Excellent Film. Stanley Kubrick was a master. Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall are great. Must see film.

Rating: 8/10 (18 September 2017)

I've seen the Shining a few times in the past and I just sat through it again last night, after watching a bunch of below par even zero films. I will discuss those later. The Shining is a master film. I don't believe it's perfect. I have not read the book, so I cannot comment on differences with the film. I have read other Stephen King books and I know he's very visual and in-depth with his characters. Films don't have the luxury of time to describe and show everything. If you want to see the best movie ever, first acquire some imagination. Then read the book.
Here's what I saw in the film: It is professionally made. Incredible cinematography from beginning credits to the end. Great scenes. Great dialogue. Great acting. Nicholson is incredible. Maybe a little too much in areas but that's OK. Shelley Duvall was also incredible. Some people said she was a weak character. I did not see that. I saw a woman who was trying to protect her son and to deal with an angry loser husband and not trying to make things worse. And she stood up to him and even knock him out and protected herself. And the terror Duvall showed I have not seen in too many other movies. It got to be a bit too much with too many similar scenes and that I believe is in the director's hands, some of those scenes were apparently cut out of the European version. The music was mostly great. But there was a scene nearing the end where there was a droning annoying sound which was way too loud. Again, maybe they can remaster that volume down. Danny Lloyd as the kid was great. He showed some great terror and his dialogue and delivery was all beautiful. The redrum murder dialogue was a bit silly. It went nowhere. Barry Nelson was also great as the hotel manager. Scatman Crothers was good as the cook. He was essential in his death scene. Great stuff. But they should have cut some of the scenes where he's traveling back to the hotel. All that slows the pace and detracts rather than adds to the suspense.
My biggest complaint is they spent too much time on Duvall's terror, it became repetitive. And they spent too much time on the cooks return to the hotel, all boring nonsense. There was a few other scenes where Duvall and the cook called the cops on the radio, that should have definitely been shortened. I also found it odd that here's a family with a school age boy that's not going to school or there is no home schooling. They should have made a comment or a scene where the kid was being home schooled rather than always trying to find something to play with. There was also the talk with the kid and the cook that they both had this power of the "Shining" which was not explored further. Only in that the cook knew that there was a problem. They should have also gone into how the hotel being built on top of an old Indian burial ground related to the murders, and what's up with all the ghosts and how they relate to the caregiver. There also should have been a few more scenes showing Jack gradually losing his mind. So, this is definitely not a perfect movie. There are plot holes. I only listed the ones that I found. I'm sure others can find another 100 other problems. However, unless someone has an unlimited budget and time maybe they can make a more perfect movie, we have to balance the good with the bad.
So, I believe I will take my own advice and read the book.
I know nothing about the best horror movie ever nonsense that people keep throwing around on IMDb. I just viewed for the first and last time Rosemarie's Baby. People love this crap and say it's the best horror or even the best movie ever. That's a perverted joke. It's not even a good movie. The best part is they had the budget to hire real actors. The story, the packing, the dialogue, the music, ALL CRAP. Just a plain BORING nonsense of a movie. Now, others say Alien is the best Sc-Fi movie ever. It's not. What it is is an excuse to show expensive dolls and props. Again, worst acting, the story is garbage (a bunch of dirtbags in charge of a space ship, smoking cigarettes, rerouted to capture a deadly alien. Maybe the company should have sent a professional military team rather than these idiots. But then it would have turned into another Stallone/Schwarzenegger/Wills movie). Now there's a special hatred I have for a movie called Suspiria, by Dario Argento. People love this garbage. On the contemporary front of loser films, we have the grand loser of them all the so called Star Wars VII, The Farce Awakens. These are not films, but simply a copy/paste cheap comic book dumb cartoon movies. They're all the same. Don't think too much. Once someone pays the ticket price that should be enough, they shouldn't have to spend anymore brain cells to think about what is going on on screen, everything is spelled out, and nothing is left to the imagination. A bunch of jumpy action scenes, a roller coaster ride to nowhere.
Well, at least we have The Shining. Grade B+, 8 stars.