Moving, absorbing and a grand platform for the less-is-more talents of Robbins and Freeman, two of the best going around.

Deakins’s work here began his run of 16 Oscar nominations... it’s a crucial part of Shawshank’s enduring legacy.

If this is a feel-good movie -- and by the end it certainly is -- then at least it challenges us to dig deep for those good feelings when everything inside those mausoleum walls is unrelievedly harsh and grey.

[The Shawshank Redemption] is the cinematic equivalent of therapy, showcasing the power of vulnerability.