Unforgiven

This is my first Clint Eastwood western. I liked the small touches the humbled the character of William Muney such as falling into the muck while separating the hogs, having trouble mounting his horse, being unable to hit a bottle using a pistol. I did find the idea that Eastwood's previous partner would have been a black man--Morgan Freeman in this case, but I do always relish seeing Morgan on screen. The opening scene with the slashing scene was very reminiscent of old Hollywood--the mix of the high and low angle shots and the focus on the knife, a-la-Psycho.

Shawshank Redemption

How can you not love Morgan Freeman? Also the music is breathtaking. A good movie, but not great. It didn't really strike me as being anything more special than say The Green Mile which was also directed by Frank Darabont. Does anyone else think that Tim Robbins and Tom Hanks look a lot alike? I think Darabont has a penchant for historical prison dramas with white protagonists with a black sidekick. Freeman and Robbins are standouts, particularly Robbin's ability to remain silently stoic. The movie serves as as sort of good "Christian-style" parable. The ending is fun.