Stranger Things 2 - Halloween

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Monterey Jack
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Re: Stranger Things 2 - Halloween

#16 Post by Monterey Jack »

As someone put it on AICN, how many kids did you know back in the day who had "homemade" Ghostbuster Halloween costumes that good? :lol:

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Monterey Jack
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Re: Stranger Things 2 - Halloween

#17 Post by Monterey Jack »

Season one Target exclusive Blu-Ray/DVD release on 10/17...?! :shock: :D

http://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=297382

TERRIBLE gimmick packaging, but this will still be mine.

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Monterey Jack
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Re: Stranger Things 2 - Halloween

#18 Post by Monterey Jack »

Season 2: 9/10

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AndyDursin
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Re: Stranger Things 2 - Halloween

#19 Post by AndyDursin »

Look forward to seeing this once my power is restored. LOL

KevinEK
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Re: Stranger Things 2 - Halloween

#20 Post by KevinEK »

I'm actually in Massachusetts now, staying in Concord while I work on an episode of Castle Rock. Power's been on up here, but I arrived on Sunday, in the middle of some big storms.

Just finished Stranger Things S2. I enjoyed the first season last year. The second season is stronger, as they've developed the characters farther.

There are fun nods to multiple 80s ideas and movies. It's the subtle ones that went over better for me. There's an early and grand throwback to The Shining's driving scenes, and a LOT of fun dismissing 80s hair.
And they're acknowledging that the kids are starting to grow up, in an intelligent way.

I had noticed in Season 1, there was a moment in the junkyard where the score went from being Carpenter-esque to actually being a John Carpenter cue. This gets repeated at one point late in the 7th episode where there is a direct lift of an unused Escape from New York cue ("The Bank Robbery").

The fun of the show is that its writer-producers are fully aware of how many movies and genres they are cross-pollenating - and at the same time, they've plugged in some genuinely likeable characters. Even the most unlikeable characters usually have a moment where you can understand them. And in this season, Winona Ryder is far more controlled. She has a great monologue in the 8th episode that shows, if anything, she's found an interesting key to this character.

My understanding is that the show is intended to run perhaps 2 more seasons, which would make sense - it wouldn't work quite as well if they continued out of the 1980s. Much of its charm is based on that time stamp.

I'm hoping they'll have Season 3 ready for next Halloween, but it'll probably be later than that.

But the fun there will be how they deal with 1985. We've seen where they went with 1983 and 1984. 1985 opens up Miami Vice, Back to the Future, Amazing Stories/Twilight Zone, John Hughes movies and more. So they have a lot of interesting material for both the younger and older characters.

It's a pleasure to see a genuinely entertaining show that isn't afraid to scare the crap out of its younger viewers and is willing to let its characters be vulnerable to each other. It's interesting to see a fad grow up around the show - but if you're going to have a fad around a show, it's not a bad choice for it.

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Monterey Jack
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Re: Stranger Things 2 - Halloween

#21 Post by Monterey Jack »

Got my copy of season one on Blu. Truth be told, the VHS packaging is pretty nice in person. Don't know where the hell I'll put it, though (I'll probably get someone to print out a custom cover for a regular Blu case).

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Re: Stranger Things 2 - Halloween

#22 Post by AndyDursin »

Ep 1 of Season 2 literally put me to sleep. 47 minutes of reintroducing characters and not doing much of anything. I'm sure things will pick up quickly.

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Re: Stranger Things 2 - Halloween

#23 Post by AndyDursin »

Hey Kevin, if you're around for an extended period, let me know!

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Re: Stranger Things 2 - Halloween

#24 Post by AndyDursin »

Ep 2 also slow to advance the story...But at least I didn't fall asleep on it!

The girl who plays Nancy could also use a salad. She looks near anorexic and even unhealthier than she did in Season 1.

KevinEK
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Re: Stranger Things 2 - Halloween

#25 Post by KevinEK »

Andy, I'm staying in Concord.
Weekdays and parts of weekends are taken up with work.
We start shooting my ep on Monday up in Orange for two days before coming down to Devens for the rest of the week.
I'll be here til about December 4th, as far as I know.

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Re: Stranger Things 2 - Halloween

#26 Post by AndyDursin »

I finished Season 2 and liked it a great deal on balance. I'm not really a great fan of isolating characters for long stretches like they did with Eleven this year, but at least they didn't recycle Season 1's story all over again. I was afraid the Paul Reiser character was going to be a Matthew Modine repeat, and it thankfully wasn't that.

I do think what holds the show back is its writing. Not so much in terms of the plot and where it's going, but dialogue specifically. The show could be funnier, wittier, snappier -- the interplay between the characters could really click, and instead, it just doesn't really work in that regard. That prevents a real emotional attachment from developing with these characters -- I feel the show is fun, but it keeps you at arm's length. The brevity of the episodes (mostly 45 minutes, and there only 9 of them) further restricts the bond you could feel with these kids.

The "Eleven in Chicago" episode was a total misfire. I felt like I was watching HEROES, not Stranger Things. Even the music aped HEROES for a few minutes with a wailing mystical vocal. Millie Bobby Brown will probably end up being the one young lead who we still see years from now (she's a dead ringer for Elizabeth Perkins this season), but I didn't think a "character centric episode" like that worked for this show, and the story it told was pretty lame on top of it with the stock "punk gang". Reading up on it now after avoiding any show articles, I can see consensus was that the episode didn't work, and it's unfortunate they spent an entire show in what's a pretty brief run of episodes devoted to telling that story.

The "Dart" stuff with the baby demigorgon also felt cribbed not so much out of "Gremlins" but SURFACE, another NBC show from the last 10 years. Very familiar stuff in every element of how it was introduced and developed.

Overall though I pretty much had the same reaction I had to the first season -- it's definitely good, and it's fun. It's not great, I think they could use some writers to punch up the dialogue, but it stays in its lane and gets the job done.

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Re: Stranger Things 2 - Halloween

#27 Post by AndyDursin »

One thing I neglected to mention is the final episode was really excellent and had a host of "character moments" that I think the show could use more of. It is one downside to the brevity of the show and where it could benefit from a longer form presentation.

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Re: Stranger Things 2 - Halloween

#28 Post by Monterey Jack »

The Bride's little girl joins the cast for season three: 8)

https://www.thesun.co.uk/tvandshowbiz/5 ... han-hawke/

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