JoeMama's Movie Reviews

Worst2First: My Most Anticipated Films of Fall 2022 The arrival of fall brings about the unofficial start of Oscar-bait films, but it also includes several crowd-pleasing franchise films and horror movies in preparation for the Halloween season. With that in mind, here are my top ten films I'm most excited to see during the Fall months of September, October, and November. **THERE WILL BE NO SPOILERS** **DATES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE** #10 Black Adam October 21 The DCEU has been floundering for a while to say the least, and can't seem to get its footing compared to the MCU, but they're putting hope that "Black Adam" will reverse that tide. It doesn't hurt that Dwayne Johnson takes on the titular antihero role, but it also comes with reservations, as Johnson is pretty much a one-note actor, so we'll see if he can lose the comedy bit since Black Adam isn't someone known to be a jovial character. He, unlike other heroes, has no quarrels with killing the bad...

  Choose or Die Starring Iola Evans, Asa Butterfield, Robert Englund, Angela Griffin Directed by Toby Meakins Sometimes the only thing worse than a movie based off a video game is a movie about a video game, because the two don't generally intersect all that well - much less when it comes to a completely new idea that you try to get across. "Stay Alive" was one such film: a movie about a group of teens who play a video game and if they die in the game, they die for real, but it's so cliche and terribly acted it was easily forgotten. Then there's the hilariously bad "Countdown," about an app that predicts the time you die and then...well...you die. While the 80s rocked with these video game films like "Videodrome," it was because of the talent behind the screen: most notably David Cronenberg, the father of body horror. In the hands of a "noob," you've got another forgettable video game horror film not worth its weight in quarters. ...

Deep Water Starring Ben Affleck, Ana de Armas, Tracy Letts, Grace Jenkins Directed by Adrian Lyne Back in the late 80s and early 90s the erotic romantic thrillers were all the rage in cinemas, brought about - I'm just spitballing here - by those romance novels with Fabio on the cover, where bored domesticated housewives wished they could be and do more than they're doing in their real lives. Films like "Fatal Attraction," "9 1/2 Weeks" and "Indecent Proposal" were worldwide hits, and besides all of them centering around this very specific subgenre, the other thing they all have in common is their director: Adrian Lyne. He continued his work finishing with 2002's "Unfaithful," and went into retirement: until now, where he dusts off the director's chair to bring back the erotic romantic thriller subgenre for a whole new generation with "Deep Water" - a film that lives up to its title, because if this is the beginning of th...

  No Exit Starring Havana Rose Liu, Danny Ramirez, David Rysdahl, Dale Dickey Directed by Damien Power Agatha Christie popularized the "whodunit" genre of novels, creating the iconic Hercule Poirot in novels like Death on the Nile and Murder on the Orient Express where he investigates a murder with a slew of suspects who all had equal motive. You never knew who the killer was until the big reveal, after piecing together all the minuscule clues left dangling around, and that was the most entertaining part of reading them. While both of those novels have been made into big-budget films, other films - most notably Rian Johnson's amazing "Knives Out" - continued in that tradition. "No Exit" is a smaller, independent film that doesn't have the same budget, but uses its one location and smaller cast of characters to still weave an interesting - if not generic - whodunit caper. Darby Thorne (Havana Rose Liu) is a recovering drug addict living in a rehab...

Bodies Bodies Bodies Starring Amandla Stenberg, Maria Bakalova, Myha'la Herrold, Chase Sui Wonders Directed by Halina Reijn When the pandemic started there was a game on Nintendo Switch that came out called "Animal Crossing," and it was a phenomenal success, where you get to take care of your own patch of land, invite other cute creatures to live there, and form your own society. By the end of the pandemic, the game that everyone was playing was a game called "Among Us" where a group of colored characters try to fix something while someone else among them is out to sabotage and kill everyone, creating suspicion and doubt. It's an interesting parallel as to how we went from enjoying planting gardens to planting seeds of mistrust, and lately it seems that everyone is at each others' throats for every little thing. Friends don't trust one another anymore, so I guess "Bodies Bodies Bodies" is a perfect film for a new generation - dropping buzz ...

  Virus: 32 Starring Paula Silva, Daniel Hendler Directed by Gustavo Hernandez Zombie movies are a dime a dozen these days, mostly due to the rapid success of George A. Romero's zombie trilogy that re-vitalized the zombie subgenre, along with hit television series like "The Walking Dead," and no matter how "dead" the subgenre is (get it?), I still absolutely love it for some odd reason. Maybe it's because it's the one form of apocalypse I think I would do well in (as long as the zombies are slower shufflers like "The Walking Dead"), but I can't get enough of these undead brain-searchers, no matter how terrible some of their iterations are. While there's the standouts - "Shaun of the Dead," "Night of the Living Dead," "Dawn of the Dead," "Zombieland," "World War Z" - there's other, more independent films like "[Rec]" that don't have the bigger budgets to produce a multi-...

The Deep House Starring James Jagger, Camille Rowe, Eric Savin, Anne Claessens Directed by Alexandre Bustillo & Julien Maury I've always wanted to participate in urban exploration - or urbex, as it's known - which is the exploration of abandoned manmade structures such as old houses, hospitals, and the like. It's fascinating to see how time and nature overtakes what was once beautiful human-created structures and proves once and for all that mother nature is the ultimate power in the world, as she can take over that what was once thought created by man. Of course, these buildings are also known to be haunted and that only piques my interest more, along with the overall danger associated with it, such as rotting floors, squatters, and so on. "The Deep House" is a unique French-created horror film that features two American actors who explore abandoned buildings for their budding YouTube channel, and the film manages to split itself into three distinct sub-featu...

Cha Cha Real Smooth Starring Cooper Raiff, Dakota Johnson, Evan Assante, Vanessa Burghardt Directed by Cooper Raiff More times than not, when you hear one person wrote, directed, and starred in their own film, it's usually because there's terrible budget constraints or no one believed in the project, and the film turns out to be an absolute bust, or you're literally Woody Allen. Very few people (outside of Allen) can accomplish this feat, and 2022 so far has seen two people who have done it: B.J. Novak's "Vengeance," and Cooper Raiff's "Cha Cha Real Smooth" - two films that were wholly original and unique, and who both delivered the goods when it came to powerful storytelling and compelling characters. Andrew (Cooper Raiff) is a 22-year-old recent college graduate who doesn't really have a clue what to do with his life, and works at a dead-end fast-food place in the local mall, and lives with his younger brother David (Evan Assante), mother ...

  Master Starring Regina Hall, Zoe Renee, Amber Gray, Ella Hunt Directed by Mariama Diallo Despite the steps taken, racism is still rampant in America and it affects millions of persons of color, and as someone who's not a POC, I can't begin to say I know how they feel when they have to act differently in order to fit in, just for the color of their skin. While many feel that the collegiate world is more open and accepting to diversity, sometimes it's just a smoke screen in order to make it appear that they're that way, all the while maintaining the white status quo and offering positions to a person of color to make them seem more forward focused. It's something that needs to be heavily addressed, and a film like "Master" tries to do so, but it seems that it doesn't quite get its message across due to the fact that it tries to wear too many hats and doesn't land in any aspect. Gail Bishop (Regina Hall) is the first Black "master" of an a...

Beast Starring Idris Elba, Ivana Halley, Leah Sava Jeffries, Sharlto Copley Directed by Baltasar Kormakur The African continent is a fascinating land filled with some of the most beautiful animals you could ever lay eyes on - but it's also home to deadly predators in the form of ruthless, heartless poachers who murder these majestic animals in cold blood to harvest their bodies for profit. Proving that sometimes the law of the jungle remains in effect, however, films like "Beast" showcase that the animal kingdom is sometimes highly capable to fend for themselves against such attacks, introducing a ferocious killer lion who seeks to destroy those who killed his pride - if only the film could've been as interesting as its premise. Dr. Nate Samuels (Idris Elba) takes his daughters Meredith (Ivana Halley) and Norah (Leah Sava Jeffries) to South Africa where he met his wife to show them the world their mother grew up in after she died of cancer. Meredith still holds a gru...

Mack & Rita Starring Diane Lane, Elizabeth Lail, Taylour Paige, Dustin Milligan Directed by Katie Aselton Diane Keaton was once an Academy Award-winning actress for her work in "Annie Hall," and earned several other accolades for her work in "The Godfather," "The Godfather Part II," "Marvin's Room," "Reds,"and "Something's Gotta Give," but you'd never guess that with her most recent outings such as the abysmally unfunny "Book Club," "Poms," and now the "Big" wannabe body-switching comedy "Mack & Rita." Keaton seems to have found a funk in playing the elderly glamma (glam grandma) who tries to prove with each successive dull outing that age ain't nothing but a number, and the best years are still to come - unless, alas, you're Diane Keaton's career. Mack Martin (Elizabeth Lail) has always been an older woman living in a younger woman's body, having been...

Vengeance Starring B.J. Novak, Boyd Holbrook, Issa Rae, Ashton Kutcher Directed by B.J. Novak It's all the rage today to bring up the topic of politics in America, and how it's been fracturing the country more intently over the last few years. It's not just "red" and "blue" states anymore, but reactionary (those opposed to the social transformation of society and would rather go back to the old ways of doing things) and progressive (those who embrace the social transformation and wants to look forward to a more accepting, tolerant society), and these two divides are becoming greater and greater and more and more boisterous, leaving those of us in the middle wondering what the heck is going on. Hollywood has obviously taken advantage of this hot button issue as the likes of Jon Stewart have brought these political leanings to the big screen, and now it's "The Office" star and co-writer B.J. Novak to give his take, but unlike Stewart's ...