September 21, 2009

The Green Mile

Tom Hanks braces himself for a shark jumping

Title: The Green Mile
Year: 1999
Director: Frank Darabont
Writer: Frank Darabont, based on the novel by Stephen King
Starring: Tom Hanks, David Morse, Bonnie Hunt, Michael Clarke Duncan, James Cromwell, Michael Jeter, Doug Hutchison, Sam Rockwell
Music: Thomas Newman
Distinctions: Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor (Duncan) and Best Sound; currently #105 on IMDb's Top 250
Length: 188 minutes
Synopsis: a condemned, "simple-minded" giant has magical wizard powers
How I saw it: in the theater, 1999; on video (rented from Netflix), yesterday
Subjective Rating: 4/10
Objective Rating: 5/10 (gets points for characters, dialog, cinematography, special effects/design and acting) c. 2.4/4 (Okay).

For about an hour it seems like it's a reasonably good period prison movie - a little slow and cliched, but generally well made and with a great cast. Then Stephen King says, "Drama is hard. F*** it, I'm just gonna give one of these characters some magical wizard powers. That'd be cool, right?" No, no not really.

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