Sh♥wsh♥nk
The Shawshank Redemption was on AMC last night, and I left it on while doing other things--even though I don't usually like to watch that particular movie on commercial TV, because of all the cuts. It was interesting to see how much less is being cut these days, which made it a much better viewing experience. They still cut out (or, more usually, blipped with silence) words like "asshole" (I bet if they ran it on FX they wouldn't have to do that), but they left in lines like "The colossal prick even managed to sound magnanimous." Which I appreciate, especially because of the way Red spits that word out.
Coincidentally, I also re-read the novella very recently. And seeing the movie right afterward reminded me of what a terrific adaptation job it is. I think they made great choices about what to choose, how to tighten it up and raise the stakes (what happens to Bogs, for instance, and to Tommy)... Not to mention the change of having Red be a Black man, which brings the (to my mind, fannish-style *g*) addition of a new bit of backstory (i.e. his real name, which we don't learn in the book) to explain the nickname, whereas in the book it's apparently just because he has red hair. And it lets him have that great deadpan moment with Andy, "Maybe it's because I'm Irish." Great stuff.
And man. That movie is SO ROMANTIC. Unabashed love story. It isn't that I forget, really, but I suppose by this time, having seen it a lot, I never quite expect to still be sitting there watching it all *chinhands* with my face like ♥______♥ by the end.
Coincidentally, I also re-read the novella very recently. And seeing the movie right afterward reminded me of what a terrific adaptation job it is. I think they made great choices about what to choose, how to tighten it up and raise the stakes (what happens to Bogs, for instance, and to Tommy)... Not to mention the change of having Red be a Black man, which brings the (to my mind, fannish-style *g*) addition of a new bit of backstory (i.e. his real name, which we don't learn in the book) to explain the nickname, whereas in the book it's apparently just because he has red hair. And it lets him have that great deadpan moment with Andy, "Maybe it's because I'm Irish." Great stuff.
And man. That movie is SO ROMANTIC. Unabashed love story. It isn't that I forget, really, but I suppose by this time, having seen it a lot, I never quite expect to still be sitting there watching it all *chinhands* with my face like ♥______♥ by the end.