JoeMama's Movie Reviews

Respect Starring Jennifer Hudson, Forest Whitaker, Marlon Wayans, Audra McDonald Directed by Liesl Tommy The biopic subgenre can be very difficult to pull off successfully, as generally the movie doesn't do justice to its namesake, resulting in a subpar film that seems like a live-action Wikipedia page put on the screen. The subgenre follows the traditional formula of exploring the person's youth, rise to fame, hidden pitfalls, inner demons, and eventual comeback before ending with a "Star Wars" introduction-like style of words on the screen that finishes out the Wikipedia search and giving some videos and photos of the actual person the story tells about. More often than not, these kinds of films fade into obscurity, but there are some that rise the ranks and becomes something transcendent, like "Coal Miner's Daughter," "Straight Outta Compton," "8 Mile," and "Walk the Line." Other biopics blend real-life with stylized stor...

Candyman Starring Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Teyonah Parris, Colman Domingo, Michael Hargrove Directed by Nia DaCosta The concept of Candyman stemmed from the famed horror author Clive Barker, who introduced the world to the mirrored villain in his short story "The Forbidden" from his "Books of Blood" series. The story of Daniel Robitaille was a tragic one - in the 19th century he was involved in a then-forbidden interracial love affair and when it was found out, the people cut off his hand and replaced it with a hook, smeared honey all over him and let the bees sting him continuously, and then set him on fire. Since then his spirit has haunted the projects of Cabrini-Green, appearing in the mirror after someone says his name five times to kill them. The original film ushered in the fabulous horror actor Tony Todd's now-iconic role, and the film itself was a beautifully written horror masterpiece that blended terrors with tragic injustices and even a unique love sto...

Worst2First: My Top Ten Mockumentary Films A mockumentary is best described as a film that's captured in the same style as a documentary, but contains fictitious events and people and often mocks the subject matter it presents. Basically it serves as the antithesis to the documentary genre, and there's many films out there that fit the mocumentary mold. Here are my personal top ten mockumentary films. **THERE WILL BE NO SPOILERS** #10 Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping As long as there's been musical groups, there's been moments where the band splits up, oftentimes because someone in the band decides they're too famous for their fellow members and branch out on their own. Sometimes it's very successful (such as Justin Timberlake after his N'Sync years), but sometimes they realize too late that leaving the band probably wasn't the best idea (like Freddy Mercury leaving Queen). This mockumentary focuses on a successful boy band that's torn apart when ...

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings Starring Simu Liu, Awkafina, Tony Leung, Michelle Yeoh Directed by Destin Daniel Cretton Growing up my friends and I would love watching martial arts movies, especially the ones that originated from China and Japan, rather than the Americanized versions. There was always something so elegant and graceful about martial arts fighting that transcends traditional hand-to-hand combat we see in America - it's almost like a dance, a pas de deux between two people who are enthralled in a fight to the death, but their movements are almost like poetry in motion. The Marvel Cinematic Universe has been expanding for over ten years now, and they've finally gotten around to revealing their Asian action hero - Shang-Chi - and it's far overdue. What some Disney executives call an "interesting experiment" is in fact one of the MCU's most heartfelt films to date, a movie that blends action, comedy, family heritage, and complex personal ...

Major Film Releases September 2021 The last time I did this was in March of 2020, before the Covid-19 pandemic effectively shut down theaters and postponed most of the major films to 2021. Even at the start of 2021, the theaters were questionable as to whether or not they'd re-open, but thankfully they started opening up more during the summer, and despite the Delta Variant running rampant, it seems that the theaters are back to stay. Although, since its downtime, the streaming services began to pick up momentum, and some major films have now been relegated to the streaming services instead, so from now on I'll be focusing on major theatrical releases, but also major releases coming to streaming services as well. That being said, it's time to reveal the major films being released in September 2021. **THERE WILL BE NO SPOILERS** **DATES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE** Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings September 3 In Theaters Only Disney+ October 18th The MCU is taking some ...

The Night House Starring Rebecca Hall, Sarah Goldberg, Evan Jonigkeit, Stacy Martin Directed by David Bruckner Suicide is never an easy topic to discuss, and even harder to deal with when a loved one opts to remove themself from this mortal coil. It's a very dark issue that affects those left behind in unimaginable ways, leaving more of a negative imprint on the landscape as opposed to other methods of death. Those left behind are haunted by questions: "did I miss something?" "Why did they do it?" "They didn't seem depressed." "Were there signs I could've seen?" These questions will eat away at those left and consume them in incredibly unhealthy ways, and "The Night House" really tackles that topic in a way that blends the real-life struggles with a supernatural entity that may or may not be benign. A few days ago, schoolteacher Beth (Rebecca Hall) had a great life - a great job working with her best friend Claire (Sarah Gol...

 Vivo Starring Lin-MAnuel Miranda, Ynairaly Simo, Zoe Saldana, Juan de Marcos Gonzalez Directed by Kirk DeMicco Animated films are synonymous with the names Disney and Pixar, but recently other production companies have come out with their own unique animated tales that have withstood the test of time. DreamWorks Animation has given us the likes of the "Shrek," "How to Train Your Dragon," and "Kung-Fu Panda" franchises as well as classics like "The Prince of Egypt," "Megamind," and "Bee Movie." Before they were bought out and upended by Disney, Blue Sky Studios gave us the beloved "Ice Age" franchise as well as films like "Robots," "Rio," and "Spies in Disguise." Laika's stop-motion animation studio gave us cherished films like "Kubo and the Two Strings," "Coraline," Paranorman," and "The Missing Link." Japan's Studio Ghibli has given us timeles...