the m0vie blog

Hosted by Andrew Quinn and Darren Mooney, this week with special guests Charlene Lydon and Cethan Leahy, The 250 is a weekly trip through some of the best (and worst) movies ever made, as voted for by Internet Movie Database Users.

This week, Frank Darabont’s The Green Mile.

At the turn of the millennium, Paul Edgecomb reflects back on his time serving as chief guard overseeing death row at Cold Mountain Penitentiary during the 1930s. Paul recalls the standard operation of that section of the prison, known as “the Green Mile”, but in particular the arrival of a unique inmate, John Coffey. Neither Paul, nor anybody else on the Mile, have any idea what Coffey’s arrival will herald.

At time of recording, it was ranked 25th on the list of the best movies of all time on the Internet Movie Database.

Show Notes

• Recorded 21st July 2025.
• The Green Mile at The Internet Movie Database.
• The IMDB 250 as it appeared at time of recording.
• Follow Charlene on Twitter.
• Follow Cinema Book Club on Twitter.
• Visit Cethan’s website.
• Follow Cethan on BlueSky.
• Follow Cethan on Twitter.
• Follow Cethan on Letterboxd.
• Frank Darabont talks to CinemaBlend about directing The Green Mile, January 2022.
• Stephen King talks to Time about his creative relationship with Frank Darabont, November 2007.
• Robert Polito reviews Desperation and The Green Mile for The New York Times, October 1996.
• Charles Champlin reviews Desperation and The Regulators for The Los Angeles Times, September 1996.
• The Associated Press considers King’s various experiments with form and structure, March 2000.
• David D. Kirkpatrick at The New York Times considers Stephen King’s online novella, Riding the Bullet, July 2000.
• Doreen Carvajal writes at The New York Times about Stephen King’s attempts decision to look for a new publisher, October 1997.
• Stephen J. Dubner writes at The New York Times Magazine about Stephen King’s very productive and ambitious late nineties, August 2000.
• Paul D. Colford writes at The Los Angeles Times about how Stephen King was challenging the publishing industry, November 1997.
• Frederick M. Winship at UPI considers the literary origins of The Green Mile, August 1996.
• Christopher Lehmann-Haupt at The New York Times considers Stephen King’s embrace of classic serialisation while writing The Green Mile, April 1996.
• Alex Green at The Belfast Telegraph considers Stephen King’s journey towards sobriety, March 2022.
• John J. O’Connor at The New York Times considers The Shining as a meditation on Stephen King’s addiction issues, April 1997.
• Grady Hendrix writes at Reactor Magazine about The Tommyknockers as a book written in the midst of Stephen King’s addiction issues, October 2013.
• Stephen King writes at The New Yorker about learning to write again after his accident, June 2000.
• Stephen King writes about his horrific accident, September 2000.
• Jon Alexander at Fanfare wonders why so many modern directors are afraid to make movies set in the present, August 2024.
• Anita M. Busch at Variety reports on plans for Frank Darabont to direct an episode of Earth to the Moon, January 1997.
• Tom Hanks talks to Tom Hanks Fun Site about working on The Green Mile, 1999.
• Frank Darabont talks to Cemetery Dance about his life and career, December 2020.
• Frank Darabont talks to Lilia’s Library about how Tom Hank came to be involved in The Green Mile, February 2007.
• Tom Hanks talks to The New York Times about the various literary adaptations in which he has appeared, October 2017.
• Alexis Patridis at The Guardian looks back at the racism and homophobia underpinning “disco demolition”, July 2019.
• Charles Vognar at The New York Times reflects on “disco demolition”, October 2023.
• Michael Clarke Duncan talks to Rotten Tomatoes about participating in “disco demolition”, August 2011.
• Kenneth Turan reviews The Green Mile for The Los Angeles Times, December 1999.
• Richard Corliss reviews The Green Mile for Time, December 1999.
• Brian Raftery talks to All Things Considered about what made 1999 such a great year for movies, April 2024.
• David Friend reflects at The New York Times about what made 1999 such a wonderful year for movies, May 2019.
• Annaliese Griffin writes at Qz about how Stephen King is more of a young adult author than a horror author, July 2022.
• Sam Rockwell talks to The Guardian about “playing hicks”, October 2017.
• Sam Rockwell talks to The Hollywood Reporter about needing to take “a long break” from playing racists, June 2019.
• David Chow at Den of Geek reflects on Sam Rockwell’s appearance in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, April 2025.
• Stephen King talks to The Guardian about his religious beliefs, October 2014.
• Steve Lansingh writes at Christianity Today about the religious subtext of Stephen King’s work, December 1999.
• Stephen King talks to The Bangor Daily News about his religious beliefs, November 1988.
• John Ehrett writes at Conciliar Post about the religious worldview that underpins so much of Stephen King’s work, April 2017.
• John Blake writes at CNN about “the Gospel of Stephen King”, June 2012.
• Scott Hershovitz at The New York Times reflects on “the problem of evil”, May 2022.
• Stanley Fish at The New York Times considers the question of suffering and faith, November 2007.
• Orville Prescott reflects on Candide as one of the “books of the times” at The New York Times, May 1948.
• Joan Acocella writes at The New Yorker about the question of evil and religious faith, December 2012.
• Martin Gilbert reflects in The New York Times about the challenges of seeing justice done at Nuremberg, November 1992.
• William Shawcross at The New York Times meditates on the lessons learned from Nuremberg, April 2011.
• Ryan Bell at National Geographic considers the role that Temple Grandin has played in making slaughterhouses more humane, August 2015.
• Kate Bowler writes at The New York Times about “the prosperity gospel”, February 2016.
• Michael Luo at The New York Times considers “the prosperity gospel” in contemporary America, January 2006.
• Zaid Jilani at The Intercept about how Martin Luther King alienated the establishment by embracing antiwar and anti-poverty positions, January 2018.
• James C. Cobb writes at The Smithsonian Magazine about how the American public turned on Martin Luther King, April 2018.
• Christopher John Farley writes at Time about the abundance of “magical negroes” in contemporary American film, November 2000.
• Spike Lee talks to The Yale Bulletin and Calendar about how little progress has been made in the presentation of African American characters, March 2001.
• Sydney Cusic writes at Confluence about the ubiquity of the magical negro character in literature and film, February 2021.
• Marcel Theroux reviews James for The Guardian, April 2024.
• Dwight Garner reviews James for The New York Times, March 2024.
• Michael Carlson marks the passing of Michael Clarke Duncan in The Guardian, September 2012.
• The New York Times marks the passing of Michael Jeter, April 2003.
• Breeanna Hare at CNN reports on the troubled relationship between Doug Hutchinson and Courtney Stodden, August 2014.
• Gabrielle Chung writes at People about the marriage between Doug Hutchinson and Courtney Stodden, March 2020.
• Rebecca Rubin reports on The Life of Chuck winning the Toronto International Film Festival’s audience award for Variety, September 2024.
• Follow The 250 on Twitter.
• Subscribe to The 250 on iTunes.
• Subscribe to The 250 on Stitcher.
• Listen to The 250 on Soundcloud.
• Listen to The 250 on Spotify.
• Browse listening options at pod.link.

Filed under: The 250 | Tagged: 1990s, cethan leahy, character dynamics, charlene lydon, Christ-like figure, cinematic landscape, compassion, cultural impact, cultural significance, Death Penalty, emotional depth, emotional engagement, frank darabont, humanist message, injustice, John Coffey, michael clarke duncan, moral dilemmas, morality, narrative intricacies, podcast, race, race portrayal, societal themes, stephen king, The 250, the green mile, tom hanks, Wild Bill |