Hidden Gems of Disney + instant videos

Sorbicol wrote:

So, the Willow finale didn’t stick the landing for me, I found it all to be a little anti-climatic and filled so many fantasy show cliches it was entirely predictable from start to finish.

Finishing on Money for Nothing as well - what?

Because the Wyrm is offering Graydon his [s]money]/s]power for nothing, and his chick for free. They haven't fit well any of the rest of the times, so it's not surprising it didn't fit well this time either.

I liked the ending more than I thought I would have, but I wouldn't call the series "great." It's not bad at all, and I liked the series overall, just... less than I hoped to. Mostly because it has to compete with my nostalgia for the book trilogy, and didn't fare that well. A big part of why it didn't fare well was what pyxistyx identified with the "hello fellow kids" dialogue. It'd be interesting to know if the script was always like that or if some Disney execs wanted them to do because they thought it'd make it more appealing to the kids watching who might not have the same love for the movie as their parents do. If they had to do it at all, I think they'd have been better served to have a dedicated character for it rather than spreading it out amongst all the characters. I think it'd be less jarring particularly to see it coming from a Brownie, personally, but that could just be because I really think they needed a Brownie in their adventuring party.

I, for one, enjoyed Willow very much (shocking, I know), and I thought the episodes kept getting better and better. At the same time (and I don't remember if I mentioned this here earlier, so forgive me if I have), from the very beginning I took the show to be a silly comedy with some action in a fantasy world that didn't try to do anything else beyond entertaining the audience for forty minutes at a time. I didn't think it was great, and I don't think it was memorable, but I had a good time with it, and after the epic (epic, I tell you!) season finale, I am looking forward to what happens next. If they make another season, that is.

I should also add that I usually enjoy modern, anachronistic attitudes and language in period/fantasy pieces (like Rosaline and The Princess on Hulu recently), so I was an easy mark for the show. Heck, I think I am an easy mark for most shows!

Here’s the thing. I watched the movie Willow when it first came out in the theaters and remember it being pretty beer and pretzels then. It wasn’t a masterpiece. It was just fun.

So is the show.

Stop expecting The Godfather just because something was fun in your childhood.

Yeah, that's not the complaint at all. I don't want it to be The Godfather, or to be some massive high fantasy epic. I wanted it to be Willow. I'm not saying it shouldn't have tried to be modern or irreverent or funny. Madmartigan was a very modern and irreverent character in the movie, but he was consistently so. My issue is that the way they implemented that in the show was uneven and jarring. They passed the irreverence ball (similar in function to the idiot ball, but different in purpose) between characters far too much, which messed with the characterization they had been building.
A secondary problem is that the showrunner seemed to think the star of Willow was Madmartigan, not Willow. My #1 complaint is the unevenness of the tone, my #2 was that there wasn't enough Willow. And regardless of those complaints, I still want it to get a second season because it's got a lot of potential, it's just obscured by some bad decisions. Hopefully they'll pay attention to the feedback they've gotten and try to even it out a bit more.

I liked it, that's from a kid that grew up rewatching that video tape over and over again.

It feels like it got cut up and redone half a dozen times, I am sure at least 1 of which was when Val Kilmer was not able to be a part of it due to illness. Honestly it makes for a great hook if he's able to come back.

I fell like they cut 30-40% of the original story out of it to fit it into the time and budget. I swear Boorman was supposed to have a better fight scene than off screening those guys.

We need more brownies, and some smoothing out the season... but aside from that. I am happy with it. I really hope they plotted out the main points for 3 seasons... if they have a target in mind and get a season 2 that is less chopped up I think we could have something pretty good.

You know what I also liked? The songs at the end of the episodes.

Stengah wrote:

Yeah, that's not the complaint at all. I don't want it to be The Godfather, or to be some massive high fantasy epic. I wanted it to be Willow. I'm not saying it shouldn't have tried to be modern or irreverent or funny. Madmartigan was a very modern and irreverent character in the movie, but he was consistently so. My issue is that the way they implemented that in the show was uneven and jarring. They passed the irreverence ball (similar in function to the idiot ball, but different in purpose) between characters far too much, which messed with the characterization they had been building.
A secondary problem is that the showrunner seemed to think the star of Willow was Madmartigan, not Willow. My #1 complaint is the unevenness of the tone, my #2 was that there wasn't enough Willow. And regardless of those complaints, I still want it to get a second season because it's got a lot of potential, it's just obscured by some bad decisions. Hopefully they'll pay attention to the feedback they've gotten and try to even it out a bit more.

I didn't mind that there was a slight shift of focus. My issue was that they couldn't really make up their mind whether or Willow was a great sorcerer or a charlatan with cheap parlor tricks. The original movie made pretty clear he was the latter and they alluded to his being a faker a number of times in the show, but by the end, it is pretty clear that he can kick righteous rump roast and set armies of zombies ablaze.

The fact that they made Willow a supporting character didn't bother me at all. The original story is about protecting the fate of the world by protecting Elora Danan. It would be weird if he was the focus of the story when it really is time for Elora to actually do the world saving.

I also didn't mind the modern, young adult snark. I felt it made the characters more relatable. Without it, the Elora character in particular would have come off as just wet. At least to me, they came off sounding like how teenagers actually talk to me.

I thought the little time they spent on Willow was pretty clear about his ability. After the movie, he completed his training with Fin Raziel, but was only ever going to be a middling-at-best sorcerer. Sorsha knew that, and doubted his ability to keep her safe while she was young & learning, which is why she wouldn't let him take Elora outside the veil to train her (though her plan to have her live a "normal" life as a palace servant was still pretty cruel). But she was still his friend, and he was the only sorcerer left around, so she still publicly talked up his reputation. He could mow down weak minions, but he knew he was no match for even the Gales chasing them, let alone the Crone. Just taking out the corrupted Tir Asleen knights took everything he had in him.

I wouldn't have minded them shifting focus to Elora if they had done that, but they shifted to Kit instead. I liked her character arc well enough, but Madmartigan's daughter shouldn't be the focus of a show called Willow, especially since she barely interacted with him.

Mario_Alba wrote:

You know what I also liked? The songs at the end of the episodes. :D

Hell yeah

National Treasure: Edge of History is...fine? It's fine.

I enjoyed Extraordinary. It's sort of Misfits crossed with Derry Girls. Everybody in the world gets a superpower when they're 18-ish, except the main character is 25 and still waiting.

It's very sweary and rude, but sort of kind-hearted in the way Derry Girls is (deep down when the characters stop roasting one another and remember that they actually love each other) and Misfits is not.

A little sad, but not a lot.

I’m not surprised. I didn’t think it was very good.

Seemed to be one of those things that folks liked, but nobody loved.

The show made some odd choices like having people wearing modern clothing without explaining why. One of those little mouse people was wearing a band shirt and before in the movie they wearing rat skins. Then they had a monster dude talking like dude bro. If something happen that caused people or objects to fall through from other worlds maybe that should have been stated. However, even that wouldn't make sense because the mouse sized person had a mouse sized band shirt.

It felt to me that they didn't care anything about the movie the show was based on.

I am on the last episode - it's pretty bad.

Baron Of Hell wrote:

It felt to me that they didn't care anything about the movie the show was based on.

I wouldn't say that, I very much got the impression that the showrunner loved the movie from the interviews he's done. I just think that he and I have very different ideas about what made the original so great. He made the show a continuation of what he loved, which was Madmartigan's story, and not what I loved, which was Willow's.

I had no issue with the world - i thought it was beautifully shot and costumed. It was the acting that I had a hard time with - it was just awful. They were all awful actors. It was painfully bad and awkward.

I think most of that came from the writing & direction they got rather than the actors being bad at their craft, but I tend to be super-forgiving of bad acting so long as it seems earnestly delivered.

SallyNasty wrote:

I had no issue with the world - i thought it was beautifully shot and costumed. It was the acting that I had a hard time with - it was just awful. They were all awful actors. It was painfully bad and awkward.

Tonally the show was all over the place - it was really evident in the first couple of shows and I’d imagine as an actor that’s a really hard to get to grips with - how serious to take it, when to play for laughs etc. I don’t really think Disney really knew what to do with it, and apparently neither did any of the directors.

I’m going to draw a comparison between The Mandalorian and Andor. The Mandalorian is trying to pander to both young and old Star Wars audiences - it does that moderately well considering how hamstrung it is with all the Mandor backstory it’s been saddled with and by and large it works. I still think they should have left Grogu with Luke but I also understand why they bought it back, even though that’s a commercial decision rather than a story writers decision. Still he fits within the show more or less so it works. See

Andor is an adult show made by adults for adults and it’s immeasurably better for it. It’s not trying to be all things to all people. There’s a reason why it and Rogue One are the best Star Wars properties to have come out since Empire Strikes Back. The problem is however you don’t tend to attract the sort of audience figures Disney are looking for.

Willow was trying to be more Mandalorian and it didn’t really come off. It was a show it’s makers we’re trying to get to appease two audiences - new comers and old fans of a mediocre 80s fantasy film - and got stuck in the middle. It didn’t really have a voice of its own, so people gave up on it / were much more critical of the show.

Just got Disney+...so far, so good.

Maybe not ironically, I seem to be the most excited about this between me, my wife, my kids (6, 14, 16).

Crater | Official Trailer | Disney+
*looks like nice tween adventure.

The Muppets Mayhem - Official Trailer (2023) Weird Al Yankovich, Kevin Smith, Lil Nas X

Muppets Mayhem was a lot of fun. Recommended for anyone who enjoys Muppet related antics. Lots of great celebrity appearances, including one that had me laughing out loud in disbelief.

I love how Floyd plays a Gibson Thunderbird

Muppets Mayhem has me convinced now that Dr. Teeth has a cousin who until recently coached Louisiana State University's football team.

I really enjoyed American Born Chinese.

Paleocon wrote:

I really enjoyed American Born Chinese.

I watched the first episode with my 2 teenagers. It was pretty entertaining but we kind of forgot about it so I'm looking forward to getting back to this seeing that someone enjoyed it.