Stranger Danger

Jen and I have been watching “Stranger Things” lately, and I’ll tell you this:  it’s every bit as awesome as you might’ve heard.

stranger_things1

You couldn’t call what we’re doing “binge watching” exactly, since it’s taken us over a week to get to the season finale.  It’s more like, “an episode or two during the few hours that we can stay awake after our toddler goes to sleep-watching.”

If you’re over the age of 30, the nostalgia alone in the show makes it worth the watch.  (It takes place in 1983.)  And the opening credits are a fantastic homage to the horror films of that era, and they set the tone perfectly.

Again, we do still have the season finale left to watch, so it’s possible that I’ll hate how the story ends.  But so far?  So far it’s been really damn good.

That said, I haven’t been all that impressed with Winona Ryder’s performance.  I realize her character is supposed to be an anxiety-ridden mom in the days before Xanax blunted those edges, but she’s wayyy over the top.
I also keep expecting her to morph into Lelaina Pierce and start pumping gas for strangers with her dad’s fuel card, but that’s probably just me.

winonastrangerthings“What time does Hey That’s My Bike! go on again?!?”

Also Matthew Modine seems like he’s either been replaced by Modinebot-2000, or he only showed up to shoot this thing for the paycheck.  The guy looks completely disinterested in his character, and pretty much mails in the performance.

matthewmodinestrangerthings“They’ll add the emotion in post.”

Conversely, David Harbour has been absolutely brilliant.  He brought serious depth and range to what could’ve been a totally flat caricature of “the town sheriff.”   I’m talking Jodie Foster’s Clarice Starling levels here…  Well, almost.

davidharbourstrangerthingsThat and the guy has a friggin’ epic beard.

Anyway, for those of you with Netflix it’s totally worth watching.

But definitely, definitely send your kids to bed first.

j.s.

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