JoeMama's Movie Reviews

Robin Hood Starring Taron Egerton, Jamie Foxx, Ben Mendelsohn, Eve Hewson Directed by Otto Bathurst The Story: Robin of Loxley (Taron Egerton) is a wealthy man living in Nottingham, and falls in love with Marian (Eve Hewson).  Things are looking up for the couple until Robin is given a summons to fight in the Crusades, and goes off to war, where he meets Arab Yahya (Jamie Foxx), whose son he tries to save.  Returning home, he finds that the Sheriff of Nottingham (Ben Mendelsohn) has seized his castle for the war effort, and he's thought dead by all his friends. When Yahya (who calls himself John) arrives, he convinces Robin to turn against the Sheriff and get his revenge for taking his land.  Under his training, Robin becomes a master marksman with the bow and arrow, and sets out to do some real damage to the Sheriff - by robbing him blind.  When he uncovers a shady conspiracy between the Sheriff and the Church, Robin must rely on his training and frien...

Creed II Starring Michael B. Jordan, Sylvester Stallone, Tessa Thompson, Dolph Lundgren Directed by Steven Caple Jr. The Story: Adonis Creed (Michael B. Jordan) has finally been able to overcome the shadow of his boxing father Apollo to the point he has just been named the world heavyweight champion.  He's still headstrong and determined, and uses that to his advantage both in and out of the ring, while growing in his relationships with both his trainer Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) and girlfriend Bianca Taylor (Tessa Thompson), whom he proposes to.  Shortly after their engagement, they discover Bianca is pregnant, and Adonis's private life is going nowhere but up. Meanwhile in Russia, Apollo's old opponent Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren) is training his son Viktor (Florian Munteanu) to fight Adonis, to get revenge against loosing to Rocky after he killed Apollo in the ring thirty years earlier and to get his reputation back in his mother land after his humili...

Worst2First:  My Top Ten One Hit Wonder Actors For every Robert De Niro, for every Leonardo DiCaprio, for every Robin Williams, there's a ton of other actors who wish to hit it big in Hollywood and have a stellar, long career on the big screen - but that's not meant to be.  While some offer an unforgettable one-time performance, others do well with what they were given but were almost completely forgotten into the abyss. Some of these actors have gone on to find success on television and other mediums, but for the sake of this list, I'm narrowing it down to actors who've only appeared in one (or one role) film. Here are my personal top ten one hit wonder actors, worst2first... **THERE WILL BE NO SPOILERS** #10 Peter Billingsley "You'll shoot your eye out kid!"  Peter Billingsley is best known for playing young Ralphie in the Christmas classic "A Christmas Story," where all he wants for Christmas is a Red Ryder Carbi...

Overlord Starring Jovan Adepo, Wyatt Russell, Mathilde Ollivier, Pilou Asbaek Directed by Julius Avery The Story: On the eve of D-Day, a paratrooper squad is shot down over France, leaving a small group of American paratroopers alive - Pvt. Ed Boyce (Joban Adepo), Corporal Ford (Wyatt Russell), sniper Tibbet (John Magaro), and photographer Morton Chase (Iain De Caestecker).  They're tasked with taking down a Nazi radio tower in a church so they can communicate to the allied forces to attack.  After they enter the small French town nearby, they find aid from local townswoman Chloe (Mathilde Ollivier), whose aunt underwent some sort of Nazi surgery that left her gravely ill.  She keeps the soldiers in her home until SS Hauptsturmfuhrer Wafner (Pilou Asbaek) arrives, and the men take him hostage. Boyce enters the church and finds that there's much more than just a radio tower, discovering an underground testing facility that seemingly makes monsters out of dead...

Ralph Breaks the Internet Starring John C. Reilly, Sarah Silverman, Gal Gadot, Taraji P. Henson Directed by Phil Johnston & Rich Moore The Story: Six years after working together previously, Wreck-It Ralph (John C. Reilly) and racer Vanellope (Sarah Silverman) are enjoying their lives as video game characters, even if Vanellope begins feeling a bit restless after playing in the same game over and over.  Ralph likes the life they have together, but it's thrown into turmoil after Vanellope's game breaks, and they learn they need to find a steering wheel on eBay before the arcade owner throws out her game for good. Ralph and Vanellope enter the World Wide Web, and find a whole new world on the Internet, where they try to raise money to pay for the wheel.  Vanellope enters a game called "Slaughter Race," and meets racer Shank (Gal Gadot), who shows her a different life outside her normal gaming world, and threatens to tear the two friends apart as Vanell...

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald Starring Eddie Redmayne, Johnny Depp, Jude Law, Katherine Waterston Directed by David Yates The Story: After dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald (Johnny Depp) escapes his magical prison, he heads to Paris to rise up an army of wizards who share his same ideology - showing superiority over the non-magical people (also known as Muggles), and their desire to rule over them. Meanwhile in London, Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) is tasked by his old teacher Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law) to find Grindelwald in Paris.  He heads there with Muggle friend Jacob (Dan Fogler) to not find Grindelwald, but instead reunite with his lost love Tina (Katherine Waterston), who thinks Newt is engaged to Leta Lestrange (Zoe Kravitz), although she's engaged to his brother Thesus (Callum Turner). Not wanting to pick a side, Newt focuses more on Tina than finding Grindelwald, while Grindelwald sets his sights on finding Credence Barebone (Ezra Miller)...

Worst2First:  My Top Ten One Hit Wonder Actresses For every Meryl Streep, for every Angelina Jolie, for every Melissa McCarthy, there's a ton of other actresses who wish to hit it big in Hollywood and have a stellar, long career on the big screen - but that's not meant to be.  While some offer an unforgettable one-time performance, others do well with what they were given but were almost completely forgotten into the abyss. Some of these actresses have gone on to find success on television, theater, or music, but for the sake of this list, I'm narrowing it down to actresses who've only appeared in one (or one role) film. Here are my personal top ten one hit wonder actresses, worst2first... **THERE WILL BE NO SPOILERS** #10  Carrie Henn Known for playing the little girl Newt in James Cameon's alien horror adventure "Aliens," Carrie Henn received acclaim for portraying the girl with equal parts gusto and youthfulness, showcasing a tal...

Bad Times at the El Royale Starring Jeff Bridges, Cynthia Erivo, Dakota Johnson, Chris Hemsworth Directed by Drew Goddard The Story: Seven strangers - Father Daniel Flynn (Jeff Bridges), lounge singer Darlene Sweet (Cynthia Erivo), hippie Emily Summerspring (Dakota Johnson), vacuum salesman Dwight Broadbeck (Jon Hamm), Emily's sister Rose (Cailee Spaney), cult leader Billy Lee (Chris Hemsworth), and concierge Miles Miller (Lewis Pullman) - find themselves at the El Royale motel, where no one is who they claim to be, and mysterious abound. The Synopsis: Drew Goddard has written some of film's most recent hits, including "Cloverfield" and "The Martian," and directed the meta-horror flick "The Cabin in the Woods," so he's got some pedigree when it comes to both writing and directing fantastic films.  "Bad Times at the El Royale" is a film that he wrote, and also directed, yet you'd think it was an adaptation of a clas...

First Man Starring Ryan Gosling, Claire Foy, Corey Stoll, Kyle Chandler Directed by Damien Chazelle The Story: After the untimely loss of his young daughter, Neil Armstrong (Ryan Gosling) applies to be a NASA astronaut, and gets accepted to the program.  As he showcases amazing intelligence and fortitude, he gains the respect of fellow astronauts and highers up, including Deke Skayton (Kyle Chandler), who informs Neil that he will be the first man to attempt to fly to the moon. Neil's wife Janet (Claire Foy) tends to events at home, including handling her two young sons, and dealing with Neil's distant attitude.  She keeps a cool composure, but inside she's terrified about what could happen, since many of Neil's friends and fellow astronauts have died in preparations.  Finally, it comes time for Neil and fellow astronauts Buzz Aldrin (Corey Stoll) and Michael Collins (Lukas Haas) to do what no one thought possible, and change history forever. The Synops...

Beautiful Boy Starring Steve Carell, Timothee Chalamet, Maura Tierney, Amy Ryan Directed by Felix van Groeningen The Story: David Sheff (Steve Carell) is a loving father who tends to his two young children with his current wife Karen (Maura Tierney), as well as his eighteen-year-old son Nic (Timothee Chalamet) from his ex-wife Vicki (Amy Ryan).  Growing up, Nic was a smart, driven young man with high hopes for the future and entrance to six different colleges, but then he began experimenting with drugs, and eventually gained an addiction to crystal meth, sending his life on a downward spiral. As David tries to help his son, he begins finding that no matter what he does, nothing will help Nic out of this circle of dependency except for Nic himself.  He tries to allow Nic to make his own mistakes, but can't let go of the beautiful boy he raised, as Nic needs to find a way out of this deadly lifestyle before it kills him, and irrevocably harms everyone he loves arou...

The Girl in the Spider's Web Starring Claire Foy, Sverrir Gudnason, LaKeith Stanfield, Sylvia Hoeks Directed by Fede Alvarez The Story: Expert computer hacker Lisbeth Salander (Claire Foy) lives to avenge women who were wronged by men, serving as a vigilante who's hunted by the police force as well as every bad guy imaginable.  She comes across information regarding a computer program known as Firefall which gives its owner complete control over all the nuclear weapons in the world, and sets to take it from the NSA so they can't get their hands on it.  Although successful, she discovers other people are after the program as well, and hunts her down to try and find it. Her investigation leads to a shady organization known as the Spiders, led by the mysterious Camilla (Sylvia Hoeks), who holds very personal ties to Lisbeth.  Together with her longtime friend Mikael Blomkvist (Sverrir Gudnason) and NSA security expert Edwin Needham (LaKeith Stanfield), Lisbet...

Worst2First:  My Top Ten Stan Lee Cameos in Marvel Films Stan Lee served as the editor-in-chief for Marvel Comics, and later as a publisher and chairman for the company, as well as helped create iconic characters such as Spider-Man, the Hulk, Thor, Doctor Strange, the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, and countless other superheroes.  He appeared in every Marvel film in a series of unforgettable cameos, and every time he appeared on screen, the audience in the theater would go wild. On November 12, 2018, at the age of 95, Stan Lee passed away, and the world lost one of its most influential literary visionaries.  In honor of his insurmountable legacy, I've made a list of my personal top ten cameos Stan Lee made in Marvel films. **THERE WILL BE NO SPOILERS** #10  Doctor Strange The mystical arts aspect of the Marvel Universe falls into the hands of the Sorcerer Supreme, Doctor Strange.  In his first solo film, during a particular battle where the ...