Steinesongo Too many fans seem to be blown away

Gutsycurene Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

SeeQuant Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

Lela The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

bsmith5552 This over long TV mini series from Stephen King is a complicated multi character story of the effects of a contained virus being loosed upon the unsuspecting American public and its after effects.It is broken down into four distinctive chapters. The first, "The Plague" is the best of the lot. It deals of the lethal virus spreading across the country killing most of the population. There are those who are immune to the virus, notably Stu Redman (Gary Sinese) whose story is the focus of this part.Part 2, "The Dream" is where things get really weird. Many of the survivors begin to experience dreams in which they emerge from a corn field to be confronted by Mother Abigail Freemantle (Ruby Dee) who is a self proclaimed messenger of God. She counsels them and invites them to come to her. This is the "good" side. On the "evil" side is one Randall Flagg (Jamie Sheridan) an agent of the devil who can change shapesat will and has a closet full of scary faces.Part 3. "The Betrayal" deals with jilted suitor Harold Lauder (Corin Nemac) who has been seduced by the evil Nadine Cross (Laura San Giacomo) into betraying his love Frannie Goldsmith (Molly Ringwald) who has become involved ...and pregnant with Redman as well as betraying the rest of the group led by Redman which includes the deaf/dumb Nick Andros (Rob Lowe), his slightly retarded Tom Cullen (Bill Fagerbakle), Glen Bateman (Ray Walston) and Larry Underwood (Adam Storke) among others. Harold builds an explosive device and........................................Part 4. "The Stand" is the final showdown between good and evil. Mother Abigail has sent four men on a pilgrimage to confront the evil Flagg. In the meantime his assistant Lloyd Henreid (Miguel Ferrer) is preparing for the confrontation. A weird ally, The Trashcan man arrives on the scene with a big surprise for all.The first part of the story concerning the spread of the lethal virus, had the most potential. When it degenerates into the supernatural, it for me, gets a little ridiculous. The climax in Part 4 is rather unlikely given the situation. And Jamie Sheridan in a Kris Kristoffersom fright wig is more than a little over the top. The rest of the large cast does what it can in an impossible situation.Watch for Ed Harris as a General and Kathy Bates as a radio announcer in the first part. The producers would have done well to have cast these two performers to bigger parts. And yes, Stephen King has a part as one of the good people.

doctirderp ill keep it short. the first episode is great. good pacing, suspense, and good backstory to give you information. however, after the first episode, the rest of the 3 episodes are slow, terribly paced, and the things people do just don't make any damn sense.i want you to know the ending, i really do. if anything, just to prevent you from wasting your time. a maniac, who seems out of place the entire series, tries to set off an explosion but some weird spirit of an old prophet stops him. it doesn't make sense as you read it here, and it makes even less sense in the context of the film. also, consider the prophet told 4 of the characters to go to the town to stop the bomb going off...but it was worthless, they didn't do anything. a whole episode about some epic journey, where many of them even died, just for some stupid spirit voice to stop a maniac who just randomly decided to bomb the city. its terrible, absolutely terrible.

scottmannen1 It's a made for TV movie, not some Hollywood blockbuster with a massive budge that is plastered wall to wall with movie star A-Listers. That being said, there are a surprising number of top notch thespians.Gary Sinise and Molly Ringwald lock things down with solid performances that represent "The Light" side. In a nutshell there is a massive die-off in the form of a deadly plague that basically remakes the entire Earth. The planet as we know it goes from 7.5 billion population to somewhere around 10,000 planet-wide! To further complicate world matters there appears to be a supernatural biblical force behind the entire event. There are now two sides to this event: the side of God and the side of the Devil turning this disaster into what appears to be an apocalyptic event.The evil is concentrating around Las Vegas 'Sin City" so aptly named. A biker looking rebel with a legendary mullet by the name of Randall Flag is leading the darkness.The good are behind a devout old woman of 106 name Abigail Freeman who is gathering the light to her via dream messages.This series can drag on in some parts, but it's a fantastic showdown that can't be missed! Be sure to watch this one!

BA_Harrison A virulent man-made strain of flu accidentally escapes from a top-security army facility and rapidly spreads around the world, killing millions. A small percentage of immune survivors find themselves courted by the forces of good (lead by aged Mother Abigail Freemantle) and evil (commanded by the devilish Randall Flagg) in a final battle for dominion over the Earth.At nearly six hours long, Mick Garris's TV mini-series of Stephen King's chunky post-apocalyptic epic is an arduous journey to undertake, maudlin sentimentality and religious pondering frequently making the road very hard-going; many, mayhaps, will fall by the wayside. It all starts off promisingly enough, with a terrific, truly chilling first half in which the last of the living—a wide ranging group of well-drawn characters performed by an impressive cast—are left to wander a world strewn with corpses, looking for fellow survivors; however, it all goes a bit awry in the latter half, which is laden with corn (and I'm not talking about the crops surrounding Mother Abigail's home!).Increasingly hammy performances (worst offenders: Jamey Sheridan as Flagg and Matt Frewer as Trashcan Man), moments of unintentional hilarity, and a sense of the absurd proliferate matters, with a ridiculous anti-climax that sees God himself saving the day, obliterating his enemy by reaching down a giant sparkly hand to detonate an atomic bomb. No, really! 5.5 out of 10, rounded up to 6 for IMDb.