Movie #137 - The Shining

"A masterpiece of modern horror."

As one of the biggest fans of this movie, you really cannot argue with this tagline. Not surprisingly, this movie is in my personal top three movies of all time, with the list being somewhat interchangeable with The Exorcist and Psycho included.

This movie is Jack Nicholson at his best - way before he just became a shell of the actor he was in the late 70's and early 80's. Nowadays, Nicholson is playing himself, as opposed to actually adopting roles and flexing his acting prowess.

The movie has some slow points and after watching it on average seven to nine times per year when it's on television, this movie is no longer scary for me. It probably didn't help because it is one of the first movies I remember ever watching when I was a kid, so I probably saw this movie back when I was about three or four years old. Great parenting eh? No big deal, not like it made me into an ax murderer or something, just made me pretty jaded and not afraid of most current horror movies.

Plus, not to sound too old (29 turning 30 in 2010), this movie is still quite good compared to some of the crap that is being churned out these days. Current horror movies are glorified slasher films, using gore tactics and loud music. Gone are the days of the classic musical score, elite level acting, and just a good story to tell and a great screenplay. Cinematography is no longer an art form, as CGI and horror costumes are taking over... sorry, but the Saw series and anything by Eli Roth for example cannot hold a candle to this movie.

The acting is superb, even with a small cast of characters. The movie is about cabin fever combined with what a haunted hotel will do to someone. Nicholson is complemented well with the frantic acting of Shelley Duvall, while Scatman Crothers makes another appearance with Jack in this film - seek out One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest for the other collaboration between these two. However, for those who have seen this film, Crothers and Nicholson are only briefly on screen together.

Danny Torrance is the real treat of this movie. Not only is he creepy (portrayed by Danny Lloyd), but his character is what makes this movie work. He sees all of the echoes of the past and he sees all that is bad with The Overlook Hotel. The explanation of the "shining" power is better explained in the book by Stephen King, however, I like Stanley Kubrick's adaptation here, although there is much lost, despite the length of the movie.

There was a remake of this movie done about 12 years ago starring Steven Weber and Rebecca De Mornay, however, I will leave that poorly done adaptation out of this discussion. I personally saw that mini-series, and although it is closer to the work of King's novel, it was so poorly done and over-hyped, that is was quite the disappointment.

Overall, I will never get sick of this movie. I love the score and there are some great scenes to this film. That's all I do now - watch these classic films for my favourite scenes.

I've got a few, but I decided to go with this one instead - it was a tough decision, but I think I made the right one:



As for the trailer, here you go... not a bad way to entice audiences back then. If they re-released this movie in theatres now, I would present it in the same way. Maybe upon the 30th anniversary in May 2010... methinks this is a good idea.

Movie #48 - 1408

"The Dolphin Hotel invites you to stay in any of its stunning rooms. Except one."

In case you haven't guessed it, the room in question is 1408. Based on a Stephen King novel... isn't every good horror movie based on something written by someone with some credibility. Unfortunately, this is definitely not one of King's best movie adaptations. It ranks up there with Thinner.

John Cusack is a writer (of course) of Top 10 haunted locations. There are some additional key plot twists which is supposed to enlist sympathy for the protagonist... what the filmmakers didn't think of is having sympathy for the audience.

There are some weird twists to this movie... but I say weird in a bad reference kind of way... not in the good, 2001: A Space Odyssey type of weird.

Cusack's role is forgettable and unfortunately, he's starting to pick some poor roles for his acting expertise in recent years. I cannot think of anything good he has done recently, except for maybe Runaway Jury - which is already 5 years ago... going back further, you run into Being John Malkovich, which is now over 9 years old by my counts.

Samuel L. Jackson on the other hand... is working about par with what his skills allow. This movie is strictly another money grab for Jackson... something almost every role in his resume includes as a pre-requisite. Jackson does not add anything to the Gerald Olin hotel manager character, nor has he added anything to any of his other recent movies. If you want to look back - maybe Star Wars Episode I-III comes to mind (1999-2005 - mainly because his death scene from Episode III was pivotal to the character development of Darth Vader and he did have some cool fight scenes in the Episode II). But before that... possibly add A Time to Kill and Pulp Fiction, going back more than 12 and 14 years respectively.

I still question Jackson's validity of claiming to be the #1 actor of all-time in terms of gross movie revenues, usurping Harrison Ford in recent years. Many of Jackson's films are obscure at best and many of his roles (e.g. Star Wars) are supporting in nature. Also, although one can lay claim that Ford also has 3 Star Wars films to prop him up in this argument, at least Han Solo is included in the progression of all 3 films, yet Mace Windu is only prominent in pockets of II and III. I beg to question Jackson's self proclaimed movie dominance... hopefully, other actors will change that statement... but Jackson will continue to make crappy films, and you can probably rank many of his 2008 upcoming entries into that category.