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Where does The Shawshank Redemption rank among your favorite films of all time?

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Where does The Shawshank Redemption rank among your favorite films of all time?

Old 02-05-07, 07:28 AM
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Does everyone here consider a "Best of" list and a "favorites" list to be different? Just wondering.

This would probably be in my top 75 favorites, but probably past that point if I created a best of all-time list.
Old 02-05-07, 07:33 AM
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I like the film (I own the SE DVD), but it is nowhere near my favorite 100 films.
Old 02-05-07, 07:36 AM
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I have never seen the Shawshank Redemption. I think we have the dvd at the house, so I may watch it some year.
Old 02-05-07, 08:19 AM
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It doesn't
Old 02-05-07, 08:48 AM
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Top 20 for me.
Old 02-05-07, 09:30 AM
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In the top ten and very re-watcheable.
Old 02-05-07, 09:42 AM
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Amazingly (or maybe not?) my buddy and I were discussing our top 10 films of all time a couple of days ago. I rank Shawshank at No. 2.

And seriously, what's the deal with those of you who haven't seen it yet? TNT played it 24/7 for like the last five years. They should change their damn name to Law & Order/Shawshank Redemption.
Old 02-05-07, 10:05 AM
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Originally Posted by Mr. Cinema
Does everyone here consider a "Best of" list and a "favorites" list to be different? Just wondering.
Definitely. Shawshank is probably not even close to being in the top 10 "Best" films ever, but it is in my personal Top 10 "favorites."

Originally Posted by JMLEWIS1
for those who love the movie, you should really read the book, it's pure magic. It's also a short novella so it's a breeze to read.
There are some major trade-offs though. The book doesn't have the Brooks character, but it does have a superior ending.
Old 02-05-07, 10:37 AM
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I used to like it more than I do now - honestly, the more movies I see (movies by masters such as Lang, Bunuel, Ford, Kurosawa) the less I like it. It's definitely not a bad movie, per se, but nothing to be passionate about.
Old 02-05-07, 11:33 AM
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Originally Posted by Banky
There's no chance you can name 300 films better than Shawshank. The elitists on this site annoy me.
Let's put it this way: I own about 350 DVDs now, and I don't own "Shawshank." I don't understand people's continuing enthusiasm for it. It was a tacky little "Successories" poster of a movie.

Last edited by ScandalUMD; 02-05-07 at 11:35 AM.
Old 02-05-07, 11:43 AM
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Top 20 for me for sure.
Old 02-05-07, 11:58 AM
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Top 30.
Old 02-05-07, 03:45 PM
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Good movie but not in my top 10 nor top 20. It'd def be in a top 50 though.
Old 02-05-07, 05:05 PM
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would you say "Scared Straight" is the better prison movie?
Old 02-05-07, 06:41 PM
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Originally Posted by Mr. Cinema
Does everyone here consider a "Best of" list and a "favorites" list to be different? Just wondering.
They're different things.

Ferris Bueller's Day Off is one of my favorite movies.
It might make a "Best Of"-list, if it was a list of the best movies Ben Stein has been in.
Old 02-05-07, 08:02 PM
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Originally Posted by Count Dooku
Let me guess. #4 is The Sixth Sense?

No, but it is top 20. #4 is Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. The Godfatheris #5.
Old 02-05-07, 08:31 PM
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Bzzzt, gotta call shenanigans...

Originally Posted by Count Dooku
And here are some films from 1994 that are just as (maybe more?) entertaining:
Speed
Maye more entertaining if you are 14 and are half asleep the first time you watch it. At least TSR doesn't induce incessant snickering upon repeat viewings.

Four Weddings and a Funeral
I'll take "otherwise great films nearly ruined by one rotten performance" for $400, Alex.

"Who is Andie McDowell?" Ding-ding-ding.

Leon (The Professional)
I'll give you this one but it suffered from not being able to decide if it wanted to be a realistic action film or a cartoon.

Clerks
The popularity of this film continues to astound me. Different strokes I guess...

and Forrest Gump
Light, frothy, transparent and shallow.

Quiz Show, Little Women, True Lies, Sirens, and The Secret of Roan Inish also came out in 1994, and are all (in their own way) excellent and entertaining movies.
A better list.

As to the original question, I would say it is Top 100 but definitely not Top 20. I own the DVD, FWIW. Amadeus is my favorite film if that helps.
Old 02-05-07, 08:38 PM
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Originally Posted by Mr. Cinema
Does everyone here consider a "Best of" list and a "favorites" list to be different? Just wondering.
I honestly can't figure out any reason to distinguish between the two. For me, best=favorite. Why would something be my favorite that I didn't think was the best? When people compile "best" lists, they usually just try to figure out what critics think of a movie, or whether a movie is supposed to be good, not whether they actually thought it was any good or not. I think it's all subjective anyway when you watch a film, so the only opinion that should really matter is your own.
Old 02-05-07, 09:02 PM
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Originally Posted by Jackson_Browne
I honestly can't figure out any reason to distinguish between the two. For me, best=favorite. Why would something be my favorite that I didn't think was the best? When people compile "best" lists, they usually just try to figure out what critics think of a movie, or whether a movie is supposed to be good, not whether they actually thought it was any good or not. I think it's all subjective anyway when you watch a film, so the only opinion that should really matter is your own.
They can be very different for me. There are some films that are just earth-shatteringly good but, due to subject matter or a variety of other reasons, leave me with little compulsion to rewatch them often, if at all.

I look at my DVD library right now and see numerous films I loved and regret buying because I almost never rewatch them. Tim Roth's The War Zone, Winterbottom's Jude, Mona Lisa and Dancer in the Dark are 4 that stand out from a quick glance at my shelf.

I don't judge my "favorite" films as those I rewatch the most, but all of them do get rewatched from time to time.
Old 02-05-07, 09:15 PM
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An enjoyable fim, that, having seen it once, I feel no overwhelming desire to view again. A solidly crafted, though unspectacular movie that, for some inexplicable reason, seems to have attracted a massive following over the last decade. Would not be in my top 1000, though this is not a knock on the film itself.
Old 02-05-07, 09:20 PM
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So many haters.

It's one of my favorite films. Probably top three. My favorite is Stand By Me. So I guess I've got a lot of love for good adaptations of non-horror Stephen King.

It's one of those movies I can hardly turn off when I come across it on cable. And I enjoy it more with each viewing.
Old 02-05-07, 09:22 PM
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Originally Posted by OutRun2
would you say "Scared Straight" is the better prison movie?
Or perhaps "Let's Go To Prison"?
Old 02-05-07, 09:40 PM
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The Shawshank Redemption is not among my personal favourite films but I consider it as one of the best films. It manages to attract a wide range of audience with its classical narrative and succession in various elements of a film. There's the editing, cinematography, soundtrack, story, acting and etc which might not be at an artistic or mastery level but very competent about shaping an 'above-the-average' film. I think Shawshank and Forrest Gump despite many dislikes here in the forum defined a lighter side of popular culture of the 90s which I greatly admire and appreciate.
Old 02-05-07, 10:53 PM
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It is my favorite film.
Old 02-06-07, 02:48 AM
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Originally Posted by Jackson_Browne
I honestly can't figure out any reason to distinguish between the two. For me, best=favorite. Why would something be my favorite that I didn't think was the best? When people compile "best" lists, they usually just try to figure out what critics think of a movie, or whether a movie is supposed to be good, not whether they actually thought it was any good or not. I think it's all subjective anyway when you watch a film, so the only opinion that should really matter is your own.

I agree. 99% of the time someone separates their favorites from "the best", It means the films that tackle more serious subject matter get placed in the "best" pile and the comedies and action films get dumped in the "favorites"
You will often hear someone say something along the lines of "Big Trouble in Little China is my all-time favorite movie, but I would not say it's as good as 2001: A Space Odyssey" but you never hear them say something along the lines of "Schindler's List is my favorite movie but I know it's not as good of a film as Caddyshack"

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