The Stand (2020)trailer? Looks kinda meh. But no doubt I’ll watch it( dvd ). Original TV series I liked( Salem’s Lot as well)
Gotta admit I thought Fagerbakke was awful in the 1994 series, though it's been so long since I read the book that I don't know if that was his fault or if he played the role as written by King. That "simple man child" stuff gets old, though. It's like an ignorant person's idea of how a mentally disabled person acts!
I'll cut Kareem some slack; he was only in it for about twenty seconds. No cut slack for Molly though. She was terrible. Lieutenant Dan was the best in it and the guy who played Harold.
Kareem's appearance just didn't make sense. Now, if he were wheeling around a cart collecting the dead, that would have made sense. As for Ringwald, it could have been worse. Could've been Ally Sheedy.
No, it wasn’t the actor’s fault. That was a very accurate portrayal of the character as King wrote it. I’m a long, long time King reader. I think he is a great storyteller and an occasionally very good writer... but his treatment of special needs characters is embarrassingly bad (Tom Cullen is Shakespearean compared to Duddits in Dreamcatcher.) And his African-American characters are almost as bad - the Odetta/Detta character, in her evil personality in the Dark Tower series, is not far removed from Mammy in Gone with the Wind. There is a temptation, if you are favorably inclined toward the author, to cut him some slack since the books were written a generation ago, but his Lionel character in the recent Bill Hodges trilogy is unforgivable.
Thanks! I avoided direct criticism of Fagerbakke in my review because I thought it was possible - probable? - that he played the role as written, and it wasn't his fault that Tom comes across like an even cartoonier version of Lenny from "Of Mice and Men". If I wasn't so backed up with books I own but haven't read, I'd read "Stand" again - for the first time in 40 years! I loved it back then but it was a long time ago. Only King I've read since the 80s was "It", which I got after the recent movies. Liked it, but King's obsession with sex and related components seemed odd to me. He's almost fetishistic at times, and it doesn't serve the story most of the time...
I had no problem with Ringwald in "The Stand", but I thought the series was meh at best anyway, so she couldn't really hurt it. Plus, she looked good! Never found her attractive in the 80s but she was very appealing here!
Watched some of the 90's The Stand on the weekend, it was shown on a cable channel here in the UK. First time I've seen it again since back then and it's not good. It doesn't help that Flagg sports a mullet.
It has its good points but not many. I didn't like the portrayal of Flagg. He seemed a bit goofy to be The Walking Dude.
My wife and I watched the first half this weekend. With a few exceptions, the acting is weak throughout. Shawnee Smith as the crazy/horny woman who molests Nick was exceptionally good.
It’s both. That’s the most cringe worthy character in the book. King doesn’t handle,it very well IMHO.
King's books as well as those from many other authors depict character's that are anamorphic in nature. If his movie translations were not portraying "crazy", where would Nicholson's career ever be? That is everywhere with all characters. It is fundamentally what makes a character a character. This is the same with most book, TV and movie characters. People watch and read for entertainment. Real life on a farm is not exactly Green Acres or people from the hills of Tennessee quite like the Clampett's (though some are not all that far removed). That's Entertainment...
Yeah I kept cringing every time I would read M-O-O-N. Clearly he wasn’t writing from experience (I.e. knowing mentally disabled characters).
I like King. He’s a very good writer but in this case, he was a lousy writer. It’s about crafting a well made character. He failed.
In the audio commentary for the 1994 version, King claims he knew an intellectually disabled person who would do that "M-O-O-N" thing. Maybe. Possibly. Not sure I believe it!
I love the book, though Stephen King did not stick the ending (it’s a recurring problem for him). Apparently, this new adaptation has a different ending. The 1994 miniseries was OK. It was kind of done on the cheap. When the scenes at Hemingford Home were done on a soundstage instead of on location, they lost me. I pictured in my mind the cast cornfields of Nebraska. Disappointing. The cast was a mixed bag. I though Molly Ringwald was physically right for Fran, but she gave a lifeless performance and had no chemistry with Gary Sinise (who I originally thought was wrong for the role, but grew on me). Rob Lowe was a complete miscast as Nick Andros, as was Corin Nemec as Harold. Bill Fagerbakke is a limited actor and I knew he wouldn’t be good. Laura San Giacomo was spot-on perfect as Nadine. As was Ray Walston as Glen Bateman.
One of King's best works! Most of his books that were made into movies or tv shows, were junk (personally I liked Storm of the Century mini-series, old Pet Cemetery and old "It" with Tim Curry). Sadly trailer doesn't look promising and I think casting is terrible...but I truly hope I'm wrong, because this book deserves a great adaptation.
Agree mostly on everything in the thread, time for a re-do of The Stand, timely though it is. I just connected with CBS All Access yesterday, when I realized that the series wasn't playing on the CBS as we knew it, pertaining to 'big network' events of the past. Three days to go countdown, should be very well worth a few extra bucks; looking forward to the series which I believe will be a huge improvement over the first one. While goofing around the new channel, it is safe to say the movie shelf selection alone is not bad whatsoever, limited, but good. So, in a few words... bring it on! 'After that… well, something is coming. Something great. Now Flagg is going to be born for the second time. The first was when the times had changed, and the times were changing again. He knows it’s almost time...' ``stephen king~the stand '78
