JoeMama's Movie Reviews

Major Theatrical Releases August 2016 With summer drawing to a close, this is the time most movie companies dump their stinkers to the theaters because most people are either getting ready to go back to school or enjoying their last summer nights outside and taking vacations.  This month sees several obvious bombs, with a few glimmers of hope that August will go out with a bang. Here are the major theatrical movies being released in August 2016. August 5 Suicide Squad With the exceptions of "Civil War" and "Finding Dory," this is the most highly anticipated film of the summer, and I have little doubt that it'll hold the top spot for the entire month of August.  In order to combat a supreme evil, the government turns to a gang of supervillains to take him down in exchange for clemency.  The main standouts will be Margot Robie, who plays DC's favorite villain Harley Quinn, and Jared Leto, who tackles the Joker after Heath Ledger's Osc...

Worst2First:  My Top Ten Songs From Movies I was having a heated conversation with some friends about songs in movies.  More specifically, we were arguing over the use of hip hop music in trailers such as "The Magnificent Seven" and "Assassin's Creed," where it seemed such music would feel out of place.  This got me to thinking about songs in movies, and I realized the real power of a great song in a great movie.  You remember the song long after the film ends, and sometimes it holds a tremendous significance in cinematic history. I compiled a list of ten songs that have had a huge significance in the movie they were featured in, as well as ones that stick in your head long after hearing them.  These will not be from musicals, but rather from movies that weren't more musical than acting. **There will be no spoilers.** #10 (Don't You) Forget About Me From "The Breakfast Club" In the 80s, there was a group of actors known...

Star Trek Beyond Starring Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban, Zoe Saldana Directed by Justin Lin The Story: As the USS Enterprise and her crew enters the third year of a five-year trek, fatigue is starting to set in, especially with the ship's captain, James Kirk (Chris Pine).  He starts yearning for something more, which comes in the form of a possible job at the Starbase Yorktown.  As the crew rests at the station, an escape pod lands at the station, and the survivor tells the story that their ship went down on an uncharted planet, and she needs a ship to travel an unstable nebula to reach it. Kirk and the crew answer the call, but once they pass the nebula they find themselves in an ambush as an army of ships destroy the Enterprise, kidnaps most of the crew, and strands the rest on the mysterious planet.  The surviving crew meets Jaylah (Sofia Boutella), who was also stranded on the planet and wants revenge against Krall (Idris Elba), the evil leader ...

Worst2First:  My Top Ten Franchises That Have Gone Too Long This weekend will find two films being released that have been a part of long film franchises.  "Star Trek Beyond" is the third film in the newly rebooted "Star Trek" series, which boasts an amazing thirteen films.  While there's several that weren't that great, the new reboot has re-introduced audiences to the crew of the Enterprise and delivered exciting, thrilling adventures. Then, there's "Ice Age: Collision Course."  This is the fifth film in an animated franchise that should've ended after the first, as each successive film has made less than its predecessor.  Sometimes, you need to know when to give up on a franchise. In honor of this, I've listed my top ten franchises that have gone on too long, Worst2First (meaning the "First" is indeed the worst of the worst). **There will be no spoilers.** #10 X-Men Franchise Total Films: 9 Best F...

Green Room Starring Anton Yelchin, Imogen Poots, Alia Shawkat, Patrick Stewart Directed by Jeremy Saulnier The Story: Pat (Anton Yelchin), Sam (Alia Shawkat), Reece (Joe Cole) and Tiger (Callum Turner) are members of a punk rock band named Ain't Rights, and have booked a gig at a bar in Oregon.  When they arrive, they find that the bar is a neo-Nazi  skinhead-run business owned by Darcy Banker (Patrick Stewart).  After accidentally witnessing a murder, Darcy and his army hold Pat and his friends hostage in the club, which leads to a struggle for survival as the band has to use their wits to figure a way out of the club. The Synopsis: Jeremy Saulnier is an up-and-coming director who has a flair for directing films that are witty, intelligent and rather out-of-the-box, which is a unique thing for a Hollywood director in a land filled with prequels, sequels, book-based movies and other unoriginal content.  With his third film, "Green Room," he not only dir...

Cabin Fever Starring Samuel Davis, Matthew Daddario, Gage Golightly, Nadine Crocker Directed by Travis Z The Story: Deciding to take a break from city life, friends Paul (Samuel Davis), Karen (Gage Golightly), Jeff (Matthew Daddario - younger brother of "San Andreas" and "Percy Jackson" star Alexandra Daddario), Marcy (Nadine Crocker) and Bert (Dustin Ingram) decide to have a vacation at a cabin in the woods.  All seems to be going well until a man who's obviously sick tries to come in, and they set him on fire.  Then, one-by-one, they begin getting sick themselves, with some sort of flesh-eating disease.  As they try to find help, they instead find a town filled with people who'd rather keep a deep dark secret a secret, at any cost. The Synopsis: Back in 2002, Eli Roth was a relative no-name director.  Then he produced a film called "Cabin Fever," and it was an instant hit.  He gave a brilliant blend of dark humor, gore, drama and t...

Worst2First: My Top Ten Reboot Films With the "Ghostbusters" reboot coming out, I decided to do a top ten list of my favorite reboot movies.  First of all, there is a difference between a remake and a reboot: Remake: A film that honors the source material and gives an almost shot-for-shot of the original.  Although some aspects might've been changed, it's mostly an updated version of the original.  Examples of this include the Anne Heche "Psycho," the recent "Poltergeist," and the Nicolas Cage disaster "The Wicker Man." Reboot: A complete overhaul of the original material, where small similarities can be found (same character names, settings, etc.), but on the whole it's a new, original story based off something already existing.  The new "Ghostbusters" fits into this category, because it's an all-female cast instead of an all-male cast, yet it keeps some aspects of the original (the overall theme, some cast m...