The Green Mile was Frank Darabont’s (The Mist, The Majestic) first movie following The Shawshank Redemption, a riveting prison movie that has found a permanent spot on many critics and movie fan’s top ten of all-time lists. The expectations were high for The Green Mile, if not altogether unrealistic. Like The Shawshank Redemption, this movie was set almost exclusively in prison. Like The Shawshank Redemption, this movie was based on a Stephen King novel. Like The Shawshank Redemption, this movie was set somewhere in middle America, reasonably close to the time frame of World War I, though neither of these movies ever really talks about any war. The Green Mile was set in 1932, while The Shawshank Redemption was set in 1946. The expectations for The Green Mile might have been unrealistic. I say this because of the reasons mentioned above, but also because it starred Tom Hanks (Forrest Gump, Philadelphia), Hollywood’s #1 leading man at the time, who was fresh off of receiving his 5th Academy Award Nomination for Best Actor after his performance in Saving Private Ryan. While The Green Mile is not as good as The Shawshank Redemption (my favorite film of all time, at the time of this review), it is still an incredible movie that everybody should see at least once.
Category Archives: Mystery
The Crazies (2010)
I had one primary reason for watching this movie: Timothy Olyphant was the star. Olyphant was an actor I had not even heard of one year ago. F/X had a new show this season called Justified, and Olyphant was the star. I gave the show a chance. It hooked me from the first scene in the first episode. There are many reasons why I like the television show, but one of those is Olyphant. He plays the role of US Marshall well. So, I have been looking back at Olyphant’s filmography and saw he had the leading role in The Crazies. I like Olyphant, and horror movies generally perk my interest, so checking this film out was a no-brainer.
Total Recall (1990)
Seeing this movie for the first time 20 years after its release and after hearing friend after friend say to me, “You still haven’t seen Total Recall? I can’t believe that. You’ve got to see it. It’s a classic”, I expected much, much more during my viewing. To think that Terminator 2: Judgment Day was released just a year later diminishes the value of Total Recall. Whether just or unjust, I couldn’t help but compare Total Recall to the theater experience of Terminator 2: Judgment Day in 1991. While Terminator 2 had cutting-edge special effects, edge-of-your-seat action, and decent acting, Total Recall felt cheesy, worn, and clumsy. Additionally, the acting was atrocious.
Eastern Promises (2007)
Eastern Promises was David Cronenberg’s follow-up to his critically acclaimed breakout directorial hit, 2005’s A History of Violence. A History of Violence was a bit overrated, and William Hurt receiving a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award nomination for his ten minutes of screen time was a bit of a joke. However, Viggo Mortenson was terrific in his role in that movie, and his work in Eastern Promises is stellar.
A Perfect Getaway (2009)
Before Timothy Olyphant (The Crazies, Dreamcatcher) was earning high praise for his role as US Marshall Raylan Givens in FX’s blockbuster television show Justified, he was making a name for himself in action/adventure movies, first in smaller character roles and then as a lead actor. Olyphant’s Givens on Justified is easily my favorite television character of the present time, distancing himself from Hugh Laurie’s Gregory House on House and Steve Carell’s Michal Scott on The Office.