Justin at the Movies

#2

// June 7th, 2009 // 100 movies

The Shawshank Redemption

Last years rank: 2

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This movie is the ultimate story of redemption, and it feels that need in me for revenge when there is injustice. Most movies that are made out of Stephen King novels or novellas are usually terrible, but this happens to be one of the few exceptions. Not only is this movie nothing short of brilliant, but it is ten times better than the book. Just like how Kubrick greatly improved the shining, Frank Darabont did the same with this and the Green Mile. The movie is so superbly done it has managed to find its way to being the #1 ranked movie on imdb.com and the AFI ranked it as the #72 greatest movie of all time. Even though you can’t trust imdb rankings more than you can trust your dogs opinion, it still speaks volumes that it is the highest ranked. Casting Morgan Freeman as Red was one of the most brilliant things they did for the movie (he is a white Irish guy in the book.) Somehow this managed to not win a single Oscar, which is one of the greatest snubs of all time. Granted it did come out the same year as Forrest Gump, so that makes it a little more understandable. Silly side note; in Taiwan this movie was released as “1995: Fantastic.” Yeah, I don’t know. “Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things.” #2. Enjoy.