Ryder was really good, but you barely get to see her as not a hysterical mother whose son is missing. Mothers don't take their children being abducted lightly. Also, if she had tempered her performance, it would have felt like a "did she have something to do with it" red herring. I'm glad the show didn't take that route. I do find it odd that, even though she is a real-life smoker, Ryder always looks like she's just learning.
Just to pile on, this is an dumb way to watch television, and it's even dumber to defend it. And I'm someone who doesn't care if you're pausing the show to post on GAF about it.
i've watched the entire thing twice since last friday and i still don't feel like i'm done with it yet
i spent a considerable amount of time in high school reading through as many Stephen King books as i could, and this show pretty much nails my memories of his style more than anything else i've experienced since
11 was a freak with superpowers and Hawkins found her at birth, drugged her mom to forget about her. Then they try to use 11 to communicate with the Underneath but she accidentally opens the gate and that's how it is coming to the real world. Each person that is suspected to be taken by the Demigod has his or her parents drugged to forget as a cover up because they feel responsible for 11? And ultimately she's suppose to be used as a weapon?
I've seen a lot of comparisons to Spielberg and 80s stuff going in, but after 5 episodes, it feels like a prequel to Fringe. Liking it a LOT and it reminds me I need to finish Fringe.
Winona Ryder has a serious case of overacting in this. You don't go from 0 to 100 like that in the first minute to sell a character whose in a state of emotional distress.
Fortunately, she tone it down in later episodes. But it's mostly due to how the story progress.
Then you have poor perception? Whatever you think about the quality of her acting, she obviously put effort in the performance. I don't understand how anyone could feel otherwise.
I've watched a lot of movies and tv shows throughout my life. Not saying I'm an expert...but... I know shitty acting when I see it.
Edit:
the part that stands out to me he most was when she was huddled in the pantry thing holding a bundle of lights. She made all the crying noises but no tears were produced. It made me groan.
I agree the plot is not anything to write home about, but it does its job well. But the horror is great (it's more of a suspense than horror actually), the music is INCREDIBLE and the characters are awesome, except for Ryder. I thought she was too whiney and her character didn't really grow on me at all.
I didn't say the presentation was bad, actually it is great for the meh plot. I think people sometime mix up these two things. I like the music and the cast! GAF is too used to the hyperbole level praise that "good" music and "great" cast somehow means "only OK"... Seriously this is some IGN level scale problem you have.
Ryder's preformence is divisive here. Some people would argue that she over act while others consider the whiny, unstable acts a part of the character itself. It's a matter of personal interpretation.
I've watched a lot of movies and tv shows throughout my life. Not saying I'm an expert...but... I know shitty acting when I see it.
Edit:
the part that stands out to me he most was when she was huddled in the pantry thing holding a bundle of lights. She made all the crying noises but no tears were produced. It made me groan.
I thought she did great here. She's mostly in a fractured state of mind, I think a few more scenes with her calmed down would've helped, like the flashback scenes. Though since there's a season 2 I'm thinking it'll be evened out in the larger scope of things.
It's scored by two members of S U R V I V E, Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein, but yes, everyone should definitely check out more of their sounds (I highly recommend their self-titled debut album)
Oh godDAMMIT I thought there were ten episodes, the last two are just trailers and shit. I was thinking towards the end of ep 8 that this seems like a season-ending episode.
Anyways I really enjoyed it. The show was put together very, very well. The story borrowed a lot from other movies but I thought it came together perfectly, and the pacing was just fantastic. A lot of very good acting, including Eleven. I don't know what people's problem with Ryder's performance is, she was very convincing as a mother losing her mind over losing a son. All around fantastic fist season, Netflix hit it out of the fucking park with this show. And I loooved the 80s inspired music. Also RIP
Barb, you sad sack.
. never forget.
Minor question about the plot:
So I'm pretty sure they had no intention of opening portals to other dimensions and shit like that, but why did Dr. Brenner tell Eleven that "today we make contact"? If their only intention was to telepathically spy on the ruskies why would they be interested in making contact with some crazy monster from another dimension? Or were they unaware that it wasn't human?
also..
What was the significance of Hopper getting in that car at the end, I think leaving the hospital?
Oh godDAMMIT I thought there were ten episodes, the last two are just trailers and shit. I was thinking towards the end of ep 8 that this seems like a season-ending episode.
Anyways I really enjoyed it. The show was put together very, very well. The story borrowed a lot from other movies but I thought it came together perfectly, and the pacing was just fantastic. A lot of very good acting, including Eleven. I don't know what people's problem with Ryder's performance is, she was very convincing as a mother losing her mind over losing a son. All around fantastic fist season, Netflix hit it out of the fucking park with this show. And I loooved the 80s inspired music. Also RIP
Barb, you sad sack.
. never forget.
Minor question about the plot:
So I'm pretty sure they had no intention of opening portals to other dimensions and shit like that, but why did Dr. Brenner tell Eleven that "today we make contact"? If their only intention was to telepathically spy on the ruskies why would they be interested in making contact with some crazy monster from another dimension? Or were they unaware that it wasn't human?
also..
What was the significance of Hopper getting in that car at the end, I think leaving the hospital?
going to try and answer by telling you my interpretation YMMV
Brenner was sociopathic and power-hungry. He was willing to raise a girl and dehumanize her by only giving her a number, plus conditioned her into killing people by using animals, the closet, and fear and rejection into lashing out all according to plan.
So it does not suprise me or seem out of character when he found out about the creature to naturally see if he could exploit it.
As for your second question again this is my personal interpretation
Brenner was the only one okay with letting hop and Joyce into the breach, and it was mostly because he thought they would die and a condition was telling him where eleven was.
After eleven went HAM security women was killed and the creature made lunch out of Brenner I am assuming those who still knew something wanted to both see if he would keep his word, plus debrief him because he now had a lot of info they did not. I figure they made a further deal.
It's not? Her not taking her role seriously isn't phoning it in? That's the impression I got. However, I've admitted that I really don't know if she's phoning it in as I can't remember anything she's been in to compare it to. For all I know ALL of her performances are like that. Maybe she was trying? So either she phoned it in or she is a shitty actress. Either way, I did not enjoy her scenes. She was the weak link.
So I'm pretty sure they had no intention of opening portals to other dimensions and shit like that, but why did Dr. Brenner tell Eleven that "today we make contact"? If their only intention was to telepathically spy on the ruskies why would they be interested in making contact with some crazy monster from another dimension? Or were they unaware that it wasn't human?
The stuff Brenner was doing with 11 was based on actual experiments performed by the US government including MK ULTRA which was a real horrible program. One of the ideas was to use psychic's to reach out and listen in on the soviets and our other enemies from across the planet. The endgame being if they could use their minds to kill our enemies without even having to walk within a 1000 miles of them. That's why the dude was speaking Russian before they accidently encountered the monster.
It's not? Her not taking her role seriously isn't phoning it in? That's the impression I got. However, I've admitted that I really don't know if she's phoning it in as I can't remember anything she's been in to compare it to. For all I know ALL of her performances are like that. Maybe she was trying? So either she phoned it in or she is a shitty actress. Either way, I did not enjoy her scenes. She was the weak link.
I've met hysterical mothers who hadn't had their child disappear/abducted who make Winona looked restrained so I don't think her performance is off the mark at all. She nails it in my opinion.
Finished it over the course of the week. Loved it, felt so classic and nostalgic - not just because of the 1980s backdrop, but because of how cleanly it was produced and planned out.
I'm so, so, so glad that they wrapped it up also. I would love nothing more than a second season, but I'm glad they didn't leave us hanging with these characters and their stories. I feel very satisfied.
Finished it over the course of the week. Loved it, felt so classic and nostalgic - not just because of the 1980s backdrop, but because of how cleanly it was produced and planned out.
I'm so, so, so glad that they wrapped it up also. I would love nothing more than a second season, but I'm glad they didn't leave us hanging with these characters and their stories. I feel very satisfied.
I've met hysterical mothers who hadn't had their child disappear/abducted who make Winona looked restrained so I don't think her performance is off the mark at all. She nails it in my opinion.
5 episodes in and I'm in complete love with this show so far.
For a few years now I've been bitching to friends and here on GAF, how there isn't really any good "Lovecraftian" modern movies, books, tv shows, games out there. Not only that, but I've been missing reminiscing about Half-Life 2 and been trying to find something that evokes the feeling I had when I played those games.
Stranger Things is fulfilling those needs in both fronts. A lot of people are saying that this is a Stephen King inspired, but lets not forget that King himself owes a lot to Lovecraft. Not to mention I love electronic 80's synth music. It's the music of my childhood, and this show has a lot of that. I could go on and on about all the things that I love on this show.
The best thing is that it came out of nowhere. Saw a few posts here and there and then BAM, everyone I know is watching it or has heard of it.
Loved everything about the show from start to finish.
I had friends growing up who had mothers that got more frenzied than Winona Ryder did at the beginning of the series over more trivial matters. Winona did a great job, and did not make Joyce feel overwrought or phoned in. It is made very clear throughout the show that Joyce is a woman who was once strong, but has been beaten down into a more emotionally fragile state by her deadbeat ex-husband. It's really not too much to assume she would lose her shit if her youngest son went missing. You should have seen my mother when my older brother went missing in the middle of her divorce.
My summary would be:
E.T. + Akira + Half Life 1 + the campiness of 90's X-files.
It's almost perfect, but it tiptoes a little too close to copying other ideas rather than paying homage or remixing them a few times, but overall it's a good balance.
The last 10 minutes of the last episode has a
few unfortunate and unnecessary scenes tacked on just in case Netlfix gives them another season. Completely unnecessary and disrupted the perfect flow of that last ep
My summary would be:
E.T. + Akira + Half Life 1 + the campiness of 90's X-files.
It's almost perfect, but it tiptoes a little too close to copying other ideas rather than paying homage or remixing them a few times, but overall it's a good balance.
The last 10 minutes of the last episode has a
few unfortunate and unnecessary scenes tacked on just in case Netlfix gives them another season. Completely unnecessary and disrupted the perfect flow of that last ep
I didn't like Winona's acting very much. She did anxiety well, but it felt more neurotic than emotional to me. Given some of the context clues of her history with anxiety, i guess it makes sense, but it just didn't feel like it gelled.
It leaves a sense of hope for the first scene that El might still be alive and a lingering uneasy feeling over whether Will was truly saved or not. I didn't feel they were tacked on as we were never get a clear answer about El and the slug scene was set up by prior scenes in the show so it actually makes sense.
It leaves a sense of hope for the first scene that El might still be alive and a lingering uneasy feeling over whether Will was truly saved or not. I didn't feel they were tacked on as we were never get a clear answer about El and the slug scene was set up by prior scenes in the show so it actually makes sense.
It also puts a spin on the happy ending trope. Yes things look like they're back to normal, everyone is happy, celebrating but not everything is as it was. Definitely makes it more spooky in my mind, even if there was never a season two.
Was there an inspiration for Elevens look and conception?
Matt: That came very quickly. For some reason we decided she was going to emerge from the woods in this dirty hospital gown and her hair was going to be buzzed. The trick was no little girls wanted to buzz their hair, its not something either them or their parents are into. Even with Millie there was a lot of talk about it. They were hesitant because it was like, Is this gonna cost her roles?
Fortunately, it was the time that the Mad Max: Fury Road marketing was really ramping up. We showed Millie a picture of Charlize [Theron] as Furiosa and said, Does she not look badass? She was like, Yeah. We said, Youre gonna look badass, exactly like Charlize. Shes like, OK, lets do it. Thank God for Mad Max.
