newdayoldlife Reviews

Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Overture to a New War (1993)

Perhaps a better alternative to the first two episodes of the original series

[9/10 · 20 March 2023]

The original Legend Of The Galactic Heroes anime series (1988-1997) is great, one of the best space operas out there. However, some people believe that the first two episodes of the series are the weakest part of the story, as they may feel a bit rushed and arguably don't do the best job at introducing the main characters and conflicts.

Personally, I still don't think that those episodes were bad, although after watching this movie, I'd highly recommend everyone to watch this full-feature instead of the first two episodes of the OVA, be it your first viewing or a rewatch.

What we have here is basically an extended version of the first two episodes, with the first half of the movie being more of a prequel to the original story. It does a very good job at introducing the viewers to the world of LoGH, including its' main characters and their struggles. I believe that it develops the first act of the story in a better way than the first two episodes of the original series, with more details and character exploration, updated quality of artstyle and better cinematography.

To sum up, this movie works really well, both as a prequel and as an reimagined, arguably slightly superior rearrangement of the first two episodes.

It should be noted, however, that this is not the first spin off-prequel to the series. There is also another 1 hour-long feature, called "My Conquest Is The Sea Of Stars", which takes place even before this movie. I'd say that it's also good. Wouldn't call it a must watch, but it is still a pretty good alternative introduction to the series. I believe that you can get started with any of these two movies.

The Sopranos: Long Term Parking (2004) Season 5, Episode 12

My favorite episode of the series

[10/10 · 16 March 2023]

This episode has it all - drama, tension, dark humor, incredible acting and writing. I know that many people here think that "Pine Barrens" is the best episode of the Sopranos and, although it's still great, I believe that this episode strongly surpasses it.

Before this episode, I would've never believed that I'd find Adriana's death to be the most tragic in the series. The way this episode escalates all tension and emotions with every new scene is simply masterful.

I also really love the final scene of this episode, which is, in my opinion, is one of the best episode endings in the series, both in terms of emotions and cinematography.

So yeah, an amazing episode overall.

Rick and Morty: Rickdependence Spray (2021) Season 5, Episode 4

The fans know it, the critics know it and even the writers know it.

[3/10 · 14 March 2023]

This is the weakest Rick and Morty episode. Most of the humor is just disgust-bait, there's no coherent story or message and everyone act out of character. It's like this episode was written by a completely different team of writers, who don't know anything about this show, except that it's sci-fi and has adult humor.

I mean, what else is there to say if even the writers admit that this is a bizzare miracle that this episode was greenlit and that they actually went with this idea in the first place? In every single interview on this episode, you can see the strong presence of cringe on the creator's faces.

I hope that after this episode, the writers have realized that Adult Swim lets them do literally anything and it only up to them to meet the standards of quality of the earlier seasons.