By John Corrado Today, Sony Pictures Classics is releasing the small gem Grandma on Blu-ray. Elle Reid (Lily Tomlin) is an aging feminist and misanthropic poet, who is launched into one of the most eventful days of her life when her estranged granddaughter Sage (Julia Garner) shows up, needing to borrow over six hundred dollars… Read More Blu-ray Release: Grandma
By John Corrado This week, Paramount is releasing Touched By An Angel: The Complete Series on DVD, featuring all 214 episodes from the nine seasons of the popular faith-based drama that ran from 1994 to 2003. The series follows a trio of angels, Tess (Della Resse), Monica (Roma Downey), and Andrew the “Angel of Death” (John… Read More DVD Release: Touched By An Angel: The Complete Series
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Bringing Alan Bennet’s largely autobiographical stage play of the same name to the screen, The Lady in the Van recounts the “mostly true” story of Miss Shephard (Maggie Smith), an eccentric senior who lives in the back of a beat up old van. The old vehicle ends parked in… Read More Review: The Lady in the Van
The International Film Music Critics Association nominations were released this morning for excellence in film scoring in 2015. Leading with four nominations each are veteran John Williams for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and Ennio Morricone for The Hateful Eight. Close behind with three noms each are Michael Giacchio for Inside Out, Jupiter Ascending, and… Read More 12th Annual IFMCA Award Nominees Announced Today
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) The latest tale in DreamWorks Animation’s surprisingly engaging saga, Kung Fu Panda 3 finds unlikely Dragon Warrior Po (Jack Black) reunited with his birth father (Bryan Cranston), and taken back to the secret panda village where he was born. But all of China is being threatened by the… Read More Review: Kung Fu Panda 3
By John Corrado Today, Disney is releasing their beloved 1937 classic Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs on Blu-ray, to kick off their new Signature Collection series. Famously voiced by Adriana Caselotti, Snow White is a charming princess who escapes the clutches of the evil Queen (Lucilla La Verne), and finds herself in the forest… Read More Blu-ray Release: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: The Signature Collection
By John Corrado DreamWorks is releasing the excellent historical drama Bridge of Spies on Blu-ray today, the latest from director Steven Spielberg. James Donovan (Tom Hanks) is a defence lawyer in Brooklyn who is hired to represent Rudolph Abel (Mark Rylance), a Russian agent arrested for espionage on home soil at the height of the… Read More Blu-ray Release: Bridge of Spies
By John Corrado Today, Paramount is releasing the 2001 comedy Zoolander on Blu-ray. Derek Zoolander (Ben Stiller) is a dimwitted male fashion model who loses Model of the Year to his rival Hansel (Owen Wilson), and is brainwashed by deranged designer Mugato (Will Ferrell) in a plot to assassinate the Prime Minister of Malaysia, who has… Read More Blu-ray Release: Zoolander
By John Corrado The best indicator of how many good movies were released in 2015 is the amount of trouble I had putting this list together. But after much deliberating, these are the ones I have finally chosen for my annual top ten list, followed by a whopping thirty honourable mentions, many of which it… Read More The Best Movies of 2015
By John Corrado I probably watch more documentaries in any given year than I do any other type of film, and 2015 was no different in this regard, bringing with it plenty of variety and a great selection of non-fiction filmmaking. So this list is a longtime coming. Between Hot Docs, TIFF, and the great… Read More The Best Documentaries of 2015
The Finest Hours Review By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) Staged as a good old fashioned disaster drama, The Finest Hours recounts the true story of the courageous Coast Guard rescue of over thirty men aboard a doomed vessel in February of 1952. This is a solid effort from Disney that is better than the January release date… Read More Three Views: The Finest Hours
By John Corrado Last week, Joel and Ethan Coen’s folk music masterpiece Inside Llewyn Davis was released on Blu-ray, through the Criterion Collection. Llewyn Davis (Oscar Isaac) is a folk singer drifting aimlessly through the burgeoning music scene of Greenwich Village in 1961, struggling to piece his broken life back together again, while trying to… Read More Criterion Review: Inside Llewyn Davis
By John Corrado Today, Sony is releasing their surprise hit Goosebumps on Blu-ray. Based on the classic book series, the film follows Zach (Dylan Minette) who has just moved to a new town and befriends the girl next door (Odeya Rush), whose father happens to be author R.L. Stine (Jack Black). As it turns out, his… Read More Blu-ray Release: Goosebumps
By John Corrado Today, Elevation Pictures is releasing the recent Canadian epic Hyena Road on Blu-ray. Directed by Paul Gross, the modern war film focuses on a group of Canadian soldiers stationed in Kandahar, charting the stories of an idealistic young sniper (Rossif Sutherland) and tough intelligence officer (Paul Gross), who often clash in their differing… Read More Blu-ray Release: Hyena Road
By John Corrado ★★★★ (out of 4) Back on January 5th, Sony Pictures Classics released the excellent drama The End of the Tour on Blu-ray. Based on a true story, the film follows journalist David Lipsky (Jesse Eisenberg) as he reflects upon the five days he spent with late author David Foster Wallace (Jason Segel)… Read More Blu-ray Review: The End of the Tour
By John Corrado ★★★★ (out of 4) The question of how far you would go to survive and get revenge on those who killed your family is constantly at the forefront of The Revenant, a brutal survival drama that unfolds with sequences of terrifying carnage, and moments of haunting beauty. The film is inspired by the… Read More Review: The Revenant
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) This week, Sony Pictures Classics is releasing the critically acclaimed indie dramedy The Diary of a Teenage Girl on Blu-ray. Minnie (Bel Powley) is a 15 year old aspiring artist in 1970s San Francisco, who accelerates her coming of age when she starts an inappropriate relationship with her freewheeling mother’s (Kristen… Read More Blu-ray Review: The Diary of a Teenage Girl
By John Corrado Today, 20th Century Fox is releasing the science fiction blockbuster The Martian on Blu-ray. A remarkable return to form for director Ridley Scott, the film follows ingenious astronaut Mark Watney (Matt Damon), who is left stranded and presumed dead on Mars after his crew is forced to leave without him in the wake… Read More Blu-ray Release: The Martian
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Today, Sony Pictures is releasing last year’s popular sequel Hotel Transylvania 2 on Blu-ray. The film opens with the plucky vampire Mavis (Selena Gomez) and human Jonny (Andy Samberg) getting married at the monster hotel. This leads to the birth of their son Dennis, a half-human, half-vampire child that… Read More Blu-ray Review: Hotel Transylvania 2
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) The latest from writer-director Woody Allen, Sony Pictures Classics is releasing Irrational Man on Blu-ray today. Abe Lucas (Joaquin Phoenix) is a brooding professor who has just started teaching philosophy at a local university, where he catches the attention of bright young student Jill (Emma Stone). But when he… Read More Blu-ray Review: Irrational Man
The Joy of Movies 