Lack of local movies upsets but Shawshank earns its title

By Ethan Sills

Herald online·

3 Jul, 2015 04:00 AM2 mins to read

The Shawshank Redemption, starring Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman, was this week voted New Zealand's favourite movie.

Yesterday, we revealed the results of a new poll into New Zealand's 100 favourite movies.

The Shawshank Redemption topped the Flicks survey, beating films like Star Wars, Pulp Fiction and Lord of the Rings for the number one spot. On the other end, Battlefield Earth, Twilight and Fifty Shades of Grey ranked amongst our least favourite films.

We asked Herald readers if they agreed with the rankings. Over 1800 people responded, with an overwhelming majority agreeing Shawshank is a worthy winner.

Twenty-eight per cent of respondents said that Shawshank deserves to be number one, while 57 per cent of people said it deserves to be up there. Only five per cent said they hated it and 10 per cent haven't seen it.

John Travolta headlines New Zealand's most hated movie, Battlefield Earth

The top choice also had support on social media. Laurie Stradling said "How is Shawshank a major surprise? It's always been pretty much everyone's favourite movie."

Maree Glading added "I feel like Shawshank is a default choice like when you cant think of a movie you just say shawshank..." (sic)

Other people commented on the lack of New Zealand movies on the list. The only local film on the list was Boy at number 87, though locally-made Lord of the Rings scored two entries.

Dozens of people posted their outrage that local classics didn't make it, ranging from Sione's Wedding and Once Were Warriors to Whale Rider.

The top 20 worst movies also earned feedback. Jay Carr was pleased with one entry, saying "Twilight third worst movie? Faith in the New Zealand public restored." However, Tim Belin questioned Sharknado's inclusion: "How did Sharknado get in to the bottom 10? besides from being amazing... it's not like it was a serious movie in any form. Sharknado entertains in the exact way it was made to."

The mixed reaction to Titanic, the only film to be voted on both the best and worst list, got some praise as well. Kayla McGowan contributed with "The worst film I've ever seen was Titanic, I'm glad others think it's horrible too, I just wanted every character to die."

The full list is available at top100.flicks.co.nz