Did you miss Stranger Things? Here are eight exciting replacement teen movies and TV series

In 2019, there was a comeback of the legendary detective Nancy Drew, who was born back in the 30s of the XX century from the pen of Caroline Keane (the collective pseudonym under which the publisher Edward Stratemeyer who invented the heroine was hiding and mainly a writer, journalist, traveler and archaeologist Mildred Benson, who wrote most of the novels in the classic series). First, the movie “Nancy Drew and the Secret Staircase” by Katt Shea (“Poison Ivy”, “Fury: Carrie 2”) was released in the cinema, then the TV series “Nancy Drew” was released on The CW . In the full-length film, the tomboy, who is always entangled in all sorts of mysterious affairs, was played by the red-haired Sophia Lillis from Sharp Objects and the new film adaptation of It .

According to the plot, after the death of her mother, she, along with her father, lawyer Carson Drew (Sam Trammel), moves from Chicago to the remote rural town of River Heights, where she skates, goes to school and hangs out with her friends: fighting George (Zoe Rene) and obsessive at her weight Bess (Mackenzie Graham) (In accordance with the spirit of the times, George was turned into an African-American – however, in the series she is played by the Chinese woman Lea Lewis, while the role of Bess went to Maddison Jaisani, an actress of Iranian descent). So, when Bess begins to make fun of the main school handsome and privileged bully Derek (Evan Castello), the girls decide to brutally take revenge on the guy. However, their prank does not go unnoticed, and Nancy is punished for her in the form of community service. While cleaning the street, she meets Derek’s girlfriend, blonde Helen (Laura Wiggins), and her grandmother Flora (Linda Lavigne), in whose house ghosts are rowdy. Without thinking twice, Nancy volunteers to help the elderly lady, not yet knowing where this investigation will lead her.

Very compact, running for only an hour and a half, “The Secret Staircase” does almost without men, and those in the film are not all bad: for example, in addition to Carson Drew, there is compassionate sheriff’s deputy Patrick (Andrew Matthew Welch), who is experiencing a clear interest in Nancy. Since the number of characters (and, consequently, the circle of suspects) in the picture is limited, it will not be difficult to guess who the villain is. But this is not that it spoils the film, because it is, in the last place, a detective story, but in the first place – a funny teenage adventure movie with a mystical background and a high spirit of sisterhood. The rallied girls are opposed not only to the system (the unpleasant Sheriff Marchbanks) and patriarchy, but also to dirty capitalists, who do not casually pass themselves off as ghosts, because they personify the ghosts of the past, which must be dealt with.

In general, all this looks invariably progressive and in its own way very cute, although, frankly, not that revolutionary. It costs nothing to pass by this film. However, although it is optional, it is nevertheless attractive entertainment, which does not torment the audience with declarative feminism, but offers to recall with nostalgia the domestic book detective series “Black Kitten”, which also had enough fem-stories and which it has in common with the “Secret Staircase” the fact that both there and there the main characters are such cats.

The 20th century is coming, and with it the first wave of feminism is gaining momentum… In this regard, the progressive Eudoria Holmes (Helena Bonham-Carter), the mother of Sherlock (Henry Cavill) and Mycroft (Sam Claflin), raises from her daughter Enola (Millie Bobby Brown) an independent person who can stand up for herself (“enola” is “Alone”, “loner” vice versa). Also, Evdoria, along with her companions, seems to be about to start a revolution. Therefore, as soon as the mother suddenly disappears, Enola, who suspects something is wrong, will sound the alarm. However, since you will not get help from the brothers (Sherlock still has nothing, but Mycroft will turn out to be a toxic patriarchal functionary who intends to turn the girl into a boarding school for noble maidens), she herself will go in search of the parent. These searches will first bring her together with the young, also on the run, Viscount Tewkesbury (Louis Partridge), and then lead to a conspiracy in British high society (but it is understandable:

In the same way, the modern world is in a fever, so the authors – uneven playwright Jack Thorne (before that there was “Dark Principles” also about a girl) and inconspicuous director Harry Bradbear – build a simple rhyme between the past and the present. However, despite the poster feminism ( by the way, from the last century ) and some obsessive declarativeness, this is an extremely charming adventure movie with a lively and direct star of Stranger Things . The film has a breathtaking train chase, a funny disguise in an aristocratic manor, a bit of kung fu in the alleyway, and quite a lot of sardonic jokes: like Phoebe Waller-Bridge from Rubbish.(directed by Bradbeer, of course), Enola is constantly breaking down the fourth wall, making us accomplices in her epic adventure. In general, Millie Bobby Brown draws attention to herself so often that the film could well be a one-man show: it is easy to believe that the actress will grow into a big star (and it is difficult that she believes in the theory of a flat earth ; okay, Soviet Holmes too did not know that the Earth revolves around the Sun).

Otherwise, this is clearly an application for a franchise, since the writer Nancy Springer, who invented the heroine, has five more books about Enola in the bins (however, the heirs of Arthur Conan Doyle are now suing the author and creators of the film due to the fact that the film uses works that have not yet entered the public domain). Be that as it may, let’s see what comes of all this, a good start. The only thing that hurts the eye is the obvious miscast: after all, Cavill is not Holmes, but Superman . He has a lot of charm, but too little sociopathy. Believing in such a Sherlock is even more difficult than in a scolding African-British woman who teaches jujitsu in some kind of underground dojo in the 19th century.    

Talk about a sequel to “Goonies” (aka “Pins and Pirate Gold” ) – a cult children’s 80s adventure movie – has been around for a very long time, a video game was made based on the movie and the musical was not staged. It is even strange that in the end such a popular picture did without a continuation and an official remake. But on Netflix, which launched nostalgia for the eighties with Stranger Things, another unofficial remake of Goofs was released – Ohana: In Search of Treasure: for buzzers, with a Hawaiian flavor and cameo by Jonathan Ke Kwan, who is in the film industry known not only as an actor from ” Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” and “Pins and Pirate Gold”, but also a stunt director (worked on “X-Men” and “Confrontation”). The film was directed by Hawaiian director Jude Wen and written by South Korean scriptwriter Christina Strain with Hawaiian-American actors, that is, it is a multinational project that is built around the national identity of the peoples of the Hawaiian Islands.

According to the plot, the queen of geocaching, a young lover Pili (Ki Pihu) lives with her mother (Kelly Hu) and brother (Alex Iono) in Brooklyn, but soon she and her family will have to go to Oahu to visit their grandfather (Brenscombe Richmond from the TV series The Departed), who is doing poorly both with health and with housing rent (he has not paid for the house for a long time, so he will soon be evicted). There she meets a boy named Casper (Owen Vaccaro) and his stunning sister Hannah (Lindsay Watson), and also learns about the existence of Spanish treasures, which were hidden in these places by the navigators Robinson, Brown and Monks (Mark Evan Jackson, Chris Parnell and Ricky Garcia). Thanks to the last in the Pili family, a diary appeared with instructions on the location of the treasure. To help her grandfather, the girl rushes in search of gold, in which her brother and friends accompany her. You need to understand that only the main plot frame is taken from the “Goonies” in “Ohana” – otherwise it is a wildly original story, not only an adventure movie, but also a family drama, in which the treasure hunt becomes the trigger for the reunification of loved ones and the acquisition of their own cultural roots. And there is also a place to overcome the trauma (and how else, this is a zoomer movie!), Keanu Reeves’ approval as a national Hawaiian treasure and thousands of jokes about “Lost” (the legendary series was filmed in Oahu). The only thing – like “Goonies”, “Ohana” is somewhat prolonged (the timing of two hours is still too much) and excessively representative (some stories could be reserved for the next film), but on the whole it is quite fascinating as a genre attraction, and as a way to get acquainted with a foreign culture. And the plug-in novellas with Robinson, Brown and Monks are so hilarious that I would like to see a separate short film about them. How has Netflix not thought about it yet? Goonies! approval of Keanu Reeves as a national Hawaiian treasure and thousands of jokes about “Lost” (the legendary series was just filmed in Oahu). The only thing – like “Goonies”, “Ohana” is somewhat prolonged (the timing of two hours is still too much) and excessively representative (some stories could be reserved for the next film), but on the whole it is quite fascinating as a genre attraction, and as a way to get acquainted with a foreign culture. And the plug-in novellas with Robinson, Brown and Monks are so hilarious that I would like to see a separate short film about them. How has Netflix not thought about it yet? Goonies! approval of Keanu Reeves as a national Hawaiian treasure and thousands of jokes about “Lost” (the legendary series was just filmed in Oahu). The only thing – like “Goonies”, “Ohana” is somewhat prolonged (the timing of two hours is still too much) and excessively representative (some stories could be reserved for the next film), but on the whole it is quite fascinating as a genre attraction, and as a way to get acquainted with a foreign culture. And the plug-in novellas with Robinson, Brown and Monks are so hilarious that I would like to see a separate short film about them. How has Netflix not thought about it yet? Goonies! “Ohana” is somewhat prolonged (the timing of two hours is still too much) and excessively representative (some stories could be reserved for the next film), but on the whole it is quite fascinating both as a genre attraction and as a way of meeting someone else’s culture. And the plug-in novellas with Robinson, Brown and Monks are so hilarious that I would like to see a separate short film about them. How has Netflix not thought about it yet? Goonies! “Ohana” is somewhat protracted (the timing of two hours is still too much) and excessively representative (some stories could be reserved for the next film), but on the whole it is quite fascinating both as a genre attraction and as a way of meeting someone else’s culture. And the plug-in novellas with Robinson, Brown and Monks are so hilarious that I would like to see a separate short film about them. How has Netflix not thought about it yet? Goonies!