Stanley Kubrick

I prefer the 1997 remake, but still a great movie

"Lolita" (1997) was always one of my very favorites, and rare example of the movie better than the book. When I saw this one for the first time I was a kid and I could not stand black and white movies, but I still decided to watch it because of my love towards the book and movie from '90s. Unfortunately, 160 minutes of black and white was too much for me. Two decades later I finally watched the whole thing and I definitely recommend it to everyone who didn't see it yet. And newer one too. And the book. How could I even think that Kubrick could fail... I'm ashamed.

7/10

I'm glad Kubrick gave up on comedy

I understood sarcasm and the message this movie brings, but the idea doesn't make a good movie. This was one of the most boring movies I have ever seen, and I've seen thousands. In what universe this may pass as a comedy?! Besides a few mediocre jokes, most of it wasn't funny at all. I barely endured to the end and I wouldn't watch it again even if my life depended on it. For entertainment qualities I would rate it zero out of ten, but because the essential idea is good I'll compromise with

4,5/10

I finally saw it on the big screen

I watched this movie several times at intervals of several years and every time I barely made it to the end. I attributed my inability to like it by saying that I was too young to understand it, that I was not in the right mood, and so on. In the end, I gave up. Until tonight, when I finally got a chance to watch it at a cinema.

I gave it one more and last chance...

Every cadre of this movie, standing by itself, is a work of art, followed by an excellent sound. Together they build a fantastic atmosphere that in a movie theater has a hypnotizing effect and it compensates for almost complete lack of plot. If I saw this back in the '60s in a theater, I would almost certainly give it 10/10. But watching it at home, on a small screen and without a quality sound system, this hypnotizing effect is lost and what is left is a pretty much boring movie that seems like it would never end. That's why I rated it seven, the average of visually beautiful and audibly genius film, and the fact that I usually give the movies, which I must compel to endure, two, maybe a three. But tonight's experience proved my theory that this movie must be seen in a theater to be fully experienced. After watching it on the big screen, I changed my attitude toward this masterpiece and I'm giving it a ten.

P.S. Ending scene, with the baby floating in space, is surely one of the creepiest things in the history of cinematography. Usually, I have nightmares for days after seeing this movie, just because of that damn baby.

Objective quality for a movie from the '60s - 10/10
Audio-visual experience - 10/10
Entertainment - 3/10, because it's still boring

"The paths of glory lead but to the grave"

[Thomas Gray, Written in a Country Churchyard]

"What we were after now was the old surprise visit. That was a real kick and good for laughs and lashings of the old ultraviolent."

Every single aspect of this movie is perfect and they are all perfectly integrated into a perfect whole. Without a doubt one of the best films of all time. If you rate this movie anything less than a maximum rating, I have nothing to discuss with you about movies in general.

10/10

Kubrick's top three

I never paid too much attention to directors and in the most of the movies I saw I was unable to recognize them. Besides Lynch and Jarmusch, Kubrick is one of the few that I could never mistake for someone else. All of his movies, however different their stories might be, share that insane atmosphere that simply screams Kubrick. Frames, angles, sound and his particular kind of creepy unmistakably betray him. While watching any of his movies I have flashes from his other movies. Although their plots are not related, this movie reminds me of "2001: A Space Odyssey" and bit of "Clockwork Orange", and with those two makes the holy trinity of Stanley Kubrick's heritage. In my opinion, one of the best movies of all time.

10/10

A classic for all generations
29 October 2016

The story is a futuristic combination of "Pinocchio" and "Wizard of Oz" that ends in the ambient of "Day After Tomorrow". The complete atmosphere of this movie reminded me of a strange mix of "Clockwork Orange" and "2001: A Space Odyssey", and if I didn't know it was Spielberg's movie I could swear that it was Kubrick. Later I did some digging and found out that the movie originally was indeed Kubrick's. Kubrick was working on this project for 12 years and involved Spielberg later on. Work on it started in 1993, but Kubrick died before it was done and Spielberg took over and finished the job. The mixture of Spielberg and Kubrick elements is obvious in the movie, but it is really tricky to tell which one of them did what part. Obviously Spielberg's ending is actually Kubrick's original idea from the first version, even before Spielberg had anything to do with this project. Ministry was also Kubrick's idea. He was a fan and he personally called them to offer them a part in the movie. The first time he called, the Ministry singer thought it was someone screwing with them and he hung up the phone.

"A.I." combines drama, action, mystery, and even some elements of horror, into an irresistible adventure that leaves a deep impression and provokes thinking. Effects, directing, editing, music, and most of all, depth of the story, make this movie one of the best achievements of the new millennium, and in my opinion, it should be included in all lists of best movies of all times.

10/10

"Umro je drug Tito"

One of the most original films I've ever seen is composed entirely of scenes stolen from other films. Hungarian director György Pálfi has made a universal romantic drama, skillfully and humorously combining clips from several hundred films, so black and white and color scenes, different genres and shooting techniques, actors, locations and epochs, rapidly alternate before our eyes, all followed by nicely blended music, also borrowed from other films and series. Clips were reportedly downloaded from torrent sites and, in order to avoid copyright lawsuits, the film was published as educational material by the Hungarian University of Film and Theater. It may seem confusing and even unwatchable at first, but do not let it deter you, because you will get used to it very quickly and after a few minutes you will no longer need extra concentration. The idea is ingenious, a realization hypnotizing, and I am afraid to even speculate how extensive his knowledge of world cinema is, as well as how much time and patience it took to assemble and edit this madness. Even if we disregard all the other qualities, the effort itself deserves a maximum rating. Bravo!

10/10

In a world of shit

"Personally, I think, uh... they don't really want to be involved in this war. You know, I mean... they sort of took away our freedom and gave it to the, to the gookers, you know. But they don't want it. They'd rather be alive than free, I guess. Poor dumb bastards."

"Full Metal Jacket" follows a group of young men from the beginning of their training for the Marines, through their arrival in Vietnam, until the culmination of the story, when their unit tumbles into deadly sniper fire in the ruins of a city. It is divided into a period of training in a military camp and a period on the battlefield, two segments whose story and atmosphere are in striking contrast, so much so that they can be experienced as separate films.

The first segment shows physical and military training, combined with breaking the individuality and dehumanization of the recruits and turning them into killing machines. What stands out especially in this segment are the performances of R. Lee Ermey, a ruthless sergeant whose methods border on abuse, and Vincent D'Onofrio, who plays a slightly retarded and obese recruit, who breaks down mentally under the pressure of harassment and brainwashing. His final scene was for me the most impressive and creepy moment in the film, which stands side by side with Nicholson's performance in "The Shining". Although this first segment lasts less than an hour, it is a perfectly rounded independent whole, which would be an excellent movie even without the second segment.

The second segment, in my opinion, is drowning in a sea of similar war films and the story did not leave a special impression on me, but Kubrick's directing still raises it above average level. Although, I'm not a fan of war films (I really don't like them), so it is questionable how objective I can be in terms of their quality.

Michael Cimino's masterpiece, the 1978 film "The Deer Hunter", launched a series of anti-war films about Vietnam in the 1980s, including the cult "Platoon" by Oliver Stone and "Good Morning, Vietnam" by Barry Levinson. For the audience that saw them all, Kubrick's "Full Metal Jacket", from 1987, is seemingly just another in the series and its story brings nothing new.

What sets "Full Metal Jacket" apart from that series is Kubrick's writing and directing, the flowing camera work, top photography, perfectly balanced tempo, raw dialogues, morbid humor, Mickey Mouse theme (he wanted Woody Woodpecker, but couldn't get rights) which, contrary to its nature, intensifies the feeling of discomfort here, and some really fantastic acting performances, among which the most impressive is that of Vincent D'Onofrio.

8/10

"None of these men are criminals in the usual sense"

Kubrick's third film tells us the story of the racetrack robbery, detailed planning, and successful execution, which ends ingloriously. You could say this black and white noir is the "Ocean's Eleven" of the fifties. In fact, "The Killing" is the film that inspired the original "Ocean's Eleven" as well as many other iconic films, including Tarantino's "Reservoir Dogs" (1992). With its non-linear flow from different perspectives, it confused the audience of the time, and it did not do particularly well back then, but it was appreciated by filmmakers and secured Kubrick the direction of "Paths of Glory" (1957).

Many consider this film to be Kubrick's first masterpiece. Perfectionist that he was, Kubrick paid attention to every detail in this film, and the script is impeccably precise and the film superbly shot, but even though I love Kubrick, it didn't leave a particular impression on me. Maybe the movie has aged badly, maybe I've seen too many movies and I can't put myself in the perspective of the fifties, when this was something new and exciting, but with all the objective qualities, the overall impression was quite unimpressive. Except for the unforgettable ending, which is simultaneously hilarious and tragic and, I suppose, represents a lesson that crime does not pay.

7/10