Smell the Movies
Smell the TV
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
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| Year: | 1994 |
| Country of origin: | USA |
| Director: | Frank Darabont |
| Genre: | Tragic redemption |
| Starring: | Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman, Bob Gunton, William Sadler, Clancy Brown |
| Rating: | 5/5 |
| IMDB link: | http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0111161/ |
| Tagline: | Fear can hold you prisoner. Hope can set you free. |
| Favourite line: | "Son, six wardens have been through here in my tenure, and I've learned one immutable, universal truth: Not one of them born whose asshole wouldn't pucker up tighter than a snare drum when you ask them for funds." |
I'll let you in on a secret.
I have avoided watching this movie simply because I was sick and tired of being told how fantastic it is.
I was sick to the back teeth of the hype, of the fact that it is at #1 on IMDB, by the film critics banging on about it in a seemingly endless back-slap-a-thon that brought tears flowing out of my ears, such was the build up of pressure in my cranium.
But you know what?
It's bloody great.
I'll forsake the usual plot details here as, frankly, if you don't know what this is about by now, you're really not trying. Suffice to say there's a whole bunch of time spent in Shawshank, then we get fifteen minutes or so of redemption at the end.
The performances all round are exceptional, the stand out for me being Morgan Freeman, just slightly ahead of Tim Robbins.
But the real star turn here is by Frank Darabont, writer director and all round good egg, he seems to have a real passion for the writings of Stephen King (he also directed The Green Mile and the stunning The Mist), on whose short story this is based.
Compelling, funny, violent, harrowing, heart-warming (though in a good way), this is complex and riveting from start to finish and, frankly, I now feel I have wasted 17 years of my life that could have been spent watching this every few months.
Magical stuff.
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