By John Corrado Greta Gerwig’s Lady Bird is a wonderful coming of age film that finds the perfect balance between being funny, moving, bittersweet and a little edgy, just like its spirited protagonist Christine “Lady Bird” McPherson (Saoirse Ronan). The film is now available on Blu-ray. This was my second favourite movie of last year behind… Read More Blu-ray Review: Lady Bird
By John Corrado Based on the true story of how Charles Dickens (Dan Stevens) wrote and published his beloved tale A Christmas Carol in a matter of weeks, helped along by visions of Ebenezer Scrooge (Christopher Plummer) and his other characters, The Man Who Invented Christmas finds the sweet spot between being a biopic and a new… Read More Blu-ray Review: The Man Who Invented Christmas
By John Corrado Nominated for Best Animated Feature at the Oscars, The Breadwinner follows an 11-year-old girl in Afghanistan named Parvana (Saara Chaudry). When her father (Ali Badshah) is taken by the Taliban, she has to cut her hair and start passing herself off as a boy, so that she can get work to provide for… Read More DVD Review: The Breadwinner
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Based on R.C. Sherriff’s 1928 stage play, which was adapted for the screen four times between 1930 and 1988, Journey’s End takes place towards the end of World War I in 1918, and follows a group of British soldiers who are holed up in the trenches in northern… Read More Review: Journey’s End
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) The surprise hit Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle provides a perfect example of how to make a belated sequel to a childhood classic. The film successfully avoids the trap of being either an unnecessary followup or an inferior retread, and instead nicely expands upon the world of the… Read More Blu-ray Review: Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle
By John Corrado When Star Wars: The Last Jedi opened last December, it became one of the rare movies that was acclaimed by the majority of critics, while leaving a good portion of fans disappointed. Now the debate can rage on, as the film is being released on Blu-ray. As someone who considers himself both… Read More Blu-ray Review: Star Wars: The Last Jedi
By John Corrado I have always been interested in the prospects of using VR headsets to watch regular movies. But the problem is that you have to use a special app on your phone to split the image in two, losing quite a bit of resolution in the process. Because the headsets are made for… Read More Product Review: MovieMask Premium
By John Corrado ★★ (out of 4) At the beginning of Flower, the 17-year-old Erica (Zoey Deutch) is in a cop car, giving a blow job to a local cop (Eric Edelstein). This is all part of a money-making scheme, where she pursues sexual encounters with middle aged men, and has her two friends Kala… Read More Review: Flower
By John Corrado ★★ (out of 4) Following the 2012 surprise hit Pitch Perfect, and the inevitable but still enjoyable 2014 followup Pitch Perfect 2, Pitch Perfect 3 should have ended this series with a bang, but instead it just sort of fizzles out. At the start of this third instalment, the original Barden Bellas… Read More Blu-ray Review: Pitch Perfect 3
By John Corrado The latest from Alexander Payne, Downsizing follows a working class man from Omaha named Paul Safraneck (Matt Damon), who decides to undergo a new procedure to shrink himself down to the size of an action figure, so that he can reduce his carbon footprint and live a grand life at a fraction of… Read More Blu-ray Review: Downsizing
By John Corrado Landing a spot on my list of the best movies of 2017, I, Tonya is a gripping and surprisingly sympathetic biopic of disgraced figure skater Tonya Harding, and the film is now available on Blu-ray. Margot Robbie netted a much deserved Best Actress Oscar nomination for her knockout performance as Harding, and… Read More Blu-ray Review: I, Tonya
By John Corrado The 12th edition of the Canadian Film Fest starts tomorrow night at the Scotiabank Theatre in Toronto, showcasing a selection of ten features and twenty shorts, all from homegrown filmmakers. I had the chance to preview six of the features, including opening and closing night films Becoming Burlesque and The Go-Getters, and… Read More Previewing the 2018 Canadian Film Fest
By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) Simon Spier (Nick Robinson) is a pretty typical high schooler. He gets solid grades and has a good home life with his parents Emily (Jennifer Garner) and Jack (Josh Duhamel), who were high school sweethearts, and his little sister Nora (Talitha Bateman) is a budding chef who does… Read More Review: Love, Simon
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) The latest from writer-director Armando Iannucci, The Death of Stalin is a political satire that takes place in Moscow in 1953, and mostly unfolds following the death of dictator Joseph Stalin (Adrian McLoughlin), leaving Party Head Nikita Khrushchev (Steve Buscemi) trying to plan a funeral as Georgy Malenkov (Jeffrey Tambor)… Read More Review: The Death of Stalin
By John Corrado Fresh off of winning Best Adapted Screenplay at the Oscars, Luca Gaudagnino’s Italy-set romance Call Me By Your Name is now available on Blu-ray. The film charts the relationship between the 17-year-old Elio (Timothée Chalamet) and 24-year-old grad student Oliver (Armie Hammer), whom his father (Michael Stuhlbarg) brings over to help with… Read More Blu-ray Review: Call Me By Your Name
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) Picking up after Superman’s (Henry Cavill) self-sacrificial death in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Justice League finds Batman (Ben Affleck) and Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) teaming up again when an alien threat attacks Gotham City, and recruiting a trio of new heroes to help them take down… Read More Blu-ray Review: Justice League
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) I recently came across a new edition of Munro Leaf’s famous 1936 children’s book The Story of Ferdinand while in a store, and decided to look through it. It’s a short book, perfectly formatted for young readers, so I had time to read it cover to cover in only… Read More Review: Ferdinand
A Wrinkle in Time Review By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Disney’s new adaptation of Madeline L’Engle’s 1962 children’s novel of the same name, which has been guided to the screen by acclaimed director Ava DuVernay, A Wrinkle in Time is a contemporary take on the classic story that also stays mostly faithful to… Read More Three Views: A Wrinkle in Time
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) Saxon Gamble (Jack Kesy) is a young outlaw who returns to the hometown where he grew up following his mother’s sudden death, dredging back to the surface problems with his brother Dean (David Cubitt) and father Leonard (Peter McRobbie). But things take a darker turn when Saxon becomes… Read More Review: Juggernaut
By John Corrado With Black Panther currently dominating the box office, Marvel has been top of mind these past several weeks, but a few months back the studio had another hit on their hands with Thor: Ragnarok, which is now coming to Blu-ray. While the film doesn’t have a ton of plot, it’s simply a… Read More Blu-ray Review: Thor: Ragnarok
The Joy of Movies 