the Directors: Stanley Kubrick

How do you compare Kubrick’s films? He never made a film in the same genre, yet each of his films is instantly recognizable as a Kubrick film. He always managed to fuse his impeccable eye for craft into each body of work.

In fact, Kubrick may have very well been the best filmmaker in terms of craft, that has ever lived. The sweeping cinematography, the classical music, the perfectly timed dialogue, etc. Kubrick’s films have a way of growing on you. In fact, I didn’t like several of these movies the first time I saw them. But in time, they manifest themselves as masterpieces.

Here are reviews of every Kubrick film available on DVD. Forgive my repetitiveness in the grading, but what can I say, I’m a sucker for Kubrickian cinema.

The Killing1956
It’s jumpy narrative was groundbreaking at the time, showing a horse track race heist from multiple points of view. The pacing is cunning and quick. It’s great fun. One problem: the spell-it-all-out-for-you narration. Don’t blame Kubrick, it was added in post-production against his will. A+

Interesting fact: This film influenced a geeky movie-store clerk to make a little film called Reservoir Dogs.


Paths of Glory1957
How many WWI movies have you seen? Let alone terrific ones. This breezily paced film (only 90 minutes) tells the story of a battle gone wrong, and how officers selfishly do anything to mend it. We start to notice Kubrick getting into form via several long, tracking shots. My favorite Kirk Douglas performance. I dare you not to be moved during the last scene. A

Interesting fact: Kubrick married the singing woman from that final scene.
Spartacus
1960
Kubrick was hired (per Douglas’s request) after the first director fought constantly with producers. While the film is a timeless epic, it does really feel like Kubrick. But, I could benefit from another viewing. B+

Interesting fact: Kubrick never really felt like this movie was completely his, after being the second director on the film.

Lolita
1962
This film does a great job of subtly hinting at its sexual undertones. Sultry dialogue and movements had to be hidden well in ’62, but it’s great fun trying to pick apart the metaphors and analogies. Peter Sellers (in his first great Kubrick role) easily steals the show as Clare Quilty, watching him is half the fun. A

Interesting fact: One of the few films Kubrick didn’t write, original novelist Vladimir Nabokov penned the screenplay, which Kubrick made several changes to.

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
1964
Kubrick’s first masterpiece. Possibly the best satire of all time. The cast is top notch, especially in the infamous war room scenes. But it’s Sellers that wins the prize. Playing three of the films main characters, it’s incredible that he didn’t win the Oscar for best actor. Shame shame shame. A

Interesting fact: Kubrick’s only real comedy. Which is, conincidentally, his most seen film.


2001: A Space Odyssey1968
Essential Kubrick. Hated when it was released, it’s now revered as one of the very best motion picture experiences of all time. Every aspect of this film bleeds perfection. It’s true, the film will test your patience, but this is time well spent. Kubrick won his only Oscar (for Special Visual Effects) on this film. Notice how those effects are just as good as most of the effects around today. Grows only better with time. Part of the fun is philosophizing what it all means. A timeless classic. A+

Interesting fact: After the world premiere, the reviews from critics were terrible across the board. After receiving such bad press, Kubrick nearly had a mental breakdown. But one lone reviewer deemed the film a classic, and single handedly got the ball rolling on its monumental success.


A Clockwork Orange1971
Vile, repulsive, corrupt, a total masterpiece. Not for the queasy, the film appalled viewers upon its release. But time has shown how strong its statements are, whether political or moral. It contains one of my favorite film endings ever, with a final shot you’re not likely to forget. A+
Interesting fact: At one point Kubrick actually threw his own screenplay out and shot the film with the original novel as his only source guide.

Barry Lyndon
1975
I just watched this for the first time (I was putting it off due to its 3 hour running time), but this is great, Kubrick stuff. Ryan O’Neal is fantastic as a man who tastes royalty and success, and dares not let it go. This may be the best looking of Kubrick’s films (winning four technical Oscars). It’s long tracking shots, its breathtaking stillness during the gunfights, the vivid colors, etc. It’s a fast three hours, check it out. A
Interesting fact: It took nearly a month to shoot the final gun draw.

The Shining1980
A movie that didn’t catch with me the first few times I saw it. I thought Nicholson was way over the top, the movie was too long, too boring, and so on. Time only proved me wrong. The best Stephen King adaptation ever, Kubrick brought a manic horror to a man gone mad. If you have the DVD, watch the ‘making of’ special feature, you’ll respect the film much more. Great, creepy stuff. And again, the fun is guessing what it all means. A

Interesting fact: Kubrick shot the scene when the hotel caretaker explains "shining" to Danny 148 times, the most takes ever shot for a single scene in film history.

Full Metal Jacket1987
The first half is widely regarded as the most accurate portrayal of boot camp ever captured on film. Regardless if that’s true or not, this is incredibly riveting (not to mention funny) stuff. R. Lee Ermey, as the Gunnery Sergeant from hell, delivers one of cinema’s most remembered characters. The second half of the film, the Vietnam segment, is usually overshadowed by the first. But it certainly isn’t less provocative. The final reveal, when we discover the identity of the lone sniper, remains shocking. A

Interesting fact: Ermey was a real US Marine Core Drill Instructor.


Eyes Wide Shut1999
Kubrick took several years developing what would turn into his final film. Real life married couple Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise signed open contracts and filmed the movie over the course of three years. Most critics didn’t feel that this film lived up to Kubrick’s other work, but I couldn’t disagree more. The haunting music, the perfect cinematography, the slow reveal of a world most of us have never heard of. Sure, Cruise is a little miscast, but he certainly doesn’t ruin the film. I’ve long considered this my second favorite Kubrick film (behind 2001), and can watch it over and over. It’s hypnotic smoothness makes it nearly impossible to turn off. The film contains one of my very favorite last lines ever. A+


Interesting fact: That’s not really NYC, Kubrick spent years building soundstages in England to recreate downtown Manhattan.

Listen to my podcast on Stanley Kubrick: