Room 237

RATINGS

IMDB: 6.3

MY RATING: 7

GENERAL INFORMATION

Release Info: 29 March 2013

Genre: Documentary
Director: Rodney Ascher
Running Time:  1 Hour and 42 minutes

Staring: Bill Blakemore, Geoffrey Cocks and Juli Kearns

Rating? Unrated

SPOILERS? YES

STORYLINE

A subjective documentary that explored the numbers theories about the hidden meanings within Stanley Kubrick s film. The film may be over 30 eyes old but it continues to inspire debate, speculation and mystery. Opinions are illuminated through voice over, film clips, animation and dramatic reenactments. Together they'll dray the audience into a new maze, one with endless detours and dead ends, many ways in, but no way out.

MY REVIEW

Let me begin with this statement. I love Stanley Kubrick. I love his evocative music and the use of set design. His movies are what made me love MOVIES. Spartacus, Dr. Stragelove, Lolita, 2001: A Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange and so fourth. I loved the Shining and when I saw this pop up in my feed on Netflix, I had to watch!

I am not one to fall for conspiracy theories but I do love to see how other peoples minds work. I think this was a good documentary. Was it great? No. Did I believe everything? No. Did they reach for some really out-there theories? YES!!

What I DID LIKE about this movie:

• I loved the weird shit that the movie pointed out that I NEVER would have noticed unless someone had pointed them out to me, such as:
• In the opening sequence, the Torrance's are driving a yellow VW Bug and drive by a wreck of a red VW bug. The theory was that this was Kubrik's way of telling Stephen King (red car = Christine) that this was HIS movie.
• When Jack is reading a magazine before his interview- it's a PLAYGIRL magazine

What I DID NOT LIKE about this movie:

• While I do agree that there are more likely than not subliminal and hidden messages neatly placed by Kubrick, I highly doubt that there is a solid theme or even an overarching concept to his plans. I mean, Kubrick is a cinematic genius and I am sure there are hundreds of subliminal items in the Shining. This is an agenda from the documentary maker. Kubrick's family was not involved.

What observations were made by the filmmaker?

1. The movie is an admission by Kubrick that he helped to fake the moon landing. This one is really off the charts! Danny is wearing an Apollo 11 sweater, room 237 refers to the stage number where they faked the footage. The moon is 237K miles from earth. There are a ton on Tang cans in the pantry. The pattern in the carpet where danny is playing while wearing the Apollo 1q1 sweater matches the launch pad where the Apollo 11 rocket took off from.
2. The movie is the story of the holocaust. This was a stretch! The typewriter that Jack is using to write his book, is an Alder manufactured in Germany, a so called"bureaucratic killing machine". The number 42 is on Danny's sweater, Wendy swings the bat at Jack 42 times. 42 refers to 1942, the final solution or the Holocaust. Many references to eagles, symbolizing state power and finally, there is a Dopey ticker on Danny's door before and then it is gone, attempting to say that he is no longer Dopey about the situation.
3. It's about the genocide of the American Indians. So, the theory is that the Overlook was built on top of an Indian burial ground. There are Native American themes throughout the whole movie from the rugs in the main reception, the wall hangings and Native American art. In the pantry scenes, the Calumet baking powder is predominant and is seemingly placed for effect. In some scenes they are all facing different ways and in some there is a single can. Calumet is the Native American word for Peace Pipe which symbolizes the broken peace treaties. and the documentarian literally suggests that the only way out is to get out is to retrace our steps with the image of Danny in the Maze.
4. It's the minotaur in his maze. Apparently, this is a thing! The hedge maze is the key evidence. The labyrinth of the ridiculous layout of the hotel and there are hidden minotaur posters.

Oz the Great and Powerful

GENERAL INFORMATION
Release Info: 8 March 2013
Running Time: 130 Minutes
Staring:  James Franco, Michelle Williams, Rachel Weisz, Mila Kunis
Rating? PG
SPOILERS? YES

REVIEWS
IMDB: 6.4 of 10
Rotten Tomatoes: Critics: 59% Audience: 56%
MY RATING: 5

MY REVIEW:
The cinematography was beautiful. Some of the acting was great and some was passable. CGI was good and some of the good casting and effects were able to mask SOME of the real issues that I had with this movie.

The script is pretty subpar to the point that the supposed plot twists were glaring from the very beginning. But the script was just the first issue. James Franco. Generally, I can stand him in some movies, but here he was the Franco-ist of Franco. I'm sure someone else could have done better. He's quite nearly distracting with his performance. Really, it made me care very little for his character. In the same vein, I also felt that Mila Kunis was not at her best. Not horrible, just not quite right for the part. She's just not believable as the Wicked Witch of the West. For me, the sisters played by Michelle Williams and Rachel Weisz were brilliant. They carried the movie for me.

It's a beautiful movie, like I said. Some of the CGI gave me a headache, but the outcome was decent.
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