not a gem

Rating: Null/10 (15 February 2003)

kubrick's working of stephen king's "the shining" is a flawed film. i get the sense that a tighter film (more in the two hour range instead of nearly two and a half hours) would have made this one more of an asset toward his credit. kubrick, however, is often one to let scenes drag. there are many slower paced scenes in here that work remarkably toward establishment of loneliness that steadily becomes insanity. the meat of the film, however, holds up. even with myriad pop culture references made in its direction, since 1980, "the shining" is still worth a watch.