Nominations for the 15th Dorian Film Awards from GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics

By John Corrado Today, critics group GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (of which I am a member) announced the nominations for their 15th annual Dorian Film Awards, voted on by the group’s over five hundred members. Leading the pack is Andrew Haigh’s tender queer drama All of Us Strangers with a total nine… Read More Nominations for the 15th Dorian Film Awards from GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics

February 5, 2024February 6, 2024 thejoyofmovies.caLeave a comment

Review: All of Us Strangers

By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) The latest work from writer-director Andrew Haigh, whose 2011 breakout film Weekend remains an essential piece of queer cinema, All of Us Strangers is a tender, dreamlike meditation on grief and loneliness. Working from the 1987 Japanese novel Strangers by Taichi Yamada, Haigh’s film is a ghost story… Read More Review: All of Us Strangers

January 4, 2024January 6, 2024 thejoyofmovies.caLeave a comment

Review: Maestro

By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Following his 2018 directorial debut A Star is Born, Bradley Cooper now turns his attention to the life of New York composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein in the biopic Maestro, casting himself in the leading role. The film spans decades in the life of Bernstein from the 1940s… Read More Review: Maestro

December 6, 2023December 7, 2023 thejoyofmovies.caLeave a comment

TV Review: Fellow Travelers

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

October 27, 2023October 27, 2023 thejoyofmovies.caLeave a comment

Review: The Persian Version

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

October 20, 2023October 20, 2023 thejoyofmovies.caLeave a comment

Review: Strange Way of Life

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

October 6, 2023October 6, 2023 thejoyofmovies.caLeave a comment

Review: Solo

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

September 29, 2023September 29, 2023 thejoyofmovies.caLeave a comment

#TIFF23 Review: Rustin (Special Presentations)

By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) The 2023 Toronto International Film Festival runs from September 7th to 17th, more information on tickets and showtimes can be found right here. The latest film from director George C. Wolfe (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom), Rustin is a solid Netflix biopic of gay civil right’s leader Bayard Rustin, that… Read More #TIFF23 Review: Rustin (Special Presentations)

September 15, 2023 thejoyofmovies.caLeave a comment

#TIFF23 Review: Close to You (Special Presentations)

By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) The 2023 Toronto International Film Festival runs from September 7th to 17th, more information on tickets and showtimes can be found right here. Directed with an intimate, improvisational style by British filmmaker Dominic Savage, Close to You is a remarkably tender family drama that stars Elliot Page as Sam,… Read More #TIFF23 Review: Close to You (Special Presentations)

September 14, 2023 thejoyofmovies.caLeave a comment

#TIFF23 Review: Fitting In (Centrepiece)

By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) The 2023 Toronto International Film Festival runs from September 7th to 17th, more information on tickets and showtimes can be found right here. In her second feature Fitting In, Canadian writer-director Molly McGlynn (Mary Goes Round) shows how to handle sensitive subject matter in an often humorous but still… Read More #TIFF23 Review: Fitting In (Centrepiece)

September 9, 2023September 10, 2023 thejoyofmovies.caLeave a comment

#TIFF23 Review: Dicks: The Musical (Midnight Madness)

By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) The 2023 Toronto International Film Festival runs from September 7th to 17th, more information on tickets and showtimes can be found right here. Expanded from an underground musical comedy act that co-writers Aaron Jackson and Josh Sharp used to perform together in New York, Dicks: The Musical finds Borat… Read More #TIFF23 Review: Dicks: The Musical (Midnight Madness)

September 9, 2023September 9, 2023 thejoyofmovies.caLeave a comment

#TIFF23 Review: Backspot (Discovery)

By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) The 2023 Toronto International Film Festival runs from September 7th to 17th, more information on tickets and showtimes can be found right here. The title of Backspot refers to the position Riley (Devery Jacobs) holds on her high school cheerleading team. She treats cheerleading like an extreme sport,… Read More #TIFF23 Review: Backspot (Discovery)

September 8, 2023September 8, 2023 thejoyofmovies.caLeave a comment

#TIFF23 Review: I Don’t Know Who You Are (Discovery)

By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) The 2023 Toronto International Film Festival runs from September 7th to 17th, more information on tickets and showtimes can be found right here. The debut feature from Toronto-born director M. H. Murray, I Don’t Know Who You Are is an anxiety-inducing drama that primarily takes place in the… Read More #TIFF23 Review: I Don’t Know Who You Are (Discovery)

September 7, 2023 thejoyofmovies.caLeave a comment

Review: This Place

By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) The directorial debut of Tamil Canadian filmmaker V.T. Nayani, This Place (which premiered at last year’s TIFF) is a queer love story between two young women from different backgrounds that finds its strengths in being so culturally specific to Toronto. Kawenniióhstha (Devery Jacobs, who also co-wrote the screenplay… Read More Review: This Place

July 7, 2023 thejoyofmovies.caLeave a comment

Review: Every Body

By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) Directed by Julie Cohen (Julia, RBG), the fascinating and highly engaging documentary Every Body explores the people who make up the I in LGBTQIA, which stands for intersex. The term intersex is used to describe those born with elements of both male and female sex characteristics, with over… Read More Review: Every Body

June 30, 2023June 30, 2023 thejoyofmovies.caLeave a comment

#InsideOut2023 Review: Before I Change My Mind

By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) The 2023 Inside Out 2SLGBTQ+ Film Festival runs from May 25th to June 4th in Toronto, more information on tickets and showtimes can be found right here. Set in 1987, Before I Change My Mind follows Robin (Vaughan Murrae) a gender non-conforming kid who has moved to Alberta from… Read More #InsideOut2023 Review: Before I Change My Mind

June 3, 2023June 3, 2023 thejoyofmovies.caLeave a comment

#InsideOut2023 Review: Golden Delicious

By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) The 2023 Inside Out 2SLGBTQ+ Film Festival runs from May 25th to June 4th in Toronto, more information on tickets and showtimes can be found right here. The Canadian coming-of-age drama Golden Delicious centres around Jake (Cardi Wong), a Chinese-Canadian teenager in his last year of high school in… Read More #InsideOut2023 Review: Golden Delicious

June 3, 2023June 3, 2023 thejoyofmovies.caLeave a comment

#InsideOut2023 Review: 20,000 Species of Bees

By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) The 2023 Inside Out 2SLGBTQ+ Film Festival runs from May 25th to June 4th in Toronto, more information on tickets and showtimes can be found right here. The Spanish coming of age drama 20,000 Species of Bees, which won the Silver Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival, is… Read More #InsideOut2023 Review: 20,000 Species of Bees

May 30, 2023 thejoyofmovies.caLeave a comment

#InsideOut2023 Review: Supporting Our Selves

By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) The 2023 Inside Out 2SLGBTQ+ Film Festival runs from May 25th to June 4th in Toronto, more information on tickets and showtimes can be found right here. In the documentary Supporting Our Selves, director Lulu Wei looks at the history of Community One, a Toronto organization that was founded… Read More #InsideOut2023 Review: Supporting Our Selves

May 29, 2023May 29, 2023 thejoyofmovies.caLeave a comment