JoeMama's Movie Reviews

The Lodge Starring Riley Keough, Jaeden Martell, Lia McHugh, Richard Armitage Directed by Steverin Fiala & Veronika Franz The horror genre is wide open as to how they manage to tell a story to really terrify you.  Some have no real story and rely solely on jump scares to make you gasp, which moreso is used to make sure you're still awake.  Others use CGI or practical effects to bring to life some of our worst nightmares onto the big screen in ways that were previously unheard of.  Then there's those horror films that rely on atmosphere and a slow burn that builds and builds to its ultimately satisfying and terrifying climax.  "The Lodge" is the latter, a film that doesn't rely on jump scares or CGI to terrify you, but rather use very realistic, plausible events that could happen to pretty much anyone to incite fear and dread in the viewer from the first frame to the last. Six months after their mother died, Aidan (Jaeden Martell) and Mia (Lia McHugh) aren'...

Run Starring Sarah Paulson, Kiera Allen, Pat Healy, Sara Sohn Directed by Aneesh Chaganty Many people are familiar with the story of Gypsy Rose and Blanchard and her mother Dee Dee.  Dee Dee always wanted to be a caretaker, and from birth convinced Gypsy Rose that she had a vast amount of diseases that made her completely reliant on Dee Dee - until she found an online boyfriend, and realized that she wasn't actually sick, but her mother kept her isolated and thinking that she was sick in order to care for her.  This is known as Munchausen syndrome by proxy, and resulted in Dee Dee's murder at the hands of Gypsy Rose's boyfriend.  "Run" is a film that touches on this subject, and is heightened by tremendous performances and a tight, stress-inducing script that keeps you on the edge of your seat from start to finish. Diane Sherman (Sarah Paulson) gives premature birth to her daughter Chloe, who is diagnosed with a series of health issues - Arrhythmia, Hemochromatosi...

Mulan Starring Yifei Liu, Donnie Yen, Jason Scott Lee, Gong Li Directed by Niki Caro Disney has been re-making their animated classics into live action films, and the result is easily a mixed bag.  Some ("Beauty and the Beast") have been spectacular, while others ("Dumbo") failed to deliver the magic of the original animated film.  "Mulan" falls somewhere near the middle, as it's easily the most ambitious of the live-action remakes thus far, a film that doesn't rely on the classic Disney songs and characters but rather turns into a semi-accruate historical portrayal of the fierce heroine without the wise-cracking dragon sidekick. Mulan (Yifei Liu) has always been a rambunctious girl, who doesn't want to fit into the norms of honoring her family by merely being a housewife.  While her mother wishes for her to become more subdued and subjugated, her warrior father Hua Zhou (Tzi Ma) quietly encourages her to be herself - until she makes a mess of ...

Hillbilly Elegy Starring Amy Adams, Glenn Close, Gabriel Basso, Owen Asztalos Directed by Ron Howard The family dynamic is a forever changing thing, and something that varies greatly from person to person.  Some people have the picture perfect Americana family with loving parents, a two-story house, a white picket fence, and a dog.  Others have only one parent in the picture, living from paycheck to paycheck, and struggling to make the basic ends meet.  Then there's those whose family totally abandoned them, and they've relied on their friends to be their real family.  There's also those dysfunctional families who, despite being totally dangerous to each other, manage to stick it out together and hold true to the value that family is everything.  "Hillbilly Elegy" focuses on just such a family, a film based off the memoirs of J.D. Vance, who grew up in a small hillbilly town in southern Ohio and managed to work his way to Yale Law School, all the while rememberi...

The Prom Starring Meryl Streep, James Corden, Nicole Kidman, Jo Ellen Pellman Directed by Ryan Murphy I'm a huge fan of musicals, I love how much time and dedication is put into making choreography pitch perfect and how infectious and memorable the songs are.  I still have "The Greatest Showman" playing on my music almost daily, and still hail it as one of the best modern musicals I've seen.  However, as often as there's great musicals, there's others that not only fall incredibly short, but also become sheer abominations - and as we all know, I'm referring to "Cats" from 2019.  "The Prom" - another Broadway musical - was the most recent musical-turned-film, and while it's not as bad as "Cats," it's nowhere near "The Greatest Showman."  The film has some catchy song and dance numbers, the choreography is mostly on point, and the performances are fun, but it felt very disjointed and repetitive, and would'v...

Special Review: Transcend To transcend means to go beyond the range or limits of a certain thing, and there's no better title for this incredible short film than "Transcend."  The issue of mental illness is a taboo subject, with millions of people all around the world dealing with the worst battle anyone can face - the one inside their own mind.  The voices in your head that tell you you're not good enough, you'll never make it, you can never provide for your family, you will never find love, you will never be successful - these lies fester inside your mind like a cancer and if you allow them to permeate to your soul, they will ultimately win out and destroy you - but there's always hope, if you're able to take those negative thoughts and transcend above them; to use those darker thoughts and transform them into something powerful and transformative in a positive way. Prevention specialist Mason Edmunds works closely with people struggling with mental iss...

Enola Holmes Starring Millie Bobby Brown, Henry Cavill, Sam Claflin, Helena Bonham Carter Directed by Harry Bradbeer Ever since 1892, the character of Sherlock Holmes has become a mainstay in popular culture.  From countless novels, films, television series, and video games, the famed sleuth from Baker Street has been re-imagined and re-formatted for different audiences, from Guy Ritchie's slick Robert Downey Jr.-led franchise to Benedict Cumberbatch's "Sherlock" British series, to a modern take with the television series "Elementary," and then there's that Will Ferrell abomination that won't be named - and those are just the most recent.  Author Nancy Springer has written a series of Sherlock Holmes books, but offering a much different, much more modern, perspective.  Instead of focusing on the famed detective, she instead created her own Holmes character - Sherlock's sixteen-year-old sister Enola - and chronicles her adventures into becoming ju...