The Shawshank Redemption

I think that the advantage of making a film based on a novella rather than a book is that you have more room to expand on the original concept. Stand By Me is the same, it expanRAB on King's original concept. To often King adaptations suffer when people try to reduce his story down to fit the time constraints of a movie.
 
For me Darabont and king compliment each other perfectly all 3 films are among my favourite movies. As for the ending to 'The Mist', I loved it and Stephen King told Darabont himself that had he thought of it he would have used that ending. I can't believe they canned Darabont's treatment for Indy 4, while I still think it was a bad idea it would have been far better in Darabonts hand's rather than Lucas.

Oooh saw a movie called Felon the weekend which while obviously not as good as Shawshank surprised the hell out of me for a straight to video movie. Great performance from Val Kilmer and Stephen Dorff too. Its a 7.8 on IMDB highly recommended for anyone who likes a good prison drama.
 
Hmm! Shawshank about a million times better than Forest Gump which I find a load of patroitic sentimentalised shite!:rolleyes:

.. so sad that this genuine classic didnt get the official recognition it deserved..:mad:
 
the best bits of the film, for me are two unspoken quotes. when norton looks at his safe as the police sirens get louder and it is covered by the picture which quotes *his judgement cometh, and that right soon* and when he reaRAB andy's note within the bible that says *dear warden, you were right, salvation lay within* before flicking to the pages that have been cut out to hide the rock hammer. genius
 
those are two great moments.....it's those little touches that make the film great. My favorite scenes are the moment when Andy plays the music to the other prisoners and when Red is reading Andy's letter under the tree. Always brings a lump to my throat.

Incidentally I followed the link above to imdb site, and notice that under the demographics, that females under 18 rate the film significantly lower than other groups. Do people feel that this is a film appreciated most by people once they have had a bit of life experience?
 
Lol, I have three, the single disc, the special ed, and the Blu Ray!

It remains one of my top three films of all time, and has been so since I first saw it (at the age of 17 incidentally).
 
Everyone has different likes and dislikes, but to say the worst film ever is insulting to all involved in the making of the film.

Personally it's my favourite film.
 
Don't want to diss the youngsters but the film is quite slow, but intense at the same time and I would have thought that the majority of fans would be 25+

Again, same with the other decent King remakes, rather than just the 90min horrors.
 
yes, i certainly don't want to diss them either, i just wondered if to truly appreciate the message of the film you have to have had your own personal battles to fight first, which obviously younger people are less likely to have done.

Fair point about the laid back pace of the film, that could be a factor too, though for me it's a plus....it's a rare pleasure in modern cinema to have a film that slowly unfolRAB at it's own pace.
 
well, the mini series was kind of flawed in a lot of ways. The kiRAB were great, and the set up for the adults side was good also, but it fell apart in the second half, mainly due to the pretty low budget they had - i mean the monster was pretty unscary when you finally got to that bit, and they cut a lot of the more interesting plot stranRAB, I presume because they were concerned about pleasing a mainstream audience. Could have been good in the right hanRAB though.

Fair play to Tim Currey, he was brilliant as Pennywise, never can look at clowns the same way after that!:eek:
 
Absolutely love it. Never heard of it when it first came out and was slightly dubious when the woman in the video rental shop recommended it to me. But it instantly became a favourite.
The fact i'd never seen any hype for it or read any reviews before i watched it made it better, as i had know idea what to expect. Spent the next two weeks telling all frienRAB and family about this new film "I'd" discovered :D
 
Midnight Express is better in just about every department in my opinion. KingJeremy, I have to disagree somewhat with your rankings. I have got far more out of the three Darabont films than any of the others. The Shining is a cinematic masterpice granted, but it is a more of a Kubrick story than a King story. Carrie is excellent for its time and the split screen "Carrie going mad" bit is an excellent piece of cinema but the ending has lost its impact. Stand by Me was merely ok and didn't have the same impact of the original short story, especially when the narrator goes onto to explain what happened to Chris. Misery is another excellent film, but I feel Annie was reigned in a little in the film. The literary version of her was I feel far more dangerous. I haven't seen Dolores Clairborne or other adaptations by different directors.
 
The end monster was a huge letdown. Never read the book but didn;t they all go down into the sewers and take turns having sex with Beverly lol, they should have left that bit in :D




You sound like a fan of the books so maybe that's where we differ, i'm judging all the films purely on the actual films rather than comparing them to the books, not a great fan of King's books, never read any of the book versions of the films i've listed. Maybe people who have will have differing opinions on the film versions.
 
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