JoeMama's Movie Reviews

Marcel the Shell With Shoes On Starring Jenny Slate, Dean Fleischer Camp, Isabella Rossellini, Leslie Stahl Directed by Dean Fleischer Camp All too often we tend to overlook the small things in life and focus on the big things, the things that seem out of reach, that seem impossible to attain, and the things that we wish we had but know we never will. This leads our emotions to fall to the side of sadness and hopelessness, in a world filled with anger, strife, and isolation, and we see the world with pessimistic eyes. While films nowadays seem to divide more than unite, "Marcel the Shell With Shoes On" brings people together by focusing on the joys of the little things in life, while incorporating very adult themes of loss, grief, and loneliness in a way that burrows into your soul and leaves you a better person for it - and an appreciation for the overlooked joys the world has to offer. While staying at an airbnb after a breakup, documentary filmmaker Dean (Dean Fleischer Ca...

  The Woman King Starring Viola Davis, Thuso Mbedu, Lashana Lynch, Sheila Atim Directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood Historical epics aren't especially known for being historically accurate, and that's something everyone should know going into a film like that. History often isn't pretty, and in the case of "The Woman King," that history is especially bloody, violent, and counter-intuitive to the story that director Gina Prince-Bythewood wanted to tell. The story of the all female warriors known as the Agojie seemed to be fearless, unstoppable, and above all honest in the film, but the real life Agojie seemed to be anything but, along with their kingdom of Dahomey. While the film paints them as a nation who wants to abolish the slave trade and to protect women and innocents in other kingdoms, in real life the Dahomey was well-known slave traders who mercilessly killed anyone who defied them, and the women warriors were no match for the more powerful French who eventua...

Pearl Starring Mia Goth, David Corenswet, Tandi Wright, Matthew Sunderland Directed by Ti West Earlier this year horror director maestro Ti West showcased his love for classic 70s horror akin to "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" with the movie "X," about a group of young porn filmmakers making a film on the premises belonging to elderly couple Pearl and Howard, who in turn kill them out of jealousy of their youth and vibrancy. While it was more tame than I thought it would be, it was still very effective and powerful thanks to the dedicated, committed performance of Mia Goth, who played both the main character Maxine as well as the elderly Pearl. At the end of the film there was a shocker - a trailer for Pearl's own self-titled prequel movie, set to be released later this year. It was something rare in cinema - an entire film being shot, edited, and ready to be released in the same year as its predecessor, and no one having known about it. While "Pearl" is...

  Don't Worry Darling Starring Florence Pugh, Harry Styles, Olivia Wilde, Chris Pine Directed by Olivia Wilde Y Anyone who's ever seen a psychological thriller where it seems everything is perfect, pretty, and polished knows that there's something dark and sinister lurking underneath the surface, and to not take anything at face value. Say what you will, but directors like M. Night Shyamalan has opened our eyes to see things that we shouldn't be able to see: to seek out that "twist" that all-too-often lies in plain sight, and a big part of the excitement comes with trying to unravel what's really happening. "Don't Worry Darling" has that going for it - a true psychological thriller that throws breadcrumbs at the audience to lead them to what's really happening - but once you get to that conclusion, you're left with more questions than answers, in a film that seems to unravel and roll uncontrollably down the mountain, turning what was ...

  Barbarian Starring Georgina Campbell, Bill Skarsgard, Matthew Patrick Davis, Richard Brake Directed by Zach Cregger There's been a problem with trailers lately in that they often give away the entire plot of the movie, leaving absolutely no room for shocks, surprises, or genuinely gross out moments - and then there's "Barbarian." When I saw the trailer, I thought it was just going to be another humdrum kidnap story of a young girl who gets lured into a false sense of security from an attractive if not a bit off kilter stranger and then kept in the basement to be used for his nefarious purposes, so it was one I was putting on the backburner to see. Then my friends would see it and tell me it's absolutely bonkers, and totally wild, intense, and crazy - and my curiosity was piqued, so I finally got a ticket and sat my seat in the theater - and thankfully my friends were right. Not only was there so much more to the story than the trailer provided, but it was indeed...

Unfavorable Odds Starring Grayson Berry, Maria Tornberg, Charles Ambrose, Malik Whitfield Directed by Boogievision When people are asked what the worst movie ever made was, two films immediately come to mind: first there's the "Citizen Kane" of bad films - "The Room" - a film that's so bad it's reached cult status, where a film about the making of that film was nominated for an Oscar and starred James and Dave Franco. Then there's "Birdemic: Shock and Terror," a wannabe "The Birds" movie that featured the most terrible effects ever put on screen, with a story that would make the phrase "it doesn't make sense" blush. Now you can add the trifecta of bad movies with "Unfavorable Odds," a film that, by all legal right, shouldn't be called a film to begin with. A movie...which also it shouldn't be called...that's so dated and misogynistic that it's a wonder it was ever made - or released - to beg...

The Invitation Starring Nathalie Emmanuel, Thomas Doherty, Stephanie Corneliussen, Alana Boden Directed by Jessica Thompson You are cordially invited to the most boring, simple, and completely devoid of scares horror movie of 2022 - a film that makes "Morbius" look like a grand opus by comparison, and which steals from "Get Out" and "Ready Or Not" and turns them into a humdrum mediocre existence of a film that questions its own existence by throwing in a popular gothic tale to try and make it relevant, but failing to do so, much like the entirety of the film fails to elicit anything more than groans and repeated views of your watch to wait for this mediocrity to end. Obviously, this is an invitation you should not just reject, but throw into the fire. Evie Jackson (Nathalie Emmanuel) recently lost her only relative - her mother - to cancer, and is going through life in a hopeless void as she works as a caterer and feels like she has no one left. After a D...

Worst2First: The Five Losers, Four Winners, and One Mixed Bag of Films in Summer 2022 Two years out of the pandemic and cinemas have been open in full force after being shut down for most of 2020 and 2021, and along with it came the return of the summer blockbuster, albeit in a limited form compared to years past. While the cinemas still have a long way to return to normal, this summer brought out the best - and the worst - in films that graced the big screen. I'll be focusing on five losers, four winners, and one mixed bag of films that hit the big screen in the summer of 2022. **THERE WILL BE NO SPOILERS** THE FIVE LOSERS OF SUMMER 2022 #5 Jurassic World: Dominion There was a lot of hype surrounding "Jurassic World: Dominion" for a few reasons: one of which was the return of the "legacy" characters played by Sam Neill, Laura Dern, and Jeff Goldblum who would work alongside characters played by Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard - a Jurassic event made in hea...

  Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul. Starring Regina Hall, Sterling K. Brown, Nicole Beharie, Conphidance Directed by Adamma Ebo I started going to church when I was around sixteen or so, and it was a huge megachurch in my area that I didn't realize at the time, but was filled with hypocrisy, greed, and egotism - much like most megachurches are. They hide their sins and act like they're holier than thou, and when something unexpected bubbles to the surface they do everything they can to conceal and hide it in order to maintain appearances and keep the parishioners (and their money) growing. Recently the church I used to attend (I proudly say I don't go to any church now, especially after the majority of Christianity has now abandoned the real faith in favor of Christian Nationalism) was exposed for hiding sexual misconduct by one of the satellite campus's pastor's son, and his illegal, sinful, detestable crimes were met with silence and an attempt to cover it up - but ...

Three Thousand Years of Longing Starring Idris Elba, Tilda Swinton, Aamito Lagum, Burcu Golgedar Directed by George Miller It's easy to pigeonhole actors and directors to a particular genre: John Carpenter is the horror director, Daniel Radcliffe will always be Harry Potter, and so on. Yet there's some the defy expectations and produce fantastic films that run the gambit of genres, and one of those people is 77-year-old director George Miller. Not only did Miller direct the "Mad Max" franchise (including his multi-Oscar winner "Fury Road," along with the upcoming prequel film "Furiosa"), but he also brought to life such beloved children's films like "Happy Feet" and "Babe: Pig in the City." Yet he's also known for dramas like "Lorenzo's Oil" and comedy like "The Witches of Eastwick," so the man knows what he's doing behind the lens. "Three Thousand Years of Longing" is no different, ...

  Orphan: First Kill Starring Isabelle Fuhrman, Julia Stiles, Rossif Sutherland, Matthew Finlan Directed by William Brent Bell **There will not be spoilers for this film, but there will be spoilers from the original "Orphan" film released in 2009 - but if you watch this first then that twist will be spoiled for you anyway, plus it's over thirteen years old by now so if you haven't seen it yet you should watch it before the prequel anyway** Throughout history there's been a few stories of families who have been reunited with long-lost children, only to find out that those children aren't who they said they were, and the most notable of these cases was that of Christine Collins. In 1928, Collins' nine-year-old son Walter disappeared and the police force was under intense scrutiny for not finding him, but five months after he disappeared a boy who claimed to be Walter was found, and he was reunited with Christine. Christine, however, knew that this "Walt...