You won't be disappointed!

Am i the only one who thinks........Average?

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Joe (played by Nicolas Cage) is a man removed; for reasons never entirely explained, he has no friends, and he limits his personal relationships to a series of financial transactions: they know his name at the local bar, convenience store, and brothel. When Gary comes into his life, some latent paternal instinct kicks in, and they form a tenuous friendship, while struggling to keep each other at arm's length. But when Gary's drunken father starts making more trouble in his life, Joe struggles to keep his legendary temper in check, putting all three of them in danger. The film is well acted from the cast but aside from it's visuals, there happens to be a lot of nothing as if the filmmakers needed visuals to make up for time. If one is expecting am exciting, and thoughtful film with thrills and turns, Joe is not to be recommended. =========== As a rewatch, Joe is a more mature and thought provoking drama. We can see why the film has been praised, the acting from Nicolas Cage is strong and the chemistry shown from Tye Sheridan is what makes the film what it is. Although the film may drag at some parts, on a second viewing it felt more engaging as I had forgot most of what happened. Rating changed from 4 to 7. Strong message throughout the film and worth another viewing for those whom didn't like it on the initial watch.

Yes the acting is very good and there are quirky characters. If you think that everyday life on the tough side of town is nothing special and not worth spending 2 hours watching it in a movie, like I do, then you will be bored by this film too. There is barely a plot and what there is doesn't even make sense. Hated the ending too, mostly because it made the least sense. One minute the lazy dirtbag kills a hobo for $2, something he has obviously been doing with no regrets for 20 or 30 years, the next he minute he willingly kills himself when under no threat. Yep, totally believable. I guess they want you to think that he instantly developed a conscience after being a total asshole for most of his life. And he couldn't just start being nice, but had to completely give up in an instant, sorry guys, not buying it. You can hang out at a homeless shelter for free if this kind of behavior is something that you consider entertaining.

Joe depicts some of the impacts of child abuse in a somewhat amusing (but serious) manner. However, it feels as if it is constantly trying to strive for its climax, making it quite boring until things actually become interesting. But when things kick off, they kick off, and the remaining of the second half of the film is quite good. Nicholas Cage surprisingly does a fantastic job in this film, despite his resume, and does a tough job to keep this film floating on a sinking ship. If you can battle through the first hour or so you will find light at the end of the tunnel. However, you can't excuse what could have been a much better opening. You feel as if the somber first act is being too pretentious in its goals, but it pays off somewhat in its closing act.

Joe is a tough motherf-er of a film. David Gordon Green returns to his down and dirty Southern filmmaking roots for a story about a man who was once a criminal, Joe of the title, and is now trying to get by by leading a group of working men to cut down some trees, and winds up being an unlikely mentor/protector of Gary, who has a (to put it lightly) bastard of a father and who takes whatever Gary makes for himself. This is the kind of film that may not be perfect in all places, but I love it anyway for its brutal honesty and in ramping up the emotional stakes scene by scene.And Green makes everything so palpable and real by putting real people as actors, as he has done in many films as director (Prince Avalanche, George Washington, Undertow to name a few). Even people who don't need to really be played by real people at least feel like they're filled by non-professionals; a cop who has to process Joe's arrest at one point, and stops by to try and tell him to stop what he's doing or he'll never get out of jail (and can't help but having a cigarette after quitting three weeks) is one of those great touches. Authenticity is the name of the method here, and few things can embody that in a film like Joe like the character of Gary's father Wade (aka "G-Dawwg) played by Gary Poulter.Poulter was a real homeless man who was found by Green and brought on for the film. You'd have to convince me otherwise from seeing him here that he wasn't pulled off the street, but it's startling how effective he is, and how he makes Wade such a hateable, despicable presence (sadly, he died two months after filming, giving in to the sort of demons that were omnipresent in this story). He isn't the only antagonist as Joe has a fellow ex-con or some other shady figure - Ronnie Gene Blevins is this guy who constantly refers to his scarred-through-a-windshield face as a badge of honor - and he is also a powerful threat to the characters.But it's Poulter's show for when he's on, and he more than holds his own with Tye Sheridan as Gary and Nicolas Cage as Joe. Every time you see Poulter on screen you wonder who is going to get it next; a random moment involving another hobo and a horrible attack makes this very clear (you know it's coming, how this builds up, but Green showing the simple primitive nature of it, and an eerie kiss on the guy's head when it's done, it's shocking).What about Cage, you might ask? This is his best dramatic work in as long as I can remember. One might look at the poster and wonder if the thing is photo-shopped, but pay that no mind - this is Cage fully embodying a torn, good-bad man with a lot of demons and a dollop of the bad-ass. It's curious that Sheridan did basically two movies back to back where he had an older, tough, grizzled father figure (before this he was the boy in Mud opposite McConaughey), but here there's something even rawer, nerves dangling all the time. And while Green pays attention in his documentary-cum-poetic way - this is the kind of movie where we see both real men taking down real trees, played by real workers, while there are also montages with one of Joe's women narrating about this or that and the other - Cage has to inhabit this man and makes him, ultimately, sympathetic and human in all dimensions. Otherwise it just won't work.Joe works in such a way that it's hard to watch at times. You feel like you're there and can smell the endless cigarettes and glasses of whiskey and soda, and how gnarly a house like the one Gary has to live in is. Cage reaches up to the heights that Green puts down for him, which is what one might hope for, though after some time slumming it in B/C/Z grade schlock one can never tell. Joe, Gary and Wade are some of the most compelling characters I've seen in a film in a few years, and if you can stick with its harshest points, you get rewarded with some monumental naturalistic acting and direction.