The Green Mile

Director Frank Darabont's second Stephen King novel adaptation, "The Green Mile," is simultaneously a tear-jerking prison drama and an uplifting story about the supernatural will of one man to demonstrate the goodness inherent in humanity, even within its most seemingly evil corners. Starring Tom Hanks as Paul Edgecomb, a simple family-man who works as a guard on death-row, and Michael Clarke Duncan as John Coffey, a loveable giant whose unfortunate past has lead him to the very place that Edgecomb guards, these two actors, and those supporting, are truly the highlight of the film. Their performances are what makes the character interactions so effective and worthwhile, though this is also thanks to the veteran director ability to interpret scenes of wildly varying tones; the writing can make you laugh one second, cringe from the next, and bawl your eyes out after. And really, that's what "The Green Mile" is best at showing: the variety of humanity. Not just its most hopeful aspects, but so too its least hopeful and most despicable individuals, and everything in between. Darabont explores morality and the grey tones that humanity exists in, and his prowess in doing such has elevated this film to the same quality as his previous adaptation, "The Shawshank Redemption," regarded as one of the greatest novel adaptations of all time.