See, I was thinking of that one, but I thought he played the bad guy. But you're right, he was Mario. Who was the bad guy? Dennis Hopper? He's evil a lot too.

Evil...annoying...he makes it hard to tell the difference.

Evil...annoying...he makes it hard to tell the difference.

Dude, you're evil and you're hardly ever annoying.

What they didn't mention is that Courtney Cox was in Masters of the Universe.

So was the guy who played Tom Paris on ST Voyager.

Speaking of Morgan Freeman, I bought and viewed the 10th anniversary special edition DVD of The Shawshank Redemption today. Excellent release, with lots of great extras. A few things I learned:

• One of the reasons Darabont changed the title from "Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption" was that they were actually getting resumes coming in from actresses who wanted the role of Rita Hayworth, thinking that it was a biopic. The agent of an unnamed supermodel, who was trying to branch out into acting at the time, actually told the producers that she thought that the script was the best thing she'd ever read, and that her client would be perfect as Hayworth.

• The "silent silent partner," Randall Stevens, was Peter Stevens in the novella, but because there was a prominent accountant in LA named Peter Stevens, Darabont decided to change the name. He picked "Randall" as a reference to another Stephen King character, Randall Flagg.

• One of the biggest things that Darabont emphasizes in the commentary is the work of the production designer, who he feels was unfairly shut out of an Oscar nom. The prison they used was in horrible shape inside, so the production team had to practically rebuild a lot of the interiors. Also, the cell block was a completely soundstaged set, created at a warehouse a few miles from the prison in Ohio.

There are two very good docs on the second disc, as well as a recent Charlie Rose segment with Darabont, Freeman, and Robbins, and a fairly amusing parody called "The Sharktank Redemption" starring Freeman's son (who posed for Red's mug shots in the feature film, as well as appeared as one of the taunting convicts in the opening scene, "reeling in" the fresh fish).

Skipping 1000 posts to announce that I must find a way to see this film!

Let me guess - they had you at "Jeanne is leaving for a week of adultery with Theremin virtuoso Manu (Emmanuel Bilodeau)"?

Do you even have to ask?

Oh, I did just remember the likely downside of Unleashed: I'm pretty sure Morgan Freeman is going to be a Magical Negro. I think his character is blind, and it sure does look like he's going to Teach Danny How To Live Again.

On the bright side, Freeman's role in Driving Miss Daisy sounds like the Magical Negro trope on paper. He had enough talent and skill to make the character a three-dimensional, fully-realized one that was lovable without being sappy.

Is there any hope that he'll play this guy like Gene Hackman's blind hermit in Young Frankenstein?

Do you even have to ask?

Heh. No, I guess not.