stand by me

Yesterday night, I was watching random episodes of NCIS and decided to watch Stand by Me as well. Surprisingly, I liked the movie, despite the fact that it was about a bunch of twelve year olds on the search for a dead body. The acting was pretty amazing, considering how young they were. It amused me to no end to see Jerry O'Connell as the overweight, slow, and sniveling kid whom everyone picks on. River Phoenix was amazing as well.

Although the movie feels awkward at times (there's no way in hell that twelve year old boys are that introspective), it was really enjoyable despite the relative lack of violence and gore. Somehow, the boys in the movie seemed more innocent back compared to pre-teens of today. Life seems simpler. More crisp. More real.

It's obvious that the major reason why I watched this movie was because you-know-who was in it. I'm not trying to go through all of his films because some of them really suck, but Ace Merrill was pretty good in this film being the neighborhood bully (Something that Kiefer Sutherland had seemingly perfected in his youth). My favorite line follows from when he listens patiently to two of the other guys in his group of losers, and says softly, "Okay... okay... you've stated your position clearly, now I'm gonna state mine: GET IN THE FUCKING CAR, NOW!" Talk about real leadership qualities.