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Well thank you for your opinion, Mr. Ebert. We'll take it under advisement. Or perhaps not.
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MovieChat Forums > Stranger Things (2016) Discussion > [deleted]
I tought the adult actors were just fine
And the kids were great considering they were pretty young...
Who didnt you like?
You hear people criticizing Winona Ryder's performance but as she herself pointed out, this is how her character was written, as a high strung woman who perpetually seems like she's had way too much caffeine. David Harbour does a terrific job as the stereotypical burnt out big city cop who returns to his hometown. And the kids were all great, their portrayal of a group of friends is very believable right down to the petty bickering. I also thought the stock character of the asshole jock boyfriend doing a 180 was original, not at all what you expected. This show may not be perfect but it's pretty damn impressive on a lot of fronts. It's like a movie directed by John Carpenter based on a novel Stephen King never got around to writing.
shareAgreed
I really loved it
Me and my kiddie age pals were the same...BMX, DnD, Comicbooks,girls were weirdos...acting and script were on point for this fun show
Cant wait for S2
Speaking of Winona's performance I thought she did a great job playing the part, but at the same time Joyce was the weakest part of the show for me. Don't get me wrong I think the character was written and portrayed well, but for me it was a little too much. Personally I think less screen time would've been better for this type of character.
For myself I think more interaction between Jonathan and his dad would have been more interesting, than constantly showing Joyce in a frantic state of mind. I wish they had written Lonnie into the story a bit more and less of Joyce, possibly bringing more balance to this part of the story, anyway it's just a minor complaint.
Overall the show is amazing, the acting, direction, and the cinematography is all great. The kids were meant to be the stars of the show and they were. Overrated? In my opinion, Not Hardly!!!
I've been watching the show a second time, and I think Winona's performance actually plays better the second time around. I'd be lying if I said her storyline was the one I always looked forward to though.
Also, David Harbour is incredible in the show. I always liked his performance as Hopper, but wow, that Emmy nomination is so deserved.
Although I think Winona acted the part very well, given her part was so annoying, it got old...
shareAfter Lonnie showed up Joyce appeared to come to her senses so to speak and I did find her story a little more interesting in the last half of the show. David Harbour did an excellent job as Hopper, my second favorite character in the show.
shareActually, I think it's possible Hopper may be Jonathan's father instead of Lonnie. In one of his interviews David Harbour revealed that the characters of Hopper and Joyce were high school sweethearts. That's what their history is. Jonathan is the right age to have been born shortly after he left town. Will is clearly too young though. Hopper would've been living in the city by then. It's possible Joyce was already married to Lonnie when she had a fling with her ex that resulted in their oldest son. Could that be why her marriage ended, Lonnie figured it out or she told him out of spite? Anyway, just a theory. There were several moments in Season 1 where Hopper was talking to Jonathan in an almost father-son way. You could easily imagine he knows the boy is his, but doesn't feel it's his place to tell him.
shareThat is a very good theory indeed, they did reveal that Joyce suffered from anxiety attacks in the past and if memory serves they never really give a reason as to why. Your theory could definitely play a part if the answers are revealed. David Harbour did say that the show would dive a little deeper into the characters backstory this time around.
Even though Lonnie was portrayed as the scum bag dad, I did find his character quite interesting and if I remember correctly he did ask Jonathan if Hopper was still Sheriff, possibly hinting some bad blood between them.
The show had good potential but I've noticed that a lot of netflix movies are kind of thin on the writing but stretch the series out. IE not a lot of content spread out across 10 episodes. Hemlock grove had the same problem. :( I kept waiting for the series to pick up speed but it never did. It always seems like after episode 4 or so the shows just come to a halt and start beating around the bush.
shareI think an argument can be made the show stalls slightly in the middle (episode 5 stands out the most to me in this regard), but in general I actually think the show was quite exceptional at not having much in the way of filler.
Season 2 is supposed to gradually ratchet up the pace apparently.
Yea thats the pacing problem netflix has. They use up a lot of content in the early episodes hoping to hook the audience through the rest of the season then they pick up speed like the last episode. You can feel it too as they start masking the main plot line by introducing cheaper side plots towards the later episodes. They need to fix their pacing problems. I found my self really board by the last episode. :( Like how much time did they waste with 11 leading them in circles in the 1st season. I wish the writers would under stand that drawing out thin suspense plots by continuously interupting them with boring side plots isn't drawing on suspense its out right fustrating cause we know we have to sit through a boring sideplot before we get back to those intense plot lines again. During the last 2 episodes I actually started skipping over those boring plot lines to get to the meat of the show. :(
shareWhat I've heard is that Season 2 starts out slow, and gradually builds in intensity. The last few episodes are supposedly a wild ride. But it wasn't the result of clumsy pacing, the plot was designed this way intentionally. Several reviews I've read (and I stick to ones that promise no spoilers) have said that the first half of the season drags a little in places, but overall the time spent setting the stage is well worth the payoff. Guess we'll see for ourselves tomorrow.
share I hope season 2 is done better then season 1. I'm sorry its just a pattern I noticed with netflix shows. Its like they have a writing budget for 5 or 6 eipisodes but have to strech out 4 episodes to make up 10 episodes and hope that the audience is hooked by episode 5. I just noticed this with hemlock grove and stranger things. If you binge watch the show it will be much more apparent.
Although I did say I felt there was a little bit of meandering in season 1, I actually feel what you describe is more a problem with broadcast shows that have to worry about runtime and episode counts. With Stranger Things, I felt like pretty much every scene serviced the main plot, a lot of being needed to make later decisions credible.
sharemost broadcast episodes are standalone modular episodes. Netflix is following a single story arc with there shows so pacing is more important. What regular broadcast shows start sagging in the middle of the season. Don't get me wrong I'm still gonna force myself to watch episode 5 through 8 jus to complete the season arc. And I admit stranger things was a lot better with the pacing then hemlock grove.
I guess my comments are more about the question of filler and unnecessary sideplots, as I took your original point to be more about stretching story out than it is what pace a show is running. I think it can be argued an uneven pace doesn't mean the story is being dragged out. I don't think Stranger Things had any pointless fat in this regard, whereas a popular show like The Walking Dead absolutely does.
sharei concur... Netflix series are not tight enough... Would work better as a mini series...
shareSorry, I have to be THAT guy... I watched the first episode of season 2... no, I just can't... It was a slog to get through one episode...
Too nostalgic, too fax of a photocopy of a sketch... too sentimental... too much of a kids show... and it looked way too digital for my tastes, which is surprising given how slavish they are to all things 80s... Perhaps it is a Netflix restriction...
I felt nothing... Nothing funny, nothing scary, nothing sad, nothing suspensful... yes, I did get a sense that there are things to come, but only the very TV show way of we're-going-to-hold-the-good-moments-back-so-you-watch...
This seems like a show for committed fans of the first season... I'd rather watch some actual 80s movies instead...
You may very well enjoy the last part of season 2 then. I felt they betrayed the style they had going in season 1 and first few episodes of season 2.
shareWinona Ryder overacted. Her constant hysteria was one of the few negatives in the show, and unfortunately it continued into season 2. It’s like she was channeling Claire Danes from Homeland.
shareJoyce Byers is who she is, people can change to some degree but it takes time. And in this season she continued to have ample cause for concern. Now that poor Will is okay, his ordeal that started in the very first episode has finally come to an end in the season 2 finale, maybe Joyce will be able to back off a little and stop smothering.
I actually liked her when she was standing up to the Hawkins Lab people, going to Hopper's rescue, and fighting to break her son free of the Mind Flayer once and for all. When she has something to channel that perpetual nervous energy into she's an inspirational character. She just can't tolerate sit around and do nothing, and obsesses constantly. Then she can get quite irritating.
Even apart from Winona, there is just way too much crying in this show.
shareThere are a lot of very upsetting and just plain fυcked up things happening to people on this show. It would be more surprising if they didn't cry.
shareI get that. I get that most mothers would be absolute wrecks if anything happened to their kid. But you make choices about how much of that pathos to actually put on the screen and I just think they went way too far.
shareIf they toned down Joyce Byers a little it probably wouldn't have seemed that bad.
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