JoeMama's Movie Reviews

Worst2First:  My Top Ten Films for Black History Month February celebrates Black History month, and there's been countless films that celebrate the African American community and features some of the best actors and actresses to ever grace the silver screen. In honor of Black History month, here are ten movies you should check out. #10 Precious  "Precious" is a tale about an overweight, illiterate girl named Precious who is having her second child and lives in a highly abusive home.  Yet, despite all her struggles, she still maintains a hope to become somebody important someday.  Featuring an Oscar-winning performance by Mo'Nique and introducing Gabourey Sidibe (who was also nominated for an Oscar), the film is a powerful look into the world of one young girl who shows the power of perseverance.  The film also won an Oscar for Geoffrey Fletcher for Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay, making him the first African American to win the Best Screenp...

xXx: Return of Xander Cage Starring Vin Diesel, Donnie Yen, Deepika Padukone, Toni Collette Directed by D.J. Caruso The Story: Years after faking his death to escape the xXx program, Xander Cage (Vin Diesel) is brought out of retirement by Jane Marke (Toni Collette), who enlists him to stop a gang of highly crafty individuals led by Xiang (Donnie Yen), who stole some technology known as Pandora's Box that can bring satellites crashing to Earth in specific places like trained warheads. Cage enlists a gang of highly intelligent, resourceful and absolutely insane people to track Xiang and his gang down and retrieve the Box, but learn that there's much more than what they were being told, and the lines between good and evil become drastically blurred. The Synopsis: Vin Diesel is nearing fifty, but you would never guess that by seeing his films.  He's still as ripped, strong and muscular than ever, and his bread and butter is starring in franchise series that re...

Major Theatrical Releases February 2017 Typically February is the month studios drop off films they're not too excited about, but every once in a while there's a film (such as Deadpool last year) that really stands out above the dross.  Here are the major theatrical releases for February 2017 (dates subject to change). February 3 Rings In the 2000s, the horror subgenre known as J-Horror was all the rage.  Horror movies based in Japan were brought to America, given the American re-imagining, and audiences were terrified.  Films such as "The Grudge," "Pulse" and "Dark Water" sent moviegoers screaming in terror, but none compared to "The Ring."  The film - starring Naomi Watts, Brian Cox and Martin Henderson - thrilled and chilled moviegoers to the bone.  The story centered around Samara, the spirit of a girl killed who inhabits a VHS video and kills whoever watches it in seven days.  The film was met with critical a...

Worst2First:  My Top Ten Biggest Oscar Surprises & Snubs For a cinephile like me, the Oscars are the crowning achievement in cinema.  There's no other awards show I anticipate more than the Academy Awards, and the nominations were just announced this week.  As usual there was a lot I wasn't surprised with, but there were some this year that either made me scratch my head, or make my anticipation all the more greater for when the awards are finally given out. Here are my top ten Oscar surprises and snubs, Worst2First... #10 No Nominations for Deadpool While I wasn't expecting Ryan Reynolds to get a Best Actor nomination, nor a Best Picture nod, I was surely expecting it to garner some nominations in the technical categories (especially for Costume Design and Makeup and Hair Styling), especially after earning several Golden Globe, Writers Guild, Producers Guild and other nominations.  However, the film was entirely shut out, but no doubt Ryan Reynol...

The Bye Bye Man Starring Douglas Smith, Lucien Laviscount, Cressida Bonas, Carrie-Anne Moss Directed by Stacy Title The Story: College couple Elliot (Douglas Smith) and Sasha (Cressida Bonas) - plus Elliot's best friend John (Lucien Laviscount) - move into a creepy old house off campus and begin to experience strange occurrences.  Elliot discovers words scratched into the nightstand in his bedroom that says "don't say it, don't think it," and he lifts the cover and etched in the wood are the words "The Bye Bye Man." As soon as he says his name, the Bye Bye Man (Doug Jones) arrives with his hell hound and begins tormenting the friends, putting images in their heads and causing them to turn on one another in the hopes of eventually killing them all.  Elliot has to find a way to stop the Bye Bye Man before he and his friends go...bye bye. The Synopsis: Born with albinism in the 1920s Louisiana, the Bye Bye Man was relentlessly teased and to...

Split Starring James McAvoy, Anya Taylor-Joy, Betty Buckley, Haley Lu Richardson Directed by M. Night Shyamalan The Story: After a birthday party at the mall, pretty friends Claire (Haley Lu Richardson) and Marcia (Jessica Sula) - along with shy, sullen, introverted Casey (Anya Taylor-Joy) are abducted by Kevin (James McAvoy) and taken to his underground home.  They quickly discern that he has multiple personalities, and the most prominent ones are OCD Dennis, British proper Patricia, and young Hedwig.  Kevin visits Dr. Karen Fletcher (Betty Buckley), who identifies him as having dissociative identity disorder, having 23 distinct personalities. Back at his lair, the two girls want to try to overpower Kevin, but Casey - having gone through survival training as a child - tries to reason with Kevin and his personalities, and he reveals to her that there's another personality waiting to come out, one known as The Beast, which will devour the impure and having been th...

Underworld: Rise of the Lycans Starring Michael Sheen, Bill Nighy, Rhona Mitra, Steven Mackintosh Directed by Patrick Tatopoulos The Story: Taking place a millennia before the previous two installments, "Rise of the Lycans" is the origin story as to how Selene was born, and how the battle between the aristocratic vampires and beastly lycans began.  Lucian (Michael Sheen) was the first half man, half werewolf born, but he wasn't killed by the vampire leader Viktor (Bill Nighy), but rather raised as his son - with a chain around his neck so he could never turn into a werewolf. Lucian falls in love with Viktor's daughter Sonja (Rhona Mitra), and the two begin a torrid affair that they know would end in their deaths if they were ever caught.  After being caught, Lucian begins to unite the werewolf and lycan worlds against the vampires and rescue Sonja from her father. The Synopsis: The "Underworld" series hasn't been one of the best in moder...