The Green Mile on DVD (1999)

Brief synopsis of The Green Mile

A DVD collection of three dramatic American films: THE GREEN MILE (1999, 18), PAY IT FORWARD (2000, 13), and PROOF OF LIFE (2000, 15).
THE GREEN MILE: Director Frank Darabont's second adaptation of a Stephen King prison tale (the first being 1994's nearly flawless THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION) is a hopeful charmer with a hint of the supernatural. The story focuses on Paul Edgecomb (Tom Hanks), a Louisiana security guard who works on death row during the Great Depression. When John Coffey (Michael Clarke Duncan), a gigantic black man convicted of raping and murdering two white girls, joins the other prisoners on the row, Paul's life is forever altered. Coffey doesn't fit the mold of a psychopathic killer; he's kind, gentle, and afraid of the dark. As the story progresses, Edgecomb learns that there is something more than simple goodness to Coffey. Building to a hopeful climax, Darabont once again proves that he is King's most loyal cinematic translator. The film features uniformly excellent performances in leading and supporting roles, notably Duncan as Coffey; David Morse and Barry Pepper as Hanks's fellow prison guards; and Michael Jeter as condemned killer Edward Delacroix.
PAY IT FORWARD: Based on a best-selling novel by Catherine Ryan Hyde and boasting the star power of three prior Oscar winners--Kevin Spacey, Helen Hunt, and Haley Joel Osment--PAY IT FORWARD spins a heartwarming yarn about an 11-year-old boy who comes up with an utopian idea as a project for school. History teacher Eugene Simenot (Spacey) offers the same ongoing extra-credit assignment he has proffered every year: Come up with an idea that will change the world. However, he expects nothing more from his students than halfhearted efforts that fall far shy of their mark. Simenot is therefore unprepared for precocious, irrepressible Trevor McKinney (played with wide-eyed wonder by Osment), who conjures up a stunning scheme. Trevor suggests the concept that every person who benefits from someone else's good deed should pay it forward, instead of paying it back, and in turn offer favors to three other people. The first guinea pig for Trevor's experiment is his overworked, imperfect mom (Helen Hunt) for whom he tries to find a boyfriend.
PROOF OF LIFE: Around the world, between 20,000 and 50,000 people are kidnapped each year. In Taylor Hackford's suspense-filled adventure film, American businessman Peter Bowman (David Morse) is traveling in a Latin American country when a group of criminals take him as their hostage and hold him for ransom. The megacorporation he works for sends in an expert hostage negotiator, Terry Thorne (Russell Crowe), to settle on a ransom with the kidnappers, an antigovernment faction. Thorne earns the reluctant trust of Bowman's wife, Alice (Meg Ryan), and begins trying to win Bowman's freedom, but conflict with Bowman's employers, missteps with the kidnappers, and Thorne's growing attraction to Alice threaten to derail his efforts. Crowe and Ryan are excellent as thrown-together allies under pressure, and Morse's descent from collected businessman to desperate hostage anchors the film. Watch for former NYPD BLUE sensation David Caruso as Crowe's partner. PROOF OF LIFE is based on an article entitled Adventures in the Ransom Trade, written by William Prochnau, which was published in the May 1998 issue of Vanity Fair magazine.