JoeMama's Movie Reviews

Worst2First: The Best Films of 2015 With everything comes balance.  Yin, yang.  So for there to be a worst set of movies in 2015, there has to be the best.  Like the worst, it was hard coming up with just ten great films of the year, so I've included some Honorable Mentions as well. If you don’t see a review of mine on this site, it means I haven’t seen it yet, so I can’t include it in my best OR worst of 2015, since I haven’t seen them yet. So here are the ten best films of 2015, Worst2First... **There will be no spoilers.** The Honorable Mentions: Furious 7 "The Fast & the Furious" series is one of those cinematic anomalys where each sequel performs better than the one preceding it, with "Furious 7" making over a billion dollars worldwide.  They've long foregone plausible storytelling (let's drive a car across two buildings, how about we release cars from an airplane and have them land perfectly without any issu...

Worst2First: The Worst Films of 2015 As 2015 draws to a close, there’s no abundance of terrible films that were released.   Trying to narrow them down to just ten was almost an impossibility, but I managed to do so. If you don’t see a review of mine on this site, it means I haven’t seen it yet, so I can’t include it in my best OR worst of 2015, since I haven’t seen them yet. So here are the ten worst films of 2015, Worst2First… **There will be no spoilers.** The Dishonorable Mentions: The Lazarus Effect -a movie about a group of scientists who manage to bring animals – and then humans – back to life.   Only God should be able to do this, as of course everything goes wrong. http://joemamamoviereview.blogspot.com/2015/05/the-lazarus-effect.html Get Hard -Will Ferrell tries too hard, and Kevin Hart is highly overrated in this predictable comedy about a wealthy white man who is sentenced to prison, and hires a man based just on his ethn...

Bridge of Spies Starring Tom Hanks, Mark Rylance, Alan Alda, Amy Ryan Directed by Steven Speilberg The Story: At the height of the cold war, Rudolf Abel (Mark Rylance) is arrested in New York and accused of being a Soviet spy.  In order to maintain public fairness, insurance lawyer James Donovan (Tom Hanks) is brought in to defend Abel, but in reality all they want is for him to be a standee to show that everyone gets a "fair" trial. Donovan, instead, decides to ready an accurate and detailed defense for Abel, even though it costs him popularity and puts his and his family lives in danger due to the social outrage, as they already tried and convicted Abel even before the courts have.  He doesn't waver in his belief that every life matters, and everyone deserves a decent defense. Meanwhile, over in the Soviet Union, US intelligence officer Francis Powers (Austin Stowell) is shot down and detained, along with Frederic Pryor (Will Rogers), a US student studyi...

Knock Knock Starring Keanu Reeves, Lorenza Izzo, Ana de Armas, Ignacia Allamand Directed by Eli Roth The Story: Evan Webber (Keanu Reeves) is a loving father and husband who adores his wife Karen (Ignacia Allamand) and their children.  One weekend they decide to go to the beach while Evan stays at home to work.  One rainy night he gets a knock on the door, and there's Genesis (Lorenza Izzo) and Bel (Ana de Armas), two drenched, attractive girls needing to use his phone. Not thinking they're any threat, Evan invites them in to dry off and warm up.  However, as their conversation continues, they begin making advances on him.  He fends them off for a while but ultimately gives into his desires.  Afterward, they refuse to leave and threaten Evan, eventually binding and torturing him for the mistake he made.  And he wasn't the first one they did this to. The Synopsis: Eli Roth is best known for directing some of this generation's most prolific a...

Secret in Their Eyes Starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, Nicole Kidman, Julia Roberts, Alfred Molina Directed by Billy Ray The Story: In 2002, at the height of terrorism fears, FBI counter terrorism investigator Ray Karsten (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and district attorney's investigator Jess Cobb (Julia Roberts) are investigating a mosque in Los Angeles that could harbor terrorists, under the instruction of assistant District Attorney Claire Sloan (Nicole Kidman) and District Attorney Martin Morales (Alfred Molina). One day they investigate a murdered woman whose body was found in a Dumpster by the mosque.  Ray discovers the victim is Jess's only daughter, which sends Jess into a grief-induced downward tailspin.  Ray feels partially responsible for Jess's daughter's death, so he delves full force into the investigation, to the dismay of Morales and Sloan. Ray uncovers the culprit, but it's not as easy as it seems.  The killer is an informant for the counter terrorism...

Spotlight Starring Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams, Liev Schreiber Directed by Tom McCarthy The Story: In 2001, The Boston Globe's Spotlight team is led by editor Robby Robinson (Michael Keaton), and reporters Michael Rezendes (Mark Ruffalo), Sacha Pfeiffer (Rachel McAdams) and Matty Carroll (Brian d'Arcy James).  All of them are Boston born and bred, as is most of the Globe team, including deputy editor Ben Bradlee Jr. (John Slattery).  When editor Marty Baron (Liev Schreiber), a man not born in Boston, comes on board as the new editor, he brings to light a small column in the Globe about the Boston archdiocese's inauspicious handling of various abuse cases, and wants the Spotlight team to fully investigate it. As the Spotlight team delves deeper into the controversy, they discover that this goes far beyond one priest who violated young church boys, and leads all the way to the highest Cardinal in the area, as well as several other priests and th...

The Intern Starring Robert De Niro, Anne Hathaway, Rene Russo, Anders Holm Directed by Nancy Meyers The Story: Ben Whittaker (Robert De Niro) is a 70-year-old widower who is bored with retirement and seeks out new adventures.  He applies for a senior internship at the young, hip, fashionable company called About the Fit, founded by Jules Ostin (Anne Hathaway), that focuses on e-commerce fashion. He gets the position and immediately begins making friends with his younger co-interns and workers, and finds that he's interning under Jules herself.  Jules is a fast-paced boss who is very wary of other people, and at first is against the idea of having Ben as her personal intern, but as he begins to help her and gets involved with her family, she begins to warm up to his charm and eager helpfulness, which will be of critical importance as she faces some serious work and life struggles that only someone older than her can help her with. The Synopsis: Nancy Meyers is ...