Red wuz here

I tried to rent "Shawshank" at Blockbuster over the weekend. I don't know if it's the "Green Mile" effect or if it's Tim Robbins week but I couldn't find it on DVD or VHS. From memory though, I can tell you that I do not disagree with its spot on this poll.

I personally voted for "Silence of the Lambs" but I think that may have more to do with who I was and what I was becoming at that point in my life than anything else. I was just starting to understand how some things in the world worked and it may have been the first "intelligent" movie that I got. I still think it's a great movie, but I don't know if I would have voted for it otherwise.

I read "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption" in college before I saw the movie. The movie is remarkably true to the book. If you have read past columns, you know I am a big Stephen King fan. I guess the reason a lot of his movies suck if that they just don't get translated very well from the page to the screen. "Shawshank" was an exception. It was a good to great story turned into a fantastic movie. Frank Darabont is the man. I am gonna be interested to see if he ever directs anything other than Stephen King adaptations. IMDB has him listed as director on a couple of forgettable things but "Green Mile" is his first effort behind the camera since "Shawshank".

As I was watching the Oscars last night, I discovered something about Morgan Freeman. He has to have the most soothing voice of any actor working today. I can't even remember what the hell he was talking about. I only remember thinking, "I have to write in the article tomorrow that 'Shawshank' may not have been so good if Freeman hadn't been the narrator."

Unlike the Uncle, I didn't have a problem with the faulty logic of the ending and previous narration. Hell, I didn't even realize there was a hole there until he mentioned it. I can usually suspend my disbelief for good entertainment very easily. In other words, I will swallow a line of shit as long as a good actor is saying it. My wife on the other hand has a terrible problem doing that. She gets really pissed when someone does something in a movie that breaks the continuity or doesn't flow logically.

Back to the Oscars, did anyone notice that Spielberg looked like C. Montgomery Burns from "The Simpsons" when they showed him backstage as the producers of "American Beauty" were thanking Dreamworks in their acceptance speech? He had his fingers pressed together just like Burns and I just know he was thinking "Excellent" when his studio took home the big prize.

For more in depth commentary on the movie winners, check the archives under the movie poll section. I have talked about practically all of the ones on this list in a past poll wrapup.

Poll Title: Best Movie of the 90's
The Shawshank Redemption	17% - (100 Votes)
Schindler's List	14.8% - (87 Votes)
Braveheart	12.2% - (72 Votes)
Silence of the Lambs	10.5% - (62 Votes)
Saving Private Ryan	10.5% - (62 Votes)
The Matrix	7.3% - (43 Votes)
The Usual Suspects	7.3% - (43 Votes)
Terminator 2: Judgment Day	4% - (24 Votes)
South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut	2.8% - (17 Votes)
There's Something About Mary	2.5% - (15 Votes)
Groundhog Day	2.3% - (14 Votes)
Independence Day	1.7% - (10 Votes)
My Cousin Vinny	1.3% - (8 Votes)
American Pie	1% - (6 Votes)
Beauty and the Beast	0.6% - (4 Votes)
The Fugitive	0.6% - (4 Votes)
Toy Story	0.6% - (4 Votes)
Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery	0.5% - (3 Votes)
The Lion King	0.5% - (3 Votes)
Toy Story 2	0.5% - (3 Votes)
Face/Off	0.3% - (2 Votes)
True Lies	0.1% - (1 Votes)
Total Votes: 587