JoeMama's Movie Reviews

Transformers One Starring Chris Hemsworth, Brian Tyree-Henry, Scarlett Johansson, Keegan-Michael Key Directed by Josh Cooley As a child of the 80s "Transformers" was one of my favorite cartoon shows, and the original animated movie is still highly regarded in my opinion (with the best soundtrack ever), and through my adult years Michael Bay has systematically tried to kill my love for the franchise with his abysmal live-action films (fortunately "Bumblebee" righted many of those wrongs). So when I heard they were making an animated prequel movie that essentially came across as a buddy adventure comedy, I was highly skeptical - and while the film itself didn't move me to tears or make me want to see it again, I could appreciate the message it told and found myself entertained by it all. On Cybertron, there's two classes of robots - ones that have a cog and are able to transform, and ones without, who cannot transform and are relegated to the mines to dig up E

Salem's Lot Starring Lewis Pullman, Mackenzie Leigh, Alfre Woodard, Bill Camp Directed by Gary Dauberman Honestly, I've read only a few novels by the great Stephen King, and have relegated my knowledge of the prolific writer to the films they make from his work. Obviously, something always gets lost in the translation, and there's more bad adaptations than good, but there was a lot of anticipation for "Salem's Lot," based on King's 1975 novel that was once an acclaimed miniseries in 1979 and again in 2004, along with a theatrical sequel. Since 2022 there was rumors of the film being made, but no one knew when - or, considering it's Warner Bros. - if it would be released, but finally the film was set to stream on Max, and it managed to suck all the fun out of it. Ben Mears (Lewis Pullman) is an author who returns to his hometown of Jerusalem, Maine, to research for a new book he's writing when he meets secretary Susan Norton (Mackenzie Leigh), and t

Joker: Folie a Deux Starring Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Brendan Gleeson, Catherine Keener Directed by Todd Phillips 2019's "Joker" was a revolutionary vision for the iconic Batman villain, a role played so perfectly by Joaquin Phoenix that it earned him the Oscar for the performance, one of the only times in Oscar history that the same character has won an Oscar more than once (Heath Ledger's performance of the Joker in "The Dark Knight" also earned an Oscar win). The film was grounded in reality, making Arthur Fleck into the Joker due to society's influence on him and how he was always looked down upon and seen as lesser because of it. It was a deep, dark character study that blended reality and fantasy in ways where you didn't know what was real and what wasn't. The conclusion had me literally on the edge of my seat, not sure where things were going, but knowing it wasn't going to be good - in a good way. The film was perfection, a one-off

Oddity Starring Carolyn Bracken, Gwilym Lee, Tadhg Murphy, Caroline Menton Directed by Damien McCarthy Something I tend to hate in horror films is jump scares, because all too often they're used in place of something really terrifying, something that replaces the exciting for the quick fix, because instinctively you're bound to jump when you hear a screeching noise coming out of nowhere. Yet there's times where jump scares add to the overall unease of a film, and serve as the icing on the cake. "Oddity" is one such film, a claustrophobic blend of murder mystery, supernatural horror and home invasion blended together with the intense jump scares to serve as the denouement. One year after her twin sister Dani (Carolyn Bracken) was murdered in her isolated home, blind clairvoyant Darcy (Carolyn Bracken) travels to Dani's home where her widowed husband Ted (Gwilym Lee) lives with his new girlfriend Yana (Caroline Menton). She brings with her a family heirloom - a

Megalopolis Starring Adam Driver, Giancarlo Esposito, Nathalie Emmanuel, Aubrey Plaza Directed by Francis Ford Coppola Films generally exist to tell a story, to have a cohesive beginning, middle, and end. Something that the viewer can say, "Oh, I understood that." "Megalopolis" isn't such a film, but rather a visionary wonder wrapped in a story that - on the surface - actually does make sense, but the way it's told, and the paths it takes, leaves the viewers wondering what the heck is going on, and what the central message is. You can sense the passion behind the project, but what you see is literally visuals that look like they were vomited on the screen with no sense of reason: beautiful to look at, but utterly confusing in its execution. It leaves a weird taste in your mouth after watching it, like it's supposed to be this grand fable epic, but the story zigzags so much you don't know what the main point of it is. In the fictional American city of

  The Substance Starring Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley, Dennis Quaid, Gore Abrams Directed by Coralie Fargeat It's a rare treat that I get to go into a movie completely blind - never seeing a trailer, never reading a review, and knowing absolutely nothing about it. "The Substance" is one such film (as is another film I recently saw, "The Shade," to less excited results), a movie that I only heard about being gory, disturbing, and intense. While I take that as a grain of salt (considering many people who say these things think "Saw" is the most gory film ever, without even considering foreign horror films that I've seen that makes "Saw" look like a Disney movie), I was intrigued and managed to see "The Substance." While it's not personally as intense as others say it was, what it was is so much more - a rich, beautifully acted and produced film that unashamedly points the lens to one of Hollywood's most destructive behavio