Rating: 
Summary: Highly Over-rated Amityville Horror Rip-off.
Review: This film has ONLY two things going for it. Kubrick meets Nicholson and the advent of the award winning cinematography technology - Stedicam™. True Kubrick fans will agree that this is a highly overrated, undernourished, ill-plotted and inapt adaptation of a Stephen King novel. Even Stephen King agrees with that! The film is marred by an intolerably sluggish beginning and middle act that is supposed to build up to an all out finale of mad proportions. The truth is that it had all been done before in 1979 in an equally as well known film called - The Amityville Horror.The premise is simple. Husband, wife and kid move to a hotel for a snowy winter. Kid has the gift of the second sight, wife is just your average stereotypical "nicey nice" housewife, husband is working at the hotel to keep it running while the owners and the guests are away. He is also writing a book. The hotel turns out to be haunted. This slowly drives the husband insane. He then tries to kill his family with an axe and the wife and kid freak out of it in the process. The Amityville Horror is the original "mad family axe man" movie. It is also the original mad family axe man novel! Both novel and film precede King and Kubrick's vision of the exact same theme, except here you have a hotel that is haunted instead of a house. No points for originality there. You would do the original owners of this theme a great disservice by giving it to Kubrick and King instead. The entire film looks great because of the fluid Stedicam work that goes up the stairs, down the hall, and into every nook and cranny seamlessly. Nicholson does a great job of going insane and then absolutely crackers in the end. Everything else in this film is utterly tedious material that will try your patients to the very last thread. Kubrick did all of his "one million takes" to get that shot. Okay he got the shot, but he forgot entirely about the script and what makes a movie tick. We could say that it is all about the performances - but let us look at that more closely. The kid in this movie says very little and just usually looks scared or intrigued by something, but that is it. Shelley Duvall is the most clichéd driven character you will ever see. She does little more than attend to Nicholson's every demand in the most sterile of performances that ends up with her doing a lot of screaming. Obviously everybody was made to look dull in this film so that Nicholson's raving lunatic would eclipse their roles. Unfortunately Kubrick should have gone further and got Nicholson's performance to eclipse the entire movie. It goes nowhere near transcending the banality of its 143 minutes. The last 30 minutes is all insanity and chasing the family around with an axe. The other 113 minutes is sheer nothingness as people see a few ghosts and just visit places in the hotel. Nowhere does this film work itself out to excuse almost two hours of its pretentious, exaggerated, hollow setup - and that is all those two hours are. It is a big setup of the hotel, its haunted parts, more areas of the hotel and the family staying together in solitary. Don't by into the flamboyant grandiose big names that went along with this abhorrence of storytelling. The ending, which this whole movie is based on, does absolutely nothing to justify the rest of it. When you sit through this thing from start to finish you will see through its phoniness for what it is. When you couple that with the fact that it is a rip-off, it only lowers everything even more. That is why I give this a 1 star rating. As a fan of the genre this DVD goes where it should belong. Among the other awful direct to video horror movies that gather dust at the back of the shelf as testimony to the great horror films that sit in front of them for regular viewing and cover polishing.
Rating: 
Summary: All Work And No Play Makes Jack a Dull Boy.
Review: Stanley Kubrick finished working on the film adaptation of Stephen King's novel, The Shining, in 1980. Here's a fun fact for you: did you know that that hedge maze was actually constructed inside of the hotel? It's true. Also, Jack Nicholson said--in a supplemental interview provided on the disc--that a celebrity meets ten times the number of people in one year that the average Joe meets in his entire life. Pointless, and doesn't have anything to do with the movie, but also true. The pseudo-intellectual that I am, I watched all of the additional footage on my Stanley Kubrick DVD collection, and thus I know all sorts of interesting facts. You should, too. The world would be a friendlier place if there were more pseudo-intellectuals, no doubt. [...] The Shining, in my opinion, is the most fascinating of all of Kubrick's adaptations. That's not to say that it is the best, but it is most likely the Kubrick film that is the hardest to fully understand. The hidden meanings or underlying themes are easier to seek out in the other films [A Clockwork Orange, Full Metal Jacket and Dr. Strangelove [though these are not necessarily less intelligent]]. The Shining, however, takes far more of your Reasoning Skills to undercover--and gaze in awe upon--its hidden meaning. I've not been able to yet. I've watched it six times, but still I cannot grasp it. After all of these months, its hidden essence still eludes me! [...] The story of The Shining is simple: a family agrees to be caretakers of an excluded winter resort for the entire winter season--no contact with anyone outside of the three of them for four to five months. The son is somewhat of a multiple-personality prophet, and the father is an alcoholic [furtively quite insane]. After only a couple of months, Jack [Jack Nicholson] starts losing his mind. He types over and over again, "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy." An interesting facet of the tale, Stan. Kubrick's directing is, of course, quite fascinating, as usual. If you expect me to say something intelligent about it, you will wait forever, because I'm stupid and I can't. Many remarkable ideas are incorporated: there's that crazy maze outside, that doomed hotel room, the barkeeper, the twin girls, the blood from the elevator shaft, and that bizarre carpet. What does it all mean? It means that Kubrick is a genius. Seriously. Another random fact: Did you know that Stephen King was displeased with Kubrick's rendition of his novel and so then produced another film adaptation a few years later? It's true. You can probably find it, right here on Amazon. What a cocky son of a bitch, I say. "What? Kubrick didn't make your story good enough?" What a loser. He should have gotten down on his knees and praised God that Kubrick chose to adapt his stupid story. Kubrick meant much more with his movie than King meant with his novel. And that's the truth. As for what the film's about, I don't know what to tell you. Perhaps its just Kubrick ridiculing the whole idea of making a horror film [or any film, for that matter], into a spectacle. The Overlook Hotel is supposedly built on an old Indian burial ground. That's such a clichéd idea for Kubrick to incorporate if it has no larger purpose--which, of course, means that it does. There's so many places that you can take this film that I'm at a stand-still. Is it some sort of Freudian knock on the roles of the nuclear family? Is it saying something about the labyrinthine quality of the mind? Is it about God? Or the dangers of seclusion? Perhaps it's about the dangers of writer's block. Hmm...[Again, I am proud of my pretension.*] I just don't know! Anyhow, I know far too many people who write this film off as a "scary movie." You shouldn't do that. That's stupid. I hate you if you do that. This film is not a scary movie--it's a psychological thriller. See? One cheesy categorization to the next. But, anyhow, if you have a brain in your head you should absorb this film. "Genius," I say in my pseudo-intellectual voice [which is basically my regular voice]. Unless you literally are a genius, you won't "get" it the first time, so you should buy it.
Rating:
Summary: One of Kubrick's best!
Review: The Shining, based on Steven King's novel is a masterpiece! I usually don't watch horror movies but this one was not like many I had seen before. What I like about this movie was it was not unpleasent to watch, and I say that because I don't like movies with a lot of gore. This movie had some but since the movie was very interesting, I was still able to watch. The movie is about a family that is hired to watch a summertime hotel over the winter. Jack Nicholson plays as Jack Torrance[father]. Shelley Duvall plays as Wendy Torrance[mother] and Danny Lloyd plays as Danny Torrance[son]. Jack has really been in this hotel before and that's why when Jack first walked into the hotel he mentioned: "it seems like I have been here before". Danny was born with something called the shining which means that he can see things that may have happened a long time ago, or things that might not have happened yet. So, Danny and Jack begin to see very strange things around the hotel and eventually it drives Jack crazy and he wants to kill his family.
I thought that the movie was very well done. Jack Nicholson's acting was very good and it seems that he is the one that really fits to the character. The special features is also interesting, featuring the making of The Shining. It shows how many scenes were done. The music is very haunting and the scenery is good. If your a fan of Stanley Kubrick's movies or your just looking for a good horror movie than this is the movie for you!!!
Rating: 
Summary: A little too stale for 2004
Review: Perhaps this was the greatest horror movie of 1980. But the bottom line for any horror movie is this: are you scared when you are watching it or not? I wasn't scared in ANY scene while watching this Kubrick classic. Probably our tastes and fear thresholds have changed considerably with the times. Between Jack Nicholson's scene-stealing acting, Shelly Duval's perpetually teary-eyed innocence, and the unending waves of great and truly spooky orchestral score, my vote goes for the film's super music. The endless steady-cam chases through the corridors of the vast hotel were perhaps a novelty 24 years ago when this movie was made. But watching it in 2004, you wish the cameraman just sat on a chair and did not move for fifteen seconds for a change. The camera's endless rabbit chase is over done. The shifts between the normal daily reality and delusionary dream sequences are not always seamless either. For example, take the scene where Jack is locked up in that walk-in storage room. He starts talking with this phantom caretaker. And then he gets out. How come? When did the ghosts start to unlock heavy metal doors? Does not connect. To enjoy this movie you have to be ready to overlook the logical gaps in the script and take a handful of motion-sickness pills to endure the over-the-top steady-cam .... Jack Nicholson's razor-sharp acting and that great music score are the two reasons worth sitting through this stale "horror" flick.
Rating:
Summary: An Underated Masterpiece
Review: Why this movie opened to negative reviews when it first came out is something I will never quite understand. Sure - this film has almost nothing to do with the King novel. Yes - at times it doesn't make sense. And yes - it is a tad bit too long. But all these complaints can be justified. First of all - everyone knows that there was simply no way to bring the novel to the screen as King wanted it. Kubrick knew what he was doing. To bring the story to the screen as King wanted it would have required six hours perhaps, which was how long the T.V. miniseries was (know anyone who craves to buy that film on DVD?) For the Shining to work as one film it had to be done the way Kubrick did it. Thus Nicholson's performance is justified and at times brilliant. His quick descent into madness is appropriate for (1) film. A gradual descent would have taken much more then 142 minutes. Plot - honestly - anyone who complains about the confusion of the plot are the kind of people that complain about taking a plane ride to Hawaii in second class. WHO CARES? Style over substance perhaps, but when your heart is pounding during the bathroom scene or the Heeeeeeeere's Johnny moment, do you honestly care if the plot doesnt make a whole lot of sense. Yes the ghosts aren't given a motive for their making Nicholson kill his wife, nor does the final image make a whole lot of sense, but there is complaining, and then there is nitpicking. Length - I agree it runs too long, but as I sit here, I honestly cannot think of a single scene that should have been cut. The doctor scene perhaps, but even that scene is effective, as Wendy's account of Jack's drunkenness give an ominous feel to his mannerisms. But enough about the cons. There are so many pros that make this film nothing short of a classic. The set design of the Overlook, the profoundly creepy and atmospheric score, Kubrick's solid direction, and then the performances, which make the film soar. Scatman Croethers is naive, wily, and charming as the ill-fated cook who dares to mingle with Jack's "duty". Duvall's aw-shucks mannerisms wear a bit thin, yes, but they prove a perfect counterpoint to the deranged lunacy of Jack. Besides, when Jack flips out in the lounge scene, she fake cries as good as any actress as I have ever scene. Danny Lloyd has a hypnotic screen presence as a boy hiding some horrible secret - check out the glare in his eye as Wendy talks to him as he becomes Tony. And then there is Jack. What a complete actor this man is! His performance is campy, over-the-top, out-of-control, and brilliant. Let the King loyalists praise Steven Weber for turning Jack Torrance into an inconsequential ninny. When Jack peers through crack in the door and utters his famous line, the horror is palpable.
Rating:
Summary: mesmerizing
Review: This is the first horror movie i saw when i was 13.It scared me so bad i couldnt sleep.ever since then i dont read or watch anything non horror.I LOVE NICHOLSON! hE IS SO INSANE LOOKING!This is a good movie with some bloopers but to me its gross which is a plus in my book.Wendy-Im home!!
Rating:
Summary: Jack Nicholsen at his best
Review: As we all know, Jack Nicholsen is commonly portrayed as a madman on the silver screen. Such as Batman, or Anger Management as somewhat of a quasi madman. I truely believe horror is this mans element. He gives a beautiful and disturbing performance as a man slipping into insanity. I throughly enjoyed the plot. Stanley Kubrik proudly shows off his genius in the translation from book to movie.
Rating:
Summary: A Pure Masterpeice
Review: Stanley Kubrick's "The Shining" is an awsome movie. This is a must if you are wanting to watch a good movie.
Rating:
Summary: A Pure Masterpiece
Review: Stanly Kubrick's "The Shining" is a good movie. it's not as scary as I thought it would be. this is a must if you want to see a good movie
Rating:
Summary: "Heeeeerrre's Johnny!!"
Review: I never read the book "The Shining" but I loved the movie. The story is about Jack Torrance (Nicholeson) and his wife, Wendy, and son Danny who move into a hotel, and weird things start to happen. Danny starts seeing evil things, and Jack starts going crazy, and wants to kill his family! The whole movie is scary and very cool, and I recommend it to Stephen King fans and horror movie fans. :) The ONLY thing I hate about "The Shining" is Shelly Duvall as Wendy Torrance. She must be one of the worse actresses I've ever seen, next to Britney Spears and Mariah Carrey. I think they should've cast someone else as Wendy Torrance then whiny and pathedic actress Shelly Duvall. :-P
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