By John Corrado The new eight episode limited series Fellow Travelers (based on Thomas Mallon’s 2007 novel of the same name) is a McCarthy-era period drama that is set against the fascinating political backdrop of the mid-20th century. But the handsomely mounted Showtime mini-series, which comes to us from screenwriter and executive producer Ron Nyswaner… Read More TV Review: Fellow Travelers
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Following his Old Hollywood passion project Mank, director David Fincher returns to the thriller genre with The Killer, a slickly crafted adaptation of Alexis Nolent’s French graphic novel exploring the daily grind of a professional assassin. Fincher’s film opens with its unnamed titular assassin (played by Michael Fassbender) staying… Read More Review: The Killer
By John Corrado ★★ (out of 4) After completing his Halloween trilogy last year with the divisive Halloween Ends, director David Gordon Green now sets his sights on rebooting another classic horror property with The Exorcist: Believer, though the results are largely disappointing this time around. Like Green’s 2018 legacy sequel Halloween, The Exorcist: Believer positions… Read More Review: The Exorcist: Believer
By John Corrado Please note that this is a review of the Blu-ray release of Barbie. For my full thoughts on the film itself, you can read my original review right here. After becoming the highest grossing movie of the year in theatres over the summer (including getting a boost from the Barbenheimer phenomenon), Warner… Read More Blu-ray Review: Barbie
By John Corrado New releases for the week of October 20th, 2023. Theatrical Releases: Killers of the Flower Moon (Wide Release): The release of a new Martin Scorsese picture is always cause for celebration amongst film lovers, and Killers of the Flower Moon arrives in theatres following a splashy premiere at Cannes. Lily Gladstone, Leonardo… Read More New This Week (10/20/2023): Killers of the Flower Moon, Anatomy of a Fall, Dicks: The Musical, & More!
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) The Persian Version, which premiered at Sundance in January, finds writer-director Maryam Keshavarz (Circumstance) dipping into her own background as an Iranian-American woman to craft an enjoyable, ambitious mother-daughter dramedy. The film centres around Leila (Layla Mohammadi), an Iranian-American aspiring filmmaker living in New York City. She has… Read More Review: The Persian Version
By John Corrado ★★ (out of 4) Based on a chapter from Bram Stoker’s Dracula, The Last Voyage of the Demeter is a vampire horror movie that takes place aboard a merchant ship in 1897, and fleshes out the backstory of the doomed voyage carrying Count Dracula. The Demeter is a Russian schooner that is travelling… Read More Blu-ray Review: The Last Voyage of the Demeter (Collector’s Edition)
By John Corrado ★★★★ (out of 4) Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour is already one of the biggest selling concert tours of all time, a massive juggernaut that has generated billions of dollars in profits, providing a boost to local economies wherever she goes. The success of this tour one hundred percent speaks to the cultural… Read More Review: Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour
By John Corrado New releases for the week of October 13th, 2023. Theatrical Releases: Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour (Wide Release): Taylor Swift is already dominating the music industry, and now she is set to take over the box office as well with this filmed version of her ongoing Eras Tour. Seeing a record number… Read More New This Week (10/13/2023): Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour, Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person, The Burial, & More!
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Following her 2017 nun drama Novitiate, writer-director Maggie Betts takes a real life contract law case from the 1990s about the haves and have-nots in the world of funeral home owners, and crafts it into an entertaining legal drama in The Burial (which recently had its world premiere… Read More Review: The Burial (Prime Video)
By John Corrado Please note that this is a review of the 4K Ultra HD release of Transformers: Rise of the Beasts. For my full thoughts on the film itself, you can read my original review right here. Following its run in theatres over the summer, Paramount is releasing Transformers: Rise of the Beasts on… Read More 4K Ultra HD Review: Transformers: Rise of the Beasts
By John Corrado New releases for the week of October 6th, 2023. Theatrical Releases: The Exorcist: Believer (Wide Release): This legacy sequel to the late William Friedkin’s 1973 classic finds director David Gordon Green setting his sights on revamping another iconic horror movie after completing his Halloween trilogy last year. The film stars Leslie Odom… Read More New This Week (10/06/2023): The Exorcist: Believer, The Royal Hotel, Strange Way of Life, & More!
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) The new English-language short film from writer-director Pedro Almodóvar, Strange Way of Life is an enjoyable queer Western starring Ethan Hawke and Pedro Pascal that serves as the Spanish filmmaker’s “answer” to Ang Lee’s Brokeback Mountain, which he was offered to direct but declined. The short, which premiered… Read More Review: Strange Way of Life
By John Corrado ★★ (out of 4) The latest film from New York writer-director Rebecca Miller (her first since Maggie’s Plan in 2015), She Came to Me is an absurd, operatic melodrama that takes the bones of a romantic comedy and remixes it into a sort of soap opera. The result is somewhat of an… Read More Review: She Came to Me
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) In the Canadian time travel comedy Relax, I’m From the Future, New Zealand comedian Rhys Darby is delightfully able to take centre stage as Casper, a time traveller from an unspecified point in the future, who lands back in the 2020s. The title comes from Casper’s reassurance to… Read More Review: Relax, I’m From the Future
By John Corrado New releases for the week of September 29th, 2023. Theatrical Releases: Saw X (Wide Release): While Saw X is the tenth film in the nearly twenty year old franchise, it feels more like a legacy sequel that exists to bring back Tobin Bell as John Kramer. Set between the events of Saw… Read More New This Week (09/29/2023): Saw X, PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie, Flora and Son, & More!
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Solo, which recently won the Best Canadian Film prize at TIFF, is a character drama set in Montreal’s drag scene. In her third feature, Quebec writer-director Sophie Dupuis (Family First, Underground) captivatingly explores the dynamics between the performers at a Montreal gay bar. The film centres around the… Read More Review: Solo
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) The rescue pups are back for another big screen adventure in PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie, a worthy sequel to 2021’s surprisingly good PAW Patrol: The Movie. This new spinoff film from the popular Canadian children’s TV series and toys, which serves as another co-production between Nickelodeon, Paramount… Read More Review: PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) Nearly twenty years after the original Saw in 2004, John Kramer (Tobin Bell) returns in Saw X, the tenth film in the franchise that somewhat cleverly serves as a sort of “midquel” by positioning itself between the events of Saw and Saw II. There is only so much… Read More Review: Saw X
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) The title of Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken, the latest film from DreamWorks Animation, tells you basically everything you need to know about the movie; it’s about a 15-year-old girl named Ruby Gillman (voiced by Lana Condor), who, well, happens to be a kraken. Ruby is living on land… Read More Blu-ray Review: Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken (Collector’s Edition)
The Joy of Movies 