I echo many, many of the comments. It will be a long time before any series surpasses (if even possible) this outstanding piece of brilliance. This has set the bar very high. All other TV series don't even come close.
Oh, man. I never heard anything about the show before it came out in the UK, and I binged it in one weekend. It felt like someone had realised that it was possible to make a TV show that could tick every single box in my brain and had made the show just for me. When I heard a second series was coming out I was terrified that they were going to try and use the same characters. I wasn't as enamoured of the secod series, but at least it didn't try to sequelise the first.
One of the greatest movies all time no doubt... BUT... A couple of nit picks related to the length of the time span it covers. First Andy's ability to dig his way out depended completely on him being in the same cell all those years. Improbable in the real world. Second is his description he gave to Red of the location of the can with the money. That could be any number of places in New England. And how could he be so sure the tree had not died and been cut down?
The conversation with Del Toro is interesting. I think it's fair to say that Nolan "sold out" a little to do the Dark Knight trilogy, in that it was clearly a compromise between his own creative voice and the desire of the studio to exploit their property in a way they were comfortable with and had control of. Batman Begins isn't a Nolan film in the way his non-Batman films seem to be. And even Nolan's next film after Memento, Insomnia, seemed more like a project he was brought onboard to service rather than his own creative vision. Of course, both of these films are admirable in most respects. I don't think there's anything innately wrong with a studio-driven film, as opposed to an auteur driven film. Some of the greatest films in history were conceived by studios and assembled by many hands, rather than singular artistic visions like Memento and Nolan's more recent work. Everyone thinks they have an idea what "selling out" is, but I think it's a gradual process by which compromise and collaboration encroaches more and more on good creative choices in favor of bad ones, like audience pandering or ego-stroking. I think it's hard to know when you've sold out, where that line is. Batman Begins definitely had some moments that felt more like studio egos wanting their way, rather than creative choices serving the work. In many ways, it doesn't feel like a pure Nolan film. Is it a sell-out? Maybe. I think it's better to call it a compromise, and one that paved the way for an incredibly brilliant creator's massive success. So sometimes, compromising, and even selling out, isn't the worst thing you can do.
I don't get the greed for many more series people seem to have. Sometimes, just one masterpiece of a series is all we need. They nailed it with this one...
I would have only been a small child at the time so I dont really recall it being released or even the first time I saw it... but I find it mind-blowing that it was sort of a flop when it first came out. To me it has always been one of the best films of all time. Even when I was a kid I knew there was something very special about it.
One of my favorite movies, hands down. So many great moments. The scene where Andy plays opera over the loudspeakers still gives me goosebumps. "Something so beautiful it can't be expressed in words, and makes your heart ache because of it." The book Different Seasons has another story called Apt Pupil, that is very good IMO. A movie was made about it also, but it was very disappointing.
The green poncho in this film is almost as iconic as appearance of DC's Spectre the spirit of vengeance. Unbreakable along with James Gunn's Super film made in 2010 made me come up with Phantom Striker who is like a blue combination of the appearances of Deadpool and Moon Knight.
thank you for showing how you made this movie. and since this is the united states in 2024 i really appreciate how you showed the one black man 80% of the time and all the others 20%.
Watched this show for the first time ever yesterday , Absolutely the greatest singular season of television i’ve ever watched. The script, direction and acting was perfect.
Such a wonderful movie in fact calling a movie is a disservice to the experience and feelings you get when watching the story unfold the characters and the world all come together for a fantastic glimpse into the human condition. The quality and talent on show with in the walls of shawshank in front of the camera and behind is incredible and a movie I can happily watch any day
Keeping yourself alive internationally during the worst of times there's always hope we as people loose that at times until we witness others growing out of despair
