4 stars
if this movie came out today it would be an absolute joke …
but the sheer amount of memes it generated and the influence it had on cinematography in general and horror in particular makes it well worth the watch !
i was actually thinking of how “The Shining” ( 1980 ) compares to “Hereditary” ( 2018 ) …
“Hereditary” is easily 10 times better … yet the impact it had or will have will be at best a fraction of the impact “the Shining” had because it came almost 40 years later …
it would be like comparing a good car from 2018 to the best car from 1980 … there would be no contest at all … and yet the best car from 1980 will always be remembered and a good car from 2018 will be forgotten pretty quick …
when you watch a classic like “The Shining” you aren’t watching it for the film itself, but for the impact it had - just like when you buy a classic car you aren’t doing it because you want something that is efficient, safe or reliable … you know the classic car will not come close to being any of those things but you also know you would be very proud of owning it - same with a movie like “The Shining”
there are certain elements of the movie which feel ahead of its time - others that look very dated - and others that are unintentionally funny when they were supposed to be scary - but it’s all good when you approach it with the mindset of an art critic rather than just a movie goer.
to me “The Shining” isn’t a movie - it’s an extremely interesting artifact of its time.
i absolutely recommend it but you have to watch it either alone or with other people who understand what it actually is. you can’t watch it with average low brows - they will just think it’s retarded.
Kubrick and Nicholson are / were both geniuses / way ahead of the game.
The girl has funny looking teeth but otherwise very pretty. She couldn’t act worth a shit in any of the normal scenes but in the scenes in which she was either crying or horrified she did quite well.
i do wonder why a lot of girls in movies of that time looked that way but none do today - what happened ?
The kid couldn’t really act - I guess that’s why out of the 3 of them he is the one who didn’t make it into the memes.
But in those days even adults couldn’t act let alone children, so it wasn’t his fault really.
overall definitely a must watch but only for movie buffs, not for general audience.