Good, but vastly overrated...

Rating: 7/10 (10 September 2010)

Kubrick's craftsmanship speaks for itself- but his greatest strength was definitely TECHNICAL (as opposed to artistic). Case in point: THE SHINING. Superior cinematography, to be sure... but not much else. Cold and uninvolving, THE SHINING has the dubious distinction of being an overblown technical exercise with some of the worst performances of all time. Casting is partially to blame: when Jack Nicholson first appears on screen, eyebrows arched and making comments that can't help but seem somehow snide, one can only think: "This ----------er is crazy." He OOZES Crazy from every pore. Shelley Duvall is so miscast that she looks like she's on the wrong PLANET. And don't get me started on The Kid. Only Joe Turkel seems reasonably comfortable in his part, but he isn't given enough to do to make any real difference whatsoever. Kubrick was a great Technician, but when it comes to a genre as visceral as Horror, he simply didn't have what it takes.