Reticent Man

Harsh Times  Meh. This movie shows the Christian Bale is a great actor, but I already knew that.  The other redeeming quality of this movie is the rarely captured essence of masculinity.  Of course it's portrayed negatively as you would expect, but at least it's portrayed well.  But that's about it.  The story isn't particularly interesting, and when it is it isn't particularly believable.  The nightmare sequences are pretty lame.  Oh and in case you didn't already know, women are smarter and better than men. Still it's no unwatchable, it's mildly entertaining.  Acting 9/10 Story 1/10 Style 6/10 minus a lot for F/M.

Harsh Times 4/10

The Shining.  I don't think I even know yet how much I love this movie.  I need to see it at least 4 more times.  I spent about 6 hours reading analysis about this movie right after seeing it and I could read more.  Kubrick is the man.  I could tell even on first viewing that there were two levels to this thing... that the surface narrative of the haunted hotel is not the real meaning.  But after reading thorough discussion I realized just how amazing the second level is.  This movie is intricately designed essentially frame by frame to carry a very complicated but complete second narrative below the surface.  I need to rewatch other Kubrick movies multiple times just to get to their second levels.  Even the surface narrative is a good movie by itself, very spooky and visually enthralling.  Acting 8/10 Story 10/10 Style 10/10

The Shining 9.5/10