Saturday 27 August 2016

Stranger Things Review

Have you heard about a Netflix show called Stranger Things? You probably have. It's been around for little over a month, and already 14 million people have seen it. Crazy, right? Even the critics seem to love it. Well, shows this famous are usually a bit overhyped. This one, though, deserves every single praise it is given and more, a lot more. It combines science fiction with mystery, and its 80's vibe is really on point, with all the clothes, hairstyles, and trends of those times.

The characters are pretty cool, even the ones you just want to punch and send to space. A fan favourite seems to be Barb; I like her, though not that much, as Eleven is kind of the real deal in here. Everything has to do with her, and being as badass as she is, almost nothing can stop her. Millie Bobby Brown, the actress portraying her, has some serious acting skills. The other kids are awesome, too; and what can I say about cute, toothless Dustin.

Winona Ryder's character, Joyce, is pretty interesting. You can see, from her point of view, how the events in the series affect her, and the extreme measures she could take to ensure her children's safety. The other characters are fascinating, too, but if I wanted to talk about all of them, it would take me hours, so I will just stop here.

The concept of the Upside Down is intriguing and creepy, but like, really creepy. I had never seen anything like it before, so I found it quite appealing. I want to know more about it and its technicalities (does time work the same way there?), but also about that weird-looking-ugly thing, and where it comes from.

With this show you'll get scared, maybe even totally freaked out, but it will all be worth it, because it  will leave you thinking: how far would humankind go for the sake of 'progress'?

Netflix | IMDb

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by Jack Thorne

»Release date: July 31, 2016
»Page count: 343
»My rating: ★★★☆☆


I had such low expectations for this book that I was convinced I would hate it, but at the same time I was so willing to like it that I ended up doing it. It was good, but it had many flaws that bugged me a lot, so I couldn't enjoy it as much a I would have wanted.

The characters were both great and awful at the same time. Some were complex and had a clear development, such as Scorpius, though even that is debatable. Others were almost completely plain, like Rose and Albus. I still don't understand how his mind works, if he's just selfish or plainly stupid for putting so many lives at risk and not thinking about the consequences his actions would bring.

Harry, Hermione, Ron, Ginny, and Draco are just ghosts of what they used to be; and don't even get me started on Snape, whose presence in this book was totally unnecessary, as it was just for his long-awaited redemption.

I also found irritating the queer baiting, although I'm not 100% sure if it was intentional. It looked like it, but maybe I was just seeing what I wanted to.

The plot was a total failure. It was really, really loose and purposeless. The quest that Albus embarks on was just a silly attempt of bringing back the sadness that Cedric's death caused in many of the original series' fans, and it really read a bit like fan fiction.

Despite everything I've mentioned, the Harry Potter books hold such a dear place in my heart that I can't hate them or give them less than three stars. The Wizarding World is as great as ever, and going back to it was awesome. Cursed Child was exceptionally funny, even more than its predecessors, I dare say. I gasped, I squealed, and overall, I had a good time while reading it, even with all its blemishes.



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