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The Marvels (2023)
It simply does not deliver.
I must admit that based on the trailers, I really - really - had wanted to like this movie.
Everything about the movie felt very disjointed, rushed and ... ultimately quite pointless. For example, in the Ms. Marvel Disney+ -show, they included a Bollywood-style dance-sequence that - frankly in the context of that series, fit nicely and didn't feel out of place. However, when they've tried including similar one in The Marvels -movie ... it just ... falls flat. It comes out of nowhere, serves no purpose and - just feels weird and forced.
Of course, I had the huge misfortune of watching this movie in 3D (I didn't realise that 3D versions of movies are still made) which means that there were constant exaggerated scenes with "too much" depth and a ton of CGI to add to that. Watching the movie this way felt nauseating.
So as to not only bash the movie, there are a few things I genuinely liked. Iman Vellani as Kamala Khan is possibly the best addition to MCU post-Endgame; her portrayal of the character feels very fresh and natural. It is like she was made for the role. Also, the montage where Carol Danvers, Monica Rambeau and Kamala Khan are learning to use their joint powers together. That part was actually well executed and quite fun to watch. But unfortunately it was only a few minutes out of a very short movie.
Babylon 5: The Road Home (2023)
What If? ... on overdrive
It is absolutely great to see B5 return after so many years; a feat very few franchises are able to pull of after decades ... and with so many of the original cast still able to participate in the project none the less. Unfortunately, quite a number of the original cast have "passed beyond the galactic rim" in real life and leave a bit of a sore wound in their place.
Pacing seems to be all over the place for the movie's 75 minute runtime. Many of the scenes feel rushed and then - occasionally - things get overtly leisure for a while for no obvious reason before again getting all hurry-up-galore. I will need to have a rewatch to figure out if there is a deeper meaning for this, but on my first watch... it just felt misplaced. And talking of misplaced ... I remember the original B5 series having a great sense of humor with gags and jibs that "worked" in context. In "The Road Home", for the most part, stuff felt so out of place.
Now with all that having been said, I still feel like this does deserve a 7/10 rating. I may be rating somewhat high due to the amount of nostalgia, but ... that's just the same gut feeling, which guides most of my ratings.
What If...? (2021)
Rollercoaster
At the time of writing, the season finale hasn't aired yet, but it has become obvious that even though the individual episodes do - on the surface - appear to be unrelated, there definitely appears to be some sort of overarching plot that'll weave some "sense" to it all.
The animation style is pretty loyal to the movies presentation, but personally I find the lip-sync lacking somewhat ... almost as if either the voice actors or editors had opted to doing a rushed job "it's good enough"; it just feels... off.
That having been said, the individual episodes have ranged from "m'eh" to "okay" ... they've been quite similar to the What If -comics taking place in a MCU setting, but admittedly I haven't seen any of them as specially memorable.
V (2009)
Wasted opportunity
Original V-miniseries from 1983 was a social commentary of first contact with an alien species that initially appears benevolent, but quickly establishes a propaganda-ridden fascists regime on Earth where non-conformists get persecuted.
ABC took a bold move by trying to reboot V into the 2010s. The underlying patterns from the original instalments are still there, but new issues (like mass surveillance, extremist movements, etc.) are also present. The series was cancelled after only two seasons and - like "two outta three" V that came before it - managed to end the series with an unsolved cliffhanger.
The plot and execution is way better than in the weekly series, but I still don't rate this as high as the original two-part miniseries. Also, it must be noted that for many inside shots, the creators of this series chose to use a lot of CGI sets and ... unfortunately at the time, the technology to do that convincingly on a TV-budget ... wasn't there just yet.
All in all, a bold move from the studio - and a wasted opportunity due to cancelling it too soon. Money talks :(
V (1984)
Disappointing after the mini-series
The weekly series was created as a continuation to the two original miniseries "V" and "V: The Final Battle" ... and boy did it go downhill.
The weekly series is mostly campy and sometimes feels like a soap opera, and because of the "problem of the week"-approach to writing, very few things from any previous episodes affected anything in the later episodes. And of course the series ends after an unfinished first season in an unresolved cliffhanger.
While I still occasionally have a rewatch of the miniseries that came before, I don't think I've watched the weekly series once after purchasing the DVD-set (yeah, I'm a fan, so even though I don't like it, I want to have the DVDs)
V: The Final Battle (1984)
Step down from the original miniseries
Unfortunately Kenneth Johnson, the author of the original TV-movie/miniseries, left the production during the writing phase of "The Final Battle" because of creative differences. This lead to a the writing being quite a mishmash; various characters were added to the cast for - no specific reason, some unresolved storylines left hanging, and the writers introduced a literal deus-ex-machina ending.
That having been said, the Final Battle is still quite watchable. Just not on the same level as the original.
V (1983)
Rise of a fascist regime
Seemingly benevolent aliens from Sirius arrive at Earth, promising to help humankind handle their social and economical challenges in exchange for certain chemicals they can't produce on their own. Soon though, they begin spreading propaganda and basically just take control over Earth - all in the name of maintaining order. Nonconformists - mostly scientists, reporters and world leaders - get silenced and hunted.
Kenneth Johnson's movie (which has been split into two parts more suitable for TV mini series) of the sudden and unexpected rise of a fascist regime. Many - admittedly rather non-subtle - allegories to nazism are present throughout, and the series presents social commentary of how easy it is to make people "look the other way" as long as things don't personally affect themselves.
The movie paints a horrifying picture and leaves the end open for sequel(s). Still worth a watch almost 40 years later.
Unfortunately, Kenneth Johnson was not a part of the later installments "Final Battle" and "Weekly Series" ... so after this one, things do kinda start spiraling out of control and more into some sort of soap opera department.
Next (2020)
Different from "Person of Interest"
Many early reviewers said this series was simply a rehash of "Person of Interest" ... while I do agree that there is a similar baseline, "Next" - on my opinion - approaches the premise from a bit of a different angle.
Admittedly, an AI that has decided to take over the world (which, yes - also kinda happens in "Person of Interest") should be able to do it. In my humble opinion, no matter how good the humans are at what they're doing ... with the amount of power given to the AI in "Next" ... there is absolutely no way human characters could have any say on the outcome.
To me this means that the series was both set up "badly" and also got cancelled too early (before being able to see the ramifications of a rogue AI). Then again - if there is an AI behind things taking place during 2020 ... it might not want to show all the cards it is holding in its hands :)
Edit: regarding the "reality based" (or was that "fact based", can't remember) ... well - I believe this refers to ... whereas "Person of Interest" used occasionally plausible technobabble dialogue, "Next" uses technobabble more rooted on real world technologies. Some of the things in "Next" are still in the realm of "no, that's not how it works", but on quite a many of the things the script-writers have definitely listened to their technical advisors to get various things "correct" so as not to get even the kids watching facepalming themselves :)