It isn't the popular opinion, but to my mind, Kubrick and Nicholson are two of the most over-rate done trick ponies in cinema. The former can do only slow-paced pieces which are generally far less clever than they think they are, the latter plays unhinged brilliantly, but little else.
But in the shining, the slow-build of tension and the just-below-the-surface insanity create somewhat of a perfect storm. Kubrick attention to detail shines through, adding so many touches which have become iconic; even the foul way he treated his actors pays of in Shelly Duvall's genuine distress captured on screen.
The deviations from the source material are perfect for the medium - for proof see 1997's faithful, but dreadful, TV adaptation!
The effects, though sparing, stand up well even 35 years later, and even the overpass hotel was wonderfully cast, with the long corridors and sharp corner allowing for the famous shots of Danny on his tricycle, and the ballroom provides the perfect setting for both the deserted scenes with Jack drinking alone, and the busy flashbacks to the hotels decadent glory.
The films dream-logic could so easily have been a negative point, but manages to walk the line perfectly, with our never-quite knowing the full story managing to be interesting, rather than annoying.
As has become common now that we are so far up the list, there's a very good chance you've seen this classic movie; if you haven't, go do so now.
Showing posts with label Insanity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Insanity. Show all posts
Saturday, 15 October 2016
Wednesday, 22 July 2015
The Shining (1980) - Lisa's Review
The Shining has been one of those movies that has never fallen off my Top 20 Movies List. Once upon a time it was in the top 10, but since then I've seen A LOT of movies, so it is a testament to how good the movie is to still remain so high in my estimation. I'm generally not a big Kubrick fan, but this is his finest work IMHO.
The Shining is a movie I would expect everyone has seen. Giving a detailed premise seems redundant, but for the sake of any future young 'uns who may happen upon this blog, here is a basic idea.
We follow frustrated and ex alcoholic author, Jack Torrance, who is looking for somewhere quiet and secluded, where inspiration may strike and enable him to do some writing. A perfect opportunity comes up for Jack to act as a winter caretaker at The Overlook Hotel, which is closed from November to May due to severe weather conditions. Jack is delighted to be offered the position, and despite warnings from the hotel manager about the previous caretakers meltdown and experience of cabin fever, he feels strong enough of mind to handle the seclusion. He has the company of his long suffering wife Wendy and young son Danny over the period.
Jack is a very sullen and troubled character and his wife Wendy appears to be very put upon. Jack seems to hold her responsible for his lack of success and inability to hold down a job since he lost his teaching career due to his violent tendencies. With all this in mind, it was perhaps, not the best decision to take his young family to the seclusion of Overlook Hotel.
Saturday, 27 April 2013
Maniac - Will's Review
So a slasher this week - Yay! I do love me a slasher!
A very atypical one though; Maniac avoids the conventions of following a group of potential victims (a la FT13th, Elm Street) or even one stand out victim (a la Halloween), instead we follow the killer; but even for that, this isn't a "hero killer" movie, not do we understand his motives (beyond "he's crazy") for quite a while.
On the subject of his crazy, the insanity is brilliantly written and acted - this is no hammed up 'conversations with himself' insanity; this is real non-linear crazy.
As he nails each of his latest victims' scalp to a mannequin (which is his MO) he does have a habit if conversing with himself, but he switches sides of the conversation rapidly; there is no 'call and return' preformed by two distinct personalities, just a jumble of thoughts that bleed into one another. At times these little monologues genuinely unnerving, not because if any particular content, but because you could easily believe them as the ramblings of a madman.
I also found the level of remorse interesting; at times he would seem genuinely sorry for his killings, even while performing them.
It's a shame then, that the story is so straight forward, and the killings so bland; well executed (by FX maestro Tom Savinni) but dull. The only real stand-out death being when Savinni himself (appearing simply because he already cad a cast of his own head) is shot in the head, causing his head to explode in a spectacularly over the top fashion.
There are some nice quasi-supernatural parts near the end, but they aren't enough to rescue the movie.
Despite a great performance from the lead, I found the whole affaire to be a little slow; I can see why this one has been re-made.
I enjoyed it well enough, but can't recommend it due to the pace.
A very atypical one though; Maniac avoids the conventions of following a group of potential victims (a la FT13th, Elm Street) or even one stand out victim (a la Halloween), instead we follow the killer; but even for that, this isn't a "hero killer" movie, not do we understand his motives (beyond "he's crazy") for quite a while.
On the subject of his crazy, the insanity is brilliantly written and acted - this is no hammed up 'conversations with himself' insanity; this is real non-linear crazy.
As he nails each of his latest victims' scalp to a mannequin (which is his MO) he does have a habit if conversing with himself, but he switches sides of the conversation rapidly; there is no 'call and return' preformed by two distinct personalities, just a jumble of thoughts that bleed into one another. At times these little monologues genuinely unnerving, not because if any particular content, but because you could easily believe them as the ramblings of a madman.
I also found the level of remorse interesting; at times he would seem genuinely sorry for his killings, even while performing them.
It's a shame then, that the story is so straight forward, and the killings so bland; well executed (by FX maestro Tom Savinni) but dull. The only real stand-out death being when Savinni himself (appearing simply because he already cad a cast of his own head) is shot in the head, causing his head to explode in a spectacularly over the top fashion.
There are some nice quasi-supernatural parts near the end, but they aren't enough to rescue the movie.
Despite a great performance from the lead, I found the whole affaire to be a little slow; I can see why this one has been re-made.
I enjoyed it well enough, but can't recommend it due to the pace.
Saturday, 22 December 2012
Antichrist - Lisa's Review
*** BIG FAT SPOILERS ***
I start this review still a bit gaping mouthed and hope I make more sense to you than I do to myself in this review. To be honest, I still haven't decided whether or not I liked the movie. One thing I do know for sure, is that it is not most peoples cup of tea. I think I got about three quarters of the way through and was on the 'not liking it' camp, but as it reached its climax, I began to appreciate a lot of aspects of the movie.
As the movie starts, it is very clear we're dealing with an arty one. Now I'm far from a fan of this kind of movie, so I don't expect to make much in the way of sense of the storyline. I do like how the movie is filmed though, I like the use of black and white. I like the separation of the movie into several different titled chapters. In places, I loved the almost musical flow of the script and the beauty of the location. Alongside the beauty we witness, there is incomprehensible violence and nastiness, which is very difficult to understand. It is shocking definately and had my eyebrows raised on a number of occasions, which I will go into later in the review.
As for whats going on in the movie. As we start, the couple who we follow through the movie (they are never named) are making love (all real sex apparently.. we can see why Willem Dafoe has been cast). As this is happening, their toddler son has climbed out of his cot, opened his baby gate and wandered to an open window. He climbs up and falls to the ground below. This opening scene is heartbreaking. As a mother, I probably found it the most difficult part of the movie as its a constant fear of mine and the sheer thought of anything happening to my son, almost drives me insane. This made me better understand the mothers actions as the movie progressed. The way the scene is shot, in black and white and slow motion, with a beautiful piece of music in the background adds to the tragic nature of what's happening. Its snowing outside and we can better visually see the toddler hit the ground below (although this isn't portrayed in a graphic or bloody way thankfully), we also see his stuffed toy bounce off the snow beside him. I had a tear in my eye and a lump in my throat.
So, things start to get more than a little odd from here. We don't ever see the couple discover their son, we immediately move to the first 'chapter' (the opening was the prologue) which is just after their sons funeral. The wife collapses with grief. We follow attempted treated in hospital, which her husband is not very happy with as she is not improving, so they decide to go to a cabin in the woods to try to get her better themselves as her husband is a shrink of sorts and thinks he can sure her by exposing her to what has happened.
So they take themselves to the cabin in the woods (called Eden) and what follows is some scary-assed sh*t. There is lots of sex. She seems to get increasingly more mad (I could understand this aspect as I said earlier as I don't think I'd cope at all with the death of my son, never mind if my carelessness caused it).... however... she moves from a bit f*cked up wanting her husband to be violent towards her during sex as she seems to believe following some studying she was doing before this all happened, that women are fundamentally bad and deserve punishment.
We see all sorts of weird scenes with animals, including a deer with a dead baby hanging out of her (obviously symbolising the mother who has lost her baby), a talking fox who is clearly badly injured and a crow who just won't die no matter how many times its bashed over the head). Just when I am starting to understand the woman and her grief, the husband finds out that she had been putting their sons shoes on the wrong feet causing him to have deformed feet. What kind of mother does that? This woman has obviously not been well in the head for some years, even prior to the death of her child.
As the husband makes this discovery, things begin to get eye-brow raising. How can I describe this.... she climbs astride her husband, shouting at him the whole time that she doesn't believe he loves her, makes sure he has an erection, then wallops him in the genitals with a plank of wood!! The pain renders him unconscious and as she lies beside him she looks over and notices he still has a raging erection!! WTF??? I'm sure that's not right?? Not only that, but an erect penis on screen??? This probably shocked me more than any other part of the movie. I've always been told, you're not allowed to show this on screen. She then proceeds to masturbate him and he ejaculates blood.. This raises many questions... erect penis? ability to ejaculate? blood? It is a real hand job too! Nothing prosthetic here. I did notice, the man is blessed amidst all this confusion.
So just as we're getting over that one, she drills through his shin with one of those hand drills and puts a massive weight through his leg so he can't move. She leaves him and goes into the forest, throwing a spanner for his leg weight under the cabin so he has no hope of getting the damn thing off. We then see him come to and manage to drag himself out of the cabin. He hears her screaming for him and hides in a hole (which is where the weird crow thing happens). She finds him and not content with what she has already done, she proceeds to batter him with a shovel and leave him basically buried alive! I thought that was it for him, but apparently not. Overcome with guilt, she drags him out and back to the cabin.
If we were cringing before, it's the ladies turn now. For reasons best known to herself.. probably guilt, she cuts her own clitoris off with a pair of scissors??? For a woman that seems to enjoy sex and masturbation as much as she does, this was a bit of a wierd move for me.
The weird animals make another appearance, leaving me head scratching again. He manages to find the location of the spanner, as the crow is trapped beneath the floorboards where he is lay in the cabin and he breaks through to free it. He retrieves the spanner and frees himself (not before she has tried to kill him with the clit snipping scissors!).
At last, he's had enough and we end the movie with him strangling her (very well shot and convincing) and he burns her body outside and cabin. As he walks away (with his injuries, i'm not sure how that was possible) and the movie , he is surrounded by loads of faceless women. I didn't quite get what they were inferring here, but hey, I didn't understand loads of this movie.
In conclusion, I can't say 'avoid' as it is interesting in places, beautiful in others and downright cringeworthy in others, so worth a check out I would say. Would I watch it again? Possibly... maybe to see if i could make more sense of it second time around. I can't quite bring myself to give it a 'Lisa Recommends' but it had its own appeal.
I start this review still a bit gaping mouthed and hope I make more sense to you than I do to myself in this review. To be honest, I still haven't decided whether or not I liked the movie. One thing I do know for sure, is that it is not most peoples cup of tea. I think I got about three quarters of the way through and was on the 'not liking it' camp, but as it reached its climax, I began to appreciate a lot of aspects of the movie.
As the movie starts, it is very clear we're dealing with an arty one. Now I'm far from a fan of this kind of movie, so I don't expect to make much in the way of sense of the storyline. I do like how the movie is filmed though, I like the use of black and white. I like the separation of the movie into several different titled chapters. In places, I loved the almost musical flow of the script and the beauty of the location. Alongside the beauty we witness, there is incomprehensible violence and nastiness, which is very difficult to understand. It is shocking definately and had my eyebrows raised on a number of occasions, which I will go into later in the review.
As for whats going on in the movie. As we start, the couple who we follow through the movie (they are never named) are making love (all real sex apparently.. we can see why Willem Dafoe has been cast). As this is happening, their toddler son has climbed out of his cot, opened his baby gate and wandered to an open window. He climbs up and falls to the ground below. This opening scene is heartbreaking. As a mother, I probably found it the most difficult part of the movie as its a constant fear of mine and the sheer thought of anything happening to my son, almost drives me insane. This made me better understand the mothers actions as the movie progressed. The way the scene is shot, in black and white and slow motion, with a beautiful piece of music in the background adds to the tragic nature of what's happening. Its snowing outside and we can better visually see the toddler hit the ground below (although this isn't portrayed in a graphic or bloody way thankfully), we also see his stuffed toy bounce off the snow beside him. I had a tear in my eye and a lump in my throat.
So, things start to get more than a little odd from here. We don't ever see the couple discover their son, we immediately move to the first 'chapter' (the opening was the prologue) which is just after their sons funeral. The wife collapses with grief. We follow attempted treated in hospital, which her husband is not very happy with as she is not improving, so they decide to go to a cabin in the woods to try to get her better themselves as her husband is a shrink of sorts and thinks he can sure her by exposing her to what has happened.
So they take themselves to the cabin in the woods (called Eden) and what follows is some scary-assed sh*t. There is lots of sex. She seems to get increasingly more mad (I could understand this aspect as I said earlier as I don't think I'd cope at all with the death of my son, never mind if my carelessness caused it).... however... she moves from a bit f*cked up wanting her husband to be violent towards her during sex as she seems to believe following some studying she was doing before this all happened, that women are fundamentally bad and deserve punishment.
We see all sorts of weird scenes with animals, including a deer with a dead baby hanging out of her (obviously symbolising the mother who has lost her baby), a talking fox who is clearly badly injured and a crow who just won't die no matter how many times its bashed over the head). Just when I am starting to understand the woman and her grief, the husband finds out that she had been putting their sons shoes on the wrong feet causing him to have deformed feet. What kind of mother does that? This woman has obviously not been well in the head for some years, even prior to the death of her child.
As the husband makes this discovery, things begin to get eye-brow raising. How can I describe this.... she climbs astride her husband, shouting at him the whole time that she doesn't believe he loves her, makes sure he has an erection, then wallops him in the genitals with a plank of wood!! The pain renders him unconscious and as she lies beside him she looks over and notices he still has a raging erection!! WTF??? I'm sure that's not right?? Not only that, but an erect penis on screen??? This probably shocked me more than any other part of the movie. I've always been told, you're not allowed to show this on screen. She then proceeds to masturbate him and he ejaculates blood.. This raises many questions... erect penis? ability to ejaculate? blood? It is a real hand job too! Nothing prosthetic here. I did notice, the man is blessed amidst all this confusion.
So just as we're getting over that one, she drills through his shin with one of those hand drills and puts a massive weight through his leg so he can't move. She leaves him and goes into the forest, throwing a spanner for his leg weight under the cabin so he has no hope of getting the damn thing off. We then see him come to and manage to drag himself out of the cabin. He hears her screaming for him and hides in a hole (which is where the weird crow thing happens). She finds him and not content with what she has already done, she proceeds to batter him with a shovel and leave him basically buried alive! I thought that was it for him, but apparently not. Overcome with guilt, she drags him out and back to the cabin.
If we were cringing before, it's the ladies turn now. For reasons best known to herself.. probably guilt, she cuts her own clitoris off with a pair of scissors??? For a woman that seems to enjoy sex and masturbation as much as she does, this was a bit of a wierd move for me.
The weird animals make another appearance, leaving me head scratching again. He manages to find the location of the spanner, as the crow is trapped beneath the floorboards where he is lay in the cabin and he breaks through to free it. He retrieves the spanner and frees himself (not before she has tried to kill him with the clit snipping scissors!).
At last, he's had enough and we end the movie with him strangling her (very well shot and convincing) and he burns her body outside and cabin. As he walks away (with his injuries, i'm not sure how that was possible) and the movie , he is surrounded by loads of faceless women. I didn't quite get what they were inferring here, but hey, I didn't understand loads of this movie.
In conclusion, I can't say 'avoid' as it is interesting in places, beautiful in others and downright cringeworthy in others, so worth a check out I would say. Would I watch it again? Possibly... maybe to see if i could make more sense of it second time around. I can't quite bring myself to give it a 'Lisa Recommends' but it had its own appeal.
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