Conference bookie::movies

    [Thanks for re-posting these as individual reviews, Chris!]
    
    I'm glad to hear good reports on this film - the King story it's based
    on is one of his most memorable ones, for me, and I'd been afraid that
    (like so many movies-based-on-King) it would be weakened a lot for the
    screen. Sounds like the film's maintained the spirit of it; I'll
    definitely try and catch this one.
    
    -b

    I agree with .2 10000%!  Redemption _is_ my fav King story and I have a
    huge pet peeve about the trashing of his stuff from page to screen. 
    I'm keeping all 10 fingers crossed.  I'll be _so_ disappointed if the
    movie ruins my fondness for the story.
    
    Mary Jo

    Here's another "me too" -- this is my favorite King story, too.  
    
    
    Looking forward to the film.  I'm glad to see the story's apparantly
    been done justice.
    
    
    cheers,
    
    kim

    
    Yet another me too.  This is the one King story I couldn't stand to 
    see ruined on screen.  I make it a point to read this story twice
    a year.  I'm psyched the movie has high prospects.  
    
    Originally, Rob Reiner offered Darabont money for the script and the
    right for Rob to direct.  Darabont held his ground, though, and won
    the chance to direct.
    
    - Sean

    Quick "tales from the usenet": I just about splurted coffee all over my
    terminal screen at the following passage from a usenet review of
    "Shawshank Redemption":
    
    	"The whole prison is a nightmare with many of the
    	convicts having lost all sense of decency."
    
    I think it ought to be on the posters. ;-)
    
    -b

    I caught this in Lawrence the other night -- quite a drive through rush
    hour, but at least the film had finally moved somewhat "local" to me.
    
    I wasn't disappointed. I'm a sucker for prison dramas of any sort
    anyway, but I was braced for a let down with this one.  As I mentioned
    a couple replies back, "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption" is
    my favorite Stephen King story (short or not-short) and I was fearful
    of a fair-to-middlin' adaptation.  
    
    This was a wonderful movie.  I know some reviews have called it
    overlong and meandering, but I'm not clear on what could or should have
    been cut out.  All the actors did a great job (esp. Tim Robbins, whom
    I've always been somewhat lukewarm on) and the plethora of familiar
    faces playing fellow inmates like William Sandler ("Death" in the 2nd Bill
    and Ted movie or the leader of the soldier gang in "Die Hard II", if
    you prefer), that guy who played Vasquez's big-gun buddy in Aliens,
    Clancy Brown as a thuggish guard captain (a man with no eyebrows. 
    Weird!), and others.  Morgan Freeman was aces in the role of Red (I've 
    never been disappointed with this man's work, ever.  Even on "The 
    Electric Company" :).  And James Whitmore was great, too.  
    
    Being somewhat of a fan of prison movies, I also like prisons (well,
    not to LIVE there or anything.  It's not like I think being imprisoned
    is something neat.  But some of the old prison buildings are).  The old
    prison (schedule for demolishment, I think) that the film used as a
    location truly fits the word "gothic" -- it reminds me much of the Old
    Montana State/Territorial Prison that resides smack dab in the town of
    Deer Lodge, MT -- a very castle-like, stone structure with walls you'd
    expect to see archers walking rather than guys with guns.  On the other
    hand, it's a foreboding place, drab and dreary and depressing. 
    
    Fit the "hope among hopelessness" theme perfectly.
    
    In a nutshell, it was great.  I loved it.  
    
    It's probably too slow moving for kids and, heck, probably some adults. 
    There's violence that's, while not especially bloody, is fairly savage. 
    No sex (some description of the sort of activites one would expect to
    take place in a prison society, though).  Some bad language, not
    overdone.
    
    Go see it.  Hell, give reading the story a try, even if you don't like
    Stephen King (it's NOT horror).  The movie is quite faithful to the
    book and probably one of the best adaptations I've seen.  
    
    **** out of ****
    
    kim

    A zillion dittos to .6
    
    Again, this is my favorite King story, as well as one of my top 5
    favorite stories of all time, period, and I was nervous as he*l when
    went to the theatre yesterday afternoon.
    
    But I loved how much liked it!  The only thing I didn't like is the very
    final scene.  Although beautifully shot, it is unnecssary to the
    storyline and not in the book.  But Robbins (who I have always been on
    fire about) and Freeman were fantastic, the writing was great and I
    really enjoyed listening to the audience react around me as the story
    unfolded for them (as I already knew the plot, story, etc.) and the
    greatest thing was, I don't think they left out anything important.
    
    Praise the Lord, someone finally got it right with S King's vision.
    
    I give it ***** out of ***** and recomend it to all!
    
    Mary Jo

    I don't like Stephen King stories as a rule, and I was surprised he had
    written something that wasn't of the horror genre.  I found it long and
    meandering and decided afterwards that I would have named it "Forrest
    Gump Goes to Prison".  It starts out with the harsh realities of prison
    life which if you've seen any prison movies before is typical, and then
    in the second half launches in to the renaissance of Shawshank with
    Robbins at the helm, building a better future with books and music. 
    Which I suppose upon reflection is very possible but not to the degree
    shown in the movie.  I found it hard to believe that everyone in a
    prison yard would stand with rapt attention to classical music being
    piped through.  And the end, well fairy tales can come true, it can
    happen to you.  

    This is out on video now. I can only endorse prior comments on the
    excellence of this movie. It is one of the best I've seen.
    

    I rented the video last night.  It's a very moving film, and 
    like the previous noter, it's one of the best I've seen.
    
    Sue 

    I too, rented it the other evening, this is one GREAT flick.  It's not
    one for the kiddies and as was said many times before Robbins and
    Freeman were amazing.   It's always nice to see a movie and a few days
    later to still be thinking about it.
    
    			Catch it,
    
    			Bart

    Question:  During the Oscars, they showed a clip where the whole prison
    listens to a Mozart duet.  Morgan Freeman talks about how sublime it
    is.  Do they ever mention what the women were actually singing about?
    (BTW, I already know what they're singing about; I just want to know if
    the film gets into it.)

    No, come to think of it....it's never mentioned what they're
    singing about.  Morgan Freeman just says, to the ffect, that those 
    men didn't care what the women were saying, it was the emotion
    in the music that made them all feel like free men that day...
    or something like that.
    
    Sue

    A wonderful little gem!  Rented this on tuesday, it's thursday and
    I'm still thinking of this movie.  Excellent!  
    
    I did not find the movie long at all; in fact I was dissapointed when
    it ended.  Will definitely try to get my hands on a copy of this book.
    
    I wish Spielberg would create more movies of this genre than his (my
    opinion only) awful sci-fi stuff.  I would never have guessed that
    he was even remotely involved in this movie.
    
    Thumbs up!
    
    PChaplinsky

    Re: .13
    
    Well, I can tell you, but it's hardly as inspiring or sublime as the
    music makes it sound.  So you might want to just skip it.
    
    
    
    The duet is "Sull'aria (Che so ave zefiretto)" from the Marriage of
    Figaro.  Figaro and Susanna (his intended) are in the service of a
    Count and his Countess.  The Count married for love, but now he's
    casting his eyes on Susanna, who would rather be left alone.  She and
    the Countess conspire to trick him; Susanna agrees to meet him in the
    gardens, but the Countess will be there, too.  In the duet, the
    Countess dictates a letter for Susanna to write, detailing the location
    of the rendezvous.  However, the really swoony part has the Countess
    singing, "And the rest he'll remember," with Susanna reassuring her,
    "Certainly, he'll remember."  So perhaps the site brings back fond
    memories for the Countess, and she plans to use them to rekindle his
    love for her.  (The plot to the opera is so complicated, it's hard to
    keep all the details straight.)

    re.15 Oh.
    
    re .14  Spielberg was involved?  In what capacity?
    
    I was surprised it was a Steven King book.  

    A big OOPs yes Stephen King... everything else still applies.
    
    PChaplinsky

    My hisband rented this last night over my protests. Boy, am I ever glad 
    he didn't listen to me! After the film, it turned out I loved and he
    merely like it a lot (which is ggod for him).
    
    Never was I so totally fooled by a lackluster title and ho hum
    trailers.  This is a wonderful film about life, relationships, doing
    the best with whatever hand life deals you, you name it, without
    turning into an improbable set of circumstances. In fact, suspending
    your disbelief is a pleasure here. 
    
    I expected a Dickesian tale of prison friendships or a Birdman of
    Alcatraz remade. None of these.
    
    If you haven't seen it yet, run don't walk to your nearest video
    rental shop.  
    
    **** out of **** 
    
    More after the formfeed:
    
    
    
    I love almost everything that happened in this movie.
    Even the way Andy managed to escape the prison and life out the rest of 
    his life in Xijuanatejo (sp?), instead of being exonerated and being
    set free was good. Life isn't always fair.  

  I rented this movie and saw it last night and it's a definite go see. Great
film. 

  In some ways it reminds me of Forest Gump. It's takes the same sort of
optimistic point of view of life revolving around guys who are not super heroes
but pluggers who just keep going on despite what's going on around them. 

  Great acting by the principles, both the good guys and bad guys. It's a bit
simplistic in that every individual is clearly a good guy or bad guy but
in this case it works and does not distract from the film.

  **** out of 5,
  George

    
    Wow, a couple of references to "Gump..."
    
    This, in my humble opinion, is a story that represents a life's story
    that is quite the *opposite* of "Gump."  The main character falls
    closer to Howard Roark than to Forrest Gump in the human spirit spectrum.
    
    - Sean

    > My hisband rented this last night over my protests. Boy, am I ever glad 
    > he didn't listen to me! After the film, it turned out I loved it ...
    
    I'm a "hisband" whose wife told him not to rent this last time I was at
    the video store. In light of the shining reviews here, might have to
    overrule her on this. Am particularly intrigued to find the hero
    compared to Howard Roark (of The Fountainhead, I assume?)
    
    To pursue a previous tangent a bit further...
    
    > Figaro and Susanna (his intended) are in the service of a Count and 
    > his Countess.  The Count married for love, but now he's
    > casting his eyes on Susanna, who would rather be left alone.
    
    The main point of the book/opera, and the reason why the Emperor in
    "Amadeus" had banned the book (from which Mozart had nonetheless
    written his opera), was that the Count was allowed by longstanding
    tradition to do as he wanted with the women in his domain, and they and
    their husbands could not protest because he was a nobleman. He had
    promised to give up this practice out of love for the Countess, but
    after seeing Susanna started having second thoughts.