Hey. It's your old pal, Slim, and this is 70 millimeter podcast for movie lovers just like you. Disclaimer at the top of the show, we're not experts. However, we do love watching movies. With me each and every episode is my close friend and artist, Danny Haas. Hello. And our close friend and prison expert, Per Alexis.
I played a mean harmonica as a young man.
Every movie that we cover is connected to a theme for that particular month and this time, it's the VHS village top 100 films of all time. We can only choose movies from that list as chosen by our online community, and you can use the chapters in your podcast app to skip right to our main discussion. This week, it's Proto's pick, the Shawshank Redemption. Before we get into our jokes and bits Okay. There's there's a lot of fire happening in California.
Sure. Not sure if you're following the news. A lot. I don't think we we have, like, any specific place that we're donating to to support our friends in California. If you're a Patreon member and you're listening before Monday, one of our favorite local watch companies is donating a 100% of their profits to, support fire relief, and that's Aver, v a e r. I think we all own a Aver watch, don't we? No. Danny doesn't?
You guys are too Frodo's got
at least 1. I've got at least
3.
4. My
god. I was joking about local. 3.
Local does that. If you're looking for ways to support, relief efforts, and Danny Local email. Casey, Danny's wife, can you mute for a second? Danny, maybe it's time for you to finally get a Veer watch this weekend.
I have my eye on that dirty dozen I got. Oh.
My god. Can we get drop a link in chat to the Veer dirty dozen, please? An affiliate link, please?
Don't look at the 3 digit price. Four digits.
Listen. People are in need.
You're right.
I'm talking about Danny. Danny's in need of a new watch, but also the the efforts, to help our friends out.
Someone dropped that link.
On the West Coast.
Thank you, intern Mike Scott.
Thank you, Mike. Look at that. Are you kidding me? It it's it's it's insane that Danny doesn't have that watch already, to be honest. It's a crime. But today, you know, the transformative power of hope. We're gonna get into it at the bottom of the hour to talk about the Shawshank Redemption, the VHS Village 100 is alive and well, and, Danny's pick is next week.
Yeah.
You said you're locked.
Yeah. I'm locked.
Have you ever been locked harder on your pick for next week, for this month?
I don't know. Maybe. This is this I was for sure. When the when the when the 100 list dropped and I saw this, I knew. I knew. You don't have a review for it. You have a fat, juicy heart What? Which means, you probably covered in the Letterboxd show at some point. Proto has stars and a review and a heart. What? What? So I'm excited.
Mhmm. Proto, do you have any guesses?
Oh. I'll tell you if you're right. I promise.
You know, I think I said something nasty about Jesse Eisenberg last week. God. And I and I think I I think I saw, like, a a flash of fear across Danny's face. So I thought it might be The Social Network, but I don't think I have I would not put a heart on that movie. So I don't think it's not Yeah.
There's no heart from you on that.
It's not The Social Network is what you're saying.
I you know, it's funny. I wouldn't pick The Social Network not because of Jesse, but because of, Andrew. I think you make fun of Andrew in that movie a lot.
Oh, yeah. Field.
Yeah. Say it. Just say your line. Say your line you've always said about Andrew in this movie.
Oh, there is the line. What is the line that I I can't remember. It's been too long.
Oh. Something like the only person to get beat up by
Oh, yeah. The all yeah. He's the only one who ever got, like, a beat down from Jesse Eisenberg.
Something like that.
I remember it. What a what a brilliant remark on my part.
Let me let me ask you a question. Is it an English language movie? Interesting. Okay. Interesting.
That's an interesting Very
interesting response from Danny on that one. Oh, I think I have a I have a guess. A guess? I'll tell you if it's right. Is it let me find it on the list here.
Wait. Where is the list?
I'm looking at Xanam's list because Xanam made a list of movies that we haven't covered yet.
Mhmm.
Is it from the year 2001?
That's a great gas slam. It's a great freaking Guess.
Oh. Is it streaming on Max right now?
It's a great freaking Guess Slim. God, it's a great Guess.
Oh, boy. Are we going to be covering from the master himself, Hayao Miyazaki, Spirited Away.
Spirited Away. Great guess.
Hello. Wow. Yeah. Hello. That's a big one.
Yeah. We're going back. Dang. Frodo's got a 3 star on it, but I I feel good about this picks, though.
4.5 average on Letterboxd.
Huge.
Huge.
When was the last time you watched this, Frodo?
Well, my review says 2020, August 2020.
That's a long time.
Yeah. You were on 1,000 movies ago, folks. Yeah.
You were a different person back then.
Yeah. So much has changed.
I'm excited to watch this because I have this is BLB before Letterbox. Oh, really? Have a date.
You just have a heart.
I just have a watch and a heart.
Okay.
So I just remember, I've said this several times. I just remember being surprised that this felt like an r rated movie to me. Like, it wasn't I I don't know what I was expecting, like, fun kids movie. And that's not what I got at the time.
Yeah. Not one of those. No. Academy Award winning film.
Really?
We'll get it. Won the Oscar. Yeah.
We'll get into it. We'll save it. Save it, please.
Because we're about to talk about one that didn't. So not one.
Danny's referencing the Shawshank Redemption, this week's sponsor, TBS Superstation. Welcome back to the fold. I did wanna I actually did have a topic to start the show off with. I I forgot, but did you see this wicked news? Which one? This breaking news as of recording Thursday eve, Jan 9 25. Digital release, obviously, we talked about it last week. So in Digital Release, it made $70,000,000 in the 1st week of digital sales.
That sounds like a lot of money.
That's a lot. That's a lot. That's a lot.
Be a lot. Right?
It's only available $30, I think, to purchase $20 rental, I think, for the next, like, 2 months, in fact, before it hits Peacock. So Universal is, like, happy to share that the data. And I think the last one that they did that made, like, Bonzo money was Mario Brothers, the animated one that made $44,000,000 in its 1st week of digital release.
Goodness. Looking forward to that Defying Gravity roller coaster at Universal Studios.
Are you
kidding? Yeah. Are you
kidding? How did, let's see. Oh, opening. Wow. Wicked did a 112,000,000. It's opening. Wow. That's crazy. Right?
A lot of money. That is a
lot of money. 70 mil.
That's a lot of parents knowing that their kids would probably wanna rewatch this over and over again immediately. We're adults, middle aged white middle aged men that wanted to watch it.
I I feel like in my home, you know, we own it, obviously.
Yeah. Yeah.
And I think we've watched it 4 times.
So Did you want it back?
So I've got
How much would that have cost if you went in the theater? We brought the family 4 times. Could we do the math?
Like, at least a a Benjamin and a half, probably. I'm at this point, I'm making money each time a child views this. It's true. It's true.
Hashtag investing. Let's say hello to Ty, Robert, Sapling, and Dan all joined our Patreon this week for $4 a month. They got access to early releases of our episodes and uncut versions, completely unedited, curses left in longer.
Oh my.
We're gonna be talking about in the uncut conversation later today, we're gonna be getting into New Jersey drones because Danny and I just watched a documentary on YouTube that we haven't talked about yet.
Yeah. It's true.
X Files season 9. And maybe let's check-in on chicken nuggets again Okay. This week. Okay. See if anything has changed since our last, polling. Purdy, you watched The Running Man this week. I saw a log job for The Running Man.
Yes. I did. Oh, this is great to announce. We we meant to talk about it last week. Gonna get to it, but it's a new year.
And we don't always do an official 70 millimeter journey, which is just usually like a a list of movies that we come up with to cover over the year. But this year, a good member of our community in the village, imaginary Tom Kaye from the man the land of make believe, United Kingdom, he had the idea of what if we do a Borny, which is you watch 12 movies from the year you were born. I mean, it's a brilliant idea.
Oh, great idea.
It is brilliant. Yeah. Brilliant. That's a brilliant one.
And we had Tom sign a contract saying that we didn't owe him any money Right. Where there's no residuals from this idea. Right.
Yeah. He's locked out when we sell it to some studio.
Pro bono.
Right.
Yeah. Thank you, Tom, for your sacrifice.
So Running Man came out the year you were born?
Yeah. 1987 is my year, and I was able to put a list together of movies from 1987 that I hadn't seen yet. And The Running Man was on there. So I just wanted you know, I wanted to get started early January 3rd. I'm like, let's let's get going here, and what better way to start than with Arnold Schwarzenegger. You know? I've never seen this movie, But if you
This is Stephen King too. Right? Isn't it? The running
You're asking the wrong guy. Yeah. I don't I have no idea.
Does anyone in chat confirm? Philip in chat says yes. Isn't this also getting really? No.
Isn't this getting remade by
Edgar Wright, I think, is doing the new version.
It does sound like a Philip k Dick story. No. It is. It is. Wow. How does Stephen King write every story? Time. It's sickening.
It's like he had AI in the seventies, and he was just pumping these things out.
Oh, interesting. He wrote it under a pseudonym, Richard Bachman. Hello.
Did I just break news on this show in 2025 about the original man who wrote The Running Man?
This is crazy.
Check we'll get into it. So so how what did you think? It's your first viewing of this classic sci fi film. Well,
I mean, it has a great setup. Okay? It's set in the near dystopian future of 2017, and, Arnold Schwarzenegger is a a helicopter pilot who is, ordered to kill civilians, and he refuses. This isn't a spoiler. This is the first five minutes of the movie.
They say, like, they they kill these people. No. And he gets a fight in the helicopter, then he gets thrown in prison, and then he gets put on this game show called The Running Man. And, you know, it has some really great bones, but it's kind of like rather than being any kind of, like, fleshed out, it's kind of like just a like a the bones are in a bag.
Okay.
Not very good. I I didn't really have a good time. Honestly, it, like, it could barely hold my attention. You know, it's supposed to be set in 2017, and it definitely looked like 1987 to me, from what I know about that year. So one of his weaker weaker pictures, I think. But, I mean, 1987, Arnold, his body in this
His Zeke alone.
Come for his body. Oh. That's all I have to say. K.
Times down. Can I say
that? No. No. I can't.
You can't.
I have this just watched. I could've sworn I watched this within the last few years, but I guess I did not log it. Richard Dawson, I remember thinking as Damien Damon Killian, an incredible performance from Richard Dawson. You didn't you didn't, connect with Richard Dawson?
Hold on. I'm looking up who Richard Dawson is.
Prison expert, folks.
Mhmm. Purdle, would you would you be excited to know that Edgar Wright is doing a remake with Glenn Powell
Your boy.
In the lead?
Oh, Edgar Wright's doing a bit. Old Edgar? Yeah. Old Edgar. Saddle? The original Egghead. Well, I I mean, he's on thin ice right after what what was that movie? The Red Light with, ATJ? Yeah.
That was Last Night in Soho.
Last Night in Soho. Is that his last picture?
Yeah. He's been he's been climbing out of the hole, I think, since that movie was released.
Yeah. We knew I mean, if Edgar can keep climbing, I don't know. I I I don't really the premise, it's it needs a lot
of work. You said it's got a good bones.
I'm I take it back. The bones aren't good.
It's taking the bones back.
Take it back. I was trying to I was trying to extend the olive branch as it's done.
And then you regretted it as soon as you did it. Any other films that you wanted to discuss that you watched this week?
Oh, I did. You know, my boys the other night last night, we were sitting down, and we're like, what are we gonna watch? You know? And, we we we stumbled across Godzilla X Kong. So I finally got to watch that. Oh. Yeah. This movie isn't good either. This is pretty bad. God.
I gave it 2 stars. You know, it's just kind of like I I didn't even understand what was going on most of the movie. I mean, the characters are so miserable watching these these people on the screen. And just the the things I mean, it got, Kong's, his mechanical arm Mhmm. Who's financing this?
Yeah. Monarch. Yeah. Monarch.
Monarch, bro. Up. You watched the TV show?
No. I did not watch the TV show.
Has that been the missing?
Maybe that's the problem. I have I don't have the backstory. I I need the back matter to really appreciate Yeah. The new empire from Adam Wingard. I have to I know you guys loved it.
I give Proto's proto props. I mean, this review from Proto, if this was the first movie ever made, it would be my favorite. First of all, no, period at the end of that sentence. No capitalization. Love it already. 21 likes on Letterboxd. He's cooking with gas with this Godzilla X Kong, the new Empire review.
Yeah. Thank you. Yeah. I was I was pretty pleased with myself for this review.
I gave yeah. I did give this 5 stars. I called it a triumph. Look at the likes on my review. Are you kidding me? 934 on this pamphlet.
My god. Wow.
I was actually pretty pleased with this review. I'm not gonna read the whole thing, but I did just kind of
I'll
just yeah. Everyone just get comfortable. It's not a long one. A triumph. Boys night, the theater, seeing our sweet kings. Father and son fog all over this rating, but it doesn't get any better. Great moment with us sitting in silence before the movie as it started as we both overheard someone talking about our recent big release and how it compared to the books. My son turned to me and pushes up his invisible glasses. Another triumph. Fun movie for real fans like us. It's all you needed. K?
Yeah. And I'm I'm I feel fine saying I'm not a real fan. I'm not a real fan.
Yeah. That's that's that's normal. That's normal stuff.
I don't think I'm a fake fan, though, either. I'm somewhere in between fake Well, you're an honest
like a like a regular normie fan. Honest not fan.
Yeah. I think I'm I'm yeah. I give an honest I can give an honest review. That's what's good about me.
Are you trying to, insinuate that I did not give an honest review for Doctor. Les Khan? Because I'm a Slim. Real fan.
Slim, I don't think you've given an honest review in in I don't even know how long. I mean, I I said all your December logs, my friend.
This brings me lost. This brings me back to my all time favorite interaction on Letterboxd. That's when I logged Spider Man across the universe again. And I trolled so hard in that review that you told me to get help in the comments. One of my faves. I'll link to it in chat, but we won't have to go through that again. We don't need to relive it. Gosh. Lot to get to. I just realized I haven't given out a free year of Patreon in a while on
Oh, really?
On this show. Maybe because we haven't we're not in the in the usual schedule yet.
We are now.
We are now. I usually give out a free year of Letterboxd Patreon to new Patreon members of the show. It's a lot of p words. It can get confusing, but if you want to support us on Patreon, let's see who gets it this week. Let's say Riley. Riley joined our Patreon. He just got a free year of Letterboxd. Patreon gets rid of ads. Stats all year round. Disclaimer, I work for Letterboxd.
Just gotta
throw that out there. Gosh. We got a lot to get to tonight. Disclaimer. Lot to get to. The uncut episode is gonna be huge, folks. The uncut. Danny, you didn't watch anything. I already know that.
No. That's okay. I was trying to save us some time this week.
We don't need to dwell on it?
I will say, tomorrow, I'm I have a a midday screening, 35 millimeter print of The Brutalist, my second viewing. Very excited to see this tomorrow.
Double dip.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Double dip it. Mil. 35 mil.
You get you get
a Orlando, Florida. This the Hollywood of the East is what they call Orlando. You got it alone? Solo job, baby. Solo cinema club.
My god. Put on a shirt.
If, I mean, if people want merch, we have Solo Cinema Club Cinema Club merch in the store, vhsfilters.com. Yeah. They just unlocked tentatively, I'm going to see it Saturday, but I have to see, like, what version I see it in because there's an Imax version that's now available on Saturday, and then there's a 35 mil in the city. So we're eating I think that's what the kids are saying. We're eating in Philadelphia Yeah. With a brutalist.
You're eating.
Pardon? Which would you see?
I'm sorry. What was the question? IMAX or 35 millimeter?
Correct.
You know, I don't even know if I've seen, like, 35 millimeter
in I don't even know.
I think that would be what I'd go for just to ex get that experience.
Okay. There you go.
Actually, I'm going to see Pardo, maybe I should, forward you an email, but I got an invite to a, Letterboxd screening event on Wednesday for this movie Companion. You're not
No. I saw the trailer.
Tom, you going? Amanda and I are going. A billionaire's death sets off a chain of events for Iris and her friends during a weekend trip to his lakeside state. It's from the producers of Barbarian, I think.
Okay.
But we gotta get into this main event. Yeah. Episode 247, The Shawshank Redemption with Frank Darabont and Stephen King. Pearl, what is this film all about?
Andy Dufresne is at the top of the world. Intelligent, rich, married to a beautiful woman. But when he finds out that his wife is cheating on him, his life quickly unravels so that he finds himself sentenced to life in prison for a crime he says he didn't commit. The world behind the walls of Shawshank Prison is wholly different. And as a resident, you either find a way to survive or get eaten alive.
For Andy, he always has hope whether it be in a 10 year process to secure funding for a library or helping an inmate get their GED. But when freedom manifests, for a moment to only be snuffed out, Is there any hope left for old Andy, the Shawshank Redemption? Old
Andy, I was sending voice notes, voice memo impressions of Andy Dufresne today.
Yeah. You too. Oh, that's what that was.
That was my Andy Dufresne.
That was your Dufresne.
Oh, Andy Dufresne.
That was good.
That was my Tim Robbins as Andy Dufresne. Oh. Okay? I got it. I thought it was quite obvious, but apparently not.
It was close.
The most popular segment on this show, the Mount Rushmore, top 3. Top 3 Therabonts? Stephen King
Oh.
Films. Stephen King related films. Purdle, you first.
Can I get a list of Stephen King movies? Stephen King.
You don't have to get yourself sad about it.
Well, I'll do it. I'll take care of it. Alright? Let me see. Stephen King. Let's see. Yeah. Let's see.
I'm looking. There's a lot.
Alright. I'm gonna say, you know, recency bias side. Okay.
Jenny Bear says Running Man.
I'm gonna say Salem's Lot. Oh.
Okay. It's a shock. We watched that together in the same room during the 70 summit.
And I really I really enjoyed that. I had a great time watching that. Let's see. Oh, I'll do show watch. This helps. Okay. Slim pickings, my friends. Well, the oh, there's The Shining. But you know oh, man. How about this?
Let's hear it.
The lawnmower, man.
Okay. Okay.
Is that
the one with the monkey?
Yeah. Someday, we will cover this. Yeah. Jeff Fahey at
This is a back pocket pick for Bruno.
You have the power. Yeah. I will pick this movie someday on the show. Jeff Fahey, Pierce Brosnan. Oh. Incredible picture from Brett Lin oh, Leonard. Man months.
You won't shut up about Brent Leonard on the show.
Wicker man, lawnmower man, running man, demolition man.
Interesting theming.
Wow. He also did Stephen King did secret window. I remember seeing this when this came out. Johnny Depp before he was canceled. I guess, maybe 3rd. I guess, I'd say Shawshank. I mean, it's
a classic.
Okay. For those gripping their steering wheels in anger, we have covered The Shining on this show. If you wanna listen to that episode, you can go listen to it. I think it might be time for a rewatch for me, The Shining.
Should we do a remaster?
A remastered The Shining now that I have that OLED. It's a
good question. Mhmm.
I'll go next.
Oh, okay.
Easy number 1 at the top. I'm I'm
Here we go.
I'm precluding Shawshank. Not gonna include it whether I would have or not.
Oh, okay.
Carrie.
So you've never seen it?
Oh my god. I've almost picked it on this show, I think, a few times. Very close.
Is it
in the top 100?
Didn't we watch it for I thought we'd No.
I thought we covered Carrie. Okay. It's it makes me sick that Carrie isn't in the VHS Village 100. Katie and Chad, what are we ranking right now? This is the Mount Rushmore of Stephen King films. Before we get into Shawshank, we're very close. We're close. Use the chapters. Stand by Me, maybe? Really?
I haven't seen it in forever.
I need to rewatch. Never seen it.
We had a little 70 mini meetup in Philadelphia. I saw this with, Thomas, Ev, and Pat. There was no one else there with us. It's just us. And then I really like The Dead Zone Oh. With Christopher Walken. It's a fun movie.
Okay. I might
be able to buy Mount Rushmore for Stephen King.
That's great.
Danny?
I I would say The Shining for me, definite. Big one. But I am also picking Carrie as well, Slim. I love Carrie. I I really love Carrie. I'll preclude Shawshank as well.
Thank you.
Fake fans.
Can I can I put Doctor Sleep as low as it goes, though? No. Like, at the very bottom of anything he's ever created?
Flanagan the god. Doctor Sleep. 3 and a half stars for me on that movie. Fun.
I feel like I feel like it is Stand by Me, but I won't pick that because I haven't seen it in forever.
I don't know.
I haven't seen
a lot of it. It really is tough.
I like that. You have top 3 Mount Rushmore and then bottom 3 Hass Dumpster Yeah. On the other end of the spectrum.
I'd love to see a photo of a dumpster with, like, a logo of Danny's head on it, like the Hass Dumpster company. It's just like
Don't put that out there. Someone's gonna make that. Oh, man.
A
lot of people asking why we didn't choose It. Great fun film. We did that episode as well, the old school It.
Oh, yeah. I
don't think we're gonna be doing any episodes in the new It's necessarily, but
Unless someone makes us.
That's true. Real quick. My memories of this movie is that it was on TV constantly growing up. I would assume that, like, of a certain age demographic that listens to the show would agree that this was just on all the time on TBS or whatever. And I last week, I jokingly said it was, like, white bread fight club. Like, fight club That
was mean.
I don't think it was. That was pretty mean. I feel like Shawshank is probably the fight club for an older generation. It's like their favorite movie. Like, what's the best movie ever made? A certain What generation is fight club is the
favorite movie.
Like, logged constantly on Letterboxd.
Well, that So you're saying
that, like, the film bros fathers
Yeah. Or their stepdads
Father bros.
Or their uncle that came over for Thanksgiving. This you know, Shawshank is their favorite movie. Okay. So that's my thought, Bertle?
I think watching this, it's been a long time, and, like like, years, Ainsley, yeah, watching this on TV, it's like, I've watched parts of this so many times over the years. I think my favorite thing about this movie, though, is, like, the build up towards the end and the eventual payoff. I think this is one of the best payoffs in a movie in terms of, you know, watching a character, you know, thinking that, you know, here's a guy. He's in prison. You know, he killed his wife, you know, murdered somebody else.
He deserves to be there, but he's a nice guy. And then it's like, oh, wait a second. He actually is innocent? And then you're like then you start to really feel bad for him. It's like he's spending his whole life here.
So you'd like you build up, like, this this empathy for him and, like, this hope of recovery. And then the way it just concludes of just him really getting, you know, having the getting the upper hand of not only escaping, but, giving it to the warden Mhmm. And everybody who's, like, wronged him and meeting up with his friend. It's kind of like just like an amazing payoff. And it had me thinking of, like, what are, like, other great payoffs in movies.
Mhmm.
So I'll give you some of mine, but feel free to think if you have any others as well. Some. Like, movie I just kinda was like, you know, I just started thinking of, like, movies that I love. I feel like The Last Crusade, Indiana Jones
Thank you. Now I don't have to go.
I mean, when you like, you know, this movie, you're like, the holy grail, where is it? What is it gonna be? The ending, it just works every time. It's just so satisfying. Like, it it it it it it it feels as good as the first time. Yeah. Another one I love, Fantastic Mister Fox. That almost not as much as the payoff. It just, like, almost just the whole reveal of, like, the character of Fantastic Mister Fox the whole movie. I just love that.
It's been in my top 5 or top 4 for, for long periods of time over the years. And then possibly, this might be a little controversial, but I love the ending of Inception.
Oh. What?
Interesting. You know?
For a payoff. Yeah.
For a payoff.
This spinning top is the payoff for you.
I think it's a well, this is the thing. It's a reverse payoff.
I didn't know we could choose reverse payoff.
Reverse payoffs
are on the table.
What in the world?
Because, I mean, it leaves you know, it's more of like an open question, but I think that movie is so much more satisfying not giving you the answer. And there's a lot of movies like that that, you know, leave it inconclusive at the end. And I and I think in some ways that's like I think that is like a payoff in its own right. So I really like Inception for that. So those are some of my, favorite payoffs. Do you guys have any that you like?
I mean, mine both have to deal with, Meg Ryan. So I think Harry and Matt Sally's ending is a perfect payoff ending. And I also think You've Got Mail. For me, like, those 2 endings, like, blow me out of the water every time. The only other one I thought of because it was recently we covered it, was Truman Show. That Truman Show has a fantastic ending. A very good payoff.
First one that came to mind for me, obviously, doctor Sleep. That Stephen King adaptation.
Good night, folks.
I mean, recency bias, which is the result like, the entire VHS Village 100 this year
Mhmm.
Was inception or not inception. Interstellar. Well, Inception has Oh, yeah. One of the greatest payoffs in the history of celluloid. Oh. I I did, like I honestly had a lot of trouble, like, thinking of these, so I I did some googling. I'll be the safe I'm comfortable this is a safe space. I can say that I needed help. Okay. And then I just ended up giving up on Google, and I just looked at the VHS Village 100, and Harikiri is in the in the enemy.
I mean, the journey for Harikiri, that's gotta be up there. Right?
Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Of course. But is anything as good as Shawshank?
We'll get into it. That's what we're here to discuss eventually.
We're so close.
20 minutes into the Shawshank discussion. Oh, boy. Shawshank, this is Prodo's pick. Do you wanna use the payoff as your number one point, Prodo? Or do you have a different one you wanna lead off things with?
No. I mean, that's, Yeah. That's my my, like, my main point. And, well, I just to continue talking about
it, I
think there's there's, like, just, like, this amazing buildup throughout the movie that is so satisfying. Because even, like, the first hour as I'm watching this, I'm like I I honestly had the thought of, like, wait, why, like, why is this so highly regarded? Why is this, like, everyone's favorite movie? Why is this on this list? Because I'm like, I'm enjoying it.
I think it's good, but I wasn't necessarily feeling, like, blown away. But I think once you get into that final hour and, like, the final act Yeah. And his plan is set in motion, it's like every scene of that is just so satisfying for this character and for them, like, really escaping because, like, even, like, I had a pit in my stomach of just, like, this idea of being being, like, in a prison for a crime you didn't commit and, like, knowing, like, this is your, I mean, this is your one shot. You know? There's no there's no rerolls.
There's no re you know, there's there's no go against. This is it. Like, this is your one life. And to know, like, this guy is this is what he's dealing with, to escape that and kind of, like, have this happily ever after with a good friend who also experienced that, is it it, like, it leaves you almost like, it gives you, like, this catharsis, I think, as you as you are watching it unfold that I really love and makes like, it watching it all these years later and even knowing what was gonna happen, it was I feel like it's just as satisfying this time around.
Yeah. I thought that I had the same kind of feeling, like, an hour into it. I'm like, oh, maybe this doesn't hold up as the greatest of all time anymore. It's like I think it was famously the number 1 on IMDB forever. It's number 8 on the Letterboxd top 250. But you're right. As soon as you get to the end and, like, all these it's like all these years, you as the viewer has been waiting because he's been
there for, what, 19 years?
Mhmm.
Good lord. My first point was I I I went down the rabbit hole a little bit while watching because I honestly have not thought about Frank Darabont in a very long time, but I loved Frank Darabont. Like, I remember when The Mist had come out, at the time, my younger self was completely blown away by The Mist and the ending. Like, this the The Mist was my favorite movie. I was all in on Frank Darabont.
Oh, wow. And then, you know, he also had done The Green Mile after Shawshank. He did The Mist. He did The Majestic. And then he maybe more modern, he was like the producer the executive producer showrunner of The Walking Dead in that first season.
The best season.
So he was, like, you know, king of the world, for a while. And then they did have, like, some fault creative issues where he ended up, like, suing, I guess, AMC and whoever was, like
Oh, really?
In charge of The Walking Dead. I think he got, like, a lot of money. Like, he won the lawsuit that he was, like, like, wrongful termination.
Oh, shit.
But he hasn't done other feature films, you know. And and The Walking Dead was, like, what? 2010 maybe? When that first started? My god. 2010.
It's like 30 years ago.
So Frank Darabont, I mean, what a run. Shawshank, Green Mile, The Majestic, The Mist. Like, that's an incredible feature film run IMO. So all that to say is I kinda like miss Frank Darabont. Like, let's get
Every time I when I when I heard that it was him or someone said it's a name somewhere, I thought it just feels like a household name somehow, but not. He hasn't done so much to when I look at I haven't seen Green Mile, and this was my first time watching Shawshank. I've never seen The Mist. I guess and I wore Majestic, so I was like, how do I know Frank Darabont's name? I couldn't figure it out. And I maybe it was Walking Dead, but it couldn't have been.
He had I think he wrote some of the Indiana Jones TV show episodes, and he had done a draft of
Oh, I didn't switch to writer. Oh, look at that.
He had done a draft famously of, the in the 4th Indiana Jones movie that was, like, pretty well regarded that was going to deal with Roswell.
Oh, that's how I that's probably how I knew him.
And they went in a different direction. I think they, like, maybe just used the alien stuff. So I'm not sure if he gets the writing credit still on that one, but yeah. He was in there.
Okay. Yeah. The name is just I just hear it. Like, I just know it.
Is that Michael Jackson part of it? What are you just posted?
Could be.
The Green Mile is also, like, one of those movies I feel like that is at the upper echelon of of film. Like, people consider The Green Mile one of their favorite movies.
I mean, 42 on Letterboxd is pretty high.
Mhmm. Another TBS power movie. Super Station.
I mean, that movie is 3 hours. How long do you think it was on TBS when we're watching it growing up?
Who can say? Danny?
I mean, you're watching lunch you're having lunch and dinner in front of that TV, finishing Green Mile.
I mean, whatever. You you talk like a Thanksgiving or Christmas or whatever, Easter, you're plopping on that couch watching Green Mile. Shawshank a double shot of those two films, taking a nap probably in between, ham a ham coma.
A ham coma? Yeah. Double shot.
More like a a double guzzle.
My first note is, I think, my one of my favorite bits about this movie is the arc of Red and, Morgan Freeman's character. I love our introduction to him, but also I like the passage of time that they do with him with, his interviews, his exit interviews, or I guess whatever. He's up for, parole, and each time he's come in and given his answers, and they've rejected him. But when he comes in that last time, and he's, he's been affected by A and D so much that his answers have changed. And I, and maybe even the loss of Brooks, or just the now he's going on 40 years in there or whatever the time was, that his answers got him out that time.
And I don't know, there's just something about that. I thought that was brilliant way to not, not only show the passage of time, but the, I guess the character development of him for the movie. I mean, Morgan was one of my favorite things about this. It's hard for him not to be, but, that part of his story line, I really loved.
What do you really wanna know? Am I sorry for what I did? Well, I am. There's not a day goes by I don't feel regret. Not because I'm in here, because you think I should. I look back on the way I was then. A young, stupid kid who committed that terrible crime. I wanna talk to him. I wanna try to talk some sass to him. Tell him the way things are, but I can't. That kid's long gone, and this old man is all that's left. I gotta live with that.
Do you
think in that scene, was it is it kinda implied that he had, like, given up hope of getting out?
It's a good question. I don't know if he had given up hope. Maybe. I mean, so much of this is about hope, and I think at that point, maybe he had, but also I think he, I think he was fearful of being on the outside now. So like giving the right answers to get out is irrelevant now because I don't, I think he, I think at some point he felt like he would go down the same path as Brooks.
Yeah. And he does say
that he's like, I have been institutionalized now. Yeah, the institutionalized line. Yeah.
That was like, institutionalized now.
Yeah. The institutionalized line.
Yeah. That was, like, maybe one of my other points was that speech that he gives. It's almost like he was just being more real at the end. He's like, I'm not gonna f around with whatever you I think it's gonna get me out. Just be realistic. That speech that he gives about how that kid's long gone and this old man is all that's left.
Where was Oscar? Woah.
Woah. Yeah. Incredible scene. And I like, I'm like, you're talking about the passage of time and, like, the age. I thought they did pretty good with the age, like, Tim Robbins with his graying hair and his old man sweaters, that they added into his wardrobe towards the end. Because I remember when Tim Robbins first came on screen, I was like, damn. He's really young in this movie.
He really is. Yeah.
Red. Yeah. So in the book, I'm pretty sure Red is white, and he has, like, red hair, And they cast Morgan Freeman. Imagine if imagine if the Internet was around when when this movie came out, and they, like, announced the casting of Morgan Freeman.
I like how he's Irish in the book, and then he makes the Irish joke in the movie. He says he's
Irish. Yeah.
Yeah. Amazing performance by Morgan Freeman. Golly. Let's see. I wanted to I forgot to look this up, but I would I wanted to check the box office for this movie. Like, what would would this movie, like, be created today? Like, would it hit the mainstream? But I don't think it really did that well at the box office at the time, and then it eventually became like this gangbusters.
I do remember sorry. I cut you off. No. Yeah. I, I read that it was the number 1 rented movie of the year when it came on video.
And unlike we talked about this before, but, like, syndication, like, cable TV, like, this being on cable TV all the time, it can't be understated how important it is probably to this movie's legacy. Is there any movie that this will ever happen to again?
So this film cost 25 mil to make. In its initial run, it only earned 16.
Sheesh.
And then after it received the 7 noms for Academy Awards, there was a theatrical re release, which, it did 73,000,000 on the re release. But in 1995, it was the top video rental at 320,000 VHS rentals in the United States.
Was it nominated let's go through the Oscars here. Nominated for best picture. Yeah. Lost to Forrest Gump. Oh, god. What do you hear?
It was Forrest Gump?
Best actor in a leading role. Morgan was nominated. Lost to Tom Hanks, Forrest Gump.
Oh, interesting.
Best adapted screenplay, Frank Darabont was nominated. Lost to Forrest Gump, Eric Roth. I don't get you
to finish talking.
Cinematographer for this movie, Roger Deakins.
Uh-huh.
Nominated for best cinematography. Lost to Legends of the Fall.
Oh, interesting.
Actually love to do on this show, believe it or not. Best film editing. Nominated loss to Forrest Gump. What? Best original score loss to The Lion King, Tom Zimmer. Best sound mix mixing, get this, lost to Speed. No.
Oh my god.
There you have it.
Wow. Interesting. That's an interesting point about, like, the legacy because I think there's something to be said for the fact that this movie was, like, put it into everyone's brain at least once a week. If you're surfing on cable, like, you're hearing about Shawshank. Right? Like, this movie stayed in our in in, like, our our psyche Mhmm. For decades, it feels like. Yeah. Yeah. Without even watching it, like, you know, that that's what the cable did too.
There'd be movies that I'd never I haven't even seen, but I knew about them just because they were on TV all the time.
The shot of him in the rain at the end, like, that was on TV on the cable channels. So you saw that scene maybe 3,000,000 times before even seeing the movie. I mean, even just, like, shows making like, do people know what syndication is? Syndication More? Like, when a when a sitcom hits a 100 episodes, it can then, like, go into syndication and become one of those daily shows on, like, Fox at 4:30.
Mhmm.
Like, remember when Seinfeld was on re hit reruns? It was on, like, 7 or 7:30 every night on Fox.
The Seinfeld Friends Happy Hour.
And just, like, putting the TV on and knowing that something was on. I mean, I'm not trying to sound old, but it was a big deal.
I mean, Prot already said he was born in 87 this episode. So
Remember taping things off TV? You you would record a television channel onto a VHS so you can rewatch it. Mhmm. That's the thing we did, folks.
I had to set mine up to record Smallville because I was at football practice every day when it was on TV on The CW.
I would record Batman, X Men. I would set the timer so I could record X Men like the new episode of X Men.
Gotta set the timer.
ECW Wrestling. I would set the time for 2 AM to catch that.
Do, like, 5 minutes before and 5 minutes after?
Yeah.
Because you never know.
Part of what happened. Favorite VHS recording story? Recording?
You know, I never recorded anything. 1st, because I never I never had any interest in rewatching something. Wow. Seemed like a waste. My god. But, we have, like, a lot of I've talked about this before on the show. We got a lot of hand me downs. We didn't have cable for a long period of time, so I got, Disney, recordings of Talespin, which is my my treasure. I had maybe 20 episodes of Talespin My god. That I'd watch over and over again.
So the one with Launchpad McQuack?
No. Seeing that? It doesn't ring.
What's the Launchpad? DuckTales. DuckTales? Oh, yeah. It's it's like the same name, folks.
Kelspin was the Bears.
Yeah. Oldest. Danny, what's next on your list?
Oh, I'll go again. I want to talk about Brooks. I think, I almost lost it with that scene when he gets out of jail. The his arc was great because I think he was just kind of subtly there as the old man who's been in jail for a long time. He was feeding the bird, the maggot at the beginning.
And then when he has his moment, when he freaks out on the other inmate, wanting to stab him just to stay in in prison for the rest of his life. That was that felt a little bit eye opening in the moment because that I think that theme hadn't been talked about too much, in the film yet. So the idea that he's been in jail and institutionalized for so long that he would murder again just to, not go out into the have his freedom again, I thought that was interesting conversation. But when he gets out, the idea that he had never seen cars before besides maybe one to walk the streets and there's everyone has a car at this point, that kind of just blew my mind to think about what prison could do to someone like that. And then him just trying to keep up.
Like, it's such a heartbreaking bit of storytelling that, really sets the stage for what comes for Andy, because you get to the point where it's like, is he also gonna hang himself? So I I just love the Brooks storyline. I love how it I also love the revisiting the when, revisiting that whole moment when Red gets released as well, because then you're like, is, is does he have the same outcome as Brooks? So it's like a lot of emotions in all of that. It was really well done.
I liked that. I also liked how it was given enough time in the middle of the movie to kind of set the tone, for the rest of the film, I think.
Yeah. The Brooks story is so sad. Like, I remember, you know, as a kid as a kid, you can kind of, like, understand that, like, I this guy, you know, he can't, like, handle it in in the real world because he's been in prison. But you don't really get it until you're a little, like, a little bit older that, like, he's he's he can't he can't hang out there. It's been too long. He like, what's he gonna do? I always feel so bad too when he, like, has to get a job.
Yeah. The bag and groceries.
Groceries? This guy shouldn't be working. Our society is so screwed up. Even today, I mean, people this age are still working at, like, grocery stores. What are we doing Yeah. As a society? It's just depressing.
Yeah. I feel like 1900 to 1940 is, like, a little hard to relate to, but, like, the thought of someone getting into prison in 1980 and then coming out in 2020
Yeah. Oh my god.
Like, the the way the world has changed. Yeah. Like, how would you even I mean, you would adapt, of course, but, like, there's just, like, so much has happened. But it also make makes me wonder of, like, what is the exposure in prison to, like, news and, like, how much can you consume and Right.
You know,
in this state, depict, like, oh, they have a library. So I'm, like, you know, in prison, like, I've seen, like, TVs, but, like, how much access do they have, like, to the Internet and, you know, just
I feel like I hear stories of people in prison having cell phones. Yeah. Every saw so maybe that pops off in my Reddit my subreddits.
You're Reddit. R / prison.
No. No. No. I don't
know what you're on in there.
No. No.
One thing I really love about the, the Brooks piece, especially at the end, is how the narration switches to him Yeah. Of his letter sending it to them. And that's just something I really love in this movie. I normally I don't really like narration in movies, but this, I think it does it so well, especially I mean, you have Morgan Freeman doing the voice over most of the movie. But then even, like, this this seamless switch to him, to Brooks kind of just depicting his life outside the walls as you're observing it is really well done.
I mean, did this is this the movie that that set him up for narration for the rest of his career?
Was this his first narration?
Right. Because I feel like we have we have so many vague memories of just Morgan Freeman quote narration or storytelling and maybe this is where it started.
It's a great question.
Thank you. Let's see. Next on my list I mean, one of the thing that was different when I was watching when I was younger because I don't think this was really well, I I know one line probably wasn't in the movie on TBS, but, like, when the sisters are, you know, attacking Tim Robbins, you know, this, like Yeah. These evil people that are in prison and they're trying to, like, you know, attack him in the showers or any chance he gets. It's, like, kept purposely vague almost because they show, like, an attempted sexual assault rape, but then, like, they just end up beating him up instead.
And then, like, it never really happened. So, like, as a kid, I was like, man. I'm thinking back. Like, what did I think it was happening in those scenes? Is he just getting beat up? Yeah. Because then it's shown, like, he gets, quote, beat up constantly. So then I'm, like, watching this time, like, oh, he wasn't just getting beat up constantly by this group. Like, it it seemed like it was all the time he was getting raped by these dudes, the sisters. And, like, I was, like, stunned.
Like, I'm like, what was on TV? Like, as a young person, I'm not thinking that's happening, but it was, like, fairly obvious this time that, like, he is not going well for him in prison for a long time.
I feel like your jail subreddit should've covered this one.
But, I mean, it's it's terrible. It's, like, a lot. The the montage isn't really, like, explicit. They don't show something about to happen. It just, like, cuts. But you're it's inferred. It's bad news.
Yeah. It's definitely inferred.
Yeah. I think that's really well done how it is. I I think modern directors could take note of this. It's like, hey, you don't have to show everything.
Right.
In some ways, it's, like, much more effective, like, with the voice over and then just seeing Andy working with, like, that just, like, completely downtrodden look on his face. Like, that almost makes it worse just knowing Yeah. The story that way.
Yeah. It's rough. And then I had, like, a vague memory. I was like, oh, it doesn't that Clancy Brown, like, help him out at some point? And I almost, like, forgot about the Clancy Brown character journey. I was like, does he become friends with Tim? But, no, Clancy Brown is still kind of a douche. Like, I mean, he killed a guy. Yeah.
And then Yeah.
He crippled, one of the sisters. I can't remember what his name was, but yeah, I mean, the mem my memories of their interpersonal relationships of the people that worked at the prison with Tim Robbins were just, like, muddied, and it was just like, oh, god. These guys are such beat offs. I mean, even the warden, he he puts him in the hole while he plays music, like, Tim Robbins just goes crazy and plays music to the president, like, Tim, that's gonna cost you. But then, like, the warden keeps him there, but then he puts him in the hole for a month because he's, like, thinking that he might be able to get out.
Puts him in for another month. He kills that kid. I mean, some evil people. He he prison.
But, also, Tim, what did you think? I mean, you have been embezzling this man's money for how long now? And you think going to him to tell him that that he can let you free, like, this is gonna work? Yeah. Tim, you're smarter than that.
Tim was being obtuse.
Tim was being obtuse.
You're right. You're being obtuse, Warden.
But it does make you wonder how long had Tim been sending that money to these accounts with, like, this plan to escape?
Like $370,000. Yeah. Like, had I feel
like the whole time because he set up the alias. I feel like he might have had to do it day 1.
Yeah. Like, so was he planning his escape from the beginning?
Well, how long Oh, yeah. Because Because he had to dig out. Right?
He asked for that rock smasher, like, day 1. He was
like Yeah.
He was ready.
Oh, that reminds me. There's one thing in this movie that feels like an editing faux pas is that when, Andy first goes out to talk to Red, and he's like, hey. I hear you can get things, yada yada, and they're talking in the yard. And then he gets him the hammer. Or no.
Or maybe that's he gets him the poster there. I can't remember. And then, like, they have some scenes together, and it's like they're friends. And then there's the scene where they go into the theater, Red's watching the movie, and then Andy comes up behind him. And he says, like, hey, I heard you can get things. As if this is, like, the first time he's asking him. But we already saw him, like, them have this conversation.
I thought that was just like a jokey them doing this the story again. Like, they were just kinda having fun with their first encounter.
Alright. You don't you don't have to cover for Andy here, for Frank. I know you and Frank are real close. His subreddits.
On r slash Darabont. Frodo, final point, I think?
I was, you know, this is in 4 k now, and I thought this movie, the color and the look of this is just absolutely gorgeous.
Mhmm.
The the lighting of this movie, like, there's so much natural lighting. The the overhead shots of them in the yard Yeah. Just the the the color palette is just so pleasing. Them in the office buildings, like, everything just gosh. It looks so freaking good. And, yeah, they're saying in Chad Deacon's. So I guess it is it is Roger. Is Deacon's movie. But it's just like it's it it looks so good. And seeing it now in 4 k, I mean, it's never looked better.
So, just I was just soaking it in the whole time.
Imagine working in that library.
Oh my god.
Having that be your day job at the prison because you're hooking the warden's books up. My
gosh. There was, I think when the film starts, there's the long, like, panning shot over Shawshank with all the people in the yard and just kind of walking around before the bus comes. Just like can we talk about just using actual location still? Can we get back to this? Like, they they literally filmed in a old correctional facility with all these men, in an actual jail that was a real place.
You can you can visit it now still. Like, you can go and have a tour of this prison in Ohio, I believe. So it's like it it just speaks, like, it just speaks volume to the shooting on location and how everything felt real and and just tactile.
Should that be the location in the next 70 millimeter meetup?
Ohio.
Shawshank Redemption.
That'd be amazing. Just project it on the wall
out there.
Sit in
the yard. Redemption.
Can we do this?
Everybody gets a prison shirt, your own number.
And then we at the end of the night, we we tell everyone we're being locked in for the night. We're also doing a ghost hunt.
Oh. I mean, it was a very bad correctional facility, Sloan.
Well, you, as well as I know that the spirits will be attached to that kind of activity in that location. Right. I think we hit all of my points, to be honest. See if I have anything else. I mean, just thinking about spending 2 weeks in the hole.
Mhmm. I mean What exactly is the hole?
It just looks like a square.
So it's just like With a poop on
the thing of a light.
Yeah. You are you crappy?
Maybe the light probably the only light you see is when they open the door to take out your your doo doo.
They take out your doo doo?
Yeah. I've seen YouTubers go crazy of, like, 48 hours in a room, you know, an experiment.
48 minutes in a room. Yeah. YouTubers lose their minds.
How are these guys doing
months? For months. 2 months.
Comes out pale as hell. 2 months in a dark room. How do you how does your psyche not just be permanently damaged after that? Yeah. The answer is hope. Slim. Yeah. I know. Hope. And before someone tells me hope. Danny, final point?
Biers on the Roof is what I have typed out. That whole scene was a masterpiece in filmmaking and performance and writing. The the them tarring on the roof to him overhearing, the the cop talk about his 35,000 he's getting that is he's gonna get taxed to hell. 35,000 in what year is this? Why are you not retiring?
It's like you're getting it feels like $1,000,000 at that at that point in time. Anyway, when when Andy hears overhears and he's coming in, and it's just the final shot of them relaxing on the roof at sunset, drinking the beer, him just sitting there smiling. It just gave me the chills. What a beautiful scene. Yeah.
And, like, instantly, he's, like, one of them now. Like, he's they're all his best friend for life. And then I guess my last point where I mean, I have so many I feel like I have too many points for this movie. Go for it. I feel like this film had, like, 4 perfect endings, and they all kept, like, building on each other as it as when the the the moment when the jail cells open and Red is worried about Andy and he steps out, and Andy's not stepping on that ledge.
Like like, full body chills. Like, did he hang himself? But then to walk in because the whole time, I'm like, this is a Stephen King movie. Some something is gonna hit the fan. It's gonna be something gnarly is gonna happen. But when he's, like, not in the jail cell and you have not been shown one single second of him trying to escape, And it's like, man, what hap like Yeah.
I get you.
What happened? I was like, I need to be, like, explained. And then for that whole segment, that whole montage at the end of him crawling through the shit tunnel and swimming out, and then you find the him having the fake ID, taking all the money, going to Mexico. Like, that's a perfect ending, and then you get the red ending with him getting out, him overcoming what happens with with Brooks, and him getting past that, finding the letter, the letter that that Andy planned in jail to write to Red when he escaped. Like, like, the like, I'm just my mind at the end of this is just, like, blown.
But then to have them reunite on a beautiful beach, hugging, Like, I was just I'm on cloud 9 watching this film. Like, this is a perfect movie. I don't even know what else to say. Five stars. There you go. Like, I love this film so much.
It's also crazy, you know, that you've been able to be
unsullied. Know anything. I mean, I hear nothing about this film.
I would also say that this hit I don't know. This feels like it's not also really in, like, mainstream discussion anymore, like Shawshank Redemption. Yeah. It's really not a spoiler. People bring up The Shawshank Redemption.
It's true.
You You know?
I mean,
where is that end of our top 100 at this point?
It's in there. Know that.
Just cracking in? But still, I mean, I'm happy to have seen it. I honestly wanted to fire it right up back up and watch it again after knowing Dang. After knowing everything, just to
be able to watch
it again because there's, like it's not only, like, a a well written film. It feels shockingly religious too. So many undertones. I mean, this is back to back exodus movies we've watched in this film with references to exodus. Just, yeah, just like it's it's pretty crazy. So I I'm happy to finally see this. I'm glad he picked it, and it just feels like it could easily be one of my favorite movies of all time. Oh. You're welcome. Thank you, Frodo.
Yeah. That, I love that the quote that, the warden has, in front of his safe that's, like, his wife Yeah. Crocheted or whatever. I can't remember what it was, but it's something about, like, bringing judgment and, like, you know, just, like, the satisfaction at the end that, like, he gets his, that it's so good.
Yeah. I would've loved to see that word and just get his ass beat, though. Absolutely ass beating. Put him in the hole. Yeah. Perdo, final thoughts reading?
Let's see. So one thing about Andy is and you know, like, at the beginning, they don't really like him. Because Andy is one of those guys who is, like, very smart and kind of good at everything.
Mhmm.
And you meet some of these people in life, and they're great to be around because especially if they're, like, also kind and and just, like, good people. But they are kind of, like, annoying. It's really annoying when someone is good at everything they do. Mhmm. You know what I mean?
Mhmm. Like, anything they touch, they're just, like, naturally gifted and, like, suddenly better than you, and you've been, like, working on something like, trying to get better for 5 years, and they're just like, oh, I just, you know, I just picked it up, and I don't know. I'm just trying my best, and you're like, f you. But I've met a few Andes in my life, and they're rare, but they're they're they are special. This just further reinforces that I I I desperately need a raven or a crow.
I've looked into this.
Can you get one?
I think you can. I think it's more popular over in, like, Europe to have a pet raven, but I think it's kind of it might be kind of like a falcon where it's not like it's not like a pet that you own. It's more of, like, they're a partner or, like, they bond with you, and they come and go freely. So I've looked into it a little bit. Yeah. But I would love to have a raven maybe someday. They're big. Yeah. They are big. They're really smart too.
Smart birds. Yeah. There was a lot of bathroom talk in this movie. I'm kinda surprised by that. I think this is the first time I've heard I mean, I don't even wanna share it.
Know what you're gonna say. I already know. The first time we probably all heard pinch a loaf.
Yes. Right? That's the first time in a movie I think I've heard this. Stephen King. Thank you.
Oh, god.
There's a lot of that.
Did he invent that phrase?
He might
have. Something to think about.
Pardon? Before you complete your list, we have a VM Oh, okay. Go. From Max on I believe this is on the Shawshank redemption.
Hey, 7 e m m. First time, long time. This is Max.
Good.
I had to send in my first VM while you all, decided that you were gonna be doing the Shawshank Redemption this week. I started reading Stephen King when I was much, much too young, probably caused a lot of problems. And I feel like I also saw this movie when I was much too young, but was excited to revisit it and was so glad that I did. As soon as Morgan Freeman comes on screen, I'm in love with his character. I'm in love with his performance.
Tim Robbins, who, you know, I'm I'm kinda hit or miss on, I think is amazing in this movie. But I really wanted to call in just to talk about the story and the Stephen King of it all.
There have
been some things said on this very program, about Stephen King adaptations. And I'm not here to disagree with any of that. We've been through some stuff, Stephen King fans. We've seen some stuff. But I do think that it's worth sort of stepping back and thinking about the things that he has given, not just to the world of books, but to the world of film.
You've got Carrie, It, The Shining, Cujo, The Dead Zone, Christine, Children of the Corn, Pet Sematary. But people forget or just don't know to begin with about stuff like The Green Mile and Stand by Me and The Shawshank Redemption that sort of prove that, a, he's got the juice on Mhmm. Storytelling beyond just the horror genre, and b, that you can make, in fact, a good Stephen King adaptation. So thank you guys for all you do. Thanks to Proto for picking this movie, and thanks to the big man for writing the story.
God?
This is Stephen King or God.
Stephen King. What a what a first of all, great audio quality.
What mic?
From Max. From Max.
Max, show us your mic.
Are you in chat right now? Was it was that just your iPhone? Did you have some kind of
Show us your mic.
Denser mic
that you wanted to tell us about? Mhmm. Amazing VM.
I hope I hope this is the start of Stephen King finally getting recognized for what he's done. Yeah.
For our this redemption. He he can finally rest after fighting the good fight against Elon Musk on Twitter all all these months.
How about Red's jail cell being 3237 just like The Shining Door? Oh.
What? See that?
I forgot to mention too. I think was it last Halloween I did my Stephen King Kingtember? Because it's they called it Kingtember, and I watched all those, Stephen King films. I tried to track down, like, all those TV movies, like The Stand and
Didn't Darabont do some other King TV?
Maybe maybe an anthology or something or a short story.
Whatever. That's all
I have to say on the matter. Doctor. Bruno.
Then listening to the record in the yard. Mhmm. Again, just the the shot is so good. The oh, I had written down Wendell Stevens, the apparition. This idea that at that time, you could get a Social Security card, a license, and Oh, no. For somebody who doesn't even exist. Is that still possible? Are there systems in place to stop this?
Ask them subreddits.
I can't divulge the answer to that question live on air.
How about Tim Robbins' spray on beard in solitary? Do you guys notice this? No. I think the 4 k gave it away a little bit. Yeah. His beard did not, it was a little too clear, I think. Painted on a bit. Hope is a good thing. Maybe the best of things. Good line. Yeah. Is Morgan Freeman the best narrator?
It's a good voice.
Yeah. I have a good voice. Yeah. I'm at, you know what? I wanna give it 5 stars, but I feel I'm I'm after finishing, I was, like, at 4 stars. You know? Mhmm. I don't know. That's just that's the way I feel. Maybe it was, like, the first half being slow, but as we've talked about it, it's like, dang, yeah. This is really a great movie. It's such a good ending. Maybe next time I watch it, I'll get the 5 stars. I feel
like I've heard you on this show say, you know, I think I
wanna give it a 5 stars, so
I'm gonna give it a 5 stars. I feel like that's you've and then you had a speech after that about, like, if you
feel like giving something 5 stars, you should.
Yeah. I've I've definitely done that. I definitely have. Yeah. Yeah. K.
It's a different proto in 2025. Yeah. It's what we're learning, and that's okay.
It's okay.
That's okay.
Slim. Take us home.
Put your trust in the lord. Your ass belongs to me and that warden. What a line. I know. Well, how about when Clancy kills that guy? Just beats him to death. Or he, like Oh, the
the first guy.
Yeah. And then he there's no med ache, so he just, like, dies.
Yeah. That's insane.
Did did you catch this little Easter egg?
What's your
That one of the cops name was Deacon's? No. What? Did you catch that? No. I'm not sure if anyone else had the eagle ear, but I caught it.
The old Deacons.
At various points in my notes, I'm just writing the years that they say on screen. 6 years exclamation point. 10 years. 19 years he's been there. Just various points in my notes. Couldn't get over it. It's those new posters.
Raquel Welch.
Yeah. Andy's old man sweater when he's, like, working at library.
Great sweater.
Oh, and that's I don't wanna, you know people gonna get upset at me and call it an old man sweater just to signify the change in age. Change in age sweater. How's that? Better. Thank you.
It is good.
The kid with the sideburns getting offed. God. Shot by Clancy. POS, Clancy Brown.
How's that guy go home at night and live with himself?
He's got half a mil over half a mil in the bank.
What year is it? What year did he get that?
Someone put it in chat. It's, like, $600,000 now. Or or was it 300,000?
Something big. Just retire, Clancy. Why are you still working there? Seriously.
The compound interest alone. Go to Mexico. God.
He could be a king in Mexico.
Yeah.
It's ins like, I I was thinking about Red eventually going to that rock. I was thinking, like, why wouldn't he just go to that rock right away? And maybe that's just me knowing the outcome. Like, when you wanna just, like, hang with your boy who escaped prison kinda right away. But I guess he probably had to make some money to even
I mean, he hitched a ride.
Yeah. To eventually get there? I don't know.
Well, how about it also being, like, his instructions were go to Buxton and find a stone wall
Mhmm.
Near an oak tree. Like and then Red is just walking around in a cornfield
Yeah. With with a compass. In
the woods.
How many days was he there? We don't know.
Yeah. Isn't doing that now?
We talk about youtubers can't stay 48 minutes in a room. How long could you travel with a compass in a 15 mile radius or however I mean, because it looked like he was walking a long time, like, through passage of time that day. But, also, I would just get nervous about that stuff just being moved for whatever reason. You know, like, how long has Red been in prison that Andy has been out? Like, how long has Andy been out by that time? Did they say?
Oh, I don't know. No.
I don't think so.
Any, Stephen King heads in there? Right? Mike Scott says it was a year or 2.
How's he know?
But I don't know. If I were Red, I'd probably be like, day 1 if I'm I'm bagging groceries. Like, I'm out. I'm gonna find this freaking rock. Maybe I'm gonna assume my boy put some money away, and we're gonna hang. That's what I would do. It just, like, bums me out. Like, oh, man. How long? How much time did he waste just, like, hating his life? But it worked out in the end. Five stars
Oh.
For this film. Okay. I agree. I, like, was kind of I mean, it's it's a journey. You're thinking, like, the first hour, like, yeah. This is really good, but but, yeah, the the multiple endings, the the payoff, it's a banger payoff for sure. We might have had a letter as well from Brian. Subject line, thank you for this pod. Hey, guys. The day has finally arrived.
I wrote to you about the Shawshank Redemption in a letter 2 years ago. It is my favorite movie. Forgive my punctuation for I'm blind now, but through my favorite pod, I can still enjoy movies that's 70 I would watch this movie with my dad. He has passed since then, but the bond of friendship that is shown at the end is what my dad told me he wanted to be for me. I cried when Proto said 1994 and then he said the Shawshank.
Thank you. Brian, top 4. Brian gives us his top 4. Shawshank Redemption, Spirited Away, Stella Wars, and Spider Man 2. Yo. What a month for Brian.
Brian.
It's all coming up Brian right now. Yeah. Spirited Away. By the way, folks, Spirited Away is our next movie. We talked about the top of the show.
Big time.
Streaming on Max right now. Thank you for the letter, Brian. I don't know if I said thank you, but thank you. I see Brian on our IG comments. That's how I recognized. Spirited Away. 2001 streaming on Max. It's a rental. Otherwise, this is 4 k on Max. Is there a 4 k of this?
Maybe? We'll dig into this. Question mark?
Let me read the synop. We go to IMDB. During her family's move to the suburbs, a sown 10 year old girl wanders into a world ruled by gods, witches, and spirits and where humans are changed into beasts. We got a big week next week. Huge. Spirited Away, number 30 on the on the letterbox top 250, but let me pull up our list. Number 31 on the VHS Village top 100 films of all time. Nailed it. Pardon? Any closing thoughts?
Closing thoughts. You know, we can never abandon hope. Andy taught us that this week. Hope and love. With those 2, we can weather anything. Never give up.
Never give up. We'll see everybody next week for Spirited Away.
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