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A Clockwork Orange

A Clockwork Orange

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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: its missing something
Review: The white version of this movie is missing at least one valuable scene(the murder scene). If you want the true effect of the movie, then I suggest that you find a better version. Without this scene, some of the story is missed, like how he got caught.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Hmm...
Review: Kubrick. Hm. To begin with, I don't see the HUGE deal with him. I've seen most of his movies and yes, he has done some great work, but overall he's no more outstanding that the other household brand. The one exception with Kubrick is that he likes sex. Like 'The Shining'. He takes a scene from the book and throws a tall, dripping naked chick into the mix, with little apparent difference.

I dunno. It didn't suprise me that Kubrick did 'Eyes Wide Shut' or this movie.

If you have a streak of sadism in your blood, then 'A Clockwork Orange' should be an interesting film for you. I enjoyed it the first way through, despite a few irritating stretches and some horrible camera work (nearly a minute of footage from the POV of a giant statue...? Yeah...) I do recommend that you see it, because it is a powerful movie full of hideous violence, rape, the works. By the end I just rolled my eyes and was vaguely happy that it was over. What the hell did Kubrick end with some completely random sex scene for? Obviously the movie deals with all this, but it just seems like a way for Kubrick to get away with lifesize plaster casts of spread-eagle women. Whatever.

Some of the acting could've been better. The crippled old man, intense as he was for a moment there, falls apart very quickly. Malcolm McDowell did an excellent job, I give him that.

It's worth a see, but not the masterpiece the Kubrick fanatics make it out to be.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: "There Was Me"
Review: Great movie! Stanley Kubrick is personaly my favorite director after watching this movie. After I read the book I went out and bought the movie without seeing it. I think that the movie is as good as the book. The only downside to the whole movie is it did not add the additional chapter like in the book. But even the ending to the movie is great! Kubrick really scored big in this movie. Back then to make a movie as hard core as this one was crazy but he did it. This movie is so ahead of it's time. But it's my favorite movie of all time!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Okay
Review: This movie, in my opinion, is overrated. I probably would have liked it better had i not read the book first. There are a couple story changes, and it would have been better if Kubrick used the "lost American chapter" since it has a better ending.

Another problem i have with the movie is a lot of unecessarry nudity.

Therefore, i urge you to read the book instead of watch the movie.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Pure brilliance!!!
Review: This movie is amazing.

Kubrick was so far ahead of him time, it is amazing.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: 'When man cannot choose, he ceases to be a man.'
Review: Which is better: to be capable of choice even if we use this capability to choose monstrous evil, or to be capable only of 'good' even if we are therefore incapable of real moral choice?

Anthony Burgess asked and answered this question in his haunting and disturbing novel _A Clockwork Orange_. Stanley Kubrick's stunning adaptation of the book to the screen succeeds at every level in conveying both the question and Burgess's preferred answer.

The film is rigorously staged and stylized, the graphic visual content often in fittingly violent conflict with the classical music of the soundtrack. The sex and violence are both repulsive and fascinating, as they must be in order to pose Burgess's question fairly (and to fulfill another purpose of Burgess's that he acknowledges in his introduction to the 1986 U.S. edition of the novel: 'to titillate the nastier propensities' of the audience).

Like the novel, the film features the unlikeliest 'hero' in the history of literature (and one of its greatest antiheroes). Alex is a sadistic teen gang leader with a taste for rape and destruction (and for Beethoven). Eventually, for reasons you will learn in the film, he's subjected to a groundbreaking behavior-modification treatment at the hands of a 'benevolent' State bent on reducing crime (partly in order to make room in the jails for political prisoners; incidentally, Burgess's book is also one of the finest man-vs.-the-State novels).

Malcolm McDowell is hypnotic in what is still the role of his lifetime. His moral choices during the first portion of the film will make you want to vomit. This guy isn't a handsome Cool Hand Luke charmingly lopping the heads off parking meters, or even a disarmingly free-spirited Randle Patrick McMurphy getting caught engaging in consensual sex with an underage girl. Alex is a violent thug, rapist, and (eventually) killer, and he does it all for the sheer fun of it. Far from being a likeable antiauthority figure, he will initially have you rooting for the authorities.

But after he (ironically enough) chooses to be subjected to the Ludovico treatment, you will find yourself on his 'side' (such as it is). The fact that Burgess is able to bring his reader to _sympathize_ with such a character is one of the novel's greatest achievements; Kubrick matches it point by point on the screen. (That's why this film is so much _better_ a 'countercultural'/'antiauthoritarian' film than even the admittedly great _Cool Hand Luke_ and _One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest_.)

The end of the film leaves something to be desired: namely, the final (twenty-first) chapter of Burgess's novel, which wasn't included in the original U.S. edition of the book. For some reason, even though the film was shot in the U.K., Kubrick elected not to incorporate this final chapter, with the effect that non-U.S. audiences were surprised at the abrupt and seemingly unfinished ending. U.S. audiences who have read the 1986 U.S. edition of the novel may feel likewise.

Whatever the merits of the omission, the film is not only great on its own terms but one of the greatest screen adaptations ever made of a novel. It will help a bit if you've read the book first, just because you'll have been thereby clued in to the largely Russian-based slang used by Alex and his droogs. But it's not necessary; as in the book, the screenplay gives you time and opportunity to adjust. In this respect and in every other, Kubrick's film stands just fine on its own merits.

This is one of the greatest motion pictures ever made. You'll need a strong stomach to watch it, but it will hold up under repeated viewings for as long as you can stand it.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Rape, Ultra-Violence And Beethoven
Review: A masterpiece. An epic. A brilliant work of art. The greatest movie ever made.
NO other movie has captivated and haunted me like this one. I can still remember the first time I saw it. I sat in front of the TV in a trance, totally addicted and unable to take my eyes off the screen. This is one movie that completely holds your attention all the way through. By the time it was over, I was totally aghast. I knew that I had just witnessed the greatest movie ever made.

The most amazing thing about this movie isn't the acting, the score, or anything like that, it's the FEELING that it gives you. It's practically impossible to express in words, but it will haunt you to no end. It's a stoner movie - that's what many people forget to mention. To truly appreciate this movie, you must watch it at night, in the dark, after lighting one up. I promise you - it will be unlike anything you've ever seen.

Since this is a British movie, the slang can be somewhat puzzling for us Americans. But it doesn't deprecate the movie at all, believe me. Anyway, I should probably discuss the plot now (forgive me for rambling on). The main character is Alexander de Large, the ruthless leader of a gang of delinquents. Alex and his droogs get their kicks by committing acts of "ultra-violence". But soon, Alex finally gets caught and put in jail. After serving only a portion of his sentence, he is released in order to be the recipient of a strange new treatment. The treatment makes Alex horribly sick every time he thinks of violence; thus, making him a better person. But the priest in the film makes a good point: Alex may be free of violent impulses, but he is not MORALLY free. In otherwords, he does not have the ability to choose his own lifestyle, due to the ghastly effects of the treatment.

All the reviews in the world still can't do this movie justice, you have to see it for yourself. It isn't just a movie, it's a PART OF ME.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Clockwork Orange: Film Review
Review: Stanley Kubrick is a very well-Known and respected Director. He has produced masterpieces such as "The Shining" and "Full metal Jacket." However "A CLOCKWORK ORANGE" out does them all in surpreme brilliancy. Kubrick's cold insight into the lives of a group of elite British gangsters, with no respect for human life, is frighteningly brilliant. The story follows one of these 'droogs' in particular, the groups demonic leader, Alex De Large (Malcolm McDowells defining performance sends shivers down your spine). Eventually, after Alex is betrayed by his fellow gang members, he finds himself in the hands of the state, and their brain-washing experiment designed to take violence off the streets and put it at the service of the government. The true word that describes this film is "mezmorizing." It completely hooks you, and you find yourself unable to leave the room at any point throughout, whether during a fast-paced scene, or a slow-paced one. Another thing that makes this film great is that it really makes you think, and it sends your emotions flying. For instence at one point during the movie you may find yourself hateing the protagonist (the "sing'n in the rain" scene springs to mind) but then later you may feel imense sympathy towards him. The film's score is also memorable. I dont know how many times I have found myself walking down the street, humming the "Ultra-violence" theme. There is no doubt that at the end of this movie you will probably feel rather sick, thats how good Kubrick and McDowell are at presenting this diabolicle character and his encounters. When all is said and done A CLOCKWORK ORANGE is a true masterpiece, in terms of acting, soundtrack, pace, screenplay. Very few will say otherwise. However in addition to that they will also say that they found the film upsetting. I would certainly reccomend it, but only if you have a strong stomach!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Yet Another Kubrick Masterpiece.
Review: This "review" is based upon my first viewing of the movie.

If you have not seen beyond the first thirty minutes of this film then, yes, you have indeed witnessed a sadistic, nihilistic, grotesque piece of cinema. But for what purpose? Well, perhaps if you watched the entirety of the movie the reasoning would become more apparent. And don't forget, honest-to-God THINKING about what you witnessed is the most important part of watching the movie, not just recalling moving images or sounds.

I don't want to ruin the viewing experience so I will only offer a hint towards understanding one of the film's many underlying themes. If you haven't seen the film, you may want to stop reading here and discover the meanings on your own.

Note: there are many ways to decipher pretty much any particular theme in the movie. Pay heed to the relationships between and within the characters (institutions included) in regard to the following subjects: ego, morality, balance, power, and submission.

Relate everything to honestly to yourself for some real fun.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Massively cool...
Review: Ignore the violence. Compared to what you see on today's TV, it really isn't all that bad. The rest of the film is funny, erotic and still perfectly sound today. My highest recommendation.


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