Stanley Kubrick: Classic or Dud?

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and this is a bad thing ?

― Brad Laner (Brad Laner), Tuesday, 17 January 2006 04:18 (eighteen years ago) link

i like it

― kyle (akmonday), Tuesday, 17 January 2006 06:41 (eighteen years ago) link

EWS is about NOT cheating.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 17 January 2006 14:18 (eighteen years ago) link

In EWS, there are masters and there are servants.

― senseiDancer (sexyDancer), Tuesday, 17 January 2006 22:32 (eighteen years ago) link

it's actually about the Peruvian healthcare system.

― latebloomer: virtuous, pure and masculine like only an American male can be (lat, Tuesday, 17 January 2006 22:36 (eighteen years ago) link

it's more about how doctors are not members of the ruling class, but hey

― senseiDancer (sexyDancer), Tuesday, 17 January 2006 22:38 (eighteen years ago) link

yes, it's more about that, but it is about both

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Tuesday, 17 January 2006 22:57 (eighteen years ago) link

Anyone see Carpenter's Dark Star... pretty good.

― A BOLD QUAHOG (ex machina), Wednesday, 18 January 2006 01:15 (eighteen years ago) link

sociological reading of ews:

http://www.visual-memory.co.uk/amk/doc/0096.html

― Ward Fowler (Ward Fowler), Wednesday, 18 January 2006 11:25 (eighteen years ago) link

The chanting is a backwards sample of priests giving a Latin mass. Pook felt that by reversing the order of their speech, she would lend the preists a "diabolical" (her word) flavor. Kubrick emphasized this by having the red-robed guy walk around in a counter-clockwise path.

WHOOAAAAA

― TOMBOT, Wednesday, 18 January 2006 13:43 (eighteen years ago) link

Films having possible subtexts, that's just crazy talk!

― latebloomer: virtuous, pure and masculine like only an American male can be (lat, Wednesday, 18 January 2006 13:47 (eighteen years ago) link

(btw that was a comment on the decadence of wife-swapping film critics)

― latebloomer: virtuous, pure and masculine like only an American male can be (lat, Wednesday, 18 January 2006 13:57 (eighteen years ago) link

holy shit david raposa. so classic its not even funny. full metal jacket, clockwork orange, 2001: space odyssey, dr. stranglove, spartacus.

― cheshire05, Wednesday, 18 January 2006 16:54 (eighteen years ago) link

four months pass...

Major NYC retro in Astoria; if you've never seen 2001 (70mm) or Lyndon in a theater (or feel the completist's need to see the boxing doc short or Killer's Kiss) you should go:

http://movingimage.us/site/screenings/mainpage/stanley_kubrick.html

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Friday, 2 June 2006 13:49 (seventeen years ago) link

i was planning on my faves FMJ (w/ Modine!) and EWS

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Friday, 2 June 2006 13:52 (seventeen years ago) link

What is it going to take to get a European print of EWS screened here, without the digital orgy cockblockers?

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Friday, 2 June 2006 14:41 (seventeen years ago) link

four months pass...

Good Day, Mr. Kubrick...

i swear to god, part of me just died.

― jed_ (jed), Friday, 27 October 2006 14:17 (seventeen years ago) link

Finally saw Barry Lyndon last week. I haven't read the Trollope novel, so I can't judge Kubrick's fidelity to its tone and voice. Very amusing minor film: the ideal Merchant Ivory film. Ryan O'Neal's most charming performance.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Friday, 27 October 2006 14:23 (seventeen years ago) link

thackeray

― RJG (RJG), Friday, 27 October 2006 14:28 (seventeen years ago) link

hardly minor

― RJG (RJG), Friday, 27 October 2006 14:29 (seventeen years ago) link

Minor, no. "Charming"??? Kubrick's best casting prank before Tom Cruise; a lummox as a lummox.

I read the first 50 Thackeray pages once; it's more overtly jokey, somewhat a la Fielding (tho the early part of the film's pretty funny too).

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Friday, 27 October 2006 14:30 (seventeen years ago) link

taken on its technological advancements alone "Barry Lyndon" is far from minor. i think it's easily his best film.

― jed_ (jed), Friday, 27 October 2006 14:41 (seventeen years ago) link

well no, not "easily".

― jed_ (jed), Friday, 27 October 2006 14:59 (seventeen years ago) link

seconded, Barry Lyndon is one of the top 10 films of the 70s (a decade with an embarassment of riches)

― timmy tannin (pompous), Friday, 27 October 2006 15:30 (seventeen years ago) link

The film has no momentum. Is the novel's last third as bad as the film's?

Kubrick's best casting prank before Tom Cruise; a lummox as a lummox.

Nah. Again, haven't read the Thackeray novel, but O'Neal didn't mangle the brogue, was adept with a sword, and was believable as a passive lover.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Friday, 27 October 2006 15:41 (seventeen years ago) link

I had this frustratingly semi-valid argument with someone last night about Kubrick vs. Cassavetes, (I said C, he said D; still a very unfair comparison). I feel that with the approach the man took to filmmaking, coupled with the fact that he created a masterpiece in most every genre he dabbled in (Strangelove = one of the best comedies, FMJ = 1otb war films, 2001 = 1otb sci-fi, Shining = 1otb horror, etc, etc), it's simply understood that Kubrick is the greatest director. This kid was saying the primary reason Kubrick made such masterpieces was because he had unlimited resources and very few bondaries, and how if Cassavetes had access to what Kubrick had, he would be far superior. He also compared him to Spielberg :-( Actually, now that I'm sober, that whole unlimited resources angle sounds like complete bullshit.

Kubrick is as C as C can fucking get.

― less-than three's Christiane F. (drowned in milk), Friday, 27 October 2006 15:45 (seventeen years ago) link

Cassavetes on a big budget would've done the same, only 400 takes instead of 100.

The last third of Barry Lyndon is far more passionate and intelligent about violence and revenge than all of Clockwork Orange.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Friday, 27 October 2006 16:28 (seventeen years ago) link

The film has no momentum.

Kubrick isn't exactly reknowned for his breakneck pacing. I get what Morbius is saying about the stunt casting, too. Casting Ryan O'Neal (whose rep at the time was as a shallow pretty boy actor - though he probably picked up some bounce in cred for Paper Moon) and Marisa Berenson (a model) is akin to Anthony Minghella announcing that the stars of his next epic are Skeet Ulrich and Kate Moss.

I was quite taken aback by how much I enjoyed Barry Lyndon the first time I saw it. I wouldn't call it Kubrick's best, but it's near the top. I think The Shining is, in some way, Kubrick's reaction to Barry Lyndon's lukewarm reception upon release - as if he wanted to punish the audience for turning its back.

― Edward III (edward iii), Friday, 27 October 2006 19:54 (seventeen years ago) link

Eyes Wide Shut > Barry Lyndon. It's not a minor film, but is it really a major one?

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Friday, 27 October 2006 20:04 (seventeen years ago) link

The last third of Barry Lyndon is far more passionate and intelligent about violence and revenge than all of Clockwork Orange.

A dying boy will get'em in the gut every time.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Friday, 27 October 2006 20:08 (seventeen years ago) link

Ryan O'Neal was a big big star at the time (not for long obv). I love the score selection, and the way it jibes with the pacing. Very stately. "They are all equal now."

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Friday, 27 October 2006 20:11 (seventeen years ago) link

Yeah, Edward, O'Neal had been in Love Story, What's Up, Doc?, and Paper Moon, all huge hits (O'Neal got a Best Actor nod for LS). There's no contemporary analogy I can construct; I keep thinking Cruise in Interview with a Vampire, but that's not a stately adaptation of a minor Thackeray novel.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Friday, 27 October 2006 21:00 (seventeen years ago) link

it's been too long since i saw BL to say much, but i do remember loving the score, and the final duel scene.

― J.D. (Justyn Dillingham), Friday, 27 October 2006 21:20 (seventeen years ago) link

Good Day, Mr. Kubrick 2006

― a.b. (alanbanana), Monday, 30 October 2006 09:37 (seventeen years ago) link

When my Mam and Dad went to see Barry Lyndon in the cinema, there weren't many people there, and there was a guy a few rows in front of them who was asleep when they came in. He woke up about ten minutes into the film, watched it for about another twenty minutes, then said loudly "where's the fuckin' shark?" and left.

― accentmonkey (accentmonkey), Monday, 30 October 2006 09:54 (seventeen years ago) link

I haven't read the Trollope novel, so I can't judge Kubrick's fidelity to its tone and voice.

this isn't *terribly* important is it?

― benrique (Enrique), Monday, 30 October 2006 13:25 (seventeen years ago) link

my favourite colour is GREEN

― teh_kit returns! (g-kit), Monday, 30 October 2006 13:27 (seventeen years ago) link

i mean he had 0x fidelity to nabokov, schnitzler, or that one guy who wrote 'failsafe'.

― benrique (Enrique), Monday, 30 October 2006 13:29 (seventeen years ago) link

If I remember correctly, Eyes Wide Shut actually is pretty faithful to Schnitzler, except Kubrick added some stuff in the end.

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Monday, 30 October 2006 13:35 (seventeen years ago) link

not to the tone of it, not at all.

― benrique (Enrique), Monday, 30 October 2006 13:36 (seventeen years ago) link

Kubrick is the one director whose films I can admire, but never live because of his cynicism and general lack of interest in, er, human beings. Barry Lyndon and EWS are the exceptions, I guess.

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Monday, 30 October 2006 13:39 (seventeen years ago) link

(x-post)

It's been ages since I read Schnitzler's book (or whatever it's called in English), but doesn't it and the film have the same dreamlike athmosphere and the same basic moral?

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Monday, 30 October 2006 13:41 (seventeen years ago) link

(x-post)

It's been ages since I read Schnitzler's book (whatever it's called in English), but doesn't it and the film have the same dreamlike athmosphere and the same basic moral?

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Monday, 30 October 2006 13:41 (seventeen years ago) link

If he'd been more faithful to The Shining, King wouldn't have had to remake it.

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Monday, 30 October 2006 13:44 (seventeen years ago) link

I read the Schnitzler after I saw the film, and I remember being surprised how similar it was, 'cause I expected Kubrick to have totally chopped it.

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Monday, 30 October 2006 13:51 (seventeen years ago) link

Why would he adapt material if he wanted to be 'faithful' to a different form?

I find accusing SK (Hitchcock as well) of lack of interest in human beings to be quite ridiculous. Maybe he doesn't fetishize their behavior and minor sentimentalities the way some humanists do, but hey; good! I find Paths of Glory and much of Lyndon's last reels to be quite wrenching. As for Strangelove (and much of Paths of Glory, FMJ, Lolita etc) how is examining human stupidity, venality and foolishness an invalid artistic approach?

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Monday, 30 October 2006 14:44 (seventeen years ago) link

btw humanists = "humanists"

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Monday, 30 October 2006 14:45 (seventeen years ago) link

I didn't say he should've been faithful, I was just surprised how faithful he was, knowing his track record. No doubt films like Dr. Strangelove are better than the source material because of his infidelity.

I don't say his was an invalid artistic approach (that's why I still admire him), but he always was more interested in human condition than humans, and my favourite artists tend to be the ones who can marry these two approaches. And I'm not big fan of cynics. But that's just my personal taste, nothing more.

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Monday, 30 October 2006 14:52 (seventeen years ago) link

If he'd been more faithful to The Shining, King wouldn't have had to remake it.

Ugh, that's about the only compelling argument that Kubrick should've been more faithful.

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Monday, 30 October 2006 16:58 (seventeen years ago) link

Yeah, we cld argue abt the merits or o/wise of the Shining all the live long day, but you wld have to be a mentalist of the v. highest order to insist that the 'more faithful' King/Garris TV version of the Shining is a better film/work of art than the Kubrick version

― Ward Fowler (Ward Fowler), Monday, 30 October 2006 17:48 (seventeen years ago) link

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