Wednesday, July 10, 2019

Stranger Things: Season Three


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In case you haven’t seen the intro from my entry dated 1/26/19 (it’s in my archives whenever you want to read it), I’m no longer going to review every single movie I see.  I’m going to review one, with the occasional bonus, and just give ratings for the rest from now on (unless I decide to pick it up again in the future).  You can always ask me why I gave the ratings for the films without reviews though (via comments or the e-mail addresses under the ‘About Me’ section).
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Stranger Things:  Season Three                                  VG
I liked the first season of this Eighties-set Netflix series, but didn’t love it.  I didn’t like the second season as much, but it was still decent (my reviews for both are in the archives---www.abcreviewarchive.blogspot.com).  This season, set in 1985, is the best one yet.  It incorporates the communist fear of the time in addition to consumerist culture being at an all-time high while still focusing on the young characters dealing with otherworldly (as well as human) beings in their small town of Hawkins, Indiana.  I knew it was going to be a good season from the get-go when some of the kids snuck in to see Day of the Dead at the mall theater (granted, that isn’t the best of the Romero movies, but the kids could’ve snuck in to see countless other movies released in 1985).  I believe this season was the most horror-oriented although still having a very sci-fi plot.  In addition to the pop culture references, I noticed nods to The Terminator (the main Russian baddie was an obvious stand-in for Mr. Schwarzenegger), Tremors, Evil Dead 2, and for a brief moment was reminded of The Faculty (even though that was released in the Nineties), just to name a few, but never thought any were cheap knockoffs.  The creature is obviously CGI but completely passable (a big improvement over the “demadogs” from last season and even better than the Demogorgon from the first).  I binged the entire season in one day with obvious breaks in between, never forcing myself to continue, and was only bored for maybe three minutes during one of all 8 episodes wherein 7 were between 50-minutes to an hour and the last one being 78.  Otherwise, this season contained nary a single moment I didn’t want to watch, so it looks like season four has some competition…7/8/2019


Bonus reviews:


Pet Sematary                                                               EH
As much as I frown upon the notion of remakes and always bitch about them yet still watch them anyway, I’ve learned to try and give them a chance by telling myself not to hate them beforehand and not compare them to the original.  It is often very hard to do that though.  Michael Gingold said in his Rue Morgue review that this version was an improvement on the original (Seriously?  Did you even see the original?  I know you obviously did, but WTF?!).  I completely disagree with Mr. Gingold.  The original Pet Sematary will always hold a special place in my heart (the nostalgia factor).  The first half of this version was almost exactly the same as the original with different performers (aside from the obvious change in child death).  The second half attempted to change things up but was absolutely not an improvement on the original and might have worked in another movie (or if the original didn’t exist).  This version just wasn’t as dark and depressing (in the effective way) as the original.  I wasn’t convinced by the grieved performances in this version as much as the original.  Victor Pascow wasn’t as memorable this time, nor did he make as much of an appearance.  The Starcrawler version of “Pet Sematary” during the end credits wasn’t nearly as good as The Ramones version in the original (The Creepshow did a better cover of the song).  It may have been well-shot, but the best thing in this unnecessary remake was the animal masks that weren’t even featured as prominently as the trailer suggested.  Plus, I’m not going to deny that the ending was a bit dark (in a different way than the original was).  You can pick your version to like, but I’m sticking with the original 1989 version I grew up with!  7/9/2019



Pyewacket                                                                   OK/G
Usually, at least in the movies, it never leads to anything good when you perform a dark ritual.  Such is the case here when a gothic teenager summons the titular demon to kill her mother after a serious argument.  Not much happens but you know something eventually will and I thought that’s what made it effective and kept my attention throughout.  I didn’t feel like it was over when it ended though, not exactly in the Gone Girl way either, so I can’t rightfully give it a strictly G rating, even though I lean much closer to G.  I am a fan of the director’s other much different film, Backcountry, and was mostly a fan of this, so I am interested in what he (Adam MacDonald) puts out next.  7/9/2019



Other movies I've seen and their ratings (see above):

Animals  >>>OK

Sicilian Ghost Story  >>>OK/G

Trail of Blood  >>>OK/G


---Sean O.
7/10/2019

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