The Green Mile
1999 Directed by Frank Darabont
Synopsis
Miracles do happen.
A supernatural tale set on death row in a Southern prison, where gentle giant John Coffey possesses the mysterious power to heal people's ailments. When the cellblock's head guard, Paul Edgecomb, recognizes Coffey's miraculous gift, he tries desperately to help stave off the condemned man's execution.
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RIP Michael Clarke Duncan
I will remember you by this film.
And I thank you for it.
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This review reportedly contains spoilers. I can handle the truth.
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R.I.P. Michael Clarke Duncan
Thanks for the experience and memory of this lovely movie.
You've ensured you will always be fondly remembered by all who watch it. -
In 1994, Frank Darabont's adaptation of Stephen King's The Shawshank Redemption opened to much critical acclaim and since then has been praised as one of the greatest films ever made. When Frank Darabont followed it up with another King adaptation, expectations were pretty high. I think most of us can agree those expectations were met.
The acting is superb. Tom Hanks is as amazing as you usually expect him to be. Michael Clarke Duncan is terrific and sympathetic. Doug Hutchinson makes a great asshole. Sam Rockwell makes for one entertaining crazy bastard. You also get fantastic performances from the likes of David Morse, Barry Pepper, Michael Jeter, and Gary Sinise as others in a well rounded cast. The story is…
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An epic (in every sense of the word) adaptation of Stephen King's serialized 1996 novel about strange happenings on a Death Row (supernatural and otherwise) in the mid 1930s.
It had been years since I'd watched it and once again I am amazed at how well it's paced. Even at just over 3 hours, it rolls along so smoothly, with perfectly spaced set-pieces, a remarkably well-established sense of atmosphere and location, and a gallery of finely tuned performances from its spectacular ensemble cast that there is never once the slightest sense of dullness.
While I am certainly receptive to criticism of the way Michael Clarke Duncan's character is written (simple, saintly, and subservient, truly a "magical negro" character), there is…
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"I'd quite like to have the three hours back that were spent with this film. Please."
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Set in 1935 amongst a Death Row penitentary, nicknamed 'The Green Mile' due to the long walk from the cell to the electric char the in-mates face, Tom Hanks stars as Paul Edgecomb who leads a small band of wardens (David Morse, Barry Pepper, Doug Hutchison) in the cells and it simply tells the story of how they build and work with the relationships between their in-mates sentenced to death.
You have a great mix of personalities in the wardens, from the nasty, spiteful and spoilt Percy (Hutchison), to the calm, cool yet powerful Brutus (Morse) working with Hank's world weary Edgecomb and they all come together on the arrival of the next in-mate facing the chair, John Coffey (played…
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I feel slightly insulted that a friend kept recommending this film to me.
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Sentimental and self-important but Stephen King shines through as he always does, social justice and a sense of the uncanny adding weight to the Hollywood schmaltz.
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This review reportedly contains spoilers. I can handle the truth.
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I love good storytelling. This is one of my all time favorite movies and I don't foresee that ever changing. RIP, MCD.
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It makes me cry each time i watch it, no matter how often i've seen it befor.
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I am convinced that Frank Darabont is a fantastic director after this film. He has blown my mind with this classic and Shawshank Redemption. Even though I disliked The Mist I am still a fan of his. Anyway I found this story beautiful and compelling. With fantastic characters and a well built story. The supernatural element (that reminded me of classic Steven King) carry the bulk of the story to it's fantastic end. On the negative side of The Green Mile it does get long and dull at times. For example the beginning does get too long and drawn out. But I feel it did pick up in the second half of the film. Overall I enjoyed this film and highly recommend you to check out any of Frank Darabont's films starting with this one and Shawshank Redemption.
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Doesn't live up to the acclaim it gets but still one of the best acted films of all time. Surprisingly the only performance that didn't stand out was Tom hanks'
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First rewatch since 1999 theatrical and liked it more this time around, if only because I could break up the 3+ hour slog into parts. The bookend story is awful and the pacing throughout is unnecessarily slow - still it looks pretty sweet on blu, there are a lot of character actors chewing scenery in this film, and the story is captivating enough to keep engaged with it. Michael Clarke Duncan is great here and in lieu of his sudden death there is an added curiosity to watching his performance playing a death row inmate.