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Reviews
The Twilight Zone (2019)
Twilight Zone should be timeless; Leave the topical politics to other shows
Was really hoping this wasn't the type of episodes we would be getting when I heard Jordan Peele was the creative mind behind the new series. I loved Get Out but that is a specific tone and voice and message; please don't let it bleed into The Twilight Zone. The Twilight Zone should reside between the pit of man's fears and the summit of his knowledge, be about primal fear and existential mystery and humanity at its basest elements. Tales of mystery and horror that we all can relate to no matter who you are or when you watch it. Making a Black Lives Matter episode of the Twilight Zone feels like a parody Saturday Night Live or Jimmy Fallon would come up with. A racist police officer you can't escape from, oOoOoOo. Do these these things happen in real life? Of course. Should they be discussed and portrayed and commented on in art and media? Absolutely, but I don't feel Twilight Zone is the place to do it. The Twilight Zone is all encompassing; Extra dimensions, unexplained phenomena, beings and visitors and entities to wonder at and marvel and fear and question. When you narrow your scope down to one specific period in time, with such a topical subject, I feel like you are squandering what this show has the potential to be and say. For all that, it doesn't even seem to say anything new or provide any insight to police discrimination against minorities and if it does it's extremely surface level and on the nose. "My black son IS going to college, mister white racist police officer, and if you shoot us we'll put it on Youtube" is so beneath this series. It says nothing that hasn't been said many times before, it adds nothing new to the conversation, and the premise is so unimaginative and simple. The supernatural aspect seems like an afterthought in the episode, and just an excuse for them to make a Black Lives Matter episode.
Like I said, these things are absolutely valid and worth being reflected upon and commented on in art and media and entertainment just like all good art should, but Twilight Zone should be above such narrow political targets. It's as vast as space and as timeless as infinity, so I can't help but feel like you are wasting this series when you set your sights on such topical political targets. I'm hoping this is the one episode like this in season 1 and they got it out of their system so that we can get to what Twilight Zone is really about.
The Twilight Zone: The Comedian (2019)
Feels like a classic episode
A great episode to start off the new series with for sure. This does what a lot of classic Twilight Zone episodes does: Take something ordinary and add a strange, supernatural twist. Predictable, not particularly clever or insightful, but it goes through those classic conventions so well that it's like wrapping up in a warm blanket. Aside from all the unnecessary cursing this could easily have been a script from the original series. Nothing groundbreaking but as far as a first episode goes this does exactly what it needed to.
The Twilight Zone: A Traveler (2019)
First episode that had me intrigued, if only briefly
Very mysterious and interesting for the first half, but towards the last quarter begins rushing and totally deflates the anxiety it had earned before. Great acting all around and the music is the first in this new series I actually noticed and appreciated, but that storyline really falls apart. Nailed the atmosphere, but just couldn't stick the landing. They're getting close though.
Halo: Nightfall (2014)
Better than expected, still less than fans deserve
While Nightfall is a step above most other video game televisions or film adaptations, it is still unfortunately delivers less than what is expected from a modern drama and quite honestly less than what fans of the long running game series deserve. Halo obviously had an incredible series of video game entries but also was really the first game series to pioneer a literary universe alongside it with many award winning sci-fi novels that routinely place in the New York times best seller list. Television and film is an arena Halo has yet to conquer as successfully and Nightfall is, sadly, not going to change that.
My biggest complaint would be that at the end of the day the story really has very little to do with Halo. That's a benefit for those watching who have never played Halo, but a letdown for those fans looking for that kind of story, and honestly considering the scope and quality of what is available for sci-fi why would you watch this if you were not a Halo fan? Most elements here, if you had simply swapped the names to non-Halo terms, would not change the context or value of the plot at all. It is a sci-fi film with Halo paint essentially.
The CGI is absolutely laughable, but the costumes are quite exceptional and really the CGI turns out to be very limited as this turns into more of a character drama than anything else which I enjoyed. Most of the characters are fleshed out with unique motivations and it creates a lot of loaded, tense conflicts between then as they decide what they have to do and what choices need to be made. If I can say one thing is that this is the realest Halo had ever felt in terms of characters and motivations. Everyone has clear reasons for what they do and say and how they act towards each other and it pays off in a lot of tense interactions between them.
Maybe someday we will get the Halo show we have been asking for, and this certainly isn't it, but it still was enjoyable for me and honestly a lot better than what I expected from a low budget video game adaption.