Stanley Kubrick: Classic or Dud?

been keen on seeing it again after watching Mysteries of Lisbon. not been able to get past the aspect ratio thing, though i obviously should.

I recently watched Barry Lyndon on DVD. The sense of passivity and an all-pervasive void both surrounding and expressing the characters was just as strong as in 2001: A Space Odyssey, which felt very strange, but not very engaging. Kubrick must have had a strong misanthropic streak.

I've never understood that conclusion.

the characters seemed pretty sympathetic and human in Barry Lyndon, at least more so than in Eyes Wide Shut.

felt bad for Baz by the end of it

have you masked the screen properly w/ black tape?

― Literal Facepalms (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, February 14, 2012 12:21 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

lol, i'm not sure if that would even work. (i've done it several times shooting movies...) it's not clear if there is extraneous information or missing stuff from the top and bottoms

'barry lyndon' is incredibly warm and sad, and one of his 2-3 best.

sad I can see, warm not so much

I am searching for screens of barry lyndon right now

I love that the whole movie is pushed a stop, why, because the candle light scenes needed to be pushed a stop

considering kubrick's obsession with photography, stills from his movies are always going to be meticulously composed.

the scene where his son dies and the last scene are both pretty devastating to me.

ya, it is really not cold and emotionless, like at all

ppl always think that about movies where the lead isnt 100% likeable

The sense of passivity and an all-pervasive void

Redmond Barry is not passive! He goes out and gets what he thinks he wants after he's sonned by his beautiful cousin. As for the void, well, that's mortality.

Barry Lyndon is kind of like a human interest version of Candide, to me

Redmond Barry is not passive! He goes out and gets what he thinks he wants after he's sonned by his beautiful cousin. As for the void, well, that's mortality.

― Literal Facepalms (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, February 14, 2012 4:41 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

ya, he is a pretty active, if wily and amoral, guy

i guess he might seem passive in the sense that he doesnt seem to really like ENJOY anything

Here's what I found about the aspect ratio:

http://somecamerunning.typepad.com/some_came_running/2011/05/leon-vitali-on-the-barry-lyndon-aspect-ratio-issue.html

Seems like they used the correct one, but there's conflicting information.

You gotta read the Kubrick letter (also on that site)

he doesnt seem to really like ENJOY anything

http://24.media.tumblr.com/yaHE2X1pUqbj7nfdhWixUHUYo1_500.jpg

Bill James: "I loved the first half of Kubrick's career, hated the second half. Spartacus, Lolita, Dr. Strangelove...those are fantastic movies. Everything from 2001 on is pretentious crap. The worst is Barry Lyndon."

He tends to be a little more methodical evaluating baseball players.

well, what an original and daring opinion.

Made me cringe too. But when a genius ventures outside his field of expertise, I'm inclined to cut him/her some slack.

I have my doubts but if the math checks out I'm willing to believe he's right

He should ID the cheap wins and tough losses.

barry lyndon >>>> barry bonds

Cheap win (overrated in its day): A Clockwork Orange. Tough loss (viewed more favorably now than upon release): Lolita. Best Power/Speed Number: The Killing.

Barry Lyndon>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Barry Zito.

http://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/pics/barry_lyons_autograph.jpg

Best Power/Speed Number: The Killing.

No way, this is Killer's Kiss in a walk.

I thought it was pretty good the one time I saw it. But The Killing's like a 40/40 season--for me, it zips along like nothing he ever did. (I seem to remember hearing or reading somewhere that Kubrick was a big Brooklyn Dodgers fan growing up, but I can't seem to find any corroboration.)

look, even Kubrick admitted that Lolita was kind of stunted without explicit eroticism.

wasn't kubrick from the bronx?

yes

and I don't give a shit what Bill James thinks about anything but baseball, but certainly The Shining is pretentious crap.

yeah google seems to think he was a yankees fan

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OL2MBYKTeA0

certainly The Shining is pretentious crap.

SCARY pretentious crap

Samsung, trying to invalidate Apple's design patent on the iPad, is invoking 2001: A Space Odyssey to demonstrate that the iPad's aesthetics have been around since the 1960s

http://asset2.cbsistatic.com/cnwk.1d/i/tim/2011/08/23/Screen_Shot_2011-08-23_at_9.35.48_AM_610x312.png

http://news.cnet.com/8301-27076_3-20096061-248/samsung-cites-kubrick-film-in-apple-patent-spat/

I think I remember the seats still being made of whatever that fabric was, in the late '60s.

http://english.mashkulture.net/2012/04/26/stanley-kubricks-new-york-subway-photos/

'lolita' the book doesn't really have much explicit eroticism!

^^^there's next to none iirc

But you would agree that a film of it, made censorship-free, would have more than S.K.'s?

Has anyone seen the Adrian Lyne one? I haven't, so I really can't say.

made me lol:

Adrian Lyne (born 4 March 1941 in Peterborough, then in Northamptonshire, England) is an English filmmaker and producer. He is best known for directing films that focus on sexually charged characters and often uses natural light, a fog machine and other effects to create eroticized atmospheres.

It was surprisingly good coming from Adrian Lyne, or so I thought at the time.

x-post: it almost certainly would have, but i don't know that that would have made it better. the eroticism in the book is mainly in the language VN uses, which would be very hard to translate into a film -- especially because it's inextricable from that weird, playful, completely idiosyncratic nabokovian humor. i think kubrick's 'lolita' nails the humor, at least, but i can't really fault him for not pulling off a completely faithful translation when i can't think of any filmmaker who could have.

tbh i've avoided the lyne thing because i hate 'fatal attraction' as much as any movie i've ever seen and the thought of what AL might do to 'lolita' makes me nauseous.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/full-metal-jacket-diary/id527085659?mt=8

"In 1985, Stanley Kubrick encouraged me to take photos and keep a journal while playing the lead role of Pvt. Joker on the set of FULL METAL JACKET. In 2005, I published a limited edition book of my photos and diary. This app is based on that book; enriched and reimagined as an interactive, audiovisual experience. I hope you enjoy it!" – Matthew Modine

I wish there was something like that for the Shining