Reviews of The Shining

"All Work & No Play...."

Posted : 2 weeks, 3 days ago on 4 August 2008 03:31 (A review of The Shining)

First of all, I'm always partial to Stanley Kubrick. IMO, he tends to make movies that are an inch away from being abstract beyond understanding, but keeps the flow of the film reeled in just enough to make seem like it makes sense on some kind of creative level. Add in the grounding of a Stephen King story & a role taylor made for Jack Nicholson, & you have one of my top favorite horror movies. And with very little slashing, to boot. The horror stems more from Jack's delivery & facial expressions as his character gradually slips into the madness of the haunted hotel's dark intentions.
"Here's Johnny!" wouldn't be a very scary line if it weren't for Jack's maniacal mug peering thru the door's cracked orifice, freshly smashed thru by the axe-wielding writer with "redrum" on his mind.

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a classic

Posted : 2 months, 1 week ago on 14 June 2008 12:24 (A review of The Shining)

A most satisfying horror-thriller, with some of the best actors. Shelley Duvall's character is annoying, but the cast is perfect. Some scenes are truly terrifying and that is what makes this movie remarkable.
Definitely Kubrick's best work.


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The Shining

Posted : 6 months, 3 weeks ago on 1 February 2008 04:04 (A review of The Shining)

From the very title scene I liked it. The aerial shots with brilliant camera and haunting music..
The casting is perfect 10/10. Though i hated Shelley Duvall at the beginning, she and the kid wins it.
the favourite scenes are the long shots of the kid's ride through the lobby and Duvall's discovery of her husband's incredible work!
and of course Jack getting angry at her. wow this movie is one of the best horror -thriller ever

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Heeeeeere's Johnny!

Posted : 6 months, 3 weeks ago on 27 January 2008 09:07 (A review of The Shining)

Kubrick at his finest, Nicholson at his finest. What else could anyone want? This version of Stephen King's book has almost nothing to do with it. And that's one of the best things about the film.

In 1997 King did a remake with many more elements of the book, and the film is a sleeper. I had to watch it like four different times to get through it.

Anyway, I'm not here today to write about the 1997 version, but Kubrick's version. Which is much more worthy.

The story is about Jack Torrence (Jack Nicholson) an unemployed writer who gets a temporary job as the caretaker of a summer-time hotel, during the winter. All alone up there with his wife, Wendy (Shelly Duvall) and his son, Danny (Danny Lloyd) as time goes by the father begins going crazy because of the solitude and also that he can't work on his book.

Kubrick with his masterful direction makes everything about the Overlook Hotel scary, even when Wendy and Danny are playing in the garden, shortly before the snow falls.

One little thing that bothers me is that the film answers a question that I feel could remain without an answer: Are the ghosts that Jack sees all over the hotel real or not?

But this doesn't compromise at all the film. It is supposed to be scary and it is. Kubrick-like scary, what makes it so much better.

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Horror classic

Posted : 12 months ago on 24 August 2007 04:00 (A review of The Shining)

Does this film really need a review? I mean, it's The Shining! Everyone has seen it, right? And if you haven't whats wrong, why aren't you running to the video store to buy it? It's certainly Stephen King's best adaptation, but I think it is not because of King himself (who hated this version, and was determined to re-make a more true-to-book version several years after this one). The real reason it shines is because the genius Kubrick was at the helm.

If you think about it, not much happens in terms of 'horror', but this film is terrifying simply from the atmosphere and well filmed scenes. The intro is one of the best in any film, showing a car driving down a winding road with majestic mountains everywhere, which that tense classic piece playing. It really sets the tone and gives a sense of just how remote this hotel is.

This is by far my favorite Nicholson performance; he played a family man that decends into madness absolutely without a fault.

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