ShawshankRedemption Tagged Articles at Cinematical

A friend of mine emailed this morning with a link to this site and one simple question: "Which t-shirt are you buying?" After checking out said website, the question then became: Which t-shirt am I NOT buying? Over at Last Exit to Nowhere, they specialize in creating movie t-shirts. Ah, but these aren't just your run-of-the-mill shirts, see -- they're so much better. The site's intro description says it's "home to a collection of unique shirt designs which are inspired and pay homage to some of the most memorable places, corporations and companies in modern fiction – from the sunny shores of Amity Island (Jaws) to the frozen climes of Outpost #31 (The Thing)."

Oh yes, that's the Little Lebowski urban achievers t-shirt to the right of your screen; they also have shirts for Hudsucker Industries (Hudsucker Proxy), Skynet (Terminator series), Shawshank State Prison (Shawshank Redemption), and much more. Then there's the random shirts like the Stovington Academy shirt Jack Nicholson wore in The Shining, a Polymer Records shirt from This is Spinal Tap, and a shirt wearing the logo of the fictional TV station from Romero's Dawn of the Dead. Insanity, I tell you! So many awesome shirts -- honey, consider this month's paycheck officially blown. Check out all the shirts over at Last Exit to Nowhere ...

... and extra credit goes to the first person who can name all the films from the t-shirts pictured in the galley below (no cheating!).

Sky News reports that two prisoners -- Jose Espinosa, an alleged gang member awaiting sentencing for manslaughter, and Otis Blunt, facing robbery and weapons offense charges -- escaped from Union County jail in Elizabeth, New Jersey on Saturday night. Using improvised tools, the men removed cement blocks from two walls, squeezed through the holes, jumped to a rooftop below, scaled a 30-foot high wall and hopped a razor wire fence to escape from what was considered the most secure area of the prison. The men had only been prisoners for a couple of weeks. Pretty exciting little news story, isn't it? But why am I telling you about it on Cinematical -- the world's greatest movie news website?

Because the escape was apparently inspired by Frank Darabont's modern classic, The Shawshank Redemption! (Which was adapted from Stephen King's novella, but let's just assume these boys saw the movie.) You see, the inmates covered up their escape holes with photographs of women in bikinis! I guess had they used Rita Hayworth posters, it would have been far too obvious. In addition, they put dummies underneath their blankets to give the illusion that they were still in bed -- a trick I'm assuming they swiped from another awesome movie -- Ferris Bueller's Day Off. The escapees left a note saying "Happy Holidays," and thanking a guard they claim helped them escape. The jail -- and I'm sure many more to follow -- have banned posters and photographs from prisoners' walls. Espinosa and Blunt are said to be armed and dangerous, but if the movie taught us anything, they're probably just going to meet up on a beach somewhere and live out their days happily.

I live a ten minute walk from the Arclight Cinema in Los Angeles, easily one of the best movie theaters in the country. The American Film Institute hosts awesome screenings of new and classic films there weekly, and I try to see as many as I can. Just last week, I enjoyed the new Michael Douglas flick King of California, which was followed by an enlightening talk with the movie's writer and director -- Mike Cahill. Neat, right? But nothing could prepare me for the event that hit my inbox just now. Had I been a cartoon character, my bow tie would have spun around rapidly and smoke would have blasted out of my ears. Readers, if you live in Los Angeles -- KEEP OCTOBER 3RD FREE!

The AFI is celebrating its 40th anniversary with an almost unbelievably cool event. On October 3rd, they will screen eleven classic movies at the Arclight, all at the same time. But what truly sets this event apart are the people they've booked to host the screenings. Check this lineup out, and try to keep your jaw attached to your face: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, presented by Jack Nicholson. Spartacus, presented by Kirk Douglas. The Birds, presented by Tippi Hedren. The Sound of Music, presented by Julie Andrews. Bonnie and Clyde, presented by Warren Beatty. Rocky, presented by Sylvester Stallone. Star Wars, presented by George Lucas (settle down!). When Harry Met Sally, presented by Rob Reiner and Billy Crystal. Beauty and the Beast, presented by Angela Lansbury. The Shawshank Redemption, presented by Morgan Freeman. And Unforgiven, presented by Clint Eastwood. Um...wow. Just wow.

Here is the official site for the event. Tickets go on sale September 19th. which is this Wednesday. Tickets are $25, and include popcorn and soda. The first 100 people to show up for each screening get a 40th Anniversary AFI Book. Dress is "festive attire," all screenings begin at 7PM, and doors are at 5:30. For you non-Angelinos, which screening would you choose if you could go? And if you plan on attending, which one are you going to? I'll be at either Unforgiven or One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest for sure. Both movies are in my personal top ten, and where else am I going to be up close and personal with Jack Freaking Nicholson or Clint Freaking Eastwood? This is going to be a tough choice! See you there?

Wow, this is going to be hard for two reasons. On one hand I'll find it tough to rank my very favorite Stephen King movies because the ones I love ... I really love. On the other hand there's been a whole LOT of rotten King flicks churned out over the years -- and I actually like some of those, too! But as a lifelong King kook I think I'm able to separate the wheat from the chaff -- even if, yes it's true, I actually sort of enjoyed Tobe Hooper's The Mangler. (It's just so enjoyably stupid!) So with that I bring you my own personal picks for the best Stephen King adaptations yet (not counting TV shows, mini-series or short films).

Christine (1983) -- Yes, the book is better and sure, a few important things were monkeyed with on the way from page to screen, but there's so much I do like about John Carpenter's adaptation that it makes the speed bumps a lot easier to handle. From the filmmaker's creepy score to an excellent lead performance by Keith Gordon, the flick's just got an admirably bad-ass attitude. Stripped down to its essence, Christine is not much more than another "geek fights back" revenge-centric horror flick, but Carpenter makes the movie his own with a solid production design, a few excellent set pieces and a pace that moves at an appreciable clip. Plus that car is just so damn cool.

Pet Sematary (1989) -- Just about every hardcore horror geek I know holds Pet Sematary in pretty high regard, and just one visit with this bleak and unflinching piece of pulp horror will explain why. It's a remarkably grim and unapologetic tale of dead cats, cute kids and a patch of land that, well, it resurrects dead tissue is what it does. And if you've read even one "back from the dead" story, then you know they never end well. (Pet Sematary, both the book and the movie, packs one doozy of a dark denouement.) OK, so maybe Dale Midkiff and Denise Crosby aren't exactly the rock-solid thespians you'd want for a screenplay this devilishly mean-spirited, but the pair do what they can, plus they've got good ol' Fred Gwynne supplying background color by the bucketful. (And don't forget about poor sickly Zelda! Yuck.)

Carrie (1976) -- The very first (and arguably one of the very best) of the Stephen King movies, Carrie hit the screens courtesy of a young Brian De Palma, and the director pulled out a big bag of Hitchcockian tricks to bring the story to the silver screen. It's about a socially bankrupt young girl who tries to cobble together a normal social life ... much to the chagrin of some snotty she-bullies and a resoundingly devout lunatic of a mother. Some might say the flick takes a long while to get where it's going, but between the prom night finale and the graveside stinger, Carrie more than delivers its share of grisly goods. Sissy Spacek and Piper Laurie make it watchable all by themselves, but De Palma is the real star here. (OK, De Palma and a young, evil John Travolta.)

Like most horror junkies of my approximate age, I am a huge fan of Stephen King's novels. I've read everything the guy's ever written (yes, literally) and there are multiple stories for which I've gone back for seconds (and thirds). My favorite King works are the fairly "non-traditional" ones (for example, I'd pay big money to see a good director tackle Eyes of the Dragon) and I have a particularly strong affection for the King's more "massive" tomes -- but my very favorite story from Stephen King is a little one called The Long Walk, which he published as Richard Bachman. I even have the Bachman Books collection in which it was originally published; yes, the book that also houses the now-"banned" Rage story.

Without spoiling anything, The Long Walk is about an annual competition in which 100 teenage boys meet up in Maine -- and then walk south. Contestants who lag behind too frequently -- or simply stop walking -- quickly discover why The Walk is a military-led affair. Basically it's a blisteringly intense and surprisingly insightful piece of suspense-soaked storytelling, and I'm not ashamed to admit that I've read The Long Walk at least five times.

So when someone "in the industry" told me that Frank Darabont might be adapting The Long Walk once he's finished turning King's The Mist into a big goopy monster movie, I got excited. And then skpetical. And then, once I did some Googlizing, discovered Ryan's initial report on the project, and came across this rather excellent interview with the filmmaker, I got all excited again. Mr. Darabont, who turned both The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile into very fine films, seems to have a very good grasp on the story: "It is just a bunch of kids walking. And talking. And getting shot. That's why I love it. It's a very intense ensemble character piece, another one of those "people in a contained pressure-cooker situation" stories that Steve does so well and seems to specialize in." And regarding the eventual budget of the project, Mr. Darabont says "...chances are The Long Walk is more of an art house film than what we'd consider a mainstream Hollywood movie. When I do make it, I'm sure the budget will be even lower than on The Mist...a lot lower."

I'm just psyched that someone's tackling this particular piece of King's back catalog -- and to have it be Darabont, well, now I know my favorite story is in really good hands. I'll keep you all up to date on this project as soon as more info hits the scene -- and if you come across any news, please drop me a line!