GOOD BUT NOT GREAT

Rating: 6/10 (23 September 2018)

First of all, I went into this movie with high expectations, but came out of it only mildly appeased.
All of the people who say that this is "the worst movie in existence" are definitely exaggerating just a bit. It's good- it's a fun movie to watch for a light scare. It's an enjoyable movie, for sure, but I just didn't find it THAT scary. There are some foreboding parts - sure - but I wasn't left shaking in my boots.
Nicholson, for one, twisted the entire movie into a comedy for me. I'm not sure if it was intentional or not, but I found myself laughing when I should've been scared. I still can't decide whether that's a good thing or not...
Duvall is rather dull, in my opinion. I haven't read the book, but I've heard that her character in the book is strong and willful. In the movie, she's just a bit too whiny for my tastes, I suppose.
Danny was cute, but his "finger voice" kind of started to grate on my nerves after a while. I went from "God, I hope the kid doesn't die," to "Well, I wouldn't be THAT disappointed if he died, as long as he doesn't keep saying redrum in his chain smoker voice again."
One thing that bothered me was Jack's path to insanity. It was supposed to be a subtle, gradual slip into insanity, but I felt as if he wanted to murder his family from the get-go. He gives off a vibe of "if this damn kid asks me to stop for McDonalds one more time I'm crashing this car." So, really, I don't even think that the hotel affected him all that much. I mean, he DID dislocate the poor kid's arm like three years before they even went to the hotel (He was a schoolteacher, no less).
The "creepy twins" and the elevator blood felt kind of forced to me, as if they didn't belong. Why were the twins even menacing? They were murdered, for God's sake. You'd think they'd give Danny some warning instead of pulling the whole "cOme plAy wiTh uS" routine.
And the actual "Shining", which was the gift that Dick and Danny had, was severely underdeveloped. I mean, it WAS the title of the film itself; it could've been more obvious. I mean, I guess it helped Dick to ride his fancy snowmobile up there, although he ended up being of more use to them dead than alive (thanks for the ride!).
Anyway, I really did enjoy the movie, all criticism aside. Those who say it's the worst movie are definitely exaggerating a bit too much. It was creepy, and the soundtrack was good, so there's that.