Rob Ager

Last updated

Rob Ager
Personal information
Born1973 (age 4950)
Website www.collativelearning.com
YouTube information
Channels
Years active2007–present
Subscribers212 thousand (main channel) 255 thousand (combined)
Total views26.5 million (main channel) 30 million (combined)

Rob Ager (born 1973) is a British internet film critic and analyst. He has published in-depth analyses of a variety of films, including the horror genre and the works of Stanley Kubrick in particular. He has a YouTube channel, "Collative Learning" and a website of the same name.

Contents

Early life

Ager did not attend college. He worked on designing video game graphics before working for 15 years as a social worker. [1]

Film analysis

According to the New York Film Academy, Ager was one of the earliest internet movie critics and pioneered the video movie critique. He posted his first reviews in 2007. [1] Ager has published popular analyses on films such as The Thing (1982), [2] and Stanley Kubrick films like The Shining . [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] In a 2021 article, Esquire credited him with first developing the theory regarding suggestions of child sexual abuse in The Shining. [8] In a 2015 video series, Ager discussed possible vegan messages in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre . [9] [10] He has also reviewed puzzle game The Witness . [11]

He runs the website "Collative Learning". [12]

Personal life

Ager is from Liverpool. [13]

Related Research Articles

<i>Barry Lyndon</i> 1975 film by Stanley Kubrick

Barry Lyndon is a 1975 historical drama film written, directed, and produced by Stanley Kubrick, based on the 1844 novel The Luck of Barry Lyndon by William Makepeace Thackeray. Starring Ryan O'Neal, Marisa Berenson, Patrick Magee, Leonard Rossiter, and Hardy Krüger, the film recounts the early exploits and later unravelling of an 18th-century Anglo-Irish rogue and golddigger who marries a rich widow to climb the social ladder and assume her late husband's aristocratic position.

<i>Dr. Strangelove</i> 1964 film directed by Stanley Kubrick

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, known simply and more commonly as Dr. Strangelove, is a 1964 political satire black comedy film directed, co-written, and produced by Stanley Kubrick and starring Peter Sellers in three roles, including the title character. The film also stars George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden, Keenan Wynn, Slim Pickens, and Tracy Reed. The film, which satirizes the Cold War fears of a nuclear conflict between the Soviet Union and the United States, is loosely based on the thriller novel Red Alert (1958) by Peter George, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Kubrick and Terry Southern.

<i>Eyes Wide Shut</i> 1999 film by Stanley Kubrick

Eyes Wide Shut is a 1999 erotic mystery psychological drama film directed, produced, and co-written by Stanley Kubrick. It is based on the 1926 novella Traumnovelle by Arthur Schnitzler, transferring the story's setting from early twentieth-century Vienna to 1990s New York City. The plot centers on a doctor who is shocked when his wife reveals that she had contemplated having an affair a year earlier. He then embarks on a night-long adventure, during which he infiltrates a masked orgy of an unnamed secret society.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stanley Kubrick</span> American filmmaker (1928–1999)

Stanley Kubrick was an American film director, producer, screenwriter and photographer. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, his films—nearly all of which are adaptations of novels or short stories—span a number of genres and are known for their intense attention to detail, innovative cinematography, extensive set design and dark humor.

<i>The Shining</i> (novel) 1977 novel by Stephen King

The Shining is a 1977 horror novel by American author Stephen King. It is King's third published novel and first hardcover bestseller; its success firmly established King as a preeminent author in the horror genre. The setting and characters are influenced by King's personal experiences, including both his visit to The Stanley Hotel in 1974 and his struggle with alcoholism. The novel was adapted into a 1980 film and a 1997 miniseries. The book was followed by a sequel, Doctor Sleep, published in 2013, which in turn was adapted into a film of the same name in 2019.

<i>A.I. Artificial Intelligence</i> 2001 film by Steven Spielberg

A.I. Artificial Intelligence is a 2001 American science fiction film directed by Steven Spielberg. The screenplay by Spielberg and screen story by Ian Watson were based on the 1969 short story "Supertoys Last All Summer Long" by Brian Aldiss. Set in a futuristic society, the film stars Haley Joel Osment as David, a childlike android uniquely programmed with the ability to love. Jude Law, Frances O'Connor, Brendan Gleeson and William Hurt star in supporting roles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shelley Duvall</span> American actress (born 1949)

Shelley Alexis Duvall is an American actress and producer widely known for her portrayal of distinctive, often eccentric characters. She is the recipient of several accolades, including a Cannes Film Festival Award and a Peabody Award and nominations for a British Academy Film Award and two Primetime Emmy Awards.

<i>The Shining</i> (film) 1980 horror film by Stanley Kubrick

The Shining is a 1980 horror film produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick and co-written with novelist Diane Johnson. The film is based on Stephen King's 1977 novel of the same name and stars Jack Nicholson, Danny Lloyd, Shelley Duvall, and Scatman Crothers. Nicholson plays Jack Torrance, a writer and recovering alcoholic who accepts a new position as the off-season caretaker of the Overlook Hotel. Lloyd plays his young son Danny, who has psychic abilities, which he learns about from head chef Dick Hallorann (Crothers). Danny's imaginary friend Tony warns him the hotel is haunted before a winter storm leaves the family snowbound in the Colorado Rockies. Jack's sanity deteriorates under the influence of the hotel and its residents, and Danny and his mother Wendy (Duvall) face mortal danger.

<i>The Shining</i> (miniseries) 1997 American horror television miniseries

The Shining is a 1997 three-episode horror television miniseries based on the 1977 Stephen King novel of the same name. Directed by Mick Garris from King's teleplay, it is the second adaptation of King's book after the 1980 film by Stanley Kubrick and was written and produced by King based on his dissatisfaction with Kubrick's version. The miniseries was shot at The Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado, King's inspiration for the novel, in March 1996.

<i>A Clockwork Orange</i> (film) 1971 film directed by Stanley Kubrick

A Clockwork Orange is a 1971 dystopian crime film adapted, produced, and directed by Stanley Kubrick, based on Anthony Burgess's 1962 novel of the same name. It employs disturbing, violent images to comment on psychiatry, juvenile delinquency, youth gangs, and other social, political, and economic subjects in a dystopian near-future Britain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Danny Lloyd</span> American former child actor (born 1972)

Daniel Edward Sidney Lloyd is an American former child actor, best known for his role as Danny Torrance in the horror film The Shining (1980), an adaptation of Stephen King's 1977 novel of the same name.

Vivian Vanessa Kubrick, also credited under the pseudonym Abigail Mead, is an American film-maker and composer. She is the daughter of film-maker Stanley Kubrick.

<i>2001: A Space Odyssey</i> 1968 film directed by Stanley Kubrick

2001: A Space Odyssey is a 1968 epic science fiction film produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick. The screenplay was written by Kubrick and science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke, and was inspired by Clarke's 1951 short story "The Sentinel" and other short stories by Clarke. Clarke also published a novelisation of the film, in part written concurrently with the screenplay, after the film's release. The film stars Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood, William Sylvester, and Douglas Rain and follows a voyage by astronauts, scientists, and the sentient supercomputer HAL to Jupiter to investigate an alien monolith.

<i>Room 237</i> 2012 film

Room 237 is a 2012 American documentary film directed by Rodney Ascher about interpretations of Stanley Kubrick's film The Shining (1980) which was adapted from the 1977 novel of the same name by Stephen King. The documentary includes footage from The Shining and other Kubrick films, along with discussions by Kubrick enthusiasts. Room 237 has nine segments, each focusing on a different element within The Shining which "may reveal hidden clues and hint at a bigger thematic oeuvre." Produced by Tim Kirk, the documentary's title refers to a room in the haunted Overlook Hotel featured in The Shining.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stanley Kubrick filmography</span>

Stanley Kubrick (1928–1999) directed thirteen feature films and three short documentaries over the course of his career. His work as a director, spanning diverse genres, is widely regarded as being extremely influential.

Part of the New Hollywood wave, Kubrick's films are considered by film historian Michel Ciment to be "among the most important contributions to world cinema in the twentieth century", and he is frequently cited as one of the greatest and most influential directors in the history of cinema. According to film historian and Kubrick scholar Robert Kolker, Kubrick's films were "more intellectually rigorous than the work of any other American filmmaker."

<i>Doctor Sleep</i> (2019 film) 2019 film by Mike Flanagan

Doctor Sleep is a 2019 American supernatural horror film written and directed by Mike Flanagan. It is an adaptation of the 2013 novel of the same name by Stephen King and sequel to Stanley Kubrick's 1980 film The Shining. The film stars Ewan McGregor as Dan Torrance, a man with psychic abilities and a drinking problem, who struggles with childhood trauma caused by the horrors at the Overlook Hotel. Rebecca Ferguson, Kyliegh Curran, and Cliff Curtis have supporting roles as new characters: Abra Stone and Billy Freeman team up with Dan to take down Rose the Hat and her gang of followers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dick Hallorann</span> Fictional character

Richard Hallorann is a fictional character created by Stephen King from his 1977 novel The Shining. He has telepathic abilities he called "the shining" and is the head chef at the Overlook Hotel. He meets Danny Torrance, a young boy who is also telepathic, and learns that the evil spirits of the hotel have taken control of Danny's father, Jack.

<i>The Shining</i> (franchise) American horror franchise

The Shining is an American supernatural horror media franchise that originated from the 1977 novel of the same name by Stephen King. The novel was later adapted into a 1980 film and a 1997 television miniseries. King later wrote a 2013 sequel novel, Doctor Sleep, which was adapted to film in 2019.

References

  1. 1 2 Kantilaftis, Helen (11 August 2014). "How To Become A Film Critic: An Interview With Rob Ager". New York Film Academy. Archived from the original on 27 October 2020. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
  2. Green, Michael Bohdi (30 November 2020). "Why The Thing Is The Best Sci-Fi Horror Movie Of All Time". Looper. Archived from the original on 14 January 2021. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
  3. Wilhemi, Jack (22 November 2019). "The Shining's Bear Man Is The Film's Biggest Mystery: Here's What It Means". Screen Rant. Archived from the original on 3 May 2021. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
  4. Brady, Tara (1 November 2019). "Doctor Sleep director: 'There are people who are going to hate this movie'". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 6 November 2019. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
  5. Horton, Perry H. (8 December 2016). "Power, Pyramids, and Pecking Orders in A Clockwork Orange". Film School Rejects. Archived from the original on 12 June 2017. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
  6. Coleman, Jonny (10 January 2017). "WHY EYES WIDE SHUT IS STANLEY KUBRICK'S BEST FILM". Los Angeles Weekly. Archived from the original on 4 February 2021. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
  7. Harris, Aisha (7 January 2013). "Is HAL Really IBM?". Slate. Archived from the original on 2 April 2021. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
  8. Mullor, Miriera (7 March 2021). "Entendiendo 'El resplandor' 40 años después". Esquire (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 5 April 2021. Retrieved 13 April 2021.
  9. Francisco, Eric. "THE MOST INFLUENTIAL HORROR MOVIE OF ALL TIME IS LEAVING NETFLIX NEXT MONTH". Inverse. Archived from the original on 31 October 2020. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
  10. Wickman, Forrest (30 July 2013). "The Ultimate Pro-Vegetarian Film Is the Last Movie You'd Expect". Slate. Archived from the original on 13 April 2021. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
  11. Geerkens, Joy (12 July 2017). "Leisure Time: 'The Witness'". The Daily of the University of Washington. Archived from the original on 7 January 2020. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
  12. Dean, Rob (14 January 2015). "Read This: An exhaustive analysis of Revenge Of The Nerds". AV Club. Archived from the original on 8 November 2020. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
  13. Ito, Robert (25 January 2012). "Cracking the Code in 'Heeere's Johnny!'". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 11 February 2021. Retrieved 8 April 2021.