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 1987, penultimate film seemed to a lot of people to be
contrived and out of touch with the '80s vogue for such intensely realistic
portrayals of the
Vietnam War as
Platoon and The Deer Hunter. Certainly, Kubrick gave
audiences plenty of
reason to wonder why he made the film at all: essentially a two-part drama
that begins on a
Parris Island boot camp for rookie Marines and abruptly switches to Vietnam
(actually shot
on sound stages and locations near London), Full Metal Jacket comes
across as a series
of self-contained chapters in a story whose logical and thematic
development is oblique at
best. Then again, much the same was said about Kubrick's 2001: A Space
Odyssey, a masterwork both enthralled with and satiric about the
future's role in the
unfinished business of human evolution. In a way, Full Metal Jacket
is the wholly
grim counterpart of 2001. While the latter is a truly 1960s film,
both wide-eyed
and wary, about the intertwining of progress and isolation (ending in our
redemption,
finally, by death), Full Metal Jacket is a cynical, Bush-era view of
the 1960s' hunger
for experience and consciousness that fulfilled itself in violence. Lee
Ermey made film
history as the Marine drill instructor whose ritualized debasement of men
in the name of
tribal uniformity creates its darkest angel in a murderous half-wit (Vincent
D'Onofrio).
Matthew Modine gives a smart and savvy performance as Private Joker, the
clowning,
military journalist who yearns to get away from the propaganda machine and
know firsthand the horrific revelation of the front line. In Full Metal
Jacket, depravity and
fulfillment go hand in hand, and it's no wonder Kubrick kept his steely
distance from the
material to make the point. --Tom Keogh
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
