By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) On the morning of their fifth wedding anniversary, Nick Dunne (Ben Affleck) comes home to find a coffee table mysteriously broken and his wife Amy (Rosamund Pike) missing. The police are notified, a missing person case is opened, and soon the whole town is out looking for her.… Read More Review: Gone Girl
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Although being advertised almost like a cross between The Blind Side and Million Dollar Arm, a pair of films that I genuinely liked, The Good Lie in fact couldn’t be more different from those stories about wealthy Americans helping immigrants new to the country. This is a quieter… Read More Review: The Good Lie
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Directed by Israel Horovitz from his own stage play, My Old Lady works mainly as a three person drama, with the majority of the story taking place at the same location, and the biggest revelations happening during conversations. After premiering at TIFF, the drama opens today in limited… Read More Review: My Old Lady
By John Corrado ★★★★ (out of 4) “I think if I disappeared tomorrow, the universe wouldn’t really notice,” Tim (Ansel Elgort) tells his high school guidance counsellor during one of many painfully real and deeply moving scenes in director Jason Reitman’s Men, Women & Children. A star player who dropped off the football team, Tim… Read More Review: Men, Women & Children
The Boxtrolls – An eOne Films Release http://www.theboxtrolls.com Release Date: September 26th, 2014 Rated PG for some scary scenes Running Time: 97 minutes Graham Annable (director) Anthony Stacchi (director) Irena Brignull (screenplay) Adam Pava (screenplay) Based on the novel Here Be Monsters! by Alan Snow Dario Marianelli (music) Ben Kingsley as Archibald Snatcher (voice) Jared… Read More Five Views: The Boxtrolls
By John Corrado ★★★★ (out of 4) There is perhaps no greater compliment than to say that I left the screening of Pride with the same feelings I had after seeing The King’s Speech for the first time four years ago. And just like that other retelling of a somewhat lesser known but very important true story, Pride is a gloriously… Read More Review: Pride
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Shawn Levy is a director whose films I often find myself enjoying for various reasons, and his dysfunctional family dramedy This is Where I Leave You is no different. What can I say? I guess I just have a soft spot for his brand of feel good comedies with heart.… Read More Review: This is Where I Leave You
By John Corrado ★ (out of 4) The return of Pierce Brosnan as an action star, in a spy movie no less, could have been reason for excitement. But unfortunately one merely has to look at the late August release date to judge the overall quality of The November Man, a film that left me… Read More Review: The November Man
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) It’s interesting that a story about memories evokes such clear ones within myself. When I think about The Giver, Lois Lowry’s classic 1993 novel which has been a staple of young adult literature for about two decades now, I remember being 11 years old and getting up early… Read More Review: The Giver
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Based on the bestseller by Richard C. Morais, The Hundred-Foot Journey is a total feel good film, and I liked that. Those who buy a ticket are going to leave feeling happy, just like after an evening spent at a fine restaurant, and the fact that the film… Read More Review: The Hundred-Foot Journey
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) “This is like one of those ’80s movies,” Sarah (Aubrey Plaza) says partway through About Alex, a modern attempt to copy the magic of Lawrence Kasdan’s definitive classic The Big Chill. The movie opens today in limited release and video on demand, courtesy of levelFILM. But despite some… Read More Review: About Alex
By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) I wasn’t expecting Guardians of the Galaxy to open that way that it does. We focus on a young Peter Quill (Wyatt Oleff) listening to his beloved Awesome Mix cassette tape while visiting his dying mother (Laura Haddock) in the hospital, before running out of the building in… Read More Review: Guardians of the Galaxy
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Among my biggest regrets of last year’s TIFF was missing the appealingly titled Can a Song Save Your Life?, which Harvey Weinstein quickly acquired for a hefty price tag. Now that same film has arrived in theatres under the new name Begin Again, and I’m happy announce that… Read More Review: Begin Again
By John Corrado ★★★★ (out of 4) When talking about the the sheer spectacle and mayhem on display in Snowpiercer, someone describes it as “a blockbuster production with a devilishly unpredictable plot,” and late in the game this becomes the perfect description of South Korean director Bong Joon Ho’s latest epic. After months of anticipation,… Read More Review: Snowpiercer
Planes: Fire & Rescue – A Walt Disney Pictures Release http://movies.disney.com/planes-fire-and-rescue Release Date: July 18th, 2014 Rated G for action and some peril Running time: 84 minutes Roberts Gannaway (dir.) Jeffrey M. Howard (characters) Mark Mancina (music) Dane Cook as Dusty Crophopper (voice) Ed Harris as Blade Ranger (voice) Julie Bowen as Lil’ Dipper (voice)… Read More Five Views: Planes: Fire & Rescue
By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) A few years back in the summer of 2011, Rise of the Planet of the Apes practically came out of nowhere to become one of the best moviegoing surprises in recent memory, a briskly paced franchise reboot that was as exciting as it was smart. Now comes Dawn… Read More Review: Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
By John Corrado ★★★★ (out of 4) Mason (Ellar Coltrane) is lying in the grass and staring up at the blue sky, the distinctive sound of Coldplay’s “Yellow” playing on the soundtrack, as his single mother (Patricia Arquette) arrives and picks him up from school. This is the already iconic opening scene of Boyhood, a… Read More Review: Boyhood
By John Corrado ★★★★ (out of 4) Roger Ebert is one of the main reasons why I became a writer, and like so many of us in this field, his reviews are the sole inspiration behind my choice to become a film critic. Because of this, Life Itself is somewhat ironically hard for me to… Read More Review: Life Itself
Words and Pictures – A D Films Release http://wordsandpicturesthemovie.com Release Date: July 4th, 2014 (Limited) Rated PG for mature themes and language Running time: 116 minutes Fred Schepisi (dir.) Gerald Di Pego (writer) Paul Grabowsky (music) Clive Owen as Jack Marcus Juliette Binoche as Dina Delsanto Valerie Tian as Emily Navid Negahban as Rashid Bruce… Read More Five Views: Words and Pictures
By John Corrado *** (out of 4) With slightly grainy handheld cinematography, mostly captured at director Joe Swanberg’s own Chicago home, Happy Christmas couldn’t be farther from the summer blockbusters that are currently dominating the box office. But that’s precisely the charm of this low key and very entertaining little film. After premiering at Sundance… Read More Review: Happy Christmas
The Joy of Movies 