A thread for Stranger Things, the "Goonies meets X-Files" new Netflix series (with SPOILERS!)

(on the starcade t.v. show you won really cool prizes...)

https://i1.wp.com/www.retrocrush.com/archive2/dragonslair/bionicchair.jpg

I remember the host of Starcade was named Geoff, but it sounded like "Jeff" and I thought that was weird.

Yeah, very much The 80's as seen through a hip-ish, modern lens i.e. all the "right" movie posters, synthwave soundtrack, Smiths/Television/Joy Division/New Order refs, etc.

xxp

which i guess is a fair way to play this, but it just added to the ersatz feeling that really pushed me out of it

Jonathan was the only hip-ish, modern lens character in the series. I agree that some of the pre-recorded music choices were too clever, but I bought a lot of the original interstitial music being period-correct.

White kids in an Indiana town would've been playing Johnny Cougs and Rick Springfield and Journey.

And Zeppelin and AC/DC

And the Smiths and Joy Division. And REO Speedwagon. And Styx. And the Housemartins, probably.

It's interesting that both Poltergeist and E.T. had their origins in Speilberg's what if the aliens were evil Close Encounters sequel Night Skies. Stephen King was originally supposed to write Poltergeist too.

it's a rich tapestry

is there a good critical book about spielberg? i might read one. though i'm scared to read most film writing. something about the psychology of his movies would be interesting to me. war of the worlds is the only more-recent movie of his that i loved and it's the only recent one i've seen that brought me back in time to the movies i loved of his when i was a kid. if you don't count things he has produced like Super 8.

his grown-up movies don't thrill me so much. the last movie of his before war of the worlds that i really liked was probably empire of the sun.

Empire of the Sun works great if you turn off the sound - John Williams' score ruins it

I was really high on both Minority Report and Munich at the time they came out, but I haven't watched either in a number of years. Wonder how well they hold up.

both trash iirc

Minority Report is garbage

I've never sat through Munich cuz idk the subject matter, I don't trust Spielberg to deal w it well it would probably just make me angry

Munich is great, Minority Report is the "Temple of Doom" to War of the World's "Raiders."

all the cyber-blackboard shit in minority report was just some of the stupidest shit i'd ever seen in a movie so i never finished it. Hook is still by far my least fave of his though. i was profoundly offended by that movie. made me want to throw up.

Now we're way way waaaaay off topic, but after the shootings at the beginning of Munich, it becomes more like Ronin in that a squad of talented ops people is assembled and they start hunting people down one by one. I guess it was based loosely on a true story? But in actuality the backdrop could've been anything.

haha, the Greater Cleveland Film Commission is about to host an anniversary screening of "Hook," with a panel of a bunch of the now-grown-up kids from the movie, and keeps sending me invites. "Should I go see this screening of my least-fave Spielberg movie? Hmmmmmmm."

xp the scene in Munich where they track down and kill the honeypot Dutch assassin -- going way off mission for a personal vendetta -- is one of the most bleak things Spielberg has ever committed to movie, as disturbing as anything in Schindler's List.

http://i.imgur.com/7ochYhd.jpg

https://twitter.com/KingImpulse/status/765671532563693570
https://twitter.com/AmyDentata/status/765675295638552576

https://twitter.com/TheTomasRios/status/765661242442866689

meanwhile, if spielberg discussion needs a home:

Steven Spielberg - classic or dud
Best Steven Spielberg film
Steven Spielberg post-1993: Vote for the best

The musical cues are off because the Duffer Bros werent even born when this was set and young people now think the 80s was hipper than it was.

That said, in 83 I was happily listening to very early (arty-era) Spandau, Visage and stuff, and I lived in a country town.

hate to make the obvious point but perhaps they weren't aiming for verisimilitude and accuracy and trying to reflect what small town Hoosiers would've watched/listened to at that time, but rather put in musical cues and references to movies that are from the 80s that they think are cool

reading modern american crime/detective novels the last few years and those guys are ALWAYS putting in references to their favorite blues/rock/whatever artists that no detective/cop would ever listen to.

^^^yes. It can be quite irritating.

i blame stephen king. to bring things full circle again.

bruce springsteen owes him a debt of gratitude

King owes springsteen

what kind of music do detectives listen to

Whatever George Pelacanos does

what kind of music do detectives listen to

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfAv8yAaHps

https ://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfAv8yAaHps

i like these john sandford books and these guys in the middle of nowhere in minnesota sit around talking about guy clark and townes van zandt and i find it a little hard to believe. i mean, these crime novels are often idealized tough guy alter-ego projection fantasies for people who look like they hang out with my dad. and also my dad. and now me. but its cool. i like guy clark.

you know i get why people are latching on to the character of barb from this but also i don't get it? she's in like two scenes and then she dies.

i'm here to say ... barb is overrated (deal with it sunglasses on the demogorgon)

i'm the true iconoclast of mild stranger things fandom

https://www.buzzfeed.com/matwhitehead/barbyonce

fuck this

I think people are primarily into Barb's look

i hated barb

according to buzzfeed she's quotable and a queen of reactions

their quote for her is "i'm chill"

i don't hate her, i'm just not into the typical performative hyperbolic internet reaction to the character

I think people are primarily into Barb's look

People I know who are into Barb used to look like Barb

^ this

I think people are primarily into Barb'sMartha Plimpton's look

fixed

i sympathize with barb

it's cool that other people love her

people shouldn't shun nance tho

there's room in this world for both of them

Eh, I didn't even see Goonies until 5 or 6 years ago, but I definitely knew and was friends with girls who were Barbs growing up.

i think i knew one or two barbs

definitely felt a little bummed when that monster ate her because you know she is just a sweet girl trying to be a good daughter