The Shawshank Redemption Review

This is Dave. He really enjoys going to the movies.

He's always considerate to his fellow moviegoers.

This fellow is disturbing everyone around him.

Oh look, Dave is shutting off his phone. Now

is not the time for talking or texting. Oh well,

now look at that. There's a true movie watching

friend. Let's all be more like Dave. This is

M -Wire, movie we can review. M -Wire is brought

to you by audible .com. Sign up today to get

a free audiobook download at www .audibletrial

.com slash geekcastradio. Start today with a

free 30 -day trial with over 100 ,000 titles

to choose from for your iPhone, Android, Kindle,

or MP3 player. Don't forget to follow Audible

on Twitter at Audible underscore com. And now

the latest and greatest in movies with MWIRE.

Ladies and gentlemen, you've heard all the evidence.

I submit that this was not a... a hot -blooded

crime of passion. Consider this. A revolver holds

six bullets, not eight. That means that he fired

the gun empty, and then stopped to reload. By

the power vested in me by the state of Maine,

I hereby order you to serve two life sentences

back to back. One for each of your victims. So

be it. Send you here for life? That's exactly

what they take. I believe in two things. Discipline.

Help me die! And the Bible. Here you'll receive

both. Andy came to Shawshank prison in 1947.

Why'd you do it? I didn't, since you asked. You

gonna sit right here? I must admit, I didn't

think much of Andy the first time I laid eyes

on him. He had a quiet way about him. A walker.

talk that just wasn't normal around here. There

are places in the world that aren't made out

of stone. There's something inside they can't

touch. What are you talking about? Hope. Let

me tell you something, my friend. Hope is a dangerous

thing. Damn it, new friend, you're putting me

behind! Hope can drive a man insane. You better

be sick or dead in there, I kid you not! I've

got to give you a good idea. Oh my holy god.

I guess it comes down to a simple choice, Billy.

Get busy living, or get busy dying. Get busy

living, or get busy dying. Welcome to episode

129 of M wire movie we can review. Yes, that's

right. This is episode 129 last time Steve and

I talked about Kingsman the Secret Service this

time around We are Gonna get busy living or get

busy dying. That's right. I am TF2 and Mike joining

me once again is movie revolt Dan. Hello. Hey,

how's it going? Yeah, you think about it. You've

been on three episodes of this show in the last

year and a half I am on fire, I guess, yeah.

Apparently. So yeah, get busy living, get busy

dying. Anybody know what we're talking about?

That's right. We're all going to prison. We're

all going to Shawshank. I wasn't sure what episode

129 was going to be, honestly. It was either

going to be, it was going to end up being Dragonheart

or an anniversary commentary for Super Mario

Brothers or... It could have been anything, folks.

But thankfully, my friends over at La La Land

Records gave me some good old directions to prison.

They released a two CD set, a grand total of

about 45 tracks of the Shawshank Redemption original

score done by Thomas Newman. So I'm like, hey,

let's do Shawshank. When was the first time you

saw this? It's a good question. Actually, I saw

this much uh later than it originally came out

actually around the time like imdb was becoming

really popular and becoming like the go -to news

movie website uh because I saw it was like number

one on there and i'm like I knew it was good

I didn't know it was it had that acclaim so uh

after seeing the acclaim and I think I was at

work one day and said no I never watched it and

people were shocked so it was around I want to

say 2005 to 2008 within that time frame all those

years kind of go together but it was You know

a decade or so after it was released in theaters

Wow, i've got you beat We okay, so I think i've

talked about this before When I moved here to

kentucky, I only spent Two years out of the 20

some odd years i've been here Living with my

dad and my then stepmother Or I should say now

my ex -stepmother Since they got divorced, but

anyway, uh So long story short I ended up award

of the state not gonna say why it's just a long

drawn -out story Nobody cares. Nobody wants to

hear I ended up award of the state and what half

the the group homes and programs and everybody

else They were trying to do was trying to teach

us. So they used this movie as a teaching tool

in 1995 1996 Two years after it released. And

of course, back then in 95, 96, everything was,

you know, video cassette. If anybody doesn't

know what a video cassette is, go look on Wikipedia.

You'll find out. Go to your local museum. You'll

see it there. Yeah. Let's not even talk about

Betamax because their brains are just exploring.

I mean, laser desk. That would be... Oh, God!

Oh yeah, good old laser disk. Okay, so basically,

several of the group homes I was at, they used

this as a teaching tool of basically saying,

hey, if you... your behavior becomes so horribly

bad that you end up doing something like this

whatever it is whether it's murder whether it's

stealing stuff whether whatever and you end up

Shawshank is not a prison that you want to end

up in and let's face it this is not a jail this

is not a county jail this is not a city this

is prison This is bad. So and we had actually

in several of the group homes. I was that we

had actually toured several different prisons

and jails here in Kentucky at the time So I saw

this movie when I was 16 15 or 16 years old Like

yeah, I don't want to be those guys and the funny

thing is it didn't take me It took me until probably

I was about 20 took me about 10 years to realize

that Andy Dufresne is Merlin from Top Gun. So,

The Shawshank Redemption. I love this movie.

I've always loved this movie. To get into some

light camera action here as far as the rapid

-fire... Goes the original theatrical release

date was September 23rd 1994 it obviously is

on DVD and Blu -ray the director of the film

was Frank Deribont I Believe that's how you pronounce

the guy's name. It was his first first film too.

So pretty impressive way to start your career

I'd say so Can only go downhill from here, right?

I guess that's one way to look at it, rather

more. Yeah. Well, other things that he has worked

on, The Green Mile in 1999, The Majestic in 2001,

most recently was three years ago with Mob City.

He's been worked a lot with Walking Dead. He's

been working. Yeah, I'm saying though, like as

far as television, as far as films go, oh, I

should say, wow, thankfully he was only a writer.

He was a writer on The Huntsman Winter's War.

He's probably one of the 18 writers on that show.

That's because it probably needed 18 writers.

But you're right his his television credits include

writer on the 90s tales from the crypt series

young Indiana Jones Chronicles the shining They

did a mini series of the shit okay, and it started

the one guy from The guy that was in wings not

the main star but like one of the brothers Tim

No, that's it not not him the other one not not

him daily the other one damn it. Oh God, it's

gonna drive me nuts. I will Yeah Steven weber,

that's it. Yeah, Steven weber. There you go He

all Derabont also directed an episode of the

shield. He directed the episode chasing ghosts

and I mean Yes, he did write and direct several

episodes of The Walking Dead, but he only did

that from 2010 to 2011 Yeah, he started he he

started the first couple seasons and then he

was on And Sarah honestly kind of kicked off

the show I would say I don't think it was his

choice, but he also directed the mist in 2007

which I Enjoy quite a bit. That's probably the

last actual movie He's done when it's been you

know almost a decade since he's actually made

a film Yeah The Obviously it was distributed

by Columbia pictures starring Tim Robbins Morgan

Freeman Bob Gunton William Sadler Clancy Brown.

Yes, that's right Lex Luthor as a prison guard

people Gil Bellows and others as I already said

the music was done by Thomas Newman the running

time was 142 minutes and the budget for the film

was 25 million and the box office was 58 million

so It made its money back, but it didn't really

See I always thought because this thing is one

awards and stuff. I always thought this thing

was like this blockbuster You know break out

movie and come to find out and only actually

made 58 million yikes Yeah, it came out in a

really busy year in 1994. Let you know. It was

actually quite a good year It was nominated for

Best Picture But yeah, I think it really got

its notoriety. No, after it was, you know, it

was well received. But I think it's one of the

films, maybe not first films, but one that really,

I think, gained in popularity after its release

here is going on, mainly due to how often it

was it was run on cable. And I'm like, yeah,

the TBS or TNT or one of those shows just like

showed it on repeat. And I think it. Really?

I think help expand its popularity outside of

the people that originally do that in the summertime

They did it all the time for what often in the

summer one, but that was back when they didn't

really have original programming You would just

write they would have you know syndicated shows

and old movies and you know people it's this

Shushing redemption is a very re watchable film.

So I think it's So people are going to kill me

for this reference in this combination of films.

TNT and TBS re -ran The Shawshank Redemption

in the summer just like they do 24 hours of A

Christmas Story. Every frigging Christmas. And

they run it into the ground. That's just the

way I see Shawshank at this point. I mean, we

could go... through this all day long with some

of these stars, but I mean, just hitting on the

two key ones, Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman.

I mean, these guys have been doing stuff for

years now. I mean, Morgan Freeman, he... Yeah,

I mean, he is the voice of God in more ways than

one. Literally, yes. I think this is I mean he

he was certainly he had some roles before this

of glorious probably his biggest breakout role

I feel like Shawshank Redemption is always the

role that often people remember Reminded most

or one that really think hammered home and just

how powerful a voice he has Usually people do

impersonations of him. It's impersonations of

him and his character in Shaw st. Shank redemption

So he's since then he's been you know, he's everywhere.

He's done. He's everything we're from like Serious

films to movies like now you see me. He's you

know the Batman. He's he's done it all really

good old Lucius Fox Best live -action Lucius

we ever got But Robbins debuted in three episodes

as the character Andrew Reinhardt on St. Elsewhere

in 82. That's surprising to me. He was also on

Hill Street Blues. He was in Bull Durham. He

was obviously in Top Gun. He was... He got a

Razzie for Howard the Duck. Think everyone that

wasn't associated with that movie got around

Blame Howard the dogs failings on Tim Robbins,

but After Shawshank In the same year in 94 he

starred in the HUD sucker proxy, which that is

a weird weird film Yeah, it's on for unfortunately

one of the Coen brothers movies. I've not seen

so it's currently on my list of shame Well, we'll

have to get to that eventually because I remember

that movie I remember watching that movie and

It's just a real like I said really really weird

film Outside of Top Gun where I noticed him the

most and I know people are probably gonna be

like, you know what? We actually covered this

on MWIRE number of years ago. I think it was

episodes 68 if my memory serves me right The

film, the 2001 film Antitrust with Ryan Philippi.

He played, uh, Tim Robbins played the villain

Gary Winston in that. So I remember him from

that. Um, he was in Mystic River in 2003. Uh,

the last, uh, last few years, let's see. Last

year he had The Brink. Yeah, that show was disappointing.

I only watched the first three or four episodes.

I thought it had a pretty strong cast, but I

don't know if it's coming back for a second season.

I don't know if it got canceled, but it was,

I don't know. It was just really uneven. He was

fine in it, but it was a disappointment compared

to what he could have been. Yeah. He was also

Senator Robert Hammond in Green Lantern. Oh,

God. In that movie jeez Tim Robbins going from

being super megastar in Shawshank Redemption

in in 1994 to being a side role in one of the

worst superhero films ever I feel like in the

last decade or so. He's kind of really limited

the work He's done. He's gotten to be more of

an activist and things like that I think he's

he worked here and there but I don't think necessarily

acting is what it was once for him. So I mean,

it's not what it used to be at all. With Morgan

Freeman, I mean, Morgan's filmography reads like

we could essentially do an entire year of M .Y

.R. episodes just on Morgan Freeman movies and

they're movies you'd all know. Glory, Driving

Miss Daisy, Lean on Me, Robin Hood, Prince of

Thieves. Obviously, we're doing Shawshank. Seven,

Amistad. Kiss the Girls, Deep Impact, Nurse Betty,

along came his... I mean, just his filmography

reads is like, oh my god, I've seen almost every

single one of these movies. Like you said, you

know, he was in, you know, the Batman movies.

He was in Gone Baby Gone. I think one of the

coolest things he's done outside of what he's

doing currently with... Oh, what's that series?

The discovery series the the rate was it the

real story of God or what is that no idea? Yeah,

it's he's yeah, so But what I was saying was

I think one of the coolest ones He's he's done

in the last decade or so is when he and Nicholson

teamed up for the bucket list Odd that was so

hilarious So getting into the Shawshank Redemption

for those that don't know it's basically the

quintessential prison movie really Yeah, it really

it is and it is in the sense of it's about the

person but I think it's often about much more

than that in a way, but yeah, I think it If you're

talking about prison movies, I don't think you

could have a list or talk about them without

bringing up Shawshank Redemption for sure It's

a much different take though because you think

prison movies or prison stories might think of

something the nature of like Oz on HBO It's much

different than that. It is Prison movie. It's

all it's very in a way and its execution almost

reminds me of an old -school Hollywood film from

like the 50s 60s in the way, it's how big it

is and how It's I don't know. It has a certain

like feeling or taste to it where it doesn't

get too graphic with things, but it does go after

some heavy material yeah it's it's a very heavy

film folks it really is and the funny thing is

i went because it was so weird when i got the

the box in the mail with the lull and discs for

whatever month it was it was what was it may

i think is when matt and them sent me the the

sound was last month i don't remember anyway

it was it was so weird It was raining the day

that the mail came. So as soon as I open the

box and I see that the Shawshank thing's in there,

and my first instinct with most of the stuff

that La La Land sends me is to just pop the CDs

in, import it into iTunes, and I don't have to

worry about it anymore. I can just sit there

and make a full playlist of the entire score

and just go through and listen to it. As I'm,

this is before I started watching the movie,

because we were originally going to record this

a few weeks ago. But anyway, uh... As I'm going

through this, listening to the score, and we'll

talk about the score more in detail later in

the episode here, but as I'm listening to this,

it starts raining, and I'm like, how eerie is

this? It's almost thunderstorming here in Louisville,

Kentucky, the day that I am listening to the

Shawshank Redemption score by Thomas Newman.

The funny thing about this movie is I did not

remember the beginning at all all as I remember

is when he before I rewatched it obviously all

as I could remember was when he first gets to

Shawshank I knew that he was there because supposedly

he killed his wife and her lover but I didn't

remember the court scene or any like I haven't

seen this movie in a good 10 years I just I don't

know I just haven't watched it And when I saw

it was on Netflix, I'm like, OK, cool. I got

the score. And I said to you, I said, hey, do

you want to do Shawshank and whatever else? And

you're like, yeah. So I'm sitting here watching

this. I completely forgot about the whole courtroom

scene at the beginning. Completely forgot about

it. It I mean it's never often when you see because

this you see this one in this movie like highlighted

in different Like the watch the Oscars they show

clips of famous movies. You see this one a lot

It's a part that's often kind of not focused

on a great deal but I think it's it's important

especially beginning because it does Make you

raise the question of okay is you know, where's

innocence here? Is he it's an innocent is he

not it they get Allows you to ponder that without

in which makes I think what goes on next even

more important, but It's I think it's vital,

but I do think that the heart of the film I think

that the best moments are often in in the prison

So I can see why that one may not stick with

you as much Right and so Andy ends up going to

prison for further murders. He consistently says

that he is innocent and all the while we have

Morgan Freeman's character Red doing the narrating.

And that was another aspect of the movie I completely

forgot about that Red narrates sometimes throughout

the film. And I just like rewatching this again

it was this isn't something I'll watch a lot

obviously as I said a second ago. Haven't before

this I hadn't watched it in at least ten years.

So but Rewatching it now and rediscovering the

film again. It's like oh my god I forgot about

half the stuff that I'm gonna spread you forgot

he never it's because I feel like when I think

of this movie that's like the first thing I think

about is a narration of Morgan Freeman. Yeah,

and you know the in any his Adi Dufresne it's

like all you can when I think of rock Josh Nick

Redemption I think of Morgan Freeman saying Andy

Dufresne in his you know, the cadence, you know,

I can't do more I'm not that I'm not that talented.

But yeah, that's that is to me the linchpin of

the movie and and oh it absolutely is the fact

that it's that it is read narrating I just didn't

remember that he did it. Yeah I mean, I remember

there was narration. I just didn't remember it

was his character telling the story through the

narration. But it's absolutely glorious watching

this again. It just really, really is. So Andy

settles in. He has a few problems with the other

prisoners, but he eventually... Overcome I don't

want to go into great detail for that and it's

not that I'm not trying to spoil it for people

but That's probably one of the darker scenes

in the movie with the sisters Yeah, yeah. Yeah,

so we're not gonna as much as MWR is explicit.

We're not gonna go into that He ends up and you

know working in the laundry and then he ends

up we find out he's this Numbers guy, I guess

you could say he's He's good with numbers and

facts and figures and all that stuff So he ends

up working for the warden who is like most warden

and wardens in the early late 40s early 50s are

basically You know skimming off the top of the

books Yeah, yeah. Well, that's I think that's

quite interesting because you think the warden

I think is like a key character within this movie,

you know, he is the quintessential dude who's

guy who is passing judgment. He has that saying

the little poster on its wall about there's a

passage regarding judgment. But it's interesting

that a tidying is safe that basically has the

information about him and how he himself is stealing

from the prison. And I think he his he's a he's

a key figure in this. He's almost like a false

false. Well, he's essentially the villain of

the movie. Yes. I mean, really. And he's a villain.

And I think he More ways than one in the sense

of he's almost like a false god in a way where

he is quoting scripture He is passing judgment.

But in the in the all within that he himself

may be the most Hypocritical person within the

movie because he is doing pretty much everything

that he is accusing others of if not to a greater

extent So I do think you see that there is a

a lot of allegorical exploration in this movie

and I think like the religious aspect of it or

The more so in the way of judgment in the way

it's passed down I think is a key component,

especially Like I said in the beginning where

you where you're wondering okay is Regarding

his innocence and what what that means and it

doesn't matter and uh, so that that I did enjoy

and it's again a really good performance as well

Yeah um I Had seen this like I said, it was either

95 or 96. I don't remember when and Now I look

back on it and I always sit there and say Oh

Clancy Brown voice of Lex Luthor from Superman

the animated series because I know I've seen

Superman the animated series more times than

I've seen this so that's really the reference

I always come back to when I think of guard Hadley,

but Seeing it like Normally, I only hear Clancy

Brown in voice roles, but seeing him actually

as an live -action actor, I love his stuff. He

is awesome. Yeah, he can it's I think this is

a good role for him because he can have that

like authoritative presence like, you know with

Lex Luthor, but there's also I don't know. He

can also have a welcoming personality where he

does feel like almost I don't know like a friendly

or like you feel like okay something someone

you can trust and I think he uses both sides

of that with you know his his role in this As

the film progresses, Andy's goal is to get the

library built and he keeps writing letters and

letters to the congressman. And I remember as

a kid, you know, my mom always saying, oh, well,

if you want something done, you write letters

to these people and these people. And of course

nowadays you can, you know, scream at people

on Twitter or Facebook or write an email or something

like that. But it's just one of those things

where this is back in the day where you had to,

if you wanted someone's attention in a Especially,

you know, if you're in prison and you're trying

to make better your situation in prison for you

and the other inmates. Writing letters once a

week, twice a week, and Andy's persistence eventually

pays off and he gets his library and all that.

What I find interesting about this film is the

various characters that are in here. of varying

ages, because you have Red, who's a little bit

older than Andy, you know, you got Andy, you

got, oh, what's his name? Is it Haywood? You

got Haywood, and then you got the old guy, Brooks,

with his hawk, Jake, and Brooks eventually gets

paroled. But, like Red says in his narration,

you know, once you're institutionalized, the

outside world is just a daunting place. I remember

when we were watching this, I still remember

this to this day. It was shocking as hell seeing

the guy commit suicide. Hang himself. Brooks.

I was like, wow. Dang. Yeah. And the way the

nonchalant way it's done too, where there's not

much pomp and circumstance, it's just a very

quiet, subtle moment. Just kind of happens and

it goes into like kind of how they become reliant

on The prison really for their own identity and

when that when that's gone It's they don't you

know, they're become lost for more reasons than

one. So yeah, and I mean I I don't think Brooks

killing it Brooks hanging himself was meant to

be like allowed to seen at all It's basically

you're looking at a guy who was in prison for

the better part of 50 years He's an old man.

He's it essentially at the end of his life You

know you you know you try to look at some of

these these characters in this movie thinking

all they'll get out and they'll start you know

They'll start over though. They'll make a new

life for themselves, but most of these guys are

old You know I mean even red says that when he

gets out You know I've been in prison for 40

years I can't I can't let a drop go unless I

have permission when he's talking about being

able to go to the bathroom It's just one of those

things like it's one of the backbones of this

movie is when red consistently says is a man

becomes institutionalized once that happens There

is no automatic switch off for that, you know,

it is not necessarily You know, it's not the

prison that is institutionalizing them and it

is just the way of life that does it so they

can't necessarily escape that and again also

presents Just the importance of hope you talked

about have having him Andy wanting to build the

prison or build the Library and there's all these

little things that you can see the words just

trying to find something to accomplish or something

to latch on to and When that's gone and when

they don't have that and it's just almost their

routine of life is solely Depended upon this

place and Once once that's gone, it's like, okay

what happens next the world forgets them It's

they become even less important now that they're

they're out of prison, you know They're just

this this blob of existence and no one's really

paying attention to so it's just you know When

you see that hope gone, that's where you then

see that moment of him just thinking well, there's

no point There's no reason i'm moving on and

it's not necessarily depression or sadness. It's

like something else It's just emptiness really

I think that led to it As the film moves on,

we eventually get to 1965, where Tommy Williams

comes to Shawshank for burglary. And Andy basically

takes him under his wing, helps him get his GED.

Just, you know, Andy needed some sort of protege.

I mean, he's been doing this while he got incarcerated

in what, 47? Yeah, 47. So by 65, that's almost...

that's almost 20 years um so andy i guess you

could say he needed a project and i guess tommy

was it uh and one night tommy decides to tell

them about this uh other cellmate he had in another

prison basically said that he was the one that

killed this golf pro and the bitch he was with

according to Elmo Blatch, and basically giving

Andy hope that, oh, well, hey, guess what? I

didn't actually kill my wife. So there's a new

wrinkle in it. And of course, the warden wants

to basically cover this entire thing up. He ends

up putting Andy in solitary. Uh, what did you

think of this whole aspect of the story? It really

makes you come to despise the warden and Yeah,

and I think it starts clicking in that. Okay

this there's something to this guy the warden

that is immoral beyond just His search for power

It is that ultimate heartbreak. We talked about

hope and then you have it and then this with

Shawshank I think was really good at doing and

Frank Darabont in the script was providing it

and then finding ways to then slowly chip away

at it or quickly chip away at it. And I think

that that story element was a big piece of that.

And because of that story element, this eventually

leads Andy to... Basically get a bunch of evidence

against the warden take it with him and he basically

escapes and the whole time He's using the posters

because we really talk about that, but I'll talk

about that in a minute He's using the posters

that red got him to cover up him Scratching away

his wall with his little rock hammer that red

had got him and The next day after Basically

Basically after the whole Tommy incident At roll

call Andy's not there so they go into the cell

and I just absolutely love this One's best line

out of the entire movie. How about we ask her?

What say you fuzzy britches? And he throws the

rock and They find this huge gigantic tunnel

and then kind of it kind of flashes back to the

night before the roll call the morning of that

this happens and we see Andy basically escaping

Shawshank. Yeah, we find out that basically we've

been not been had, but we discover all this thing

that was going on. You realize there was so much

going on underneath the surface that we weren't

privy to and right. It's the one of the ultimate

twervers in movie history, you know where it's

like, okay How did this happen and you know,

you're not really it's I mean It's hard now considering

that it's such an infamous moment that you've

probably seen it before you ever even watched

the movie But it is really actually handled and

just how it gives you that sense of mystery to

start off with like How did this happen? How

did they get out and then you find out all all

that went into it? Yeah, and the timing like

when Andy eventually got out of the first part

of the hole And he's in where the pipes are and

the storms going on in the background His timing

of hitting the pipe with the rock and the lightning

that was genius. Yeah, I Absolutely love that

You know like you're saying, you know, how the

hell did Andy get one over on the ward? And again,

one of the best lines in the movie comes from

red, you know where he says at the end I'd like

to think You know what went through the warden's

head other than that bullet was how the hell

did Andy Dufresne get one over on him? I just

love this movie. I mean it is you know that like

sequence that sequence of the escape it It goes

down as one of the most rewarding experiences

in film. We'll get to the score, but it's a big

part of it and just the build -up. It's important

for him to fail. It was important for their struggle

here, a yearly, decades struggle that goes on.

It's that loss of it, but then finally seeing

that release and just... what he had to do to

get to it, like what he had to go through, literally,

as you're going through human feces to try to

escape this tunnel. What did Red say? He crawled

through... Five football fields of shit and piss.

It's not the exact line, but it's close. It's

one of the most beautiful, disgusting things

you could possibly have in a movie. Luckily,

it's a movie we don't smell any of it. We only

see it. We don't need a smelling version. We

don't need a 4K, 4D, 5D, aromatic edition of

this movie. The other interesting thing here

with the story is, like I said before, you had

side stories. So you got Red's story where he's,

over the years that Andy, once Andy got there,

over the years we see Red going to parole hearings.

And basically the first 30 years, I would say,

or however many times, because it basically says

after 40 years he got paroled. I think he went

before the where we see it he went before the

parole board three different times and on the

fourth time he basically just said I Just don't

give a damn stamp your papers Sonny and let me

get back to whatever and that's when they paroled

him So red gets out Andy had told him previously

he said if you ever get out go up to Buxton,

Maine look for this field look for this this

rock that shouldn't be there and Then find your

way down to Mexico to San Juan Aneo or wherever

the hell I Can never watch this movie at night

This is just for one scene the scene where he's

in the field and he's got the stuff that Andy

left for him Yeah, or what that Andy left there

and he's just sitting there and he hears like

this this giant cricket And he just stay I can't

watch that scene at night. It's kind of like

watcher trying to watch Unsolved Mysteries It's

like it just creeps me out. It's like somebody

really watching So basically like I said before

the The FBI gets the package that Andy sent them

The warden shoots himself Hadley ends up getting

arrested and Red and Andy reunite in Mexico Yeah,

and it's it's just interesting like we need to

talk about direction people like what does that

mean anything you see it here because looking

Up to this point the look of the films rather

drab, you know You're you're in the prison and

has kind of this greatness to it and this the

final shot like it is like when the most right

brightest shots and film history just the from

the landscape of you know, the ocean and like

the whitest sand and it's it is just it's almost

like, you know turning a light on and in a dark

room and compared to everything that came before

and I think it really goes into again just Cliche,

maybe a little bit, but I think it works. I think

it earns it for sure. So, oh, yeah And I think

the only other kind of bright scenes in the movie

are when they're doing the work detail And Andy

gets him the beers. Yeah that and when you get

to play the music and yeah like that you see

like it a lot of the movie is the way it's framed

very much like you're the perspective that you

always feel enclosed like you from the The cells

to being in cars, you don't there's not much

open space Yeah until that final moment and that

really kind of hammers at home So rewatching

this do you feel that? You still have the same

enjoyment than you saw it the first time I think

so. I think it's like I said, it's one of the

most ultimately rewatchable movies Like you can

kind of pick it up It's one of those things if

you know, if I still had cable and I turned it

on I'd probably keep watching it until the end

Right. So yeah, I definitely think it it holds

up really well And I and I think it is a lot

of that is that old old -school filmmaking. It

feels like a timeless movie I don't think it's

it's gonna age. Well, I think it's never gonna

feel like Like a 90s film when it came out there's

a lot of movies you go back to the decade they

come out and they feel very much over time, heavily

influenced by the techniques of that time. I

don't get that with Shawshank. It feels very

universal and feels very timeless. It feels like

it's basically in a time capsule pretty much.

See, that's the thing. There are a lot of movies

that were made. It's certain eras of our lifetime

that are basically, essentially, period pieces.

Again, I'm going to make the comparison of a

Christmas story, because that was 83, but it

was supposed to be, what, the 40s? Right? I think.

I don't remember. I think the 50s. It's been

a while since I've watched a Christmas story.

Yeah, I don't remember. Anyway, I'm just saying

movies that are made like saying 83 or 94 about

times that are like Shawshank, the 40s to the

60s. It's it sits in that time because there's

no way in 1994 if you're making a period piece

film that you can throw in, you know, what was?

I don't know. Hammer time. Yeah, overall. But

even beyond that, sometimes like a period piece

could still feel very much influenced by. The

filmmaking of the time period. I can't really

think of anything that comes to mind immediately,

but Just the choice of shots there the music

like there are a lot of times where you superior

pieces that use modern -day music, which is sometimes

work sometimes doesn't but This though even like

like I said, it feels with it Going over heavy

material, but never giving too graphic. It makes

me feel like I'm watching like a movie that would

have come out when my parents were young. Absolutely.

All right. So we're going to head to a special

edition of the La La Land Lounge. This is my

soundtrack kind of segment thing that I started

on Altered Geek, and I'm going to be expanding

it into GCR. But since we're here talking about

the film, we got to talk about the score. So

we're going to take a quick break and we'll be

back after this. Alright folks we are back here

on Mwire and we have entered the La La Land lounge

to talk about the two disc CD soundtrack for

the Shawshank Redemption from La La Land Records.

So I'm one of these types of people and I've

said this before in other shows where I've been

reviewing stuff for La La Land since about 2013

but I have to be able to watch or see Whether

it's a movie or an animated movie or a TV series.

I have to see them. I have to see the thing and

hear the music contextually Before I can just

sit there and listen to an hour in something

long You know what I mean? Because I want to

hear them. You know I want to hear the tones

as it's supposed to be in in the movie and that

was the one thing that I did with this was I

watched The Shawshank Redemption and then listened

to the score and what I find is is how listening

to the score outside of the movie I knew the

music was haunting because the majority of the

movie is a very very haunted tale didn't realize

until that that rainy afternoon how haunting

that music really is So as I said before we've

got a total of About 45 tracks on two discs They

include film versions and alternate stuff and

I just I just love listening to the music to

this How did you feel when after I sent you the

score and you listen a part of it? I think it

is one of the better scores of the decade of

the 90s and there is It's interesting because

it definitely provides you the personality the

film just just through the music You know always

feel like with I get like the best scores like

you can when you're in the film itself You kind

of feel it, but you don't necessarily hear it

all the time, which I think is a good thing But

with this I that is there but I you also you

also see and it's really represented in the music

just the duality of the movie where you have

the the drabness of the prison like there are

the the songs that continue, I forget the name

of it, the Stoic theme, I believe it's called,

that is used to kind of bring you into the prison,

provide that atmosphere for the prison, when

you compare that to the music that's used in

the escape sequence, that flowing more celebrational

tones. It handles that really well and it stays

within itself because sometimes there are a lot

of scores that can do that But they feel very

different. They feel like from two separate movies,

but they these always felt the same and they

sound it the Fluid from starting from beginning

going to the end the progression there. I thought

was done really well And it's you know, it's

great listening to and I think it works inside

the film But also outside like I could listen

to this in the background without having the

movie and still enjoy it There's nothing about

it that would be misplaced without the movie,

without witnessing the movie while listening

to it. Yeah. Like I said, when I first got this

a few weeks ago, probably about a month by the

time this episode airs, about a month ago, like

I said, after I watched the movie, I just, like

I said, imported both discs into my computer,

set up a playlist and just... from track 1 to

track 45 just absolutely listen to it over and

over and over again just Put my headphones on

and just drown everything else out and the music

just takes you it so far into the movie without

actually seeing the movie because I can hear

Scenes in my head by just hearing certain cues

from the music on the score. I Listened to this

about I don't know four or five times that day

that I got it So I'd have it just in the back

of my mind, and today, about an hour and a half

before we started recording, did something a

little wacky, and people... I'm known to do wacky

things at times. I turned the sound down on Grand

Theft Auto IV to about where I can only hear

the sound effects just a little bit. and I ended

up playing this until we started getting on the

call for the record. Grand Theft Auto IV set

to the Shawshank Redemption. Yay! It's like,

because I wanted to be able to have the music

fresh in my mind, but at the same time I needed

something to do while I was listening to it.

And La La Land Records has done an amazing job.

Like I said, there's about 45 total tracks. Disc

1 has 30, Disc 2 has 12, and also on Disc 2,

well, Disc 2 actually has 15, but the final three,

If I Didn't Care, The Marriage of Figaro, Lovesick

Blues, those three tracks are all Source Music

tracks. And I love that La La Land does certain

things, like they'll put alternate tracks in,

like lovely Raquel on disc two is an alternate.

Track 25 on disc one, Shawshank Redemption is

the film version. Brooks Was Here is an extended

version. And a lot of these are never... Like

there was an original soundtrack to this there

was when it released in 94 Because I wanted to

see not that we all know Wikipedia is you know,

take it with a grain of salt folks, but I looked

on Wikipedia to see if they updated the article

with the new release and obviously they haven't

but the original soundtrack only has 21 total

tracks and it does include um the vocal tracks

and stuff like that like it does have lovesick

blues by hank williams on it and it does have

if i didn't care and that kind of thing but 45

tracks compared to 21 oh yeah because that's

that's where lawline really excels is when they

get the the bonus tracks and the and the alternate

takes and that kind of thing and they fit in

very well to the overall production Of of the

score release and just I just absolutely love

everything about this score. Yeah, I think like

The score by itself is there's a lot of great

things in in it, but in the additional things

are I think are welcome add -ins I would say

there's a It does I think add into it without

taking away like without feeling unnecessary

so I did like those two but it's It's a pretty

it's a pretty pretty solid set overall with everything

that it includes so I would uh yeah I would it's

a recommend for me if you enjoy the movie and

you enjoy the music it's it's a recommend for

sure I know um you know a lot of people may not

be into Scores and soundtracks and that kind

of stuff, but I've always been into that kind

of stuff That's kind of why I'm doing the lull

and lounge thing and I'm kind of Morphing it

into its own thing to be on the geek cast radio

feed eventually once I start getting clips and

Editing stuff and getting stuff recorded Because

I needed a way and I've said this but I needed

a way I've been doing written reviews for long

line records for three years and I needed a way

to Update it and I figure oh do hey look I do

podcasts all the time. Why not? do more You know

And 24 hours in a day, I don't know you could

Well, I did record six things the other anyway

so So yeah, I absolutely love soundtracks and

scores and the music of films. It doesn't matter

who. It could be Hans Zimmer. It could be Thomas

Newman. It could be Brian Tyler. It could be

Joe Kramer with Mission Impossible Rogue Nation.

Just anybody. Just absolutely love the instrumental

scores. I mentioned Hans Zimmer. It took... 23

years to get a a Full -on legal complete release

of days of thunder and lawland records brought

that to us. So I know everyone hates days of

thunder Whatever. I've actually never seen it.

It's still good. The music is still good. Dammit

So Shawshank redemption episode 129 of M wire

This episode will be out probably the 22nd of

June. So what kind of circles are you guys talking

about over there on Talking in Circles? Well,

the latest episode we just recorded, which probably

was weeks from this book, would be we got weird.

We did some news of the weird, where we kind

of just went around the world of the internet

and tried to find out strange but interesting

news stories. So you can check that out. Cool

cool. We we have a local thing here in Louisville

called Leo Louisville eccentric observer, and

they used to have a news column I looked in one

recently I didn't see it anymore They must have

got rid of it But they used to have a news column

called news of the weird and it was those kind

of just off -the -wall wacky kind of stories

So I like that kind of stuff Coming up next on

M wire episode 130 Did you want to do our review

scores for four? Oh, yeah Okay, so for the film

all -encompassing, what would you give Shawshank?

Out of our five, you know our five star rating

I would I would have to give it a five like I

would think it's one of the best movies of the

90s for sure I know sometimes it Being the highest

rated movie and IMDb kind of does it the servers

gets the overrated tag But I think it is a wonderful

film and it's deserving of its praise. So I would

give it a five out of five Yeah, five out of

five for me as well because of the acting because

of the the storytelling Because of the events

that happen in the movie the I mean and again

the the acting specifically just Every single

character so unique not saying that movies don't

have unique characters, but In that time in that

you know in that period of nine because I'm sure

they filmed this from 92 to 93 I don't know when

the production was on this but by the time it

released in 94 this film just and For the last

27 22 years just absolutely amazing. So five

for me For the score, I'm also going to give

the score a 5. The music is just so wonderful.

Yeah, I would probably go 4 .5 out of 5 .5. It's

right there, but I do think it's very good, a

very solid score. That fits the film well. Yep.

All right, folks, like I said before, coming

up next is episode 130 of Movie Week in Review.

And, well... I believe Doug Abel and I are gonna

go through 20 years of Tom Cruise. Yep, that's

right. 20 years of Mission Impossible movies.

I just can't believe it. So yeah, we're gonna...

Episode 130 is gonna be interesting, folks, because

we're gonna go over Mission 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5.

So... Who knows what the hell is gonna happen

what I find interesting about the mission impossible

movies is not obviously the movies themselves

But just how varied the music is for all those

movies Never I never really I mean I know the

themes and I know I could remember the remix

that was done for for the second one But the

other ones I don't stick out as much for me Joe

Kramer's with with rogue nation does stick out

to me because he the rogue nation is one of those

films that it basically homages the the the old

TV series more so than the other movies but between

all of the movies you had Danny Elfman on Mission

1, you had Hans Zimmer on Mission 2, Michael

Giacchino on 3 and 4, and Joe Kramer did 5. So,

yeah, next episode, I'm not sure when episode

130 is gonna come out, but it's going to come

out probably before the end of the summer, most

likely. Yep, 20 years of Mission Impossible films,

oh boy. So... Where can the people interact with

you online sir? You can get me on Twitter at

mover revolt All right And for me you can follow

at tfgun Mike you can follow at geek cast radio

for all the other network updates If you want

to you can follow at GC on M wire, but it's not

often that I tweet from that account So you follow

us on Facebook facebook .com slash geek cast

radio network Keep those film reels rolling and

Next episode be careful. The podcast doesn't

self -destruct on you folks cuz you got five

seconds It's dangerous Very Joe Kramer here composer

from Mission Impossible rogue nation this podcast

from the geek cast radio network will self -destruct

in five seconds You've just listened to Movie

Week in Review on GeekCastRadio .com. If you

would like to leave feedback on the show, there

are many ways to do so. First, you can visit

the website, GeekCastRadio .com, where you can

comment on the episode and all of our different

podcasts. Be sure to rate our show on iTunes

and leave us feedback. You can follow us on Twitter

at GCRNMWire. Become a fan of us on Facebook

by searching Geekcast Radio Network. You can

email us at feedback at geekcastradio .com. Call

the voicemail line 502 -526 -5821. Please remember

to tell us the show you're leaving the message

for and your name. So until next time, unleash

the geek in you!