By John Corrado Ballad of a Small Player is the latest film from German director Edward Berger, who broke out in a big way and became an Oscar heavyweight with his past two films Conclave and All Quiet on the Western Front. Berger’s latest, a Macau-set gambling film, can’t live up to his previous two.… Read More #TIFF50 Review: Ballad of a Small Player (Special Presentations)
By John Corrado New releases for the week of September 12th, 2025. Theatrical Releases: The Long Walk (Wide Release): Stephen King’s 1979 story finally comes to the big screen in this adaptation from Hunger Games director Francis Lawrence. The story follows a group of teen boys in a totalitarian America competing in a walking competition… Read More New This Week (09/12/2025): The Long Walk, & More!
By John Corrado The attention-grabbing title of director Todd Rohal’s perverted and profane X-rated satire Fuck My Son!, with its full expletive and exclamation point, is what will bring many into the theatre, seeking the next midnight staple. But the absurd title can only push it so far, and it stops being that funny early… Read More #TIFF50 Review: Fuck My Son! (Midnight Madness)
By John Corrado In The Last One for the Road, Italian filmmaker Francesco Sossai crafts a delightful hangout movie around Carlobianchi (Sergio Romano) and Doriano (Pierpaolo Capovilla), two hapless, middle-aged vagabonds bopping around their hometown of Veneto. Their nights are spent drifting between local bars, trying to find a spot for one last drink. They pick… Read More #TIFF50 Review: The Last One for the Road (Centrepiece)
By John Corrado On the morning of October 7th, 2023, Hamas terrorists broke through the border between Israel and Gaza, and began indiscriminately murdering innocent civilians, including women and children, many of them executed in their homes. It was the worst mass murder of Jewish people since the Holocaust, and nearly two years later, there… Read More #TIFF50 Review: The Road Between Us: The Ultimate Rescue (TIFF Docs)
By John Corrado The setup for Normal, the latest film from director and auteur of ultra-violence Ben Wheatley, involves a lot of “Chekov’s gun” (or, perhaps, Chekov’s explosives); that being the rule that a gun shown in the first act must go off by the third. As much as the first half of this ninety… Read More #TIFF50 Review: Normal (Midnight Madness)
By John Corrado The latest work from Inuk filmmaker Zacharies Kinuk, Uiksaringitara (Wrong Husband) is a mix of Indigenous legend and storytelling. Set thousands of years in the past, the film follows Sapa (Haiden Angutimarik) and Kaujak (Theresia Kappianaq), a boy and girl who are betrothed to each other, gaining them the names “future husband”… Read More #TIFF50 Review: Uiksaringitara (Wrong Husband) (Special Presentations)
By John Corrado Out Standing is Quebec filmmaker Mélanie Charbonneau’s well-acted biopic of Sandra Perron, who became Canada’s first female infantry officer. The film is adapted from her 2017 memoir, Out Standing in the Field. A proud member of a military family, Perron (who is played in the film by Nina Kiri) joined the Canadian… Read More #TIFF50 Review: Out Standing (Discovery)
By John Corrado In his narrative feature debut Tuner, Oscar-winning Navalny director (and Toronto local) Daniel Roher delivers a delightful surprise. Roher’s first fiction film finds its own rhythm, with a carefully calibrated mix of tones that blends drama, romantic comedy, and thriller, set to a fitting, jazzy score. The film’s premise is also an… Read More #TIFF50 Review: Tuner (Special Presentations)
By John Corrado Nouvelle Vague is American director Richard Linklater’s playful look at the making of Jean-Luc Godard’s groundbreaking 1959 film Breathless, done in the spirit of a French New Wave film. A Texas filmmaker shooting in France, in the French language no less, might seem like a stretch. But the indie auteur attitudes of… Read More #TIFF50 Review: Nouvelle Vague (Special Presentations)
By John Corrado Richard Linklater’s wistful period piece Blue Moon finds the filmmaker back in Me and Orson Welles mode, delivering a series of beautifully written and performed scenes in his portrait of former creative partners Lorenz Hart (Ethan Hawke) and Richard Rodgers (Andrew Scott). The year is 1943, and the setting is Sardi’s, the… Read More #TIFF50 Review: Blue Moon (Centrepiece)
By John Corrado Scarlett Johansson’s directorial debut, Eleanor the Great, is a competent enough filmmaking start for the actress, that is held back by a questionable and awkwardly handled story. The film features a decent performance from June Squibb, with Johansson providing a much-deserved leading role for the actress in her mid-90s. But the screenplay… Read More #TIFF50 Review: Eleanor the Great (Gala Presentations)
By John Corrado The latest work from Ukrainian filmmaker Valentyn Vasyanovych, To the Victory! is an interesting and narratively playful portrait of life finding a way in an imagined post-war country, and also a meta-textual look at an artist trying to use the decimated backdrop to create something. Vasyanovych stars in the film as Roman,… Read More #TIFF50 Review: To the Victory! (Platform)
By John Corrado In her heartwarming and heartfelt dramedy Rental Family, director Hikari explores the Japanese industry of “rental families;” actors that can be hired to play the roles of family members and friends for lonely people. It’s a concept perhaps foreign to Western audiences, but one that, in her film at least, is an… Read More #TIFF50 Review: Rental Family (Special Presentations)
By John Corrado In her narrative debut Meadowlarks, Canadian filmmaker Tasha Hubbard adapts her 2017 documentary Birth of a Family into a deeply moving family drama. The film follows four Cree siblings – brother Anthony (Michael Greyeyes, delivering one of his finest performances) and his three sisters Connie (Carmen Moore), Gwen (Michelle Thrush), and Marianne… Read More #TIFF50 Review: Meadowlarks (Special Presentations)
By John Corrado A companion piece to the cinematic spectacle of his excellent 2022 biopic Elvis, Australian director Baz Luhrmann’s EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert answers the question of what a Luhrmann-directed documentary looks like. We get the flurry of flashy images, editing, and title cards, with Luhrmann delivering all the visual razzle-dazzle we expect.… Read More #TIFF50 Review: EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert (Special Presentations)
By John Corrado I Swear is an enjoyable biographical drama based on the life story of John Davidson, a man living with Tourette’s syndrome, who became an early pioneer in helping bring awareness to the neurological disorder. The film opens with John (played by Robert Aramayo) receiving an award from the Queen in recognition of… Read More #TIFF50 Review: I Swear (Centrepiece)
By John Corrado In his film Bad Apples, Swedish director Jonatan Etzler fully commits to a tricky tonal tightrope walk between drama, thriller, darkest of dark comedies, and barn-burner of a satire. It will polarize viewers, but is also completely engaging if you are able to get on its wavelength. Saoirse Ronan stars in the… Read More #TIFF50 Review: Bad Apples (Special Presentations)
By John Corrado Christy is Australian director David Michôd’s gruelling sports biopic of boxer Christy Martin, a pioneer in the sport of female boxing. Michôd doesn’t fully escape the expected biopic beats. But his film is an emotionally charged one, built around two very strong performances from Sydney Sweeney, who is excellent as Christy, and… Read More #TIFF50 Review: Christy (Special Presentstions)
By John Corrado A clear labour of love for director Colin Hanks and producer Ryan Reynolds, the celebrity bio-doc John Candy: I Like Me provides an engaging and moving tribute to the Canadian legend, both his work and his humanity. It was a fitting choice for the festival’s opening night on Thursday. The film’s name,… Read More #TIFF50 Review: John Candy: I Like Me (Gala Presentations)
