DVD Corner

Stand By Me Blu-ray Review

“Stand By Me” is a classic coming-of-age movie.

Based on the non-horror novella “The Body” by author superstar Stephen King, “Stand By Me” follows 4 friends in the 50’s as they journey into the woods to find a rumored dead body. In reality, however, the story is more about growing pains, being a child, adulthood, parents, friendship, life, death, and thrill seeking. In other words, it’s a pretty deep movie.

I could go on and on about “Stand By Me,” but when it boils down to it, what’s not to like about the film aside from perhaps the campfire story about the pie eating contest gone wrong? Simply put, it’s a classic 80’s film that boasts an all-star cast consisting of Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman, Jerry O’Connell, Kiefer Sutherland, Richard Dreyfuss, and John Cusack. Not only is it one of the best films adapated from a Stephen King story, but it’s arguably one of the best teen films of that era. Rather than focusing on sophomoric or raunchy humor like many teen flicks these days, ‘Stand’ feels like a very real, human story mostly due to a great ensemble cast. The chemistry between the leads is impeccable. The late River Phoenix in particular really shines here as the character Chris Chambers. In fact, there’s not a bad performance to be found here which is a real rarity.

Summary: If you’ve never seen “Stand By Me,” what are you waiting for?

Video/Audio:

The 1.85:1 1080p I’m always skeptical of catalogue titles on Blu-ray, but for the most part, ‘Stand’ delivers. The colors look crisp (especially with the shots of the Oregon locals) in 1.85:1 1080p. It should be noted that grain is present throughout however.                                                                                                 

The 5.1 DTS-HD audio track wasn’t as sharp as I’d like it to be, but it still does the job.

Extras:
* MovieIQ trivia track and other BD-Live features.
* Sony trailers.
* A “Stand By Me” music video.
* “Walking The Tracks: The Summer Of Stand By Me”- Stephen King, Rob Reiner, Richard Dreyfuss, Wil Wheaton, Corey Feldman, and Jerry O’Connell talk about the story, characters, themes, casting, etc.
* An informative solo commentary by Rob Reiner.

* 25 Years Later: A Picture-In-Picture Commentary Retrospective With Rob Reiner, Wil Wheaton and Corey Feldman. This is definitely the track to listen to of the two. It’s basically a reunion commentary with the 3. While it’s interesting to see them catch up and recall memories, it would have been nice to see other cast members in the commentary.

April 7, 2011 - Posted by nicklyons1 | Blu-Ray review | Corey Feldman, Jerry O'Connell, John Cusack, Kiefer Sutherland, Richard Dreyfuss, River Phoenix, Stand By Me Blu-ray Review, Wil Wheaton