Stanley Kubrick: Classic or Dud?

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His Theme is often called dehumanization, ie basic training in Full Metal Jacket is the Ludovico Treatment reversed.

Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 10 March 2005 20:38 (twenty-one years ago)

ten months pass...
this site has some great stuff

gabbneb (gabbneb), Tuesday, 17 January 2006 01:43 (twenty years ago)

Just compare the book with the film and it's obvious that we're supposed to empathize with "poor" Alec – even as he rapes that woman.

Is the contrast here supposed to be that we're not supposed to empathize with Alec in the book? Because I don't think Burgess would agree with that.

phil d. (Phil D.), Tuesday, 17 January 2006 02:05 (twenty years ago)

Indeed he won't.

Masked Gazza, Tuesday, 17 January 2006 02:11 (twenty years ago)

EWS is a heartless whore of a movie and its viewer a hapless john who pays his money, heaps praise, looks past the wear and tear and for all his trouble, is greeted with contempt at at two hours' end left with a sour taste or worse and little else.

Ian in Brooklyn, Tuesday, 17 January 2006 04:07 (twenty years ago)

"But perhaps he thinks that 'character' is a nice story for people who don't want to think too much about their relationship to a system, and that he doesn't want his movies to be so encumbered."

otm, 'character' is so overrated in movies, the same as how lyrics are overrated in songs.

latebloomer (latebloomer), Tuesday, 17 January 2006 04:14 (twenty years ago)

>>EWS is a heartless whore of a movie and its viewer a hapless john who pays his money, heaps praise, looks past the wear and tear and for all his trouble, is greeted with contempt at at two hours' end left with a sour taste or worse and little else.

Brad Laner (Brad Laner), Tuesday, 17 January 2006 04:18 (twenty years ago)

and this is a bad thing ?

Brad Laner (Brad Laner), Tuesday, 17 January 2006 04:18 (twenty years ago)

i like it

kyle (akmonday), Tuesday, 17 January 2006 06:41 (twenty years ago)

EWS is about NOT cheating.

Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 17 January 2006 14:18 (twenty years ago)

In EWS, there are masters and there are servants.

senseiDancer (sexyDancer), Tuesday, 17 January 2006 22:32 (twenty years ago)

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 (twenty years ago)

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

senseiDancer (sexyDancer), Tuesday, 17 January 2006 22:38 (twenty years ago)

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

gabbneb (gabbneb), Tuesday, 17 January 2006 22:57 (twenty years ago)

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

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

sociological reading of ews:

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

Ward Fowler (Ward Fowler), Wednesday, 18 January 2006 11:25 (twenty years ago)

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 (twenty years ago)

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 (twenty years ago)

(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 (twenty years ago)

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 (twenty years ago)

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 (twenty years ago)

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

gabbneb (gabbneb), Friday, 2 June 2006 13:52 (twenty years ago)

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 (twenty years ago)

four months pass...
Good Day, Mr. Kubrick...

i swear to god, part of me just died.

jed_ (jed), Friday, 27 October 2006 14:17 (nineteen years ago)

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 (nineteen years ago)

thackeray

RJG (RJG), Friday, 27 October 2006 14:28 (nineteen years ago)

hardly minor

RJG (RJG), Friday, 27 October 2006 14:29 (nineteen years ago)


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 (nineteen years ago)

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 (nineteen years ago)

well no, not "easily".

jed_ (jed), Friday, 27 October 2006 14:59 (nineteen years ago)

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 (nineteen years ago)

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 (nineteen years ago)

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 (nineteen years ago)

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 (nineteen years ago)

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 (nineteen years ago)

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 (nineteen years ago)

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 (nineteen years ago)

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 (nineteen years ago)

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 (nineteen years ago)

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 (nineteen years ago)

Good Day, Mr. Kubrick 2006

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

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 (nineteen years ago)

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 (nineteen years ago)

my favourite colour is GREEN

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

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

benrique (Enrique), Monday, 30 October 2006 13:29 (nineteen years ago)

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 (nineteen years ago)

not to the tone of it, not at all.

benrique (Enrique), Monday, 30 October 2006 13:36 (nineteen years ago)

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 (nineteen years ago)

(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 (nineteen years ago)

(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 (nineteen years ago)


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