JoeMama's Movie Reviews

Asteroid City Starring Jason Schwartzman, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hanks, Jeffrey Wright Directed by Wes Anderson Certain directors have a signature style that's completely their own, and they refuse to sell out their vision for the sake of making billion-dollar blockbusters. One such director is Wes Anderson, who's become a meme in and of himself with the AI generated trailers depicting his version of films like "Star Wars" and "Lord of the Rings" which, shockingly, is actually how he probably would've directed those features. His style focuses on the over-use of color that more than "pops" on the big screen, using symmetry to its utmost effect by having his characters practically dead center of the screen throughout, crafting his set designs to make them look like sets you'd find in a theatrical play, and utilizing the undeniable talent of cinematographer Robert Yeoman (who's worked with Anderson in all of his live-action work) to brin...

Elemental Starring Leah Lewis, Mamoudou Athie, Ronnie del Carmen, Shila Ommi Directed by Peter Sohn Pixar is one of cinema's most influential animated studios, and they're especially known for their unique brand of visual storytelling. From "Toy Story" (the first completely computer animated film) to the likes of "Up" and "WALL-E," Pixar continued to re-vitalize the animation genre. The stories they crafted were unique, special, and memorable. They tackled adult issues (the first few minutes of "Up" is still some of the saddest moments in recent cinema, along with the soul-crushing opening to "Finding Nemo"), and they gave birth to unique characters that we've come to know and love. While they resorted to the traditional sequelitis, they really didn't falter in their storytelling - such as "Toy Story 3" and "The Incredibles 2." Although there were some major missteps along the way, such as with "...

Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken Starring Lana Condor, Toni Collette, Annie Murphy, Jane Fonda Directed by Kirk DeMicco For as long as human history, people know that krakens are bad and mermaids are good, as krakens attack ships and pull them down into the depths of the ocean and leave no one alive, while mermaids are beautiful, ethereal beings who sing beautiful songs and rescue people in need. But what if all we knew about these water-dwelling creatures was wrong, and it was the other way around? What if krakens were the saviors of the deep, while mermaids were the terrors who threaten war in the oceans? "Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken" explores this concept but, sadly, since it's a children's animated movie, it pushes it on the back-burner in favor of a generic story of a girl coming into her own and dealing with changes that could alienate her from her friends. Living in the seaside town of Oceanside, Ruby Gillman (Lana Condor) is a fifteen-year-old girl with a unique ...

About My Father Starring Sebastian Maniscalco, Robert De Niro, Leslie Bibb, Kim Cattrall Directed by Laura Terruso The family dynamic is unique in the fact that there's no two families that are exactly the same. While most families consist of grandparents, parents, kids, aunts, and so on, their personalities, histories, cultures, and even biases make them something wholly different than anyone else. It's typical for families to bicker and argue, and to even embarrass one another, but in the end, the family unit exists to make each other better, and for the previous generations to leave something for future generations to make them better off than they were (at least in healthy families, sadly some families are missing this crucial piece). In a way that's why these type of comedies work: you can picture yourself in the situation, going through the unintentional embarrassment that your family dishes out, but in the end understand that they're only out for your own interes...

The Flash Starring Ezra Miller, Michael Keaton, Sasha Calle, Michael Shannon Directed by Andy Muschietti If you had the power to go back and change the past for the better, would you do it? I mean, if you're Ezra Miller, that'd be a no-brainer. He'd go back to when he was a strong actor with the likes of "We Need to Talk About Kevin" and "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" under his belt and before he lost his literal mind and embarked on numerous head-scratching moments that landed him in prison and, worse for his career, a social pariah. Yet, somehow, he wasn't removed from "The Flash" movie and was able to keep his job, and even though the production designer said people would forget about Miller's crimes after seeing how good he is in the film, there's no denying the truth: even if he wasn't facing all the social backlash, Ezra Miller just plain wasn't good in "The Flash," and in fact the film's only saving g...

Transformers: Rise of the Beasts Starring Anthony Ramos, Dominique Fishback, Peter Cullen, Pete Davidson Directed by Steven Caple Jr. As a child of the 80s I grew up with the original "Transformers" television series which still holds a special place in my heart, and I had pretty much literally every Transformer toy ever made. Optimus Prime and company were my heroes, and I still remember seeing the animated movie back in 1986 and being scarred by it since it was essentially Hasbro's way of eliminating the old Autobots and Decepticons in favor of introducing a whole new line of toys for new characters. To this day the film is one I return to time and again even though it's not technically a masterpiece, it still elicits childhood memories and also has the best soundtrack out of any movie period (prove me wrong). When Michael Bay turned the Transformers into live action (well, CGI set against live backdrops and characters), I was beyond excited - and while the first fi...

The Boogeyman Starring Sophie Thatcher, Chris Messina, Vivien Lyra Blair, David Dastmalchian Directed by Rob Savage After the success of supernatural horror films like "The Ring" and "The Grudge" in the 2000s, there was a slew of copycats that tried to cash in on the trend. Films like "One Missed Call," "Shutter," "Dark Water," "Darkness," "Darkness Falls," and, yes, even "Boogeyman" (not to mention two direct-to-DVD sequels) littered the cinematic landscape offering something thrilling and scary to audiences, but failing to deliver on that promise. It's during this time a film like "The Boogeyman" should've belonged to, attempting to cash in on a tired premise that's existed since pretty much human existence, but due to the rise of "elevated horror" it just becomes a tired cliche-ridden jump-scare fest that has some charms, but ultimately should've remained in the dark. ...

The Little Mermaid Starring Halle Bailey, Jonah Hauer-King, Melissa McCarthy, Javier Bardem Directed by Rob Marshall Disney has gotten flack for their lack of originality, churning out their beloved animated classics into live-action remakes, and for the most part they've ended up on the receiving end of justified criticism. Most of them have been plain...well, plain...and have been missing that certain magic that made their animated classics so revered. Be it "The Lion King," "Cinderella," "Dumbo," or that awful "Pinocchio," there's no shortage of lackluster and subpar live-action remakes, even though a chosen few like "Pete's Dragon" and "Beauty and the Beast" managed to rise above. When it was announced that "The Little Mermaid" would be getting the live-action treatment - and especially when they cast unknown African American actress Halle Bailey as the lead Ariel - the backlash was immediate, swift, ...

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse Starring Shameik Moore, Hailee Steinfeld, Oscar Isaac, Issa Rae Directed by Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers & Justin K. Thompson Along with Batman, Spider-Man has been consistently the most popular superhero in history since his first comic book appearance in 1962. It's no surprise that these two are among the most popular, as they're also the most human - they're not gods, powered by rings, or use magic powers: they're just ordinary people who have come across extraordinary means to fulfill their purpose in life. Spider-Man has remained popular due to his youthful innocence mixed with his no-nonsense sarcastic humor and big heart, believing the good in everyone (even the bad guys) and has a strong desire to rescue everyone - but as we all know, you can never save everyone, and this is the internal struggle Spider-Man deals with. More than any other superhero, Spider-Man has faced loss after loss, and his tenacity keeps him moving...