Look at this!! ANOTHER Double Take!!! This time with the lovely and talented Zoe from The Sporadic Chronicles of a Beginner Blogger!!!! YAY!!!!! These don’t happen very often but when they do – they’re a lot of fun!!! In this series, I and a friend take on The Classics. If you ever want to participate in one of these, just let me know and, if you wanted to read some fantastic writing by people other than me, you could check out all of the others HERE. There’s some good shit right there!!! Let’s see what we’ve got….
MY TAKE:
GOD DAMN THIS MOVIE SCARED THE FUCK OUT ME.
I mean this. I do. I saw this when I was a kid and the image of those two twins and what happens to them were burned into my brain and I was so traumatized that I couldn’t sit down and watch it again until just a few weeks ago. For real. I’d like to thank Zoe for helping me get over that experience and watch this again now that I do what I do here because this movie is the real fucking deal and I can’t really call this place a horror site without this one here, right? Even at my age now – those tracking shots of Danny riding his Big Wheel eternally down those halls were sphincter tightening and then there’s that big payoff where he sees the girls all butchered and spread out all over the hallway. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIGGGGHHHHH I think I just ground down that sharp, broken part of my tooth I chipped the other day. OY!!! But you know what else scared me in this??
Fucking Shelley Duvall……! Whether she was happy or sad or screaming and crying and running around with a baseball bat – she AND her character freaked me the fuck out. “Danny??” She whispers giving me creepy goose bumps. “Jaaaaaack….?” she moans creeping me out. “Over.” She says into the CB irritating me. This character, combined with her looks, makes me think of the meekest, nicest child MURDERER EVER!!!! STAY AWAY FROM ME WENDY!!!! “Eeeeeeeeeerrriiiiccccc…..” she creeps, looking over my window sill, only her eyes and bangs visible. “Eeeeeeeeeeerrriiiiiccccccccccccc…….”
*shudders*
*cries*
*pees*
*hides in the coat closet*
I’m sure there’s no real reason for me to get into the plot here, I mean, who hasn’t seen or heard about this for the last 30 years?? I don’t really care about the conspiracy theories and who didn’t like what and this and that shit and all of that. This movie fucking scared me. Twice. And…. if you take nothing else from this movie and come back to tell me this isn’t scary and I’m a big puss – one thing to always remember: Scatman Crothers was a FUCKING PIMP!!!!! LONG LIVE HIS LEGACY!!!! I bow to you, sir. I bow. May your mighty testicles forever dangle over my rear-view mirror.
*turns to camera*
*stares*
What…?
I just looked at myself in the bathroom mirror and called myself “Unclean” so let’s start to wrap this up before things get out of hand…oh shit… things are probably out of hand already… maybe I should just give it up?? Who knows!! Hey SCOTT!!, You should totally make us a THE SHINING poster – I bet that would be a hit!! But not like THIS ONE:
Just look at those boobs!! YUM!!! Gross!!! Maybe something more like this theme….! WHAT A PIMP!!!!
Oh well. That’s enough of my shit, this movie is fucking fantastic!! Let’s see what Zoe had to say!!!
ZOE’S TAKE:
The Shining is a great movie if you don’t compare it to Stephen King’s master novel. Both, in their own right, are absolutely excellent, there is no doubt about that, but should not be compared too much. That way you will disappoint yourself both ways. I usually compare books and their movies, and more often than not I am disappointed, but The Shining is different, and is worth the love it gets. Stanley Kubrick did something amazing, he made his rendition of The Shining a masterpiece, and everything about it just worked. The camera work was done incredibly well, and set the tone and mood. The intro to the movie was very good – it was slow, with panning shots of Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) driving out to the Overlook Hotel, and it emphasised quite a lot how far out from things the hotel is and its total isolation. Also, the music that goes with it gives a premonition of dread, almost making you feel for a moment as though you, too, are “shining”.
Jack Torrance seems to be quite the prickly man. Not really too nice to his wife Wendy (Shelley Duvall ) and son Danny (Danny Lloyd), he packs them up and moves them with him to the Overlook Hotel for five months while all the occupants are out for the winter. It is his opportunity to get ahead in life. He is a writer, and being paid to write for five months while running routine checks on an empty hotel seem to be pretty good, although he is warned by Stuart Ullman (Barry Nelson) that a previous caretaker named Charles Grady got “cabin fever” and killed his wife and daughters and then popped himself. This makes no difference to Jack, who is taking the job anyway, and from here things start getting progressively dodgy. What should be an adventure for the Torrance family will not remain so for very long. On the closing day of the hotel, the day the Torrance family arrives; Danny learns that Tony, the “little friend who lives in my mouth”, is actually his gift of the “shining”. Dick Hallorann (Scatman Crothers) tells him this, tells him it is special, but that it will allow him to see imprints from the past and the future as well as read minds. Now the whole concept of “shining” is very interesting, and the movie did a good job of explaining it, though nowhere nearly as thoroughly as it could have been done. You are given enough, though, to form a working understanding of what “shining” is. Scatman Crothers was well cast as Dick Hallorann, and successfully brought that wizened and smart man to the fore rather well. He was the character that was unwavering and the one you had the most faith in. You believed him, and he brought and presented a sense of calm, even though it was clear something wasn’t quite right at the Overlook Hotel.
Then let us talk about Danny Lloyd as Danny Torrance. This was a stroke of genius for Kubrick seeing as this kid was simply fantastic. While approaching Room 237, he is hesitant, afraid and curious all at once, and his demeanour reflects that. His inquisitiveness about the room only increases, though at the same time it is fear that holds him back. He has been expressly warned to stay away from it. The things he can see in the hotel due to his ability to “shine” are incredible, and it is a wonder that as a child he was not more freaked out. My favourite scene is the first time Danny sees the blood gushing out from the elevators and down the halls. I mean this is a relatively old flick and that scene is just bloody perfect, and definitely sets the tone as to how the movie is going to go. Danny is the one that conveys much of how things are changing in the hotel, with his parents, with the hotel, and especially with his father, although how he feels about his father is a little bit skewed due to an alluded brutal incident years before. Jack has become rather distant and terribly snappy, and Wendy bears the brunt of this. The perfect family retreat they were supposed to have turns sour, soon. Wendy at least has Danny, but Jack is becoming progressively nastier and rude and unloving and cold. The hotel seems to have an effect on him, though his moods are not directly associated with it. Each of the characters seems to have a different emotion about the hotel, and each of them is affected by it to certain degrees, too.
Jack Nicholson brought crazy to the table from the off. He was a little nutty from the beginning and didn’t hide it. This is no deal breaker, but his constant shift to more and more extreme levels of insanity can already be measured from his first meeting with Ullman about the job. I think if he was maybe more normal, his slip into uncaring and cruel would have been a bit more of a shock and far more unnerving. I just feel that from the off it shows he is a little prickly and not really a family man, and that he is more in for things for himself than for the entire family. Never fear, you watch the man slip into his incessant need to create a novel, which slips way to being left alone, which gives way again to putting his family in order as he feels that they are undermining him and trying to sabotage his life. The hotel, naturally, seems to latch on to this and feed the madness, feed it and entice Jack to go over and beyond irritation. Delbert Grady (Philip Stone) turns up, and plants the idea slightly more firmly in Jack’s mind that he “corrected” his family because they wanted to take the hotel from him, and Jack is now in danger of his family attempting the same with him too. Jack loves the hotel and is not willing to leave it, it has a hold of him, and for that he is willing to go that extra length. His descent into insanity is entertaining and chilling to watch, and the scenes with Jack in the bar is crazy, giving you a little bit more insight as to why things have been going the way they were (such as Wendy’s certainty that Jack hurt Danny), and maybe why everyone treats him with a little bit of subservient fear.
Let’s talk about Shelley Duvall for a moment here. She is not a particularly grand actress at all, but she worked rather well for what she had to do in The Shining. She was the loving wife, yet a pushover, and the caring mother to Danny. The two seem rather close, and that is good. She is supportive of her husband’s desire to write his book, and willingly moved with him into a huge and deserted hotel so that he would have work and the peace and quiet needed to write the book. However, when Jack starts changing, she slowly but surely seems to start questioning what is going on, but is never too forward about it. When Danny appears with the bruising on his neck, it is understandable how she could so quickly turn on her husband, making this about him and their issues, a mother is protective. It doesn’t help that Jack has hurt Danny years before, too, after losing his cool. Later, when Jack is spiralling out of control even after she has acknowledged that he did not hurt Danny, she realises that there is danger. Her pathetic attempts at taking Jack out with the baseball bat when he finally snaps comes across as weak, but one can just imagine how she has witnessed him slip into a ghastly place and she is gripped with sheer and absolute terror. However, when she finally connects and lands a blow, it is as though she is bolstered, and gets smart and quick about it, knocking him on his ass and packing him into a store room, bolting him in. Then, however, she does something as mundane as going to sleep in the apartment with Danny. Me? I would have picked another room at the very least. Instead, she has made the obvious choices as to where Jack would go should he escape. Logically he should not be allowed or able to, but with all the cracked stuff going on, I would have assumed she would have thought further. She does, however, do her damn best to protect her son when Jack makes his escape and comes to make good on his promise of bashing her head in.
For the duration of this movie you are coaxed, either by the camera work, atmosphere, or music to feel like something bad is supposed to happen. That dread latches onto you in the beginning and you never manage to successfully shake it. You are kept on edge throughout the duration of the movie. While I am not scared by the movie (I don’t scare like most people do with horrors), psychologically you are always waiting for something bad to happen. This has to do with how the camera might pan or (in the case of Danny especially) follow a person. There are quick cuts to other scenes or rough drops to black and a weekday name on it. Then there is the music, perpetually leading you to believe something is supposed to happen (and many people take their emotional cues from the music presented in a movie) and you are left waiting for it to transpire. Sometimes you are rewarded, other times you are left with that even-clinging feeling of trepidation and wondering when it will come back and get you good.
This is a movie that I can discuss at length, and I am sure there are a lot of other people who could do the same. There is just so much going on all the time, seeing the hotel from different perspectives from different characters all the time also sets you on edge a little because someone’s account of what is going on must be real… someone must be telling the truth, surely? This is definitely a fantastic film in terms of direction, effects for its time, psychological chills and the insanity it explores. I would highly recommend you check out this movie, it is a brilliant piece of cinema and should be appreciated for what it is!
very nice reviews, but I personally didn’t like this movie very much
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Thank you! I can understand how it isn’t everyone’s cup of tea though!
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Thanks!! Well – I guess it’s not for everyone…. 🙂
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I seriously need to see this movie, don’t I?
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Yes, yes you do!
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Abbi – YES!!
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Whaaaat?! Abbi! You seriously need to see this movie! Everyone seriously needs to see this movie!!! : )
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AMEN SISTER!!!
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I know! I know! The next time someone does a resolutions blogathon it’s going to be my first choice!
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Reblogged this on The Sporadic Chronicles of a Beginner Blogger and commented:
Check out my review on The Shining with Eric!
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Hahahaha thank you ever so kindly for featuring this Eric! I love how you have the live girls and I have the butchered girls! This was fun and I am thrilled to hear that you enjoyed it!
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THANK YOU ZOE!!!!!!!!
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My utmost pleasure!
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Great job, you two! : ) This is one of my favorite favorite movies ever!! I think it’s f*^king amazing & I haven’t had the energy to tackle reviewing it yet – it’s hard to know what to say about my favorites. I especially love Nicholson in this. He certainly can play someone completely insane… Oh, and, Eric – did this seriously scare you that much?? Wuss. ; ) That’s what makes it so great, though. Very few films manage the great atmosphere this one has – it’s genuinely creepy. Can’t remember the last movie that “scared” me.
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THANKS!!!
And – yes it did 😦
#imabigpuss
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Thank you! Oh, I understand that. It’s like you are afraid you cannot do it justice… hahahaha.
With you there, I cannot recall when last… I think the closest was The Conjuring…
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an awesome movie, and this is just a psychological movie that freaks your mind out instead of the visual scares. Great reviews both of you….
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Thank you! That is exactly what this was, it messed with your head more than anything!
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And just found out that my girlfriend has not seen this movie! *shock and horror face* so will enjoy seeing this again tonight. .. ahh bliss
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Wonderful news!!
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I know! But imagine if she hates it or fall asleep *dread face* 🙂
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Not possible!
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😀 Oh wonderful! Enjoy!
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THANK YOU SIR!!
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Believe it or not, I actually did make that Shining poster. That’s my mom during the ’79 family reunion in the Catskills. She was so pissed because my dad was supposed to order me a Shirley Temple, but he got me a Rob Roy instead.
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UM…….. I ……. um……..
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Excellent work you two! Totally agreed Eric, Scatman Crothers is the boss of this film. Every time I watch it with friends and it’s his time to shine, everyone yells ‘SCATMAN CROTHERS!’ like he’s some kind of rock star. Which he is.
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Thank you Anna! LOL, he has a fan base!
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Thanks Anna!!! And those really aren’t his testicles hanging on my rear view window. I really didn’t dig up his grave and desecrate his corpse.
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Of course not… *shifty eyes*
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(They’re Rock Hudson’s)
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Scatman is also the voice of the greatest Autobot, the black one. Jazz.
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Hey – just checking in and not trying to be a pest but – is there a way to check on the poster? Ashley reported on Friday that it still just says “shipped” and is stuck in New York. She hasn’t been in the office yet this week so I don’t know of any update but is there a way to check on it??
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Sigh. I’ll look into it.
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And checked. Your tax dollars at work. Says it hit Edmond, OK and is “out for delivery” today (3/25; 7:56am).
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WAHOO!!!! Thanks!!!
I went to get a frame for it this weekend and they didn’t have that size, so I’ll have to have it in my possession so they can frame it for me!
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Jazz was totally my favourite Transformer! What a coincidence.
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Not a coincidence. He was your favorite because he was the BEST, and you obviously enjoy the finer things in life.
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UPDATE: The package has been received and the crow flies at midnight.
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Eastmost peninsula is the secret.
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Oh… and the cock is in the henhouse!
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Dodongo dislikes smoke.
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Souvenirs! Postcards! Party Tricks!
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Loving the play-by-play! I’m working on stickers too. Maybe one day.
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For sure. French champagne, John Coltrane, and Jazz the Autobot.
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Two great reviews guys. I’m with Isaac. I watched this years ago and it scared the absolute s*** out of me. I’ve never watched it since!
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Thanks Thomas!!
You should go for it again…
Hey – did you ever watch The Conjuring??
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Luckily the birth of my daughter has kind of knocked me off my stride with that one Isaac. I intend to get around to it sooner or later though. I’m quite frankly terrified about it though! haha. Would you say it is scarier than The Shining?
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I think The Shining is far scarier from an overall tone and achievement type of thing, The Conjuring has a few TRULY scary moments but doesn’t give a two hour long feeling of dread and teeth grinding…
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hmm, maybe I will be OK then. I’ll watch The Conjuring with the volume on really really low so I don’t jump easily. Is that cheating?!
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It might be…..!
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Thank you! You should look into it again sometime!
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The movie is phenomenal. Didn’t like the book. In truth, I don’t like Stephen King as an author. I think he digresses too much (a little like an IPC review….ohhhhh! I went there!)
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WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT???
*quits blogging*
*people cheer*
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Luke… why????????
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That poster hanging over Scatman’s bed fucking rules. Especially because it’s just completely unnecessary.
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I MUST have one….!
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Brilliant film from top to bottom, and for a movie that has been reviewed countless times, you guys nailed it. Very entertaining read, good job!
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Thanks Ryan!!! That really means a lot!!
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Thanks Ryan! I am thrilled to hear you enjoyed our double take of it!
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Seriously, wtf is up with Shelly Duvall?! She scares the fucking shit out of me! She’s an alien, I swear it!
Great work, both of you :).
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I KNOW!!!!!!!!
Thank you!!
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LOL! It’s the eyes, I am telling you, the bulbous eyes and strange voice!
Thanks Joseph!
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I commented on your blog. there really are ghosts , right ? danny can see them. But I feel Nicholson’s character is merely delusional and psychotic. What do you think ? On second thought, how the heck jack managed to get out of that room/ A real ghost opened it? i have to watch it again. We have a dvd of this.
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Zoe might be able to explain it better since she’s read the book, but I am under the impression there are – the dry storage room door opening being the key….??
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I know the ghosts and the supernatural are there because I read the book. This movie was great but never really focused too much on the supernatural. I would highly recommend reading the book, it has far more material to it and so much makes more sense, though the movie in its own right is a piece of brilliance. The film never looks at Jack’s spiral further with alcoholism, how the family was affected, the isolation, the building, Danny’s shining, etc. Kubrick did enough to give a good horror movie but not with the demented back story of the book. The end of The Shining (book) for example, shows something different completely, which also brings things together more about The Overlook Hotel.
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Stellar job on this review, both of you! I still haven’t seen this one… I’m holding out a hope that it’ll play again in an old timey moive theatre in my city on or around Halloween this coming year. I feel compelled to see it for the first time on the big screen.
Shelley Duvall is a monster. Straight up. Her face is a nightmare, her hair is a disaster, and I just wish somebody would have helped her. A stylist. A fabulous Hollywood makeup artist… something.
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THANKS SMASH!!!!
and
I KNOW!!!!!!!! URGH!!!!!!
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Thank you! Ah, that would be AWESOME. I do hope that they give it a rerun on a big screen for you then!
Yuck. She was pretty freaky.
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Fuckin’ A Zoe!!! Thanks for this, totally agree with you on the book/movie part. HUGE Stephen King fan and Kubrick both! (What can I say? I like weirdos.) Both were total masterpieces, IMO. One of my favorite books and movies of all time. Incredibly creepy, love the shit out of both!
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Love it, Skeletor!
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😀 Yay! Someone who has read the book and watched the movie! They both need respect as they were both great. Nothing wrong with the weirdos, they usually have a better way of telling stories and showing us things! 😛
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Good job guys! Shining still remains as a scary ass movie that still has the fear factor yet it is a greatly crafted film with a really cool aesthetic. Did either of you see Room 237?
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I didn’t… is it worth it?
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Thanks! I have not seen it… mixed reviews and I don’t know if looking that in depth to something is worth it… like a conspiracy theory. You reckon it is worth it though, or does it take itself too seriously?
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It was okay, I only watched half to be honest. It’s a bit pretentious if that makes sense. It’s almost better to not hear all that extra stuff about it.
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That’s the angle I took : )
I’m out on that one!!
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Case in point. I will likely skip it!
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I really would like to read the novel some day. But the film is just so damn good, I might want to just keep my impression of it the same and not have it altered by something else. Even despite my curiosity as to why Stephen King himself denounced Kubrick’s adaptation.
Nice reviews peeps!!!
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THANKS TOM!!
This movie is excellent!! You don’t want to sully your image of Crothers….!
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You should totally read it Tom, it is a really good book! It was well written and presented and told a story that King crafted fantastically. It should not alter what you feel for the movie. King originally denounced it, but later warmed, I actually read about this extensively the other day. It was actually very interesting to see exactly what he did say, and you will understand when you read the book how originally that movie would have looked like it had totally ruined the book.
Thanketh you kindly!
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Lovely stuff, top work guys! This is one of my favourite films, it’s just brilliant. I’m one of those dickheads though who reads far too much into everything in this film, but I just think it’s awesome!
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Thanks Chris! Glad to hear you like it that much, it was a great film! You studied film though, right?
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I did indeed and I actually studied Stanley Kubrick so I spent ages looking at his work.
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Ooooh you see, you will have such a unique outlook that we don’t! I can believe that this would have been an interesting one to study?
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THANK YOU!!
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Great work you guys! I’m not overly keen on Duvall in this film but it’s an interesting argument that it’s all seen through here eyes and that she’s actually mad. Jack may never have existed at all. Love that twist!
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Thanks Mark! You know, not my biggest seller for the film, but she manages to carry it well enough considering.
Hmmmm… imagine it all in her head!
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It’s a feasible argument. She does allude to Jack being abusive towards Danny in the past so that’s obviously a fear of hers. Then we get the photograph at the end with Jack in it. He was a caretaker years and years ago. It would make sense for Wendy to be imagining it all. Yet, I never viewed it that way until recently.
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Hmmmmm, it is an argument that could work of course. What made you think along those lines?
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It was actually suggested to me too and when I thought about it it started to make sense. I actually believe that was Kubrick’s intention to keep it ambiguous like that now.
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I think so too, because there was a lot that was conflicting. The only person whom I trusted completely was Dick Hallorann, to be honest. He seemed the most impartial.
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HUUUUUUUUUUHHHHHHH?? Never though about that before…. interesting….
Boat Drinks!!
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Yeah, think on it, man. It takes the film in a completely different direction. And it’s all the better for it. After some thought myself, I really buy it and think that was Kubrick’s intention. What else would the old photograph at the end with Jack in it, mean? It had to all be in Wendy’s head. It’s her that’s fragile and disturbed by the hotel.
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I’ll have to give it some thought when I have less going on…
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Great reviews, lady and gent. The Shining is definitely exceptionally well made and doubly scary. I don’t much enjoy it, but I do recognize its genius.
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Thank you very much, my good man!
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Thanks for commenting Josh! At least you recognise the genius 😛
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NICE JOB, YOU TWO!!!! One of my favorite horrors here fo sho. So weird, so thoroughly creepy. Definitely different from the novel, but ultimately it pays off because HOLY SHIT JACK NICHOLSON IS SCURRY. Eric, though I am sorry about your fear of Shelley Duvall…I cannot stop laughing about it. Of all things for big, brave, horror champ The IPC to fear…doe-eyed, weak-voiced Shelley Duvall trumps all. Lololol.
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P.S. We should do one of these at some point, Eric! 🙂
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YOU’RE ON!!!!! Let me do some thinking on what we can tackle!!
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DEAL!!! 😀
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#thumbs
!!
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She haunts my nightmares!!! I can see that pale face in the darkness whispering “Errrrriiiccccc………”
*shudders*
*whimpers a little*
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Thanks Cara! It is a really good film!
LOOOL! Shelley Duvall… nice.
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The only plot point I knew from The Shining before seeing it for the first time last year was PERIOD!!!! That gif. You know the one. 😀
AWESOME reviews, both of you, and The Shining is great and so f–king eerie. 😀
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THANK YOU Elina!!
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Thank you!
LOL! Well, sounds like you enjoyed it, and that is awesome!
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Great review Eric and Zoe, I actually just reviewed this film if you’re interested in reading my thoughts on it.
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I’ll be sure to check it out! : )
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Thanks Eric.
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