Kubrick

[Christopher]

Probably my favorite Kubrick film is Dr. Strangelove. Other favorites are, Barry Lyndon, 2001, The Killing, Paths of Glory.

[David Aaronson]

I would submit that modern audiences can't watch the film.  

I disagree. I am now only 19 years old, and I saw it first three years ago, and it made quite an impact on me then. I saw it last year again on the big screen, and although it sometimes sags a bit in some parts in the middle, it still has one of the most impressive and wonderful opening sequences in my opinion.

[Two Kinds of ...]

My favorite Kubrick flicks are the following:

The Killing
Paths of Glory
Dr. Strangelove
2001
A Clockwork Orange

Brilliant stuff.   See The Killing, if you haven't already.

[noodles_leone]

just saw doctor strangelove on tv... pretty funny, thanks to the great actors...
I don't like so much Kubrick; i think he's very very overrated.
2001 was boring
shining is a half success (i love the fantastic part of the movie; the horror part (when Nicholson is trying to kill his wife and kid) doesn't make me anything)
eyes wide shut could have been great without this "actor" tom cruise (strange choice... usually, kubrick's castings are perfect)
full metal jacket is far away from appocalypse now
paths of glory is getting old now
barry lyndon is SO long... i don't understand why... there is no link between the different parts of the movie; and the narrator keeps us out of the story with his ironical comments
lolita isn't very well writen... even if the first scene is great (greatest scene ever shot by kubrick?)

Personnaly, i think that A Clockwork Orange is the only really good film that he has ever done...
Do not misunderstand me, none of those movies is terrible; they are all interresting, and kubrick could have been as good as tonino delli colli as a director of photography (sorry, i can't remember the right translation for it). Kubrick is just OVERRATED.

[Il Buono]

Come again?  Get outta here!

2001 still doesn't feel dated to me.  I first watched it when I was 18 or so and still with every viewing, I realize what a beauty it is.    

[dave jenkins]

barry lyndon - apparently kubrick wanted leonard rosenman's music to have the same effect as morricone in leone's films

How does the epilogue of BL go? Something like:

It was in the reign of George III
the aforementioned personages lived and quarelled;
happy or sad, handsome or ugly, rich or poor,
they're all equal now.

Sounds like a pretty good tag for a SW, no?

Consider also the amount of dueling that goes on in the picture. The film opens with a duel (the death of Barry's father), Barry's life as a gambler requires him to fight many duels (to collect winnings), and there is a climactic duel between Barry and his stepson. Interestingly, there is no final duel in Thackeray's novel (the stepson merely gives Barry a thrashing), the one in the film is Kubrick's invention.

Given all this, I think it is safe to say that what Kubrick really wanted to do was make Spaghetti Westerns, but with his carefully fostered art-boy image he didn't want to be seen slumming. So he cleverly disguised an SW in the form of a slow moving artsy-fartsy epic. But he can't fool us......

[Bill Carson]

  hola amigos. now, I'm not deliberately setting out to upset anyone here but in my opinion, Kubrick? OVERRATED. his films? so-so. many of them have not dated very well, 2001 for example.

[Nobody]

To say that 2001 is dated because the visual effects aren't digital, is like saying that Leone's westerns are dated because they are dubbed, and the blood looks fake. And if you get nothing more than that after watching 2001, you better stick with Bruckheimer. Everyone has a right to dislike a film, but saying that 2001 is dated is not good enough. If it's dated, Metropolis is a piece of shit. And what about Blade Runner? That score has the 80s written all over it. That doesn't mean that the film has dated thematically, nor cinematically.

That's my opinion, anyhow.

[noodles_leone]

i have never said that 2001 was dated... it was just boring... i'm sorry to say that, because that when somebody tell me that about a leone movie, i get very upset
so sorry, i know that this is not very smart to say that, but i can't tell you why it is boring. One point is that i can't understand the movie, but this is not the only thing (i have never been sure of understanding lost highway or mulloland drive, but i love those movies)... i just don't know.

[David Aaronson]

.... is like saying that Leone's westerns are dated because they are dubbed,

Why would that be dated? 70 to 80 procent of today's movies are completely dubbed or partially dubbed.

[Il Buono]

I think he means badly dubbed in a sixties kind of way.

[dave jenkins]

This is kinda interesting (a brief exchange between Kubrick and Kirk Douglas on Seven Days in May): http://old.wcftr.commarts.wisc.edu/collections/featured/kirkdouglas/film/sevendays/7days-kubrick.html

[Novecento]

Kirk Douglas' reply is pretty funny.

I need to watch the film again to see if Kubrick's recommendations were adopted or not.

[dave jenkins]

Savant passes this along, a link to Kubrick by Kubrick: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFZEa3k7aAM