The Shawshank Redemption

[Anonymous]

This is one awesome movie that I'm pretty sure I will never sell (unlike some other great movies I ended up selling when I was broke), and it's my absolute favorite movie. The 2-disc special edition featuring a lengthy interview with Frank Darabont, Tim Robbins, and Morgan Freeman is worth buying.

"Hope is a good thing...maybe the best of things...and no good thing ever dies." I've always loved this quote. :thumbleft:

YouTube has lots of spoofs of this movie. I just now found this one (featuring Jim Carrey...lmao!).....

http://youtu.be/Hq5tHQFnHHA

 

[Nordling]

It's one of my favorites too. When a movie has Morgan Freeman in it, no matter how bad the movie, he makes it good.

 

[Anonymous]

It's one of my favorites too. When a movie has Morgan Freeman in it, no matter how bad the movie, he makes it good.

And he has an excellent narrator's voice. :thumbleft:

I think he also narrated in the movie Million Dollar Baby.

 

[Shaun__]

The novel is also great if you enjoy reading, definitely one of Stephen King's better novels.

 

[Nordling]

It's one of my favorites too. When a movie has Morgan Freeman in it, no matter how bad the movie, he makes it good.

And he has an excellent narrator's voice. :thumbleft:

I think he also narrated in the movie Million Dollar Baby.

Yeah, and he played 'Eddie "Scrap-Iron' Dupris."

 

[Poker_Babe]

One of my favorites as well. It's got to be one of the most inspirational films I've ever seen.

one of my favorite scenes:

 

[Kradek]

I've never understood the runaway popularity of this movie on the internet.

Take IMDB's top 250 for example. 180,000 more votes than The Godfather or Fight Club? I've had the urge to watch many of the movies on that list many multiple times, but once I saw Shawshank once, it was enough. Nice story, well acted, doesn't toss out any new ideas or break any ground. Look at the rating/votes on that list for a similar, better movie, To Kill A Mockingbird.

Movies are obviously a personal choice and don't get me wrong, this one is pretty good, but it's not *that* good. It's an internet meme.

 

[Nordling]

Whether or not a movie become an internet meme affects my viewing pleasure exactly ZERO. It's irrelevant. Yeah, what we like is totally subjective. Godfather was well directed, acted, produced, etc. But I disliked the whole idea of glorifying and humanizing the Mob. As far as Fight Club, I think Brad Pitt is one of the worst "popular" actors in existence. I loved Shawshank because it left me with a "good" feeling. Corny? Maybe, but that's just me. lol

But each to their own.

 

[Anonymous]

I've never understood the runaway popularity of this movie on the internet.

Take IMDB's top 250 for example. 180,000 more votes than The Godfather or Fight Club? I've had the urge to watch many of the movies on that list many multiple times, but once I saw Shawshank once, it was enough. Nice story, well acted, doesn't toss out any new ideas or break any ground. Look at the rating/votes on that list for a similar, better movie, To Kill A Mockingbird.

Movies are obviously a personal choice and don't get me wrong, this one is pretty good, but it's not *that* good. It's an internet meme.

I never understood the popularity of Forrest Gump, but some people love it...some don't. It's not a big deal.

This thread isn't about The Godfather or Fight Club though, but feel free to start a thread about those movies if you want. This is my first thread on this forum...let's try not to threadjack it and turn it into a "What's your favorite movie?" thread.

 

[Kradek]

Sure. I'm not trying to start discussions about other movies. I meant this movie in particular is curiously popular beyond what I would have expected based on it's merits. Maybe there is some secret I haven't discerned.

 

[Nordling]

Sure. I'm not trying to start discussions about other movies. I meant this movie in particular is curiously popular beyond what I would have expected based on it's merits. Maybe there is some secret I haven't discerned.

One piece of the puzzle is that Shawshank is more broadly appealing than a lot of other wildly popular movies. There are "chick flicks" and "guy flicks" but Shawshank appealed to people from all segments of the population. And I'm saying that while not implying that it's a "family movie." It's much broader than that.

 

[Anonymous]

Sure. I'm not trying to start discussions about other movies. I meant this movie in particular is curiously popular beyond what I would have expected based on it's merits. Maybe there is some secret I haven't discerned.

I have a thing for movies/t.v. shows about prison/court/justice.

The Shawshank Redemption
The Green Mile
Carolina Skeletons (about a 14 yr. old Black boy wrongly executed for the death of 2 White girls)
Law and Order Special Victims Unit
Oz

Back to The Shawshank Redemption...great acting and great script. Morgan Freeman is wonderful, and Clancy Brown (also the voice of Mr. Krabs on SpongeBob Squarepants) was an excellent choice to play the cruel Captain Hadley.

I love the special edition 2-disc version because of the bonus features.

By the way, I was glad when they finally gave Morgan Freeman a Lifetime Achievement Award. :thumbleft:

 

[Anonymous]

One piece of the puzzle is that Shawshank is more broadly appealing than a lot of other wildly popular movies. There are "chick flicks" and "guy flicks" but Shawshank appealed to people from all segments of the population. And I'm saying that while not implying that it's a "family movie." It's much broader than that.

In one of the bonus feature segments, one of the viewers said that it's a movie they like to watch at least once a week. I know that everytime I talk about it, it makes me want to go watch it right that second. I may watch it tonight after my son goes to bed...definitely NOT a kid-friendly film. :lol:

On another forum I visit, many people have mentioned this movie in the "What's your favorite movie?" threads. :thumbleft:

 

[Nordling]

lol Agree, it's definitely not for kids. Besides I doubt a young kid would "get" it. So, yeah, it's not that broad. lol But for just about any other segment of the population, it's great.

Oh, and Morgan Freeman and Clancy Brown were the standouts, and Tim Robbins I don't always like, but he was perfect in his role in this film.

 

[mynameisbob84]

I fucking love Shawshank. I blubber like a small child that's skinned its knee whenever I get to the final scene, where Freeman runs up to Robbins on the beach when they're both free men and stuff
Also, Brooks is a fucking bad-ass.

 

[Mirra]

Definitely a great film. I was surprised to find my mother had never watched it. After my raving about how good a movie it was, she bought it and we watched it (probably the 8th time I've watched it) last year and enjoyed it a lot. I have to agree with the broadly appealing thing though. While not a kids movie it's also not a movie you would feel awkward to watch with certain people.

 

[Anonymous]

"Get busy livin'...or get busy dyin'...that's God damn right." :-D


And I love the conversation about hope:

Red: Hope is a dangerous thing...hope can drive a man insane.

Andy: Hope is a good thing...maybe the best of things...and no good thing ever dies.


I was about to watch the movie last night, but I saw that my show Law and Order Special Victims Unit was on t.v., so I figured I'd watch that while it was on.

 

[SweepTheLeg]

It's one of those movies that I could and still do watch it until the very end when I'm channel surfing no matter what time of day it is or how far into the movie it is when I land on it. It's a movie my family and I could all agree on to watch and enjoy. I first saw it when I was 12/13ish but I could still relate enough for it to impact me.