JoeMama's Movie Reviews

No Escape Starring Owen Wilson, Lake Bell, Pierce Brosnan, Sterling Jerins Directed by John Erick Dowdle The Story: Jack Dwyer (Owen Wilson), a water company executive, relocates his family - wife Annie (Lake Bell), and young daughters Lucy (Sterling Jerins) and Beeze (Claire Geare) - to southeast Asia from Texas to work at a water plant that will supply clean drinking water to the country.  Almost as soon as they arrive, a coup arises, and the rebellion army goes in search of foreigners, dead set on killing them all.  Holed up at their hotel, Jack and Annie have to resort to drastic measures to save themselves and their family in a country where there seemingly is no escape. The Synopsis: In 2001, Owen Wilson surprised audiences by starring in "Behind Enemy Lines," where he ditched his comedic persona and took on a heavily action-led role.  As the years went by, he returned to his true art form, and never starred in another purely action film again....

Awake Starring Hayden Christensen, Jessica Alba, Terrence Howard, Lena Olin Directed by Joby Harold The Story: Clay Beresford (Hayden Christensen) is a 22-year old billionaire, a business entrepreneur and one of the most powerful men in New York.  He's also dying, requiring a heart transplant, but due to his rare blood type, it's difficult finding a donor. A year ago, he meets Sam Lockwood (Jessica Alba), who is the personal secretary to his mother, Lilith (Lena Olin), an overbearing woman who meddles in her son's life at every twist and turn.  They're able to keep their relationship secret, until Sam pesters Clay to tell his mother.  He does, and she is outraged, but they still get married that night, before learning there's a donor heart available. Against his mother's wishes, Clay chooses troubled doctor Jack Harper (Terrence Howard), the doctor who saved his life once before, to perform the operation, instead of Lilith's friend who is a w...

Area 51 Starring Reid Warner, Darrin Bragg, Ben Rovner, Jelena Nik Directed by Oren Peli The Story: Friends Reid (Reid Warner), Darren (Darren Bragg) and Ben (Ben Rovner) are your average typical guys, until at one party, Reid disappears for a period of time, only to appear in the middle of the road. Three months later, the boys decide to infiltrate Area 51, because Reid has an unexplainable pull to it.  With the aid of Jelena (Jelena Nik) - a woman whose father used to work at Area 51 - the group prepares to enter the mysterious base, hoping to find the existence of extraterrestrials.  What they discovered instead led to their disappearances, and the film being the only record found. The Synopsis: Ah, "Paranormal Activity."  What a ground-breaking, revolutionary film that was!  And it was so terrifying!  Over an hour where nothing happens, followed by ten minutes of a few things happening, and then the last five minutes when EVERYTHING happened...

Straight Outta Compton Starring O'Shea Jackson Jr., Corey Hawkins, Jason Mitchell, Paul Giamatti Directed by F. Gary Gray The Story: "Straight Outta Compton" follows the lives of Ice Cube (O'Shea Jackson Jr.), Dr. Dre (Corey Hawkins) and Eazy-E (Jason Mitchell) as they grow up on the mean streets of Compton, California, and decide to use their talents to form their own record label - Ruthless Records - and form the group known as N.W.A, under the tutelage of manager Jerry Heller (Paul Giamatti). As the group gains national success, their suggestive lyrics about lack of respect for women, authority (especially the police) and glorification of drug use draws ire from authorities, but this only strengthens their resolve to get their message across, without sugar-coating it.  Their unique style of rap delivered with Ice Cube's truthful writing draws popularity and the group attains superstar status. With this superstar status comes cracks in the found...

Spy Starring Melissa McCarthy, Rose Byrne, Jason Statham, Jude Law Directed by Paul Feig The Story: Susan Cooper (Melissa McCarthy) works for the CIA - in a basement, at a call center, being the voice in the ear of super spy Bradley Fine (Jude Law).  She directs him through danger for each and every mission, yet she's never hit the field. That is, until Fine comes into contact with Rayna Boyanov (Rose Byrne), a deadly killer who is the only person who knows where a nuclear bomb is located.  Rayna kills Fine, and Susan volunteers to enter the field, since Rayna knows the identity of every covert CIA agent - she would be the perfect cover, since she's unknown.  Despite hesitations from fellow spy Rick Ford (Jason Statham), Susan's boss (Allison Janney) agrees to send Susan to the field. With the aid of her friend Nancy (Miranda Hart), Susan infiltrates Rayna's inner circle (despite Ford's constant attempts to "aide" her).  As she delves deepe...

Terminator Genisys Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Emilia Clarke, Jai Courtney, Jason Clarke Directed by Alan Taylor The Story: In 2029, the Human Resistance, led by John Connor (Jason Clarke), plans one final assault on Skynet - an AI system that deemed humanity too violent to survive.  Along with his right hand man, Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney), John and the Resistance seem to be successful, but Skynet manages to send a T-800 Terminator back in time beforehand.  In order to prevent it from killing John's mother and stopping his timeline, Kyle agrees to go to 1984 and protect the seemingly innocent Sarah Connor. In 1984, Kyle arrives and learns that Sarah (Emilia Clarke) is anything but innocent, as she rescues him from a T-1000 with the aid of a re-programmed T-800 (Arnold Schwarzenegger), who was created by an unknown entity to protect Sarah since she was a little girl. Together, the three of them plan a time-travel jump to 2017 to stop Skynet from being formed...

Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation Starring Tom Cruise, Rebecca Ferguson, Simon Pegg, Sean Harris Directed by Christopher McQuarrie The Story: After intercepting a terrorist plot to deploy nerve gas, IMF (Impossible Mission Force) agent Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) feels that he can prove there is a "Syndicate" out there - a rogue nation that is the antithesis of the IMF.    However, before he could reveal this information, he is kidnapped and subjected to torture before being freed by the mysterious Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson). Meanwhile, back in D.C., Chief Director of the CIA Alan Hunley (Alec Baldwin) and operations director of the IMF William Brandt (Jeremy Renner) are before the Senate Intelligence Oversight committee, where Hunley demands the IMF be disbanded due to lack of oversight control.  His wish is granted, and the IMF is disbanded, making Hunt a man without a country as he tracks down the ever elusive Solomon Lane (Sean Harris), a rogue MI6 agent...

The Gift Starring Jason Bateman, Joel Edgerton, Rebecca Hall, Tim Griffin Directed by Joel Edgerton The Story: Moving back to his hometown to begin a new, lucrative job, Simon (Jason Bateman) and his wife Robyn (Rebecca Hall) purchase a modern home with tons of windows, and they begin their new life together by hoping to have a baby. One day Simon runs into Gordon (Joel Edgerton), whom he doesn't remember, but Gordon reminds him that they were friends in high school.  Somewhat off-putting, Gordon has a weird hold on Robyn, who invites him to dinner.  He continues to act weird, to Simon's anger, and Robyn's sympathy. Soon Gordon begins leaving gifts at their door, and arriving unexpectedly - typically when Robyn is home alone.  The infuriates Simon more, and he gives Gordon an ultimatum - to never see him or his wife again.  Soon after, it appears that Gordon begins stalking the couple, which soon spirals into a poisonous toxin that threatens Simon and R...

Fifty Shades of Grey Starring Dakota Johnson, Jamie Dornan, Eloise Mumford, Marcia Gay Harden Directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson The Story: Anastasia Steele (Dakota Johnson) is a literature student who travels to Seattle to interview the mysterious and powerful young billionaire Christian Grey (Jamie Dornan) because her journalist roommate Kate (Eloise Mumford) is ill.  Upon meeting him, Ana is smitten by his charm and mystery, and he is drawn to her innocence and beauty. The two begin a relationship that at first seems normal, but then Christian discusses his "special needs" that could cause Ana to not want to be with him again, but she's intrigued and explores Christian's rather...unorthodox...methods of love. The Synopsis: "Fifty Shades of Grey" is everything that's wrong with the world.  The "book" (I feel that is an insult to great books everywhere, like the Bible, Little Women, or Dr. Seuss) is nothing more than three series ...

Vacation Starring Ed Helms, Christina Applegate, Leslie Mann, Chris Hemsworth Directed by John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein The Story: Rusty Griswold (Ed Helms) doesn't have the perfect life.  He's a pilot for a very small airline chain, his wife Debbie (Christina Applegate) is bored with their marriage, and their oldest son James (Skyler Gisondo) is constantly bullied by his younger brother Kevin (Steele Stebbins).  Hoping to escape the mundane yearly vacation, Rusty decides to drive the family across the country to Wally World - a place he and his family visited 32 years earlier. The road trip - suffice it to say - doesn't go according to plan.  They rent a strange Albanian car, get pursued by a crazed trucker, visit Debbie's old sorority house, bathe in waste, and visit Rusty's sister Audrey (Leslie Mann) and her younger, more attractive and more successful husband Stone (Chris Hemsworth).  As the vacation unravels, Rusty begins to come to t...

Let Us Prey Starring Liam Cunningham, Pollyanna McIntosh, Bryan Larkin, Hanna Stanbridge Directed by Brian O'Malley The Story: Rachel Heggie (Pollyanna McIntosh) is about to start her first day as a police officer in a small Scottish town, but she is beset by a terrifying childhood traumatic event.  On her first night, she arrests a man for hitting a pedestrian, even though he disappeared after being hit.  The man (Liam Cunningham) then arrives at the police station, and unleashes the hidden evils within everyone at the prison, causing Rachel to make a decision that could affect her entire life. The Synopsis: "Let Us Prey" is a different type of horror film.  There's not a huge cast - only eight main actors - and because of that, they're able to really dive down deep into each character, so you know more than just their first name when they eventually bite the dust.  There's no fodder here, no expendable characters you have no thoughts about.  Y...