JoeMama's Movie Reviews

Ash Starring Eiza Gonzalez, Aaron Paul, Iko Uwais, Beulah Koale Directed by Flying Lotus Sci-fi alien movies are fascinating, and I've always had a soft spot for them. Throw in wild visuals and an insane final act, and you get "Ash" - a flawed movie but saved thanks to the visuals and the utterly insane ending that makes me wish this was a short film rather than a full-length feature. Landing on a different planet, Riya (Eiza Gonzalez) awakens with no memory of who she is or what happened, but she gets flashes of her fellow crew members being murdered. Thinking she's alone, she discovers Brion (Aaron Paul), who heard a distress call and came to investigate. She worries that she might've killed her crewmates but doesn't know why, and is unsure if she can trust Brion either - and things only get worse when they keep hearing of an unidentified life-form detected on the ship. "Ash" is an interesting film because for the majority of it, I was detached fro...

Locked Starring Bill Skarsgard, Anthony Hopkins, Ashley Cartwright, Michael Eklund Directed by David Yarovesky In 2013 there was a movie called "Locke" which featured Tom Hardy alone in a car as he drives to his mistresses' side as she gives birth, foregoing his family and his job because he doesn't want to be like his father. The movie was shot entirely in the car, and Tom Hardy is the only actor seen on screen, and the film was a tense, suspenseful thrill ride due to the story and Hardy's performance - something that could've ended badly if either/or was faltering. Apparently, director David Yarovesky wanted to add the -D to the title and throw in Bill Skarsgard, but lightning doesn't strike twice with this gimmicky premise. Eddie Barrish (Bill Skarsgard) is your typical bad boy with the heart of gold, who is down on his luck and can't provide either monetarily or fatherly for his daughter Sarah (Ashley Cartwright), and resorts to breaking into cars ...

Snow White Starring Rachel Zegler, Gal Gadot, Andrew Burnap, Ansu Kabia Directed by Marc Webb Disney has faced scrutiny lately with turning their beloved animated classics into live-action movies, and while they keep receiving backlash for them, their success is undeniable. "The Lion King," "Aladdin," "Alice in Wonderland" and "Beauty and the Beast" have crossed the one billion dollar mark worldwide, while "The Jungle Book" and "Maleficent" came really close. So despite peoples' dismay over these remakes, they still go in droves to see them. "Snow White" is the latest live-action remake, but this one had a much steeper hill to climb as opposed to the others for many different reasons, and going into it I wasn't expecting anything even remotely average, and maybe it was those low expectations but I found myself entertained by it - but not something I'd want to watch again. During a violent snowstorm, a kin...

  Last Breath Starring Woody Harrelson, Simu Liu, Finn Cole, Cliff Curtis Directed by Alex Parkinson I'm a sucker for true life stories on the big screen, even though I know they're mostly dramatized for our amusement. That's why I'm more a fan of documentaries than fictionalized true story films, and "Last Breath" has both - a 2019 documentary and now a big-screen film directed by the same person who's spent a lengthy amount of time studying the event and the people involved, giving the movie a sense of realism that you don't normally find in movies like this. Working as saturation divers working to maintain undersea gas lines in the North Sea, Duncan Allcock (Woody Harrelson), David Yuasa (Simu Liu) and Chris Lemons (Finn Cole) put their lives on the line to participate in one of the most dangerous jobs in the world. While David and Chris go to work on an undersea gas line manifold, Duncan remains in the diving bell to keep communication and supplies...

Novocaine Starring Jack Quaid, Amber Midthunder, Ray Nicholson, Jacob Batalon Directed by Dan Berk & Robert Olsen The action genre has a long list of names that will live in cinematic history: John Wick, John Rambo, John McClane (there's a lot of Johns), Indiana Jones, James Bond, Jason Bourne...they're well-known because their movies are excellent blends of action, humor, and drama with well-written scripts and explosive action sequences. Then there's many others that you know for a moment - at the moment I can't remember any - whose action films have decent-to-mediocre scripts and action sequences that are entertaining at the moment but afterward they're not ones you remember. "Novocaine" is one of those films, whose main character - Nate Caine - probably won't be starring in "Novocaine 2" anytime soon. Nate Caine (Jack Quaid) is a mild-mannered bank assistant manager who has a disease known as congenital insensitivity to pain with anhi...

Mickey 17 Starring Robert Pattinson, Naomi Ackie, Mark Ruffalo, Toni Collette Directed by Bong Joon-ho Director Bong Joon-ho is best known for directing biting satirical work and high style that focuses on the underdogs of society and shows them as the true unsung heroes of mankind, as he's proven with his excellent works "Okja," "The Host," "Snowpiercer," and 2019's "Parasite," which made history becoming the first foreign film to win the Best Picture Oscar (which also earned Joon-ho a win for Best Director as well). With his follow-up, "Mickey 17," Joon-ho keeps his tone by telling the story of a simple man who repeatedly dies and is copied to protect mankind, while being controlled by a soulless, egotistical megalomaniac who wishes for ultimate control. In the near future, Mickey Barnes (Robert Pattinson) and his friend Timo (Steven Yeun) are fleeing from a vicious loan shark by signing up to participate in a quest to inhabit...