JoeMama's Movie Reviews

Nobody 2 Starring Bob Odenkirk, Connie Nielsen, Sharon Stone, Christopher Lloyd Directed by Timo Tjahjanto Ever since "John Wick" blew up (pretty much literally) the action cinematic landscape, copycats have emerged from the woodwork to try to ride the coattails of its success. 2021's "Nobody" was different than those other forgettable films because of its premise: a literal nobody, an older family man, is secretly a trained assassin. Bob Odenkirk was best known for his Emmy-winning comedic writing and his iconic role as Saul in "Breaking Bad" and the spinoff "Better Call Saul," showcased his action prowess with this surprise sleeper hit that many compared to the original "John Wick," so of course a sequel was quickly announced. Sadly, unlike the continued success of "John Wick," "Nobody 2" felt more of the same, and added nothing new or exciting to the festivities - in fact, it seemed everyone on screen looked a...

Freakier Friday Starring Jamie Lee Curtis, Lindsay Lohan, Julia Butters, Sophia Hammons Directed by Nisha Gantara 2003's "Freaky Friday" was a fun, delightful, family-friendly romp where an estranged mother and daughter swapped bodies to learn lessons about themselves and their relationship with each other. Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan excelled in their roles, and the two remained very close friends as the years progressed and Lohan in particular had a severe falling out of grace. Curtis always wanted to do a sequel, and finally got her wish twenty-two years later, with the result being "Freakier Friday" - a film that keeps the heart, emotion, comedy, and delightful nature of the original, but amps it up with more body swapping that sometimes became confusing, and a runtime that could've been cut a bit shorter. Tess Coleman (Jamie Lee Curtis) is a successful therapist and has a great relationship with her daughter Anna (Lindsay Lohan), a now-single mot...

Relay Starring Riz Ahmed, Lily James, Sam Worthington, Willa Fitzgerald Directed by David Mackenzie Suspenseful movies only work if the suspense is there, where there's a sense of tension and dread at every turn, and the action is palpable and exciting. Without that, it's a wannabe suspense thriller lacking the suspense of the thrills, but still there's an audience for that - and that's oddly what "Relay" is. To me, it was a snoozefest from start to finish, with repetitive scenes that dragged on and on before reaching the twisty, wannabe intelligent conclusion, but for some reason many people love it. Ash (Riz Ahmed) is a deal broker who helps whistleblowers survive the attacks of their wealthy former bosses. He is a ghost, someone no one knows, and communicates strictly through a talk-to-text relay service where he types in what he wants the operator to tell the person he's communicating with, and vice versa. Sarah Grant (Lily James) is a whistleblower fe...

Sketch Starring Tony Hale, Bianca Belle, Kue Lawrence, Kalon Cox Directed by Seth Worley Angel studios is the Christian-based production company that is best known for releasing films like "The Shift" and the multi-million dollar successful "Sound of Freedom," and focuses its films on Christ-centered teachings. So when "Sketch" was released during a Mystery Movie Monday, I was expecting it to be a children-friendly film about sketches that come to life and are combated by the love of Jesus or something - but thankfully that's not what we got. Instead, we got a hilarious, family-friendly horror film that centered on deep themes that children would have problems understanding and ones that parents would be able to talk to their children about afterward. After the tragic loss of their mother, 10-year-old Amber Wyatt (Bianca Belle) and her slightly older brother Jack (Kue Lawrence) are grieving in different ways. Jack is caring more for other people and su...

The Bad Guys 2 Starring Sam Rockwell, Marc Maron, Anthony Ramos, Awkwafina Directed by Pierre Perifel The Bad Guys  is a children's novel series written by Aaron Blabey that centers on a group of former bad guy animals who turn good, showing that everyone can change for the better. The first movie was a big hit, and the sequel is pretty much more of the same. It's got great animation, the voice talent is on point, but the story itself is rather stereotypical for heist movies, and in a day and age with more progressive and intelligent children's movies, this feels already like a relic of a bygone era. After turning good, Wolf (Sam Rockwell), Snake (Marc Maron), Shark (Craig Robinson), Piranha (Anthony Ramos) and Tarantula (Awkafina) are trying to find jobs and gain respect, but are still seen as the bad guys wherever they go. Not even Governor Diane Foxington (Zazie Beetz) - formerly the criminal "Crimson Paw" - can help them gain the respect they deserve. Then the...

War of the Worlds Starring Ice Cube, Eva Longoria, Clark Gregg, Iman Benson Directed by Rich Lee I don't know who said it - maybe I did, but I don't find myself that intelligent - but there's always been a thought rambling through my brain when it comes to movies: they either have to be so good you can't forget it, or so bad you find it impossible to forget it. Everything else is just mediocre and forgotten instantly. You want to remember the good, but you also remember the bad, but sometimes the bad is so good it's worthy of remembrance, if only for how insanely bad it is. "War of the Worlds" falls into that category, as it's become one of Amazon Prime's most successful original movies, but only because it's so notoriously bad you have to see it with your own eyes - that is, unless you try to pluck them out while sitting through it, which is a struggle in itself. Will Radford (Ice Cube) is a surveillance and threat assessment expert at the Dep...

Weapons Starring Julia Garner, Josh Brolin, Alden Ehrenreich, Benedict Wong Directed by Zach Cregger Numerous times in cinematic history there's movies that get so much hype, it's almost impossible to live up to it. It's inundated on Facebook, there's countless TikTok videos, and Instagram is running rampant with excitement over the movie, only for it to fall flat or not meet the overly high expectations. "Weapons" threatened to be one such movie, as excitement over it grew from April forward, to the point everyone was talking about it even before it hit theaters. It seemed impossible that it would match the hype built around it, and for some that's true. For me, however, it well met those lofty expectations and in some ways exceeded them, blending a horrifying mystery with compelling performances and even some dark comedy that director Zach Cregger is known for. One night, at 2:17 am, seventeen children from Justine Gandy's (Julia Garner) classroom wo...

I Know What You Did Last Summer Starring Chase Sui Wonders, Madelyn Cline, Jonah Hauer-King, Tyriq Withers Directed by Jennifer Kaytin Robinson The 90s saw the resurgence of the slasher flick, with Wes Craven's "Scream" leading the pack, re-vitalizing the once-dead subgenre. A few years later, in 1997, "I Know What You Did Last Summer" came out, based on the 1973 novel by the same name by Lois Duncan, and while it never achieved the notoriety of the "Scream" franchise, it made a name out of the film's four leads - Jennifer Love Hewitt, Freddie Prinze Jr., Sarah Michelle Gellar and Ryan Phillippe - most of whom co-starred in other projects and even married in real life. While "Scream" served as a meta way of looking at horror movies, "I Know What You Did" returned to what made that subgenre great, with a compelling mystery, well-established characters and some notable kills that still hold up nearly thirty years later. Now, the ...

The Naked Gun Starring Liam Neeson, Pamela Anderson, Paul Walter Hauser, Danny Huston Directed by Akiva Schaffer The 80s and 90s were known for spoof comedies, movies that playfully made fun of big budget blockbusters and disaster movies and giving them a smartly comedic spin. Movies like "Airplane," "Spaceballs," "Hot Shots!" and "Police Academy" have withstood the test of time and still illicit laughs in viewers, and among them is "The Naked Gun" series starring the late, great Leslie Nielsen. The story followed Nielsen's bumbling police lieutenant Frank Drebin, who delivered the laughs with deadpan humor and a mix of Vaudeville, silent comedy and sight gags. Then the 2000s came, and the spoof subgenre died an agonizing, slow death after what seemed to be one of the greats - "Scary Movie." The success of "Scary Movie" and its sequel unfortunately spawned a slew of lifeless, unfunny films like "Date Movie,...

Bambi: The Reckoning Starring Roxanne McKee, Tom Mulheron, Nicola Wright, Alex Cooke Directed by Dan Allen The Twisted Childhood Universe (aka the Poohniverse) is steamrolling through their plans to showcase once-beloved IP properties that've fallen into public domain and bring them all together for an Avengers-level film that'll be the highlight of 2026. Winnie the Pooh and his friends, Peter Pan, Bambi, Pinocchio and many others will come together to get revenge on those who survived and try to take over the world, and until that magical time we're gifted with unique, clever, and fun movies leading up to it. The first "Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey" was a total misfire, and seemed like it was generated to make a quick buck, but seeing this, producers/writers/directors Scott Chambers and Rhys Frake-Waterfield learned and vowed to make better movies, and the proof is in the pudding. "Blood and Honey 2" was leaps and bounds better than its predecessor,...