Episode #208: The Cast of The Umbrella Men

This week Silas got to sit down with the Cast of The Umbrella Man, a new South African action/comedy/heist film, while they were in attendance at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Review: Prey (2022)

Prey  (2022)
R ‧ Scifi/Action – 1 hour 39 Minutes


Written by Patrick Aison

Directed by ‎Dan Trachtenberg

THE CAST

  • Amber Midthunder as Naru, a young Comanche warrior who protects her tribe against a Predator
  • Dakota Beavers as Taabe
  • Dane DiLiegro as the Predator
  • Stormee Kipp
  • Michelle Thrush
  • Julian Black Antelope

THE STORY

(In their own words) In the Comanche Nation in 1717, a fierce and highly skilled warrior named Naru learns the prey she is stalking is a highly evolved alien with a technologically advanced arsenal

(L-R): Amber Midthunder as Naru and Dane DeLiegro as the Predator in 20th Century Studios’ PREY, exclusively on Hulu. Photo by David Bukach. © 2022 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.

THE BEST


The BEST things about the film

  1. It’s a really cool addition to the franchise. Love the setting in the Native American world. 
  2. They are releasing the film in a full Comanche language dubbing. This is the first time ever for a feature film. 
  3. Love seeing an action film with a really strong female lead. 

THE WORST

The WORST things about the Film

  1. The special effects of a bear are really bad. For a movie with this kind of budget….come on. Really?
  2. The lack of consistency with using Native American language and “English” and accent or no accent.  
  3. Unlike the original, there doesn’t seem to be much of a deeper underlying message to the film. It’s just there for fun. 
Amber Midthunder as Naru in 20th Century Studios’ PREY, exclusively on Hulu. Photo by David Bukach. © 2022 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.

THE REVIEW

I will admit, I rolled my eyes when I heard they were coming out with a fifth installment of the Predator franchise called Prey. Like, haven’t we mined this franchise for enough material yet? However, once I learned about the premise I became intrigued.  This installment is technically a prequel to the others, set long ago in Native American land in 1717. From the trailer it was unclear if the Predator was the one hunting the members of the Comanche Nation or if it was the other way around. Which actually is kind of an accurate question even during the film. 

The story centers around a young female warrior, Naru (Amber Midthunder)  who’s trying to earn the respect of her fellow tribemates, when suddenly The Predator shows up.  Seemingly, the Predator seems like he’s just there to find prey to hunt. To her, it’s a sign from the gods that she’s ready to be a hunter and she’s ready to capture him. But things don’t go as easily as she hoped. 

Midhunter does a wonderful job in the lead role, showing herself to be a formidable opponent of the predator and someone who deserves the respect of it and her peers. 

At this point, the success of the film and to an extent. really comes down to whether the story they tell with the Predator is a good one. We aren’t expecting surprises, we know what the Predator’s people can do…so it is really about did they come up with a good story and execute it well. I feel like they did on both counts.

The film was full of captivating drama and action, it gave us enough of a sense to not really know how it would end throughout. We didn’t know how these folks with less technology would stand a chance against the predator. 

Dane DiLiegro as the Predator in 20th Century Studios’ PREY, exclusively on Hulu. Photo by David Bukach. © 2022 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.

I enjoyed this film a lot. I’m not entirely in love with it, but it is probably the best entry into the Predator franchise since the original. I really enjoyed seeing the intersection of scifi/fantasy and the old technology living of the Comanche Nation. 

This is a great popcorn film. 

THE LESSON

Never underestimate your opponent. 

If you won’t fight back, you may not be worth it.

THE FINAL WORD

The fifth installment of the Predator franchise is probably the best one in decades. Intense, action packed, and a creative 1717 Comanche Nation setting.

THE VERDICT
My 3L system gives me the choice to Love It, Like It, or Lose It. 

Prey gets a Like It

WHERE TO WATCH

Prey will be streaming on Hulu in the U.S. on Friday, August 5.

THE TRAILER

Review: Bullet Train

Bullet Train  (2022)
R  ‧  Action Comedy Thriller ‧ 2  Hour 6 Minutes

Directed by ‎David Leitch

Screenplay by Zak Olkewicz. Based on the Japanese novel Maria Beetle (published in English as Bullet Train) by Kōtarō Isaka.

THE CAST

Brad Pitt, Joey King, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Brian Tyree Henry, Andrew Koji, Hiroyuki Sanada, Michael Shannon, Benito A Martínez Ocasio, and Sandra Bullock.

THE STORY

(In their own words) Five assassins find themselves on a fast moving bullet train from Tokyo to Morioka with only a few stops in between. They discover their missions are not unrelated to each other.

THE BEST
Three BEST things about the film

  1. The story – Very compelling story and I really like the way it was presented. 
  2. The comedy – really funny film. Impeccable comedy and funny characters. 
  3. Brad Pitt – Such an enjoyable performance. You could tell he was having fun with the role so it was fun for us to watch. He plays an  “Assassin” who is trying to change himself and not kill people anymore. He’s been doing a lot of therapy and  he just wants to do “grab and go” jobs now. He also thinks he is bad luck now, because people around him tend to die, even if they aren’t connected to the job he’s doing. 

THE WORST

The WORST things about the Film

  1. Honestly, I don’t have many complaints about this film. My major issue is probably that we somehow filled this Japanese story set in Japan with a bunch of people who aren’t Japanese. I’m nearly positive that in the original book, they weren’t a bunch of American and British people in the story. However, there is also something to be said that this film likely wouldn’t have gotten viewed by many if it didn’t have a big star attached to it like Brad Pitt. Further, to a degree the race of the people doesn’t matter. It’s not like they cast white people in roles that really relied on being part of Japanese culture.
  2. Violence. There’s a lot of violence in the film. If you are shy to violence, this may not be for you. Much of it is done in a comical way, but it’s still there. Is it gorey? Not exactly, but there is a level of exaggeration. Not as bad as The Kingsmen or Kill Bill, but there is a level of it that you have to be able to deal with. 
  3. I love Sandra Bullock and was looking forward to some Sandra Bullock physical comedy, however that’s not the role she has for this. She serves mostly as a voice actor for this film.

THE REVIEW

Bullet Train is a high speed adventure with surprisingly well rounded characters. In this kind of

action film, you don’t expect the arch of the film to take you through so much character building. We end up with some really fleshed out characters that make you root for them throughout. 

The film is an exaggeration. That’s the “world of the play.” When looking and examining a film like this you can’t judge the action sequences by the terms of a realistic drama, you have to look at the world that is created for the audience. Does the movie stay within the laws and world framework that they establish early on. While Bullet Train is in an absurd world.
It is in a world of exaggerated violence, characters, and therefore it is not a stretch when the world of physics get pushed to their max, and beyond. There are people who will judge this film based on how realistic it is and that simply isn’t fair.  If the film breaks its rules it has established, it is jarring and the audience can feel it, that never happens in the film. 

Bullet Train is my kind of action film. It is smartly written, full of comedy, suspenseful all the way until the end, and has some hidden lessons. In this film it comes from Brad Pitt’s character, Ladybug, who is  about teaching yourself to have a good mindset. 

To me, the film is less of a “who dunnit, and more of a “who DIDN’T do it.” It is full of twists and callbacks to earlier actions, people, and items, so you really have to pay attention during the film. 

Bullet Train is easily one of my favorite action films of the year. 

THE LESSON

Thomas The Train can really teach you to know people.

THE FINAL WORD

Bullet Train is funny, suspenseful, and full of exaggerated displays of violence. One of Brad Pitt’s most entertaining roles in quite a while. Bullet Train is a fun ride that doesn’t disappoint.  One of my favorite action films of the year. 

THE VERDICT
My 3L system gives me the choice to Love It, Like It, or Lose It. 

Bullet Train gets a Love It. 

THE TRAILER

Review: DC League of Super-pets

DC League of Super-Pets (2022)
PG ‧ Animated Action Adventure ‧ 106 minutes


Written by John Whittington

Directed by ‎Jared Stern

THE CAST

Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Kate McKinnon, John Krasinski, Vanessa Bayer, Natasha Lyonne, Diego Luna, Thomas Middleditch, Ben Schwartz, and Keanu Reeves.

THE STORY

(In their own words) Krypto the Super-Dog and Superman are inseparable best friends, sharing the same superpowers and fighting crime side by side in Metropolis. However, when the Man of Steel and the rest of the Justice League are kidnapped, Krypto must convince a ragtag group of animals to master their own newfound powers for a rescue mission

THE BEST


The BEST things about the film

  1. Humor, lots of animated physical comedy. I watched it with two of my kids, one six and one four, and they both laughed a lot during it.  Especially in the first 20 minutes. 
  2. There are some touching moments such as when Krpyto (Dwayne Johnson) and Ace (Kevin Hart) connect over Ace’s traumatic moment that led to him being sent to a rescue.
  3. Really nice family friendly superhero story you can bring kids to so they can enjoy super-heroes in the theater.  
  4. Fun characters. 

THE WORST

The WORST things about the Film

  1. As much as it’s being advertised as a buddy comedy between Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart, We know since it is an animated film, we know that they record their voices separately. You aren’t going to feel this chemistry between them.  That is marketing. For some reason, this film more than others you don’t get a sense of chemistry between characters. And I’m honestly not sure why I get that feeling. 
  2. There’s not a lot memorable about the film.  
  3. I find animated films a bit hard to connect with overall, but this one truly didn’t spend the time in making a strong connection and relatability with the audience.

THE REVIEW

I wanted to like this. I really did. I’m a big DC fanboy. I like a lot of the films in the DC universe that most people don’t. It was lighthearted, but unmemorable. It had some fun characters like the evil bald guinea pig hellbent on world domination, but we really don’t care enough about them to emotionally invest. The main protagonist Krypto, played by the charismatic Dwayne Johnson, somehow wasn’t very likable. And I love Dwayne John. Too bad dogs can’t do the People’s Eyebrow. 

I did laugh out loud a few times with my kids. I will admit that. But 90% of my enjoyment of the film was based on their reaction. It’s a kid’s cartoon. Which is okay. I get a lot of enjoyment watching my kid’s enjoy movies. I hope this spurns a love of movies for them. 

THE LESSON

Love isn’t about spending every moment together, but rather what you would do for the person you love. 

THE FINAL WORD

A less than memorable animated film that may be better suited for a night out with kids. Yet, still better than Justice League. Maybe the grown up superhero films need more pets. 

THE VERDICT
My 3L system gives me the choice to Love It, Like It, or Lose It. 

I give this a Lose It for Adults but A Like It for children. 

THE TRAILER

Review: NOPE

NOPE (2022)
R ‧ Horror/Thriller ‧ 2 Hours 11 Minutes


Written and Directed by Jordan Peele

THE CAST

  • Daniel Kaluuya
  • Keke Palmer
  • Steven Yeun

THE STORY

(In their own words) Caretakers at a California horse ranch encounter a mysterious force that affects human and animal behavior.

THE BEST


(from left) OJ Haywood (Daniel Kaluuya), Emerald Haywood (Keke Palmer) and Angel Torres (Brandon Perea) in Nope, written, produced and directed by Jordan Peele.

BEST things about the film

  1. The anticipation
  2. Incredibly imaginative
  3. Wonderful acting
  4. Perfectly timed comedy and terror
  5. It has its own genre
  6. Great messages underneath

THE WORST

The three WORST things about the Film

  1. THERE ISN’T A DAMN THING WRONG WITH THIS FILM.
  2. See number one.
  3. See number two.
Daniel Kaluuya as OJ Haywood in Nope, written, produced and directed by Jordan Peele.

THE REVIEW

Nope is a lot of things. It’s a horror, it’s thriller, it’s comedic, it’s…..a Jordan Peele film. While other filmmakers are out there just crafting new stories, Peele is out there creating his own genre.

This marks director and writer Jordan’s Peele third film and third horror film….with the Peele style. This is easily his best work yet. A clear story, great characters, great performances and underlying themes and messages that will not be obvious to everyone when they first walk away. But there is a lot there. I think this film will be studied and studied. It’s a very layered film. 

The trailers for this film frankly give too much away, and yet, tell you nothing. It’s kind of amazing. I didn’t watch trailers for NOPE since the first teaser until after I watched the film. I’m glad I got fully surprised. 

The film is incredibly imaginative, well crafted, and full of suspense. The film flew by as I was on the edge of my seat from anticipation of the entire film. 

How scary? Like Silence of the Lambs? Gory at all?

I feel like if I say it’s not gory, people will come after me. I think the gore is actually minimal but it is used incredibly and effectively.

I’m not sure how scary it is. I walked in planning to pee my pants. I was pretty tense the whole time.

THE LESSON

Keep your head down.


THE FINAL WORD

Nope is a “yep”. 

THE VERDICT
My 3L system gives me the choice to Love It, Like It, or Lose It. 

NOPE gets a LOVE IT. 

THE TRAILER

THE REVIEWER


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.

Episode #203: New Documentary – Accepted

This week, Silas is joined by director Dan Chen and two people who were subjects for his premiere documentary Accepted, Isaac and Aighty. This documentary focuses on a K-12 school in Louisiana with a 100% college acceptance rate and a 33% Ivy League school acceptance rate. But something is rotten in the state of Denmark. Listen up and then watch the film coming out this July 1st.

Review: Elvis

Elvis  (2022)
PG-13 ‧ Musical/Drama ‧ 2 hours 39 Minutes

Written by Baz Luhrmann, Sam Bromell, Craig Pearce and Jeremy Doner

Directed by ‎Baz Luhrmann

THE CAST

 Austin Butler, Tom Hanks, Helen Thomson, Richard Roxburgh, Olivia DeJonge, Luke Bracey, Natasha Bassett, David Wenham, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Xavier Samuel, and Kodi Smit-McPhee

THE STORY

(In their own words) Elvis Presley rises to fame in the 1950s while maintaining a complex relationship with his manager, Colonel Tom Parker.

THE BEST


The BEST things about the film

  1. Loved that this is one of the first films to really show how much Black music influenced Elvis by him growing up in the culture. 
  2. This first ½ of the film is filmmaking at its best.
  3. Tom Hanks is brilliant in his role as Colonel Tom Parker. Hanks has this amazing ability to draw us in to watch him in a film and then let us forget that it is him. 
  4. Cinematography is fantastic in this, the editing is wonderful. It really does a great job telling this story.
  5. Despite having seen a lot of films about Elvis, I feel like this film actually showed us a new story. 
  6. The pacing is great. It’s a long film but it  didn’t feel like it. 
  7. The music. You have to like the Elvis music style a little bit to enjoy this. But even outside of his singing there is a lot of rhythm and blues music, showing us what Elvis was influenced by. 
  8. It actually made me care about Elvis again, which I didn’t think would happen since I was twelve years old. 
  9. Austin Butler’s performance is an amazing impersonation of Elvis.
  10. This film finally got me to understand why girls went crazy for Elvis. The cinematography really created this understanding. 

THE WORST

The WORST things about the Film

  1. It really glosses over some really bad stuff about Elvis – like how old Priscilla was when he married her, and his cheating on her while on the road.
  2. Some of the music choices, like including rap during his walking around the Black neighborhoods, didn’t work for me because they didn’t continue throughout.
  3. It suffers a typical problem of biopics, this film struggles in the third act trying to include his whole life. It would work better to just be a section of his life. 
  4. At no point did the film seem relevant to today. I kept asking, why this film? Why now? I really didn’t need this. 
  5. The music wasn’t that memorable and I would expect the Moulin Rouge director to do better with a piece like this.

THE LESSON

It doesn’t matter what you accomplish, if you are unhappy with yourself, you’ll never feel like you’ve done anything.

THE FINAL WORD

The first ½ of the film is worth the ticket price. This is an interesting take on Elvis but not one that feels especially poignant for today. 

THE VERDICT
My 3L system gives me the choice to Love It, Like It, or Lose It. 

Elvis gets a Like It.

THE TRAILER



THE REVIEWER

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.

Review: Lightyear

Lightyear  (2022)
PG ‧ Animated Adventure ‧ 1 hour 45 minutes


Written by Jason Headley, Angus MacLane

Directed by ‎Angus MacLane

THE CAST

Chris Evans, Uzo Aduba, James Brolin, Mary McDonald-Lewis, Keke Palmer, Efren Ramirez, Peter Sohn, Dale Soules, Taika Waititi, Isiah Whitlock Jr.

THE STORY

(In their own words) From Disney and Pixar comes an animated sci-fi action-adventure — the definitive origin story of Buzz Lightyear (voice of Chris Evans), the hero who inspired the toy. “Lightyear” follows the legendary space ranger on an intergalactic adventure alongside ambitious recruits, Izzy, Mo and Darby, and his robot companion Sox. As this motley crew embark on their toughest mission yet, they must learn to work as a team to escape the evil Zurg and his dutiful robot army who are never far behind.

THE BEST


The BEST things about the film

  1. The Comedy – It’s a pretty funny film.
  2. The Premise – We are watching the movie that the Buzzlight year action figure was based off of. This is a brilliant rounding out of Toy Story Universe.
  3. The Easter Eggs – The film is absolutely filled with little easter egg nods to past scifi films. 
  4. The inclusiveness of the film. Wonderful amount of diversity and representation and I believe this contains Pixar’s first openly LGBTQ+ character that is human. 

THE WORST

The WORST things about the Film

  1. Time travel stories always have problems. You have to just nod and go along with it. 
  2. Buzz DID NOTHING WRONG – The premise of the story is built on the idea that Buzz made a mistake. But he doesn’t really. He feels guilt but not for a good reason and nobody tries to counter him. 
  3. Dropped plot of the third new Ranger. I wanted some resolution to that. 

THE REVIEW

I’m going to be honest, I was a skeptic. I almost didn’t even go to see this screening because I thought, “Why on Earth do I need to see a Lightyear spin off? The Buzz Lightyear origin story? What is that supposed to be? But I thought if I could find a friend I hadn’t seen in a while to go watch with me, it would be a good excuse to see them and I’ll give it a chance.

THANK GOODNESS I WENT!

I am shocked how much I enjoyed this film. I said it before and I’ll say it again – This is the Toy Story tale that I didn’t know I needed.

The premise is this: In 1996 Andy (from the Toy Story film) is given a Buzz Lightyear action figure based on a character from a movie. This is that movie.

Wait…What? It’s a movie?! It’s not some weird origin story, we get to see the movie that excited Andy so much that he neglected his longtime favorite toy Woody.

The film we see is basically the story of the Space Ranger Buzz Lightyear who is traveling with a group of scientists to a new colony when the discovery of an uncharted planet makes them go off course to investigate. While Buzz and his fellow Rangers are checking out the planet, they discover it’s a hostile planet and attempt to leave, during their emergency exit, an accident happens and they are trapped on the planet. They begin to colonize the planet while building a new “hyperspeed” engine, which Buzz is the test pilot for. The problem is, everytime he takes it out for a test, four of his minutes pass by while on the planet, 4 years pass by. All of Buzz’s friends are growing older while he keeps trying to get the new engine working correctly. The question becomes, will Buzz be able to find them a way off the planet before everyone he knows is still alive?

While the role of Buzz Lightyear has been played in the past by Tim Allen, this version is voiced by Chris Evans. Though while writing this review, it’s really hard to get Tim Allen’s voice out of my head. Evan does a fine job taking the voice over.

Lightyear is a delightful and funny story. Sold animation again by the folks at Pixar. They did a great job with this film. They managed to make the character of Buzz more likable than he ever has been in the past.  We get a new adorable side kick in the robot cat, Sox. This is a cat that will be talked about for a long, long time. Cause unlike a lot of side kicks, this one is original and acts in surprising manners. 

They also present a same-sex relationship and marriage, between two human characters, which is a great advancement since last time they did that directly was in Pixar and they weren’t human. 

I was really drawn to the messages about how important teamwork is to the success of any goal. But ultimately Lightyear is about coming to terms with past mistakes. It reminds us that the past should be left in the past because dwelling on it makes us lose sight of what’s important and straight up miss the life that is happening. 

This is definitely a rewatchable film. Sprinkled throughout the film are obvious nods to past scifi films and television, from Star Trek to Aliens, you will find lot of visual nods.   This is a film made with love and care not just to Buzz Lightyear, but to scifi in general. It may not advance the genre but it has an amazing time playing in the sandbox. 

To infinity and beyond!

THE LESSON

Living with regret will make you miss out on life.

THE FINAL WORD

This is the Toy Story film I didn’t know I needed. And I did, I absolutely did. 

THE VERDICT
My 3L system gives me the choice to Love It, Like It, or Lose It. 

Lightyear gets a Love It. 

THE TRAILER

THE REVIEWER

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.