[Closed] Recent Viewing Part III

As far as Kubrick is concerned, I have to admit that the only film of his I really like is Barry Lyndon, due to it's outstanding photography and deliberate, languid pacing.

Oh, nnd the Handel-based main theme isn't bad either.

Spartacus is the only Kubrick movie I like.

It's the only part of the movie that I don't like, I hasten to add. I think it's a true classic, but those LSD induced shots at the end of the movie drag on far too long for my liking. That's the only thing I don't like about that scene; its length. The intercutting of the close up on Dave's face is brilliant, but after that I always feel like I can get up and go make a cup of tea and not miss much when I get back. Which is usually what I do.

I do love the swoops over the planet though...
I wonder if he cut it down after the initial release? I know some of the space ship slow moving scenes and a couple of ape scenes were pared back after the first showings. Maybe the LSD stuff was initially longer too. (And actually, one of the best edits in the film, the moment where the ape reflects on the alignment of the moon, sun and monolith, came after the premiere too.)

Because you don't get it.



That I'm more likely to take over the world than you.

Fair enough. What about The Shining?

Apart from the nightmarish images and editing, I never actually got this movie ("why is he doing that?" "Why is he SAYING that?" "Who ARE those people?" "Where is my PORT????") until I actually read the book...
That alone pretty much sunk the film for me.

Well no, not at all! And there's the rub: the film is in fact extremely faithful to the book, but omits a LOT of key information that in the film we are supposed to get by subtle inference.

The thing is though that King at his best doesn't DO inference: he weaves a VERY complete tapestry, the full horror of which only becomes suggested when it's roughly 75% done. You can't take a narrative like that, leave open huge holes simply because they're really hard to film (interior monologue and such) and skip to the next chapter! It all becomes way too stream-of-consiousness kinda storytelling then!

Had I seen the film AFTER I'd read the book I'd likely have loved it!

Those questions never occurred to me to be honest. A guy goes insane in a large haunted mansion and attempts to kill his family. You might as well ask why is the house haunted?

Are you serious? The only film?

In every aspect, every film he made is brilliant.

It's the only thing he did that really, really blew me away and that I could watch every month or so without getting bored. It is simply beautiful on every level.

But I'd be too harsh if I'd say it's the only thing that I found good.
Dr. Strangelove, Lolita and A Clockword Orange all much impressed me in many ways.

But to my mind it's only Barry Lyndon where both his trademark social commentary (ofttimes expressed through the bitterest form of irony, in itself a dangerous style element as it requires distance to the subject which diminishes emotional attachment) mixes seemlessly with a seamless, continuously intriguing and extremely human narrative, emotional resonance AND visual beauty.

Yeah. I'm kinda hoping for a review by Thomas.

what, where, who, why???

Woohoo! Barry Lyndon rocks, indeed!

This is weird, though. Just last week I bought the Kubrick BluRay box (for the extra's, and the different aspect ratio) and watched several documentaries of it on Sunday, meanwhile reading my A.I.: From Kubrick to Spielberg book. So I felt in an incredibly Kubrick mood, and coincidentally a colleague, who had borrowed Barry Lyndon a year ago from me, suddenly returned it today. And THEN I found out you guys were talking about him as well!

My God, so it's true. The world does revolve around me!