By John Corrado In Fjord, his second Palme d’Or-winner following 2007’s 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, Romanian filmmaker Cristian Mungiu crafts a complex film that masterfully balances being a family drama, coming-of-age story, and courtroom procedural. This is a film that exists purely in shades of grey, even literally with the washed out… Read More #TIFF26 Review: Fjord (Special Presentations)
By John Corrado The latest from Japanese filmmaker Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, All of a Sudden is primarily a film about the different ways we care for each other, weaving themes about the bureaucratic power structure of a nursing home into a character drama. It’s an ambitious undertaking, even more so when you account for the fact… Read More #TIFF26 Review: All of a Sudden (Special Presentations)
By John Corrado Sheep in the Box, named for a passage in The Little Prince, is the latest work from Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda, who has proven himself a master of quietly observed character studies that raise thorny emotional questions. On paper, at least, this makes Kore-eda, serving as both writer and director, a natural fit… Read More Movie Review: Sheep in the Box
By John Corrado Her Private Hell is the latest film from Danish filmmaker Nicolas Winding Refn, whose 2011 thriller Drive starring Ryan Gosling is the closest thing he’s had to a mainstream hit, and a far better movie than anything he’s made since. This is Refn’s first film in a decade since 2016’s The Neon… Read More Movie Review: Her Private Hell
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 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 Alpha is the third feature from French filmmaker Julia Ducournau, whose previous films Raw and Titane both shocked and repulsed audiences while drawing critical acclaim. For Ducournau to follow up a film as thrilling and visionary as her sophomore feature Titane was always going to be a nearly impossible task, especially after… Read More Movie Review: Alpha
By John Corrado The Oscar-nominated French animated film Arco, which serves as the feature directorial debut of artist Ugo Bienvenu, imagines a future world where time travel is not only possible, but involves colourful jumpsuits that use rainbows and refracted light. The film opens in the distant future, with a boy named Arco (voiced by… Read More Movie Review: Arco
By John Corrado The official trailer has just been released for Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie, Canadian filmmaker Matt Johnson’s wildly entertaining time travel comedy. This one premiered at SXSW last year, and also got a hometown welcome as the opening night film of TIFF’s Midnight Madness section, where it very easily won… Read More Official Trailer for Matt Johnson’s Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie!
By John Corrado There you have it, folks. We have reached the end of 2025. Another year has officially come and gone, which means that it’s time for my countdown of the best movies of 2025. Or, perhaps more correctly, my favourite movies released this year. This includes, in no short order, a trio of… Read More The Best Movies of 2025
By John Corrado NEON has just released a new trailer for Sentimental Value. This is Norwegian director Joachim Trier’s follow up to The Worst Person in the World, reuniting him with that film’s star Renate Reinsve. I saw this one during TIFF, and it’s easily one of the best movies of the year, if not… Read More New Trailer for Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value
By John Corrado Shelby Oaks is a horror movie that serves as the crowdfunded feature directorial debut of YouTuber and film critic Chris Stuckmann, now fully dipping his toes into the world of genre filmmaking. It’s easy to root for a film critic making the jump to actually directing (for me at least), and Stuckmann’s… Read More Movie Review: Shelby Oaks
By John Corrado The latest film from Korean director Park Chan-wook, following up the gauzy, neo-noir, romantic mystery of 2022’s stunning Decision to Leave, No Other Choice is a wildly entertaining film that moves so seamlessly between dark comedy, drama, and murderous thriller, that it seems to defy genre itself. The story centres around Man-soo… Read More #TIFF50 Review: No Other Choice (Gala Presentations)
By John Corrado Splitsville is the new relationship comedy from director Michael Angelo Covino and his real life friend Kyle Marvin. The two previously teamed up to make the 2020 film The Climb, a portrait of male friendship told with impressive technical precision through a series of long takes and fluid camerawork. Covino and Marvin… Read More Movie Review: Splitsville
By John Corrado A couple find themselves being increasingly bound together in Together, the new body horror rom-com from writer-director Michael Shanks. But the real selling point of the film is the casting of actual couple Alison Brie and Dave Franco, whose chemistry adds an extra layer of interest. The real-life married couple star as… Read More Movie Review: Together
By John Corrado NEON has just put out the first trailer for Sentimental Value, which won the Grand Prix at Cannes. This is director Joachim Trier’s follow up to The Worst Person in the World, reuniting him with star Renate Reinsve. Stellan Skarsgård and Elle Fanning also star. It’s one of my most anticipated films… Read More First Trailer for Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value
By John Corrado NEON has just put out the first trailer for Splitsville, the new relationship comedy from director, co-writer and co-star Michael Angelo Covino. This is Covino’s second collaboration with co-writer and co-star Kyle Marvin, following their promising feature debut The Climb. Covino and Marvin’s latest (which premiered out of competition at Cannes in… Read More First Trailer for Michael Angelo Covino’s Splitsville
By John Corrado The Cannes film festival is still going strong over in France, and NEON has just put out the first teaser trailer for French filmmaker Julia Ducournau’s Alpha, one of the most anticipated films in the Official Competition. This is, of course, Ducournau’s follow-up to her 2021 shock Palme d’Or winner Titane (and… Read More Teaser Trailer for Julia Ducournau’s Alpha
By John Corrado Distributor NEON has just released the new official trailer for TIFF People’s Choice Award winner The Life of Chuck. This trailer reveals more of director Mike Flanagan’s Stephen King adaptation, including glimpses of Tom Hiddleston’s titular Chuck. The dance sequence is wisely being kept hidden, but is hinted at. We also hear… Read More Official Trailer for The Life of Chuck
By John Corrado Distributor NEON has just released the first teaser trailer for director Mike Flanagan’s The Life of Chuck, which they acquired following last year’s TIFF, where it won the festival’s coveted People’s Choice Award. Tom Hiddleston stars as the titular Chuck, alongside a host of others. Like the poster that was released a… Read More First Teaser Trailer for The Life of Chuck
The Joy of Movies 