By John Corrado If modern filmmakers like Ari Aster and Jordan Peele helped define a subgenre known as “elevated horror,” director Kat Coiro’s Italy-set romantic comedy You, Me & Tuscany pioneers something that could be described as “elevated Hallmark.” This rom-com plays like something that could air on the Hallmark Channel, but with recognizable stars… Read More Blu-ray Review: You, Me & Tuscany
By John Corrado The Invite is the third film directed by actress Olivia Wilde, following her 2019 debut with the teen comedy Booksmart, and her overly ambitious sophomore feature Don’t Worry Darling in 2022. This film finds her not only rebounding mightily after the notorious critical flop of Don’t Worry Darling (a film that bit… Read More Movie Review: The Invite
By John Corrado It becomes clear early on in Couture, the latest film from French director Alice Winocour, that Angelina Jolie will be giving one of her most personal performances. Jolie stars in the film as Maxine Walker, an American horror filmmaker who is in France for Paris Fashion Week. She has been commissioned to… Read More Movie Review: Couture
By John Corrado Maddie’s Secret is the feature directorial debut of American comedian John Early, who also wrote the script, and stars in the film – in full drag – as the titular Maddie Ralph, a millennial woman who’s got a secret. The result is a satirical dark comedy that is tonally entirely its own… Read More Movie Review: Maddie’s Secret
By John Corrado The horror movie Leviticus, which serves as the feature directorial debut of Australian writer-director Adrian Chiarella, plays almost like an explicitly queer take on It Follows, David Robert Mitchell’s STD-themed indie horror flick from 2014. This slow-burn film follows Naim (Joe Bird) and Ryan (Stacy Clausen), two closeted teen boys in rural… Read More Movie Review: Leviticus
By John Corrado The origins of Girls Like Girls, the feature directorial debut of singer, songwriter and actress Hayley Kiyoko, stem back to her 2015 song “Girls Like Girls” and the music video she co-directed for it. That video for the song, which became a queer anthem of the mid-2010s, got expanded into Kiyoko’s 2023… Read More Movie Review: Girls Like Girls
By John Corrado Disclosure Day is the latest blockbuster from director Steven Spielberg, following his semi-autobiographical 2022 film The Fabelmans (which was also my personal favourite movie of 2022). And it’s a gripping film filled with mystery, intrigue and suspense, as well as surprisingly moving spiritual themes, that reminds us why he is one of… Read More Movie Review: Disclosure Day
By John Corrado What if you made a disaster movie parody in the spirit of Airplane!, but starring a cast of drag queens who play the entire thing in character as women? That’s the premise behind Stop! That! Train!, the new comedy from producer RuPaul and director Adam Shankman. The result is a proudly stupid comedy… Read More Movie Review: Stop! That! Train!
By John Corrado A lot has already been made about the fact that Kane Parsons, the director of Backrooms, is only 20-years-old, and for good reason. It’s impressive because this is such an assured feature debut from him, with Parsons showing a clear vision throughout this liminal spaces horror movie. Expanded from the series of… Read More Movie Review: Backrooms
By John Corrado The Wayans brothers make their return to the horror spoof genre with Scary Movie, the sixth movie in the comedy franchise that sees them regaining control of the series for the first time since the first two. Back under the creative control of the Wayans (who left the series before the fan… Read More Movie Review: Scary Movie
By John Corrado The name John Carney has become synonymous with a certain type of music drama. Ever since his debut film Once broke out in 2007, carried along by it’s Oscar-winning song “Falling Slowly,” the Irish filmmaker has carved out a nice little niche for himself crafting a series of very good films –… Read More Movie Review: Power Ballad
By John Corrado How much fun you have with the new He-Man movie Masters of the Universe will all depend on how much nostalgia you have for the IP itself. Directed by Travis Knight, the film serves as a reboot of the franchise that spans from Mattel action figures, a 1980s cartoon series, and the… Read More Movie Review: Masters of the Universe
By John Corrado In the fantastic new World War II movie Pressure, Australian director Anthony Maras (Hotel Mumbai) finds a fresh angle to explore the events surrounding D-Day, by focusing specifically on the weather forecasts required to pull off the attack. It’s a surprisingly gripping setup for this film, which Maras co-wrote with David Haig. Based… Read More Movie Review: Pressure
By John Corrado I Love Boosters, musician turned writer-director Boots Riley’s followup to his 2018 film Sorry to Bother You, is another “surrealist critique of capitalism” that only cost $20 million to produce, and has all the subtlety or nuance of a sledgehammer. We are left with a film that is candy-coloured and, well, kind… Read More Movie Review: I Love Boosters
By John Corrado The first theatrically released Star Wars movie in seven years since 2019’s The Rise of Skywalker, The Mandalorian and Grogu serves as a big screen spinoff of the Disney Plus series. And it’s pretty good, offering an enjoyable if undemanding space adventure for the fans. After three seasons of The Mandalorian, this… Read More Movie Review: Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu
By John Corrado Maggie Gyllenhaal’s The Bride!, the actress-turned-filmmaker’s followup to her Oscar-nominated directorial debut The Lost Daughter, is an ambitious genre mashup of horror movie, detective picture, musical, and feminist revisionism. Setting her film in the 1930s, Gyllenhaal uses Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein as a blueprint for an entirely new reimagining of the story, crafting… Read More 4K Ultra HD Review: The Bride!
By John Corrado The title of The Wizard of the Kremlin, the latest film from French filmmaker Olivier Assayas, refers to Vadim Baranov (Paul Dano), a fictional, composite figure who is shown to be at the centre of Putin’s rise in post-Soviet Russia. Adapted from Emmanuel Carrère’s 2022 novel of the same name, the film… Read More Movie Review: The Wizard of the Kremlin
By John Corrado Would you want your crush to love you more than anyone in the world? That’s the question at the centre of writer-director Curry Barker’s new horror movie Obsession, one of the big breakout films from last year’s Midnight Madness section at TIFF. Bear (Michael Johnston) is a love-lorn young adult who wishes… Read More Movie Review: Obsession
By John Corrado Billie Eilish teams up with none other than visionary filmmaker James Cameron to co-direct Billie Eilish – Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour (Live in 3D), a solid concert film that will thrill her fans and provides an eye-popping, visually dazzling 3D experience. While Eilish and Cameron might seem like an… Read More Movie Review: Billie Eilish – Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour (Live in 3D)
By John Corrado Director Cole Webley’s debut feature Omaha is a quiet heartbreaker of a film that delivers a huge emotional impact as it mixes road movie and family drama. The film opens in the early morning, with a dad (John Magaro) bringing his sleeping son Charlie (Wyatt Solis) out to the car, and waking… Read More Movie Review: Omaha
The Joy of Movies 