Ok, now that I’ve vented my anger on the subject of Tarantino films. It’s time for me to talk about one of the greatest directors of all time… Stanley Kubrick. From the outset, Kubrick was known for his obsessive perfectionism and attention to detail. This meant that everything Kubrick made was extremely well thought out and incredibly believable. But at the same time, what I think makes Kubrick great is that he was still able to look at the big picture and make sure that the film was still enjoyable.
As there are so many Stanley Kubrick films, I can’t review every single one of them. But I think the only one that I’m missing out that people need to know about is Spartacus. And this is because I haven’t seen it. I wish I had, and it is definitely on my list of films to see before I die. But I’ve chosen to review five, as that’s how many Tarantino films I reviewed.
So here they are…
Dr Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
The first time I saw this film was on an old videotape from about 1993 when the BBC used to give a proper intro to a film before the it was played. It wasn’t really worth it because the videotape was shit, but I did find out that this was made in the same year as The Sound of Music, which beat this film to the Oscar for best picture that year. Now that’s ridiculous decision for you.
I’d say that this is the ultimate political comedy and it really does capture the true nature of American paranoia during the cold war. But even though this film is intended to be a comedy it is still pretty scary in places. Not through suspense or dead bodies popping out unexpectedly but just how well it portrays politicians and their way of thinking. Even though the cold war ended nearly 20 years ago now, this film still seems relevant today.
But this film does still manage to be really fucking funny. The whole crisis begins with a dillusional general named Jack D. Ripper (Sterling Hayden) who orders a nuclear strike on the Soviet Union, believing that they are secretly plotting to contaminate American bodily fluids and prevent them from getting erections.
But the best part of this film is Peter Sellers, playing Captain Lionel Mandrake, President Merkin Muffley and Dr Strangelove himself. These three totally different characters are all perfectly acted and are scarily convincing. Other than that one of the most recognisable parts of the film is the war room, which has been copied in countless films and will be instantly recognised by people who haven’t even seen this film.
Originally, the film was mean to end with a pie fight in the war room. But thankfully Kubrick decided that this farce ending wouldn’t be the most fitting ending to such a black and satirical film. And I think the ending that is in the final cut is far better.
My Rating: 5 stars out of 5
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Watching this film now, the first thing most people will notice is that it’s set 8 years in the past. But if you do a bit of research, there’s nothing that’s in this film that is completely unfeasible if someone put the money into it. And once you see this film, you’ll just wish that someone had.
Here Kubrick worked with Arthur C. Clarke one of the best science fiction writers of all time. This is the film where Kubrick’s attention to detail really came into its own. The two of them together created a fantastic vision of what the future SHOULD have been. Kubrick was so precise with this film that he even created a list of instructions for using a zero gravity toilet, which you only see for about five seconds in the film. But they would genuinely work I will definitely write them down for the next time I’m in space.
I’ve never really been a fan of modern CGI effects and if you need any proof that models look better than CGI then you need to watch this film. This film is 41 years old and still looks better than something like the new Star Wars Trilogy, which just looks fake. Luckily Duncan Jones the director of ‘Moon’ (the best sci fi film in years) has gone back to what works and it looks bloody good.
Apart from being a visual spectacle, even after over 4 decades on the story line is incredibly thought provoking and intelligent. 2001 is split up into four chapters, the first in prehistory, the second on the moon where something strange has been discovered, the third on a space exploration trip to Jupiter, and the fourth… well I can’t describe it really. Chapter four is something that is really open to interpretation, much like the final scene from the prisoner.
Chapter 3 is most probably the most memorable. In this chapter we meet the super computer HAL 9000, who is a massive influence on just about every robot or computer since then. HAL is a character that is rather hard to describe without giving any of the story away, but I think it’s safe to say that the final scene from chapter 3 is one of the greatest sci fi moments of all time. The other great moment from this film is the sound of ‘Also Sprach Zarathustra’ which is a piece of music imprinted onto the brain of every person who has ever walked the Earth.
The only think wrong with this film is that Kubrick didn’t return for the sequel ‘2010’ made in 1984. Which is a film that I quite like, but lacks Kubrick’s special touch.
My rating: 5 stars out of 5
A Clockwork Orange (1971)
Now this is a hard one to do justice to in a review. If you’ve never seen this film before, then you’ll need to completely throw out of the window every single thing you think it might be. Usually when people talk about this film, they usually refer to the extreme violence and disturbing scenes that are certainly very important to the film. But the most important part of this film is the idea that morality compromises a person’s freewill.
The main character in this film is the narrator called Alex DeLarge (Malcom McDowell), who is the leader of a gang of teenagers who spend their time assaulting and raping innocent people. However, despite this, Alex is an extremely intelligent character with a great fondness for classical music. This film is most famous for being immensely violent, but where this film truly excels is when Alex is arrested for his crimes and enters prison. Here he becomes very close to the prison chaplain and the bible (but only for its violent characters). But the greatest part of the film is when a team of scientists wanting to test their Ludovico technique on prisoners visits the prison. And in return they offer them release from prison in two years.
This is where the main point of the film comes into play. Yes, the violence in the film really does make this film infamous. But in my view, people that complain about films being senselessly violent are just trying to make themselves seem better than others, and in turn refuse to see a truly great film. Which is one of the best of all time in my view.
My Rating: Another 5 out of 5
The Shining (1980)
This film is often cited as one of the best horror films ever made. But personally I’m not really a fan of this film. I agree that it is very good and extremely influential to many people and films since then. But not one of Kubrick’s best. Although it’s so famous and such a cult classic that I just couldn’t miss it out.
Here Kubrick adapted Stephen King’s novel of the same. However, there are a lot of differences between the book and the film. The basic premise of this film is that a family of three are taking care of a hotel during the winter months while it isn’t open. However, the father Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) finds a little more in the hotel with them.
The Shining is famous for the ending chase, showing off Jack Nicholson’s perfect portrayal of someone completely out of their tree. And it’s pretty hard to forget the moment when he sticks his head through the hole he has chopped through the door and shouts ‘HERE’S JOHNNY’.
What I like about this film is Jack’s descent into insanity and the weird happenings around the hotel. In particular the scenes in room 237 are pretty chilling. Danny Torrance (Danny Lloyd) also plays quite a harrowing character, who has some extra sensory abilities (the shining) to see some of the things that have happened in a certain place. And some horrible things have happened in this particular hotel, so as soon as you hear Danny repeat the bizarre line ‘redrum’, you know something’s wrong.
But for me this isn’t one of my favourite Kubrick films. I find that while it is definitely effective at what it does (being really weird) it just doesn’t have the fantastic atmosphere that other Kubrick films have. Although I still think this is a good film and if any one else had directed it, they would have been projected into superstardom. But Kubrick has done even better.
But the worst thing about this film is that the Simpsons ruined it in treehouse of horror 5… That was annoying.
My Rating: 4 stars out of 5
Full Metal Jacket (1987)
This film is without a doubt the best war movie of all time. It’s definitely a film of two halves, with the first dealing with the immense pressure that soldiers were put under during training before they were sent to Vietnam. At this point the main character is Leonard Lawrence, who is an overweight, dim witted and unfit recruit, who is subject to extreme abuse from Sergeant Hartman who gives him the nickname ‘Gomer Pyle’.
As the film progresses, the rest of the training marines are punished whenever Pyle ‘fucks up’, the film’s protagonist Joker (Matthew Modine) is then given the task to take care of private Pyle. From then on the other marines start to treat Pyle very badly, giving him a blanket party a few nights before graduation. From then on Joker notices how Pyle becomes more and more detached from the rest of the platoon. Eventually leading to a horrible climax to the first half of the film that has been parodied many times.
The second half of the film is my favourite. Joker has become a journalist in the army and has reached the level of sergeant. This part of the film starts with the classic line of a Vietnamese prostitute who walks up to Joker and pronounces ‘ME SUCKY SUCKY! ME LOVE YOU LONG TIME!’ And a little bit of comedy even in a dark film like this goes a bloody long way.
What really gets me in this film is how Kubrick manages to portray how people are affected by the war and what it turns them into. One of the most effective scenes in this film is the scene on a chopper where a crazed door gunner fires at every person he sees thinking that they’re all part of the Vietcong.
But Joker’s journey from being a normal innocent person to becoming a hardened soldier is what really makes this film great. He eventually joins with Cowboy (Arliss Howard) from his training platoon. In this platoon he meets the most interesting character in the film called Animal Mother (Adam Baldwin). What’s great about him is his nihilistic outlook on life showing that he was literally ‘born to kill’. Some of the most harrowing scenes from the film really work because of Animal Mother. And if you’ve seen this film, just think about his Vietnamese friend.
By the end of the film, you do feel as if you really do understand why this war was so horrible, and in particular what effect horrible decisions have on this film. What really sticks with me is the final scene where the troops move in on one particular village, with Joker eventually being left with a horrible decision that sums up the brilliance of this film in just a few minutes.
This is definitely my favourite Kubrick film.
My Rating: 5 stars out of 5
Sadly Stanley Kubrick died in 1999, shortly before the release of his final film ‘Eyes Wide Shut’. And I feel that he is the epitome of what a modern director should be like. A perfectionist with fantastic attention to detail. But still having the ability to look at the big picture.
Because I did this as a follow up to my Tarantino article I had to choose the right director to follow it up with. I chose Kubrick because he was exactly what Tarantino should be. Tarantino does have the attention to detail, but since ‘Pulp Fiction’, he seems to have lost the ability to look at the big picture, while Kubrick did both so brilliantly.
But the choice in director was harder than you might think, because I think that the Coen brothers are fantastically good at attention to detail and making all round good films. But Tarantino tries to switch between genres with every film, which the Coen brother do to an extent, but not as dramatically as Kubrick did. So I think that’s what makes Kubrick so great and such a great model for how to make films.
