JoeMama's Movie Reviews

Friendship Starring Tim Robinson, Paul Rudd, Kate Mara, Jack Dylan Grazer Directed by Andrew DeYoung There's an epidemic hitting America, and that's called the "male loneliness epidemic." It refers to the observation that men are disproportionately impacted by loneliness, as generally it's harder for men to find good friends as opposed to women. Men, typically, are focused on career, family, and economy and delve so much into their hobbies that they don't really take the time to make friends of the same gender. "Friendship" is a movie that focuses on that, but also shows what happens when you go completely overboard and find yourself unhealthily obsessed with a friend. Craig Waterman (Tim Robinson) is a man living in solitude - he works his typical 9-5, doesn't really interact with people, and has a strained marriage to his cancer-surviving wife Tami (Kate Mara) and an uneven relationship with his son Steven (Jack Dylan Grazer). Tami talks about ...

Lilo & Stitch Starring Maia Kealoha, Chris Sanders, Sydney Elizebeth Agudong, Zach Galifianakis Directed by Dean Fleisher Camp Back in the early 2000s Disney took some serious risks with its movies, and some didn't pay off as much as they wanted ("Atlantis: The Lost Empire," "Treasure Planet"), while others re-vitalized the company. One was "The Emperor's New Groove" which - to me - is still criminally underrated and one of my favorite Disney movies of the recent decades, and the other was "Lilo & Stitch" - a story taking place in Hawaii about two sisters who encounter an alien being that disguises itself as a dog and lives among them, and learning the meaning of "ohana." Even now, twenty-three years later, we all know what "ohana" means - ohana means family, and family means nobody is left behind or forgotten." The film earned over $270 million worldwide and Stitch became a Disney icon that still sells ma...

Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning Starring Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Simon Pegg, Angela Bassett Directed by Christopher McQuarrie The "Mission: Impossible" film franchise managed to do something impossible: turn an iconic television series that ran from 1966-1973 into an almost thirty-year film franchise that's earned over $4.3 billion dollars between eight films. The movies center on Tom Cruise's Ethan Hunt, an Impossible Missions Force agent who often goes rogue in search of powerful villains and even more powerful MacGuffins, but he always gets results - even though his own country has disavowed him. The movies are best known for showcasing Tom Cruise's insane stunt performances, as he's well-known for doing his own stunts. From motorcycling off a huge mountain cliff to attaching himself to a flying plane to scaling the Burj Khalifa, there's no dangerous stunt he won't partake in. Perhaps that's why "The Final Reckoning" is th...

Another Simple Favor Starring Anna Kendrick, Blake Lively, Henry Golding, Allison Janney Directed by Paul Feig A "frienemy" is someone who is friendly in appearance but harbors a fundamental dislike, rivalry, or negative feelings. It's basically being fake to maintain appearances, but deep down (and sometimes not-so-subtly) you truly resent the person everyone else thinks is your friend. Honestly I have no idea why you'd want to be a frienemy, because it just wastes time you could use doing something more non-defeating, but I digress. The true frienemies occur when one wrongs another, and none are more wrong than sending your friend to prison for murder - to which, being fair, she did commit - after she also tried to kill you. So five years after said person is rotting in prison, what does it feel like for the one on the outside to suddenly see her walking down the aisle to ask you for another simple favor? Five years after surviving a murder attempt by someone she th...

Final Destination: Bloodlines Starring Kaitlyn Santa Juana, Teo Briones, Richard Harmon, Tony Todd Directed by Zach Lipovsky & Adam Stein The "Final Destination" franchise has been one of the most unique, interesting, and thought-provoking horror franchises ever made. There's no supernatural spirit slaying from beyond the grave, no zombie-like unstoppable killer wielding a machete, or nightmarish monster lurking in your dreams. The killer in the franchise is Death itself, a force that cannot be reasoned with, cannot be prevented, and cannot be stopped. Death comes for all, and the joy in the franchise is seeing the Rube Goldberg-ways Death has set up for its victims. While the franchise had a few missteps (personally I didn't care much for the fourth, and the third was alright), the majority of them are highly enjoyable and very re-watchable, and I still get wary on the highway behind a logging truck. The last film came out in 2011 and wonderfully wove its way aro...

Hurry Up Tomorrow Starring Abel Tesfaye, Jenna Ortega, Barry Keoghan, Riley Keough Directed by Trey Edward Shults Trailers sometimes tell the whole story of the movie and leaves little to the imagination. Others, however, are smart enough to provide just enough titillating tidbits to make you intrigued to see the movie. "Hurry Up Tomorrow" is one such movie with a trailer that is so distorted, disjointed and discombobulating you have no real idea what the movie is about - and to me, it was a major selling point. I like going into a movie not knowing the whole plot, and the trailer for "Hurry Up Tomorrow" seemed to be an A24-esque psychological thriller filled with dizzying camerawork and a highly cerebral plot. Sadly, none of that was true, and the actual movie is a boring snoozefest set to highlight The Weeknd's music at the expense of anything worth of substance. After enduring a breakup, Abel Tesfaye (Abel Tesfaye) has problems performing for his millions of...

Fight or Flight Starring Josh Hartnett, Charithra Chandran, Julian Kostov, Katee Sackhoff Directed by James Madigan They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. They also say "we have ____ at home." "Fight or Flight" is a film that imitates a much better movie, and when someone asks if they can stop on the way home to see said movie, the parent will say "we have 'Fight or Flight' at home.'" That's saying this is nowhere near as good of a movie as what it blatantly rips off, but thanks to Josh Hartnett's wonder-why committed performance, it makes it at least a little bit enjoyable. Maybe he was drunk during filming. That'd explain it. Lucas Reyes (Josh Hartnett) is a mercenary for hire on the run from the government when he's discovered by his former boss Katherine Brunt (Katee Sackhoff) with a lucrative offer: find a mysterious hacker known as Ghost who's going to be on an airplane bound for San Diego, and he'll...