'The Mandalorian' brought it's third season to close with a climactic battle for Mandalor, capping off a rocky eight episodes that have left some fans disappointed after what was such a stellar conclusion to season two. "The Return" ties up many of the loose ends from this season and the action set-pieces alone are worth the price of admission (more jetpack heavy battle sequences please) but taking a step back, we're left with a feeling of emptiness, as we may have a worse understanding of our lead characters psyches than we did coming into the season. With so much to do in the finale, and only 39-minutes to do it in, there just isn't any time left to hear what anyone thinks about the major events that just took place. It's plot in absence of character, and it's a real shame. It's not that the show is now bad, it's just that it certainly took a step back this season in pacing, plotting, character development and probably even musically with the absence of Ludwig. The hope being that it can learn from it's mistakes and course-correct going into season four.
Read More
SSSW - The Mandalorian S3E7 "The Spies"
As this season closes in on it's finale next week, there have been a lot of questions about this season's direction, or lack there of. Including on this very show. This penultimate episode for season 3 does a lot to answer those questions and it does so with tons of style. There's plenty of exciting action set pieces this week to sink your teeth into, which are satisfying in there own way, but it's the focus on driving the plot forward, the interesting world building, and the some deeper exploration of key characters like Bo Katan, that take this episode to the next level. That being said, it's not perfect, with a few pacing issues and the odd inclusion of another giant monster that feels ham-fisted. Overall though, the return of one of the shows best villains does a lot of heavy lifting, and certainly sets the stakes quite high for next week's finale.
Read More
ToB Interlude - The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023)
After the disaster that was the 1993 'Super Mario Bros' feature film it seemed like Nintendo had zero appetite for ever trying that again. Fast forward 30 years and the future of Nintendo franchises making the leap to cinema once again hangs on the hopes of Illumination Studio's 'The Super Mario Bros. Movie'. However, unlike in 1993, the reception to this movie has been much more positive, and even more importantly, it's bringing in the box office revenue, ranking as the most successful animated feature release of all time. But is the movie any good? Julian and Jeremy attempt to answer that question in this week's Tower of Babble Podcast. With decades of internalized Nintendo knowledge and a keen ability to sniff out the good and the bad for this type of adaption, you're in good hands for this spoiler-filled review.
Read More
SSSW - The Mandalorian S3E6 "Guns for Hire"
Most people seem to agree that season 3 of 'The Mandalorian' seems to be a bit lost in the woods. Despite strong episodes, like last week's "Pirates", overall the larger plot seems to be a bit directionless at times. It's a cloud that is hanging over the show and seems to be casting a primarily negative shadow on it's reception this year. This week's episode unfortunately continues that trend, but it also continues the trend of having extremely entertaining side missions, with the inspiration-de-jour being a 'CSI' or 'Law and Order' style procedural/neo-noir detective caper. With cameo's a plenty from well known actors, an extremely jovial escapade to a new outer rim planet that is actually wealthy for once, and plenty of Clone Wars era callbacks, it's hard not to be entertained. Thankfully, the final moments of the episode tie us back into the larger plot (in a pretty clunky way if we're being honest), and setup the last 2 episodes of the season. Which are complete mysteries at this point. Plus, Rachel and Julian discuss the three new Star Wars movie projects announced at 'Star Wars Celebration Europe 2023', and dive into the brand new 'Ahsoka' trailer.
Read More
SSSW - The Mandalorian S3E5 "The Pirate"
Just as Din seemed to be fairly aimless since his bath in the living waters, so to did the show itself. Wandering from plot point to plot point with no regard for pacing or sense of direction. That largely changed this week as Din is recruited to rescue Nevarro at the behest of an unlikely ally, all with the possibility of using the opportunity to create a new home for his cohorts. The threat of pirates brought many dangling plot threads together and helped establish a new purpose for our heroes, with the mystery of a reemerging threat lingering in darkness. That's without even mentioning some absolutely stellar action sequences realized with top tier visual effects, adding a much needed sense of quality to the whole affair that has felt oddly absent as of late. Oh, and don't forget about our boy Zeb!
Read More
SSSW - The Bad Batch Season 2 Finale
It's a rare thing to get a season finale that hits as hard as this two-part season 2 capper of 'The Bad Batch'. Lucasfilm Animation was firing on all cylinders for much of this season, with gorgeous animation, top tier performances, and scoring from Kevin Kiner that is as good as anything you'd get in a feature film. Yet somehow they took it to another level with "The Summit", and then somehow found yet another gear for the heart-wrenching "Plan 99". For which it's episode title alone now carries more emotional weight than probably any scene from 'The Rise of Skywalker'. For our money, Star Wars doesn't get much better than this folks. There probably isn't much more to be said about how great these episodes were but Julian and Rachel dedicate the entirety of this nearly 2.5 hour podcast to Clone Force 99 and it's well deserved. Look for coverage of Mando later this week, because since when "have we ever followed orders".
Read More
SSSW - The Mandalorian S3E4 "The Foundling" + The Bad Batch S2E14 "Tipping Point"
A big reveal accompanied by a nice surprise are the highlights of this week's episode of 'The Mandalorian', that otherwise felt mostly inconsequential. Not quite a bottle episode (but close), we spend much of the relatively short runtime with the Mandalorian covert as they attempt to rescue a child from what is essentially a dragon. Meanwhile, over on 'The Bad Batch' we are treated to one of the best episodes of the entire series. Table setting for a finale has never been this exciting or engaging. Between prison breaks, escape attempts, and political intrigue, there isn't much more you can ask for from this show. Superb!
Read More
Episode 183 - Tom Cruise Requested to See 'The Flash'
Julian and Jeremy return to the mic to dissect the latest in film and TV news. As it always seems to be the case, the guys start by unpacking the latest drama with DC Studios. With 'Shazam 2' underperforming, there's more scrutiny on a botched crossover with Black Adam, James Gunn continues to get heat, seemingly for no good reason this time, and Ben Affleck is done with Batman... this time for real. Meanwhile leadership at Disney continues to blame 'Solo: A Star Wars Story' for the reason they can't seem to commit to any new Star Wars film projects for longer than 5 minutes. This coming on the heels of Patty Jenkins 'Rogue Squadron' movie being shelved. Plus, stay tuned to the end of the episode to hear a full spoiler review of HBO's 'The Last of Us' season 1. All that and so much more in this week's Tower of Babble Podcast!
Read More
SSSW - The Mandalorian S3E3 "The Convert" + The Bad Batch S2E13 "Pabu"
After a massive bombshell at the end of last week's episode of 'The Mandalorian', we take a sharp left turn into a completely different part of the galaxy and largely leave the Mythosaur thread to dangle... for now. The shift to concentrate on Dr. Pershing and his attempt to reintegrate into a post-war society, though surprising, was actually chalk-full of deep world building and does the leg work to set up a fascinating mystery. The Mando bookends featuring some stellar dog-fighting, and a surprisingly quick resolution to the whole "redemption" arch, were appreciated for their ability to keep the central story moving forward. On 'The Bad Batch' front, the season put the pause on things as it took our heroes on a short vacation that reminded us of what was actually at stake. It was slower, but intentionally so, and took the time to let us just "live" with the characters for a moment. Unsurprisingly, it didn't take nearly as long to unbox this episode compared to Mando
Read More
ToB Interlude - Oscars 2023 + Best Picture Nomination Reviews
The Tower of Babble Podcast has always kept at least one eye trained on the biggest movie awards show of the year. The coverage has come in a variety of forms over the years. We've done round table previews with friends of the show. We've done smaller more intimate affairs with just a 2 movie lovers talking about their favorites from the nominees. We've even done live sessions on Twitter spaces. This year we return to the Twitter spaces format with Julian doing a solo show in which he gives his thoughts on the ceremony itself, before getting into each of the Best Picture nominees with thoughts on the winners from each category sprinkled throughout. What will next year's converge look like?
Read More