The Stand (2020)

[Monster]

[DancesWithWerewolves]

Still anticipate this new version, but disappointed that since it was already all filmed before COVID, why is there only a dinky 30 sec teaser? The Batman only had 25% filmed and they had a full trailer

[Monster]

[DancesWithWerewolves]

Yay! A more fleshed out adaption! Hope it's good still. I've adjusted overtime for a Black Larry Underwood, even though it's still so odd that out of all characters, the white boy who sings "black" to secure his record deal is one that gets race swapped.

[Monster]

Disappointing first episode. I don't understand the decision to jump around on the timeline. If you're not already familiar with the story it would seem positively schizophrenic. And it already shows you what happens with characters who haven't even met each other yet and which road one particular character goes down. Baffling choice. I'll keep watching but the eager anticipation I felt yesterday is gone.

[DancesWithWerewolves]

Oh that's right, that starts airing today.

Is it one episode at a time, or all episodes up?

[Monster]

Oh that's right, that starts airing today.

Is it one episode at a time, or all episodes up?

One each Thursday.

[DancesWithWerewolves]

Watching the first episode now.

VERY strange place to start...with Harold throwing up in Boulder?

[Slaughterhouserock]

Was this worth watching? I heard it's kinda shit.

[DancesWithWerewolves]

It's decent, but outside of them using material that wasn't used the first go around, it's not really necessary. Feels like a pulled punch, and not for censoring reasons. The cast is great though, much better than the first version, especially this Harold Lauder and Randall Flagg, but mostly Harold.

Where it really falls short is that it fails at telling the story altogether. Most of the effort was basically put into the 3rd part of the book, and the first two parts (the best half of the book) are done with flashbacks, skipping over character development and relationships. I'm only connected to the characters because I've read the book and watched the 90's miniseries...not because of how they're developing here. It's pretty lazy. I assume some of it was a production problem, that they couldn't produce the apocalyptic side of things, but could do a smaller scale (and it definitely feels small scale) and film most of it in Canada. Which is funny, because the old miniseries had a fraction of the budget, and still felt like a much bigger scope.

The last episode that was hyped up as new material is pretty much pointless. At first I was like, "oh cool, i would be curious what Stu and Fran would do if they leave Boulder" but when the episode was done I was just like "eh." Just another way to shoe horn "stand" in there I guess.

It's not shit, but it' ain't great either. Above average overall, which is beneath the old miniseries in this case.

[DancesWithWerewolves]

The only one's from the old cast I feel are better are Miguel as Lloyd and Gary as Stu (though Marsden is still a pretty good Stu, Gary Sinise just set a high bar). This Lloyd was probably a decent actor, but this portrayal was pretty garbage without any of the inner conflict. He was just a douche.

[DancesWithWerewolves]

Oh, and I prefer Matt Frewer's Trash, as he was more sympathetic. This one (I forget the actor's name, but he played Flash in Justice League), he's good on the acting part, the scripts and development just failed him as if they threw him in at the last minute due to fan complaints of not seeing the character cast yet or something. And there's so little of him that while you definitely get the idea he's messed up upstairs...that's about it.

[Slaughterhouserock]

Good deal. I'll probably save it for when I've got nothing else to watch, then.

[DancesWithWerewolves]

Oh, and I technically like Whoopie for Mother Abigail...but like Trash her material was basically trash. There's no warming up to her, only jumping in when she's getting cranky with herself (book 3 stuff), and it does her no favors.

[Monster]

I canceled my subscription after the second episode. Maybe I didn't give it enough of a chance but I was disgusted with it. The jumping back and forth in the timeline was a fucking idiotic decision.

[DancesWithWerewolves]

I canceled my subscription after the second episode. Maybe I didn't give it enough of a chance but I was disgusted with it. The jumping back and forth in the timeline was a fucking idiotic decision.

I imagine that's what a lot of people calling it shit only did (giving it the first few episodes). It only does that for like the first 3 or 4 episodes, then it's pretty linear after that.

Was still a bad decision to go that way though, I agree. It's like a sterling example of why many don't recommend flashback storytelling.

I like flashback stuff, but not when it's the main freak'n plot.

[Reign in Blood]

Tarantino knows how to do it.

[DancesWithWerewolves]

Tarantino knows how to do it.

Yep, I'd say Christopher Nolan too, but these are master exceptions. Surely not Josh "Fault In Our Stars" Boone lol