JoeMama's Movie Reviews

V/H/S/Mixtape Starring Barbara Crampton, Jihad Brent, Alex Hsu, Neela Jolene Directed by Flying Lotus, Renee Zhan, David Moreau, Ernest Dickerson, RZA   2025's "V/H/S/Halloween" was one of the best in the long-running franchise, showcasing different directors delivering their take on Halloween horror hijinks and making for a great Halloween tradition. Sadly, the follow-up, "V/H/S/Mixtape" has the opposite effect. Not only is it the worst in the franchise, but it wastes its opportunity to tell thoughtful, terrifying stories all centering around sound. What we get instead is a lazy, haphazard set of shorts (with the exception of one, but even that might be because it was the last one and therefore better by comparison) that is devoid of scares, filled with subpar performances, and sadly a waste of time. This wraparound story is directed by Flying Lotus and basically features the band GWAR doing their bit - being strange, wearing outlandish costumes, and acting alm...

Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother Starring Mahershala Ali, John Cho, Giancarlo Esposito, Abubakr Ali Directed by Bassam Tariq Can an assassin have morals? How does one's devout religious standing and their job of literally killing people go hand-in-hand? Is there such a way that's possible? "Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother" is an intriguing, powerful, and thought-provoking movie that centers on these questions, but also serves as a microcosm of today's society: in this, a devout Muslim man is also a righteous assassin, taking down the enemy which is an overly zealous group of Christians bent on killing a man for something he didn't do, but something they believe he did. There's more to this than even that, as the assassin himself is a family man who is more ready to seek out breast milk for his baby than seek out murder. Latif (Mahershala Ali) is a trained assassin who kills using a bladed weapon rather than guns, and is a devout Muslim family man, t...

Whalefall Starring Austin Abrams, Josh Brolin, Elisabeth Shue, John Ortiz Directed by Brian Duffield Anyone who's been to church as a child knows the story of Jonah. A prophet of God sent to Nineveh to preach repentance instead cowers and runs away, only to be swallowed up by a great fish (many misinterpret it as a literal whale) where he spends three days and nights inside it before repenting and God causing the fish to vomit him out. "Whalefall," in many ways, feels like a modern day equivalent of this tale: a wayward son, an overbearing father, and a great fish that causes the son to learn a valuable lesson. Jay Gardiner (Austin Abrams) was never close to his seafaring father Mitt (Josh Brolin), who always seemed to insult Jay and treat him harshly, especially compared to his two daughters. This causes Jay to resent and hate his father, leading him from his home in California to Idaho for school. However, after his father comes down with an incurable disease, instead o...

Other Mommy Starring Jessica Chastain, Jay Duplass, Arabella Olivia Clark, Karen Allen Directed by Rob Savage During "The Odyssey" they played this trailer that I saw for the first time, and it was very unnerving. I wasn't expecting it to be so unhinged after the opening moments and was pleasantly surprised and a movie that immediately became something I was excited to see. While some trailers give away everything, this was merely the opening of the movie - but, sadly, also the best part of the movie. What follows is a thinly written story that doesn't flush out any characters and provides more jump scares and adrenaline-fueled chases, with shoddy CGI, but a capable duel performance by Jessica Chastain and a young child actress that didn't make me want the worst for her, so those are pluses. Seven-year-old Bella Martin (Arabella Olivia Clark) sees "other Mommy" frequently, an entity that takes on the image of her mother Ursula (Jessica Chastain) and love...

Onslaught Starring Adria Arjona, Dan Stevens, Reginald VelJohnson, Alex Pereira Directed by Adam Wingard "Onslaught" is one of those unique movies where its mileage depends on your love of classic 80s horror/action movies. If you love them and want to see an updated version, this movie is right up your alley - but if you think those type of movies have outlived their shelf life, then you'll find this more of the same. Personally, I thought it fell somewhere in the middle - a great throwback to the classics, but despite its use of gore and violence, it still felt a bit held back. Still, the third act more than makes up for a sluggish start even if it concludes a bit too conveniently.  Former Nazi scientist Dr. Hans Kammler (Dan Stevens) has bred the perfect soldier: pulling three former military soldiers and turning them into mindless super soldiers led by The Butcher (Alex Pereira) who can feel no pain, no fear, and don't give up until everyone around them is dead. Af...

By Any Means Starring Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Mark Wahlberg, Nicole Beharie, Giancarlo Esposito Directed by Elegance Bratton Movie trailers should make you excited to see a movie, but "By Any Means" had the reverse effect on me: it seemed like a total by-the-numbers period piece about racism in the South and how two mismatched men managed to find justice. Although based on a true story, as always, the truth is oftentimes left behind, and what we get is a decently performed movie that ticks off every box on the "racism in the 60s was bad" checklist, with an odd mixture of too serious and over-the-top antics. In Hattiesburg, Mississippi  in 1966, civil rights activist Vernon Dahmer (Giancarlo Esposito) is murdered by Klansmen when he offers to pay for Black people to vote. Special FBI Agent Wayne Strider (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), who just returned home after working in Chicago, takes the case - and as one of the first African American FBI agents, he has his hands full i...

April X Starring Connor Storrie, Lilly Krug, Tudor Chirila, Serban Pavlu Directed by Michel K. Parandi Very rare does a movie appear in cinemas that I've never heard of, and "April X" is one such film. Despite the countless times I've been to the movies and seen countless more trailers, I never saw one for this movie. After about ten minutes in, I understood why - no one wanted to waste money advertising a film this epically lackluster. The only reason anyone would watch this movie would be to see "Heated Rivalry" standout Connor Storrie as the leading role, but for his first leading role he's proven that he is indeed just a pretty face and no discernible acting talent. In the future, brother and sister Baxter (Connor Storrie) and April (Lilly Krug) are surviving by doing shady work - Baxter as a black market grifter and April as someone who records her dreams and sells them to a local gangster. When April goes missing, Baxter relies on April's dream...

Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom Starring Justin Fletcher, John Sparkes, Nina Sosanya, Kate Harbour Directed by Steve Cox & Matthew Walker I've never seen a "Shaun the Sheep" movie or show, or its parent series "Wallace & Grombit," but I know they've been highly praised for their humor, animation, and stories that touch young and old alike. So when Shaun returned to the big screen in a Halloween-themed movie just in time for the holidays, I decided it was about time to see what the fuss was all about. While the pacing was a bit off, I found myself very much enjoying the movie and its respect to the classic Universal monsters, delivered with the fantastic slapstick comedy Britain is known for. After their hidden pumpkin patch gets accidentally destroyed by the Farmer (John Sparkes), Shaun (Justin Fletcher) the Sheep finds a science book and concocts a creation that'll make new pumpkins instantaneously, while the Farmer struggles with his...

Verity Starring Anne Hathaway, Dakota Johnson, Josh Hartnett, Ismael Cruz Cordova Directed by Michael Showalter It's very interesting in one week two movies come out: "Verity" and "Digger," where one debuted at number one with an impressive worldwide gross, and the other barely made a dent, all due to preconceived notions. "Digger" was lambasted by critics because they found the satirical work too pretentious, while audiences went in droves to see the new Colleen Hoover-adapted movie "Verity." Personally, they got things mixed up - "Digger" wasn't pretentious, but "Verity" literally bled pretentiousness from the first scene on, culminating in such a convoluted ending it felt like Hoover herself was patting herself on the back for such a unique twist that, indeed, isn't unique at all. Verity Crawford (Anne Hathaway) is a successful novelist best known for her series where the main character is the villain, giving a ...

Digger Starring Tom Cruise, John Goodman, Riz Ahmed, Sandra Huller Directed by Alejandro G. Inarritu Satire is extremely hard to pull off successfully, essentially being the figurative tight rope walker. Coined by Nathan Poe in 2005, Poe's Law states that "without a clear indicator of intent, a parodic or sarcastic expression of extreme views is easily mistaken for a sincere expression of those views," and thus is the issue: satire is hard to perform and convey because it relies on a delicate gap between reality and absurdity. Stray too far one way or another, and it comes off either as just lazy comedy or actually siding with what they're making the satire about, and thus becoming more pretentious than it was originally meant. While Oscar-winning director Alexandro G. Inarritu managed to produce some great work in the past, "Digger" is his most divisive - and least successful - of his career, due to the fact that the movie is a satirist look at greed, globa...

The Invite Starring Seth Rogen, Olivia Wilde, Penelope Cruz, Edward Norton Directed by Olivia Wilde You have to have a whole lot of trust in your actors to place them in one small, isolated setting throughout the entirety of the film and still be able to make fireworks. It's been done before, but also failed as well, and for third-time director Olivia Wilde, casting herself and three of the best actors in the business together definitely produced the fireworks desired. No explosive set pieces, no wild out-of-the-box performances, just four actors doing what they do best with the best material they've been given in decades. Joe (Seth Rogen) is a washed up musician teaching at a small school while his wife Angela (Olivia Wilde) stays at home and tends to their twelve-year-old daughter. They live in a luxurious apartment that belonged to Joe's parents and the two are clearly at odds - he comes home to find out she's planning a get-together with their upstairs neighbors, an...

  The Influencer Project Starring Chiara King, Mike Nybroe, Luca Storm, Alexandr Willaume Directed by Mike Nybroe I'm very glad I'm not a teenager in today's world, where popularity is determined by how many friends and views you get on online platforms like Instagram and TikTok. Where you feel like your self worth comes from complete strangers, and nameless trolls online can severely damage your mental state. Where if you get less than one thousand followers you're seen as a failure, and your whole world revolves around what you film with your phone as opposed to seeing the world for what it is. Chiara King is a real-life "influencer" who's been gifted with trips, gifts, and cash due to her high following, but it also has a dark side as well - in real life, she endured a stalker, and now "The Influencer Project" looks at a fictionalized version of those events with King playing a fictionalized version of herself. While this could be the chance t...

Primetime Starring Robert Pattinson, Merritt Wever, Skyler Gisondo, Matthew Maher Directed by Lance Oppenheim In the 2000s I remember watching "To Catch a Predator" every week, in a time before true crime became all the rage. The series centered on NBC journalist Chris Hansen who, while working with Perverted-Justice, would lure unsuspecting men to a home in hopes of hooking up with a minor (girl or boy) and expose them for the world before having them arrested. It was a massive hit and shined the light on the true darkness that exists in the world, coming from the most ordinary people. The show was abruptly canceled after a major scandal, and Hansen faded into obscurity, but now documentary director Lance Oppenheim takes the dramatic route in "Primetime," and while the premise seems to not make sense, the result is something truly unforgettable - and possibly one of the scariest horror movies of the year. NBC journalist Chris Hansen (Robert Pattinson) is relishing ...

Ice Cream Man Starring Ari Millen, Charlie Zeltzer, Shiloh O'Reilly, Kiori Mirza Waldman Directed by Eli Roth Everyone knows about the legend of the Pied Piper of Hamelin: a piper who was hired by a town to lead all the rats away returns when he's refused payment and uses his instrument to lure all the children out of the town. It's existed since the Middle Ages and serves as a cautionary tale about vengeance. Horror auteur Eli Roth, fresh off his successful "Thanksgiving," delivers his own modern-day telling of the story, but this time it's an ice cream man who arrives in town after being wronged not to lure the children away, but turn them into psychotic killers. While this is on-bar for Roth, the film itself is surprisingly boring, long, and filled with terrible performances from an extremely thinly written script - not to mention the egregious use of AI. Jared (Charlie Zeltzer) is a kid who's constantly picked on and has very few friends, and after a b...

Psycho Killer Starring Georgina Campbell, James Preston Rogers, Malcolm McDowell, Logan Miller Directed by Gavin Polone Sometimes a trailer comes out that makes a movie so intriguing you can't wait to see it, and once you do you want to give whoever edited that trailer an Academy Award for making a more compelling two-minute video rather than a feature-length film. "Psycho Killer" is one of those movies, who's trailer makes it seem like it'll be an intense cat-and-mouse game akin to "The Silence of the Lambs" and "Longlegs," but instead it turns out to be a wannabe Lifetime movie with more blood. Jane Archer (Georgina Campbell) is a police officer who witnesses her fellow police officer husband's murder at the hands of the Satanic Slasher (James Preston Rogers) during a seemingly routine pullover. Enraged by the seemingly inept ability of the police to track down the elusive killer who's murdered countless people across the country, Jan...

The Uprising Starring Andrew Garfield, Jamie Bell, Thomasin McKenzie, Woody Norman Directed by Paul Greengrass There's never been a more timely story than a movie centering around a once-in-a-generation pandemic with a poor populous struggling to come to terms with the after effects, mixed with economic upheaval and untrustworthy political leadership. This could've been a movie made about 2020, but as history proves, it oftentimes repeats itself with "The Uprising," a fictionalized tale of the Peasants' Revolt of 1381 where thousands of peasants, farmers and commoners marched on London to protect corrupt royal advisors, seizing control of parts of the city. With Paul Greengrass behind the camera and Andrew Garfield leading, this should've been a slam dunk hit, but due to Greengrass's filming style not working for a historical peace and, honestly, it being too boring, it felt more like a one-person rebellion rather than thousands.  In 1381, the Black Death ...

Resident Evil Starring Austin Abrams, Zach Cherry, Kali Reis, Paul Walter Hauser Directed by Zach Cregger Zach Cregger is one of this generation's most prolific horror directors, providing movies like "Barbarian" and the Oscar-winning "Weapons" that will be mentioned by horror aficionados for decades to come, but both based on wholly original ideas. When it was announced he was set to direct a "Resident Evil" reboot, fans of the long-running video game franchise were up in arms due to Cregger's take on their beloved games. There's no Leon S. Kennedy, Chris Redfield, Claire Redfield, or Jill Valentine, but instead it's a new story with a new character that takes place in the modern era, and while trepidation was high, the result is nothing short of magnificent: the best "Resident Evil" movie (granted, that's like limboing under a pole ten feet in the air) that perfectly balances Cregger's blend of horror and comedy, and led...

Hope Starring Hwang Jung-min, Zo In-sung, Jung Ho-Yeon, Eum Moon-suk Directed by Na Hong-jin Foreign films are unique in that they don't make movies to appease the masses, but films that the directors and writers are emotionally drawn to. They don't care if it makes billions of dollars, they want to tell the story the way they want to, unlike American films that rely solely on box office gross week-to-week. "Hope" is an epic (and I mean epic, running at 2 hours and 40 minutes) blend of horror, action, sci-fi and even comedy that doesn't hold the audiences' hands but allows the story to flow in its own natural pace, resulting in a conclusion more fit for a sequel than a definitive ending. In the small South Korean harbor town of Hope Harbor, police chief Ko Bum-seok (Hwang Jung-min) is called to investigate the mysterious death of a cow by his second cousin Ko Sung-ki (Zo In-sung). Thinking it's a tiger, the two split up to search for clues as Sung-ki goes ...

Forgotten Island Starring H.E.R., Liza Soberano, Dave Franco, Jenny Slate Directed by Joel Crawford and Januel Mercado Making memories is something that we all strive to do, especially when it's with our best friend. The times - both the action-packed and mundane - we share with them are etched into our minds, and they come back to comfort us when we need it, or to give a laugh when we remember what silly thing we got involved in. Places, objects, and even smells bring back these memories and shows us the true importance of life: it's not about what you have, but who you have that really matters. What happens, then, if those memories would be erased? Would you sacrifice that for something more? "Forgotten Island" asks that question with some of the most beautiful, awe-inspiring visuals I've seen in an animated film this year, while giving children (and children at heart) great comedy and a truly heartwarming tale of two best friends and their unbreakable bond. In ...