Welcome to another Saturday Night Special in The Dungeon!
Every once in a while, I have to check in and see what's happening in the modern world, and I think tonight's feature, for the most part, is a worthwhile effort!
"Strange Things" is an original Netflix feature, and it was successful enough, that they had to come up with a season two, and I'm glad they did, because I thought the first season was okay, but with the second season, they really kick it into gear! To me, it's a hybrid mix of "The Goonies," and "Twin Peaks" with some "Alien" thrown in for good measure!
I had never heard of the Duffer brother twins, Ross and Matt until I saw this show, because they're young guys who have only been doing this for a handful of years, but it appears they really know what they're doing, and I say, good for them! The brothers only other major production was a TV show called "Wayward Pines" in 2015, so now I guess I need to go check that out too! So, here's a little info on some of the cast. There will be some obvious characters missing, but that's just how it works sometimes!
Millie Bobby Brown is 11, aka Jane! This young lady is so talented, it should be a lot of fun to see where her career leads her! In 2019, you'll see Millie in "Godzilla: King Of Monsters!" After that, I'm assuming she'll be running for President! I read somewhere that the Duffer brothers really thought this was going to only be a one series show, so after killing 11 off at the end of the first season, they had to really scramble to find a way to bring her back when they were told that the show was going to continue for another season!
David Harbour does a fine job as Sheriff Jim Hopper! David's been pretty busy over the last 15 years, and was Dexter Tolliver in "Suicide Squad," and will be the new "Hellboy" some time next year!
My favourite character in the show is Winona Ryder as Joyce Beyers! She is amazing! Here's some fun stuff about Winona. Her birth name is Winona Laura Horowitz, but when asked what what name she wanted for credits on a movie called "Lucas," she chose Winona Ryder because her Dad's Mitch Ryder album was playing on the stereo! Winona grew up in a commune in Northern California that didn't have electricity, her Godfather was Timothy Leary, and she's really a blonde!
Still missing Will and Mike, but here's a good ensemble shot of a major portion of the cast that includes left to right, Caleb McLaughlin, Sadie Sink, Gaten Matarazzo, Joe Keery, Natalia Dyer, and Charlie Heaton!!!!!!
An adorable couple!!
Then there's Sean Astin as Bob, the big dumb smart guy!! I don't think it's a coincidence that Sean was Mikey in "The Goonies!"
The comic book character 80's punks were an interesting change of pace!
This creepy ass trio of scientists is led by Paul Reiser on the left! Paul started his career as a stand-up comedian!
This combination of roots, and slimy snake worms bugs the crap out of me! On the disgusting scale, they get a 10+!
Finally, Dinner is served!!
I like "Stranger Things 2" but there's one thing that bugs me, and you know I ain't no freakin' prude, but I do think they have the young kids cussing too much, even if it is just "shit" and I guess I should be happy they're not throwing around the F bomb! It cheapens an otherwise good show, and kids these days sure don't need to be encouraged to lessen their language skills!
6 comments:
Re: kids cussing on the show...I agree. Most of the time, cussing by anyone in a film or TV show is unnecessary, IMHO. It's done for shock value, especially if it's kids doing it. I don't mind so much the occasional "hell" or "damn" but when the dialogue delivery begins to descend into things like the "F" and "MF" words and phrases, then it's gone too far, methinks. It really does cheapen the entire presentation.
/gets off soapbox
PS: I've never seen STRANGER THINGS, since we don't have cable or Netflix. We do have a bunch of DVDs and a nice little handful of digital broadcast channels (MeTV, Antenna TV, and Comet TV, etc).
The Duffer Bros are young guys, and I'm sure the cussing is there to reflect the way kids really talk when not around their parents, something that movies have been stepping around for years, but I still don't agree with it. There's things that we all know underage kids do but don't do in the movies like having sex, drinking booze, or doing drugs. It's just not necessary!
Yeah, I suppose if one were to remove everything underage kids ought not do from movies and TV shows, they'd become pretty boring stories.
I took a chance and bought the box set at Target of STRANGER THINGS on Xmas eve. We watched the first two episodes, and my response is that it's crap. Pretentious, boring, dragged-out nothing posing as something, mysterious posing as something meaningful.
If it had any style, I'd call it style over substance, but it's NO style over NO substance. Another of the modern bullshit shows where they drag out a story ad infinitum, the "arc" of a deep labyrinthine narrative that in reality goes nowhere.
Plus, there were at least a half-dozen slang terms used by the characters that didn't exist in the '80s, so the makers don't know their '80s.
The Duffer Brothers are derivative and pretentious bullshit artists.
I guess I didn't like it, huh? ;)
Please don't take me too serious-ly (or Sirius-Lee), I was just really super pi**ed by the goofy pseudo-80s style and ultra slow pacing after watching the first two episodes. To me, it's a big "fail-whale" as somebody called it. This DVD/Blu-ray box set goes straight into the bin of stuff to be sold or traded in. Sorry to the guys who liked it...
I'll never eat Eggos again!
I was really left cold by the ending or like the last third! I do think the show had some merit, but that's about it! At least it affected you enough to say how much you disliked it. To me, that says a lot. Happy New Year!
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