Showing posts with label Stranger Things. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Stranger Things. Show all posts

Saturday, July 16, 2016

New On Netflix: Original Series "Stranger Things", "Ghostbusters" Documentary, And More


Stranger Things - Season 1 Review

Stranger Things is likely to be the next big Netflix Originals series that all of your friends are talking about. Winona Ryder is the most recognizable name in the series, which finally became available to stream on-demand this weekend, along with a few other goodies from Netflix. While Netflix opened the flood gates for new content at the beginning of the month with movies that included the Back to the Future and Lethal Weapon franchises and several new Netflix Original series the on-demand streaming service has additional offerings to unleash this weekend.

What follows is a quick look at the content Netflix is unleashing during the weekend that marks the half-way point of July. On top of Stranger Things, the fist season of Magi: The Adventures of Sinbad can now be streamed via Netflix, as can new seasons from The Adventure of Puss in Boots and Todd Margaret (starring David Cross).

Winona Ryder stars in the Netflix Original series Stranger Things [Image via Netflix].Its a good time of the month for fans of documentaries as well, since both Ghostheads and Tony Robbins: I Am Not Your Guru record the lives superfans of the Ghostbusters franchise and the worlds most famous self-help author. New films being added include Fighting (Channing Tatum, Terrence Howard), Gridlocked (Dominic Purcell, Cody Hackman), Holidays (with Kevin Smith as a contributing director), and Rebirth, another Netflix Original.

Netflix Original Series: Stranger Things

Whether you were raised on The Bad News Bears, Goonies, or The Sandlot, theres likely a movie you loved when you were a kid that involved a group of socially-awkward youths getting in way over their heads and somehow pulling things together and winning the day in comical fashion. Now that youre an adult, Stranger Things takes those same kinds of kids and adds some X-Files-worthy sci-fi, a touch of The NeverEnding Storys fantasy and a healthy dose of Stephen Kings horror and thrill. Without revealing any significant spoilers, Winona Ryders child goes mysteriously missing after a rousing game of Dungeons and Dragons, and the new Sheriff in town gets very suspicious of a secret government program being housed in his small communitys forest. As Fangoria noted, Stranger Things is a story evocative of Stephen King and 80s supernatural thriller pulp novels that balances brilliant character work and gripping genre storytelling effortlessly.

Ghostbusters Superfans Documentary

Obviously released on Netflix to coincide with the theatrical release of the highly-anticipated Ghostbusters film, this documentary is about the most hardcore fans of all things Ghostbusters and how some of them become heroes on their own time. If you need help spotting all of the Easter eggs, cameos, and other geek-heavy shout outs packed into the new Ghostbusters film, any one of the subjects from Ghostheads would be a perfect person to help you find them. The following was noted by a self-professed super-fan from the Ghostbusters Fans website.

The movie is not without a dark side, however. Ghostheads aims to show several different sides of the Ghostbusters fan community. We see how our fellow fans live, and the difficulties that some live with every day. It shares the hardships that befall the fans, both caused by outside forces as well as resulting from their own lifestyle choices.

Tony Robbins: Rated TV-MA

Everybody knows who Tony Robbins is. If the name sounds familiar but you just cant picture him, the moment you see Tony Robbins, the recognition is instant. But if you havent bought into his self-help books and seminars, you may know little more about Tony Robbins than what you might see in a film like Shallow Hal. Unfortunately, as noted by the Indie Wire website, I Am Not Your Guru isnt necessarily an unbiased look at Tony Robbins.

By existing entirely within the confines of the world hes created, the movie actively resists any possible skepticism about his unique skill. For the most part, Berlingers camera just watches in awe alongside everyone else.

The documentary gives viewers a sneak-peak at the $5,000 seminars hosted by Tony Robbins, including a look at the guru backstage during his seminars and a brief conversation about the abuse he suffered as a child.

RELATED REPORTS BY THE INQUISITR

Of course, Netflix is the source of eternal streaming content, so there are more titles that will be available to stream between now and July 31. Netflix subscribers can look forward to the newest seasons of Liv and Maddie (July 19), BoJack Horseman (July 22), DeGrassi: Next Class (July 22), LEGO Bionicle: The Journey to One (July 29) and Hit Record on TV with Joseph Gordon-Levitt (July 31). New movies coming later this month include The Wave, Last Chance U and Tallulah.

According to the list provided by Heavy, here is everything that Netflix will be releasing over this weekend.

  • The Adventures of Puss in Boots, Season 3
  • Fighting (2009)
  • Ghostheads (2016)
  • Gridlocked (2015)
  • Holidays (2016)
  • Magi: The Adventures of Sinbad, Season 1
  • Rebirth (2016)
  • Stranger Things, Season 1
  • Todd Margaret, Season 3
  • Tony Robbins: I Am Not Your Guru (2016)

The entire cast of STRANGER THINGS rules, but this kid rules the hardest. pic.twitter.com/HmSS5TFi0L

Scott Wampler (@LimitedPaper) July 16, 2016

Still trending on Netflix from earlier this month include Showtimes Shameless, IFCs Todd Margaret, and the Netflix Original series Marcella, Marco Polo, and Between. It wont be long, however, before Stranger Things joins the trending ranks.

[Image via Netflix/Stranger Things]

Source: http://www.inquisitr.com/3312439/new-on-netflix-original-series-stranger-things-ghostbusters-documentary-and-more/

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Stranger Things episode 2: The Duffer Brothers on finding their Eleven


Stranger Things - Trailer 1 - Netflix [HD]

Matt and Ross Duffer (Wayward Pines) are taking EW behind the scenes of every single episode in their thrilling new Netflix drama, Stranger Things, an 80s-set supernatural show starring Winona Ryder and a slew of fantastic young stars. Heres their insight on Chapter 2: The Weirdo on Maple Street

This chapter is really focused on our weirdo Eleven (or El, as Mike dubs her). We dont know much about her at this point, but we get the sense that shes spent the majority of her life in a laboratory, like a mouse in a cage. So when she escapes that lab at the beginning of our story, she becomes the quintessential stranger in a strange land, unfamiliar with our customs and lifestyle. Everything mystifies her especially boys. The Hawkins suburbs might as well be another planet.

Speaking of other planets, there are many not-so-subtle nods to E.T. in this chapter. Just as E.T. is about the connection between E.T. and Elliot, this chapter is about the connection between Eleven and Mike. Over the course of the day, they begin to bond and empathize with one another in surprising ways. Is there first love blooming? Of course there is! All of this is fun, but we also wanted to keep a sense of danger alive. Eleven isnt a normal girl, and shes no gentle plant-collecting alien either. She has unpredictable supernatural powers that will most definitely put our boys in jeopardy. So while E.T. may have been our biggest inspiration, there is plenty of Elfen Lied and Akira in the shows DNA as well (albeit with quite a bit less bloodshed).

Eleven was the most difficult role to cast because she has to convey many emotions with very little dialogue. Child actors, even the great ones, almost always have difficulty listening. Theyre able to deliver their lines well, but to stay fully in character in a scene when theyre not talking thats another skill set entirely. Theyre kids after all; focus is not their strong suit. To find a girl who didnt just have this skill but excelled at it made us concerned. Then we met Millie Bobby Brown, and we werent so concerned anymore. Millie broke out in a 2014 British show called Intruders, which we hadnt seen at the time, but one of our idols had. Back in the fall of 2014, Stephen King tweeted: Millie Brown, the girl in Intruders, is terrific. Is it my imagination, or are child actors a lot better than they used to be? We agree with the King: Millies something special, alright, with a downright spooky preternatural talent. She inhabits every moment so intensely, with some alchemy of intelligence, preparation, and instinct. By the end of production, we found ourselves listening to Millie as if she were one of our most seasoned adult actors.

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Millie is still an 11-year-old girl about, well, other things. Bring up boys, crushes, or kissing, and she freaks out. Boys are really gross and stupid, and kissing one of them is just downright unfathomable. Another example of her youth: During the filming of this episode, Millie showed up to set covered head to toe in glitter, halting production for 30 minutes. To this day, the origin of this glitter remains a mystery, but it seems like something that could only happen to an 11-year-old girl.

Of course, we cant talk about our weirdo without also talking about that buzzcut. When Millie auditioned, she had long brown hair down past her shoulders. But Eleven was written as having hair buzzed almost to the scalp. Millie and her parents were understandably hesitant to chop it all off. Would it look ugly? Would it cost her other roles? Fortunately, Mad Max: Fury Road was about to come out, so we pulled out a magazine photograph of Charlize Theron as Furiosa and showed it to Millie. Charlize looks totally badass, right? Millie agreed; Charlize looked badass. And that was it: She agreed to buzz it all off.

When the day of the haircut finally arrived, Millies mom brought out a camcorder, while her dad ran away with tears in his eyes, unable to watch. It was a pretty dramatic scene. But also very quick. Within 10 minutes we had shaved it all off and slapped a fake 11 tattoo on Millies wrist. Millie looked at herself in the mirror, gave her best Furiosa scream and Eleven was born.

Random trivia: The shooting style, music, and cutting pattern of the scene when Eleven sees the picture of Will is modeled closely after one of our favorite scenes from Peter Weirs classic film Witness, when Lucas Haas points out the evil Danny Glover to Harrison Ford. In extreme close-up, we think Millie even looks like the young Lukas Haas. Its downright freaky!

Be sure to visit EW.com Sunday for more from the Duffer Brothers on Chapter Three.

Source: http://www.ew.com/article/2016/07/16/stranger-things-duffer-brothers-episode-2

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