The Reel Rejects - FLASHBACK REVIEW: THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION (1994) - First Time Watching!!

Episode Date: July 15, 2022

FIRST TIME WATCHING The Shawshank Redemption starring Morgan Freeman & Tim Robbins, based on a book by Stephen King! Had plenty of requests in my dm's for this 1994 movie after covering Forrest Gump, thank you all! That whole escape scene finale - WOW! REACTION HIGHLIGHTS on YouTube & FULL LENGTH (Sync-Up) WATCH ALONGS at Patreon.com/TheReelRejects!! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the-reel-rejects/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This podcast is brought to you by Carvana. Buying a car shouldn't eat up your week. That's why Carvana made it convenient. Car buying that fits around your life, not the other way around. You can get pre-qualified for an auto loan in just a couple of minutes and browse thousands of quality car options, all within your terms, all online, all on your schedule. Turn car buying into a few clicks and not a full week's endeavor. Finance and buy your car at your convenience.

On Carvana. Financing subject to credit approval, additional terms and conditions may apply. At Chipotle, we also have a playlist. Guacamole as it's being hand-mashed. The sizzle of adobe chicken on the grill. The chopping of onions and cilantro. We call our playlist real. Order now.

Chipotle, for real. How's it going, Reject Nation? It is time for another flashback review, a classic review, in fact, of the Shawshank Redemption. This is Greg's immediate thoughts after watching the movie for the first time, which means I am the only one left in the reject camp who hasn't seen this um but yeah this is a um immediate reaction if you want to see the highlights you can come over to youtube dot com slash the real rejects and check those out or if you want to sync up with your own copy and watch the full movie along with gregg you can do so at patreon.com slash the real rejects and hey while you're at it

go check out our new merch store uh shameless self-promotion but uh yeah we just partnered up with our buds at heavy spoilers and screen crush and a great company called zero a who is making some really awesome exclusive merch for us and informed bias shop zero edition.com yeah go check that out and for right now enjoy Greg's review of the Shawshank Redemption here we go oh that was so beautiful that was very touching that was extremely touching Oh, I wish we got to see him save out of his friends in prison. Oh, Red. Release the extended content.

There are a post-credit scene of Red's friends sitting around just going. Anyone seen Red lately? I haven't seen Red around here. Beautiful. That was beautiful. Okay. Wow. Ooh.

What a journey. What a journey. Where to begin? It's really an ultimate bromance movie, isn't it? Do people say that about this film? Do people say this is a bromance? I really didn't know anything about it. I knew it took place in a prison.

That's all I've ever really known about it. And of course, seen the poster for it. I didn't realize that's what the poster was going to be representing, ultimately, in the end. And I was very satisfied with it. you know like from just the the takeaway of like the main technical things that I imagine people are not all of it's technical however you know you're thinking about like the performances are just phenomenal like Morgan Freeman is excellent just so

natural and it's interesting because you usually see it nowadays you see him kind of play like I mean he does a lot of he does a lot of types of work now but you don't really get a seem to do rules like this anymore. I mean, maybe he doesn't. I'm just out of the loop, but in terms of like the prominent films or the bigger films, he tends to be a part of roles like this, not so much. And so to get it to see him do this role is so real, so natural. And same thing with Tim Robbins, which is excellent in this film. Very internal performance, subdued. And I think the way they, you know, oftentimes when you do stories that span a lot of time, they span a lot of time here.

And oftentimes you do stories like this, it can feel, you can feel like it's going a little too, like imagine like a typical biopic where you complain about, you know, the way they span time. Just imagine those complaints applied to here. And I would not apply that here. yet I think that's part of the uniqueness of it is you can feel kind of the wear and terror it does on the soul of these characters but it's never done in a way that feels forceful it all feels so natural because you know you start this movie out with red getting rejected once again to get out of Shawshank and he doesn't seem as resistant towards the possibility of him getting out and then as the movie progresses you know anytime the talk of dreams or escaping or being let go from here that it you could see that there's

such pushback there's such a defense mechanism that comes up in the conversation and that the thought of that is a threat the thought of that is a fear to it's like painful to think about because it will never come true that's or or if it does come true terror awaits because now it's been so conditioned and this is home now this is most of most of the individual life is spent here that the outside world is uncomfortable you don't belong you know like a lot of these people who wind up here end up finding a different place of belonging and a different place of purpose so I like like the details and i think that's one of the things about this movie is it's the details it's really easy to look at a film like this i imagine especially after with 94 god so many movies

don't know if this film won any awards i actually i'm way out of the loop on this i believe it lost the forest gum that's what i believe is that right anyhow it's easy to look at a film like this and go uh yeah melodramatic a little bit predictive I mean, predictable in terms of where the plots might end up, but it's about the details of the experience, it's about getting lost in it, because I actually thought this movie was more immersive than I was expecting it to be like, I don't often, depends on, you know, exactly what kind of film you're watching, and I wasn't expecting to get as swept up in it or as immersed in it and weirdly i actually think a lot of that credit goes to

morgan freeman's narration a classic morgan freeman narration is when it started the classic morgan freeman narration because you know often you know out in l.a you meet a lot of people who are screenwriters and you hear uh you know people constantly in debate narration is a weak man's storytelling motif like don't do it and i actually thought it was used quite effectively and I thought it actually helped enhance the immersiveness of the film because you are weaving in and out of two perspectives throughout this film you're weaving it out of Red's perspective and you're weaving into Andy's perspective and there's the juxtaposition there's the clash

of Andy who is trying obviously as stated in the film is trying to hold on to hope maintain some level of optimism and then you have Red who as time goes on is losing more and more of that hope and the fear is becoming the by the way just got to say this really fast the brooks character very effective stuff i love that they allowed the film to break away from the main two narratives of red and andy and just spend time like a little short film within this massive film to spend time with brooks on the outside world and really show that feeling of being living in this isolated place and you know going from a place where you found family you found friends you found order in some weird way you found purpose

like he all of us i imagine imagine all of us long for a sense of belonging and a sense of feeling like we have some type of purpose um whether that be on a major level or a minor level you know anything that helps us feel like we belong usually that's associated with like what's my purpose in here and it's so easy to define that where it's kind of like you're starting all over again and it's easy to get kind of lost in the masses and also you know you're when you're there for so long you're out of touch with the way times have changed you have it changed with the times because you weren't around to experience the societal changes and they really capture that so so eloquently perfect with the brooks character that it was

heartbreaking like that to me was one of the most heartbreaking parts of this whole story was seeing how that happens that's the fear that every man eventually has when i like that really open my eyes to you know like there's there's constantly a lot of talks um you know circling that i'm not as well versed as i ought to be or i haven't taken the time to dive into incarceration treatment and just how messed up it is you know because like i only ever truly hear about like the terrible people when i watch like true crime documentaries or something like that or a true crime docie series and like yeah lock them away for good but the the mistreatment or people who like not is they shouldn't be incarcerated for that long you know and and that's movie kind of shows that and it also shows

the kind of negative effect it could have because you imagine that you're in prison oh my god you've been there for so long you must just want to get out but then i never thought about that feeling it's like it's not exactly stockholm syndrome but i imagine in some ways it kind of feel it's just it's habitual it's like this is your habitat now you know and and and i think the way they Painted that with the Brooks storyline was really powerful. And so then you have here the juxtaposition between the two main characters. You know, which path is it going to go down for them? Which belief system will you ultimately fall under?

Because the story is so much about resilience and perseverance in the face of obstacles where everything just seems like Andy was sexually assaulted, physically beaten, tortured, abused on all accounts, stripped of everything and he never gave up and he was always and i think there's there is a certain level what i thought was cool about the way it's at this how it's woven is it's sort of woven like i would use the word it's woven like a tail because um t a l-e for clarity on that because red is so much about think realistic and andy's journey is a bit of this catholic athletic fantasy fulfillment of the man wronged who managed to inspire and influence these people and have them be educated and do good deeds and look and grow bigger hearts grow some love

and expand their love expand their vocabulary and then manage to use his imagination to break out of there put the warden behind get the warden caught on his corruption like so he's living he's he's bringing the fantasy to life you know because I imagine that for this character he is fantasizing about the outcome that he ultimately does get not just being able to be in Mexico and be on the beach and it's it's all the other things that happen along the way the details and bringing that to reality and I think stories like this are so timeless because even if you're not I've never been incarcerated or being close to and most of us haven't

and I feel like though that there's so much here that is relatable in our own ways you know because this character with I know I'm kind of hopping all over the place here it's a long movie and it's three in the morning right now like with the Andy character

because he is so downtrodden and it's not a story of like I was wronged I need to get out of here it's he accepts his prison sentence pretty early on as a like this punishment as if he is deserving of it and as the movie reveals that he he ultimately did feel like even though he's not the one who pulled the trigger that he did feel responsible for

his wife's death and that guilt is the thing that has allowed him to accept this condemnation and try to make the most of it and then try to do some good while he's in there too I forgot where I was going with that point I was just getting kind of lost at that because oh yes that is a very relatable point that's a very relatable thing and it's a way of

you know a lot of us often can fall into the feelings of guilt or shame in ways that are not actually our faults but we accept them as our faults and punish ourselves and you do got to get to a point of climbing out of that hole

and he literally there's like it's such a good metaphor of like climbing out of this hole now the time has come to feel be free of it all again like he's accepted his sentence he hasn't even fought to get out he didn't put up a fight this whole time he was there he just accepted it and now gets to climb out of that hole and I think the other relatable part of it of what I imagine has made this movie just develop in popularity over time

and has been so timeless is the fact that that that thought process of thinking realistic I know he's not the most popular person a quote right now but will Smith would often talk about this is think like not the feelings of thinking realistic and the feelings of being a you know being someone who can hold on to a fantasy and try to make that fantasy become the reality because when you think realistic that's so limiting and you just pigeonhole yourself into having not such a fulfilling life and i think you know painting a story like that's the basis of the narrative and the themes of don't get caught up and thinking realistic learn to be hopeful learn to be be a dreamer to think bigger you know it's what it's in the story of prison sentence and and

and then ultimately in the finale of a prison of a breaking out of prison so I think having to rooted in those themes of despite all things that are piling on against you despite all odds all the obstacles don't don't forget to hold on to that hope that's why that scene with The music is so beautiful, where he plays that with that inspiration, that feeling of escapism. And that escapism doesn't have to be just a form of, you know, stepping away from reality. Like, yes, but there's a beauty to that. That's why we like watching fucking movies, man. That's why we like watching shows.

It is an escapism. It totally is. But if you can run away with some sense of inspiration that you could actually. apply then beautiful things can come from that you know and you know when you hear people that say movies changed my life i always kind of wonder like to what degree has it changed your life is it just the feeling that it gave you or did you actually like do something with that feeling or the thought process that sparked and yeah and something really did change for you and i can imagine that this movie can have that effect for people that either grew up with it or found it pretty early on in life

or maybe they found a late in life and then they were able to uh hold on to any of that inspiration that state in their brain and their heart and then rolled with it so there's so much beauty here and i i don't know i guess i was expecting to walk into like a dark-ass drama because i heard prison movie and it's r-rated and yeah i mean it's definitely feels r-rated and i heard you know stephen king wrote it so i i didn't i wasn't expecting a movie that lean more into those optimistic qualities and i appreciated that so much and i think frank darabond did it did an excellent job because so much about this movie to beyond just capturing the span of time working with his editor all the music by thomas steamy off phenomenal too that is that's great music

like it's like yeah i'm so used to roger deacon's cinematography as of now which is shit like prisoners and blade runner this like striking dark moody ass shit i forgot this was roger deacons but i think they captured the the personality of the prisons so well beyond just its cast of characters the architecture of it all there there there was a there is a sense of of history and who these people evolved into and and i like that it didn't just hone in on things that i would normally expect, which is people just kind of going crazy, like going stir crazy. It leaned more into finding light in darkness, which was something I wasn't expecting. In some ways, if you just cut out a few things or change some dialogue and switch around some

scenes, it could have been a PG-13 movie, but it wouldn't have been as good of a movie. It wouldn't have been as affected. You need some of the harsher shit in here. in order for a lot of these other things to hit the home much stronger in the fields so yeah i mean i thought it was a beautiful film i thought it was really strong and i'm glad i've watched it it's such a random move for me to watch i've been watching so many things um am i you know some things on camera here a lot more emotional shit lately there's been so much more like things where i'm like damn i've been watching a lot of emotional stuff lately uh

but even off camera you know i've been watching like a lot more things that are about like love and doing doing kinder things and good things and uh be more optimistic in life i've been it's a lot of what i watch and i'm also catching up on west world i'm only on season two so there's there's that which is not the feelings i'm talking about but then you know i'm also watching like love on the spectrum or a great netflix reality show which i highly recommend And, um, yeah, yeah, uh, this, this movie was impactful in a way I wasn't expecting. You know, I met, I thought it would just be this downtrod and dark depressing whole of the film and then eventually it would become this very touching, moving inspirational drama.

But it was kind of the kind of the vibe throughout and I hadn't, and I wasn't expected. And, uh, and I'm glad it'd be filled with that. It was, it was awesome. tim robin's excellent morgan freeman's good the rest of the william sadler's a wonderful presence the warden asshole i forget that actor's name he's very effective here uh clancy brown always an effective asshole it's funny how clancy brown is just like forgot how creepy clancy brown looked when he was younger because clancy brown today you know uh what is like a modern touch style is it the main Betty in uh i don't know if you guys watch it but the revival of the the real final season of dexter and that's that's the glancy brown that it comes to mind from me now just like a heavier

set guy with white hair to beard like that's that's that's the clancy brown i know or is someone who's like a lot of makeup or does a lot of voiceover work he's got this voice has become more definitive over time and uh i forgot how creepy this guy was he's nice little creepy looking he seems nicer now like when he plays like a nicer part he i actually believe him but damn i forgot how creepy he was but the but the costume design on this film was also excellent too everything about this i i love the art direction of it very much so so yeah fascinating a little more facts about it but really touching stuff and a great great messages and i love the ending of it as well i wasn't expecting it could be like damn this finale is

cool this a cool finale and that wasn't the vibe but i think it earned it so much and I love how they like planted all the seeds for every little every little bit of that escape plan and I like how it just if it it went through like he escaped and he did it it wasn't you know being chased by dogs in the middle of the night streets and I get over there get him you know he just like crazy elaborate plan walked off with a lot of money use the phantom to be able to get some documents out there got the the warden I thought it was great. It was excellent. Excellent film. So yeah. Shout to my friend Andrew Gordon. And of any friend in real life who has been

insistent on me watching this, I think he declares us as his favorite movie. Out of any friend who's been insistent on me watching it, it's been Andrew Gordon, and many of you guys suggested it after Forrest Gump. And I'm glad I did. This was a nice experience. So thank you guys very much. Subscribe. Leave a like. And we'll catch all. Catch all soon. Thank you. Thank you.