Stranger Things 2: Does It Live Up to the Hype?

By Spencer Coile 

In 2016, the first season of Stranger Things premiered with little fanfare. Although critically well-received, it was not the cultural icon it is considered today. Roughly about one month after it dropped on Netflix, though, everyone (and I mean everyone) was buzzing about the sci-fi show that oozed 80's nostalgia. It was a total genre piece, one that many assumed the Television Academy would not honor, but that did not stop it from picking up steam throughout the television season. After its SAG win for Best Ensemble, it went on to pick up 19 Emmy nominations (winning 5).

And still, its momentum continued to build -- between merhandise, soundtracks, Halloween costumes in excess, and even a #JusticeForBarb movement that no one saw coming, Stranger Things solidified itself as a show that everyone needed to see.

This last Friday, Netflix premiered the second season of Stranger Things. Unlike the series' first season, many were holding their breath in anticipation, building yet more hype, and setting lofty expectations after such a stellar first outing from The Duffer Brothers. Would it be as good a second time around? 

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Credit Where Credit is Due... 1944 Style

The Smackdown is just six days away so as the panelists finish their screenings, remember that your ballots are due Friday. After a few old movie screenings in a row I get nostalgic for those old school title cards. I hate that so many modern movies are skipping opening credits altogether and doubling up at the end to fulfill their star contracts. Anyway, let's look at the billing situation for the Supporting Actress nominees just for fun after the jump...

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Kevin Spacey Continues to Take Low Roads

by Nathaniel R

a famously cheeky magazine cover from 1997Sigh. How do you solve a problem like Kevin Spacey? The actor's career started off splendidly but soon after those hugely popular double Oscar wins (The Usual Suspects and American Beauty) in the second half of the 1990s, he became rather insufferable both onscreen and as a celebrity. Acting is a subjective art but I personally can't make it through a single episode of House of Cards (I've tried a few times) with that pitched to the rafters hamminess. 

The Netflix star has been resisting public admission of his open-secret homosexuality since he became famous. He's let decades go by without comment, while dozens of braver less famous actors took up the challenge and made the world a better place for future generations by coming out.

Now that he's accused of sexual assault by another man he chooses THIS moment to do it? For shame!

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Beauty vs Beast: Float With Me

Jason from MNPP here - as Nathaniel mentioned in yesterday's box office rundown the latest version of Stephen King's It has officially become the highest grossing horror film of all time now. And what with tomorrow being Halloween this week seemed a great chance to face down the story's Good Guys (And Girl) versus its Bad Guy with our "Beauty vs Beast" contest. It has a great legendary Bad Guy, one of the best ever. But can you actually root for him against a bunch of damaged nerds? I mean if we were talking about the 1990 miniseries I would give this question an emphatic "Heck Yes" but it's a little bit tougher with the remake...

PREVIOUSLY Y'all were feeling more Sense than Sensibility last week, giving Emma Thompson a solid 67% of your vote in last week's tribute to Ang Lee's classic film. Said lylee:

"Yay for Emma leading! It helps that I've always found Elinor vastly more compelling than Marianne as a character. They're both wonderful, but this I think is my favorite Emma performance. And yes, bonus for penning the screenplay. I still go back to her screenplay diaries (which *everyone* should read) when I want a pick-me-up."

The Furniture: Framing the Unseen in Personal Shopper

"The Furniture," by Daniel Walber, is our weekly series on Production Design. You can click on the images to see them in magnified detail.

Personal Shopper is a film about ghosts, and where to find them. Maureen (Kristen Stewart) is a bereaved twin, waiting in Paris for a sign from her recently deceased brother, Lewis. But it doesn’t come easy, not in the least bit due to some unpleasant cross-currents in her professional life. She acquires clothes and accessories for Kyra (Nora von Waldstatten), a celebrity who has an irritating penchant for holding onto things she was meant to return. Maureen jets across the city and rockets under the English Channel on her behalf, toting jewelry boxes and garment bags.

All of which is to say that the material of this film is transient and fleeting, the inevitable intangibility of the personal shopper’s trade. And, of course, it is also about the translucent transience of ghosts, especially ghosts that struggle to make contact. Olivier Assayas has created a layered projection of Maureen’s psychology that refuses her the simple clarity of the mirror. Instead, she seeks her brother and herself in all of the wrong places, only slowly understanding the nature of presence.

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