Tom Hanks's range of acting consists of looking mildly befuddled while being so utterly sincere. He's the male version of Meryl Streep, only with the befuddledness as opposed to the avert her eyes and try to hold back a tear that's her schtick.
I never read Shawshank, I always wondered how close it was to the book.
The only Stephen King book I ever read was Christine, which was basically a 200 page story that was 500 pages long. People told me that it wasn't typical of his works, but I don't care, it was enough to scare me away from his other books. Good story, only way too much stuffing.