JoeMama's Movie Reviews

 No Sudden Move Starring Don Cheadle, Benicio del Toro, David Harbour, Brendan Fraser Directed by Steven Soderbergh The term "no honor among thieves" rings exceptionally true in the world of the mafia, as double crosses and triple crosses occur as frequently as breathing air, at least that's how it's portrayed in almost every mobster movie ever made. You never truly know where someone's alliance lies when lives and money are on the line, and anyone can be bought with a price. I've never understood why someone would want to be in the mafia due to the continual state of living in fear and uncertainty, even if the money is well worth it, it would drive me crazy. "No Sudden Move" is one such movie that centers on a cast of duplicitous characters where you never know the true motives until everyone is knee deep in the muck that they created, and even then they can turn on a dime and change the rules in the middle of the game they created. In the tumultuou...

Worst2First: My Top Ten Zombie Films Most people take their thoughts of zombies from the classic films of George A. Romero or the pages of the wildly successful "The Walking Dead" series (as well as the waning popularity of the series), but the concept of zombies existed long before the late 1960s. The term itself is derived from Haitian folklore centering around people brought back to life with the practice of voodoo, and the first iteration of zombies in films was way back in 1932 with "White Zombie," but nowadays people are more aware of them in popular culture due to their resurgence in cinema and other entertainment avenues. Here are my personal top ten zombie films... **THERE WILL BE NO SPOILERS** #10 One Cut of the Dead Destined to be a cult classic as time goes on, "One Cut of the Dead" is incredibly innovative, undeniably hilarious, and unquestionably gruesome in equal measure and needs to be seen to be fully appreciated and believed - and that...

Dune Starring Timothee Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Zendaya Directed by Denis Villeneuve Some novels seem almost impossible to be put to screen in an effective manner, and Frank Herbert's classic sci-fi epic Dune seemed to be one of them, having had two iterations before this (1984's David Lynch-directed version was a box office bomb, and Lynch himself has disowned it due to heavy producer restrictions and not being allowed a director's cut, as well as the 2000 miniseries that was well received but not technically a movie). Acclaimed director Denis Villeneuve decided that he wanted to tackle the tough job of bringing the novel to the big screen in a big way - by splitting the novel into two movies, and giving the original source material it's due diligence. The result is the first half of the novel being released, and while it suffered some pitfalls at the start, turned out to be a more-than-serviceable outing filled with impeccable visuals, soul-reaching m...

The Eyes of Tammy Faye Starring Jessica Chastain, Andrew Garfield, Cherry Jones, Vincent D'Onofrio Directed by Michael Showalter Back in the day (and maybe still now, but not as prevalent), the televangelist movement really hit America hard. Televangelists are Evangelical evangelists who preached through the airwaves to reach millions of people in their homes and would preach prosperity and love as long as people phoned in pledges to keep them on the air. Some famous (or infamous) televangelists include Kenneth Copeland, Jerry Falwell, John Hagee, Joel Osteen, Oral Roberts, Pat Robertson, Jack Van Impe, Billy Graham, and the married duo Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker. While some televangelists truly believed what they were doing was for the glory of the Lord and the betterment of the viewers, many others saw it as a cash grab scheme to defraud their devout viewers into giving up their hard earned money for prosperity and God's love and acceptance. More often than not, these televang...

After We Fell Starring Josephine Langford, Hero Fiennes-Tiffin, Carter Jenkins, Louise Lombard Directed by Castille Landon The young adult novel-to-film craze has seemingly subsided in recent years, with memories of "The Hunger Games," "Divergent," and "Twilight" slowly dwindling from our minds. While they were all the rage back in the 10s, they seemingly have died out in recent years, and any attempt to re-vitalize it has fallen flat, with hardly a mention of their creations. Not even the once-hyped "Divergent" series got a film conclusion due to dwindling returns, so it still baffles me that Anna Todd's "steamy" (in quotes, because if the films are any indications, the novels are as hot as a January morning on the North Pole) novel series "After" continues getting the big-screen treatment year after year, as all of them are utterly terrible and the first two outings ("After," and "After We Collided") ...

Host Starring Haley Bishop, Jemma Moore, Emma Louise Webb, Radina Drandova Directed by Rob Savage 2020 was easily the worst year for millions of people worldwide, as a raging pandemic led to massive country-wide shutdowns and quarantines, confining people to their homes. This real-life horror is expressed in Rob Savage's "Host," but thankfully it doesn't focus entirely on this real threat and instead allowed those stuck at home to experience a unique, fun, and thankfully short supernatural horror film cleverly filmed through Zoom (which, for anyone who had to endure Zoom calls, is horrifying in itself) that relies almost entirely on classic jump scares but surprisingly hit more often than not. Haley (Haley Bishop) gathers her five friends - Jemma (Jemma Moore), Emma (Emma Louise Webb), Radina (Radina Drandova), Caroline (Caroline Ward), and Teddy (Edward Linard) over Zoom to participate in an online seance led by medium Seylan (Seylan Baxter). Although Haley wants her...

 The Last Duel Starring Matt Damon, Adam Driver, Jodie Comer, Ben Affleck Directed by Ridley Scott There's a saying when two people are telling the truth: the actual truth lies somewhere in the middle. Everyone, no matter who we are, see things through our own particular lens and what we think is truth isn't always that, and sometimes what we say is the truth really isn't as well. While this has little to no effect in most situations, sometimes the consequences are literally life and death, especially back in the olden ages. Ridley Scott's "The Last Duel" is one such story, a film about a woman claiming that she was raped, and the two men who tell their versions of the truth - before she tells the real truth. Jean de Carrouges (Matt Damon) is a decorated soldier who's completely committed to serving the king and vanquishing any enemy that he comes into contact with. Along with his friend Jacques Le Gris (Adam Driver), they continually battle the enemies of...

 Halloween Kills Starring Jamie Lee Curtis, Judy Greer, Andi Matichak, Anthony Michael Hall Directed by David Gordon Green The story of Michael Myers is indeed a muddy one, if you take all twelve "Halloween" films as one long narrative. He starts off as a six-year-old boy who for reasons unknown kills his sister, and then as an adult escapes a mental institution to return home to Haddonfield, Illinois, to stalk and kill babysitters. If you follow the film's line, it leads to the surviving babysitter being Michael's other sister that he has to kill because he needs to eliminate his entire bloodline so a cult can make him immortal or something like that, and he turns into a Jason Voorhees-type character that can seemingly never die no matter what's thrown at him. While I adore the original "Halloween" and it still holds up today, the sequels I found were severely lacking with each subsequent one, but then writers David Gordon Green, Danny McBride, and Scot...

Worst2First: My Top Ten Vampire Films The folklore of vampires existed in Europe for centuries, and they wore shrouds and were often described as bloated and of ruddy or dark countenance, according to early sources of the time - much different than the romanticized version of vampires we know of today. The most famous "vampire" was Count Vlad the Impaler, whom Bram Stoker based his iconic novel Dracula after, but he really wasn't a vampire - he just enjoyed impaling the heads of his enemies on stakes and led a ruthless campaign to keep Romania intact, and his legacy has lived on not just in vampiric lore, but also history as one of the most important historical personalities who influenced the destiny of the Romanians for the better. Ever since Stoker's novel, the idea of vampires changed to that of charismatic, charming blood-suckers who attack at night and lure unsuspecting victims to their doom by sucking their blood and, if they don't kill them, turn them int...