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Stephen King's The Stand

Stephen King's The Stand

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Best Movie ever!
Review: I must say I was very, very skeptical of this movie, I have read The Stand so many times I lost count (condensed and expanded versions). I thought that this movie was the best adaptation from a novel that I have ever seen. I have been disapointed so many times by movies that show little resemblence to the book or end up making the whole thing look hokey! My husband and I have watched this movie dozens of times and we both notice new things every time, and we both cry at the end every time! I thought that this was the best performance of Rob Lowe's career and all the characters were very well cast! I actually liked Molly Ringwald (I know some didn't). The Rita/Nadine thing bugs me a little bit but I certainly understand there is no way to put everything into a movie. Stephen Kings books are so deep and detailed it would be virtually impossible. I read the book every few years and I watch the movie once or twice a year as well!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: I love this movie
Review: I remember watching this movie back in 1994 on ABC and was thrilled when I got it on DVD. The interpretation given by the actors was excellent - especially Gary Sinise as Stu Redman. (Once I saw Gary in this I knew he was headed for bigger things and he did.) It did a good job of bringing the book to life even though it cut some corners with the whole Rita/Nadine thing and the exclusion of The Kid. The only complaint I have is of Molly Ringwald. She just didn't make me see her as Frannie. To this day it still annoys me when I watch it when she and Gary have their big kissing scene in the woods and she looks up at him and her eyes are crossed. I shudder thinking about it. that scene drives me crazy. Otherwise, great story. (And BTW, I still have nightmares of Larry's journey through the tunnel in NY)

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great Deal - 6+ hours of Stephen King - you can't go wrong!
Review: This film is a modern classic. One of the creepiest movies I have ever watched. Good cast, wonderful performances. Gary Sinise of Apollo 13, Mission to Mars, & Snake Eyes made this film work. He was believable and provided a solid core in the midst of all the hellbent horror that takes place. I never get tired of watching Molly Ringwald. Robe Lowe and Bill Fagerbakke work great together. Their characters chemistry was like magic. The film dragged a little at times, but that is easily forgiven in the light the intreguing and captivating story. You won't regret buying this one.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: I loved this moive, and I am not a fan of Stephen King
Review: This was a great movie. It was really long, and I had to stay up till the morning cause I couldn't wait. I rented it on VHS, This movie is must see, and I would recommend it to anyone! Check it out! ~Is~

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: It's the End of the World As We Know It
Review: The Stand is the best Stephen King movie yet made. It is the story of the survivors of a manmade plague that wipes out most of the world's population. The movie focuses on several survivors located around the United States who have received a call in their dreams to come to Hemingford Home, Nebraska to meet with an old lady named Mother Abigail.

Mother Abigail is the human messenger of God who has summoned these people to fight a final battle with the forces of Satan. Satan has been calling his troops to Nebraska also to fight this final battle.

The premise for the movie is a bit simplistic for a typical King work; but, the execution of the plot belies this simplicity. The Stand is a mostly intriguing story which manages to hold your attention for most of the six hour run time.

With stars like Gary Sinise, Ray Walston, and Laura San Giacomo, the acting is first rate. I was particularly impressed by Rob Lowe and his portrayal of Nick Andros, a deaf mute who has been called to the side of good.

Most end of the world dramas leave much to be desired. The Stand is the closest I have seen a movie from this genre get to being entirely fulfilling.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: As Good As Can Be Expected...
Review: There are two things of which one must be aware when sitting down to watch this movie. First of all, while it is difficult to convey the depth and detail found in any novel into a film, it is essentially impossible to do so with a novel such as The Stand. Secondly, this is a made for t.v. movie that had a fraction of the budget of a standard theatre film. If these things are kept in mind while viewing this movie, I think it would be hard to come away disappointed.

As anyone who has read the novel knows, a straight translation from book to movie would be nearly impossible- and if someone were to do it successfully, there'd be so many tapes the movie would need its own section at the video store. The movie selects the scenes that are necessary to advance the plot, while leaving out a lot of the depth-building scenes. Additionally, some characters from the book are 'consolidated' (Larry meets Nadine in Central Park- Rita is nowhere to be found), have their backgrounds tweaked (Larry meets Lucy, accompanied by Joe, outside Des Moines), or are absent altogether (alas, there is no 'Kid'- don't tell me, I'll tell you). Despite these absences, the movie does a strong job of accurately moving along the plot line set down in the novel.

What helps this movie in large part is the casting. While there are some flaws, most of the casting is impeccable- most notably in the cases of Stu, Larry, Nick, Glen, Ralph, Lloyd, and Flagg. Even miscast roles were, for the most part, not done too poorly. Molly Ringwald wasn't quite right as Frannie, and Corin Nemec was not the Harold from the novel (as another reviewer astutely pointed out, Harold was an overweight, brilliant, social outcast whereas in this movie he is simply portrayed as a nerd). The only truly miscast role was Laura San Giacomo as Nadine. I felt that she matched the Nadine from the book neither in physical appearance (someone like Andie MacDowell would have provided a more accurate representation of Nadine) nor in manner (rather than being quietly troubled, LSG plays a Nadine who even outwardly appears to be very much on the edge).

Despite some flaws, I think this movie does an extraordinary job of taking on an extremely lengthy and complicated novel. I would go so far as to call it one of the best (if not THE best) movie adaptations of all time, including first-run theatre films. While I saw this movie through the eyes of someone who read the novel, I also would feel very confident in recommending it to an individual who had not yet experienced the book. So many movies today are about near disasters that are averted at the last minute- in The Stand, disaster marches on unchecked and the results are fascinating.

One final note- while much of the book is omitted in this movie, the movie does contain two phenomenal sequences that cannot be recreated in the book. The montage of scenes from the Blue Base lab and from Ogunquit that are shown to 'Don't Fear the Reaper' and 'Don't Dream It's Over' are the two of the most enthralling scenes I have ever seen.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Great themes and plot...bad movie
Review: This movie was very mediocre. It was unneccesarily long, over 6 hours. Many scenes could have been removed to enhance the continuity and coherence of the movie. Also, The Stand was more like a movie made by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. It's more of a religious movie than a science fiction or horror movie. The cinematography comes nowhere close to an actual film, one can obviously tell it was made for TV. And finally, the characters and the roles they played were not believable. They seemed so fake and artificial. I was very disappointed with how this movie was constructed. I recommend not wasting 6 hours on it.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Amazing....but missing something
Review: I eagerly bought this movie after finishing the novel. I know that a lot of movies based on books are different from the original story, but this really isn't one of them, at least not exactly. Almost all of the main and important aspects of the novel are included in the movie. The time constraints obviously play a part of the limited detail, at least compared to the novel, but what seems most annoying is the fact that different characters play the parts of characters in the book. For example, Susan Stern, who travelled in Stu Redman's group originally suddenly is part of Mother Abigail's group. It's small differences like this that get to me in this movie.

Other than that, the movie is awesome. The makeup effects used are amazing. The actors chosen to portray the characters seem perfect, especially Gary Sinise, Adam Storke, Ray Walston, Bill Fagerbakke, Jamey Sheridan and particularly Rob Lowe, who plays a wonderful Nick Andros. I've already watched this movie a number of times, and there are scenes I can't get enough of. I really like it, but I'm going to have to say, read the book first, because it will not only help you keep better track of what's going on in the movie, but it will you keep you informed on the characters as well. Plus, the book is definitely worth it's 1141 pages and you'll be really missing something without it!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Good, but a bit preachy
Review: I've always enjoyed "end of the world" movies, and this is a good one, but it gets a bit heavy-handed in its moralizing. The "Mother Abigail" character is hard to take, and the contrived contrast betwen the "good" town (self-righteous Boulder, CO) and the "wicked" Las Vegas is just too much. Still, it's hard not to like a movie that begins with Blue Oyster Cult's "Don't Fear The Reaper" as background music while everyone croaks! Worth watching, for sure! (BTW: I own this on DVD, not VHS, and I'd definitely recommend buying it in that format as it lets you skip to cool scenes quickly.)

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: awsome
Review: this is the best movie it totally explaines how much evil power the government has over us. the actors are really good and i like that stephen king plays a bigger roll than he does in most of his other movies. if you got 8 hours to sit and watch a movie this is the one to watch. phreak05


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