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Created May 23, 2010 08:27PM PST • Edited May 23, 2010 08:27PM PST

1. Quality

2. Summary

   Perfect 5.0

   Has anyone ever asked you “What do you think is the greatest American made movie?” Well, personally, my FAVORITE movie is Chris Nolan’s Memento. However, if I had to pick the greatest movie ever made in the history of cinema, I’d have to go ahead and pick Frank Darabont’s The Shawshank Redemption. From the Stephen King short story, the film portrays the unlikely friendship between two prison inmates and their journey through prison life and their will to never give up hope.

   The film opens with a man named Andy Dufraine being put away into Shawshank Penitentiary for life. There, he meets a man named Red who shows him the ways of the people at Shawshank and Andy soon finds a new home among these prisoners.

   Powerfully told with excellent performances, The Shawshank Redemption showcases American cinema at its finest. Easily one of the greatest films of all time. One of the many films you must see before you die.

4. Acting

   Perfect 5.0

   Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman have great chemistry. They portray quite possibly the greatest bro-mance of all time.

5. Male Stars Perfect 5.0

6. Female Stars Perfect 5.0

7. Female Costars Perfect 5.0

8. Male Costars Perfect 5.0

10. Film

    Perfect 5.0

11. Direction Perfect 5.0

    Frank Darabont avoids the typical prison movie cliches and also gets a lot out of his talented cast.

12. Play Perfect 5.0

    With some memorable lines, the dialogue is very rich and clever. I still go by the classic saying “You either get busy livin’, or you get busy dyin’.”

13. Music Perfect 5.0

14. Visuals Perfect 5.0
15. Content

16. Edge

    Risqué 2.5

    Not what I would consider to be a hard R rating, but the kids might want to wait til their teens to watch this one. They’ll probably have a long enough attention span by then to sit through 2 and a half hours.

17. Sex Titillating 2.0

18. Violence Fierce 2.5

19. Rudeness Profane 3.0

21. Reality

    Surreal 2.2

22. Circumstantial Surreal 2.2

23. Biological Surreal 2.2

24. Physical Surreal 2.2