Resolutions 2014: The Shining (1980)

Thanks again Cara

If there’s anything I’ve learned from Resolutions 2014, it’s this: MovieRob is a film resolution machine!!! Not only is he on his FIFTH resolution for my blog (he’s already done The Third Man, Double Indemnity, A Clockwork Orange, and Gone With the Wind), but he seems to have begun a campaign to cross all his must-watch films off his list! You should go see all the reviews he’s been doing on his blog. It’s great. Anyway, now he’s got another one checked off his list. Here’s his take on The Shining!

The wonderful Cara has let me once again do a Resolutions 2014 review. I think this series was a HUGE success (especially for me) and I can’t wait to see what new series she has planned after this one.

Thanks Cara!!!

Some places are like people: some shine and some don’t.” – Dick Hallorann

Number of Times Seen – 1 (5 Feb 2014)

Brief Synopsis – A family who volunteered to watch an abandoned hotel over the winter find out that they get more than they bargained for when the father starts to lose his mind.

My Take on it – Since I am not a fan of films from the horror genre, I steered clear away from this one for years.

Ironically, I have always immensely enjoyed reading Stephen King novels, but mostly have stuck to the non-horror and the supernatural ones.

I have heard for years how amazing this movie is and I must say that I just don’t get what everyone thinks is so extraordinary about this one.

I like the premise here, but I just don’t think the story is done well enough. Is this a movie about a man’s slow descent into insanity or is it about a family terrorized by supernatural occurrences in an abandoned hotel?

It is completely unclear.

It is no secret that Stephen King himself despised this movie and ended up making his own version in 1997 which doesn’t leave out many parts of the original novel especially the blatant supernatural elements so essential to the story.

There are too many things left unexplained in this movie that can either leave the viewer with a ton of “food for thought” afterwards or leave the viewer totally baffled as to why many things happened.

I fall into that latter category.

Director Stanley Kubrick is known for his perfectionism and for his tendency for not explaining his movies to the viewers and I think in this case it once again is to his detriment (as I also thought happened with A Clockwork Orange (1971), which he made a decade earlier).

Jack Nicholson is always great as a crazy man and does a good job of it here again.

I think if this movie would have stuck to the original story written by Stephen King it would have been much better.

I don’t regret seeing this, but I also don’t have any intention of seeing it ever again.

Bottom Line – I think I would have enjoyed this more had Kubrick left in the supernatural elements used by King in the book. Nicholson is great as a man slowly losing his mind here, but the story is lacking IMHO.

Rating – BAFTA Worthy

Rob, if this series had a mascot, you would be it. You have completely taken the idea of Resolutions 2014 to heart, and I love that. Thank you so much for your many fantastic posts! As for my next series…jeepers. I feel like I have to come up with something amazing now! I’ll mull it over and keep you posted! A couple more resolutions are coming at you soon, but tomorrow…tomorrow will be something very special–the likes of which you have never seen from me before. Prepare yourself, my friends. Mwahahahaha… 😉

Silver Screen Serenade

If there’s anything I’ve learned from Resolutions 2014, it’s this: MovieRob is a film resolution machine!!! Not only is he on his FIFTH resolution for my blog (he’s already done The Third Man, Double Indemnity, A Clockwork Orange, and Gone With the Wind), but he seems to have begun a campaign to cross all his must-watch films off his list!

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