Bros. Release http://focusmovie.com Release Date: February 27th, 2015 Rated 14A for coarse language and sexual content Running Time: 105 minutes Glenn Ficarra (director) John Requa (director) Glenn Ficarra (writer) John Requa (writer) Nick Urata (music) Will Smith as Nicky Margot Robbie as Jess Adrian Martinez as Farhad Gerald McRaney as Owens… Read More Three Views: Focus
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) What if the plots of old movies ended up being mistaken for real news? That’s the amusing premise behind Big News from Grand Rock, an easily enjoyable Canadian comedy that opens in limited release this weekend, after a successful run on the TIFF Film Circuit. This is a… Read More Review: Big News from Grand Rock
McFarland – A Walt Disney Pictures Release http://movies.disney.com/mcfarland-usa Release Date: February 20th, 2015 Rated PG for thematic material, some violence and language Running Time: 128 minutes Niki Caro (director) Christopher Cleveland (writer) Bettina Gilois (writer) Grant Thompson (screenplay) Antonio Pinto (music) Kevin Costner as Jim White Ramiro Rodriguez as Danny Diaz Carlos Pratts as Thomas… Read More Three Views: McFarland
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) After premiering at the Inside Out LGBT Film Festival last year, the gutting and critically acclaimed documentary Matt Shepard is a Friend of Mine is finally coming back to Toronto and opening at the Carlton today. Tickets and showtimes are right here. Matthew Shepard had just moved to… Read More Review: Matt Shepard is a Friend of Mine
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) After premiering at TIFF in 2013, and kicking around the festival circuit since then, the Indian drama Siddharth is finally circling back to Toronto and starting a limited run at the Bell Lightbox this weekend. Tickets and showtimes can be found right here. Desperate for money to support… Read More Review: Siddharth
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