• Daryl

    ★★★ Watched by Daryl 21 May, 2013

    Ok, so it basically a third TOTAL BOLLOCKS..

    ..but it does nothing more than make The Shining even scarier, even more genius, and an even bigger masterpiece than I first thought.

    If that were possible.

    It's hard not to imagine Stanley Kubrick watching this and pissing his pants.

    If he weren't dead of course.

    View

  • Adam Cook

    ★★★ Watched by Adam Cook 21 May, 2013 4

    Rodney Ascher’s documentary is a fascinating and certifiable film about obsession. In the thirty odd years since the release of Kubrick’s seminal, The Shining, a small but committed group of film fans have poured over every frame of the movie looking for hidden meanings. Room 237 collects these delirious and diverging theories and presents them as a labyrinthine video-essay that borders on the farcical.

    Room 237 is a compelling documentary that is brilliantly edited using a novel range of archival…

    View

  • ashively

    ★★★★ Watched by ashively 12 Apr, 2013

    An innovative documentary into the depths of close-reading hell. First off, the stylistic decision to not use a single talking head cuts two ways for me. I appreciate the singular nature of this approach, as it's one I have not seen in a very long time, if ever. The flip side is that it made some of the threads a bit hard to follow and the movie clips used were a bit too jokey for my liking from time to…

    View

  • Oli Jeffery

    ★★★½ Watched by Oli Jeffery 20 May, 2013 7

    Sometimes, genius is a mistake.

    There’s a shot I love in Black Swan. It’s not a movie of which I am fond, primarily because it takes a selection of eighties horror movies, mashes them together and disguises them as art - but this one shot is perfect. As a high-as-a-kite Nina rants at her mother, she peels away from Lily in a mirror. It’s beautiful, and it perfectly encapsulates everything that’s going on in her mind and in the film.…

    View

  • sr_traun

    ★★★ Watched by sr_traun 20 May, 2013

    Room 237 es una película que habla de como la fascinación por algo se puede transformar en obsesión. En este caso, como la fascinación de cinco personas diferentes por El Resplandor les lleva a sobreanalizar la película, de tal manera que incluso un error de continuidad puede justificar la teoría más descabellada.

    Una película bastante divertida que funciona más como retrato de la paranoia que como documental propiamente dicho. Y me han entrado ganas de volver a ver El Resplandor, lo cual nunca viene mal.

    View

  • Russell Dean

    ★★★ Watched by Russell Dean 20 May, 2013

    or - "Some maniacs watch a film and think about it too much and tell us all about what they are thinking".

    An interesting curiosity, I can't really count this as a documentary, more a collection of crazy ideas about a popular film.

    I found it fun to watch, to see people searching for significance in all kinds of places.

    I can see, however that this will infuriate some people.

    It made me chuckle a few times and i am…

    View

  • mepenete

    ★★★★ Watched by mepenete 19 May, 2013

    Really interesting but some of the theories were a bit far fetched for me. Absolutely love this film so I enjoyed having a chance to have anything more from it

    View

  • Wicked_KungFu

    ★★★½ Watched by Wicked_KungFu 20 May, 2013

    Room 237 is pretty batshit insane, but in a good way. It is a documentary that goes through various theories and thoughts that individuals have with the Shining. It is very apparent that the movie has had significant impact on those involved in the doc. The thoughts expressed are all displayed very earnestly, which gives a sense of celebration of the Shining. So, no matter how off the wall the ideas can get, the director isn’t laughing at them or…

    View

  • BOBR

    ★★★½ Watched by BOBR 19 May, 2013

    This is a fun documentary chock full of mostly divergent theories about Kubrick's ulterior motives in creating the film-version of "The Shining". Some of the ideas seem to hold more water than others. Personally, I like the apt pointing out of the prevalent Minotaur/Labyrinth symbolism. Good stuff!

    View

  • Craig

    ★★★ Watched by Craig 18 May, 2013

    Surprisingly playful and entertaining for a film that contains many of the tropes I despise about current documentaries (PowerPoint animations and graphics, jokey inserts, facile tone). Maybe because the topic is, after all, only a movie (yes, legendary auteurs can make only movies too), and the targets a handful of eager-beavers whose theories resemble freshman-level college essays ("This movie reminds me of me"), the approach didn't irk me the way Alex Gibney and other pseudo-serious documentary filmmakers do regarding their…

    View

  • David Donato

    ★★½ Watched by David Donato 10 Apr, 2013

    Que desperdício. O filme podia ter seguido por tantos caminhos diferentes, como analisar as teorias bizarras sobre o filme uma a uma, investigar o fenômeno dos persecutórios que inventam essas teorias, ou desconstruir o filme em si, procurando os realizadores e esclarecendo dúvidas.
    Mas não. Ao invés disso, o filme esparrama na sua frente um monte de teorias bobas sem coesão nenhuma, sem separação clara, sem possibilidade nem de entender o que cada maluco tem a dizer, quanto mais de…

    View

  • Jamie N

    ½ Watched by Jamie N 18 May, 2013

    This movie was like if you invited all the nutjob fanboys on the Internet to make a conspiracy film together. I don't even know where to begin with describing how crazy the logic is behind these theories. I pray I never get stuck with one of these people on an elevator. Or sit by them on an airplane. Now that I think about it, I'll probably refrain from ever speaking to a stranger about "The Shining" again just to be…

    View