The Shining [Blu-ray]
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Movie Reviews of The Shining [Blu-ray]
Movie Review: The shining rocks!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
Excellent item ,great picture.Quality is awesome.An old classic presented the way it should be.
Totally worth its money
Movie Review: Awesome!
Summary: 5 Stars
This movie looks amazing in Blu-ray. Plus, you cant beat the price that amazon sells them at.Movie Review: Shine Your...Light?
Summary: 4 Stars
Though me and my mom normally share various points of views on certain film makers, we tend to split when it comes to Stanley Kubrick. My mom says, "he's so weird." I tell her "yeah, but he's a brilliant film maker, who films visually stunning films that are also mesmerizing." To this she just shrugs and says, "I don't care, he's still weird." Though a big fan of the director, for some reason his 80's horror film, "The Shining," escaped me for the longest time. Based off the best selling book by Stephen King, "The Shining" is one of the Kubricks masterpieces. Yeah, yeah, I know for many people every movie the man made was a masterpiece, but this is one of those rare occurrences where art and entertainment collide so spectacularly, it almost feels accidental.
The movie revolves around Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson, in one of his best roles), a struggling writer who is having a bad case of writers block. He is a recovering alcoholic who lost his teaching job due to his short temper, so he interviews for a job as a caretaker of a hotel that closes it's doors during the winter season. Jack gets the job, and moves his wife Wendy (Shelly Duvall) and son Danny (Danny Lloyd) to the hotel for the winter. Before letting them into the building though, the manager warns them that due to the months of insolation, they are likely to experience Cabin Fever. One caretaker apparently suffered this and ended up killing his wife and two daughters. Jack thanks the man for the warning, but takes the job anyway. It's a shame Jack didn't know he was part of a Stephen King story, he most likely would have passed on the job.
What follows is nothing short of a full decent into madness. Though this is a horror film, and the movie is indeed very scary, Kubrick is a good enough storyteller that he knows how to properly build the suspense. At first little happens in the house. Wendy and Danny explore all the various rooms in the house, while Jack tried to write a novel. When that fails, Jack simply wastes time by bouncing a tennis ball against the wall. Once the snow starts though, things get bumpy. Jack becomes more and more agitated, Wendy becomes more scared of her husband. Most telling though is Danny, who earlier in the film talked to a friend who lived in his finger named Tommy, and how it appears Tommy wants out, making Danny say "Redrum"over, and over again.
Either Danny is also going crazy, or there's more to Redrum then initially meets the eye. Though all these developments may sound corny on paper, the truth is they are built up very slowly. For the first two hours we follow a pleasant family around in this big house. Then, as Jack becomes more delusional and Danny more crazy, things start to unfold. If this movie was made today, Jack would become crazy and start killing off a group of stupid teenagers for two hours. Instead, Jack starts talking to ghosts. Then he starts shouting at his wife. Then we feel he is a threat to his family. When the violence finally hits at the end of the film it hits hard. It even features an image of Jack Nicholson that has become iconic.
What makes the violence the payoff is that we work our way towards it. The movie is not senseless violent, and its more about fear then killing. A twist at the end will make you question and rethink the whole experience of the movie, much in the same way the ending of "The Sixth Sense" forced a re-evaluation of that film. This is not a bad thing, but a good thing. This means that the film is about something. It's here to make you think. That you are entertained is a blessing, but the images, the words, and the silence are all working towards provoking certain feelings from you, and the story is deeper and more complicated then you might think at first. "The Shining" offers well thought out thrills, a complicated story, and a memorable ending. It truly is a classic.
Rating: **** stars
Movie Review: The Shining in Blu-ray Worth the Trip
Summary: 4 Stars
Even though I've always had the highest regard for Stanley Kubrick's work, I do have mixed feelings for "The Shining". Even from the first viewing, I never felt that it terrified me as much as it should have. But it is a film I do re-watch from time to time simply because visually, like most of Kubrick's films, it is so satisfying and the Blu-ray version is even more so. I won't dwell on the screenplay or performances except to say that they are sometimes yes, sometimes no. But the Blu-ray disc does bring out the technical achievements of the movie. The cinematography is excellent as one would expect, but the frequent use of the Steadicam, being used here by Kubrick for the first time, does begin to call attention to itself.
I'm glad the BD was released in the 1.78:1 aspect ratio since I'm quite certain that it was presented in theaters using a 35mm print in 1.37:1 aspect and masked in the projector to get 1.78:1 or something close to it. In the early aerial shot of the hotel as shown in the 1.33:1 DVD, the blades of the camera helicopter are clearly visible at the top of the frame. I'm certain Kubrick would never have allowed this, given his attention to detail and I don't think that by 1980 there were many theaters in the U.S. showing movies in 1.37:1. The video quality of the Blu-ray release is impressive in its clarity, color balance and freedom from graininess and the helicopter blades are nowhere to be seen.
Somehow I get the impression that the musical portion of the soundtrack is a little too much of a good thing having been, I believe, remixed at a higher volume level relative to the dialogue track for this release. The music for this film was taken mostly from existing concert pieces by Bartok, Ligeti, et. al. To have the greatest effect for this film, the music, in many places, should be rather quiet and needling rather than intrusive or overbearing as it often is. Playing this film in a totally dark room and at a lower than usual audio level will help provide the feelings of uneasiness that the viewer should have.
This release makes me pine for a Blu-ray release of Barry Lyndon.
Movie Review: Blu-Ray vs. DVD: Blu-Ray mostly wins
Summary: 4 Stars
I love THE SHINING with a passion usually reserved for movies like THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW; I bought the Stanley Kubrick boxed set in 2001 and watch it regularly. I've turned down other Blu-ray editions of Kubrick films (EYES WIDE SHUT and A CLOCKWORK ORANGE) because I didn't think they were up to snuff, but I bought this because it managed to win me over.
THE SHINING is a GLORIOUS TRANSFER: the colors and textures are more vibrant and powerful than I have ever seen and seeing all those minor backgrounds details big enough to read easily are a real treat. The picture is crisp, sharp, clear, and doggone if the movie doesn't look as new as the day it was made. Kubrick movies are always a bit skimpy on the extras (Kubrick died before DVD took off and didn't leave many leftovers for the medium anyways), but the "making of" documentary with commentary also made the crossover, as well as a few new featurettes that aren't that amazing, but do offer some cool new tidbits; my favorite is the one on production design with Kubrick staffers and Garret Brown, where we get to see diagrams and schematics of the set.
My one gripe comes from the aspect ratio, which is a never-ending argument with Kubrick movies. The old DVDs maintained a full-frame aspect ratio while the Blu-ray releases favor the 1.85:1 ratio enhanced to fit the 16:9 screen. As the diagram on the special features reveals, Kubrick preferred the full-frame 1.33:1 aspect ratio, but always shot to preserve the 1.85:1 for theatrical exhibition. The problem is, Kubrick's compositions were always strongest from top-to-bottom, not side-to-side, so the widescreen aspect ratio trims off the headroom that was beautifully visible on the old DVD set. The Blu-ray is presented in 1.85:1 enhanced for 16:9 so it fills the screen; yes you see more image on the sides than you did on DVD, but the shots don't stand out as much because of the missing headroom.
So for this reason alone, I trim off one star. Otherwise, I love this Blu-ray and heavily recommend it.