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MOVIES THE SHINING
Quick Rating:
***** The ultimate stir crazy cabin fever movie. Jack Torrance has taken the job as winter caretaker at the gorgeous but isolated Overlook Hotel. The Hotel has a spotted history, and it's future doesn't look so good either. Jack is slowly driven insane. His wife is scared to death, and his son has some scares of his own. However, the boy does have a special talent, and it may be the only thing that could help them all survive. Stephen King apparently did not care for this version of his book, but on its own, it is one hell of a movie. The pace is slow but very deliberate. The camera work and direction is phenomenal. You follow the Torrances around this labyrinth of a hotel. The camera is always moving with the characters. You are with them, waiting for whatever may be around the next corner. And sometimes, you wish you didn't see what was around the corner. Not to mention room 237! The music heightens the tension of all the scenes.. in many of them, it echoes a heartbeat, which is very unnerving. The acting is top notch all around. From the all-star psycho performance from Nicholson, to the realistically hysterical Shelley Duvall, to the horrified kid (and his alter-ego/invisible friend Tony)... they really pull you into their characters and situations. The setting is absolutely gorgeous. For the outside of the hotel, the Timberline Lodge in Oregon was used. And, I didn't know this till now, the interior of the hotel was all sets. Not a real hotel. They did a unbelievable job creating this hotel, which was a major character in the movie itself. And on the creepiness scale, this one's off the chart. The little girls. The old lady. "redrum"... it's a movie that to this day creeps me out. And that's saying something. There are definitely some things I don't quite understand about this movie, even after repeat viewings, but I think Kubrick wanted it that way. There was an absurd amount of takes done on this film, so every small detail was criticized and perfected. I think we're just left to ponder about certain scenes/characters... and what was really going on. It certainly makes you think. And the last scene... the picture... you think it answers the questions, but it just creates more. Well done.
Quality:
9.5 Visuals: 9.5 Intensity: 8.0 reviewed 2005
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