
The real story of ALICE, Old WIves Tales, How Times Have Changed.
Morbius (2022)
PG-13 ‧ Action Adventure Drama ‧ 1 hour 44 minutes
Written by Matt Sazama Burk Sharpless
Directed by Daniel Espinosa
THE CAST
Jared Leto, Adria Arjona, Matt Smith
THE STORY
(In their own words) Biochemist Michael Morbius tries to cure himself of a rare blood disease, but when his experiment goes wrong, he inadvertently infects himself with a form of vampirism instead.
THE REVIEW
The problem with Morbius isn’t so much that it’s bad, it is, it is definitely bad, but that I never cared about any of the characters to have feelings about the story.
Morbius is Sony Pictures latest botched use of a Marvel character. Morbius is sort of a vampire, in that he sucks blood, but mostly his powers are the likes of a bat. He doesn’t appear to have lost his soul or be allergic to garlic or anything. Morbius is one of the characters Marvel sold the license to Sony while needing cash. At least Sony is consistent in the botching of characters, so you aren’t really surprised at this really, really bad origin story.
The film starts off with two beginnings because they don’t even know how to really start the film. In its second first scene we see Morbius meet his friend Milo when Milo joins the treatment wing he is in. They both suffer from some rare blood disease requiring several transfusions a day. This scene lasts, maybe 5 or 6 minutes, which appear to be unimportant, but really are. In so that throughout the rest of the film they keep speaking of their lifelong friendship and how important of a friendship it is…but they never really showed that, they didn’t show us an important friendship being built. It was just such a weak opening that it set the weak foundation for the rest of the film.
The film isn’t unbearable to watch, but it is a great lesson in bad storytelling, bad dialogue, bad cinematography, and mediocre acting. If they hadn’t cast Jared Leto the film should have gone straight to on demand.
And the film doesn’t even end with any sense of fulfillment of the story they tried to tell, just an obvious set up for sequels.
This film also included the possibly worst post credit scenes done. There’s two of them. If you get through the film you might as well stay for both.
I could get more into details about why this film is so bad, but honestly I feel like I wasted so much time already with this film, I want my life to move on. This film doesn’t deserve a critics review, it deserves a roast.
THE BEST
Three BEST things about the film
THE WORST
The three WORST things about the Film
THE LESSON
Don’t experiment on yourself.
THE FINAL WORD
It took a while, but Sony has finally released a film to make Hulk not the worst superhero film ever made. Thank goodness this isn’t part of the MCU.
THE VERDICT
My 3L system gives me the choice to Love It, Like It, or Lose It.
Morbius gets a Lose It.
THE TRAILER
THE REVIEWER
ABOUT SILAS
When he’s not reviewing films or interviewing people for the Black & A Half podcast, Silas Lindenstein can be found in the greater metro Seattle, WA working as a real estate agent helping people buy and sell homes, or performing stand up comedy to fellow nerds. He has a wife and three children and desperately wants to learn to make the perfect homemade pizza.

The 2022 Academy Awards are coming up soon. I have lots of feelings on most of the categories, but I have a strong suspicion that my picks in the categories won’t always match with the winners. So here are my picks of who I predict will win vs who I think should win!
Who Will Win: West Side Story
It’s a nearly perfect production of West Side Story and Spielberg is a Hollywood favorite.
Who Should Win: CODA
Easily my favorite film of the year. A unique story told really, really well and filled with wonderful performances.
Who Will Win: West Side Story
Seems obvious.
Who Should Win: West Side Story
I can’t argue with this one because the director of my best picture choice isn’t even a nominee. And Spielberg put together a crazy good film here.
Who Will Win: Denzel Washington
Shakespeare and Denzel together, the Academy can’t wait to vote for this.
Who Should Win: Andrew Garfield
Andrew’s performance was brilliant, but I don’t think the academy feels like he’s earned it.
Who Will Win: Kristen Stewart
She’s been winning a lot of awards already for this.
Who Should Win: Olivia Coleman
Her performance was amazing but the film was overall too boring to get through.
Who Will Win: Troy Kotsur
The Academy loves voting for historical wins (He’s the first deaf actor nominated) and he actually deserves it.
Who Should Win: Troy Kotsur
His performance was solid.
Who Will Win: Ariana Debose
The Academy will not lose the opportunity to give an Oscar to an actual Latina woman in West Side Story.
Who Should Win: Aunjanue Ellis
She gave the best monologue of the year in King Richard.
Who Will Win: Drive My Car
They will want to give this critics favorite something.
Who Should Win: CODA
It’s the best story.
Who Will Win: Licorice PIzza
They will give into the buzz.
Who Should Win: Don’t Look Up
I absolutely loved the writing in this.
Who Will Win: Encanto
Who Should Win: Encanto
Thanks for agreeing with me, Academy.
Who Will Win: Dune
They want to show they like SciFi even thought they won’t give best picture to one.
Who Should Win: West Side Story
Fabulous Costumes.
Who Will Win: Dune
Who Should Win: Encanto
Who Will Win: No Time To Die
They reliably pick an odd winner.
Who Should Win: Dune
Who Will Win: West Side Story
This will go hand in hand with the WSS sweep.Off chance of Nightmare Alley
Who Should Win: West Side Story
Who Will Win: Flee
Cause it is different.
Who Should Win: Summer of Soul
Who Will Win: Dune
Who Should Win: Don’t Look Up
Who Will Win: Drive My Car
This film is sweeping the critics awards.
Who Should Win: The Worst Person In The World
This film has it all. Funny, touching, and original.
Who Will Win: The Eyes of Tammy Faye
Who Should Win: House of Gucci
Who Will Win: No Time To Die
They Love Bond film songs.
Who Should Win: Dos Oruguitas
Lin Manuel should win all somg awards.
Production Design
Who Will Win: Nightmare Alley
Only to try and not give West Side Story everything.
Who Should Win: West Side Story
Who Will Win: Shang-Chi and the Legend of Ten Rings
I think this will be a guilt play.
Who Should Win: Spider-Man No Way Home
It’s visual effects were completely indistinguishable from real life.
About The Author
When he’s not reviewing films or interviewing people for the Black & A Half podcast, Silas Lindenstein can be found in the greater metro Seattle, WA working as a real estate agent helping people buy and sell homes, or performing stand up comedy to fellow nerds. He has a wife and three children and desperately wants to learn to make the perfect homemade pizza.
The Lost City (2022)
PG-13 ‧ Action/Adventure/Comedy ‧ 1 hour 52 Minutes
Story by Seth Gordon, Written by Oren Uziel; Dana Fox; Adam Nee; Aaron Nee
Directed by Aaron Nee, Adam Nee
THE CAST
Sandra Bullock; Channing Tatum; Daniel Radcliffe; Da’Vine Joy Randolph; Brad Pitt; Oscar Nuñez
THE STORY
(In their own words) Reclusive author Loretta Sage writes about exotic places in her popular adventure novels that feature a handsome cover model named Alan. While on tour promoting her new book with Alan, Loretta gets kidnapped by an eccentric billionaire who hopes she can lead him to an ancient city’s lost treasure from her latest story. Determined to prove he can be a hero in real life and not just on the pages of her books, Alan sets off to rescue her.
THE REVIEW
Let me get straight to it with film because it’s been a while since I’ve been this excited about a comedy. The Lost City is easily the best comedy I’ve seen this year and I honestly can’t imagine enjoying another film this year as much as I did this one. It ls laugh out loud funny, perfectly paced, wonderfully acted, and had the audience I watched the film with absolutely rolling from beginning to end.
Sandra Bullock returns to this genre that she absolutely owns in The Lost City playing romance novel author Loretta Sage. While I wouldn’t have really considered Channing Tatum as a good pairing for her, this movie showed me that these two need to work together a lot more. The comedic timing and chemistry between these two was flawless. I don’t think there is another current leading actress who performs physical comedy as well as Sandra Bullock does; from her awkwardness of sitting on a stool to rolling out of a hammock, she finds a way to bring laughter to such simple movements. Her reactions to her circumstances or Channing Tatum’s butt are never too far keeping her grounded in the real world, but stretched just far enough to milk the scene for all the comedy she can.
Daniel Radcliffe shines as the villain of the film, billionaire Abigail Fairfax. While Radcliffe’s charm makes you instantly disarmed, that only feeds into making his villainous acts a little unexpected and therefore impressive. He’s a wonderful comedic villain, which I wasn’t expecting, and really wants me to see him as a bad guy in a more serious film.
The Lost CIty is an adventure that I don’t want to spoil. Is some of the plot a little predictable? Yes. Do they take quite a lot of liberties in dealing with plane flight times? Yes. But those minor elements are easily dismissed when you are presented with such a wonderful, well-crafted, fun adventure. And there are enough unexpected surprises in the film to make up for anything. Also, when predictable moments happen, the comedy that they create out of the situation is superb.
THE BEST
Three BEST things about the film
THE WORST
The three WORST things about the Film
THE LESSON
Don’t be afraid of opening the door and seeing what’s next.
THE FINAL WORD
Easily the funniest film of the year and I find it hard to imagine anyone with a heart and soul not liking this film.
THE VERDICT
My 3L system gives me the choice to Love It, Like It, or Lose It.
The Lost City gets a Love It.
THE TRAILER
THE REVIEWER
ABOUT SILAS
When he’s not reviewing films or interviewing people for the Black & A Half podcast, Silas Lindenstein can be found in the greater metro Seattle, WA working as a real estate agent helping people buy and sell homes, or performing stand up comedy to fellow nerds. He has a wife and three children and desperately wants to learn to make the perfect homemade pizza.
X (2022)
R ‧ Horror • 1 Hour 45 Minutes
Written by Ti West
Directed by Ti West
THE CAST
Mia Goth; Jenna Ortega; Martin Henderson; Brittany Snow; Scott Mescudi.
THE STORY
(In their own words) In 1979, a group of young filmmakers set out to make an adult film in rural Texas, but when their reclusive, elderly hosts catch them in the act, the cast soon find themselves in a desperate fight for their lives.
THE REVIEW
Horror is not my “go to” genre. It’s one that I’ve really tried to enjoy, but mostly I get too scared to watch alone, and reviewing movies can mean watching a lot of movies by myself. So, if it weren’t for a friend offering to attend the press screening for X with me, I wouldn’t have gone, though I was intrigued.
I was mainly intrigued since the film is being distributed by A24 Films and over the last year, I’ve come to find that A24 Films tends to release surprisingly good films. So I had a hunch I might enjoy it. And I did, I actually really enjoyed the film, though there is a lot to digest from it.
The basic part of the plot is a group of young filmmakers are setting out to shoot an adult film. The director, Wayne, wants it to be a huge financial success like Debbie Does Dallas. The cinematographer, RJ, wants it to be a more artistic film than most pornos. He wants it to be a high quality film and raise the genre up as a whole, that’s his mission and reason for doing the film, aside from just paying the bills. Which is fitting because my impression of the film was that it was really raising the bar on horror films. It was shot with much more finesse than most horror films. Its acting is solid throughout, the writing is really good, the film moves in different directions than you suspect, and manages to captivate you as a viewer, not to just see what the next brutal killing will be, but you want to know how the story will end.
This is also the second film this year I’ve seen Jenna Ortega in, and I have to say she is turning in some wonderful performances recently. I think she’s showing that she is going to be a force in cinema really soon. She’s not alone in a solid acting performance, but she is the character that gets to experience a major change during the story. She’s the only one that makes a choice to change her life and it’s compelling to watch. The entire cast does a very fine acting job. It’s one of the best ensemble pieces of the year so far.
The film is tense. There is a huge amount of build up for the true action gets started. It lays a lot of groundwork in the beginning of the film, but in a really good way. The first hour of the film is used really well to set up how this thing will finish. Just excellent pacing throughout.
There are also a couple of really cool editing choices. Superfast back and forth jump cut edits of different locations and of what is happening. They are nearly jarring to the point of looking like a mistake when it first happens, until you realize they are making a deliberate choice.
This is really a first rate film, not just an excellent horror. The sum of the parts of this make it a really good film. But don’t be fooled, it is a horror. There’s some graphic slashing scenes that aren’t for the faint of heart, it’s a horror. A really good one.
THE BEST
Three BEST things about the film
THE WORST
The WORST things about the Film
THE LESSON
Ask permission from homeowners before you shoot a film in their property.
THE FINAL WORD
A surprisingly elevated horror film, bringing an artistic eye to a genre where you don’t expect it.
THE VERDICT
My 3L system gives me the choice to Love It, Like It, or Lose It.
X gets a Like It
THE TRAILER
THE REVIEWER
ABOUT SILAS
When he’s not reviewing films or interviewing people for the Black & A Half podcast, Silas Lindenstein can be found in the greater metro Seattle, WA working as a real estate agent helping people buy and sell homes, or performing stand up comedy to fellow nerds. He has a wife and three children and desperately wants to learn to make the perfect homemade pizza.
Alice (2022)
R ‧ Drama/Thriller ‧ 1h 38m
Written by Krystin Ver Linden
Directed by Krystin Ver Linden
THE CAST
Keke Palmer; Jonny Lee Miller; Common; Gaius Charles; Alicia Witt
THE STORY
(In their own words) Alice, an enslaved person yearning for freedom on a Georgia plantation, escapes through the woods and stumbles through time into the year 1973. After she meets a disillusioned political activist, she confronts the lies that kept her enslaved.
THE REVIEW
The biggest thing about Alice that I couldn’t shake were the words from the trailer, ‘Inspired by true events”. I had to research this after seeing the film. Turns out, In 1960 a Black woman was found to be still held in slavery in the south. There are so many incredible injustices that have happened to Black Americans over the last couple hundred years, even after I think I’ve heard all the stories there are to tell, I find an all new story.
Alice is a powerful and emotional film. Opening up on the slave Alice, played by Keke Palmer working on a southern plantation, on what appears to be the early 1800s, it seems like we are going to have a typical story of a slave owner and his mistreatment of the slaves. But there are early hints of something wrong, something mysterious. One of the slave hand speaks of his father meeting a man who could make fire from his hands (a lighter). These little mysterious things pop in letting us know something is off.
The master of the plantation is obsessed with Alice. After she secretly marries her boyfriend, the master becomes very upset and tells her husband he is going to send him away for
“breeding” purposes. And later, the master then forces himself upon Alice. Here is where you will get a lot of complaints. You will hear criticisms of torture porn or something like that. Because there are way too many movies of Black people in slavery and they often have rape scenes. It’s almost a trope at this point. But it’s really hard to tell a story involving that time and make it seem realistic without showing the horrors of what was happening. If a filmmaker doesn’t show the extreme ugliness of what was happening they can get accused of glossing it over and making it not seem so bad. It’s really a catch 22 for filmmakers dealing with this era.
At this point, after a series of events involving her husband, Alice escapes the plantation, and makes her way onto a 1970’s modern interstate highway, where she faints upon almost getting run over by a semi truck driven by Frank, played by musician/actor Common. Frank takes her to a hospital and it is at this point that we realize she is not a time traveler, she isn’t crazy, she was being held in an unbelievable situation. She is caught between wanting to help her family she left behind and worried about not being believed by local police and sent to an insane asylum. This is also the deep south in 1973, the police aren’t likely to be very helpful to her anyway.
The film has some really great moments. Keke Palmer’s performance is a masterpiece. Her acting is raw and emotionally open. Following her through each discovery is incredible. The pacing of the film is really nice, the story is compelling throughout, and it really does a wonderful job mixing the thrill and mystery in the beginning of the film, without giving away too much of what is going on.
It’s an unnerving story, and it really does its job of compelling you to tell other people about it. While the specifics of the story are made up, the fact that the basic event of the film is true is both mind boggling and profoundly gut wrenching. First time director Krystin Ver Linden did an exemplary job of crafting the film with the right tones, for in some ways this is two films in one. One is the world of slavery that Alice starts in before she finds the rabbit hole to freedom. Both worlds were distinctly different but clearly in the same universe. That’s what takes a lot of skill.
This film made me tell all my neighbors about it and what the film is based on. What else can you ask from a film? It takes a really good film to make you talk about it and the source material, and this pulled that off. I urge you to take a look at this Sundance premiering film as it opens up nationwide.
THE BEST
Three BEST things about the film
THE WORST
The WORST things about the Film
THE LESSONS
Doing the right thing is never wrong.
Just because a story is unbelievable doesn’t mean it isn’t true.
THE FINAL WORD
A compelling and thought provoking film that you’ll want to tell others about.
THE VERDICT
My 3L system gives me the choice to Love It, Like It, or Lose It.
Alice gets a Love It from me.
THE TRAILER
ABOUT SILAS
When he’s not reviewing films or interviewing people for the Black & A Half podcast, Silas Lindenstein can be found in the greater metro Seattle, WA working as a real estate agent helping people buy and sell homes, or performing stand up comedy to fellow nerds. He has a wife and three children and desperately wants to learn to make the perfect homemade pizza.
Reviewed by Silas Lindenstein
The Adam Project (2022)
PG-13 • Scifi/Adventure • 1 Hour 43 Minutes
Written by Jonathan Tropper; T.S. Nowlin; Jennifer Flackett; Mark Levin
Directed by Shawn Levy
THE CAST
Ryan Reynolds, Mark Ruffalo, Jennifer Garner, Walker Scobell, Zoe Saldaña, Catherine Keener
THE STORY
(In their own words) After accidentally crash-landing in 2022, time-traveling fighter pilot Adam Reed teams up with his 12-year-old self on a mission to save the future.

THE REVIEW
I’m a sucker for any sort of time travel based film. Add in a nice size portion of snarky Ryan Reynolds, and I’m grabbing my popcorn ready for a good time.
And that’s what The Adam Project provides. It’s a good time. It has a weird plot relationship with time and how your action in time will affect the future….but you have to let that go…we don’t really know how that could all work. Let it go and just enjoy the story.
For me the best part of the film was Walker Scobell playing young Adam to the older Ryan Reynolds version of the character. Walker did a great job of picking up the ticks and speaking patterns of Ryan Reynolds and incorporating them into his character, making him extremely believable as a young Ryan Reynolds.
The underlying drama of the film is young Adam and his mother(Jennifer Garner) dealing with the grief over the somewhat recent loss of Adam’s father. There’s a particular stand out scene between Garner and Reynolds as they talk about losing someone and how that affected each of them. It’s a wonderfully played scene, honest, raw, and a nice dramatic break from the rest of the film.
The rest of the film is lot of fun laser shooting, and hand to hand combat, and space ships, and trying to figure out how to deal with this time travel mess they’ve gotten themselves into.
It’s a fun movie, nothing more, nothing less. Luckily it stars some pretty great talent that helped elevate it from more than it is. Don’t think too hard during this. Just enjoy.
THE BEST
BEST things about the film

THE WORST
The three WORST things about the Film
THE LESSON
Misdirected anger hurts the wrong people.
REWATCHABLE?
Yes
THE FINAL WORD
A light hearted scifi time travel adventure that is not a bad way to spend a Friday night enjoying.
THE VERDICT
My 3L system gives me the choice to Love It, Like It, or Lose It.
I give The Adam Project a Like It
THE TRAILER