Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/899902
maltatoday SUNDAY 12 NOVEMBER 2017 42 This Week THE stratospheric success of the Netflix show Stranger Things, whose first and full binge-ready season premiered on the global streaming service on July 15, 2016, is not all that difficult to fathom, in retrospect. With an eager band of excellent child ac- tors on their side and a perfect grasp of the 1980s pop culture idiom, showrunners The Duffer Brothers created an adventure show that hit older viewers right in the nostalgia and gave their younger counterparts a spit-pol- ished version of all that was great about those genre classics that tend to be set in the American suburbs and tend to involve a plucky band of kids in their early teens saving the neighbourhood from some supernatural threat, often just out of sight of their clueless parents. Now back for a second go just in time for Halloween with a nine-episode second season run – in line with its reference points that absorb everything from Ste- phen Spielberg to Stephen King and John Carpenter and beyond – the heartwarming walk down memory lane takes a darker turn. Eleven (Millie Bobbie Brown) is still missing after the events of the first season, but Will (Noah Schnapp) is back home follow- ing his traumatic imprisonment in the 'Upside Down' – an alien hellscape that lies just under the surface of the sleepy (and fic- tional) town of Hawkins, Indi- ana, and which is kept in check by a government facility now under the control of Sam Owens (Paul Reiser), who is determined to take a more conscientious tack to job than his predecessor (and Eleven's erstwhile father fig- ure) Martin Brenner (Matthew Modine). But the Upside Down is not done with Will. Besieged by vi- sions of a giant tentacular mon- ster keen to make the boy its host, Joyce and Will's brother Jonathan (Charlie Heaton) are placated into believing that this is all just 'PTSD' by Owens and Hawkins' Chief of Police Jim Hopper (David Harbour). Tentatively bringing a new- comer – Max (Sadie Sink) – into their fold, Will's friends – Mike (Finn Wolfhard), Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) and Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin) – are once again drawn into swirling chaos. But they're missing a key power play- er this time around... a player they suspect might have gone away for good. A player going by the number Eleven. A player who has been kept in a shed by none other than Hopper himself for the better part of a year, and who's itching to go out in the world to settle some scores, no IN CINEMAS TODAY Embassy Cinemas Valletta Tel. 21 227436, 21 245818 Paddington 2 (PG) 10:00, 12:15, 14:30, 16:45, 19:00, 21:15 Murder on the Orient Express (12A) 10:30, 13:30, 16:00, 18:30, 21:00 Kingsman: The Golden Circle (15) 21:05 Thor: Ragnarok (2D) (12A) 10:30, 14:30, 18:00, 20:50 The Mountain Between Us (12A) 14:00, 16:20, 18:40, 21:05 My Little Pony The Movie (U) 10:00, 12:00, 16:15 Jigsaw (18) 10:00, 12:10, 14:20, 16:25, 18:35, 20:45 Yozgat Blues (The Yozgat Blues) (PG) 19:00 Valletta Living History (U) 10:00, 10:45, 11:30, 12:15, 13:00, 13:45, 14:30, 15:15 Eden Cinemas St Julian's Tel. 23 710400 Jigsaw (18) 14:20, 16:25, 18:35, 20:55, 23:05 Geostorm (12A) 14:05, 18:45, 16:25, 21:05 Breathe (12A) 14:05, 16:15, 18:25, 20:45, 23:00 The Mountain Between Us (12A) 14:00, 16:15, 18:30, 20:50, 23:00 A Bad Mom's Christmas (15) 14:05, 16:25, 18:40, 20:55, 23:15 Blade Runner (12A) 14:00, 17:45, 21:00 Murder on the Orient Express (12A) 14:30, 18:00, 20:30, 11:05 Happy Death Day (15) 14:05, 16:15, 18:30, 20:35 The LEGO Ninjago Movie (U) 14:00, 16:25, 18:40 The Death of Stalin (15) 20:55 My Little Pony: The Movie (U) 11:35, 14:10, 16:25, 18:40 The Snowman (15) 20:50 Kingsman: The Golden Circle (15) 14:00, 17:45, 20:45 Thor: Ragnarok (12A) 11:25, 14:30, 18:00, 20:55 Empire Cinemas Bugibba Tel. 21 581787, 21 581909 A Bad Mom's Christmas (15) 10:55, 13:50, 16:15, 18:40, 21:05 Murder on the Orient Express (12A) 11:00, 13:30, 16:00, 18:30, 20:55 Thor: Ragnarok (12A) 10:30, 13:15, 15:55, 18:35, 21:15 Paddington 2 (PG) 10:45, 13:35, 16:00, 18:25, 20:50 Breathe (12A) 11:00, 13:30, 16:00, 18:30, 21:00 The Mountain Between Us (12A) 18:40, 21:05 My Little Pony: The Movie (U) 11:00, 14:00, 16:20 Geostorm (12A) 10:45, 13:35, 16:00, 18:25, 21:00 FILM By Teodor Reljic Going back to strange STRANGER THINGS 2 (16+) ★ ★ ★