Half in the Bag Episode 115: Stranger Things

offering the bag stranger things is an eight-episode series from Netflix said in Middle America in the early 80s the show is about a young boy that goes missing in the woods his friends search for him and instead find a mysterious young girl with a shaved head and telekinetic abilities also looking for the boy are his mother and the town's police chief mysteries abound in a tale that's part Spielberg part Stephen King part John Carpenter and part every other movie you can possibly think of from the 80s the show was created by the duffer brothers who also wrote and directed the film hidden starring alexander skarsgård which we have recommended multiple times on half in the bag that's right we like the duffer brothers before it was cool yo yeah Netflix makes some pretty quality programming mainly this and orange is the new black I like that and this program is good it's not great it's good it's it's what we got to get in because everybody's raving about this show everybody loves this show so we got to get in before the backlash starts which will happen soon okay I'm guessing I really love the show the main thing that people are talking about with this show is the nostalgia nostalgia every article every review 80s nostalgia 80s nostalgia that's the least interesting aspect of it to me I think this place to anyone because it works as a period piece more so than remember the 80s I think you have to have a story like this set in a simpler time yeah yeah I mean you should clarify it's not 80s a nostalgia it's 80s movie nostalgia yes it's not like Rubik's cubes Atari it you know it's not that's the way people are talking about it though is if it's that and it really isn't it it pays homage to all the the ideas and and like things that are memorable from lots of 80s things like you know there's a poltergeist Goonies GT is a big [ __ ] one t there's Stephen King's it which is just like a little too much it feels very Stephen King ish oh yeah down down to the font aliens that's in there too but yeah it's it's basically like a an amalgamation of 30 different ideas from different shows it's very well done I think I think the two biggest attributes are the performances and the unpredictability and and it's not so much it's like wow this is an amazing original clever idea it's it's really like it's it's the style it's a clever arrangement of pre-existing ideas but yeah the performances is the big one the kids are all fantastic and they feel like real kids there's been so many movies they feel like 80s movie kids where they swear they say [ __ ] all the time which is great they look like typical kids the one kid Dustin is missing his front teeth apparently he was in real life and they worked into the show the older sister of the main kid her character's name is Nancy which may be a nightmare on elm street reference I'm assuming she looks like she's made of twigs she looks like a marionette puppet she looks like the girl from Ferris Bueller's Day Off that's what girlfriend or the sister the girlfriend not Jennifer Grey the Sloan character yeah yeah I was like she should play that she could play that if they ever remade that they will and Steve of course looks like jean-ralphio yeah from Parks and Rec yes which there is someone who's made a theory about how this is connected to Parks and Rec because it takes place in Indiana and how he is the Jean Ralph he is the brother of jean-ralphio okay so there's some kind of goofy theory but he's kind of a funny looking guy to his name Steve on the show but yeah all the kids look like real kids they swear a lot they play D&D the show's not afraid to get dark which I liked I mean you have the shaved head girl 11 Ellie collar for short she's using her telekinetic powers to - snap necks which gets pretty violent and [ __ ] cool so all that stuff is great and the overall story I like and I like that it feels like I was thinking of lost as I was watching it because I was like oh no we're gonna get mystery after mystery and then by the end we'll realize that they had no idea what the [ __ ] they were doing but as a this is a season I mean there's not nothing there's nothing confirmed that there'll be a second season but you can watch this as an eighth episode thing and be satisfied with the conclusion even though it leaves things open for future stuff I was satisfied with where it ended I think they have confirmed that they are making a second season last I heard and which which is problematic for me because they had this really great idea they seem to be more in love with the the style and the references and making something that that you know was a love letter to 80s movies yeah as opposed to having a really like really interesting story so I fear full of a second season because it's going to be like yeah yeah because this is not it was very well done stylistically the presentation the look like the the upside-down is with the color yeah that was super neat like this alternate dimension that existed on top of our own the monster as far as the story goes it just sort of Peters out and then certain things that happen don't are sort of inconsequential to the overall story mainly I mean spoilers I guess you will say this whole thing is spoilers it's hard to talk about without the support TV show without getting into spoilers at this point if you haven't watched stranger things probably stop this discussion and go watch it if you want to but if you've watched the whole thing keep watching I'm talking mainly about the part where the nancy teams up with the missing kids brother Jonathan Jonathan - they buy of like bear traps and weapons and they're going to try and stop the monster their Nightmare on Elm Street Susie traps thing and and they really don't it there were aspects that kind of dead ended here and there my favorite takeaway from that aspect though is the the [ __ ] Steve shows up yeah just like any any kind of turns into a little hero and he actually helps them out kind of subverts the typical 80s [ __ ] boyfriend trope that's what I mean by unexpected yes is a lot of the characters and and the may the big one is the sheriff oh yeah played by David Harbor David Harbor one of my favorite actors he plays the sheriff and at first like you know Winona Ryder is the mother of the missing kid and she comes in she's a cow but kids missing and he's like look log-log yeah kids guy he's went off in his bike somewhere and I'm like oh he's going to be the disaffected sheriff who who doesn't [ __ ] help anybody ninety-nine out of a hundred times kid goes missing the kid is with a parent or relative what about the other time and then it turns out like he gets really involved started breaking into the facility and nerve and he has a nice backstory yeah involving his his daughter who I guess we're sorry Larry side of cancer yeah and and there's a nice little flash the proper use of flashbacks yes unlike suicide squads flashbacks that were intended to be flashbacks intended to be flash what's not footage you didn't want to use but in intentional flashbacks that are triggered by imagery that's currently happening so it's it's very well done they should hire these guys to make Suicide Squad this show feels more cinematic to me than suicides yes yes it does it suffers a bit here and there from obvious budgetary constraints yes yeah mainly the CGI in the monster but that's that's where it's like I don't care because everything else is working i I do wish with the monster it's completely CG and if you're doing this sort of 80s homage thing guy in a rubber suit with a completely fine but but that's a minor point because the monster is not a huge part of it and you don't see it very much I know and also tonally when you have little kids in the 80s movies you're with the exception of Stand By Me your your explorers your Goonies your actual villain is seen through the perspective of the kids so it's not a murderous violent real-life monster it's usually something a little less yea violent but it seems scary through the eyes of little kids on bikes from et things like that where it's it's its perceived danger and this is real a real [ __ ] horrible monster yeah and I'm also withdrawing it from those examples well I think one of the best things about the show is that it has you know you have that it's like it's like if you had little kids on bikes doing battle with Freddy Krueger I think I think the tone of the show is very well balanced though as far as the threat to the little kid because you have the kids you got the teenagers and you got the adults yeah basically have three different storylines going on but they keep cutting around from they're all connected but they almost feel like the influences are from three different types of eighties movies yet exactly uh but I think they all I think the tone is handled balance really well it's blended as well as it could be yeah as well as it had needed to be in order to pull this off and I pulled it off but as far as the this story goes I think they would need a better script screenwriter for a second season to come up with a really good story because they did a really great job with the characters oh yeah and it's just like the overall plot of like I opened up an interdimensional thing and this I kind of liked that it wasn't because I was worried like I mentioned lost I was worried early after the first couple episodes that it would be like this unraveling giant mystery and there's all these different mysteries and it's like no it's pretty but it's pretty straightforward it's just the information is is you know given to you as the series goes along and I was fine with that and I was fine that some of its left vague I'm assuming they can expand on it more in a second season but if they don't I I'm okay with where it ends you a writer though I I have an opinion on her that apparently everybody disagrees with but I think she sucks on this show I think she's one note she's shrill and unconvincing at all times and everybody else saying she's great so I know I'm in the minority on this but it's like she's just constantly frazzled with the big eyes and she's you know fidgety in every scene like there's a part you know the Leonardo DiCaprio's and maybe like a cos she uh you know that her son is um in the upside down he's trying to communicate through electrical devices which is cool and then like he's trying to talk to over the phone and the phone gets you know burnt up so she goes to the store she works at to get a new phone it would be great in that scene when she's in the store if she was trying to stay calm trying to trying to stay composed instead she just comes in and she's frazzled like she has an every other scene yeah I by I blame that in the direction her character and this was crazy and hysterical mostly all the time even before the kid goes missing yeah and you you could have played her very disaffected and and withdrawn and confused and that he could have played it differently I don't know which one would have drawn more sympathy from the audience I just would have liked to seen it played with some range as opposed to be hitting the same note through the entire thing yeah that was my problem with it where where she is she realizes she's crazy or the idea that her son is talking to her through light bulbs is crazy right but at the same time she's still trying to keep her wits about her and maintain a perception in the public that she's dealing with everything okay yeah it was a complex set of circumstances and yeah it could have been handled with some more depth instead she's she's frazzled crazy lady the whole time yeah I understand I don't think her acting per se was bad I guess I don't know I don't know anything about these duffer brothers I was it other than their movie hidden so everyone else is great though everyone else hits a bunch of different notes the girl that plays eleven is the standout I really liked her a lot because she starts out and you tell that she's like she doesn't talk a lot you can tell she's frustrated that she's not able to communicate better and and for a young you know an actor of her age I thought she handled that really well yeah what did you think of the music I know we talked about John Carpenter you weren't a fan of his music or space cop score I like the music in this I don't think it's a lot of people are comparing it to John Carpenter there's a couple themes that remind me a John Carpenter but it moreso reminds me of I mean it is synth it's 80s it reminds me more of like tangerine dream it's a little more complex John Carpenter scores are very very simplistic III I thought the music was cute that's that's my reaction in and it wasn't distracting yeah it was it wasn't like Lauren also we're doing the eighties thing look at oh yeah yeah I felt like a felt um homogenous it felt natural and I really liked that intro oh yeah well that says I knew within the first 10 minutes of the first episode I was going to be into the show because you know they set up the eighties era they set up all the characters and then boom you got to that music and that opening credits I was like I'm in the retro 80s stuff is not really my thing I liked the turbo Kid movie just because it was just so over-the-top violent and crazy a fun and I like this on a different level it was written like I mentioned for me this felt more like it works as a period piece not just an 80s nostalgia fest right there are aspects and maybe this is nitpicky but like the kids in the basement they're playing D&D and there's a John Carpenter's The Thing poster in the background and this movie set this show set in 83 that movie came out in 82 it flopped horribly it was a critical failure no [ __ ] kid in 83 is going to have a thing poster and later there's an evil dead poster in the kids bedrooms like no one had an Evil Dead poster it just didn't happen the directors put it in there because they liked it yeah that was a way wink to the less specific audience yeah all this movie takes place in the 80 does n't it aren't they using their cell phones take life in the eighties there wasn't overt it wasn't hit over the head with yeah Rubik's cubes well that's I think of like cuz I complained I think it was pixels or as complaining about the the celebration of nostalgia and you look at the opening of pixels where it's like eighties eighties music and you know all that stuff and that kind of thing bothers me this was more like it set in the 80s because it was a simpler time and and it works in that respect it was more like this this series would be like this if it was made back then yeah not not so much like yeah look at look at us look at us it's it's more more subtle and but more of a more of a homage to 80s movies right which which leads into my question where does and this is the the aspect of the show that I'm wondering about where does homage end and ripping off begins oh yeah cuz there's a lot I mean a lot of et is in this you replace et with L the little girl there's so much et in those yeah I think I think I started to get annoyed when the one kid is is shooting the monster with the slingshot yeah trying to hit Pennywise the clown yeah that's very it but I mean even just like shots there's a shot early on when the the kid runs out of his house into the shed out back and it's like the exact same framing is et I thought I was going to make him fly on their bikes I was waiting for that to happen let's see now they need something pretty cool though or she flips the van over which is neat but uh yeah that whole chase scene was very much et and not even eighty stuff there's some things there you go but there's a couple things on this that we're not even 80s which makes me wonder like is this homage or ripoff epic are when Nirvana showed up no its way Noel is in the sensory deprivation chamber and we see she's in that like completely black environments and it looks like she's walking on water kind of exactly the same thing as the movie under the skin with Scarlett Johansson which is one of my favorite movies at the last few years it only came out a couple years ago and it's identical it's like well this isn't an ad so Maj clearly is this a ripoff as much as I love the show I love the story of the show like it's taking all these influences and elements kind of like Tarantino does where it's like it becomes its own thing yeah but there's so many like shots and like like at the under the skin stuff is like identical I would shout plagiarism or you know whatever if if the writing and acting and directing and everything and it was bad where it's like this is [ __ ] I can go but it is very transformative like a Tarantino thing where they Tarantino was inspired by grindhouse and 1970s and you know kung fu movies from the 60s and all that and he took all those things that he loves and did his own thing with it and kind of that's what they did they the characters and this are really strong and unique they're not like tropes or whatever summer jokes but then it does a fun thing we're kind of you know yeah it has a twist to it right and it's a good example of it doesn't do that with everything like you have like the [ __ ] boyfriend uses his friend characters that are just typical 80s site jerk characters but what it does is show that's cliches exists for a reason because when they're done well they work and that's this show yeah yeah and even the supporting characters are fleshed out well enough where you understand them there's there's an entire there's all sorts of fan art for barb it was in like barely in two episodes which is like a fan favorite because you understand her just in the couple scenes she's in you get it yeah it's a gray area on whether or not something like this is is unique or if the homage is taken too far I don't know I'm okay with it I enjoyed it as a good like mystery monster movie I we could call it a movie it is it's basically a really long movie which is why we're talking about it on having bagging when we don't talk about TV shows yeah there's to us sometimes there's just too much talked about in TV shows yeah this is a very very very very long movie and that's right up our alley which is why yes discussing it exactly um because I could talk about Ghost Adventures see that axe do you want to do more killing do you see anything around me bro no see anything around me it's difficult to see all the way to your right because the expert I can't see the axe it's right above your right hand you're about to hit it is this where you hid the night that you brutally killed this family it does move a little too slow um I think this could have been a movie because it's like it does have that lost quality where it's like oh god we got a lots of next one so I don't know I I think it works perfectly as eight episodes if it was any longer like it's long enough where it flushes up the characters more than you would get in a movie yes which is good that's true so I think it's the perfect length it's the perfect length for this particular story perfect length well done well acted questionable origins questionable motivations but very good and also questionable second season yeah yeah like a show like this you swim as this exactly usually show like this ends and it's there's elements that are left open you're like oh I can't wait to see what happens next this one I'm hesitant to see what happens next yeah I didn't leave you with a big cliffhanger there's some elements that say this could be expanded on but ah it's like okay uh is is a is a a killer in the woods with a hockey mask and a show up in season two well you go to a different series of revver the D&D kids are there mom says you guys got to go to a summer camp and Crystal Lake I'm sorry Crystal River if the entire second season is just a Friday the 13th Amash I would be on board I know you would if they just went a completely weird direction that makes no sense yeah I would be on board for the wrong reasons but I would be okay with it Darrin and I heard enough she can't have gone far so Mike would you recommend stranger things I'm gonna call it sounds like teen spirit I would go watch it sure whatever watch it if you got a whole bunch of [ __ ] nothing to do with your week it's the monster the monster is killing everybody monster from another dimension I would also recommend it because Matthew Modine looks just like David Cronenberg in it there it is J I made a website oh my god that website is beautiful I worked really hard on it WWII tanning fast VCR repair calm did you say WWII tanning fast VCR repair calm that's our website oh my god now that they've stopped making VCRs and people are going to need their old ones fixed now our websites up and running all we got to do is sit back and wait for the funk out rain right away

Channel: RedLetterMedia

Views: 1,039,038

Keywords: redlettermedia, red letter media, red, letter, media, half in the bag, plinkett, mike stoklasa, jay bauman, rich evans, stranger things, netflix, winona ryder

Id: 9lMOsdHhqio

Length: 24min 47sec (1487 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 12 2016

Reddit Comments

[u/ThundercuntIII]

the kids are all fantastic and they feel like real kids

Jay Bauman 2016

[u/Spiritofeden]

YES - time for coffee, contemplation, and 9/11

[u/[deleted]]

Of course Rich would be ET, I laughed too hard at that part

[u/venn177]

http://www.lightningfastvcrrepair.com/

It's real if anyone is curious.

[u/Blackborealis]

Mike you HACK FRAUD!!!

The bear trap part he talks about at 6:19 definitely did have a point.

The demagorgen flipped back into the upside down and his trail of blood is what led Hop and Joyce to the library to find Will.

Fucking hack fraud!!!!

[u/Scorp-Ion]

I heard the new plinkett review comes out on next Turnsday

[u/badhusbamd]

Nice pull with that shot of Winnona from her shoplifting trial.

[u/edrenfro]

You can see why this video was taking so long. There are so many shot comparisons and graphics, they must have taken lots of time to find and isolate. Every frame has so much going on.

Mike's favorite actor confirmed for David Harbour.

[u/ThundercuntIII]

Damn I want to see that Ghost Adventures show just because it looks so terrible