SF - SL
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Shadow [2018] Shadow People [2013] Shadows & Lies [2010]
Shaft [2000] Shallow Ground [2004] Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings [2021]
The Shape of Water [2017] Sharknado [2013] Sharknado 2: The Second One [2014]
Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No! [2015] Sharknado 4: The 4th Awakens [2016] Sharknado 5: Global Swarming [2017]
The Shawshank Redemption [1994] She Never Died [2019]
The Shining [1980] Shiny_Flakes: The Teenage Drug Lord [2021] Shirkers [2018]
Shooter [2007] Shrek 2 [2004] Shrek Forever After [2010]
Shrek the Third [2007] Shrew's Nest [2014] Shutter [2004]
Sicario 2: Day of the Soldado [2018] Siccin [2014] Siccin 2 [2015]
Siccin 3: Love [2016] Siccin 4 [2017] Siccin 5 [2018]
Siccin 6 [2019] The Silence of the Lambs [1991] Silencio [2018]
Sin City [2005] SiREN [2016] The Sisters Brothers [2018]
Skeleton Man [2004] Skinwalker Ranch [2013] Skinwalkers [2006]
Skyscraper [2018] Slaughter [2009] Slaughter High [1985]
Sleep No More [2017] Sleepaway Camp [1983] Slender Man [2018]
A Slit-Mouthed Woman [2007] Slither [2006] Slumberland [2022]
She Never Died [2019]

            
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This follow-up to He Never Died doesn't have any of the charm or intensity of the other film. It's strong point is the quirky and likable characters and the dialogue is pretty good, too. As for the rest, the lead was adequate but didn't capture the essence of the role very well. We know virtually nothing about her except that she's an immortal. Everything else sort of fell flat, including a climax that was short and quick and not particularly exciting. I think they just got the wrong director for the job making the film somewhat enjoyable but not much beyond that.
Shrek 2 [2004]

            

Shrek and wife get invited to Far Far Away for a ball celebrating their marriage. As with many family gatherings, things don't go as expected. All the characters were full of life and personality, the animation is awesome and the constant wit, leaving the Mrs. and I with a perpetual smile and the occasional LOL moment, was a delight. You could easily watch this with an older child and both be thoroughly entertained. The never ending nods to other films made this incredibly fun for movie buffs, as well ...the Flashdance scene with Puss 'n Boots is priceless. A joy!
Shrek the Third [2007]

            

Now that Shrek is king of Far, Far, Away, he decides the last thing he's qualified for is king. So, off he goes to find the next heir. This gives Prince Charming the chance to take over, declare himself king and chaos ensues. If you and your kids have enjoyed the other films, you'll enjoy this one. The story is simple with no surprises and it doesn't have nearly as many epic, laugh-out-loud moments as the last one - although, I admit, the Snow White / Immigrant Song gag is pure gold - it was still extremely enjoyable, funny and a great way to spend an evening.
Shrek Forever After [2010]

            

Easy to summarize.. this is simply the Shrek version of It's a Wonderful Life with Shrek being conned into being a mean ogre for a day by Rumpelstiltskin. Full of what you'd expect from a Shrek movie with the usual humor, action and very touching moments. Standouts include the witches, Puss n Boots as a lazy, overweight, has been version of himself and a bit where the donkey had eyeballs in his nostril is one of the funniest things I've seen in a movie in a long time ...both my wife and I laughed so hard at that. Funny, enjoyable and highly entertaining.
Shaft [2000]

         
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The nephew of the original Shaft is a cop in NYC and ends up at odds with a rich boy who commits a racially charged murder and is trying to get away with it. If you're looking for substance and/or a complex story, you won't find it here as this is a standard B-movie police drama that we've seen dozens of times. What makes it work is the colorful characters full of personality who managed to have me chuckling most of time, plus some good action, making the whole experience well worth watching. Bravo to the actors for making a great ensemble come to life.
Shiny_Flakes: The Teenage Drug Lord [2021]

         

Biodoc about the young man who ran an incredibly successful international online drug market out of his bedroom in his parents house ...a bedroom that contained a ton of drugs when he was arrested. As with most Netflix documentaries, there's a lot of padding including general comments and opinions, long photographic moments for dramatic effect, following subjects around to witness their personal lives, etc. As such, it's quite bloated and it could have easily been presented as a 45 min episode but it was interesting and informative and I wasn't bored.
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings [2021]

            
  
A man, with the power of the ten rings, finally settles down from his conquests, after 1000 years, to get married. When his wife is killed, things get ugly and only his son, Shang-Chi, can prevent him from destroying the world. Not quite as 'spectacle' as your typical MCU film as, with introducing a new character, there was a tremendous amount of back story that need be told. Nevertheless, the action scenes, especially the brilliantly choreographed martial arts fights with techniques I've never seen before, and spec fx - the dragon battle, WOW! - are top notch.
Siccin [2014]
aka Sijjin
         
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A woman, with a hopeless obsession towards her cousin, turns to dark Islamic mysticism to kill his wife and family so she can have him all to herself. Things don't quite work out that way. Between this film, Baskin, and the D@bbe series, I've found that the Turks have a whole different level of horror that's far more visceral, organic and personal than most American horror making these quite a thrill to watch. The acting feels genuine and cultural, the imagery is horrific and effective and the flawless sound editing made for a very disturbing atmosphere. Bravo!
Siccin 2 [2015]
aka Sijjin 2
         
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The bizarre death of a young child leaves a couple devastated, forcing the mother to examine her family's past and stirring up some old curses and vengeful spirits. The first hour of this film was pretty hard to get through as they force us to wallow in their misery of losing a child to the point of anguish and despair. Finally, moving on, it got to the meat of the problem presenting some good frights, some interesting twists and, although not really resolving anything, made me smile anyway. Good film in the Turkish horror tradition ...just needed better pacing.
Siccin 3: Love [2016]
aka Sijjin 3: Curmu Ask
            
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A man's grief for the loss of his wife is so great, he resorts to demonic magic to bring her back. Calamity follows close behind. Not a sequel to the first two but uses similar themes. This one, however, was really drawn out unnecessarily. Cutting out 30 mins would have made it far more effective and wouldn't have hurt the story one iota. Way too much melodrama. On the other hand, the sound effects were terrifying and the makeup was pretty gnarly. It didn't turn me away from the series but I hope this isn't a trend. Generally creepy and entertaining.
Siccin 4 [2017]
aka Sijjin 4
         
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A man, with a failing business, moves his family into his mom's house ...not knowing there's some pretty nasty dark entities living in the place. This is a pretty standard djinn's revenge story that we've come to expect of the Siccin series. Lots of good jump scares and some gnarly visuals. The sound fx and editing remains top quality and is half the fun. It's only real problem is we're becoming far too familiar with the Siccin formula and the films are becoming redundant. The climax was dragged out too long, as well. Not a bad entry in the series, though.
Siccin 5 [2018]
aka Sijjin 5
            
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Something about cancerous soil and a father who left is all I could make out of this extremely anemic story used as an excuse to constantly bombard us with one horrific hallucination / dream sequence after another like some sort of Turkish Nightmare on Elm Street. It certainly isn't dull hitting us with constant jump scares and incredibly effective gruesome and ghoulish imagery, which is what garnered a good rating from me, and if that's what you want, here it is. But, if you're looking for substance or story, you might want to try the theater next door.
Siccin 6 [2019]
aka Sijjin 6
            

The final installment of the series is easily the weakest. Once again, a family is cursed and the lead character from Siccin 3 has shown up to save the day while battling his own demons. That's all there is as we jump around from one character to the next for another series of demon frights and jump scares occasionally interrupted by long winded spiritual conversations repeated over and over again. Some of the creeps were effective - the hospital bed scene is pure nightmare fuel - but overall, it's all spooks with no narrative substance and a ho hum ending.
The Sisters Brothers [2018]

            
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An 1850's travelogue, from Oregon Territory into California, of two gunslingers, Eli & Charles Sisters, hired to hunt down and kill a Mr. Warm. Once again, slow and about a half hour too long, this was still quite a wonderful meandering western adventure with some exceptional performances depicting some colorful and, oftentimes, quite humorous characters. Few unexpected turns and there's a supremely torturous scene involving a spider that had me cringing and laughing out loud at the same time. Very nice!
Skinwalker Ranch [2013]

            

Found footage style film about a bunch of ghost investigators investigating a ranch which seems to be a hot spot for UFO and other unexplained phenomena. They were asked to come out by the ranch owner who's son simply vanished during a birthday party. Beyond a few spine tingling moments and some really nightmarish imagery, there's nothing here we haven't seen before. If you like the Ghost Hunters style stuff, you'll probably like this. But, if you're looking for something new to add to the genre, you won't find it here.
Slaughter [2009]

            
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A young woman moving away from an abusive stalker ends up living on a pig farm with a few secrets. During the first 55 mins, we get a man walking around without an arm, a bad dream and a woman that we're supposed to accept as being so totally oblivious to what's going on around her as completely normal. Then we are treated to 40 minutes of repulsive torture that results in the entire story being pointless and senseless. They were shooting for something like Frontier(s) and ended up with this asinine load of tripe.
Sin City [2005]

            
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Extremely stylish comic book movie that is so true to it's source that it really feels like you're reading a full motion comic book. Over-the-top characters portrayed by a whole lot of familiar faces, great action, good, zany stories and a truck load of violence and mayhem. All it's missing is the occasional ARGH!, POW!, and WHAM!. Excellent fan-made trailer, as well.
Shooter [2007]

            

Good conspiracy thriller where certain government officials hire the expertise of one of the best snipers in the world to prevent an assassination of the president. As usual with spooky government officials, things don't go as planned. Good action and gun play sequences, the story has a few plot holes but nothing that can't be overcome by keeping tongue firmly in cheek and a nice vengeance ending pretty much sums it up. Good, exciting entertainment!
A Slit-Mouthed Woman [2007]
aka Kuchisake-onna / Carved
         
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Light-weight Japanese horror featuring a woman, whose mouth is slit open, kidnapping kids. Mildly entertaining except there were far, far, far too many scenes where everyone just sort of sat there and did nothing ...I kept finding myself going, "Somebody do something"! The final confrontation featured everyone getting really freakin' stupid. I was totally frustrated by the time this was over. Apparently, there's a lot of versions of this urban legend. I don't think this is one of the good ones.
Shadows & Lies [2010]
aka William Vincent
         
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When a man misses his plane, and it crashes incinerating everyone on board, he takes on a new identity and his life changes for the worst. Visually stylish art film with brilliant performances that let you know the characters intimately without really knowing anything about them at all. Despite its pluses however, every scene was tediously long and the whole thing ended up being completely pointless. In a nutshell, this movie was just plain boring with no payoff.
Skyscraper [2018]

            
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A security expert's family is stuck in the highest building in the world when terrorists attack. This modern era Die Hard is pretty much what you'd expect it to be. What it lacks in depth of characters and story it makes up for in one outrageous cliffhanger (literally) action sequence after another. And they manage to make it all look believable even though it's ludicrously over-the-top. Impressively thrilling, severely acrophobic and quite entertaining.
Silencio [2018]

            
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After the death of his daughter's family, including the 2 granddaughters, a scientist finds a stone that allows him to go back and save one of the granddaughters. This, of course, creates problems. It's unfortunate but the filmmakers spent the entire movie draining the viewer of every drop of emotional energy through one heart-wrenching scene after another creating an extremely painful distraction to an otherwise intelligent concept. Great acting but if they would have removed the overly long scenes of human anguish it would have made an excellent short film.
Skinwalkers [2006]

         

Two werewolf factions. One wants to be cured, the other doesn't. The key lies with a 13-year-old half-breed. This is really nothing more than a chase movie where the bad guys are after the kid. The fact that the pursuers and the protectors of the kid are both werewolves really don't make much of a difference as far as the story goes. It wasn't horrible ...it's just that there's nothing original here and everything in this film, right down to the make-up, is mediocre, at best.
Sleepaway Camp [1983]

         
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A bunch of kids at a summer camp are dying one by one. I liked the ending for two reasons. First, it genuinely surprised me ...well, not who the murderer was - I figured that out. It had an additional twist I didn't see coming. The other reason I like the ending is because it signified that the movie was over ...Thank, God! And they made 4 ...count them, 4 sequels!!
Shadow People [2013]
aka The Door
            
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A pseudo-docudrama about a radio talk show host who gets sucked into the paranormal sightings of shadow people after the unexplained death of one of his distraught callers and he begins to meltdown while others, who have listened to his show, die under equally suspicious circumstances. A few good spooky moments does not overcome the obvious problem (at least, obvious to me) that a professional CDC expert doesn't figure out till nearly the end nor the unsatisfying and unresolved, anti-climactic ending.
Sharknado [2013]

         
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A hurricane strikes Los Angeles bringing storm surges, water spouts and tornadoes full of sharks. Totally cheesy from the dialogue to the spec fx, this completely self-aware movie doesn't take itself seriously for a minute. As such, it's garnered an incredible cult following and 5 sequels (so far). Unless you're simply unable to appreciate good quality camp, this movie is just plain fun. Bring out the popcorn!
Sharknado 2: The Second One [2014]

            
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This time, the Big Apple experiences a big storm with lots of sharks creating havoc in mid-town Manhattan. As with the first film, it's strictly played for gags ...even paying homage to Airplane! and The Twilight Zone within the first 5 minutes. It also begins its franchise running gag of star cameos used as shark food. The film does whatever's necessary to hit us with the next gag making everything feel forced for the sake of the gag without logic or reason. But if you tell logic to pack its bags and go home this is still good entertaining camp and a good thrill ride.
Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No! [2015]

         
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The storms are getting worse and now we have a sharknado wall ready to destroy the entire eastern seaboard. What a riot! Unlike the 2nd film, which felt made up as they went along, this one has a solid story created by folks with their imaginations on steroids. Outrageously silly, intentionally goofy, with cheesy spec fx, the gags were brilliant, and the humor - refreshingly without ever once resorting to infantile bathroom jokes & pranks - was perfectly corny in all the right places. The low ratings shock me as this is genius camp executed flawlessly. Just have fun!
Sharknado 4: The 4th Awakens [2016]

            
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A pulse system has been used for the past 5 years to prevent another sharknado but now it's failing and the nation is, once again, plagued by the monstrous storms. Even though the 3rd film appeared to finally get the formula perfectly tuned, they decided to just go full tilt bozo on this one assaulting us with one outrageously over-the-top gag after another to the point of incredulity ...in a vehicle that's not all that credible to begin with. Some gags worked, a few LOL moments, nods to dozens of other films, made it fun despite in being overly outlandish and silly.
Sharknado 5: Global Swarming [2017]

            
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The find of an ancient artifact triggers a super vortex sharknado that can teleport and spawn new ones all around the world. Totally insane, over-the-top silly, outrageous in every way and hysterically funny, this one spends the entire time throwing out call backs to dozens of other films and cameo appearances by the truckload and still manages to present a cohesive story ...as bizarre as it may be. The imagination that went into the story, the gags, the humor, is phenomenal. Obviously, most just don't get it but I found it to supreme, LOL, entertainment.
The Shawshank Redemption [1994]

            

A highly intelligent banker, falsely accused of murdering his wife, spends 20 years in prison suffering one calamity after another but somehow manages to find hope and redemption. For 20 years, people have told me they're amazed I haven't seen this movie ...it's just something that, for whatever, never drew my attention. So, I finally did ...and I'm very glad. Everything about this story is magnificent and the characters were amazing. Not the type of film I usually watch but I can easily see why it's regarded as a cinematic masterpiece.
Skeleton Man [2004]

         
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A ridiculously bad yet oddly entertaining film about a guy in a skeleton suit wearing a robe that looks like a black shower curtain that switches from brand new to torn and tattered with every scene, slicing, stabbing, decapitating and impaling a lot of supposedly trained military personal who couldn't fight their way out of a paper bag. Interrupt this excitement for some really bad acting and horrendous dialogue and there you have it. But, I was never bored and I actually found myself giggling at times. MST3K would have a field day with this one.
Shirkers [2018]

         

At age 18, in 1992, Sandy Tan wanted to make a film more than anything else. Along with a group of friends, she made a road movie in Singapore ...something no one else was doing. After creating 70 rolls of film, their director took everything and disappeared. Sandy Tan now tells her remarkable story of dreams destroyed and regained in this personal and heartfelt biography. I don't normally watch biographies but this one was well worth the time and the journey. What a story!
Sicario 2: Day of the Soldado [2018]

            


After the Mexican cartels are known to be smuggling terrorists across the border, a highly covert black-ops mission is established to create a war between cartels. Then everything goes wrong. Superb performances by Josh Brolin and Benicio Del Toro, intensely realistic firefights and a constantly evolving story line makes this one far better than the first film ...which I found to be rather ho hum. Nicely done.
Shallow Ground [2004]
SPOILER WARNING: Trailer details the entire movie in less than 3 mins.
         

At a rural sheriff station, a naked boy shows up covered in blood and anyone touching the blood sees visions of murder. The opening credits waste no time in letting you know that you are in for a gory ride. The story was original, gruesome, and everything followed a logical course right up to its twist ending. The acting isn't great but the characters were genuine, believable people and they weren't morons! Exceptionally well made movie. If you want a preview, watch the first 30-40 secs of the trailer. Watching all of it gives away far too much.
Slender Man [2018]

         

High school friends conjure up a paranormal entity known as Slender Man which proceeds to make their lives miserable. This certainly isn't original horror nor does it have any depth but it certainly deserves better numbers in the ratings. The fact that the characters acted like normal, intelligent teenagers was greatly appreciated. There's really some pretty good spooks here, as well. My biggest gripe is there are scenes in this terrifying trailer that I wanted to see in context and they're not in the film. That's just cheap bait-and-switch.
SiREN [2016]

            

This is a full movie re-write of a short story called "Amateur Night" from the V/H/S anthology featuring the same siren / harpy character. This one involves 4 guys on a bachelor party road trip that end up at the wrong place. Although they do make some rather stupid decisions (and you know how I feel about that), there were good performances all around and the movie was sufficiently creepy to keep me wholly engaged throughout. "I like you". Yeah, definitely creepy with a good, "Oh, hell no!", ending.
Slither [2006]

            

Before making the Guardians of the Galaxy films (and then unjustly fired from Marvel / Disney before being rehired again), James Gunn wrote and directed this little gem about an alien creature who inhabits a host and uses it to create thousands of slugs that inhabit everyone else ...and they really have an appetite. A perfect mix of gross, gory and giggles, this movie is just plain fun if you can handle the bloodshed which, for some, can be difficult ...especially if you're an animal lover. Nothing overt but a lot of animals meet their demise here. Good squirmy fun.
Shadow [2018]
aka Ying
            
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A commander from one province challenges the ruler of another to a dual in an attempt to take back control of the city of his birth. The acting is good and the photography, done in a desaturated style, is incredible and very artistic ...but those are the only compliments I can give it. It only has one action sequence (about 10 mins) that was certainly unique but not particularly thrilling. The rest of the film bored me to death with extended scenes of conversation reminiscent of a soap opera in desperate need of something to fill the empty spaces.
Shrew's Nest [2014]
aka Musaranas
            

An extremely agoraphobic and disturbed woman, and her young sister, play host to a man with a broken leg and all the secrets come out. If you're looking for a family tragedy, look no further as this is as dysfunctional as it gets. The slow pacing in the first half had me ready to turn it off but I stuck with it and there's certainly nothing boring in the last half. There were a couple of huge plot holes like, why is no one calling the police and how did she clean up so fast, but I was able to put that aside. Great acting, well constructed story and quite messy. Violently entertaining.
The Shape of Water [2017]

            

In the '50's, a mute cleaning lady befriends an aqua creature in a secret government research lab. This movie could be categorized as a sci fi, fantasy, cold war thriller but mostly it's a romance and you do have to give credit to Guillermo del Toro for taking the farcical idea of a woman falling in love with an aquaman and making it credible and realistic. The romantics among us (except, perhaps, cat lovers) are going to love this film. It's not my cup of tea but it was a good story, well made, good characters, great aquaman.
Slaughter High [1985]

            
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A student is nearly killed on April Fool's via the harassment of a group of bullies. Revenge, perhaps?? With 3 writers/directors, you'd think that some skill would appear on the screen. Nay, nay! I guess they were shooting for comedy/horror but it ended up ridiculous. The dialog is 3rd grade, the acting terrible, the music painful, the scenarios were terribly cliche and contrived, and the ending rendered the whole thing meaningless. April Fool's ends at noon? Who made that rule? But, I couldn't look away ...I kept asking myself, "Why am I still watching this"?
Sleep No More [2017]

            
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An original take on a drug experiment film. When a college sleep deprivation experiment, using a new drug, ends in a fatality, the college shuts it down. But, the school will be empty for 2 weeks so why not use the lab and experiment on themselves? Although a bit dry and long-winded at times, the tension is maintained throughout with a slowly escalating level of dread the longer they stay awake. And are those hallucinations or not? If not, what are they? Characters were realistic and sincere and the chaos is genuine. Great, edgy entertainment!
Shutter [2004]

         
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A photographer and his girlfriend are haunted after hitting a girl in a hit-and-run. This movie had a lot going for it but the pacing was terrible. The first 30 mins were slow but they held my attention quite thoroughly. Then there's about 40 mins that nearly put me to sleep ...found myself going, "Let's move this along, please." The final 15 mins were great. If they could have found a way to make a 97 min movie not feel like 2 and half hours, I would have enjoyed it much more.
The Silence of the Lambs [1991]

            
  
For those few who don't know, an FBI trainee is sent to talk to Hannibal the Cannibal to see if she can get info out of him concerning a new killer known as Buffalo Bill. Best Picture of the Year Oscar and awards for several actors and well deserving of every one of them ...an opinion I don't usually share with the Academy. Tense, complex, with two major story lines, Anthony Hopkins, Jodie Foster and Ted Levine are all phenomenal. If you haven't seen one of the best dramatic horror films of all time, what are you waiting for?
Slumberland [2022]

         

Through her dreams, and with the help of a dream outlaw named Flip, a girl believes she can find a magic pearl that will grant her a wish to see her father. This was an absolute joy to watch. The characters are fully developed and incredibly fun, including a stuffed pig named ...well, Pig. Few films reach the level of imagination to make dream films work but this one was up to the task with a vivid imagination fully framed on the screen. Brisk pacing from start to finish, the Mrs. and I enjoyed this ride as much as any MCU or adventure / fantasy film.
The Shining [1980]

            

A man slowly goes mad while isolated as a caretaker of a mountain hotel with his family. This film taught me an important lesson. I saw it when it had just been released right after I read the book and was intensely angered with it. A few years later, I saw it again and found it to be truly worthy of being a horror classic and to this day, I have not made the mistake of comparing books and movies again. They're different mediums and to use one to establish expectations for the other is a fool's game. Revisiting it now was a real treat. Outstanding filmmaking.
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