The Stand

Rating:
Summary: Fair Miniseries Adaptation, Excellent Behind The Scenes DVD
Review: For those who are looking to "experience" The Stand for the first time, I strongly recommend reading the book first. The book is the best version of this story containing scenes written with such detail, great dialogue, great character development, and it is so real that once you've read the last page you'll feel as though you woke up from a fantastic dream where you wish you could go back to sleep and continue living in Stephen King's fantasyland.

With that said, the six hour TV miniseries (minus two hours of television commercials that aren't on the DVD) gets a passing grade of about a C+. The choice of actors chosen for the TV miniseries range from the excellent, to good, to the not so good. The best casting choices were Gary Sinise as Stuart Redman, Rob Lowe as Nick Andros, Bill Fagerbakke as Tom Cullen, Jamey Sheridan as Randall Flagg, and Laura San Giacomo as Nadine Cross. Those that presented their characters in a convincing manner were Ruby Dee as Mother Abigail, Adam Storke as Larry Underwood, and Ray Walston as Glen Bateman. The worst casting mistakes were Molly Ringwald as Fran Goldsmith, Corin Nemec as Harold Lauder, and Matt Frewer as the Trashcan Man. It is true that when people read an excellent novel, like The Stand, the wonderful imagination of the mind's eye takes over, and each of us sees wonderful characters in our own way. This is something that Mr. King addressed in his author's note about being asked frequently if his book would ever be a movie. I too, agree with Mr. King's observation, as the TV miniseries has only some actors portraying characters as I pictured them when reading the book.

Most of the subtle details, important dialogue and scenes between characters are omitted from the miniseries, as there just simply isn't time, even in a miniseries six hours long, one of the longest ever made for regular network television. Watching the miniseries made me wonder what The Stand would have looked like if it were a 12 hour miniseries on HBO, or if it had the attention to detail to the original story that other Stephen King movies have had, like The Green Mile.

Criticisms aside, the miniseries of The Stand does have scenes that do a good job of emphasizing important scenes in the story. My favorite scenes were of Nick meeting Tom, and of their journey across several states to get to Mother Abigail's home. I also liked the opening moments of the miniseries, as it closely matches the introductory quotations, and opening moments of the book.

Best of all, the commentary track of The Stand is the all time best of any DVD that I have heard -- it is a great example why DVD is now such a popular medium. If you loved the story that is The Stand, and want to know more, this DVD has it all. Some vague information of how The Stand came to be is in Stephen King's author's notes, and in his nonfiction work, Danse Macabre. It was a real treat to listen to the DVD's extensive commentary from Stephen King, who talks thoughout the miniseries about the characters, how he created them, and what issues and difficulties he faced in finishing this great novel. Also included are commentaries by director Mick Garris, Rob Lowe, Miguel Ferrer, Jamey Sheridan and Ruby Dee, who all sounded like they had fun commenting on the making of the TV miniseries. Unlike lesser behind the scenes commentaries, the commentary track for The Stand is a real pleasure to listen to, which is why I strongly recommend purchasing this DVD.

Rating:
Summary: Almost perfect
Review: I read the full length (1135 pages) book for the first time, and the day I finished the last page, I immediately rented the movie, assuming I'd hate it. The cast looked almost exactly like I'd imagined them- especially Mother Abigail and Stu Redman (Gary Sinese is excellent!). Jamey Sheridan as Randall Flagg- great choice! However, I never knew Satan would have a mullet! :) The man who played Tom Cullen was superb. The only casting disappointment was Corin Nemic as Harold Lauder. Harold is supposed to be fat and pimply! Corin Nemic is skinny and had three fake looking pimples for about two scenes. I don't think the movie accurately portrayed how Harold and Nadine wavered back and forth between choosing "good" and "evil", but I realize 1100 pages might be difficult to condense into a mini series.

My only other complaints were minor. The Judge, who is sent off to spy on Las Vegas in an SUV, arrives long after two other spies who left after him- one of whom was a retarded man riding a bike!!! Also, Rob Lowe, playing Nick Andros, a deaf mute, occasionally seems to forget he's supposed to be deaf mute. He jumps at a noise once and looks away from Mother Abigail's long speech (he's reading her lips) yet still seems to know what she has said.

The movie overall was excellent. They mostly kept very true to the book, although deleting a few minor characters and making some minor changes as to who is traveling with whom. Also, Frannie's baby in the book is a boy named Peter- in the movie it is a girl named "Abagail" (not sure why it was misspelled- It's supposed to be Abigail). I was pleased with the movie- and I am very tough to please when it comes to making a movie out of a book I love. I highly reccomend it!

Rating:
Summary: It is always time to take a Stand
Review: I read the book a week before the movie aired 10 yrs ago. I wasn't disappointed in either.
I read the uncut and uncensored version...chilling. No one I know has read the book and not got the sniffles by the first pages.
The movie was probably the most accurate of all of King's adaptations from book to screen. A shame really, as many of his books are enough keep one up nights. (Let's do a remake of Pet Sematary and let's do it right this time!)
I read other reviews before writing this one and I would just like to throw in this one comment, the nuke does not destroy Flagg. Watch carefully or better yet, read the uncut book.
I recommend both book and movie to any who would like a glimpse into what could easily happen anytime (ACHOOO....excuse me!)

Rating:
Summary: A Classic Good vs. Evil Drama
Review: As Stephen King himself has said, The Stand is taken straight out of the Book of Revelations in the Bible, and this, in my opinion, makes the miniseries a classic tale of good versus evil. With nearly all the world's population dead due to a genetically engineered virus, the survivors begin to coalesce into two groups--one led by the benevolent Mother Abagail, and the other by the demonic Randall Flagg. It might seem through the first 3 parts of the miniseries that Flagg's group are in the ascendancy, but Mother Abagail & Co. have quite a few tricks up their sleeves.

The crop of actors in Stephen King's The Stand were a great bunch as well. Gary Sinise was perfect for the part of Stu Redman, the country boy from small-town Texas, and Molly Ringwald as Fran Goldsmith was very good. Adam Storke made a very believable Larry Underwood, and the casting of Coach's Bill Fagerbakke as Tom Cullen was an inspired choice. I especially loved the late Ray Walston as Glen Bateman, Jamey Sheridan as Flagg, Ruby Dee and her husband Ossie Davis in their respective parts of Mother Abagail and Judge Farris, Rob Lowe as Nick Andros, Just Shoot Me's Laura San Giacomo as Nadine Cross, the late Rosemary Clooney's son Miguel Ferrer as Lloyd Henreid, and Max Headroom's Matt Frewer as Trashcan Man. I had no complaints about Stargate SG-1's Corin (Corky) Nemec as Harold Lauder except for the fact that they could have plumped him out a bit for the part and had him lose weight so he'd be slender once he got to Boulder. Other than that, his acting was excellent.

I'd also like to give a nod to two very wonderful actors whose parts were uncredited, but who nevertheless made a valuable contribution to the story: Apollo 13's Ed Harris as General Starkey, the commander of Blue Base (where the virus is made) and Misery's Kathy Bates as talk-radio host Rae Flowers, whose refusal to withhold the truth from the American people earns her a bullet in the head. Although you only see them in Part 1 of the miniseries, their roles were brilliantly acted and necessary to the story.

The Making of Stephen King's The Stand documentary, included on both DVD and VHS, gave some good insights into the filming of this wonderfully scary miniseries. When I found out how much work had gone into making it, I was astonished, and when I discovered that hundreds of King fans had flocked to Vegas for some of the crowd scenes there, I found myself turning green with envy. I wish I had been there... The DVD also includes commentary by the principal actors and crew as well as Stephen King himself, along with a Make-Up Effects gallery, which includes Randall Flagg's transformations and the old-age makeup used on Ruby Dee as Mother Abagail.

All in all, Stephen King's The Stand is a keeper. It'll scare the living daylights out of you, but you'll want to watch it over and over.

Rating:
Summary: Fair Miniseries Adaptation, Excellent Behind The Scenes DVD
Review: For those who are looking to "experience" The Stand for the first time, I strongly recommend reading the book first. The book is the best version of this story containing scenes written with such detail, great dialogue, great character development, and it is so real that once you've read the last page you'll feel as though you woke up from a fantastic dream where you wish you could go back to sleep and continue living in Stephen King's fantasyland.

With that said, the six hour TV miniseries (minus two hours of television commercials that aren't on the DVD) gets a passing grade of about a C+. The choice of actors chosen for the TV miniseries range from the excellent, to good, to the not so good. The best casting choices were Gary Sinise as Stuart Redman, Rob Lowe as Nick Andros, Bill Fagerbakke as Tom Cullen, Jamey Sheridan as Randall Flagg, and Laura San Giacomo as Nadine Cross. Those that presented their characters in a convincing manner were Ruby Dee as Mother Abigail, Adam Storke as Larry Underwood, and Ray Walston as Glen Bateman. The worst casting mistakes were Molly Ringwald as Fran Goldsmith, Corin Nemec as Harold Lauder, and Matt Frewer as the Trashcan Man. It is true that when people read an excellent novel, like The Stand, the wonderful imagination of the mind's eye takes over, and each of us sees wonderful characters in our own way. This is something that Mr. King addressed in his author's note about being asked frequently if his book would ever be a movie. I too, agree with Mr. King's observation, as the TV miniseries has only some actors portraying characters as I pictured them when reading the book.

Most of the subtle details, important dialogue and scenes between characters are omitted from the miniseries, as there just simply isn't time, even in a miniseries six hours long, one of the longest ever made for regular network television. Watching the miniseries made me wonder what The Stand would have looked like if it were a 12 hour miniseries on HBO, or if it had the attention to detail to the original story that other Stephen King movies have had, like The Green Mile.

Criticisms aside, the miniseries of The Stand does have scenes that do a good job of emphasizing important scenes in the story. My favorite scenes were of Nick meeting Tom, and of their journey across several states to get to Mother Abigail's home. I also liked the opening moments of the miniseries, as it closely matches the introductory quotations, and opening moments of the book.

Best of all, the commentary track of The Stand is the all time best of any DVD that I have heard -- it is a great example why DVD is now such a popular medium. If you loved the story that is The Stand, and want to know more, this DVD has it all. Some vague information of how The Stand came to be is in Stephen King's author's notes, and in his nonfiction work, Danse Macabre. It was a real treat to listen to the DVD's extensive commentary from Stephen King, who talks thoughout the miniseries about the characters, how he created them, and what issues and difficulties he faced in finishing this great novel. Also included are commentaries by director Mick Garris, Rob Lowe, Miguel Ferrer, Jamey Sheridan and Ruby Dee, who all sounded like they had fun commenting on the making of the TV miniseries. Unlike lesser behind the scenes commentaries, the commentary track for The Stand is a real pleasure to listen to, which is why I strongly recommend purchasing this DVD.

Rating:
Summary: It's good, but read the book too!
Review: If you haven't read the novel (first of all, shame on you), you'll probably find this movie tiresome and cheesy. "The Stand" was pretty much made only to please fans of the book who wanted to see it come to life. Like most all King adaptations, it gets some things right and some things wrong, but it's still fun to watch.
The cast is a mixed bag. Gary Sinise makes a great Stu. Adam Storke is a perfect Larry. Rob Lowe makes a surprisingly sympathetic Nick. Miguel Ferrar is great (as always) as Lloyd. Jamey Sheridan probably wasn't the best choice for the Dark Man, but he does a pretty good job with the role. But Molly Ringwald as Frannie? AAAHHHHHHH! What were they thinking?!?!? And Corin Nemec as Harold fails to pull this fascinating, important character together. And Laura San Giacomo is absolutely dreadful as Nadine.
The plot comes together nicely. The characters are introduced flawlessly, and we easily care about them. (Well, most of them.) There is tension and drama in the right places as the "superflu" spreads and decimates the population. The emotion is high and genuine.
Most of your favorite scenes from the book are intact, like Larry's trek through the Lincoln Tunnel (although it's not as scary as it could have been). Myself, I would have loved to see Trashcan Man's hellish journey with "The Kid" and the highway shoot-out at the overturned pink trailer (fans of the book know which scene this is), but I guess I can see why they were cut.
Overall, this is a very faithful, potent adaptation. There's a lot to admire about it. But read the book, for cryin' out loud. That, after all, is the only way to truly experience this compelling story.

Rating:
Summary: Fun Too Watch
Review: First thing's first. The book is better. Stephen King plus one's own imagination is generally spookier. Having said that, this movie was well done and generally well acted. I'm not sure how it would've played out had I not read the book though. Parts were obviously missing and some of them were important to the overall storyline and character development.
But It was fun to watch.

Besides reading The Stand, I also recommend Evolution by Jennifer MacDonald. Awesome!

Rating:
Summary: Amazing adaptation of Stephen King's apocalyptic novel
Review: From the moment I first sat down to watch this miniseries in 1994 and heard the first few opening bars of "Don't Fear the Reaper," I have loved this movie. I have read every one of Stephen King's books and have seen most of the movies adapted from these books. Some of the adaptations have been awful, others good, and a few, such as The Shawshank Redemption, truly great; The Stand definitely belongs in this elite latter category. I have heard that some fans of King's novel were disappointed in this miniseries, but to me, what's not to like?

What really makes this movie work is the exceptional--and at times unconventional--casting. The Stand was my first exposure to Gary Sinise, and I immediately fell in love with his perfect portrayal of Stu. One of my teen idols, Rob Lowe, did an absolute amazing job with the role of Nick, proving that he had true range as an actor long before The West Wing came along. I don't know why Adam Storke has not had more career success, as his personification of Larry Underwood was flawless. And the supporting cast was nothing short of stellar: terrific veteran actor Ray Walston as Glen Bateman, Bill Fagerbakke's sensitive portrayal of Tom Cullen, and Miguel Ferrar's perfectly desperate and despicable Lloyd Henried. Although I would not have pictured Jamey Sheridan as Flagg, he definitely brought the character to life, striking a deft balance between Flagg's evil and humorous sides. The one woefully miscast role was Molly Ringwald's Frannie--I don't think she was what King or anyone else had in mind for this character. However, given that most of Ringwald's scenes are with Gary Sinise, this flaw is easily overlooked.

Fans of the novel will definitely notice some changes to the plot, but these modifications were obviously necessary to keep this epic story to just under 6 hours. However, the feel and flavor of the work remain unaltered, as the purity of King's classic good versus evil tale clearly shines through. Finally, the haunting musical score serves to heighten the emotion of this captivating film. I have enjoyed repeated viewings of this miniseries over the years, and it has remained one of my all-time favorite movies.

Rating:
Summary: was scared so much i didn't want to watch it again ....
Review: to from interesting to boring...what happened???,

i like to say that i did watch the movie and let me tell u something i have had 2 weeks worth of nitemaire that i don't even want to try and remember it ..the dreams still kind of in my brain but it goes away once i think of something else or read a book lol but let's get back to my opinon on this movie ...
this movie is sooooo fantastic if u want to be scared ....this the one ...the book i tried to read but then once i got to the page where it starts where that one dude meets flag in the pin . i got nothng much chills up my spine and the hair standing up like a mile a min i kidds u not that's when i said enough is enough i aint reading the book lol
the movie showed alot of courge of what the we ppl in the U.S.A would do IF this were to happen meaning helping eachother out and deal with what comes next. the movie also gave us something to think about tho and well i was question about the ending where the bomb hit just Vegas .... i was thinking ok with one bomb possiable that could happen because if u think about remember the movie special bulletin?? where that reporter was reporing about how this group was going to bomb the city if they didnt get their way or something like that and when they didn't what happen?? BOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!! one bomb with i can't remember how meny %s of platonium eh sorry for the misspelling anyways in that bomb but yes it could heppen.
if u all like really scary movies like this that will have u stay up for 2 weeks without SLEEP go watch these movies

Animetiville sorry can't remember how to spell it lol
The Exorcist
and poltergiest

Rating:
Summary: from interesting to boring...what happened???
Review: I just finished watching The Stand, all 6 hours of it, in two nights, (two disk set) and came away feeling disappointed. It was like two movies spliced together.
The begining of the movie was strong, with a story line not too unbelievable. With a man-made super virus or bacteria gone wrong and horribly slipping into the general public and erraticating 99% of the population. From there it is all down hill.
The movie then goes into a good vs. evil mode, with the survivors of this horrible plague having some sort of mass hypnotic dream about an elderly woman in Nebraska, telling them to come to her, and an evil being hanging around the fringes of the dreams and in these survivors lifes.
The story line then becomes uninteresting with the "characters" and I mean unbelievable characters, traveling to Nebraska and then onto Colorado.

From the deaf mute meeting the mentally handicapped man, and teaming up, to the schitsophrenic woman leaving New York with her fellow male traveling companion, then abandoning him, because she has a dream about this fringe devil-man telling her to come to him. She is all into being evil and doing harm to everyone, but when she finally meets this demon that she has been in the service of, and in some sort of love with, she is put off by him and kills herself. Stink, stink stink.

The whole good versus evil and religous undertone of the second half of the movie is bad. The worst scene of all was the end with God's hand appearing in downtown Vegas, and igniting a nuclear warhead that has been brought into town by an evil pyro-lunatic. Thus erraticating all the evil people that the plague didn't get, and oh, yeah, the evil demon too.

One question for Mr. King. How does a nuclear bomb destroy an evil, underworld, supernatural, being who is not mortal???
Like I said, stink, stink, stink.

King should have stayed with the plague plot line, and expanded it to include what would have really happened in this kind of event. Like fresh food or hording of supplies and the struggles with the horrid realities of dealing with the thousands/millions of dead bodies in any city. The lice, flys, rats and unclean living conditions that would have brought on a real plague, and panic. Not just throwing the dead bodies out of a house you now claim as your own, or moving them to the side of the road. This movie also never touches what happened to the rest of the world.

This is a six hour movie, and there are plenty of plots and sub-plots. I gave this a two star rating only because of the interesting beginning and the fine actors in this mini-series.
Reccomend one time rental for the Stephen King fan, but this fan will not own a copy.