Another Miss for Kubrick

Rating: 1/10 (26 September 2009)

I have always deeply enjoyed "Dr. Strangelove" and "2001"-- in fact, both movies are on my Top 25 list. I gave up on "Spartacus" twice, but the third time, I watched it all the way through (the 196-minute version) and I found it another masterpiece. So I know Kubrick has real merits as a filmmaker, not just a director.
That being said, "A Clockwork Orange" is an horrific assault on the senses and "The Shining" is dull, derivative, and in general, almost unwatchable.
I have never read Stephen King's novel, but I know that a lot of people claim the movie is much worse. I'll leave that point alone. And in terms of technical innovations (the whole Steadicam thing comes to mind), they worked. But when you actually have to watch it as a movie (and I don't know how else to watch a film), it doesn't add up to anything enjoyable.
Shelley Duvall-- as always-- gives a terrible performance. She's the most blatantly awful aspect of the movie. Then, of course, you have the sheer feel of the film. It's very ethereal, too ethereal, in fact. The much-lauded tracking shots (which the DVD summary praises as "dreamlike") are nothing more than visual lullabies, the music is more obnoxious than "Clockwork Orange," and parts of the film even feel like rip-offs of "The Exorcist"-- i.e., the questioning of the little kid about his imaginary friend is suspiciously similar to the Captain Howdy plot point in "Exorcist."
Most of the time, the cast fails. Jack Nicholson is tolerable, but he isn't enough to salvage the film. And Kubrick's normally-perfectly-capable direction is laughable and over-the-top.
Stay away from "The Shining." It's redrum for your brain.