The Shining

The shining is a great film. Considering the time it was shot, when technology was at a minimum. Kubrick could only work with what resources he had. I found myself thinking at the end of the film when jack Nicholson starts to talk all weird and finally dies in the snow. I thought about Max Katie in Cape fear and the ending he got. Where Nick nolte crushes him with a rock and he the drounRAB. I wonder if Scorcese copied that from the shining. Just a thought.
 
Not a huge fan of this movie. I've read the book, and I prefer it in many ways.

The whole premise of the book was about Jack Nicholson's characters descent into madness. In the book, this is far more of a psychological journey - with the character struggling with both alcohol addiction, and feeling distant from him wife and child. For most of the book, your never quite sure whether the hotel is really haunted, or whether the main character is just going mad. The movie was a lot more surreal and obviously supernatural from the get-go.

I also think Jack Nicholson was miscast for the role, because we can all see him to be clearly crazy from his very first scene. I don't think the audience got a chance to get inside his head, or to experience his journey alongside him. He was just crazy Jack Nicolson all the way through!

My favourite thing about the movie was Shelley DuVall's performance. She played the hysterically terrified wife really well, which gave the film a sense of reality it wouldn't have had otherwise. But, alas, she'll forever overshadowed by her more showy co-star...
 
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