The Shining (1980)

[Smegma]

Originally Posted by jlyon1515

I'm shocked at the hate.

I've always loved this poster. I think it's great.

[Cherokee Jack]

Watched the American cut just a few days after seeing the international cut in order to compare and it left me a bit conflicted. There are several scenes/shots that I was happy to see again but as usual the American cut had my mind wandering. The tension becomes boredom about 2/3 through and I think that's largely thanks to the cutaways to Halloran and, to a lesser extent, the cutaway to Wendy thinking along with Tony's takeover of Danny. At that point in the film, I feel the plot is better served by focusing on Jack attacking his family to the exclusion of everything else. I couldn't believe how painfully long the film felt compared the international version and I'm not one to usually complain about even 3 hour+ runtimes.

Several of the cuts seem rushed in the international version however: I miss the fades and characters tend to appear/disappear or enter an adjacent scene with new companions without explanation. I also consider the truncating of the backstory for Jack's prior alcoholism & child abuse harmful even if they're not strictly necessary. Honestly, it kind of feels like it would have been ideal had Kubrick realized the American cut was far too long before it's initial release when he still had the time to edit less brutally and maybe even re-shoot some stuff if necessary.

One little thing that I do absolutely love about the American cut: the use of Looney Tunes scene-transition music (from cartoons being watched by Danny in the background) to serve as actual scene transition music in the film not once but twice, including once right before the first violent confrontation between Jack and Wendy.

[AlexIlDottore]

People claim that The Shining is boring now?

[MJD64]

Originally Posted by AlexIlDottore

People claim that The Shining is boring now?

Only the philistines.

[yellowcakeuf6]

Originally Posted by AlexIlDottore

People claim that The Shining is boring now?

Well, how many explosions are there, or screeching car chases, and no bass heavy stretches of music.

[AlexIlDottore]

Originally Posted by yellowcakeuf6

Well, how many explosions are there, or screeching car chases, and no bass heavy stretches of music.

The Shining ain't got nothing on Bad Boys 2, yo

[eiknarf]

Originally Posted by Cherokee Jack

Watched the American cut just a few days after seeing the international cut in order to compare and it left me a bit conflicted.



One little thing that I do absolutely love about the American cut: the use of Looney Tunes scene-transition music (from cartoons being watched by Danny in the background) to serve as actual scene transition music in the film not once but twice, including once right before the first violent confrontation between Jack and Wendy.

Looney Tunes plays an important hidden narrative, too.

So much so that Kubrick purposely dressed Wendy the same as Goofy from Looney Tunes.

Wendy. Goofy.

[MifuneFan]

Goofy = Disney not Looney Tunes

I also doubt it was intentional. People have all kinds of crazy theories for this movie.

[eiknarf]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

Goofy = Disney not Liiney Tunes

Oh damn!
I always confused those.

My bad

Daffy Duck is Looney Tunes, right?

[Arawn]

what the

[happydood]

I love this movie. Love. Love. Love it. I've seen it countless times over the years and it always has something new to offer and has pretty much everything I want in a horror movie.

That said, I think it's a mistake to assume that somebody who doesn't like it or thinks it's boring is a mouth-breather who wants car explosions or car chases to satisfy them. Different generations and changing times give the visual aesthetic a different context than it had when it came out. You have to go to old movies and meet them on their own terms because as much as we want to claim a movie hasn't aged or could have been made yesterday, the fashions, the music, the pace and all of the tell-tale signs of the era in which a movie was made are still there. I think these things are to be cherished but I don't expect somebody who doesn't have the same sensibility to walk into a Kubrick film- which is actively trying to challenge you- and take away everything it has to offer.

And that said, I don't necessarily have a lot to talk about with a person who doesn't like The Shining, but there are plenty of movies of high-repute that do nothing for me, so it's fine.

[JimDiGriz]

Originally Posted by AlexIlDottore

The Shining ain't got nothing on Bad Boys 2, yo

I would have to be paid quite a bit of money just to sit through Bad Boys 1 or 2. In fact we shouldn't mention this trash in this thread!

[MifuneFan]

^

[Axl Rose]

I just can't get over that shot of the skeletons.

[AlexIlDottore]

Originally Posted by JimDiGriz

I would have to be paid quite a bit of money just to sit through Bad Boys 1 or 2. In fact we shouldn't mention this trash in this thread!

What are you talking about? Bad Boys 2 (along with Die Hard) is probably the greatest action film of all time, much like The Shining is probably the greatest horror.

[English Patient]

Originally Posted by Axl Rose

I just can't get over that shot of the skeletons.

I don't have a problem with it at all. I looked at it like the Overlook Hotel was turning into some devious funhouse at the end, surprising Wendy with a whole variety of creepy, bizarre, silly, ridiculous and horrifying imagery. I don't think every manifestation of the evil in the hotel was supposed to have the same tone. In The Exorcist, the demon in Regan had a variety of ways of getting under the skin of the priests and the mother, ranging from the silly to the menacing - mimicking other people's voices, making silly remarks in foreign languages, saying vulgar and horrifying things, levitating, etc.

[English Patient]

Not sure if this has been posted before, but this site has the original treatment of The Shining that Kubrick wrote - it's fascinating, and it's A LOT different than what ended up on the screen.

https://cinephiliabeyond.org/stanley...f-the-shining/

[Baron Blood]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

...I also doubt it was intentional. People have all kinds of crazy theories for this movie.

I agree about people sometimes reading too much into this film but the similarity is pretty obvious to me.
Not only the colors are exact but she's also wearing the female equivalent of a red top and blue bottoms.
I don't think it was a happy mistake since her character is kinda pathetic and extremely uncomfortable in her skin.
She played a rather simple and less than confident character

[bobbyh64]

There’s a documentary by Rodney Asch called Room 237 that’s about all the different crazy theories people have about The Shining.

[eiknarf]

Originally Posted by bobbyh64

There’s a documentary by Rodney Asch called Room 237 that’s about all the different crazy theories people have about The Shining.

Got it.

But it's not as good as Rob Ager's thorough analysis