The Shining (Stanley Kubrick, 1980) UK, USA

1352715665-the-shining-1Reviewed by Lauren Jackson. Viewed at the Santa Barbara Film Festival 2013.

Unlike the many who would have decided to see a new film and not an old re-run, I decided I wanted to watch The Shining. A film I thought I might have seen during some period in my early life, but only realized I had probably just seen parts of it on television.

For those who have no idea of the history of this film. It stars Jack Nocholson, Danny Lloyd, and Shelley Duvall. All three are driven to stay in a giant mansion of a hotel for 5 months, because Jack just got this special job as a writer. What they do know, but could care less on is the history behind the hotel itself, and how it recently just had a family murder case occur there. Which eventually begins to happen with the Torrance family.

The boy, Danny Lloyd, plays as Danny Torrance, a 6 yr old psychic who foresees the future happenings throughout the film, but cannot stop them from happening. As the 5 months slowly move on, the family is stuck in total isolation once the news mentions of a bad snow storm which entitles them to no use in making regular phone calls. The only source of communication they have is a radio, which allows them to radio connect to the sheriff.

Poor Jack goes insane. He gets massive writers block, and then begins seeing the ghosts of the hotel come to life and begin to take him over. He drives to insanity, and tries to murder his family. Luckily his family manages to survive while he ends up freezing to death by chasing Danny around in the snow carrying along with him an ax.

A movie I like? I did, but that is because I am a Jack Nicholson fan. I have seen many of his movies, and he is a common actor at which plays a good dramatic and insane role in any movie. All the movies he has starred in anyways. This movie, I thought the acting was very good, and can see very well in how being a giant place with just your family and no connection to the outside world would drive anyone insane.

 


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