Poll: Stanley Kubrick

[haruvister]

The New Yorker who found his home in Hertfordshire. The cold recluse who turned out to be a warm family man. The winner of the DGA Lifetime Achievement Award, and yet just one Academy Award(!), in a career spanning nearly half a century.

Stanley Kubrick is my hero, and I'm interested to know which of his movies is the people's favourite. So please vote away!

N.B. I realise this list does not cover his entire canon, but the poll only allows 8 options...

 

[EvilEngineNumberNine]

I'm such a big fan of all his work. It's BRILLIANT to watch. I don't consider A.I. to be a Kubirck film though. Shame about that too, it could have been great.



By the way have you seen the incredible film "Color Me Kubrick"?

Because if you have'nt you should.

 

[Logan Westbrook]

N.B. I realise this list does not cover his entire canon, but the poll only allows 8 options...

Perhaps you should have omitted the poll then?

From your list, I'd have to say Full Metal Jacket is my favourite, although I think the first half in the barracks is much better than the second. Watching Pyle's gradual slide into madness is massively compelling. The sections in Vietnam, while still good, don't quite have the same punch.

 

[Pigeon_Grenade]

Only seen 3 of his work ya listed, and i liked all of them... don't know why i did not get around to watching the others

 

[RAWKSTAR]

Gotta love a Clockwork Orange!

 

[EvilEngineNumberNine]

From your list, I'd have to say Full Metal Jacket is my favourite, although I think the first half in the barracks is much better than the second. Watching Pyle's gradual slide into madness is massively compelling. The sections in Vietnam, while still good, don't quite have the same punch.

Vincent D'Onofrio was so great in that movie, easily the best performance.

 

[I Am Pigeon]

Haven't seen all of them but from the ones I have seen I would say Dr Stangelove would have to be the best.

 

[poleboy]

I haven't seen them all, but even choosing between the ones I have is hard. I'll have to say A Clockwork Orange, not only because it's extremely well done, but because I find a lot of my own ideals reflected in it. Dr. Strangelove is a close second, FMJ and 2001 share a third place.

 

[Logan Westbrook]

Gotta love a Clockwork Orange!

Having read the book, I have to say that the film is actually quite poor. For a start, it has aged terribly, although you can't really blame it for that. My main problem with the film is that while Malcolm McDowell managed to convey all the menace of Alex very well, the charm that he has in the book is all but gone. I also have an issue with the way the author is portrayed. It's hard to feel any empathy for the screeching lunatic and his alarmingly buff new friend that Kubrick presents us with.

The icing on the cake is that the film is based on the incomplete version of the book, so the central message of the book is completely lost and instead it is a very bleak and nihilistic thing.

 

[poleboy]

Gotta love a Clockwork Orange!

Having read the book, I have to say that the film is actually quite poor. For a start, it has aged terribly, although you can't really blame it for that. My main problem with the film is that while Malcolm McDowell managed to convey all the menace of Alex very well, the charm that he has in the book is all but gone. I also have an issue with the way the author is portrayed. It's hard to feel any empathy for the screeching lunatic and his alarmingly buff new friend that Kubrick presents us with.

The icing on the cake is that the film is based on the incomplete version of the book, so the central message of the book is completely lost and instead it is a very bleak and nihilistic thing.

I've read the book as well, and I disagree. McDowell's Alex acts in a more childish fashion, but I still find him endearing. I'll agree with your opinion of the author to a certain extent, and his "friend" seems a little odd in a more modern context. I'm not sure you are meant to feel too much sympathy for him though... he does some terrible things. The whole point of the story (in my opinion) is that you can't solve problems with violence in any form, personal, organized, mental or subtle.

 

[haruvister]

N.B. I realise this list does not cover his entire canon, but the poll only allows 8 options...

Perhaps you should have omitted the poll then?

Perhaps I should, you're right. To be fair, Kubrick withdrew Fear & Desire from circulation and all but disowned Spartacus and Killer's Kiss. But it is neglectful of me not to include The Killing and Paths of Glory, I admit.

 

[haruvister]

I'm such a big fan of all his work. It's BRILLIANT to watch. I don't consider A.I. to be a Kubirck film though. Shame about that too, it could have been great.



By the way have you seen the incredible film "Color Me Kubrick"?

Because if you have'nt you should.

I haven't - I'll add it to my LoveFilm list today. Thanks!

RE: A.I. The film has grown on me over the years. The first hour is, in my opinion, up there with Spielberg's finest work. I can see why Kubrick wanted Spielberg to direct it; I think the former would have felt vindicated had he had the chance to see it.

 

[Logan Westbrook]

Gotta love a Clockwork Orange!

Having read the book, I have to say that the film is actually quite poor. For a start, it has aged terribly, although you can't really blame it for that. My main problem with the film is that while Malcolm McDowell managed to convey all the menace of Alex very well, the charm that he has in the book is all but gone. I also have an issue with the way the author is portrayed. It's hard to feel any empathy for the screeching lunatic and his alarmingly buff new friend that Kubrick presents us with.

The icing on the cake is that the film is based on the incomplete version of the book, so the central message of the book is completely lost and instead it is a very bleak and nihilistic thing.

I've read the book as well, and I disagree. McDowell's Alex acts in a more childish fashion, but I still find him endearing. I'll agree with your opinion of the author to a certain extent, and his "friend" seems a little odd in a more modern context. I'm not sure you are meant to feel too much sympathy for him though... he does some terrible things. The whole point of the story (in my opinion) is that you can't solve problems with violence in any form, personal, organized, mental or subtle.

I'm not sure you're supposed to feel sympathy for Alex either, but I think that despite the horrible things that he does, we're supposed to like him or at least see him as something more special than his 'droogs'. In the film, the only thing that separates him from his cronies is that he's the one doing the narration.

 

[EvilEngineNumberNine]

I'm a fan of A.I. as well, but it just doesen't feel like Kubrick. Good Speilberg film though. And Al Jorgensen is in it so you can't beat that.

 

[WingedFortress]

I think it has to be 2001: A space odyssey for me. After a long night of Fear and Loathing-esque caper's, I lay huddled in a corner of my bed, grasping at the meanings to life and mentally avoiding my inevitable death. After realizing the terror's of show's like "outrageous home video's"(which was in fact just footage of a family unfortunate enough to vacation in Yugoslavia around the Kosovo crisis, a terrifying concept for me at the time) I looked at 2001: A space odyssey lying on my shelf. I frantically loaded into the x box 360, knowing somehow it was the answer to the questions I had. And it was. Unfortunately for me, I haven't been in a frame of mind since to put it into more precise terms. But I learned something.

 

[haruvister]

I think it has to be 2001: A space odyssey for me. After a long night of Fear and Loathing-esque caper's, I lay huddled in a corner of my bed, grasping at the meanings to life and mentally avoiding my inevitable death. After realizing the terror's of show's like "outrageous home video's"(which was in fact just footage of a family unfortunate enough to vacation in Yugoslavia around the Kosovo crisis, a terrifying concept for me at the time) I looked at 2001: A space odyssey lying on my shelf. I frantically loaded into the x box 360, knowing somehow it was the answer to the questions I had. And it was. Unfortunately for me, I haven't been in a frame of mind since to put it into more precise terms. But I learned something.

Well, I think Kubrick himself was also in a thoughtful mood around the time he made the film:

"The most terrifying fact about the universe is not that it is hostile but that it is indifferent; but if we can come to terms with this indifference and accept the challenges of life within the boundaries of death ? however mutable man may be able to make them ? our existence as a species can have genuine meaning and fulfillment. However vast the darkness, we must supply our own light."

 

[Shirahime]

Having read the book, I have to say that the film is actually quite poor. For a start, it has aged terribly, although you can't really blame it for that. My main problem with the film is that while Malcolm McDowell managed to convey all the menace of Alex very well, the charm that he has in the book is all but gone. I also have an issue with the way the author is portrayed. It's hard to feel any empathy for the screeching lunatic and his alarmingly buff new friend that Kubrick presents us with.

The icing on the cake is that the film is based on the incomplete version of the book, so the central message of the book is completely lost and instead it is a very bleak and nihilistic thing.

It could have been interpreted to film a lot better when you think about it; plus the movie missed out on a lot of the Nadsat that was in the book, practically entrie conversations of it. Even though McDowell did portray Alex with a lot of charisma, we didn't have that bizarre charm Alex had in the book.

I did an excerpt from the novel for my Drama college audition. XD

 

[DND Judgement]

stanley kubrick is a genious...... a clockwork orange and the shinning are the greatest films of all time......

 

[AuntyEthel]

Gotta love a Clockwork Orange!

Having read the book, I have to say that the film is actually quite poor. For a start, it has aged terribly, although you can't really blame it for that. My main problem with the film is that while Malcolm McDowell managed to convey all the menace of Alex very well, the charm that he has in the book is all but gone. I also have an issue with the way the author is portrayed. It's hard to feel any empathy for the screeching lunatic and his alarmingly buff new friend that Kubrick presents us with.

The icing on the cake is that the film is based on the incomplete version of the book, so the central message of the book is completely lost and instead it is a very bleak and nihilistic thing.

I've read it and seen it, and I have to disagree. I don't think movies should be carbon copies of books as they're meant to be paced and experienced in different ways. I actually prefer the movie's ending of him benefitting from the procedure as he'll make loads of money for being a political puppet. The book's semi happily ever after ending didn't fit in with the character.

As for the poll, I split my opinion between Dr. Strangelove and Clockwork Orange

 

[jim_doki]

For me it's a tossup between 2001 and Dr Strangelove. 2001 is one of the best Sci Fi movies of all time, demonstrating the darkness and emptyness of space which degenerates into a very scary one-man show and then into a bizzare acid trip, and Strangelove has that biting satire and Peter Sellers. I dont think i can settle this without a coin