I used to work with a woman who, at 35, wore her hair in that exact same style. Frizzed, and then HARD combover with highly visible part.
She was creepo for many, many other reasons, too.
― B.L.A.M., Wednesday, 17 December 2008 16:13 (fifteen years ago) link
Hanle y Deus, back again with icemoths.
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 17 December 2008 16:17 (fifteen years ago) link
A Stephen King fan has published an 80-page version of the book which novelist Jack Torrance obsessively writes during King's The Shining, where his descent into madness is revealed when his wife discovers that his work consists of just one phrase, endlessly repeated.
And you thought Jack was crazy?
― Special topics: Disco, The Common Market (grimly fiendish), Wednesday, 7 January 2009 18:08 (fifteen years ago) link
To go back to the OP, where does the idea that the movie is about the revenge of dead Indian souls (and is thus political) come from? Some old Film Comment review maybe? Cuz you have to squint awful hard even to see clues that this might be the case: OMG Calumet baking powder! and shit.
― Calling All Creeps! (contenderizer), Wednesday, 7 January 2009 18:16 (fifteen years ago) link
Umm, I think it comes from the source novel?
― Special topics: Disco, The Common Market (grimly fiendish), Wednesday, 7 January 2009 18:17 (fifteen years ago) link
That and San Francisco Chronicle
― Eric H., Wednesday, 7 January 2009 18:18 (fifteen years ago) link
xpost to self: I mean, much as I love this film, I'm intrigued as to what anyone who hadn't read the book would make of the narrative because there are a lot of gaps there. That's no bad thing (indeed: the novel is probably too long by half) but there are aspects of the story that arguably become clearer if you've read King's original.
― Special topics: Disco, The Common Market (grimly fiendish), Wednesday, 7 January 2009 18:19 (fifteen years ago) link
Ha! Interesting piece. Thanks for the link.
― Special topics: Disco, The Common Market (grimly fiendish), Wednesday, 7 January 2009 18:23 (fifteen years ago) link
Yeah, okay, that SFC articule IS where it came from. I read it waaaaay back when, though (I think?) reprinted elsewhere.
Been a long time since I read the novel. Don't remember any political subtext tho...
― Calling All Creeps! (contenderizer), Wednesday, 7 January 2009 18:23 (fifteen years ago) link
Actually, I'm starting to doubt myself now. Is the burial-ground thing really in the novel, or am I just assuming it is because of some kind of false-memory thing? Gah, I don't know if I've got a copy here or not ...
― Special topics: Disco, The Common Market (grimly fiendish), Wednesday, 7 January 2009 18:25 (fifteen years ago) link
(By which I mean: I've obviously read enough about the subtext elsewhere to assume that's where it came from. And it might not be at all. FUCKING DAMN, this is going to annoy me now!)
― Special topics: Disco, The Common Market (grimly fiendish), Wednesday, 7 January 2009 18:26 (fifteen years ago) link
This movie gets a bad rap, tho. Sure, it kinda disintegrates in the final act, but the lead-up is just riveting. And while Nicholson is way OTT, the film's emotional distance from his scenery-chewing keeps it more interesting than oppressive. It doesn't work consistently as a horror flick, but when it's on, it's ON (mostly in the 1st half). Hell, maybe it doesn't even work as a film. But it's hypnotic, great looking, and lots of fun to puzzle over. Hadn't read the novel when I first saw it, and didn't feel as though I was missing anything. It felt like a complete story: family moves to creepy hotel, dad is haunted and goes crazy (or vice-versa), bad shit ensues. Everything else is really just filigree anyway.
― Calling All Creeps! (contenderizer), Wednesday, 7 January 2009 18:29 (fifteen years ago) link
Oh, yeh: I wouldn't disagree that the film works perfectly on its own (and I'd far rather watch it than read the book again). But there are elements -- eg Tony -- that are explained at length (oh, and what length) in the book and merely exist on their own terms in the film.
I've had a quick look for my copy of the book and can't find it. I've also had a quick Google about and still can't work out if I'm talking shit or not. Anyone care to enlighten me: is the burial ground even mentioned in the book? (If not: wow, that's some serious conflation.)
― Special topics: Disco, The Common Market (grimly fiendish), Wednesday, 7 January 2009 18:33 (fifteen years ago) link
As far as I can remember, Grim, the Indian ghosts thing isn't in the novel. In the novel, the spirit that possesses the hotel is an instance of a specific kind of "ancient evil" that feeds on/generates human misery (Garmonbozia!) and attaches itself to a place. Vaguely recall that it is said to have existed since before the time of white settlement. Not sure about that. Deal is that Scatman and the kid belong to an equally ancient guild of gifted beings that exists to combat this sort of evil presence.
― Calling All Creeps! (contenderizer), Wednesday, 7 January 2009 18:34 (fifteen years ago) link
But, judging from yr last post, I guess you no all that...
Hah, yes, but there's a big difference between what one knows and what one recalls, as I'm proving here. Thanks, dude: sorry for being so wildly off-the-mark above!
― Special topics: Disco, The Common Market (grimly fiendish), Wednesday, 7 January 2009 18:40 (fifteen years ago) link
i actually really like that this movie is mildly incoherent....over-explaining diminishes the horror. besides i never really took it for any sort of allegory but a quite literal depiction of a jackass chafing against the demands of his wife and kid!
― ryan, Wednesday, 7 January 2009 19:18 (fifteen years ago) link
ie, the "artist" needing to cut all ethical and moral ties to those around them.
and vice-versa?
― Calling All Creeps! (contenderizer), Wednesday, 7 January 2009 19:19 (fifteen years ago) link
that works!
― ryan, Wednesday, 7 January 2009 19:20 (fifteen years ago) link
you know, if it weren't for A Clockwork Orange, you could say kubrick was on some kind of anti-exposition warpath. except for the pool table scene in EWS, which almost plays as a parody of exposition.
― ryan, Wednesday, 7 January 2009 19:22 (fifteen years ago) link
Certainly true of The Shining, Barry Lyndon, 2001.
― Calling All Creeps! (contenderizer), Wednesday, 7 January 2009 19:25 (fifteen years ago) link
The Indian Burial Ground thing isn't in the novel. I remember because I watched the movie before I was in the book, & I was on the lookout for it. But there is one in Pet Sematary (the book); it's suggested that some kind of Indian-ish burial ground thing is responsible for the patch of groud behind the Pet Sematary being able to bring bodies back to life (I think there's, like, a Wendigo that hangs out there)? So maybe that's where the idea came from. There might be lots of King novels with "Indian burial ground" motif; in fact there probably are.
I had some thoughts on why it's a good addition to the film, but I'm not feeling eloquent enough to articulate them. Maybe tomorrow...
― What a Mess (Gudrun Brangwen), Thursday, 8 January 2009 04:07 (fifteen years ago) link
How is Barry Lyndon anti-exposition? Between the narrator and the title cards, he literally tells you in writing of nearly every single thing that is going to happen in the film.
― ^likes tilt-a-whirls (Pancakes Hackman), Thursday, 8 January 2009 14:06 (fifteen years ago) link
One of them, actually stole a pack of match-ES, and tried toburn it down. But I corrrrrected them.
― Joe, Thursday, 8 January 2009 16:42 (fifteen years ago) link
How is Barry Lyndon anti-exposition? Between the narrator and the title cards, he literally tells you in writing of nearly every single thing that is going to happen in the film.― Pancakes Hackman
― Pancakes Hackman
Eeks. With regard to Barry Lyndon, I meant thematic exposition. Not only are we told what's happening, we're walked though the quotidian minutia for several hours. But, for me, the film's big quesion is: "Why does any of this matter? Why Barry Lyndon?" And on that subject, the film keeps resolutely mum. But that's just my take, and in describing Barry Lyndon as "anti-exposition", I suppose I'm using the phrase in a non-standard sense.
― Calling All Creeps! (contenderizer), Thursday, 8 January 2009 18:08 (fifteen years ago) link
yeah BL is almost a opaque as 2001 for me...been a long time since i've seen it tho!
― ryan, Thursday, 8 January 2009 18:30 (fifteen years ago) link
Ah, OK, I see where you're coming from on BL. Makes sense!
― ^likes tilt-a-whirls (Pancakes Hackman), Thursday, 8 January 2009 19:07 (fifteen years ago) link
Got the blu-ray of this today and am, frankly, amazed by the quality of the transfer and how it looks in HD. Watching Vivian Kubrick's making of documentary also opened my eyes about just how much was put into getting the look of it right; I knew that the interiors were all on set in Elstree, but it's so easy to forget that when watching the film and it looks utterly like a real hotel. I certainly hadn't realised that the colossal exterior of the Overlook used in the early outdoor scenes and during the snowbound climax was all a set as well.
There's a nice bit of interview too where Nicholson is talking about the actorly obsession with methods of different kinds and the quest for "realness" and when he discussed this with Kubrick his response was "real isn't necessarily very interesting".
― Bill A, Thursday, 5 February 2009 22:12 (fifteen years ago) link
http://www.jayweidner.com/ShiningSecrets.html
Here's an interesting article which proves that The Shining is actually a coded message from Kubrick, where he confesses he faked the Apollo moon landing.
― Tuomas, Friday, 29 October 2010 16:14 (thirteen years ago) link
Must watch this movie today!
― Telephoneface (Adam Bruneau), Friday, 29 October 2010 16:45 (thirteen years ago) link
http://www.jayweidner.com/images/IMG_0057.jpgomg
― tylerw, Friday, 29 October 2010 16:52 (thirteen years ago) link
Seven Apollo missions went to the moon, but only six landed. Six crates of 7-up.
Awesome.
― progressive cuts (Tracer Hand), Friday, 29 October 2010 16:54 (thirteen years ago) link
http://www.jayweidner.com/images/IMG_0053.jpg
Jack, his family, and the Overlook Hotel, are trapped in the Cold, just as America was trapped in the Cold War with Russia. The stuffed bears, seen through out the film, are the Soviet Empire's symbol.Symbolically the Bears seen through the film are also the representation of the pressure that the Russians put on the USA to get to the Moon. They had to fake the moon landings and cover up the real truth behind the flying saucer craft and machinery that the US government actually has created and employed since World War Two.
Symbolically the Bears seen through the film are also the representation of the pressure that the Russians put on the USA to get to the Moon. They had to fake the moon landings and cover up the real truth behind the flying saucer craft and machinery that the US government actually has created and employed since World War Two.
― Telephoneface (Adam Bruneau), Friday, 29 October 2010 17:32 (thirteen years ago) link
http://www.jayweidner.com/images/IMG_0066.jpghttp://www.jayweidner.com/images/IMG_0069.jpg
Danny is literally carrying a symbolic Apollo 11, on his body, via the sweater, to the Moon as he walks over to room 237. Why do I think this?Because the average distance from the Earth to the Moon is 237,000 miles.
Because the average distance from the Earth to the Moon is 237,000 miles.
LOL
― Telephoneface (Adam Bruneau), Friday, 29 October 2010 17:34 (thirteen years ago) link
i have never seen this movie, nor will i ever. im scared shitless by it.
― Str8 Drapin It (chrisv2010), Friday, 29 October 2010 17:36 (thirteen years ago) link
overlook hallway carpeting is so badass
― naked human hands and a foam rubber head (contenderizer), Friday, 29 October 2010 17:37 (thirteen years ago) link
The funniest thing is, I've read some "serious" analyses of The Shining that make equally broad conclusions based on minuscule details as the moon landing guy.
― Tuomas, Friday, 29 October 2010 17:41 (thirteen years ago) link
In high school, I was once at the house of Tim Daly (of Wings fame; his son went to my school & we were in an a cappella group together). On a shelf, surrounded by dozens of other VHS cassettes, was a hand-labeled tape titled "THE SHINNING."
I always think of that when someone mentions this movie; I wonder what THE SHINNING, as a different movie, could be like, and whether it would star Tim Daly.
― tangelo amour (elmo argonaut), Friday, 29 October 2010 17:43 (thirteen years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvkgKRMlp90
― omar little, Friday, 29 October 2010 17:46 (thirteen years ago) link
Gonna use this opportunity to repost the Physical Cosmologies analysis, which is pretty convincing and a damn wonderful read!
http://www.mstrmnd.com/log/802
― Telephoneface (Adam Bruneau), Friday, 29 October 2010 17:46 (thirteen years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGMoBo9f40I
― Tub Girl Time Machine (Phil D.), Friday, 29 October 2010 17:47 (thirteen years ago) link
xp goddamit omar
The funniest thing is, I've read some "serious" analyses of The Shining that make equally broad conclusions based on minuscule details as the moon landing guy.yeah there's one (which i think was linked to on ILX somewhere) that was fairly convincing in some respects ... but totally batshit in others.
― tylerw, Friday, 29 October 2010 17:48 (thirteen years ago) link
oh xpost - that's the one i'm talking about, adam. kinda fascinating.
The funny thing about that Tim Daly story is that his Wings co-star Steven Weber went on to star in the Stephen King-approved TV miniseries version of "The Shining."
― Tub Girl Time Machine (Phil D.), Friday, 29 October 2010 17:49 (thirteen years ago) link
omg i never knew that -- that might explain what was on the tape, and why it was home-recorded! lol thx phil
― tangelo amour (elmo argonaut), Friday, 29 October 2010 17:56 (thirteen years ago) link
Eyes Wide Shut was released on July 16 th 1999.Stanley Kubrick insisted in his contract that this be the date of the release.July 16 th 1999 is exactly 30 years to the day that Apollo 11 was launched.
Stanley Kubrick insisted in his contract that this be the date of the release.
July 16 th 1999 is exactly 30 years to the day that Apollo 11 was launched.
― Telephoneface (Adam Bruneau), Friday, 29 October 2010 18:04 (thirteen years ago) link
I present this tidbit of an interpretation to show not only that Stanley Kubrick directed the Apollo moon landings but also to ask NASA to release all of Kubrick's Apollo moon landing footage in their original, glorious 70 mm film.
would he settle for a blu ray release
― mr. mandelbrot flythrough vertigo, esq. (Edward III), Friday, 29 October 2010 18:09 (thirteen years ago) link