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Reviews
Rebel Moon - Part One: A Child of Fire (2023)
Really wanted it to be better
I went into watching the movie with hopes that the bad reviews were wrong, but those hopes ebbed as I watched the movie unfold.
No spoikers, just some observations...
There's a solid movie buried in there, but it got lost amid the slog. The bringing together of the team went on far too long and didn't make me want to care about what happened to the characters.
Pacing was a big problem. If Snyder cut back on the unnecessary slo mo sequences, the film would've been a half hour shorter at least.
Things didn't really pick up until about 30 minutes from the end. By then I had trouble caring what happened.
I'll probably watch Part Two, but it's not something I'm excited about.
Babylon 5: The Road Home (2023)
For fans of B5... the lil franchise that could
A welcome return to B5 for fans, but confusing for newcomers. A bit like an indy band getting back together to do a remix of fan favorites as a teaser for their new album.
The story was classic B5 epic stuff, but found time for some character moments and other stuff fans dig about the franchise. Most of the humor worked, though one Zathras remark felt a bit meta and probably could've been saved for the DVD extras.
The look of the uniforms, environments, etc. Was faithful to that of the original series and its spinoffs. The B5 station, ships, planetary surfaces, etc. Were a solid compromise of the series' CGI and the movie's animated style. Obviously, the animated approach allowed the movie to give the visuals a scale the original TV series couldn't.
It was of course great to hear the voices of Boxleitner et al again, and if I hadn't known better, I'd have thought they used archived audio clips from previous B5 projects for the voices of Franklin, G'Kar, Delenn, Garibaldi, etc.
Like most franchises, B5 has had its ups and downs. The Road Home is a vast improvement over Legend of the Rangers and Lost Tales. Whether the rumored reboot TV series is animated or live action, The Road Home is a fine place to restart.