Fine film, but not best of all time

Rating: 9/10 (4 March 1999)

As I write these, the IMDB poll has this listed as the top film of their top 250 films of all time. I'm a little surprised by this, as you can imagine. On the one hand, it's always nice to see a list that's willing to throw a curve, instead of automatically putting CITIZEN KANE at the top, and this choice certainly qualifies. And don't get me wrong, I think this is a very good film. The relationship between the characters played by Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman is well played out (and both actors are excellent), the story is well-adapted from the Stephen King novella, and Frank Darabont deserves credit for keeping it simple without making it simplistic.
On the other hand, the greatest film of all time? It didn't even make my top 10 for 1994 (they were, btw, PULP FICTION, QUIZ SHOW, HOOP DREAMS, THREE COLORS: RED, THE BOYS OF ST. VINCENT, THE LAST SEDUCTION, NOBODY'S FOOL, BURNT BY THE SUN, SIRENS, and ED WOOD). It did indulge in a few cliches, like the caged bird kept by James Whitmore's character, and the "sisters", that prevented it from being a 5-star movie(that's my highest rating). Nevertheless, it is a very good movie, 9/10, and I'm glad to see so many people have caught up to it after it didn't do so well during its theatrical release.