JoeMama's Movie Reviews

Proud Mary Starring Taraji P. Henson, Jahi Di'Allo Winston, Billy Brown, Danny Glover Directed by Babak Najafi The Story: Mary (Taraji P. Henson) is an hit-woman for a mob family in Boston led by Benny (Danny Glover), with Mary's former boyfriend Tom (Billy Brown) as his right hand man.  One day she's assigned to kill a man, and after completing the deed she sees a young boy in the house.  Distraught, she leaves the boy alive. A year later, the boy, Danny (Jahi Di'Allo Winston) is working for a European mobster, when Mary finds him again.  She rescues him but in the process creates a new war between her family's faction and the European one, leading to a tangled web of deceit and lies that threatens Mary and everything she's worked so hard for. The Synopsis: There's been some fantastic female-led action films lately: "Wonder Woman," "Atomic Blonde," and "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" immediately come to mind.  With Ho...

The Post Starring Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks, Sarah Paulson, Bob Odenkirk Directed by Steven Spielberg The Story: In 1971, former military analyst Daniel Ellsberg (Matthew Rhys) confiscates classified reports on the Vietnam War - proving that the U.S. government has been involved with it for four Presidents as well as lying to the general public about their purpose and direction - and gives them to The New York Times.  They publish an article on it, to the dismay of The Post senior editor Ben Bradlee (Tom Hanks), who wishes he had the scoop himself. Soon after, President Nixon goes after the Times and files a court action to prevent them from leaking any more information on the Pentagon Papers, and the Post finds themselves in possession of the papers.  Bradlee wants to publish them, and goes to the new owner of the Post, Kay Graham (Meryl Streep) to get her permission.  She faces her own struggles as the first female head of the newspaper, facing ridicule fro...

Insidious: The Last Key Starring Lin Shaye, Leigh Whannell, Angus Sampson, Kirk Acevedo Directed by Adam Robitel The Story: Demonolgist Elise Rainier (Lin Shaye) has seen dead people since she was a child, and we get to see her childhood as she struggles with her abilities against a deadbeat father (Josh Stewart) who beats her for her abilities.  In modern day, she receives a call of help from Ted Garza (Kirk Acevedo), who lives in her childhood home.  She reluctantly agrees to go in order to face the demons of her own past and hopefully rid the house of the evil spirits once and for all. The Synopsis: The "Insidious" franchise is a unique one - it's a franchise that technically shouldn't exist.  The first film was revolutionary for the horror genre due to it's natural ability to be downright frightening, and added the particular concept of The Further - a different world where spirits dwelt.  The evil spirit was scary (even if he resembled Darth Ma...

Mudbound Starring Carey Mulligan, Jason Clarke, Garrett Hedlund, Mary J. Blige Directed by Dee Rees The Story: In Mississippi in the early 40s, young couple Laura (Carey Mulligan) and Henry (Jason Clarke) are living on a farm with Henry's racist father Pappy (Jonathan Banks) that's overrun with mud, threatening their way of life.  Hap (Rob Morgan) and his wife Florence (Mary J. Blige) are an African American couple who also live on the land and work for Henry.  Their son, Ronsel (Jason Mitchell), enlists in the Army after Pearl Harbor is bombed, and Henry's brother Jamie (Garrett Hedlund) enlists in the Air Force.  When they return home, Ronsel and Jamie return different men, having been affected by the wages of war - and soon discover that their growing friendship threatens both of their lives. The Synopsis: Based off a novel by Hillary Jordan, "Mudbound" is an excellent, soaring piece of cinema that deeply points out the intense racism faced in A...

The Room Starring Tommy Wiseau, Greg Sestero, Juliette Danielle, Philip Haldiman Directed by Tommy Wiseau The Story: Johnny (Tommy Wiseau) is engaged to Lisa (Juliette Danielle), but she doesn't love him anymore, so she sleeps with his best friend Mark (Greg Sestero) behind his back. The Synopsis: Back in 2003, this little-known film made hardly a ripple in the world of cinema, and for very good reason: it's absolute garbage.  Tommy Wiseau - an enigma in itself - wrote, directed and starred in this pet project, and his best friend Greg Sestero served as a script supervisor as well as an actor. Sestero later went on to write the book "The Disaster Artist" about the insane behind-the-scenes events that led up to the film which, surprisingly, was even more outlandish than the film itself.  This drew the attention of James Franco, who went on to direct and star in the film of the same title, starring as Wiseau while his brother Dave starred as Sestero.  T...

Darkest Hour Starring Gary Oldman, Kristin Scott Thomas, Lily James, Ben Mendelsohn Directed by Joe Wright The Story: As World War II rages on, British Parliament demands the resignation of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain (Ronald Pickup) for being too weak.  He chooses Winston Churchill (Gary Oldman) to succeed him, basically because he's the only man his party would support. Churchill takes the position during a very tumultuous time in Britain's history, as their ground troops have been flanked by the Nazi army at Dunkirk, and the French - their closest ally - looks to be on the verge of surrendering.  While most of his cohorts want him to try to broker a peace treaty with Germany through Italy, Churchill remains defiant, believing they can win this war even when the odds seem stacked against them. The Synopsis: It takes a lot to make a film that centers around the topic of war - while never setting foot on the battlefield - so engaging.  To be able t...

Worst2First:  2017 Films #20 - #1 2017 was a spectacular year for film, and I was privileged enough to see 80 of those movies.  Unfortunately, I wasn't able to see them all (such as "The Disaster Artist" or "The Shape of Water"), but I was able to see a large amount. So I compiled all the 80 movies I saw that were released in 2017 and made four different Worst2First lists, breaking it up so you don't have to read through one super long list.  I've also split the films by color, as well as number: If the film image is in red, it means I graded it a D+, D, D-, or F, and should probably never be seen again. If the film image is in yellow, it means I graded it a C+, C, or C-, and if you want to watch them, be warned that they probably won't be great. If the film image is in blue, it means I graded it a B+, B, or B-, and that means the film was alright - not memorable or terrible, just forgettable. If the film image is in green, i...