Stranger Things (Netflix)

Yeah. Binged watched it too. Just could not stop. I was born in 1972, so the kids were right around my age at that time, and the show was just a total time warp for me.

Beyond how well they captured the time period, I really enjoyed the story, the characters, and the performances. The way the story unfolded was compelling. Even after you had the concept pegged down, the show kept you watching by unfolding the characters more and more. Right up until the very last moment of the last episode, there was development.

I've read a second season is happening. I have to hand it to netflix. They're broadcasting several of my favorite shows now!
 
Well...
There is a bunch we're left with. For all that it's an ending, we're also left kinda hanging. Steve had a strong arc ] not, but I feel he has a lot more ground he could cover. It is heavily implied El survived. Something's up with Will. The government just lost a top-secret research facility, and I doubt they're uninterested in what happened or the people involved. Barb's gone and her family will need to be told something. Mike still needs to learn how to be a good DM...

Plus, as I said above, at the end of this we're only six months out from when Marvel's Transformers #1 hit, and I can't see Dustin not being all over that from the get-go.

--Jonah
 
Just finished the series last night and, eh, I thought it was alright but I am really tired of all this canned nostalgia.

It wears its influences on its sleeve and, for me, it comes off as extremely gimmicky because although it can mimic what it draws from, it doesn't fully capture what made those films it's paying homage to good. Honestly, the use of mixtapes in the show is a good analogy for what the series ultimately is: it's a mixtape. It takes all the cliches and tropes from Spielberg's and Carpenter's "Best of..." collection, stirred it in a pot, and served up on a collector's dish with Reagan's face on it. It's graded way too dark (I get it; it's trying to be spooky) and where it might work for the monster bits of the show, other times it just obscures the image; everyone's performance is at an extreme that it just makes them play as a cliche even more so, and there are so many cuts in this that it ultimately removed any sense of pacing from the show entirely. It just lacks the finesse and subtly.

The kids did a decent job acting but there's never a full scene with the group in the shot working off of each other. It may be blocked like that at first but then it'll cut to medium close-ups on whoever's speaking and that really takes away from the performance because it doesn't feel like they're kids sharing the same space anymore; it just feels staged at that point. And for a show that's focused on the kids, it needs to be showing kids being kids in the same space with others; something that Spielberg does in his films.

If I can give it any high praise, it's that the girl that plays El and the toothless kid really stand above their peers. That girl, especially. She really has potential, and in many parts, reminded me of a young Natalie Portman.
 
Just finished the first episode. Holy crap......I love Netflix. Sooooo well made. Acting, costumes, props, cinematography...everything top notch.
 
Absolutely loved it!
Hopefully a second series will be green-lit by Netflix.
anybody else notice the "Alien" egg?
stranger-things-alien-699x346.jpg
 
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Just finished watching it. It's an awesome show, and probably the second of two 1980s based TV shows I'd love to continue watching (the other is Halt and Catch Fire). This show does in one season what Abrams' Super 8 wishes it could do in a single frame: tell a compelling story, with interesting characters and invoke the 1980s Amblin-style nostalgia without clearly ripping off from the films to the point where they're trailer looks like a remake for Close Encounters of the Third Kind instead of a unique story) . I can't wait to check out the second season when it comes. :D
 
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Oh, the theories I have about this show, let me tell you! I definitely loved this, from start to finish. The ending is 50/50 for me; it ended perfectly, while still having cliffhangers for a possible season 2 (which, from what I've read, the directors have 30 pages of unused stuff about the Upside Down and the Demogorgon they saved for more seasons).

I love that the science of the show is kept (mostly) within the realm of understanding with the kids. They theorize and explained things like a kid would, and it leaves the viewer in the dark about the big questions.

Questions: Does anyone know what the Demogorgon was eating when Eleven first made contact in the tank? A theory is that the dark area she visits are in her head, and the Demogorgon is a manifestation of her own mind. While plausible, I'm not sure.
 
I could spin way too many -- largely contradictory -- theories about there the Demogorgon comes from, how El contacted it/opened the rift, and what all that Giger-esque biotech crud is. In this case, I'm going to trust the creators and wait for season 2.

About the music... In case anyone is interested and doesn't already know...
Toward the end, when El is cranking it to eleven (don't know if that is coincidence or intentional),
the music that is playing is this:


Which I love and think it fits perfectly, despite the album it's from being released in1996.

--Jonah
 
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The only problem i have with great netflix shows like this is you watch the whole damned thing a day, week, or two, then have to wait a full year for the next season :darnkids

Every time they kept showing the top of that building from sky down - it was always at night - and it always made me think of the shot in ROTJ where the camera pans down as the shuttle lands on endor. The arguement over Lando was great too :)
 
The only problem i have with great netflix shows like this is you watch the whole damned thing a day, week, or two, then have to wait a full year for the next season :darnkids

Well, you could, if you wanted to, watch the episodes once a week instead of watching them in a day, week or two. Even then, you'd still have to wait a year for the next season.
 
Haven't read anything in this thread as avoiding spoilers.

Ive just got to ep4, loving this show so far. The best 80's based thing Ive seen since...well, the 80's!! Recommended it to a bunch of people as ET/alien/xfiles/the explorers crossover.

The music is just nailing it, not the pop music sundtrack but the incidental and thematic music is so perfect for the era. It really takes me back.

Hoping it doesn't drop of and the season finishes strong. Would like to see more of it.

Only criticism is that I can't help looking at David Harbour and thinking, there's the Jack Reacher I'm never going to get.
 
Haven't read anything in this thread as avoiding spoilers.

Ive just got to ep4, loving this show so far. The best 80's based thing Ive seen since...well, the 80's!! Recommended it to a bunch of people as ET/alien/xfiles/the explorers crossover.

The music is just nailing it, not the pop music sundtrack but the incidental and thematic music is so perfect for the era. It really takes me back.

Hoping it doesn't drop of and the season finishes strong. Would like to see more of it.

Only criticism is that I can't help looking at David Harbour and thinking, there's the Jack Reacher I'm never going to get.
It definitely doesn't drop off, no worries there!
 

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