Willow - Disney+

Agent Coulson

Trailer dropped

https://twitter.com/disneyplus/status/1529899973201973248?s=20&t=9Bv0FY5Tlu1hjzmlKSp_pw

Agent Coulson

Youtube trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbbveDpUZv4&ab_channel=Lucasfilm

FunLover18

Despite having rewatched the movie recently and realising it isn't at all as good as I remember, I'm still very much looking forward to it. That music 👌

Slydice

New to me. Have I missed something from the 80s?!?

Agent Coulson

Joanne Whalley is there I wonder will Val have some sort of cameo.

I know he has one in Top Gun.

I had such a crush on joanne whalley when i was younger

Agent Coulson

Trailer

https://youtu.be/_VAXC6-HOlM

JP Liz V1

I love the film

Agent Coulson

Starts tomorrow

mrcheez

Just saw the first episode there.

It's actually pretty good... some cringe characters/moments, but not so much that it's unwatchable, and they're cheeky in such a way that Madmartigan was so it sorta works.

Some good casting to reintroduce original actors.

Felt a bit Lord of the Rings actually... looking forward to seeing how episode 2 works.

Agent Coulson

The first episode was good and there are some really funny scenes in the second episode.

I'll stick with it anyway

mrcheez

Lots of people online complaining about

Spoiler Warning

the girls kissing

predictably!

PhiloCypher

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119945365#Comment_119945365

Remember before the culture wars made everything toxic the same bros , would be

" do you think they'll kiss ? , I hope they kiss, that would be soooooo Hawt."

Now all they do is cry **** over every little Peck (so to speak 😋)

setanta1000

In my humble opinion this is just awful stuff; dire acting, woeful dialogue, plastic sets, some very dodgy editing and far too much exposition needed to explain what the hell is going on.

I'm sure Derek Warwick is a lovely guy but he's delivering his lines like he's seeing them for the first time and hasn't figured how he should be acting as well as saying them....but he's probably the best of the cast.

I have no issues with the "woke" agenda and I think we need more non standard relationships on TV to make it more acceptable culturally but they are doing the "cause" a serious injustice by wrapping it up in such poor surroundings.

The only one who was redeeming in any way was the fantastically handsome Bryk who managed to play the whole thing for laughs (I get that this was his character but at least he was funny...ish).

I predict that there will NOT be a Season 2....

😁

mrcheez

I was curious how well it plays with the original flick, and honestly (apart from the excellent score on the film) the dialog and acting is pretty much 1:1 and they both seem on par.

The original film was never really that serious. It was never a Lord of the Rings for example.

So it does seem to maintain the same rather silly humorous dialog/acting that was in the original and fits in fairly well.

It's worth re-watching the original flick as they've updated it to 4K.

FunLover18

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119960546#Comment_119960546

Basically what MrCheez said, all of your complaints could be levelled at the movie. I think this is slightly better because the budget is clearly better. Davis has never been a fantastic actor. I think one of the reasons there's so much explanation is because they're trying to catch people up on the film as well as catch them up on this fantastical world that the audience has no reference for. There is no book with a map at the front, this is completely original and I think they've created new stuff again that wasn't even in the film.

I'm not defending it btw but I'm probably enjoying it a bit more than you.

mrcheez

I'm wondering if they're going to say "Peck"... might be a bit too offensive these days 🤣

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVwQqETefvQ

FunLover18

Is it just me or is the lighting terrible? I have my laptop set to the brightest setting and I'm still struggling to make out what the hell is going on at times.

Thought the costume design on the Hannah Waddingham character and her partner was awful, they looked far too contemporary. Really took me out of the scene.

Full_Circle_81

I'm actually finding the mix of accents to be really distracting (although I think the movie had a mix of British and American as well). In particular, I'm a little baffled at the main character "Dove" affecting an American accent, when keeping her regular British accent would have made no difference whatsoever. Her American twang is awful.

I've only watched the first two episodes so far, and I'd say its just decent. While the budget may be higher here, the direction and editing is very poor compared to the movie, although I find a lot of Disney tv shows have shocking dreadful editing anyway. Dialogue/acting is fine though, as the movie was pretty tongue-in-cheek/self-aware itself. The use of modern songs over the credits is a little jarring though.

mrcheez

Warwick Davis fluctuated between British and American constantly in the Willow flick too.. ironically this annoying trait being carried into the series keeps the authenticity (for better or worse!) 🤣

mrcheez

Yeah so Episode 4 wasn't great/boring and the constant one-liners are starting to grate with me too. The zoomer agenda stuff is also repeated a bit incessantly, plus the main cast constantly making modern quips.

Won't surprise me if they pull out their mobile phones in the next one.

And then there's this...

Surely if denim is available in the world, everyone would be wearing it? :)

So .. it started out ok.. but it's starting to look a bit like Xena Warrior Princess budget-wise, despite some elements of quality effects sparingly tossed in.

johnnyskeleton

I'm a bit confused as to what they are trying to achieve with this. Is it supposed to be high fantasy? Is it a teen drama / harry potter style show? Is it a quippy parody of the modern world? It's unclear to me because it has elements of all of these things and seems unwilling to commit to any one for more than 2-3 mins.

Amar Chada-Patel is great in it. He is serious when he needs to be serious, and whimsical or cynical at other times. This suits the character of a world weary and untrustworthy adventurer. But Ruby Cruz is also going for the cynical and quippy performance, which doesn't fit her character of a sheltered royal. Warrick Davis should not be in this as much as he is. His delivery of lines is flat and rushed. Which is a shame - if he's not up for it, he could have been in one scene and sent them on their way and it would be much better. I do not know whether these problems are due to the actors themselves or to the way that they are directed.

There are also some bad editing issues. Two people will be mid conversation and it will cut to them speaking to other people. A lot of the action happens off screen, from a far away angle or with lots of darkness/smoke to hide what is happening. Then they have dialogue explaining what happened which violates the cardinal rule of writing - show don't tell. And modern music shoehorned in seems like its copying guardians of the galaxy without understanding that the music in gotg was imbedded into the story.

mrcheez

What was the thing Boorman was accusing Kit of stealing from him in Episode 4? Was it the armour power thing?

But then he suddenly had that in the final scene, and no explanation of why he thought he lost it, or how he found it again?

FunLover18

In the most recent episode Elora is wearing a coat with zips 🙄

mrcheez

Elora's hair has turned red (again)?! Not just the roots, as in the full length of hair changed from blonde to red in, what, a day ?

EDIT: ok so I read up a bit.. apparently the "magick" is turning it back to the original red 🙄

Sudden Valley

Ha yeah the hair colour change was weird as was coat, as was the old man and the sea scenes. Willow is like a b-movie written by someone hugh on drugs with a huge budget any chance that Val Kilmer will appear at all?

mrcheez

"If Ed Wood did a Disney series..."

Unfortunately there won't be a Val Kilmer appearance (unless possibly digital)

Very sad 😪

Sudden Valley

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120069674#Comment_120069674

Yes very sad. I thought he looked slightly better in Top gun than he did in that photo so hopefully he recovers over time. I would hate if they kill hm off offscreen though to be honest i think they have given the Boorman character most of his traits.

FunLover18

I think he has one speaking line in TG Maverick and it was AI generated. We hear Mad Martigan's voice in this, calling to Kit, I believe it is the voice of Kilmer's son.

AMKC

I really enjoyed episode 8 of this. Yes I agree with come above that some of the episodes were very badly lit and it was hard to see what was going on some of the clothes looked out of place and that Warwick seemed to just be phoning his performances in but 8 is a much better episode its like they all finally realised what was going in and there parts in it and started to act better too.

mrcheez

The first and last episodes were probably the best alright.

Sudden Valley

I think the haunted castle episode was good also. Still surprisrd for such light fare, that this tv series got so much hate online.

mrcheez

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120111643#Comment_120111643

I think it's more to do with the treatment of an IP that would have been a large part of the childhood of many Gen X'ers and what the expectations were for it, though granted the original film was "light" with comedic/childish elements and probably more on par with Legend or other similar films of the time, rather than an epic like Star Wars.

If it were an entirely original IP it probably would have fared far better.

CastorTroy

Just watched this over the past couple of days.

Overall I liked it for what it was.

So many of the episodes felt like a lot of info dumping and setup only to then feel very rushed to wrap things up so they could move on to the next episode/story.

Spoiler Warning

The gang of bad guys we see as being tough at the beginning and they seem to get beaten offscreen in the finale, or we don't know what happened them?

So plans for 3 seasons/volumes then?

Spon Farmer

I’m really enjoying the show but disappointed with some of the language like having the “hots” for someone (plenty of ways of saying that is neither too old fashioned or too modern) and that they have started using profanity.

The costumes on the two woodcutters were very out of place and it had me thinking that Elora had stepped into a magical place and the that women were illusions by beings trying to interact with Elora and teach her something. Odd choice of clothes. I did not recognise Hannah Washington at all.

Was that General Kael that appeared to Jade? I thought at first that perhaps Kael had indeed killed her family around the time of the movie and that she was a bit older than Elora and Kit. Then I remembered thayt she had said the family was killed trying to get to Mother’s Gate and inside the barrier - which is after Kael dies. I hope they explain this.

CastorTroy

https://tvline.com/2023/03/15/willow-cancelled-season-2-disney-plus/

So not 3 volumes then.

Can't say I'm too bothered by this.

mrcheez

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120363302#Comment_120363302

I'm surprised at the comments in that article.. a lot of people seemed to like it (which is baffling)

Apart from the first couple of episodes which seemed pretty good, it just gradually got irritating

screamer

I watched the first 20 minutes and turned it off. Was so looking forward to it, but nope, wasn’t wasting my time on that warmed up leftover.

CastorTroy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120363370#Comment_120363370

A lot of commenters on tvline seem very positive about everything. Going by them shows like Star Trek Discovery are some of the greatest shows ever.

Flinty997

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120111854#Comment_120111854

I think you're giving to much weight to the original. In my opinion Willow was never a cult classic, but just another ok fantasy movie, that not too many have seen. I don't think there is much baggage from that movie. Legend is more a visual feast than a regular mainstream movie. Even less saw that. I can't imagine many people wanted the new one to be faithful to the old one.

The new Willow was light hearted and a bit of fun. I enjoyed it. But I think it suffered because the story line and most characters were all a little bit all over the place.

CastorTroy

Think there may be someone in denial

https://tvline.com/2023/03/17/willow-creator-cancellation-news-season-2-future/

That picture kinda sums up one of the complaints about the show. He had a flamethrower for that scene that came out of nowhere and went back there right after, never to be seen again.

Flinty997

They were too busy to adding baggage to the story they forgot to join the dots on the simple stuff.