A Certain Point of View: Writing, Film and Stuff

(C) 2017 Lucasfilm Ltd. & Penguin Random House. Cover art and design: Will Staehle 2017 is the 40th Anniversary year that commemorates the premiere of writer-director George Lucas's original 1977  Star Wars film. In honor of the occasion, the past 10 months have seen the release of the home media editions of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and Season Three of Disney's animated series. Star Wars: Rebels, as well as a YT-1300's cargo hold's worth of 40th Anniversary action figures, posters, limited edition sculptures, and other collectible items.   And in advance of the upcoming theatrical debut of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, many publishing companies licensed by Disney-owned Lucasfilm Ltd. are stocking bookstore shelves with novels, comic books, a seventh William Shakespeare's Star Wars book - this one based on The Force Awakens - and illustrated reference books such as DK Books' Star Wars: The Visual Encyclopedia. On Tuesday. October 3, Penguin Random H...

“Stand by Me” is a moving coming-of-age comedy drama directed by Rob Reiner. Adapted from Stephen King’s novella The Body by screenwriter-producer Bruce A. Evans and Raynold Gideon, this 1986 comedy drama follows the misadventures of four pre-teen boys (Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman and Jerry O’Connell) who hike through the woods outside the small town of Castle Rock, Oregon to look for a missing teen’s corpse. Like director Robert Mulligan’s “Summer of ‘42” and other coming-of-age movies, “Stand by Me” is not a plot-driven movie. It’s a character piece that focuses on Gordie (Wheaton), Chris (Phoenix), Teddy (Feldman) and Vern (O’Connell) during a weekend-long trek in the Oregon woods to find a dead kid’s body before a band of teenage hoodlums led by Ace Merrill (Kiefer Sutherland) does. On the surface, “Stand by Me” is one of those “small” films that are better suited for after school television specials than the silver screen. But King’s well-written novella is...