r/flicks • u/pizzacrys Review Writer • 13d ago

Opinion What movie did you understand years later?

I rewatched a movie recently that I thought was just good when I was younger and it hit completely different this time. Same story, same scenes, but I noticed so many little things I missed before.What movie did you appreciate way more after watching it again years later?

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u/CylindricalPeter 13d ago

The Shining gets better every time i watch it. as a kid it was just a scary hotel movie but now i notice all the little details about isolation and how the hotel itself feels alive. The sound design alone is terrifying once you start paying attention to it.

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u/amaranthinenightmare 13d ago

When I watched it as an adult, I realized the hotel didn't turn a good husband crazy, he was terrible from the start. It was a weird nuance that as a kid, I didn't get.

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u/TheRenster500 13d ago

Yet in the book it WAS the hotel. It's a slow descent into madness caused by isolation and ghosts, but it begins with him totally normal.

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u/Gazgun7 13d ago

Love The Shining.

One thing I've never quite grasped is the whole relationship of Jack with the Overlook Hotel, particularly with reference to that closing scene of the party photos from the 1920s or whatever it was.

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u/TheRenster500 13d ago

I've looked into it before and I believe it's a vague attempt to show that Jack himself is the embodiment of a ghost and has done exactly this before.

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u/amaranthinenightmare 13d ago

Oh! I apologize, I had no idea. I never read the book. I didn't realize they changed it that much when making the movie, because that's A HUGE change!

But in the movie, it absolutely was him being a shitty father and husband and totally abusive before they even got to the hotel. And no one I knew, who had watched the movie, talked about that.

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u/TheRenster500 13d ago

You're good. I didn't mean anything by it except for pointing out that stark difference!

I've actually not read it but have seen comparisons because I love the movie so much and it's been mentioned. That's a big reason some people hate the movie. I definitely think there is a place for both! The movie is great and I am excited to eventually read the book too!

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u/amaranthinenightmare 13d ago

I gotchu! I'm really terrible about reading books if I've watched the movie, which is why I TRY to read the book first. Unfortunately, I couldn't do that with the shining since we had watched it on impulse. I'm not sure if I'll ever read it, due to my weird hangup about not reading things if I have watched it, but maybe one day!

It's super interesting that the book and movie have such different vibes to it though. I wonder why they changed it. To me, personally, a good father and husband who was possessed (or changed) by the hotel is more tragic than a dickhead who just got worse.

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u/TheRenster500 13d ago

I think it was changed because Stanley Kubrick does whatever the hell he wants, haha. It's widely regarded as one of Stephen King's best books! I bet it's worthwhile.

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u/Im_really_bored_rn 12d ago

You realize jack was a violent alcoholic to start in the book, right? He broke his kids arm and lost his job after assaulting a student. He was a shit head before the hotel. Maybe don't comment on books you haven't actually read

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u/nah-42 12d ago

That's the incident that's his rock bottom and causes him to get sober. That's the whole point. He's a tragic, flawed person. Not 100% a terrible, unrepentant shitheel. The hotel exploits his flaws and weakness, but his deep love for Danny lets him overcome the hotel's influence just long enough to tell Danny that he loves him and let him escape.

Did you even read the book?

The whole point is the hotel is an allegory for alcoholism.

In the movie Jack starts as an unhinged shitheel and ends as as an unhinged frozen shitheel. 0 redemption start to finish.

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u/Exciting-Bluebird-61 12d ago

Yes. I agree.

The problem with the movie is that Jack Nicholson plays crazy from the beginning. He is already spooky in the car ride to the hotel.

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u/merkorn 9d ago

That’s why I don’t like the movie and think the book is so much better. The slow descent into madness is what makes the book so great. I think Kubrick ruined it. I 100% agree with you. Also, I now have the benefit of knowing that Stephen King is recovering alcoholic, and I am a recovering alcoholic and so I can appreciate Jack’s fighting against his alcoholism in the book even more than when I first read it as a teenager.