The Missus and me concluded our Stranger Things viewing last night with the final two hour extravaganza on Netflix, which I read had crashed their servers in its first airing.
What to say? Well, it's been a long time coming and this final series is years after the first seasons when the kids were, well, kids. Personally I think the gaps been too long but hell, I'm 65 and I'm not the proper audience. My daughter, 25 years younger, is nearer the mark but I reckon young teens are the true fans. I understand that Netflix have their own cinemas in the US and the ST finale was shown there. Folks got dressed up at home and used ST plates and cups for party food to watch the ending together. To be sure it's a phenomenon and Netflix will be wondering what on earth or the Upside Down to do next!
In short, in spite of it being a big drawn-out mess, we enjoyed it. Questions were answered, the day was saved and hope sprang eternal. The best bits for me were glimpses, albeit acted, of American teens in the 80's, rather like they were in ET and those other Spielberg flicks, in this case playing Dungeons and Dragons as a group of friends in a big habitable basement, an American world unknown to me but very alluring and reminiscent of the passion I and no doubt we all felt as youths for the glorious crazes of our day. Mine was monsters and space in the late Sixties and Seventies. I was too old for D&D by the Eighties, but I get the excitement around it and the nostalgia for that simpler decade of board game geeking together in basements before the yet-to-arrive isolation of social media.
Will Netflix make Stranger Things II I wonder?
Last thing last night I caught Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom. Being a big DC fan I'll always give their flicks a spin. Having said that Aquaman films are my least favourite simply because it's all underwater and for me, just not as exciting as on land. Lost Kingdom was no different and all the bubbling oceanic scrapping left me a bit cold and wet, besides which, I'm not too keen on the character Black Manta. It's the huge pill-shaped helmet; for me it looks a bit daft. I enjoyed meeting Aquaman's estranged brother, played by the guy who played the Owl in the brilliant Watchmen I think.
I hate to admit it tho, I turned Lost Kingdom off and it's unlikely I'll go back to it!
Bring back the Justice League I say!
Did you see either of these readers?
Not only seen 'Aquaman : The Lost Kingdom', but worked on it Woodsy.
ReplyDeleteI helped build the full size, real, Octobot 'submarines', though they are computer generated, in part or in whole, for most of their appearances.
Indeed, some of what we built was overlaid with CGI anyway, in post production, such as one of the Octobot doors, which I put together, that Amber Heard rips off at some point.
As for the movie, I quite like the fact that it feels, and looks, like a 'comic' made flesh, not like some mind crushing heavy psychodrama (although there is that in it as well).
Watch it through and see what you think.
I understand your experiences Mish, much nicer to build interactive stuff, than VFX place holders!
DeleteI remember building my first all green prop, for Star Wars (Obi Wan Kenobi's lizard saddle)
My last significant interactive prop was a fully detailed lightweight lump of tank hull, for Logan to shelter from the Atomic Bomb in The Wolverine!
Wow Mish, I thought you'd retired. Fab stuff. I did like the big black sub. Yep, the subs were cool. I'll finish it off.
DeleteAnd another Wow! Looey, the Wolverine! I know that scene! You and Mish have had such ace careers!
ReplyDeleteMy door prop was all blue Looey. One of several blue, green or even black models/props I've made over the years.
ReplyDeleteOccasionally, they change their minds, and we end up making the whole thing, and painting it, as it actually should look. More often, we're making a 'buck' prop for compositing over.
It's a shame, as we don't get to make a nice, finished thing that we can photograph and feel proud about.