Phenomenal

Rating: 10/10 (29 July 2012)

Personally I was, and I am ashamed to say this, quite late to join the huge number of film fans that would hold The Shawshank Redemption within their Top 5 films of all time - if not number 1. If you're wondering mine is "The Princess Bride", childhood favourite but that's beside the point.
I think the first time I watched it was in 2006 and I instantly fell in love with it. I now watch the film at least 5/6 times a year without fail and I am hardly ever far from tears of joy by the end.
If you use the old analogy of "If an alien came to earth show them how..." to make a film, you would show them this as the blueprint.
Just brilliant.