By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) The latest from British filmmaker Ben Wheatley, In the Earth is a low-budget horror film that was shot in the woods over fifteen days last August during lockdown, using the real life COVID-19 pandemic as inspiration for its virus-themed story. This unique production history is also the most… Read More VOD Review: In the Earth
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Set in Australia’s Northern Territory in the first half of the 20th century, High Ground is an Australian western that grapples with the country’s dark history of colonialism and violence against Indigenous peoples. The film opens in 1919, with a young Aboriginal boy named Gutjuk (played as a… Read More VOD Review: High Ground
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Matt (Ed Helms) and Anna (Patti Harrison), the two people at the centre of Together Together, a film that uses the artifice of a rom-com to explore even deeper themes of friendship, aren’t together together, hence the film’s title. He is a single man in his mid-forties who… Read More VOD Review: Together Together
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) 2021 Academy Award nominee for Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor (Daniel Kaluuya), Best Supporting Actor (LaKeith Stanfield), Best Original Screenplay, Best Cinematography (Sean Bobbitt), and Best Original Song – “Fight for You” Confidently directed by emerging filmmaker Shaka King, Judas and the Black Messiah dramatizes the life and… Read More Review: Judas and the Black Messiah
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) 2021 Academy Award nominee for Best Sound Tom Hanks stars in the stripped down World War II naval thriller Greyhound as Commander Ernest Krause of the US Navy who, on his first war-time assignment, is sent to protect a convoy of 37 Allied ships during the Battle of… Read More Review: Greyhound
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) 2021 Academy Award nominee for Best Documentary Feature Among this year’s many Oscar nominees from the streaming giant Netflix is My Octopus Teacher, a surprisingly touching nature documentary that captures the unexpected friendship between a scuba diver and an octopus, from captivating beginning to poignant end. The film… Read More Netflix Review: My Octopus Teacher
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 Animated Feature Like all of Aardman’s productions, it’s clear watching A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon that this film was a labour of love for all involved. The claymation animation is not only incredibly well done, but also a delight to watch, with… Read More Netflix Review: A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) 2021 Academy Award nominee for Best Animated Feature Over the Moon is a brightly coloured animated musical that serves as the feature directorial debut of former Disney animator Glen Keane, who previously won an Oscar for his 2017 short film Dear Basketball. The film has some appealing elements,… Read More Netflix Review: Over the Moon
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) 2021 Academy Award nominee for Best Original Song – “Husavik (My Hometown)” It’s hard to talk about the musical comedy Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga without talking about “Husavik (My Hometown),” the rousing power ballad that has gotten the film a surprise Oscar nomination for… Read More Netflix Review: Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga
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 ★★★½ (out of 4) 2021 Academy Award nominee for Best Visual Effects One of the best things that has happened with advancements in visual effects is that real animals no longer need to be used on screen. From the tiger in Life of Pi, to the apes in the modern Planet of… Read More Disney+ Review: The One and Only Ivan
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) 2021 Academy Award nominee for Best Visual Effects As it turns out, the plainly descriptive title of Love and Monsters is a very fitting one. The film has monsters. Lots of ‘em, in fact, and very imaginative ones, too. Enough to get the film a surprise Oscar nomination… Read More Netflix Review: Love and Monsters
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) 2021 Academy Award nominee for Best Visual Effects Based on the book Good Morning, Midnight by Lily Brooks-Dalton, The Midnight Sky is George Clooney’s latest effort as a director and his first in the science fiction genre. It’s a decent if somewhat uneven sci-fi thriller that is ambitious… Read More Netflix Review: The Midnight Sky
By John Corrado ★★ (out of 4) 2021 Academy Award nominee for Best Actress (Andra Day) Andra Day’s titular performance in The United States vs. Billie Holiday, which already won her a Golden Globe and has gotten her an Oscar nomination for Best Actress as well, is a prime example of a fine performance that… Read More Review: The United States vs. Billie Holiday
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) When we first meet Frankie (Alana Hawley Purvis) in the very good homegrown drama Range Roads, which is closing the virtual Canadian Film Fest tonight, her face is painted white and she is wearing a bright red wig, playing the over the top role of a queen on… Read More Canadian Film Fest Review: Range Roads
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) The Courier, a new spy thriller that delivers in terms of “they don’t make ‘em like they used to” entertainment, tells the true story of Greville Wynne (Benedict Cumberbatch), a mild-mannered English salesman who was hired to sneak documents out of the Soviet Union at the height of… Read More VOD Review: The Courier
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