Throughout the 1960s-early 1970s, a combination of financial desperation, creative daring, and an adventurous movie-going public had produced a creative detonation in mainstream American movies not seen before or since. Each year of the period seemed to bring at least one mightily ambitious visual experiment by a new contributor to the commercial movie scene, the …
Below is a collection of faux-trading cards based on The Shining and created by Portland-based blogger Rian Callahan who says he created the cards simply because they didn’t exist and he thought that they should. Via Dangerous Minds
The recent trend in television of adapting films to series has teetered from carefully and creatively executed, such as FX’s Fargo, to lacklustre with poor ratings to show for it, such as the NBC miniseries Rosemary’s Baby. Although this movement has its inherent challenges to overcome, such as the view that creating a series from a …
There are few auteurs as instantly recognizable and divisive as Stanley Kubrick, few filmmakers as idiosyncratic or groundbreaking. His work spans the entirety of life itself–sometimes in the same film–and has inspired almost as much derision as hosannas. There is no easy consensus on Kubrick’s films–though you may not be terribly surprised by our writers’ …
“Has it ever occurred to you what would happen to my future, if I were to fail to live up to my responsibilities?” – Jack Torrance, before telling his wife that he’s going to bash her brains in. Jack Torrance has responsibilities that were given given to him in good faith by the manager …
It’s both perfectly fitting and a darkly wry punchline that the last word in Stanley Kubrick’s last film is “fuck,” utilized in its most literal definition. The word is spoken, in both direct and slightly imploring fashion, by Alice Harford (Nicole Kidman) to her husband Bill (Tom Cruise) at the end of the still slightly …
As we spend a month looking at the great Stanley Kubrick, we can also look at the filmmakers who were clearly influenced by Kubrick. “Kubrickian” films tend to exercise incredible control of the camera, are extremely ambitious, tend to deal with much weightier themes, and always maintain a sense of mystery, like a there’s an …
Clowns, prom, pets, and family getaways have two things in common: we’re supposed to feel safe about them and, because of Stephen King, we don’t. Considered to be the master of modern horror, King takes our expectations of what it means to be safe and secure, and flips it on its head. So sit back and …
There’s a wonderfully maddening moment early on in Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining where Danny Torrance is perusing the corridors of the Overlook hotel on his tricycle. He swings round corners, the camera obsessively following him in a locked in third person perspective angle. The skin crawling score by Wendy Carlos and Rachel Elkind swells up …
Freelance visual Artist, painter & illustrator, Kyle Lambert, created this incredible mash-up of Toy Story and The Shining. Combining his passion for art, technology and story telling, Lambert’s striking images and imagination is simply awesome. Visit his website to see the entire set. Enjoy! ****
The first details regarding the prequel to The Shining have emerged online. At the moment there is not indication of story details but we now know the project is operating under the official title The Overlook Hotel. Glen Mazzara, who ran AMC’s The Walking Dead is in talks to write it. Based on a Stephen King novel the 1980, Stanley …
Room 237 Directed by Rodney Ascher USA, 2012 A blessing and curse of being human is that we grasp for meaning in all things. If something is not spelled out for us directly, we have to get to the bottom of it, our curiosity unable to be sated until we’ve gotten to the bottom of …
The Sixth Sense has come and gone as has its (alleged) twist ending. It’s hard to categorize The Sixth Sense but like The Shining or Inception I shall dub it as part of the puzzle picture genre that keeps appearing then disappearing only to come back. At first sight, the very existence of puzzle pictures …
Effective shot composition is a key component of filmmaking, sometimes resulting in the only interesting aspect of a bad film, and elevating a good film into a great one. Good cinematography, however, unfortunately goes unnoticed a lot of times, no matter how well it enhances a movie. Larry Wright of Refocused Media, however, has turned …
The Rencontres internationales du documentaires de Montreal (RIDM) was founded in 1998 and every year since has highlighted the very best documentaries from Canada and around the world. With a special focus on documentaries that really test boundary between fiction and reality, while presenting singular and personal perspectives that might change our view of the world around …
The Shining Written by Diane Johnson and Stanley Kubrick based on the novel The Shining by Stephen King Directed by Stanley Kubrick USA 1980 imdb Quebec’s only documentary film festival, Rencontres internationales du documentaire de Montréal – RIDM, starts Wednesday, November 7th. One of the most highly anticipated docs is Room 237, a film about …
Room 237 Directed by Rodney Ascher USA, 2012 Room 237 is a potent, one-of-a-kind exploration into obsession and fanaticism that calls into question the underlying value of art and those who seek to unearth it. Whether or not you’re a fan of Kubrick and his films is moot. Rodney Ascher’s documentary serves up mind-boggling theory after another, absorbing the …
With TIFF over and done with, a huge number of noteworthy films have to be parsed, and first up is the “subjective documentary” Room 237, in which a host of obsessives muse over their pet theories on what Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining is really about. Ricky D and Simon Howel are joined by special guest …
You’ve never met Saul Bass, but you know him. He is everywhere. He designed the logos of your favourite cereal (Quaker), the phone you use (At&T), the camera you have (Minolta), but most importantly the posters of the films you love. The Bass mid-century minimalist aesthetic is the face of timeless classics such as Vertigo, …
Gallery 1988 in Los Angeles will hold the fifth Crazy 4 Cult art show, an annual exhibition this week. Check out Tom Whalen‘s tribute to The Shining and this other tribute for They Live. Check out /Film to see some other great work. Also take a look at some of the other great work …
We’ve recently posted letters from directors Michael Bay and Terrence Malick to projectionists on how to properly project The Tree of Life and Transformers 3. Recently we recorded our very first and much overdue Stanley Kubrick special. In that episode we reviewed what I think is the director’s best film, Barry Lyndon, which is nothing …
Well it’s a new day and here is yet another montage, the second in two days. Lucky for us, it’s just as great. Yesterday we showed you A Brief History of Title Design. This time however, it’s the work of youtuber Hatinhand. He brings us a montage sequence of amazing movie ending spoilers. Overall there …
“If it can be written, or thought,” said Stanley Kubrick, “it can be filmed.” Kubrick could very well have been articulating the credo for every cinematic explorer of the fantastic since Georges Melies. Ironically, Kubrick – who was second to none in pushing the limits of filmmaking technology – several times found himself in the position of …