Do you desperately need a Stranger Things fix and don’t have a nickle to spare? Then OnlyLeigh has given it to us. She recreated the popular Netflix series in the Peanuts world and it is the greatest thing you will get this year! Or since you saw it and up until Halloween on Monday.
The awwwwdorable kids from Stranger Things (Millie Bobby Brown, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin and Finn Wolfhard) were on The Tonight Show yesterday and Jimmy Fallon challenged them to a game of Stranger Strings. Basically, they all sat in a circle as one of them read a stranger fact about one them that none of them knew about each other. They all had a can of Silly String and sprayed it on the person who they thought that information was about. Needless to say the NBC host was covered with the colored stringy stuff.
As the game went on, Fallon said to Wolfhard when it was his turn to read, “Can you read?” Without hesitation Mike Wheeler asked him, “Can you host?” With that, the kid won our hearts and so much more!!!
After this game, how can you not love these kids even more than you already did before it. That and who doesn’t want to play this game with their friends this weekend after a few too many drinks!
Stranger Things became a summer phenomenon and the fans wanted to know if it would be back for a second season. After many weeks of waiting, Netflix has ended their suffering. They announced today that it will be back with 9 all new episodes next year, one more than the first.
But my questions is, why didn’t they do 11 in honor of Eleven?
XOXO is a movie about 6 people’s lives who all come together at a Music Festival. The Netflix film has a very authentic feel to it and that is because it was actually filmed at several different Music Festivals and Raves. Last week, I attended the press day for it and XOXO’s stars Sarah Hyland and Graham Phillips talked about what that was like to do.
Phillips, who plays Ethan Shaw, a DJ making his debut at XOXO, told us there time was limited when they filmed their scenes. He explained, “We had a five minute slot on a stage in front of you know 80,000 people.” Although they are not really sure how many people were actually there, so that is the number that they came up with.
How was it to work with a real crowd instead of Extras who are paid to be excited? Phillips got real about that, “Kind of annoying because most people thought we were filming an after video.” Then he followed that up with, “People thinking that it was the after video that we were shooting would just get into camera and would be like, ‘Whoa, I love Festival XYZ.’ I would continue to be in shot and there would literally be people like blocking the entire shot, and that was a little frustrating.” Then he added, “But being at the Festivals was amazing for us because how else can you sort of simulate that energy if we somehow could’ve replicated that.”
Hyland plays Krystal, a girl who goes there to meet a man she has only been with communicating with online, loved it. She felt, “It was really worth it.” However, there was a little drawback according to her, “They are on whatever. They were just trying to have a good time. They were!” She was also having a good time because she loves to people watch.
Since these were real Festivals, the attendees were in that moment. Phillips described what it was like when the cameras started rolling. He said, “The funniest 180 is when you would tell people, who were acting so drugged out, and right in the camera, really going all out and then we would say we are trying to film something and they would be like, ‘Oh, so sorry.’”
There was a scene at the end that the audience got into. That scene was a sweet kiss shared between Phillips and Hyland. The Modern Family star revealed their reaction, “They were very supportive. They just saw two people doing something and they were like, ‘Yeah!’ And then as soon as they yelled cut we would stop and they would be like, ‘No, come on.’” Phillips chimed in with, “By take 8 they were like, ‘Alright get out of the way.’”
How was the kiss for the two of them, they kiss and told me, “Great!” Nevertheless, it was a little awkward for The Good Wife star, “It was the first time I kissed somebody live in front of 10s of thousands of people. And they had no idea what was going on.” That and Hyland was an Executive Producer on the film, so he was making out with his boss in front of 80,000 strangers.
They are making out in front of even more strangers now because the movie is available on Netflix for you to see. When I watched XOXO the first time, I loved the vibe of it feeling as if it was at a real show but assumed it was staged. When I found it, was actually filmed at real Music Festivals, it propelled it into a completely new world of enjoyment for me. I hope knowing that will also make you even more excited for this feel good film that can be watched over and over again and never lose its appeal. Therefore, you should Netflix & Chill with it tonight.
You know that feeling you get when you go to a music festival. XOXO captures that feeling but without all the smelly people and crowds stepping on and elbowing you. Therefore, you can Netflix & Chill with it tonight or any night you want to go to a Rave from the comfort of your home.
XOXO is the biggest Rave in the country, and several people’s lives are going to collide at it.
Ethan Shaw (Graham Phillips) is an amateur DJ who has become a YouTube sensation. His manager/friend Tariq (Brett DeBuono) gets him a slot at XOXO that night. Since they are just teenagers and they aren’t professionals, Tariq has to stay behind to finish his shift at his dad’s restaurant and sends Ethan on a Party Bus.
While on the Party Bus, he meets Ray (Colin Woodell) and Shannie (Hayley Kiyoko). They have been going out forever, but now she is moving away and this is their last festival together. They have yet to have the talk about where their relationship is going to go. Something they won’t be able to avoid when their ride breaks down.
Neil (Chris D’Elia) is the captain of the bus and he is also the owner of a failing record store. He is anti-everything about XOXO, but he is still going to go. Although, things just got harder for him to get there now that his bus broke down in the middle of the desert and everyone wants to kill him.
Ray and Shannie hitch a ride in a van and they ask Ethan to join them. When they finally get to the Box Office, Ethan finds out he doesn’t have a ticket. He tries reaching Tariq to no avail. Ray gives him his ticket and in he goes. Leaving Ray without a ticket and long line for Shannie and him to wait on to get one.
Inside XOXO is Krystal (Sarah Hyland). She went there with her friends, but she is also there to meet the man she has been only online dating for a month. Their song is Shaw’s tune and they agree to finally meet during his set.
Meanwhile things get worse for Ethan, when he can’t get backstage to set up because his name isn’t on the list. He meets Krystal for a second, but they go on their different ways.
When XOXO is at capacity Ray and Shannie can’t get in, and they have to find another way to get inside. Where Neil is trying to avoid anyone and everyone. Then there is Tariq who finally makes it there and someone accidentally slips him something that puts him on a trip of no return.
Everything seems to be going wrong for all of them, but then something magical happens and they all have the time of their lives because after all this XOXO.
XOXO perfectly intertwines these stories of six people, some who knew each other before the Festival and others who will meet when they are there. It flows like the perfect song and the groovy soundtrack matches it.
You never get bored because it plays out like DJ’s turnstile. Songs that shouldn’t go to together do and create one masterpiece you can’t get out of your head. A masterpiece that leaves you feeling happy because the perfect song can do that someone. That is XOXO.
It is a six stories one on turnstile that creates the perfect movie. It leaves you with a huge smile on your face. Actually, it leaves you jumping for joy because the last song makes you get up and dance along with them.
