By John Corrado ★★ (out of 4) Arriving fifteen years after Enchanted, Disney’s self-aware 2007 fairy tale that found an animated princess stumbling into our live action world, Disenchanted is a direct-to-streaming sequel that unfortunately struggles to recapture the same magic. Amy Adams reprises her role as Giselle, who left her home in the animated… Read More Disney+ Review: Disenchanted
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Spirited is far from the first adaptation of A Christmas Carol, let alone the first comedic or musical one. But the film, which serves as a full-on reimagining of the Charles Dickens story done as a modern musical complete with Broadway-style songs by Benji Pasek and Justin Paul… Read More Review: Spirited (Apple TV+)
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) The latest film from Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Bardo (full title Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths) finds the Oscar-winning Mexican filmmaker in introspective mode and working in the Spanish language for the first time since Biutiful in 2010, to craft a semi-autobiographical tale of identity and belonging,… Read More Review: Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) How did Mickey Mouse go from lovable cartoon character to ubiquitous corporate symbol? That’s the question asked in the enjoyable Disney+ documentary Mickey: The Story of a Mouse, which explores the history of how Mickey’s visage – made out of three simple circles – has become one of… Read More Disney+ Review: Mickey: The Story of a Mouse
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) Jerry & Marge Go Large is the vaguely “based on a true story” tale of Jerry Selbee (Bryan Cranston) and his wife Marge (Annette Bening), an older married couple who discover a loophole that lets them win the lottery every three weeks without fail. Jerry has just retired… Read More DVD Review: Jerry & Marge Go Large
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) Tim Allen is back as Scott Calvin, the single dad who inexplicably took up the mantle of Santa Claus, in the new Disney+ limited series The Santa Clauses, which is having its two-episode premiere this week. Building on the trilogy of films that began in 1994 with The… Read More Disney+ Review: The Santa Clauses (First Two Episodes)
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Disney returns to the richly populated world of their 2016 animated film Zootopia in the aptly titled Disney+ series Zootopia+, a collection of six short films set in the animal metropolis. But rather than being a direct sequel to the movie, Zootopia+ is instead a collection of off-shoot… Read More Disney+ Review: Zootopia+
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Composer Michael Giacchino makes the switch to directing with the 52 minute Marvel Halloween special Werewolf by Night, a black-and-white tribute to the classic Universal monster movies that serves as a breath of fresh air in a slightly stagnant MCU. The special (which may as well begin with… Read More Disney+ Review: Werewolf by Night
By John Corrado Blonde is director Andrew Dominik’s adaptation of the 2000 novel of the same name by Joyce Carol Oates, which presented a somewhat fictionalized account of Marilyn Monroe’s life, and it’s a film that has invoked strong reactions in viewers (and that’s putting it mildly). I watched Blonde a week ago on Netflix… Read More Some Thoughts on Andrew Dominik’s Blonde…
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) Dead for a Dollar is a pretty good new Western written and directed by Walter Hill, the veteran filmmaker who has played around in the genre before, while perhaps being best known for action comedies like the 48 Hrs. films and the cult classic rock musical Streets of… Read More VOD Review: Dead for a Dollar
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) The witches are back in the new Disney+ legacy sequel Hocus Pocus 2, which sees those eccentric Sanderson Sisters – Winnie (Bette Midler), Mary (Kathy Najimy) and Sarah (Sarah Jessica Parker) – returning to modern day Salem. Set 29 years after the events (and release) of Disney’s 1993… Read More Disney+ Review: Hocus Pocus 2
By John Corrado ★★ (out of 4) Disney’s new version of Pinocchio, which is being released direct to streaming as part of this year’s Disney+ Day programming, is the studio’s latest live action remake of a beloved animated classic, and it’s maybe the weakest one they have put out yet. Directed by Robert Zemeckis, who… Read More Disney+ Review: Pinocchio
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) Cars on the Road, which premieres on Disney+ tomorrow as part of their annual Disney+ Day programming, is a short episodic series from Pixar Animation Studios that finds trusty tow truck Mater (Larry the Cable Guy) and race car Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) reuniting for a road trip.… Read More Disney+ Review: Cars on the Road
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Please note that there are spoilers for the 2009 film Orphan in this review. The idea of making a prequel to the 2009 film Orphan thirteen years after the fact with lead actress Isabelle Fuhrman, who was a child at the time and is now in her mid-20s, reprising… Read More Review: Orphan: First Kill
By John Corrado ★★½ (out of 4) I Am Groot, the latest Marvel series premiering on Disney Plus, isn’t really a series at all, but rather a collection of brief little shorts featuring Guardians of the Galaxy breakout star Baby Groot (voiced once again by Vin Diesel) going on a series of adventures between the… Read More Disney+ Review: I Am Groot
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Directed by Dan Trachtenberg (10 Cloverfield Lane), Prey is the fifth instalment in the Predator franchise (seventh if you count the spinoffs Alien vs. Predator and Alien vs. Predator: Requiem). The twist is that it’s actually a prequel to the 1987 original, that is set in the Comanche… Read More Disney+ Review: Prey
By John Corrado ★★ (out of 4) How does Netflix take a $200 million budget, a couple of movie stars, and the directors behind some of the biggest movies of all time, and make something as bland as The Gray Man? That’s the question audiences will be left with after watching this latest film from… Read More Review: The Gray Man
By John Corrado ★★★ (out of 4) Nancy Stokes (Emma Thompson) is a retired religious ethics teacher in her fifties who hires a male escort named Leo Grande (Daryl McCormack) for a series of sexual encounters in a hotel room, in the Sundance drama Good Luck to You, Leo Grande. Nancy’s husband, the only man… Read More Review: Good Luck to You, Leo Grande
By John Corrado ★★★½ (out of 4) A confident sophomore feature from writer-director-star Cooper Raiff (who also serves as one of the producers and editors), Cha Cha Real Smooth is a delightful and touching heart-on-sleeve dramedy that delivers a pretty big emotional wallop while remaining sensitive to its characters. Raiff stars in the film (which… Read More Review: Cha Cha Real Smooth
The Joy of Movies 