You wouldn’t know it, seeing as it seems to be on television every week, but the Shawshank Redemption was not a box office success when it was released 10 years ago. Shawshank received seven nominations and critical praise, but movie goers didn’t flock to theatres to see it.

Since the movie does air on television so much, the tenth anniversary DVD release had to be something much more special than just the movie, and Warner Bros. doesn?t disappoint. With a full disc of extras, the DVD is a worthy purchase.

The film stars Tim Robbins in perhaps his best role and Morgan Freeman, both prisoners. Robbins’ character is jailed for a crime he did not commit. Freeman’s is locked up justifiably, but is portrayed as a changed man. They become chums during this story of hope and optimism.

The entire cast joins Frank Darabont, the film’s writer and director, and Stephen King, who wrote the short story that the film is based on, for the documentary “Hope Springs Eternal: A Look Back at the Shawshank Redemption.” They are not afraid to explore the box office failure, and also discuss how the novel was transformed into the movie, which has a fair amount of major differences. The similar but longer second documentary, “Shawshank: The Redeeming Feature,” was created by the BBC three years ago.

Also featured on the disc are trailers, a spoof, photo galleries, and interviews with the cast and director on the Charlie Rose Show.

People may have been reluctant to see the film in theatres, but they can make up for their losses by checking out this impressively contrived DVD.

andPOP’s rating: 4.5/5*

Check out Shawshank on the web at: shawshankredemption.com

Also, watch two clip from the Hope Springs Eternal documentary:
Clip one:
Windows Media Real Video Quicktime

Clip two:
Windows Media Real Video Quicktime






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