If ya’ll are giving me false hopes about the Witcher show and it winds up sucking I will come back as a noonwraith and haunt you during your lunch break.
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That’s nunn of your business
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Hopefully the Witcher is good, I was going to cancel on 12th but an extra month of Narcos rewatches and Witcher should be good. Narcos very rewatchable fyi, possibly enjoying it more the second time.
Oh yeah and I was lol 2 years late to Mind Hunter but flash poll:
Mind Hunter is
- Just very good, great
- Beyond great, like approaching prestige TV great
0 voters
It’s also not being renewed from what I’ve heard.
No season 3 or they’re already making season 3 and nothing after that?
Didn’t find it unwatchable but I’m in the “good but not notable” camp
Another uncut gem from deep in the Disney+ vaults: how many of you Gen-X kids remember this one?
A bit of backstory is in order here: from 1977-1983 George Lucas created Star Wars, the greatest sci-fi trilogy in nerd history. I don’t have to tell you dorks how incredible Star Wars was; special effects and worldbuilding like no one had ever seen before.
So somewhere in the late 80’s George Lucas and Ron Howard created a sword-and-sorcery action-adventure franchise. Expectations were sky-high, like this would be Star Wars 2 but in a fantasy setting. Also, Industrial Light and Magic was there to bring to top-notch special effects. James Honer and the London Symphony Orchestra were brought in for the score. The movie flopped.
I’m biased because I watched Willow when I was at that young age when you can watch any kinda garbage crap and be entertained, but really this movie was okay in my book. Main character is eminently likeable, Val Kilmer in his prime is solid as a sort of Han Solo barbarian character.Lots of cool shots and visuals. There’s definitely a lot of worldbulding that never got expanded upon because the franchise died.
Basically everyone wanted George Lucas to deliver another Star Wars, George thought he could pull it off, but his reach exceeded his grasp. It’s a testament to moviemaking hubris. But still, it’s a fun movie if you have small kids with bad taste and want to watch a kind of Tolkein-lite movie on a Sunday afternoon. The top-of-the-line effects probably don’t stand up so well in 2019.
PS: Man, the Wikipedia entry for the Willow soundtrack tells you everything you need to know about how high the expectations were and how hard people worked to meet them. James Horner was thirsty to be the next John Williams and he put the work in. Alas, it was not to be.
The film score was written by James Horner and performed by the London Symphony Orchestra.[18]
“I am a musicologist, a doctor of music. Therefore I listened to, studied and analysed a lot of music. I also enjoy metaphors, the art of quoting and of cycles. The harmonic draft of the Willow score, and most particularly its spiritual side, came from such a cycle, from such mythology and music history that I was taught, and that I myself convey with my own emotions and compositions.”[19]
Eclectic influences on the score include Leoš Janáček’s Glagolitic Mass , Mozart’s “Requiem”, “The Nine Splendid Stags” from Béla Bartók, Edvard Grieg’s “Arabian Dance” for the theater play Peer Gynt , and compositions by Sergei Prokofiev.[19]
“Willow’s Theme” purposefully (see Horner’s quote above) contains a reworking/alteration of part of the theme of the first movement (“Lebhaft”) of Robert Schumann’s Symphony No. 3 referencing it, while “Elora Danan’s Theme” shows a reference to the Bulgarian folk song “Mir Stanke Le” (Мир Станке ле), also known as the “Harvest Song from Thrace”.
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Hey it’s 12 am 12/20, where my The Witcher at Netlifx? Just searched it, 3am est, fuck.
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I definitely remember it but not so much that I remembered that Val Kilmer was in it. Remember having a pre-Rudy like affection for the main character so at least they did that part right. Will take a look at it when I cycle to Disney+. Willow actor is pretty funny and was in a few British things over the years.
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Val Kilmer was very much a sub-par Harrison Ford but the Willow actor absolutely carried this movie from start to finish. Criminally underrated performance.
Aw man, I forgot some epic Willow trivia: the lead actor --one Warwick Davies, also played the role of the Ewok Wickett in Return of the Jedi.
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Yeah, I have a thing for British panel shows and they bring that up every other time he makes a guest appearance.
He was also the Leprechaun
It’s very sad: Warwick Davis had some solid chops as an actor but he only ever really got to use them on this one Willow movie that has been lost to the sands of time.
Green lives matter
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This is one of my favorite childhood movies ever. Thanks for pointing out that’s it’s on D+. I’ll definitely be watching it this weekend.
I’m gonna check it out. Early reports say it is atrocious but has a ton of sexposition. Good for at least one watch in five-minute spurts.
Dammit, I read this and thought he died.
He was great paired with Karl Pilkington on An Idiot Abroad.
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hahaha holy shit The Witcher rules school. Stop everything you’re doing and watch this. Oh man, the soundtrack is great too.
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I haven’t played the video games or read the books but I have now watched all 8 episodes of The Witcher. It’s great.
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