Room 237

Director: Rodney Ascher
Language: English
Theatrical Release Date: March 29, 2013
Festivals: Sundance Film Festival
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Tagline: Some movies stay with you forever... and ever... and ever.

Synopsis: The Invasion of the Body Snatchers is largely seen as an allegory on McCarthyism, Matrix is replete with Christian symbolism, while Godzilla can only be an evocation of the ravages of the atomic bomb.  But one film more than any other, has generated analyses, interpretations and arguments about it really meaning: Stanley Kubrick's The Shining.  Room 237 explores numerous these theories about the true if often hidden meanings of Kubrick’s 1980 'Masterpiece of Modern Horror'. Born out of countless conversations with producer Tim Kirk, Rodney Ascher’s film gives voice to the thoughts of five thoroughly obsessed Shining devotees. [Synopsis courtesy of Cannes - Directors' Fortnight 2012]

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The Playlist News

What Are You Seeing This Weekend? 'The Host' & 'Place Beyond The Pines' May Spark 'Retaliation' Or 'Temptation'

There ain't nothing like some bad behavior to kick off a stellar weekend. You know -- by cutting class, or taking a walk of shame, or going to work hungover on Friday morning. Or, as the movie stars like to do it, by killing some dudes, pulling off a bank job, stealing a dog, and implanting a jellyf...
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The Playlist News

Stanley Kubrick Pal Dismisses 'Room 237' Theories, Armond White Says Film Is "End Of Cinephilia"

Some details from within a film production serve to heighten the project's legend overall: the genius of “Jaws” only increased when the film's original gameplan -- a fully functional shark -- failed to manifest itself for Steven Spielberg and co. But the opposite has been true with Stanley Kubrick's...
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The Playlist News

Another Great 'Room 237' Poster Puts 'The Shining' Conspiracy Theories Front & Center

The Timberline Lodge, Oregon, does not have a Room 237. In Stephen King's book, the room of mystery is actually Room 217, but its proprietors felt that as the real-life double of Stanley Kubrick’s diabolical Overlook Hotel, the room’s axe-wielding associations mightn’t be the strongest draw for the ...
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The Playlist News

New Poster For Doc 'Room 237' Pays Homage To The Original 'The Shining' One Sheet

While Rodney Ascher's documentary "Room 237" quite vocally does not have the endorsement of the Stanley Kubrick estate, that hasn't stopped the marketing from paying homage to "The Shining." It was just about a month ago, the a clever trailed riffed on the original teaser and now that playfulness ha...
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Indiewire News

New York's IFC Center Mounting Complete Kubrick Retrospective

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Indiewire Reviews

How 'The Purge,' Opening the Stanley Film Festival, Reminds Us Why We Love Horror Movies

The Stanley Hotel might not harbor ghosts in the traditional sense, but the empty hallways and surrounding desolation of this remote chunk of wooden real estate adjacent to Rocky Mountain National Park in Estes Park, Colorado suggest the sort of phantom presence that active imaginations tend to crea...
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The Playlist Reviews

Review: 'Room 237' An Outstanding, Fascinating & Funny Exploration & Celebration Of 'The Shining'

Is "The Shining" just a horror movie about a guy who goes berserk in a hotel, or is it subversively about the history of American genocide? Why did Stanley Kubrick use cans of Calumet and Tang in the hotel's storeroom? Were these just random products, or were they each chosen and framed in the camer...
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Thompson on Hollywood Reviews

Weekend Preview: Peek Inside 'Room 237' and Visit 'Place Beyond the Pines'; 'The Host' Getting Roasted

A number of appealing cinematic treats open this weekend. Derek Cianfrance's crime saga "The Place Beyond the Pines," starring Ryan Gosling, Bradley Cooper and Eva Mendes, is receiving solid critical praise, while Rodney Ascher's documentary "Room 237," examining the wonkiest wonks' theories about K...
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Thompson on Hollywood Reviews

'Room 237' Review: Why I Hated, Then Admired 'Shining' Doc

A funny thing happened on the way to reviewing “Room 237.” When I first watched Rodney Ascher’s documentary about fanatical theories on Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining,” I found it so patience-testing and angering that I had to turn it off at the halfway point. When I watched it a second time, obliga...
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Caryn James Reviews

'Room 237,' Kubrick Fanatics And a Bonus Recommendation

The rapturous responses to Room 237 that came out of the Sundance Film festival seem wildly overstated, but understandable. This modest, entertaining, and at times visually clever documentary about The Shining -- in which a handful of obsessives decode the signposts to supposedly "true" m...
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