JoeMama's Movie Reviews

Worst2First:  My Most Anticipated Films of Spring 2017 Generally the spring brings about the end of the prestige films and maybe a few nuggets of decent films to keep you eagerly awaiting the huge summer season, but this year there's a lot of very exciting movies coming out in the spring months, and here are my ten most anticipated.  For me, the Spring constitutes the months of March and April. **There will be no spoilers since the films  aren't actually released yet. Also, the release dates are subject to change.** #10 The Belko Experiment March 17 The film has an interesting premise that threatens to stretch the societal norms to their limits: a group of co-workers must kill one another, or they'll die themselves.  It's an intriguing premise, but not outside the realm of possibility, as other such experiments (The Stanford Experiment and The Milgram Experiment come to mind) - albeit without the death - eventually show how we really a...

89th Academy Awards Predictions My most anticipated day of the year is fast approaching.  Sports fans have their Super Bowl, movie fanatics (aka cinephiles) like myself have the Academy Awards. Last year I didn't fare so well in my predictions, especially with the technical categories.  Hopefully this year I can redeem myself. VISUAL EFFECTS Deepwater Horizon Doctor Strange The Jungle Book Kubo and the Two Strings Rogue One: A Star Wars Story This is a very tough category to choose from.  All the films nominated have spectacular visual effects, and if I go with my heart - which I'm going to, even though I'm probably going to be wrong - I would give the win to Kubo and the Two Strings, because the film is an absolutely marvelous gem of outstanding stop-motion animation and a deeply emotional, moving story to boot.  SOUND MIXING Arrival Hacksaw Ridge La La Land Rogue One: A Star Wars Story 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi ...

A Cure for Wellness Starring Dane DeHaan, Jason Isaacs, Mia Goth, Ivo Nandi Directed by Gore Verbinski The Story: After an older executive dies of a heart attack, young upstart Lockhart (Dane DeHaan) is brought into the fold to bring a fellow executive back from a mysterious sanitarium/hospital in Switzerland.  Upon arriving at the beautiful former castle, he speaks with head doctor Volmer (Jason Isaacs), who eventually agrees to release the patient later that night.  However, Lockhart is involved in a serious car accident and wakes up days later at the hospital with a broken leg, and has to stay at the castle until it heals. He notices all the patients are rich, older white people who all drink a mysterious water that Volmer claims to have healing powers, and when he finally finds the executive he's looking for, he doesn't want to go back.  He then meets the only young person there, Hannah (Mia Goth), who ominously tells him no one ever leaves.  As the f...

The Walking Dead New Best Friends Season 7 Episode 10 Review *SPOILERS FOR THE SHOW, EPISODE AND COMICS FOLLOW, READ AT YOUR OWN RISK** As the episodes slowly close in on the eventual All Out War with Negan and his Saviors, we've been introduced to several comic book communities - Alexandria, the Hilltop, the Kingdom and Oceanside (although in the comics Oceanside doesn't appear until after the war, and really doesn't have much of an impact).  For this episode we're introduced to yet another new community, and by this time people would be tired of hearing about new communities, but this one is wholly unique to the show - not found in the comics, and features some truly intriguing new faces that managed to add to the story rather than make it feel bloated.  We also witness the reunion of Daryl and Carol, leading to a truly heart-tugging scene between the two. The episode is split into two stories.  One takes place at the Kingdom, as Ezekiel, Richard, Morg...

Zootopia Starring Ginnifer Goodwin, Jason Bateman, Idris Elba, Jenny Slate Directed by Byron Howard, Rich Moore & Jared Bush The Story: In Zootopia, predator and prey now live in peaceful co-existence.  It's through this harmonic backdrop that  Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin), a bunny, has a dream of being a cop in the big city of Zootopia, but is discouraged by her parents (who are carrot farmers) as well as her fellow classmates, because no bunny has ever been a cop before.  However, this doesn't deter her, and years later she's recruited as a Zootopia Police Officer, and she thinks she's finally made it. Then Chief Bogo (Idris Elba) makes Judy a traffic cop, despite having fourteen missing animal cases in the city.  Even though she's discouraged, she doesn't let it get her down and she sets out to be the best traffic cop there is.  She meets fox Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman), and after initially helping him, discovers that he is a crook and con-a...

The Walking Dead Rock in the Road Season 7 Episode 9 Review **SPOILERS FOR THE SHOW, EPISODE AND COMICS FOLLOW, READ AT YOUR OWN RISK** Generally when "The Walking Dead" returns from a mid-season hiatus, it hits on all cylinders.  Last year's mid-season premiere brought the demise of the entire Anderson family as well as Carl loosing his eye.  Two years ago brought the end of the lovable Tyreese in a truly shocking moment.  So when we came back again, we were expecting something equally huge to happen. It didn't. And that was alright, because it brought something more.  It brought hope to a hopeless world, and to a seemingly hopeless season.  The first half of season seven saw two beloved characters getting their brains bashed in in horrific style, followed by separate stories from our heroes, all subjugated by Negan's tyrannical rule. Now everyone is back together, no longer willing slaves to Negan's Saviors, and ready to fight back.  Ric...

John Wick: Chapter 2 Starring Keanu Reeves, Common, Laurence Fishburne, Riccardo Scamarcio Directed by Chad Stahelksi The Story: After coming out of retirement to get revenge on those who stole his car and killed his dog, John Wick (Keanu Reeves) receives a job from Santino D'Antonio (Riccardo Scamarcio) after he gave him a marker - a blood oath that has to be fulfilled or his life would be considered forfeit.  Wick reluctantly takes the job after his house is bombed and sets out to complete the task, and soon finds that there's been a bounty placed on his life, and has to avoid deadly assassins at every turn. The Synopsis: When "John Wick" came out in 2014, no one suspected it would've been the success it was.  It was just another action film with Keanu Reeves, but it became much more due to its stylistic fighting, intriguing story and dark history the film told, especially concerning Reeves' former employers known as the Continental.  The movi...

The LEGO Batman Movie Starring Will Arnett, Zach Galifianakis, Michael Cera, Rosario Dawson Directed by Chris McKay  The Story: After once again saving Gotham from the likes of the Joker (Zach Galifianakis) and the other bad guys of the city, Batman (Will Arnett) confronts the Joker and tells him that he doesn't mean anything to him, hurting the Joker's feelings.  Then he attends a gala where the new Commissioner - Gordon's daughter Barbara (Rosario Dawson) - is taking place, and Batman unwittingly acquires foster child Dick Grayson (Michael Cera), and then learns Barbara plans on limiting Batman's abilities and having him work more with the police force than as a vigilante, since it doesn't seem to be stopping the bad guys from attacking the city. Meanwhile, still hurt by how Batman treated him, the Joker unleashes a plan to bring the baddest of the bad guys the world has to offer to Gotham in hopes of being Batman's biggest enemy, and Batman come...

Rings Starring Matilda Lutz, Alex Roe, Johnny Galecki, Vincent D'Onofrio Directed by F. Javier Gutierrez The Story: There is a video that, once you see it, you die in seven days unless you make a copy and have someone else watch it.  For couple Julia (Matilda Lutz) and Holt (Alex Roe), this video affects their lives in deadly ways after Holt watches the video for a project from his college professor (Johnny Galecki).  To save his life, Julia watches it, but the video changes and she can't copy it - there's something more in the video for her, which leads them on an adventure to find the body of young Samara - whose ghost inhabits the video - and free her before Julia becomes the next victim. The Synopsis: In the late 90s and early 2000s there was a wave of Japanese horror films (known as J-Horror) that were creepy, atmospheric and unique.  Films such as Ju-On, Ringu and Kairo took the country by storm, and it wasn't long before the American film industry ...

Lion Starring Dev Patel, Rooney Mara, Nicole Kidman, Sunny Pawar Directed by Garth Davis The Story: In a small poor town in India in the mid 1980s, young Saroo (Sunny Pawar) looks up to his older brother Guddu (Abhishek Bharate), and he in turn protects Saroo as the two embark on different money making schemes to help their mother and young sister survive.  One night Saroo goes with Guddu on a night job, but gets separated when Saroo falls asleep.  He finds himself alone on a train, and ends up in a whole other town in India, not speaking their dialect, and not knowing who his mother's name is nor the town he grew up in. Ultimately Saroo is adopted by an Australian couple - John (David Wenham) and Sue (Nicole Kidman) Brierley, and Saroo is taken to Tasmania to be raised by the loving couple.  As the years go by, Saroo grows up in a loving home, and finally reaches adulthood.  Now an adult himself, Saroo (Dev Patel) begins a relationship with fellow coll...

The Girl Next Door Starring Daniel Manche, Blythe Auffarth, Blanche Baker, Madeline Taylor Directed by Gregory Wilson The Story: In 1958, young David (Daniel Manche) lives next door to Ruth Chandler (Blanche Baker) and her children and they're good friends, despite Ruth's odd parental behavior - letting her children drink alcohol, smoke cigarettes and openly talk about sex in front of them.  Then young girls Meg (Blythe Auffarth) and her sister Susan (Madeline Taylor - who suffers from a muscular disease- move in with Ruth after their parents' death. Ruth begins treating the girls - especially Meg - with great distaste and hatred.  She begins punishing Meg for things Susan does by accident, and punishes her after she slaps her son for inappropriately touching her.  When she goes to the police, Ruth chains Meg in the basement and subject her to the most brutal, unimaginable tortures imaginable, while David looks on helplessly.  Ultimately the beatings an...