By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) Perhaps the most surprising thing about The Night Before is that this raunchy buddy comedy proudly wears its heart on the sleeve of its brightly coloured novelty sweater. This is a Christmas movie that has all the beats of a new holiday classic, along with some of the biggest laughs… Read More Review: The Night Before
By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) After premiering at TIFF, Al Purdy Was Here is starting a limited run at the Bloor Hot Docs Cinema tonight, tickets and showtimes can be found right here. A “Sensitive Man” beneath an ultra masculine persona, who rose from his humble working class origins to leave behind a lasting legacy… Read More Bloor Cinema Release: Al Purdy Was Here
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) The music documentary All Things Must Pass: The Rise and Fall of Tower Records is opening at the Bloor Hot Docs Cinema this weekend, tickets and showtimes can be found right here. Founded by Russ Solomon in the back of his father’s convenience store, Tower Records blossomed into the premiere place for music… Read More Blood Cinema Release: All Things Must Pass: The Rise and Fall of Tower Records
By John Corrado ★★ (out of 4) Back in the 1960s, the Kray Brothers owned the crime-riddled streets of London, and these notorious gangster twins are given the glossy and often overlong biopic treatment in Legend. The only real twist here is that they are both portrayed by Tom Hardy, in an admittedly impressive dual role.… Read More Review: Legend
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) The fourth and final chapter in the blockbuster series, adapted from the bestselling trilogy of impressively staged young adult novels, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 sadly closes this dystopic cinematic franchise with more of a whimper than a bang. Although this is a serviceable last act that mostly ties… Read More Review: The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2
By John Corrado Last week, D.A. Pennebaker’s classic 1967 documentary Don’t Look Back was released on Blu-ray, through the Criterion Collection. Following Bob Dylan on his 1965 London tour, the film captures the young folk singer at the height of his early fame, being chased by adoring teenaged fans, hanging out with fellow musicians like Joan Baez and… Read More Criterion Release: Don’t Look Back
By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) At the beginning of James White, the title character (Christopher Abbot) is in a throbbing New York nightclub. We see his face in extreme closeups, lit by the purplish glow of the lights, the music seeping out of his white earbuds differing from what we hear blaring around him… Read More Review: James White
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) After premiering at Hot Docs, and becoming a top twenty finalist for the Audience Award, The Barkley Marathons: The Race That Eats Its Young is opening at the Bloor Hot Docs Cinema this weekend, tickets and showtimes can be found right here. With a bizarre application process and… Read More Bloor Cinema Release: The Barkley Marathons: The Race That Eats Its Young
By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) A deeply resonant and visually breathtaking journey through the wide open frontier, The Good Dinosaur utilizes a high concept to explore the prehistoric friendship between a talking dinosaur and underevolved little boy. The greatest threat facing this latest film from the geniuses at Pixar is not extinction, but rather comparisons to their own masterpiece… Read More Review: The Good Dinosaur
By John Corrado Today, Sony Pictures is releasing Ricki and the Flash on Blu-ray. Ricki Rendazo (Meryl Streep) is an aging and washed up rocker, who has grown estranged from her family. But when her ex-husband (Kevin Kline) invites her back home to help deal with their depressed daughter Julie (Mamie Gummer), Ricki starts to insert… Read More Blu-ray Release: Ricki and the Flash
By John Corrado Today, Elevation Pictures is releasing Shaun the Sheep Movie on Blu-ray. Looking for a day off from the monotony of their farmyard existence, the impossibly clever Shaun and his fellow flock of sheep hatch a scheme to evade their farmer. But when a series of mishaps cause the farmer to end up… Read More Blu-ray Release: Shaun the Sheep Movie
By John Corrado Today, Elevation Pictures is releasing American Ultra on Blu-ray. Mike Howell (Jesse Eisenberg) is a constantly anxious stoner, who lives a mundane life with his girlfriend Phoebe Larson (Kristen Stewart). But when he suddenly discovers that he’s actually a highly trained agent who had his memory wiped and went rogue, and is… Read More Blu-ray Release: American Ultra
By John Corrado ★★★★ (out of 4) A moving period romance that captures something profoundly universal about the immigrant experience, Brooklyn is one of those films that grabs us by the heart early on and never lets go, and feels completely sincere while doing so. Beautifully conveying feelings of loneliness, hope and the promise of… Read More Review: Brooklyn
By John Corrado This week, Sony Pictures Classics is releasing Jimmy’s Hall on Blu-ray. Based on a true story, the drama follows freethinking socialist activist Jimmy Gralton (Barry Ward), who returns to his home country of Ireland amidst internal conflict in 1932, after ten years of exile in New York. When he reopens the dance hall that made him a local… Read More Blu-ray Release: Jimmy’s Hall
By John Corrado Last week, Sony Pictures released the Bad Boys I & II: 20th Anniversary Collection on Blu-ray, a box set featuring both the 1995 original and 2003 sequel. Directed by Michael Bay, the blockbuster action comedies follow Mike Lowery (Will Smith) and Marcus Burnett (Martin Lawrence), a pair of narcotics detectives who have their… Read More Blu-ray Release: Bad Boys I & II: 20th Anniversary Collection
By John Corrado After a pretty much under the radar theatrical run, Remstar Films is releasing the thriller Dark Places on DVD. Nearly thirty years after testifying against her brother in the murder of their mother (Christina Hendricks) and sisters, Libby Day (Charlize Theron) is contacted by a group of true crime enthusiasts under Lyle… Read More DVD Release: Dark Places
By John Corrado ★★★★ (out of 4) When allegations of child sexual abuse within the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston first started to leak out, many parishioners had trouble believing the news. But this denial was made far too easy by the institution’s willingness to silence the scared victims, keeping the reports and court documents out… Read More Review: Spotlight
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) After premiering at Hot Docs, and becoming a runner-up for the Audience Award, Mavis! opens at the Bloor Hot Docs Cinema this weekend, tickets and showtimes can be found right here. A legendary gospel and soul singer, and iconic civil rights activist in the time of Martin Luther King… Read More Bloor Cinema Release: Mavis!
By John Corrado ★★★★ (out of 4) A fascinating character study that betrays the usual biopic formula to offer something much deeper and more rewarding in its portrayal of a widely celebrated but extremely complex real life subject, Steve Jobs is a thrilling look at the Apple figurehead during some of the most crucial moments… Read More Review: Steve Jobs
By John Corrado This week, Sony Pictures is releasing the complete first season of Better Call Saul on Blu-ray. Playing as a prequel to Breaking Bad, the series follows struggling lawyer James McGill (Bob Odenkirk) on his rocky, morally ambiguous ascension into notorious legal legend Saul Goodman, along with his reclusive brother Chuck (Michael McKean) and retired cop… Read More Blu-ray Release: Better Call Saul: Season One
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