Amazon.com video review:
With the 1957 release of Paths of Glory, Stanley Kubrick
confirmed
his early
promise and joined the ranks of world-class filmmakers. The age of the
auteur had arrived, and Kubrick was a prime candidate for inclusion
in the
pantheon of directors later canonized by critic Andrew Sarris in his
influential book
The American Cinema.
Ironically, this was also the period during
which
Kubrick left his native soil for permanent residence in England, and from
that point
forward, the Kubrick mystique inflated to legendary proportions. But if
Kubrick was
no longer bringing himself to the world, he was certainly bringing the
world to his
films. From the comfort of his rural England estate and locations never far
from
London, Kubrick would command cinematic odysseys to isolated Colorado (in
The Shining), battle-ravaged Vietnam (Full Metal Jacket),
upscale
New York City (Eyes Wide Shut), and, of course, Jupiter and Beyond
the
Infinite (in 2001: A Space Odyssey).
Released on VHS and DVD just prior to the July 1999 theatrical release of
Kubrick's final film, Eyes Wide Shut, The Stanley Kubrick
Collection
includes all seven of Kubrick's films from Lolita to Full Metal
Jacket--a quarter-century of brilliant, challenging cinema. Authorized
by Kubrick
prior to his sudden death in March of 1999, the boxed set represents a
cooperative
effort among the Warner, Columbia, and MGM labels (with Killer's
Kiss,
The Killing, and Paths of Glory released simultaneously by
MGM).
All films retain the superior digital mastering of their earlier releases
on laserdisc and
DVD, and although purists have complained that The Shining and
Full
Metal Jacket have been released in full-screen format only, this was in
compliance with Kubrick's wishes and both films do not suffer unduly from
full-screen formatting.
The diversity of Kubrick's work is truly astonishing, even though the
director's
technical precision and steely perspective on humanity may strike
uninitiated viewers
as cold and even misanthropic. From the rich, black comedy of Lolita
to the
bleak heart of darkness explored in Full Metal Jacket, Kubrick's
films almost
always received mixed (and sometimes scathingly negative) reviews upon
their
release, only to benefit from glowing reassessment as they grew entrenched
in the
public consciousness. Here, in all their glory, are the collected
films of a
genuine master, ripe for study and appreciation for many years to come.
--Jeff
Shannon
Amazon.com Essentials:
Stanley Kubrick's The Shining is less an adaptation of
Stephen King's bestselling horror novel than a complete reimagining of
it from the inside out. In
King's book, the
Overlook Hotel is a haunted place that takes possession of its
off-season caretaker and provokes him to murderous rage against his
wife and young son. Kubrick's movie is an existential Road Runner
cartoon (his steadicam scurrying through the hotel's labyrinthine
hallways), in which the cavernously empty spaces inside the Overlook
mirror the emptiness in the soul of the blocked writer, who's settled
in for a long winter's hibernation. As many have pointed out, King's
protagonist goes mad, but Kubrick's Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) is
Looney Tunes from the moment we meet him--all arching eyebrows and
mischievous grin. (Both Nicholson and Shelley Duvall reach new levels
of hysteria in their performances, driven to extremes by the
director's fanatical demands for take after take after take.) The
Shining is terrifying--but not in the way fans of the novel might
expect. When it was redone as a TV miniseries (reportedly because of
King's dissatisfaction with the Kubrick film), the famous
topiary-animal attack (which was deemed impossible to film in 1980)
was there--but the deeper horror was lost. Kubrick's The
Shining gets under your skin and chills your bones; it stays with
you, inhabits you, haunts you. And there's no place to hide...
--Jim Emerson
Amazon.com video review:
With the 1957 release of Paths of Glory, Stanley Kubrick confirmed his early promise and joined the ranks of world-class filmmakers. The age of the auteur had arrived, and Kubrick was a prime candidate for inclusion in the pantheon of directors later canonized by critic Andrew Sarris in his influential book The American Cinema. Ironically, this was also the period during which Kubrick left his native soil for permanent residence in England, and from that point forward, the Kubrick mystique inflated to legendary proportions. But if Kubrick was no longer bringing himself to the world, he was certainly bringing the world to his films. From the comfort of his rural England estate and locations never far from London, Kubrick would command cinematic odysseys to isolated Colorado (in The Shining), battle-ravaged Vietnam (Full Metal Jacket), upscale New York City (Eyes Wide Shut), and, of course, Jupiter and Beyond the Infinite (in 2001: A Space Odyssey).
The New Stanley Kubrick Collection includes all eight of Kubrick's films from Lolita on--a quarter-century of brilliant, challenging cinema. This second edition adds Eyes Wide Shut to the previous collection and remastered sound on five of the films plus a new anamorphic edition of 2001. Purists have complained that Kubrick's last three films have been released in full-screen format only; this was in compliance with Kubrick's wishes, and the films do not suffer unduly from full-screen formatting. This set also features a new full-length documentary made by longtime Kubrick assistant Jan Harlan, Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures. The diversity of Kubrick's work is truly astonishing, even though the director's technical precision and steely perspective on humanity may strike uninitiated viewers as cold and even misanthropic. His films almost always received mixed (and sometimes scathingly negative) reviews upon their release, only to benefit from glowing reassessment as they grew entrenched in the public consciousness. Here, in all their glory, are the collected films of a genuine master, ripe for study and appreciation for many years to come. --Jeff Shannon
