By John Corrado In Anchors Aweigh, writer-director-star Matt Barats delivers the most deadpan of deadpan comedies, mixed with video essay and home movie collage of loosely connected vignettes. The result is a mix of breakup comedy and meta mockumentary that feels destined for cult status. Playing a version of himself, Barats stars in the film… Read More #TIFF26 Review: Anchors Aweigh (Midnight Madness)
By John Corrado The latest work from Winnipeg filmmaker Matthew Rankin (The 20th Century, Universal Language), Ladies and Gentlemen, Brian Mulroney is a gonzo Canadian political documentary by way of archival footage collage, and, well, it rocks. Backed by the National Film Board, this portrait of Canada’s 18th Prime Minister is a lot wackier than… Read More #TIFF26 Review: Ladies and Gentlemen, Brian Mulroney (Midnight Madness)
By John Corrado A series of Faustian bargains underpin Italian director Paolo Strippoli’s confidently directed psychological horror movie The Spiral, which is designed to provoke uncomfortable and disturbing moral questions as well as squirms. The film opens on Alice (Romana Maggiora Vergano) in Rome, being paid a visit by her estranged mother Anna (Jasmine Trinca)… Read More #TIFF26 Review: The Spiral (Midnight Madness)
By John Corrado In following up her modern cult favourite The Love Witch, director Anna Biller delivers another idiosyncratic and meticulously crafted homage to a bygone era of filmmaking. The sumptuous visuals define Biller’s latest, which serves as a Technicolor tribute to Japanese ghost stories by way of Medieval England, by way of visually striking… Read More #TIFF26 Review: The Face of Horror (Midnight Madness)
By John Corrado In his feature debut River, partially inspired by his 2018 short film In Sound, We Live Forever, director Joshua Giuliano crafts a fun slasher movie built around the deceptively simple yet effective premise of three siblings trapped on a river. The siblings are Lucy (Jane Levy), Carla (Jessica Rothe) and Drew (Max… Read More #TIFF26 Review: River (Midnight Madness)
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. The feature directorial debut of writer-director Andrew DeYoung, Friendship is a cringe comedy about adult male friendship that fully leans into the absurd. Tim Robinson stars in the film as… Read More #TIFF24 Review: Friendship (Midnight Madness)
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. In her showbiz sendup The Substance, writer-director Coralie Fargeat (Revenge) crafts her own bloody take on The Picture of Dorian Gray, mixing extreme body horror and absurd satire of… Read More #TIFF24 Review: The Substance (Midnight Madness)
The Joy of Movies 