JoeMama's Movie Reviews

Night Swim Starring Wyatt Russell, Kerry Condon, Amelie Hoeferle, Gavin Warren Directed by Bryce McGuire January is best known as the month production companies dump movies they don't think will make a lot of money because it's one of the slowest months of the year. The holidays just ended, kids are back in school, college is back in session and people are returning to work, so this is the prime time to release movies you think won't make a big splash (get it?) in the box office. Last year sorta broke the mold with the release of "M3GAN," which went on to earn over $180 million worldwide and made a household name out of the titular killer doll. Maybe Blumhouse thought they'd be able to capitalize on that by releasing "Night Swim" a year later - but instead of floating it sunk to the bottom of mediocrity and proves why this is one of the driest months of the year (I'll try to stop these water puns but I'm drowning in them). After suffering an ...

Founders Day Starring Naomi Grace, Devin Druid, William Russ, Amy Hargreaves Directed by Erik Bloomquist The slasher subgenre is one of the most unfairly treated subgenres out there, because most people find it too low-brow and too mind-numbingly stupid. Oh a bunch of people are getting sliced up by someone with a mask that ends in a "Scooby-Doo" style conclusion where they tear off the mask and go "oh no, it was kindly old Mr. Harbinsberger from the drug store!" and they'd say they would've gotten away with it if it wasn't for the pesky kids and their annoying dog or something like that. But the slasher subgenre is much more than that, it's something that if, done right, can skewer and offer a different take on life. "Happy Death Day" is one such slasher, a fun "Groundhog's Day" like horror where a girl gets killed every day and wakes up in hopes of finding her killer, but it's filled with biting social satire and sarcasm...

  Dream Scenario Starring Nicolas Cage, Julianne Nicholson, Michael Cera, Tim Meadows Directed by Kristoffer Borgli Dreams are a fascinating thing, because scientists don't fully understand why we dream in the first place. No one knows what purpose it serves or why we do it, but it's something that we do every night, even if we don't remember them in the morning. They say that you never dream about someone you haven't met before either, and even people you don't know in your dreams are someone you've seen in real life even in just a fleeting glance. Your mind imprints their image in your brain and unleashes it at night for some unknown reason. Back in 2008, Italian sociologist and marketer Andrea Natella started an Internet sensation known as "This Man," which was a composite sketch of an unknown person who many people claimed were in their dreams despite none of them knowing who he was. It was a mystery because countless people who never knew one anot...

  The Shift Starring Kristoffer Polaha, Neal McDonough, Sean Astin, Elizabeth Tabish Directed by Brock Heasley In the Bible there's the story of Job. He was a man who was after God's heart, and God honored him with wealth, family, friends - everything he needed. Then one day the Devil visits God and tells him that Job only prays to him because everything is going well, but if God were to take everything away from him, Job would turn his back on God. So God makes a bet with the Devil and takes everything away from Job - his money, his family, and even his health. The Devil thought Job would turn his back on God, but Job's faith was only strengthened by it, resulting in him being given everything back twofold. While the story itself has been debated as to whether or not it's real (my take is that it's an allegory or poem, as it's included in the Poetry subsection of the Bible and the original Hebrew has it in a poetic rhyme form), there's no doubt of the story...

Journey to Bethlehem Starring Fiona Palomo, Milo Manheim, Joel Smallbone, Antonio Banderas Directed by Adam Anders It's the greatest story ever told for a reason - the birth of the world's Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and has been a story told and retold throughout the centuries. Even non-believers know the story of a young virgin girl named Mary who was visited by the Archangel Gabriel and told that she would become pregnant and give birth to Jesus, the Savior of the world. The story was told in epic fashion in the classic 1965 film "The Greatest Story Ever Told," and now it's being told again in the lesser-classic "Journey to Bethlehem," but that's not saying it's necessarily bad. It's an easy, breezy, creatively licensed look at Mary and Joseph and their trek to Bethlehem to give birth to Jesus while the evil King Herod tracks them down. What makes this film different is that it's a musical, with some catchy pop-oriented songs and a c...

Nowhere Starring Anna Castillo, Tamar Novas Directed by Albert Pinto Films that focus on one actor in a confined setting is tricky to pull off, because the general moviegoing public wants action happening every 2.5 seconds or they'll lose interest. The weight of the film lies solely on the shoulders of that one actor, and in the case of Ryan Reynolds in "Buried" or Tom Hanks in "Cast Away," it pays off in spades. Other times they fall into mediocrity and it becomes something you don't want to watch again. "Nowhere" falls on the second tier where it's not necessarily bad, and the lead actress does a commendable job, but it runs a bit too long to keep your attention and ultimately ends up as a movie you don't mind watching once, but probably never again. In a dystopian future where women and children are being hunted and killed in Spain, married couple Mia (Anna Castillo) and Nico (Tamar Novas) are ushered away on a cargo ship but things go w...

Priscilla Starring Cailee Spaeny, Jacob Elordi, Ari Cohen, Dagmara Domincczyk Directed by Sofia Coppola In 2021 Baz Luhrman released "Elvis" which was a different take on the traditional biopic subgenre. By integrating his own sense of style he made something more entertaining than educational, even though I personally wasn't a huge fan of it at the time. Austin Butler completely transformed himself into the role, so much so it's taken him awhile to not carry the Elvis accent anymore. Now, one year later, we get Priscilla's side of the story in Sofia Coppola's "Priscilla," a more traditional take on the biopic subgenre that suffers from the pitfalls of said subgenre. In 1959, fourteen-year-old Priscilla Beaulieu is living with her military family stationed in Germany when she's invited to a party held by the music star Elvis Presley (Jacob Elordi), who spent a stint in the military during the height of his fame. He became instantly drawn to young...