"Stranger Things" on Netflix

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by davidshirt, Jul 15, 2016.

  1. sportzdad

    sportzdad Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Athens, GA
    We finished it yesterday . Great show.

    There are many obvious comparisons to Steven King , but I keep thinking about a book ( yes, there was a horrible movie as well) by Dean Koontz that I read decades ago. It was called WATCHERS .

    In short, the book was about a man who found a dog with extraordinary abilities. There was a secret government facility in the woods, and another dog. This one with even more abilities but still under control of the government and used for bad things. Eventually the good dog died but killed the bad dog in the process, I think.

    Anyone else remember this book? My memory may be sketchy about this and would be interested in what others think of this comparison.
     
  2. It gets better with each episode.
     
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  3. bababooey

    bababooey Forum Resident

    Location:
    Houston, TX USA
    It has and I've actually found a show the wife and I can watch together. Best of all it's on Netflix with no commercial interruptions. When we watch TV together I miss half the show because she has to change channels during commercials.
     
  4. I thought that was only MY problem.
     
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  5. jon9091

    jon9091 Master Of Reality

    Location:
    Midwest
    Another great thing....
    They really achieved a good film look on this thing. I'm sure it was probably shot on RED, but it had a good look to it. Even the title sequence looked like film. That helps a lot to tie it back to a classic era of films.
     
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  6. amoergosum

    amoergosum Forum Resident

    Location:
    Germany
    >>>

    "The Duffer Brothers shot on 'RED Dragon' film


    Matt: We shot on the RED Dragon [camera] and we then added film grain that was scanned from 80s film stock on top, which is cool.

    Ross: In college, even, we shot on film. It's always hard to know nowadays if it's just nostalgia. I don't think it is, I think film still looks a lot better with the depth of it and a texture to it. It's a dying art. We are very happy with how it looks. We did our best to replicate our preferred aesthetic which is a film look; that’s what we were going for."


    Stranger Things: the full story behind the hit Netflix show »
     
  7. Modine said 10 episodes, but what he meant as 8...unless he let something slip about Season 2. :shh:

    I finished he season last night, and before it was over, even my kids joined in the fun. The show starts on November 4th, 1983, and in just a few days I would turn 10.

    I don't have enough superlatives to describe how well I thought this show was done. There wasn't many holes I could poke in the plot, either (not that I wanted to); it felt really very real, even for the fantasy genre that it is. It left me feeling every bit as good as I have watching Fargo and Better Call Saul. In fact, I think it's be best Netflix original that I've seen, even topping Narcos. My wife felt the same.

    It also left my kids asking more questions about the '80s, which was cool. Except when my daughter calls everything in the last century "The 1900s." That's just weird. Technically, she's right, but when I was a kid the 1900s were the years 1900-1909. Stranger Things.
     
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  8. GodShifter

    GodShifter Forum Member

    Location:
    Dallas, TX, USA
    If they're going to do another series, they better get on it while these kids are still kids. I suppose you could do a "five years later" deal but some of the charm and innocence of the kids would obviously be lost.

    Now, at risk of being stoned (the bad kind), I didn't like this as much as everyone else. It had some good aspects to it (I would have been about 15 in 1983) so the nostalgia was cool but I don't like films where the central focus is kids. Also, (sorry!) I found the chief of police a bit unrealistic in terms of his stealthiness and sleuthing, but it's a tv show, right? I did like that he channeled Harrison Ford pretty well.

    I'd give this thing a B+.
     
  9. jon9091

    jon9091 Master Of Reality

    Location:
    Midwest
    Cool....thanks for posting that.
     
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  10. jon9091

    jon9091 Master Of Reality

    Location:
    Midwest
    Yeah...the police chief was my least favorite character at first. But I warmed up to him. I think they used some cliches purposefully, to advance the story quickly, and to give it bit of innocence. Like they really didn't care if people were going to obsess over each scene. They were going to move the story along. Honestly, I thought it was a 10 episode season, so at the end is episode 8....it all just hit me. There was no more to watch after this.

    It gets a solid A from me.
     
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  11. GodShifter

    GodShifter Forum Member

    Location:
    Dallas, TX, USA
    Haha, I realize that criticizing the police chief's character as "unrealistic" in a sci fi series is being a bit pretentious and hyper critical, but I'm really just trying to dissect the show somewhat objectively.
     
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  12. Synthfreek

    Synthfreek I’m a ray of sunshine & bastion of positivity

    Why didn't anyone say anything about the dangling telephone that Will left at the beginning of the first episode. The brother or mother didn't think that was weird? He left it dangling when being chased then the next time they show it it was back in its proper spot.
     
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  13. GodShifter

    GodShifter Forum Member

    Location:
    Dallas, TX, USA
    Cynic! :p
     
  14. Deesky

    Deesky Forum Resident

    <throws the first stone> ;)
    It really depends. If the kids are smarmy, bratty or ill behaved (for the sake of it), then I would agree. But when they're interesting, smart, inquisitive and still kid-like, and being played to perfection, as is the case here, then it's wonderful to see.
     
  15. GodShifter

    GodShifter Forum Member

    Location:
    Dallas, TX, USA
    Fair enough, agreed.

    Here's something though: after all the ridiculous BS that what's her face (Nancy?) and Steven/Stephen go through and that relationship perseveres? Seriously?

    That was weak. That was movie writing right there.
     
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  16. bcaulf

    bcaulf Forum Resident

    This seems to be the show that people are talking about now. May need to check it out.
     
  17. Deesky

    Deesky Forum Resident

    Yeah, I was a little miffed that they got back together, but the fact that it was surprising, was just another interesting twist in the story.

    But thinking about it some more, I don't actually think that development was bad writing. While Steve was a total douche, Nancy was initially very attracted to him and he did at the end make a full and heartfelt apology to her, so I can see how she might give him a second chance. Plus it plays to the whole 'attracted to the bad-boy' zeitgeist. But also, it sets up some friction/unrequited love type dynamic for season 2, so I reckon it was a good move.
     
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  18. GodShifter

    GodShifter Forum Member

    Location:
    Dallas, TX, USA
    Yeah, you're absolutely right. It keeps the tension with Jonathan while leaving some moves for the next season.
     
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  19. Oh, wow, I thought the Steve character was a totally authentic portrayal of a High School kid who has a good heart, but was simply conflicted by looking cool, being cool, peer pressure and a young man's raging hormones. It would have actually been a cliché if Steve wanted nothing to do with her after they first had sex. I think Nancy was even expecting it; but Steve proved her wrong.

    Or, maybe I'm just seeing this from my eyes, because there are similarities between me and Steve that rang true. I wasn't quite as susceptible to peer pressure as Steve was, yet I did have one of those dick friends who didn't seem to have a heart at all. You know, the loudmouth, covering-up-for-something pal, who was really just lonely and confused. Maybe there was some bad stuff in his home life. It would have even been more unreal if she had gotten together with Jonathan. This is how life really works sometimes.

    It's funny, while writing this my mind conjured up images of The Last American Virgin.
     
  20. modrevolve

    modrevolve Forum Resident

    I kept thinking Steve grows up to be Jean Ralphio from Parks and Recreation.
     
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  21. Ghostworld

    Ghostworld Senior Member

    Location:
    US
    That's what I thought. Felt more like Steven King contrivance than Spielberg -- at least some of Steven King's cheapies adaptations. The Duffer Brothers certainly aren't Spielberg. The dialogue is uninspired as is the direction. The characters and plotting definitely feel like "cheap thrill" Steven King and not mesmerizing Spielberg. Their characters don't lift off the screen with the subtlety of Spielberg's direction and Spielberg was never as obvious as Stranger Things. The Duffers aren't cinematic, they're television. Just okay television. I only watched 3 episodes, maybe it gets better. To me, it's X-files meets mediocre Steven King.
     
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  22. Deesky

    Deesky Forum Resident

    ^ We must have been watching different shows!
     
  23. 80sjunkie

    80sjunkie Forum Resident

    Location:
    Dallas, Texas
    You never see the story arc that a character like Steve gets. That was really refreshing.
     
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  24. davidshirt

    davidshirt =^,,^= Thread Starter

    Location:
    Grand Terrace, CA
    Hopefully someone tries to find Barb in season 2.
     
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  25. medium Rob

    medium Rob Forum Resident

    Location:
    East Virginia
    Barb is well DONE
     
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