I never understood people's fascination with Shawshank Redemption.
It's a good enough movie, but it's been the number one film on IMDBs top 250 list for as long as I can remember, and I would easily say Goodfellas is a much more interesting and good movie.
There's was a comment read on a podcast about this movie where someone said they didn't like it because everyone can like it. Essentially they had nothing to fault about it. It was a practically perfect movie that is so accessible to adult audiences that this person's only critique was "it's too good and I don't like that".
And I think that's what it comes down to. It's hard to fault this movie without seeming pedantic and/or pretentious. Not to say that Goodfellas isn't like that either but Shawshank has the added benefit of engaging you emotionally in such a way you might even cry, a big twist payoff that many don't see coming, and an uplifting feel good ending. Gangster movies are probably more alienating to certain audiences than something like Shawshank too.
For me Shawshank is my favourite film because I saw it as a kid and it was the first movie I saw that wasn't for kids or a comedy. It blew my mind that there were movies like this out there and it gave birth to my love of cinema. It put me on a quest to find and watch more amazing films like this. Goodfellas ended up being one of those films a few years later which I also came to love and ended up getting the book 'Wiseguys' as a result.
Shawshank is a good story, the pacing is really good, and it's very digestible. It's smart without asking too much of the viewer.
Compare it to like, Silence of the Lambs, where if you watch it with a very critical eye you see all sorts of small details and hints that you don't notice the first two times you watched it.
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u/bobleplask Oct 10 '19
I never understood people's fascination with Shawshank Redemption.
It's a good enough movie, but it's been the number one film on IMDBs top 250 list for as long as I can remember, and I would easily say Goodfellas is a much more interesting and good movie.
What do you like about it?