Stanley Kubrick

[cinemabon]

"It is well known... you have an odd sense of fun"

Mr. Dryden (Claude Rains) from "Lawrence of Arabia"

[Johann]

I think the ending to Dr. Strangelove is just as optimistic. Kidding!


A friend of mine thinks Eyes Wide Shut is Kubrick's best. He may be right. Kubrick said as much himself.
Orson Welles said "Kubrick strikes me as a giant".

An interviewer on the set of Strangelove stupidly said "So Hollywood sent for you, eh Stanley?"
Kubrick shot a hard look at him. "No one ever sent for me. And I'll see to it that no one ever does".

2001: A Space Odyssey. That film is still a controversial work. people still don't get it. (Don't believe me? Check out the imbd comments- people don't know their ass from a hole in the ground with this flick)
2001 is still way over the heads of most of society. They don't (or won't) acknowledge the genius, the ideas, the possibilities that this film demonstrates.

It's been over 34 years since it's release and the world seems more interested in the next Justin Timberlake video.

How did the media turn everyone into "reality TV" junkies and consumers of shit film?

Eyes Wide Shut flies in the face of society and society just ignores it. I applaud oscar and cinemabon for taking the time to look at the film with real interest. The movie has so much to offer and so much artistic merit that I'm bewildered by the apathy.

I must make a self-righteous statement:

If you don't appreciate Kubrick then you shouldn't be allowed to watch films

[tabuno]

Eyes Wide Shut and other movies have a good chance of standing the test of time...even the A.I. collaboration. Many brilliant artistic endeavors are only discovered years later such as Bladerunner.

[cinemabon]

Well, I confess to being one of those confused individuals. That is, until I read Arthur C. Clark's original work, called "The Sentinel", a short story he wrote about primates encountering the "Monolith". He later revised his short story into the novel based on the film. He collaborated very closely with Kubrick on that project. The book, based on the screenplay, does explain the long passages in the film where there is no dialogue and nothing in the narrative action of the film to explain what is going on. Flashing lights tell us nothing. In the book, however, we see that powerful aliens used the "floating Monolith" as a door into the other side of the universe, pulling Dave Bowman's spacecraft at speeds greater than lightspeed. At one point they bring him inside a star! After he ages, he is reincarnated as the "starchild" who returns to Earth to change our world for the better, which ends the book.

The sequel to "2001" was "2010", which hardly even refers to the original work (what happened to the starchild?). The movie based on that book, was a disaster; although Peter Hyam's recreation of the original "Jupiter" spacecraft set was impressive. The rest of the movie was laughable at best, and strayed so far from the book, one wonders where Hyam got the story.

As a technical note: Kubrick's work in the original, using live actors on a set and shooting through slides projected over the actors, and using highly reflective screens, creating the background plates on the original film without using blue screen, has never been duplicated in any other film. It was rumored at the time, that certain Academy Members actually thought Kubrick used real trained apes, and that was why "2001" was not nominated for make-up (a far more sophisticated make-up was used than the poured mold forms that were used for "Planet of the Apes", which won the Oscar for "Make-up Effects"! Go figure!)

[Johann]

I always laugh when people say Kubrick was a pessimistic, dark-hearted filmmaker.

If someone were to do even just a tiny bit a research- especially if you read the University of Missisippi's Stanley Kubrick Interviews (part of the outstanding "Conversations With Filmmakers" series) you will find that Kubrick was actually a fairly simple guy who had an enormous capacity for knowledge. He had terrible grades in school (so did Einstein) & he just explored his interests to the nth degree.
He's a role model of mine, I'll tell you that.
Scorsese was right: "We are all the sons and daughters of D.W. Griffith and Stanley Kubrick"

His films just get better and better as the years go by. His wife Christiane said he wished he made more films, but as Scorsese pointed out: " those were enough".

Is this not a stellar list of films to be the mind behind?:


The Killing
Paths of Glory
Spartacus
Lolita
Dr. Strangelove
2001: A Space Odyssey
A Clockwork Orange
Barry Lyndon
The Shining
Full Metal Jacket
Eyes Wide Shut

[cinemabon]

I'm curious... which is your favorite? I must confess that mine is "Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb!" What an intelligent and hilarious satire!

When I think of the over-the-top acting performances...

Sterling Hayden as the mad General consumed with his bodily wastes

Peter Sellers playing his three great character roles to the hilt, including the Nazi saluting Dr. Strangelove himself

Slim Pickens as Maj. "King" Kong and the dramatic exit that made us all shiver, putting it on every "Best of" film clip list

George C. Scott as the gum chewing, red-neck General that wants to "fly right in and BAM!" those Ruskies! ("Mr. President, sir, I smell a Commie rat!")

Keenan Wynn, the wisecracking colonel reluctant to shot a pop dispenser to save the world

Then there's the technical staff that put it all together so well -

Gil Taylor's great black and white photography (Star Wars, Frenzy, The Omen, Hard Day's Night, etc.)

Ken Adams (think James Bond) production designer (I believe Adams defined the phrase "over-the-top")

Brilliantly edited by Anthony Harvey (along with Kubrick, who had final cut), juxtapositioning the bombers with the generals

Terry Southern's biting wit and sexual innuendos (I loved "Candy"!)

and finally, the man who brought all those talents together and allowed them to shine for this very hip satire that made us all painfully aware that the bomb was nothing to trifle with... Mr. Stanley Kubrick, the subject of this post, and my personal hero for best innovative director.

P.S. I absolute HATE the comment that IMDB has posted at the bottom of this movie... it just irks me that they allow every illiterate opinion to dominate beautiful and important films as if this were the most appropriate comment. Who the hell runs that damn thing (site) any way?

[oscar jubis]

Originally posted by cinemabon
I'm curious... which is your favorite? I must confess that mine is "Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb!" What an intelligent and hilarious satire!


It's a difficult question. Each film so different than the others. The two early masterpieces Paths of Glory and The Killing are the least seen. Young adults are neglecting to watch these brilliant examples of the war drama and the film noir. Barry Lyndon and Eyes Wide Shut are the most underrated. Dr. Strangelove is simply perfect and more fun to watch than my favorite Kubrick film, the one that dared to visualize an answer to questions about man's past and future.

[Johann]

There is something Stanley Kubrick could do that no other film director could do: leave you with an ambiguous, profound emotional feeling that stays with you long after his films screen.

He had a style that grabbed you, commanded your attention. And if it didn't, you were probably not intellectually or emotionally equipped to handle it.

Barry Lyndon is my favorite Kubrick film and my favorite film period. This massive sprawling work of supreme film art is an experience so overwhelming to me-even at over 100 viewings- that I doubt I'll see a better film before my death.
That may sound like an extreme endorsement, but it is true.
I have never seen such a controlled yet deeply emotional film.

Actually, now that I mention it, I just saw Ozu's Tokyo Story and I felt a bit of the same, but holy moses do I admire Barry Lyndon.
Anyone here wish they could experience a film again like the first time they saw it? I sure as shit do, and it's Barry.

I took the double vhs out of the public library and went home.
Watched the film, and thought to myself that I was seeing a film commissioned by God himself. Literally, the holy grail.

But could I talk to anybody about it? Fuck no. NO ONE I KNEW had seen it and if they had (like my mother: "You don't want to know what I think of Barry Lyndon") hated it. I was indignant at the lack of interest, to say ignorance.

To the novice I strongly suggest you set aside an evening (or if you really wanna do it right, a weekend) to devote to paying attention to Kubrick's 10th feature.
Light candles-lots of 'em- play some classical music beforehand to "get you in the mood" and turn off all of the lights in the house. (The chances of seeing this flick on the big screen are about nil, so you must compromise).

If you're willing to receive a cinematic gift of monumental proportions by bowing at the altar of Kubrick, you will be a blessed individual.

[anduril]

Hey J:

You eventually got me to give Barry another turn and now it's one of my favourite movies all-time... sorry I still think EWS is Kubrick's best, though.

Ken.

[Johann]

No worries.

I'm glad we saw EWS on opening day. To me that's history. You only get one chance to see a Kubrick film for the first time. Thanks for sharing that experience with me.

anduril was also the one who broke the news of Kubrick's death to me. I was in mourning for a week.

[anduril]

Why did this get moved?

EDIT: Oh wait, now, I'm seeing double... what the heck? It's in General and Lounge...

[Johann]

Thought I'd add the extended original teaser trailer Kubrick cut for Eyes wide Shut.

Baby did a bad bad thing....

http://eyeswideshut.warnerbros.com/dld/ewsmed.mov