IMDB

IMDb is a boomer site. Everyone knows that. Some of us grew up with it and continue to love it because that's how we were raised. I still rate every movie I watch first on IMDb and then, if I remember, on Letterboxd.
Obviously, in terms of use and development, IMDb has been on a downward trajectory for several years now and fails to meet the modern platform and communication needs of the digital public sphere of cinema. However, given its long history (34 years online), it remains a good indicator of the popular mass perception of cinema.
Even now, in 2024, The Shawshank Redemption remains at the top of IMDb's Top 250, with the highest rating of any other movie on the planet. It has been rated by 2.9 million people overall, and its rating is 9.2/10. A very reasonable rating, if you will.

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For comparison, on the much more modern and demographically younger Letterboxd, the film has been logged by 2.1 million accounts and has a rating of 4.6/5. Certainly a high rating, which still places it very close to the top (it shares this spot with movies like The Godfather, 12 Angry Men, Come and See, and others). For the record, the only film with a 4.7/5 is Masaki Kobayashi's Harakiri.
The reason I remembered all this is because The Shawshank Redemption was re-released in cinemas yesterday, which in itself seems strange to me.
The rating of The Shawshank Redemption on the internet remains a curious phenomenon that doesn't fade. I won't say it's a bad movie, it’s a great movie.
Nevertheless, I'm tempted to see it in the cinema now that it's been re-released, to see with my own eyes if there was anything i missed by only watching it on the small screen all these years.
The calm conclusion, however, is that it is probably the most overrated movie ever.

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