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The Stand, a review by addicted2dvd

Today I started a Stephen King Marathon. I plan on watching at least 1 Stephen King movie/miniseries per day between today and Sunday.

Today I watched...


The Stand
Enter a near future of a horrifically plague-ravaged Earth where a fraction of its population survives, compelling them to choose sides between the overwhelming forces of good and evil, in this critically acclaimed film version of Stephen King's phenomenal, number-one best-selling novel THE STAND.

Millions perish, and as small, isolated frightened bands unite, the answers to their perpetual questions to justify this end of civilization are bared in their dreams - revelations that urge some to embrace a path of virtue and others to gravitate towards a sinister course of darkness. As the opposing forces separate into two camps - one led by the saintly Mother Abigail and the other by demonic Randall Flagg - the noble elements try to shield themselves from their corrupt enemy, whose ruthless potency is increased by their domination of an excavated nuclear warhead. Their extreme clash of wills makes it inevitable that these remnants of humanity will soon engage in a final confrontation - THE STAND - an immense and atrocious battle which could result in annihilating the power of good and hurdle the fate of the planet into the reins of evil.

This four-episode motion picture, adapted for the screen by Stephen King himself, brings to life King's terrifying epic featuring an all-star-powered cast including Gary Sinise, Molly Ringwald, Jamey Sheridan, Laura San Giacomo, Ruby Dee, Ossie Davis, Miguel Ferrer, Corin Nemec, Matt Frewer, Adam Storke, Ray Walston, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Rob Lowe as "Nick Andros."

My Thoughts:
I figured if I am going to do this... I will do it right... and start off with the biggie! This miniseries clocks in at a whopping 6 hours! (5hrs. 59min to be exact). For the plane fact that it is so long I have not watched this one in a very long time... so going into it I really don't remember all that much about it.

Even though it is very long... it is a really good story I enjoyed every minute of it. I had no problems with the quality or the sound. I have had this DVD since it was first released in October of 1999... and this is only the second time I watched it. Only because of the length of course. I would say if you are a fan of Stephen king... as I am... this one is a must have!

(From Stephen King Marathon... on July 10th, 2007)

In Time, a review by addicted2dvd

In Time (2011/United States) IMDb |Trailer |Wikipedia | Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment (United States) Director: Andrew Niccol Writing: Andrew Niccol (Writer) Length: 109 min. Video: Widescreen 2.35:1 Audio: English: DTS-HD Master Audio: 5.1, Spanish: Dolby Digital: 5.1, French: Dolby Digital: 5.1 Subtitles: English, Spanish

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Stars:
Justin Timberlake as Will Salas
Olivia Wilde as Rachel Salas
Shyloh Oostwald as Mya
Johnny Galecki as Borel
Colin McGurk as Citizen

Plot:
Every second counts in this sexy, stylish action-thriller starring Justin Timberlake and Amanda Seyfried. In a future where time is literally money and aging stops at 25, the only way to stay alive is to earn, borrow, steal or inherit more time. But when a poor, working-class man (Timberlake) is falsely accused of murder, he teams up with a beautiful heiress (Seyfried) and must figure out a way to bring down the corrupt system before their dwindling life clocks run out!

Extras:

• Scene Access
• Feature Trailers
• Bonus Trailers
• Deleted Scenes
• Featurettes
• BD-Live
• Digital Copy

While I enjoy this one... I was expecting it to be better then it was from the trailer. It is an interesting concept. An idea I haven't seen before. But I feel the film didn't meet it's potential. For one thing I found I really didn't care about the main characters enough. I don't know if this is from the writing or from the fact that I never really cared for Justin Timberlake all that much. Over-all a decent movie. One I can see myself watching again... but not as often as some.



(From The Alphabet Marathon: Blu-ray Edition on January 24th, 2016)

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Marathon, a review by DJ Doena

Synopsis: Captain Sisko has still a hard time accepting that he's the Emissary of the Prophets when his replacement comes out of the wormhole. The Bajoran Akorem Laan has been in the celestial temple for over 200 years and he believes to be the real Emissary. Sisko has no problem with that until Akorem tries to reinstall the D'jarras, the bajoran caste system in which birth decides what profession one takes as an adult.

My Opinion: This was an OK episode to convince Sisko to keep the role as Emissary. He was willing to give it up but it was good that he fought that decision when he noticed how much power lies in that role and how it can be used to force wrong developements. But it's no favourite of mine.

Synopsis: The Klingon Empire demands the extradition of Worf after he's destroyed a barely armed passenger ship in a battle. The facts of what happened aren't questioned by either side but the Klingons question Worf state of mind, his motives when he destroyed that ship and killed over 400 civilians. But are the facts as clear as they are supposed to be?

My Opinion: I liked how they mixed the scenes in the court room with the "footage" of the actual events and how they seemlessly switched between both timelines. And it was interesting to see a Klingon that wasn't a warrior in the classical sense. We see that very rarely even though the idea of an antire race of warriors (who are not genetically engineered) is rather unlikely.

Synopsis: Miles O'Brien has been charged with espionage on Argratha and he has been sentenced to 20 years. But these twenty years happen only in his mind, they are a mixture of memory implants and that what Miles adds to these. Unfortunately they are irremovable and now Miles has to reintegrate himself into his former life on the station but the memories haunt him.

My Opinion: This was a great episode in my opinion. It was interessting to see how Miles struggled with his "past" and to learn why he never mentioned his imaginary friend. But I have to admit that his reacclimatization went a bit fast for me, they should have made that process go over more than just one episode. Imagine you go to prison today for twenty years and then you get released. Could you continue your work tomorrow where you left off yesterday? But since they are implanted memories maybe the actual ones from yesterday aren't forgotten as they would have been if it would have been actual twenty years.

Synopsis: Mirror-Jennifer comes to DS9 to visit Ben and to see Jake for the first time. But when Ben returns to his quarters Jennifer has taken Jake to the other side and Sisko follows. The terran rebels have taken Terok Nor but now they fear the wrath of the Alliance. When "Smiley" O'Brien was on our side he stole the plans for the Defiant and it's nearly ready. They just need Ben to finish her. But the Regent and his fleet will be here in two days.

My Opinion: Although I like mirror episodes I thought it a bit too cheap to introduce the Defiant and Worf to the other side just because they've entered the show in general. But it was another OK episode. I especially liked that Dax slapped him for sleeping with her under false pretenses.
And I noticed once again the flexibility of things: Have you ever noticed on Smallville that Metropolis was just as far away as the writers needed it to be? Sometimes it's a three-hours drive, sometimes they seemed to be glued together. It's the same with the fire and shield power of Star Trek ships. Sometimes it takes one shot by the Defiant to take out a Bird of Prey and sometimes they have to shoot half their arsenal at one. And sometimes it takes only one shot to make the Defiant's bridge explode and sometimes they fight an entire fleet by themselves with just a few scratches afterwards.

(From Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Marathon on January 10th, 2009)