In Hollywood's golden age, the celebrated films of the day were often giant star vehicles, dramas and tearjerkers that let the leading men and women emote until the rafters fell down.

A masked gunman released tear gas and opened fire into a crowded movie theater in a suburb of Denver early Friday, killing 12 people and injuring at least 50 others, police said.

The Shawshank Redemption is an interesting movie because it doesn't resort to cheap tricks – over dramatization, tear jerker nonsense – to captivate the audience.