JoeMama's Movie Reviews

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire Starring Rebecca Hall, Bryan Tyree Henry, Dan Stephens, Kaylee Hottle Directed by Adam Wingard Godzilla and King Kong have been frenemies since 1962, either fighting one another or joining together to fight a similar foe, and as the decades went forward technology made them even larger, grandiose, and intimidating. No more figures shambling on the screen, now we're treated with the best CGI and motion capture has to offer, giving both Godzilla and Kong a more fascinating look than ever before. Godzilla himself is now an Oscar-winning franchise having won Best Visual Effects for the glorious "Godzilla: Minus One" last year (that has nothing to do with this cinematic universe, but by far is the best film with "Godzilla" in the title). This time around, Godzilla and Kong join forces against an evil ape uprising that could spell doom for the world. After their last epic fight, King Kong returns to Hollow Earth while Godzilla remains o...

Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey II Starring Scott Chambers, Tallulah Evans, Ryan Oliva, Teresa Banham Directed by Rhys Frake-Waterfield Do you remember when the first live-action "Sonic the Hedgehog" trailer came out, and everyone despised the Sonic design so much that the company spent millions of dollars to make it more appropriate, resulting in a colossal cinematic hit? That's a sign that sometimes companies really want to put out quality content not to get money but because they care about the audience and their product. Last year, "Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey" was released due to the original rights of Winnie and company (sans Tigger) became public domain, so of course these beloved children's icons would be turned into ravenous killers. The result is nothing short of terrible: the film was boring, Pooh and Piglet looked like people wearing cheap plastic masks from the Halloween store, the story didn't make a lick of sense, and it seemed that ...

Immaculate Starring Sydney Sweeney, Alvaro Morte, Benedetta Porcaroli, Dora Romano Directed by Michael Mohan There was a comedy movie that came out in 2004 called "Saved!" about a group of Christian school teens trying to balance faith and free will, and it was a downright hoot that I still laugh out loud to today. When one of the girls in the school gets pregnant, she's watching a play about the birth of Jesus and wonders..."I know this is wrong, but do you ever wonder if she just made the whole thing up? I mean, it's a pretty good one. It's not like anyone can ever use virgin birth as an excuse again. if Mary made the whole thing up." Well, director Michael Mohan must have seen that movie too and thought, "hold my beer" as he in fact made a movie where the main character is seemingly impregnated as a virgin. While not as funny, "Immaculate" does have some intentional (and non-intentional) humor thrown in, while proving Sydney Sw...

Road House Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Conor McGregor, Daniela Melchior, Billy Magnussen Directed by Doug Liman There's a meme featuring Lisa Simpson of "The Simpsons" standing in front of a screen with the words: "Instead of remaking great movies, they should remake bad movies that were based on good stories but did not meet expectations." I wholeheartedly agree with this statement, as in when they remake the classics it hardly ever turns out as good as the original, while bad movies that have good concepts can only get better - right? Take "Road House," a 1989 film starring Patrick Swayze that wasn't necessarily bad, but not one people remember fondly. In fact, pretty much anyone nowadays who remember it remembers it due to the "Family Guy" spoof when Peter Griffin says, "Road House." It wasn't a bad movie, but one that no one would've imagined getting a remake because it was a cult classic and not a well-known one. Yet ...

Cabrini Starring Cristiana Dell'Anna, David Morse, Romana Maggiora Vergano, Federico Ielapi Directed by Alejandro Monteverde Whereas I'm not traditionally a huge fan of musical biopics because they mostly gloss over every aspect of the singer's life and gives a Wikipedia-infused story, general biopics of ordinary people who've done the extraordinary are a guilty pleasure of mine. Seeing ordinary people who endured hardship after hardship to make a lasting change in the word - many of whom have names lost to history - are some of the strongest people in the world. They didn't change the world to become famous, they did it because it was the right thing to do. It gives us a challenge ourselves: would we do the same thing, or would we cave under the insurmountable odds stacked against us? For Francesca Cabrini, she not only endured the hardships - she embraced them, and her work led to lasting change not just in America but throughout the world, making her the patron s...

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire Starring Paul Rudd, Carrie Coon, McKenna Grace, Fynn Wolfhard Directed by Gil Kenan 1984's "Ghostbusters" was a huge hit and became a cultural phenomenon, not just supplying a sequel but successful video games and a Saturday morning cartoon series, and generations now know the hit theme song and can easily answer the question: "who you gonna call?" The series got a reboot of sorts with "Ghostbusters: Afterlife" in 2021 and was a modest hit, accumulating $203 million worldwide. The film brought back the legacy characters Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and Ernie Hudson while honoring the late Harold Ramis by incorporating his on-screen family as the next generation of Ghostbusters. The film was a great blend of classic and modern with humor, heart, and emotion - so did "Frozen Empire" live up to its predecessor or was it more a cash grab to take advantage of a re-awakened juggernaut? In New York City, the new Ghostbusters ...

Imaginary Starring DeWanda Wise, Tom Payne, Pyper Braun, Taegen Burns Directed by Jeff Wadlow 2024 is the year for imaginary friends, with the upcoming John Krasinski-directed Ryan Reynolds-starring comedy "IF" as well as this forgettable Blumhouse production "Imaginary." Sure, it's only two films, but since imaginary friends haven't had prominence in entertainment since the amazing "Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends" ended in 2009, and hopefully "IF" fares better than "Imaginary," a film that'll make you wish it was just a faded childhood memory - because honestly you probably won't remember it anyway. Jessica (DeWanda Wise) is the new wife to rocker Max (Tom Payne) and a stepmother to his two daughters - teenager Taylor (Taegen Burns) and young Alice (Pyper Braun). Taylor doesn't like Jessica while Alice likes her for the most part, and after moving back into Jessica's childhood home Alice finds an abando...