Rating: 
Summary: Frank Darabont May Very Well be the next Spielberg
Review: Even though his two most successful movies have been adaptions of Stephen King prison novels. However, Darabonts' storytelling has raised those two movies, including "The Green Mile," above the usual mediocre King adapted movies and into the realm of greatness. His touch behind the camera is impeccable, and he moves the story at an unforced pace to illustrate its themes and deftly paints its characters. He also has an uncanny ability to choose brilliant casts, as he does here. He brings in Tom Hanks, the most reliable actor in Hollywood to play the lead as Paul Edgecombe, and Michael Clark-Duncan as the walking miracle John Coffey. He also brings in David Morse as Brutus, James Cromwell as the Warden, Michael Jeter as Eduard Delacroix, Sam Rockwell as Wild Bill and Doug Hutchinson at his best as Percy.Paul Edgecombe is a prison guard during the Depression, and into his midst comes a mammoth inmate named John Coffey, who was wrongly convicted of the rape and murder of two little girls. But he is a gentle soul, and Paul and his fellow guards have a hard time comprehending that this man could have killed two little girls at all. Over time, Coffey reveals his extraordinary gift: He is a healer, some sort of a miracle worker, able to cure any ailment or disease. He does so at first, by curing Paul's urinary infection. But one fact keeps bothering the guards, Paul most of all: should this miracle be executed or, more importantly, is he possibly innocent. Darabont's script and direction keeps everything tight as it moves towards the emotionally wrenching and draining ending, one that leaves you tearless because you have spent them all. Everything in the "Green Mile" is laudable, right down to the gritty set decoration and perfectly crafted period-set costumes and locales. Frank Darabont crafted a masterpiece with the "Green Mile" one that can stand up to his other work of brilliance, "The Shawshank Redemption." The story is so well told and the acting so unforced and natural, it's disappointing that they don't make that many movies like it anymore.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent retelling of an ancient story
Review: The Green Mile is a lengthy but rewarding retelling of the Jesus parable. Those with a short attention span will likely find the movie too long and boring at points, but others will probably enjoy the leisurely and detailed plot and character development. The movie takes place on a death row in Louisiana in the mid 1930s. John Coffey (Jesus Christ, both JC) is a gentle giant, wrongfully convicted of a crime he did not commit. The guards learn that Coffey possesses unusual powers and eventually have him assist in saving the life of the warden's terminally ill wife. Ultimately, he gives his life as a sacrifice for all of the evil in the world. Tom Hanks' character is a modern Cartaphilus (the Roman guard condemned to walk the face of the earth until Judgment Day) who is forced to bear witness of those events forever. Lots of visuals reinforce this storyline, such as the movie projector behind Coffey creating a halo-like effect. The story does slip a bit at the end, when Coffey punishes the evil Wild Bill character and the sociopathic guard Percy. This 'Thou shall not get away with it' climax runs contrary to the overall story line, and seems to have been done to assure audiences that the true child murder would get his just punishment (despite the fact that he was already on death row). Another contradiction is that while the movie has a latent anti-death row message to it, the script is not above having the bad guy killed by violence. Overall, the cast is superb, and the storyline is extremely well written. Hanks, Duncan, and all of the death row guards' characters are of particular note. Despite its length, this film is well worth the time.
Rating:
Summary: Simply excellent!
Review: The plot takes place on Cold Mountain Penitentairy's death row, one of the scariest and deadliest places, where "the green mile" is the walk to the electric chair. You see how the different people there, awaiting the famous chair, handles the situations, where some are happy and others are heartbreaking.
Tom Hanks plays the head prison guard, Paul Edgecomb, and one day a new prisonner, Michael Clarke Duncan as John Coffey, arrives, convicted of killing two nine years old sisters. He is the biggiest and stongest inmate and immediately intimidates the prison guards. But it soon turns out that Coffey is the nicest and most polite of the inmates. He's even afraid of the dark.. When Edgecomb discovers that Coffey has supernatural powers. Soon Edgecomb wonders if Coffey actually did the murders, or if he's in there as an innocent man... Edgecomb decides to find out what really happened the night the two girls were killed, but finding out the truth might not make thing any easier for him... Tom Hanks does a great job as Paul Edgecomb, but most impressive is Michael Clarke Duncan as John Coffey. Together with the other actors and actresses they outdid themselves in one of the best movies I've ever seen. Stephen King wrote an excellent and the director Frank Darabont did an excellent job turning it into a movie!!
This is a story I'll never forget. The 3 hours never seemed long and boring. Great story with great acting performances. I highly recommend this movie. One of the best ones out there!
Rating:
Summary: The Alltime Best Movie
Review: I am a big Stephen King Lover....I read the book before I seen the movie This has been the best movie I've ever seen.I wish they would'nt have left out so much of the book though.I recomend everybody to read the book,it will add so much more to the movie that was left out.Hats off to the makers,and Stephen King for writing it!!!!!!!
Rating:
Summary: How life destroys what is Beautifull
Review: I saw this movie in one of the smallest theaters I have ever been in. In a town call Winachy WA, but that little screen on the far wall did not take from the magic of this movie. So exalently played by all the characters, you will feel as if you have befriended the characters and hate the villians. The movie was brilliantly addapted from the Steven King Novel. The way this movie is presented to the audience the story unfolds to you so smoothly. The mind has no problem understanding it. If you find a mythical and Spiritual storyline intrigueing. This could be a great movie to cuddle with a partner have some ice cream with hot fudge. Call the evening good.
Rating:
Summary: Hanks does it Again!
Review: What part of this movie stands out.........ALL OF IT. I am not a fan of Stephen King's works. Usually to weird and off the wall.....but this one is excellent. Fantastic group of actors, and Tom Hanks does it again. What a supurb performance he gives. Right up there with Forrest Gump, Sleepless, Castaway, You've got Mail, Apollo 13.
It's a long movie, but well worth your time, and money to purchase this DVD to add to your collection. A MUST OWN.
Rating:
Summary: Superb story-telling and movie-making
Review: The average follower of Stephen King probably wondered how to approach this movie, as it's a bit different from his usual fare, whether you like the "usual fare" or not. For while there is terror, and bloodshed, and death, it is not the overwhelming force of the movie. And it doesn't necessarily come from supernatural forces, although supernatural forces exist in the story. The story could have existed without the supernatural, but the supernatural in it is so, well, natural, that it becomes maybe the best of King's stories that have been filmed. This is a very long movie covering several months in a southern prison's death row near the beginning of the twentieth century. While the movie is long, it never seems to drag, so good is the story. And this is not the totally animalistic prison life of "Oz" cable fame, though at several of the prisoners in "The Green Mile" would have fit in quite well with those of "Oz". No, this story portrays a time where a certain level of civil behavior, even among death row inmates was expected. The story begins when a new inmate is brought to the death row that makes up the movie's title. He is accused of raping and killing two little girls that were found in his arms. The inmate is huge, black, and probably illiterate, but has an inner gentleness to him that doesn't quite fit the usual mold of the Mile's residents. While initially overwhelmed with the new man, they slowly come to understand that he is different from most of the people they've ever met, and this feeling continues to grow throughout the entire film. You see, the man has a gift. I won't give it away here, but it is so wonderful, so immense that nobody, not even the inmate, quite comprehends what it is. I will not reveal it, but it manages to touch everyone it surrounds, both positively and negatively. Like all awesome forces, it is at first tentatively approached by all around, but by the end of the movie, it actually used as a tool to help someone. The acting in this movie is superb by everyone involved. Tom Hanks is arguably the main character, but it's not a dominating performance (nor is it supposed to be). He and David Morse play the head guards, and supply the stability the situation needs. The public is introduced to Michael Clarke Duncan in this film, and after appearing in a few action movies to show his physical size, I think we are going to get a treat when he appears as the Kingpin in the upcoming "Daredevil". Harry Dean Stanton is also hilarious as a prison trustee who leads an execution "dress rehearsal" and states what he REALLY would like as his last wish. But a lot of credit should be given to the movie's two most unpleasant characters. I was astonished to see Sam Rockwell playing the worst of the inmates; a real monster. He was the goof in "Galaxy Quest", and I didn't even recognize him in this film. But even bigger credit must be given to Doug Hutchison. While Rockwell's character is a monster, it took a lot of guts to play a totally despicable guard. A role like this can sometimes result in a lack of future work, so it was good to see he's had at least a handful more movie appearances after this one.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent adaptation of Stephen King's novel
Review: The Green Mile is one of the best movies I've ever seen despite being three hours long. It's one of those movies that really touches your emotions, however I was rather disappointed with the weak ending. Tom Hanks was outstanding and the screenplay adaptation was wonderfully written. Michael Clark Duncan really steals the show as John Coffey, a gentle huge man with strange supernatural powers, who brings a sense of spirit and humanity to his guards and fellow inmates at the death row of the Lousiana country prison.
This was an outstanding production from beginning to end. The whole atmosphere, especially the settings in the Green Mile and the execution chamber, are touching, unpleasent, and fascinating all at the same time. I definitely reccomend this movie to anyone and if you can manage to stomach the execution scenes, then you'll enjoy this fast moving and perfectly made drama.
Rating:
Summary: Definitely a winner!
Review: If I could pick out any one film I've seen in my entire life as the best ever, I would have to say that The Green Mile is it. Based on a 6-part series of novellas by Stephen King and directed and written by King alumnus Frank Darabont, The Green Mile is the story of Paul Edgecomb, head guard at the Death Row section of Cold Mountain Penitentiary and a man who doesn't believe in miracles until the day he meets John Coffey ("like the drink, only not spelt the same"), a hulking giant of a man who is sentenced to Death Row for the murder of the Detterick sisters. To his surprise, Edgecomb discovers that Coffey is not your average Death Row prisoner. Not only is Coffey a quiet, shy, and gentle man, but he has a power in him that brings not only the guards, but also his fellow inmates, together, and also makes Edgecomb wonder if Coffey's truly a killer after all. This Oscar-nominated film has some truly fine acting in it as well. Tom Hanks as Edgecomb was nothing short of brilliant because he made me see the character as King envisioned him in the book--a troubled man who has to deal with death every day on a professional level, and who has begun to have doubts about the job he is doing. When he finally realizes just how special Coffey truly is, it only serves to reinforce those doubts. I also have to give a nod to Michael Clarke Duncan as the enigmatic Coffey. In what I consider to be one of his finest performances ever, Duncan made this character so real to me that I found myself in tears as he was delivered to his ultimate destiny. Duncan has had many good roles in films such as Armageddon and Planet of the Apes, but this is his best role to date. The Green Mile had a very good supporting cast as well. David Morse was excellent as Brutal Howell, as was Barry Pepper in the role of Dean. I loved Michael Jeter as Eduard Delacroix, the prisoner who develops a relationship with "Mr. Jingles", a mouse that has been wandering about Death Row and amusing both guards and prisoners alike. Doug Hutchison's sniveling, arrogant Percy Wetmore was just great, and Sam Rockwell impressed me as Wild Bill Wharton, a prisoner who holds the secret of what really happened to the Detterick girls. James Cromwell turned in a wonderful performance as Warden Moores, a man beset by his own domestic troubles who also has the opportunity to find out the secret of Coffey's power, and Dabbs Greer as old Paul Edgecomb was very good. All in all, The Green Mile was the finest film I've ever seen. I was somewhat disappointed by the fact that there were so few extras on it (one documentary, a trailer, and a cast and crew list that covered only the first 4 actors, plus Frank Darabont and Stephen King), but I still gave this one high marks because it's Frank Darabont's best film to date. It's definitely a keeper in my book.
Rating:
Summary: Stephen King Rocks!!
Review: I have never in my life loved a movie more. Understanding what you are about to watch before you cozy up with a large bowl of buttered popcorn is very important. This movie is most definitely about death row. However there are only a few gross scenes, which really makes it real. Tom Hanks portrays a kind hearted man who runs death row. His sidekick, David Morse is absolutely thrilling! Ready to tear the head off the pain ...newbie guard, Percy, yet ready to help out when needed. Michael Clark Duncan carries the show with his awesome acting ability as John Coffey. I agree totally with another reviewer, who in the world CAN'T love this movie! I still have yet to watch it and ever realize it is 3 hours long. We are entertained the whole movie through. Big thumbs up for Stephen King and the Green Mile!!!
|
