JoeMama's Movie Reviews

Major Theatrical Releases October 2015 October is known for two things in Hollywood: 1. Halloween and the arrival of scary movies 2. The unofficial start of Oscar-bait season Gone are the summer blockbusters with superhero battles, earth-shattering cataclysms, and sappy teen romances.  In their place is a group of movies that focus on the fun and thrills of Halloween, as well as those critically acclaimed pieces that no one would give two cares about during the height of the summer action season. Here are a list of films being released nationally for the month of October, 2015. October 2 Legend Starring Tom Hardy, Emily Browning, Christopher Eccleston, Taron Egerton Directed by Brian Helgeland Synopsis (imdb.com): The film tells the story of the identical twin gangsters Reggie and Ronnie Kray, two of the most notorious criminals in British history, and their organised crime empire in the East End of London during the 1960s. Background: The first of the ...

Black Mass Starring Johnny Depp, Joel Edgerton, Benedict Cumberbatch, Dakota Johnson Directed by Scott Cooper The Story: In south Boston in the 70s, James "Whitey" Bulger (Johnny Depp) was a small time gangster and the leader of the Winter Hill Gang.  Their main competition is the Angiulo Family, who has ties to the mob.  When Whitey's old friend John Connolly (Joel Edgerton) returns to south Boston as a FBI agent, Connolly decides on a mutually beneficial agreement between himself and Bolger - to make Whitey a FBI informant, and he looks the other way during Whitey's crimes. Soon Whitey advances to the top kingpin in Boston, and Connolly rises among the ranks of the FBI.  As the years progress, their alliance begins to become unhinged as Whitey's actions become more and more deadly, leading to the complete unraveling of the truce between the two men. The Synopsis: Going into the film, I didn't know a lot about the Whitey Bulger story, except ...

Hitman: Agent 47 Starring Rupert Friend, Hannah Ware, Zachary Quinto, Cirian Hinds Directed by Aleksander Bach The Story: Dr. Peter Litvenko (Cirian Hinds) created the Agent Program - where he builds up young children and genetically alters them, removing emotions such as guilt, remorse and fear and giving them heightened senses of intelligence, speed, and strength.  Although the Program ended decades ago, and Litvenko went into hiding, Antoine LeClerq (Thomas Kretschmann), the head of an organization known as the Syndicate, wants to bring the program back.  So he enlists John Smith (Zachary Quinto) to find Litvenko, by finding his daughter Katia (Hannah Ware). Meanwhile, one of the few agents left, Agent 47 (Rupert Friend) is also out to find Katia, and kill her, before the Syndicate finds her and her father.  At first, Katia sides with John because she believes he's out to protect her, but then joins with the Agent after realizing the Syndicate was plannin...

Creep Starring Mark Duplass, Patrick Brice Directed by Patrick Brice The Story: Aaron (Patrick Brice) is in need of money, so he answers an ad on Craigslist to videotape a man named Josef (Mark Duplass).  When he arrives at Josef's place, he seems a bit off, but Aaron feels its because he's dying of a brain tumor, and wants to make a video for his yet unborn son. As the day progresses, Josef begins acting even stranger, and Aaron becomes unnerved by him.  Then Josef's motives become more clear, and Aaron begins to fear for his life. The Synopsis: "Creep" is a surprisingly effective found-footage film that centers on just two main characters.  Aaron, the man behind the lens, portrayed by director and co-writer Patrick Brice, and Josef, the odd mysterious creeper brilliantly played by fellow co-writer Mark Duplass.  Blumhouse Productions produced the film, and they've been on the positive end of horror movies as of late ("The Visit," ...

Fantastic Four Starring Miles Teller, Michael B. Jordan, Kate Mara, Jamie Bell Directed by Josh Trank The Story: Reed Richards (Miles Teller) is a child genius, who invented a teleportation device with the help of his best friend Ben Grimm (Jamie Bell).  Ten years later, he shows off the device at his high school's science fair, but is disqualified for beliefs that he's doing magic and not science. However, he draws the attention of Dr. Franklin Storm (Reg E. Cathey) and his daughter Sue (Kate Mara), who invited their own teleportation device, but weren't capable of bringing stuff back.  Reed agrees to work for them, along with fellow young genius Victor Von Doom (Toby Kebbell), who invited the other teleportation device. As they begin work on the device, Storm enlists the help of his rebellious son Johnny (Michael B. Jordan), and together they create a working teleportation device that not only teleports things away, but brings them back as well.  They f...

Extinction Starring Matthew Fox, Jeffrey Donovan, Quinn McColgan, Valeria Vereau Directed by Miguel Angel Vivas The Story: Nine years after a zombie apocalypse, Jack (Jeffrey Donovan), his nine-year-old daughter Lu (Quinn McColgan), and his former best friend Patrick (Matthew Fox) are the only three survivors living in the frigid town of Harmony.  They've amassed a sense of community with electricity, food, and familiar comforts, even despite seeing another human being. The two men live across the street from each other, and both share a tortured past as both were in love with Emma (Valeria Vereau), who perished during the outbreak.  Nine years later, and the two men haven't been able to communicate or even be civil to one another. All that changes when one of the infected arrives, years after both men thought they were long dead.  Now mutated, the infected can run faster and hear better, but they've lost their sight, and their bites and scratches no longe...

The Town That Dreaded Sundown Starring Addison Timlin, Travis Tope, Veronica Cartwright, Gary Cole Directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon The Story: In the small town of Texarkana, in the 40s, a serial killer known as The Phantom terrorized the town, and was never caught.  In the 70s, a Hollywood movie titled "The Town That Dreaded Sundown" was filmed there, and every year the town celebrated the film by showing it. One year ago, while watching the movie, Jami (Addison Timlin) isn't amused, so she and her boyfriend leave, and come into contact with a man wearing a burlap sack like the original killer, and kills her boyfriend.  He leaves her alive to tell the town that The Phantom is back. As The Phantom begins his killing spree again, Jami and her new friend Nick (Travis Tope) attempt to find out who the killer really is, by digging into the past.  They find the son of the father who directed the film, and he gives them important information on something the p...

Hangar 10 Starring Danny Shayle, Abbie Salt, Robert Curtis Directed by Daniel Simpson The Story: 33 years after the events that occurred in the Rendlesham forest, friends Gus (Danny Shayle), his girlfriend Sally (Abbie Salt), and her ex-boyfriend Jake (Robert Curtis) decide to investigate the forest in search of gold.  As they travel deeper into the forest, they see lights, hear weird sounds, and encounter a secret that's been locked away for decades. The Synopsis: Hurray!  Another found footage movie!  Right at the start we're told this is the tapes that were found, which of course means no one survives, which means we don't have to give a lick about them!  Good news, one less thing to think about. This proves to be a good thing, because all three leads are insufferable in their roles.  Gus, the leader, was a former military guy who's extremely over-protective of his girlfriend, yet travels into the middle of nowhere with her and her ex-boyfrie...

Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior Starring Mel Gibson, Bruce Spence, Vernon Wells, Emil Minty Directed by George Miller The Story: The world is now a desolate wasteland.  Fuel is scarce, and more valuable than gold.  Max (Mel Gibson) is a nomad, wandering the desert with nothing but his faithful dog, his black V-8 Pursuit Special, and a sawed-off shotgun. As he searches for fuel, he comes across a marauding gang, which he defeats.  He then comes across a seemingly abandoned autogyro, but it's a trap, and he's ambushed by the Gyro Captain (Bruce Spence).  Max manages to overpower him, and in return for his life, he'll take Max to a town with an abundance of fuel. When they arrive, the find the city already under siege by the gang Max encountered earlier, led by the eccentric Lord Humungus (Kjell Nilsson).  Max makes contact with the town, who at first wants to kill him, but after another encounter with Humungus, they offer Max a deal - obtain a fallen ...

The Visit Starring Olivia DeJonge, Ed Oxenbould, Deanna Dunagan, Peter McRobbie Directed by M. Night Shyamalan The Story: Siblings Rebecca (Olivia DeJonge) and Tyler (Ed Oxenbould) live in a broken home.  Their father ran off, and their mother Paula (Kathryn Hahn) has been looking for love ever since. To top it off, she's had a strained relationship with her own parents, and haven't talked to them in years.  Out of the blue, the grandparents want to meet their grandchildren, so Paula sends the kids to their grandparents' house in the middle of nowhere. At first, Nana (Deanna Dunagan) and Pop Pop (Peter McRobbie) seem like the average doting grandparents - baking, cooking, and loving on their grandkids.  Things turn odd when Rebecca and Tyler are told bedtime is 9:30, and to not come out of their room.  Of course, they do, and witness Nana especially acting erratically, and as the days go on, the grandparents become weirder and weirder.  What is rea...

Child 44 Starring Tom Hardy, Noomi Rapace, Gary Oldman, Joel Kinnaman Directed by Daniel Espinosa The Story: In the Ukraine in the 1930s, young Leo Demidov is orphaned when his parents died during the Holodomor famine.  He is adopted into a Russian military family, and grows up to become a war hero when he brandishes the Soviet flag after the battle of Reichstag in 1945.  Now a war hero and decorated military leader, Leo (Tom Hardy) sets out to find traitors of the U.S.S.R., and serves as one of the finest soldiers in the Soviet army. He is married to Raisa (Noomy Rapace), a woman who at first gave him a fake name, but now is a dutiful wife and teacher.  That is, until a traitor Leo captures names her as a spy.  Conflicted with what to do, Leo stands by his wife, and both are deported to Volsk to work as laborers under General Nesterov (Gary Oldman), and Leo discovers a web of deceit among the Soviets - led by war coward Vasili (Joel Kinnaman), who pine...

Top 15 Movies of the Summer of 2015 The summer of 2015 will go down as one of the best summers for films I've remembered in a long time.  There weren't that many "duds" out there this summer, or at least that I saw.  I saw a total of 17 films this summer, and picked the top 15 that I enjoyed the most.  The two that didn't make it - "Insidious: Chapter 3" and "Tomorrowland" - weren't necessarily bad, they weren't just my top 15, and it wouldn't make sense to make a top 17. So, without further adieu, here is my top 15 films of summer 2015, starting with #15... #15 Terminator: Genisys While reviewing the film, I took it two ways - one as a film independent of itself, and the other as an addition to the "Terminator" series.  While by itself it was a great summer popcorn action flick, in the whole of the "Terminator" series, it falls somewhere in the middle - but not as bad as "Terminator 3...