By John Corrado The Jonas Brothers are back in A Very Jonas Christmas Movie, the Disney Plus Original that finds the boyband brothers trying to get back home for Christmas. The film opens with brothers Kevin, Joe and Nick Jonas finishing up their tour in London just days before Christmas, and looking forward to getting… Read More Movie Review: A Very Jonas Christmas Movie (Disney+)
By John Corrado A struggling improv comic in Baltimore needs an emergency dentist appointment on Christmas Eve. It sounds like the setup for a joke (and maybe it is), but it’s also the inciting incident of The Baltimorons, a tender and funny chance encounter romance from director Jay Duplass. Duplass crafts the film as a… Read More Movie Review: The Baltimorons
By John Corrado Red One, directed by Jake Kasdan (Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, Jumanji: The Next Level), is a not as bad as it could have been but still thoroughly mediocre film that takes the Santa Claus story and turns it into a bloated, big budget action fantasy. The movie (which played in theatres for a… Read More Movie Review: Red One (Prime Video)
By John Corrado It’s that time of year again for my annual Christmas and holiday gift guide. This is for the movie lovers and physical media collectors on your list, featuring a number of titles on 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray that I can personally recommend, ranging from recent blockbusters to several old classics that… Read More The Joy of Movies 2024 Christmas Gift Guide
By John Corrado Adapted from the 1972 children’s novel by Barbara Robinson, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever tells the story of a town’s Christmas pageant that gets upended when the local outcast kids audition for roles. In the hands of director Dallas Jenkins (creator of the Bible-based TV series The Chosen), Robinson’s book is turned into a charming… Read More Movie Review: The Best Christmas Pageant Ever
By John Corrado Thirty years after Forrest Gump, director Robert Zemeckis reunites with stars Tom Hanks and Robin Wright as well as screenwriter Eric Roth for the ambitious drama Here. An adaptation of the 2014 graphic novel by Richard McGuire, Here is built around the conceit of watching life unfold in a single location across millions of years, from… Read More Movie Review: Here
By John Corrado The 2024 Toronto International Film Festival runs from September 5th to 15th, more information on tickets and showtimes can be found right here. Nutcrackers, the opening night film of this year’s TIFF, finds director David Gordon Green sort of returning to his more indie movie roots, following his forays into horror franchise filmmaking… Read More #TIFF24 Review: Nutcrackers (Gala Presentations)
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) ‘Tis the season for direct-to-streaming Christmas movies. The latest offering from Disney+ is Dashing Through the Snow, a mildly watchable if overly familiar comedy from director Tim Story (Barbershop, The Blackening) that imagines Santa as a wise-cracking fellow played by comedian Lil Rel Howery. The film stars Chris… Read More Review: Dashing Through the Snow (Disney+)
By John Corrado Director Richard Donner’s Scrooged is celebrating its 35th anniversary this year, and Paramount has given the film a 4K Ultra HD upgrade in honour of the occasion. This 1988 adaptation of Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol is set in New York City, and follows self-centred TV executive Frank Cross (Bill Murray) as… Read More 4K Ultra HD Review: Scrooged: 35th Anniversary
By Jon Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) Built around the pun in its title, It’s a Wonderful Knife is an ode to Frank Capra’s perennial classic It’s a Wonderful Life, except done in the style of a Christmas slasher comedy. The film is set in the town of Angel Falls, and follows a teen girl… Read More Review: It’s a Wonderful Knife
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) David Harbour stars as a drunk, badass Santa Claus in Violent Night, a Christmas action comedy from Norwegian director Tommy Wirkola (Kill Buljo) that is at it’s best when embracing being a goofy, unabashed B-movie We first meet Harbour’s Santa in a bar on Christmas Eve, taking a… Read More Blu-ray Review: Violent Night (Collector’s Edition)
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) Based on Michael Ausiello’s autobiographical book Spoiler Alert: The Hero Dies, the point of the movie Spoiler Alert (and the book that preceded it) is to tell a sweeping love story where we already know the tragic outcome. The film succeeds at this with mostly satisfying but somewhat… Read More Review: Spoiler Alert
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Following in the footsteps of the Halloween special Werewolf by Night, Marvel Studios now switches their focus to Christmas with The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special. Written and directed by James Gunn, the special is designed as a loving homage to the infamous Star Wars Christmas Special,… Read More Disney+ Review: The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Spirited is far from the first adaptation of A Christmas Carol, let alone the first comedic or musical one. But the film, which serves as a full-on reimagining of the Charles Dickens story done as a modern musical complete with Broadway-style songs by Benji Pasek and Justin Paul… Read More Review: Spirited (Apple TV+)
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) Tim Allen is back as Scott Calvin, the single dad who inexplicably took up the mantle of Santa Claus, in the new Disney+ limited series The Santa Clauses, which is having its two-episode premiere this week. Building on the trilogy of films that began in 1994 with The… Read More Disney+ Review: The Santa Clauses (First Two Episodes)
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