Excellent Cast... Excellently Directed

Rating: 10/10 (20 February 2000)

Being a fan of movies that move you, often these movies are lengthy, this not being an exception to that, it's also not an exception to the fact that most of the longer films are so well done that the time goes by so quickly you hardly notice you've been sitting there for 3 hours. Movies such as The Godfather, Braveheart, Gandhi, Schindlers list and Saving Private Ryan are so well done that I could watch them over and over and still not believe that they are 3 hours long. This is one such story. Albeit a unique story in that it's not based on fact or history but on the human spirit. I often wonder what Stephen King is thinking when he writes as he has given us such great horror/thrillers but also gave us The Shawshank Redemption which Frank Darabont also directed. I believe he prepared himself for this film by doing Shawshank as I prepared myself for watching it by seeing Shawshank. What an excellent story and an excellent cast. Tom Hanks once again makes me feel what he is feeling as his character is feeling it. This is already the best film of the year.. unless Steven Speilberg has something special in store for us. A perfect 10 out of 10