Stranger Things on Netflix

[Batutta]

Anyone with an affinity for 80's era Spielberg, John Carpenter and/or Stephen King should stop what they're doing and watch this show. Perfectly captures the feel of that era way better than Super 8 ever did, while telling its own, compelling story. And it doesn't over-do the nostalgia at all. They just approached it as if they actually made a movie in that era, without cute winks or callbacks. The visual style is note perfect, as if Allen Daviau himself shot it. The cast is great, especially the kids, who actually feel like real kids and not precocious Disney brats. The teenagers actually look like teenagers. The music, while full of great needle drops, is also very John Carpentereque in the scoring. Can't say enough good things. Only bum note maybe is Winona Ryder, who overdoes the histrionics at times. Also, this no-name cast is so good, it actually takes me out of the spell a bit to see recognizable faces. I've never heard of The Duffer Brothers before but now I'll be eagerly looking for more of their work.

 

[David Jimerson]

Stranger Things

Stranger Things

On Netflix.

If you were a kid of the '80s, it's like plugging your brain directly into 1983. I've seen a lot of attempts at capturing the feel of '80s movies of the Spielberg/Stephen King vein, but nothing has ever nailed it like this.

Very, very well-done. Writing and acting (so far; I haven't finished the series) are superb. Best original series I've watched on NF.

 

[David Jimerson]

Threads now merged.

 

[David Jimerson]

It should be noted: the expectation that the poster conjures up is exactly what you get.

 

[dmitrizigany]

That poster feels like a mix between The Goonies and the 80s pen and paper role playing game Call of Cthulhu...

 

[Mark Williams]

Great series, I really enjoyed it.

 

[Batutta]

This Drew Struzan-like poster is ever better--

 

[David Jimerson]

You're right about it being far more effective with a cast of unknowns, who aren't particularly good-looking. I think it's interesting, though, how much they remind of the actors who were in all those types of movies back in the day.

And the authenticity is such that when you do catch an odd anachronism (like a car, or a song, or the current Georgia flag flying on a pole), it surprises you.

One thing I've noticed - the US flag patches all the cops wear are wrong - the field of stars is too large and there aren't enough stripes under it. I know it's just a production error, but I keep half-expecting it to have some bearing on the story.

 

[David Jimerson]

I think the point is moot, because I think a second season is confirmed, but I was thinking along the same lines as these guys while watching the pitch-perfect final episode. They argue that there should not be a second season, and that they should just let the nearly flawless series stand on its own. The story is told.

https://www.inverse.com/article/18535-stranger-things-netflix-season-2-season-1-second-season

Which isn't to say I wouldn't want to see more in the same style by the Duffer Brothers. They know what they're doing.

 

[KyleProhaska]

When it ended, I almost expected the series to continue with a different story each season. Different characters, like a really long X-Files episode. I'de be down with that.

 

[David Jimerson]

I'd be fine with that, too, but I guess it's going to continue the same story.

 

[Batutta]

This series has really made me contemplate wether or not feature films as an art have reached their creative end, and if these limited series are a superior form of storytelling. When the production values are this good, without any feeling of compromise, and the stories told with a level of depth no film could hope to match, just by virtue of running time, I really can't see what movies have to offer anymore other than bigger special effects. But special effects can only get so big before they are boring and routine, and I as a viewer reached that point several years go. The Marvel movies are basically becoming a long TV show in a way, and would probably be better suited in the end in this format. The paradigm is slowly shifting, and if the results keep looking like this, the idea of the feature film as we know it may be coming to an end.

 

[agcohn]

I definitely enjoyed this one a lot. The tone, look and feel of the show were spot on. Heavy 80s horror / sci-fi vibe that really suited the material.

My only complaint is that I feel they kind of revealed a little too much of the mystery a little too early in the span of the season, so I had already guessed at much of what was to come in the later episodes.

Still enjoyable though, but I wasn't at the edge of my seat wondering what was going to happen next so much as I was watching my theories come to fruition.

 

[David Jimerson]

This series has really made me contemplate wether or not feature films as an art have reached their creative end, and if these limited series are a superior form of storytelling. When the production values are this good, without any feeling of compromise, and the stories told with a level of depth no film could hope to match, just by virtue of running time, I really can't see what movies have to offer anymore other than bigger special effects. But special effects can only get so big before they are boring and routine, and I as a viewer reached that point several years go. The Marvel movies are basically becoming a long TV show in a way, and would probably be better suited in the end in this format. The paradigm is slowly shifting, and if the results keep looking like this, the idea of the feature film as we know it may be coming to an end.

I had many of the same thoughts.

Stylistically, it was totally an '80s feature film. It began like one, it ended like one.

I began to wonder if it could be fit into 2 hours and 15 minutes and still contain the whole story. There WAS room for tightening. You could have dropped the deadbeat dad. You probably could have dropped "Jane's" mother. Maybe a few other things here and there, where some things seemed a bit repetitive. (Some of Winona's shrieking could have been totally cut.)

Could it have been a kick-ass feature film? I think it could have, though it wouldn't have had NEAR the richness of detail. I'd be curious to see an edit.

But as seeing a movie in the theater is a rarity for me these days, and being the contemplative sort, I, too, am starting to think the "limited series" format may be the ideal replacement for the feature film.

 

[Mitch Gross]

Some stories are best told over 100 minutes, others over 500 minutes. Some short stories are amazing, other wonderful tales take a few thousand pages. One does not replace the other.

 

[spgreen65]

Overall I liked it, but I agree that they gave away a little too much too early. I thought it could have been one or two episodes shorter. The one big leap of faith I couldn't make was the inconsistency of the credibility of the threat from the Government, one time the government knows who every one is and listening in to all the conversations, the next time they cant find these kids. I really, really dug the music, but having gradated in 87, this was my era.

 

[David Jimerson]

There is most certainly an advantage in enjoyment to being the right age. In the fall of 1983, I was 12, just like the main kids, and I was one of them. I connected with them immediately.

 

[rsbush]

One thing I've noticed - the US flag patches all the cops wear are wrong - the field of stars is too large and there aren't enough stripes under it. I know it's just a production error, but I keep half-expecting it to have some bearing on the story.

Might just be because the U.S. Flag code prohibits the display of flags on costumes.

 

[David Jimerson]

Might just be because the U.S. Flag code prohibits the display of flags on costumes.

I doubt that; the US flag code is non-binding, and pretty much no other production has the same problem.

I just spent a few weeks with a proper flag on my shoulder for History Channel's "Six," for example.

 

[j1clark@ucsd.edu]

This series has really made me contemplate wether or not feature films as an art have reached their creative end, and if these limited series are a superior form of storytelling. When the production values are this good, without any feeling of compromise, and the stories told with a level of depth no film could hope to match, just by virtue of running time, I really can't see what movies have to offer anymore other than bigger special effects. But special effects can only get so big before they are boring and routine, and I as a viewer reached that point several years go. The Marvel movies are basically becoming a long TV show in a way, and would probably be better suited in the end in this format. The paradigm is slowly shifting, and if the results keep looking like this, the idea of the feature film as we know it may be coming to an end.

The "Star Trek" films, other than the first one, staring the 'geriatric generation', were TV shows. In one of the special features, the producer bragged on how he got the 'costs down' by shooting TV style...

As it is, I think "Wrath of Khan"(1982) was the best of the geriatric generations efforts.