Rating: 
Summary: Looking for the man
Review: It's difficult how to presume if any biography can be what we expect. But this a serious piece of work. It brings the real quality of what a biographies have to do.
It has the intention to bring Stanley Kubrick as he was, even in his older experiences as a child, perhaps, the most important part to comprehend the man inside many years later.
The book writes about the making of his movies, the conception, his profile and difficult personnality. It talks about Carl Sagan, Isaac Assimov, IBM, and others most important colaborators in Kubrick 'career.
The only 'but' of this book it's that I read the edition before he died, so I plan to buy the last one (april 1999), just printed two months after the director's death.
In that way, I expect to comunicate with the last Stanley Kubrick: the man who shot 'Eyes wide shut' and wanted to shoot 'A.I.'.- Most of all, I want to know what happened between Spielberg and him, when they were talking about this last one he couldn't make it.
Because if you A.I., you don't miss Kubrick in any moment, and however, you have Spielberg all the time.
I have to keep the door closed with Stanley.
I'm still have opened with him.
Rating: 
Summary: for die-hard Kubrick fans only
Review: Let me start off my saying that I am a die-hard Kubrick fan, especially of his films Paths of Glory, Dr. Strangelove, and 2001. And I enjoyed this book enough because it dealt with the process by which my favourite films were made. But, as carefully researched and meticulously deatiled as Stanley Kubrick: A biography is, the writing is flat and ineffectual. It feels as if a fifth grade student got a hold of tons of info about an interesting subject---then wrote a D- report. Informative, interesting, but if you're just looking for a good read, look elsewhere.
Rating: 
Summary: A few diamonds in lots of rough...
Review: LoBrutto conducts tons of interviews, does endless legwork, and thenspews the data almost completely unedited onto the page. While this can makefor frustrating, fragmented, and dull reading, I prefer this approach to the shoot-from-the-hip psychoanalysis that passes for biography these days (such as in Spoto's Hitchcock bio). Still, LoBrutto's writing style leaves a lot to be desired: when he compares a deli pickle angrily tossed by a young Kubrick to the spinning bone in "2001," he manages to ruin a funny observation with clunky prose. (Never mind my own clunky prose in that sentence!) The early parts of Kubrick's life suffer the most in this respect, but the book moves along nicely once Kubrick begins filmmaking. It's especially good once Arthur C. Clarke begins collaborating with him on "2001" -- the energy in their relationship is fascinating. I admire LoBrutto's restraint in discussing Kubrick's personal life. A lesser biographer would see his subject's reclusiveness as license to speculate wildly, yet LoBrutto leaves well enough alone. If you read this, you'll know little about Kubrick's failed marriages but a lot about how "Paths of Glory" managed to get made. So, this flawed bio is probably only worthwhile to die-hard Kubrickians...
Rating:
Summary: Biography or trivia book?
Review: This book does not fit the description of "biography." It is more of a "filmography" with some personal tidbits thrown in occasionally. In effect, this book merely became a scattered 600 page trivia offering. I admire the amount of research done on the book, but many times throughout the detail is a bit too excessive (eg- saying that Big Macs were often the food of choice during the making of the Shining-did we really need to know that?) This book has little to do with Kubrick the person (as a "biography" should) and has more to do with Kubrick the director. The chapters are utterly repetitive. Every chapter starts out with these words: "After his (such and such) last film Kubrick fell back into his pre-production mode." The chapter on the Shining was pathetic, after seeing "the making of the Shining" on DVD, its obvious that LoBrutto based that entire chapter on that documentary. I have admired and loved Kubrick's work most of my life, and waited a long time for this book only to be let down tremendously. My personal opinion is that LoBrutto rushed this book instead of fine tuning it and diggng deeper into Kubrick's life in order to be the first one to publish a Kubrick biography. I think more research of Kubrick the person needs to be done and then fused with these facts to make one hell of a book. Considering his reclusive lifestyle though, that may never happen. As it stands, this is probably the best Kubrick biography out there. But other reviewers have had the same reading experience I had...I just couldnt finish reading the darn thing. Its sad, considering the subject matter.
Rating: 
Summary: Kubrick's Mind: A Guided Tour
Review: This book reveals the method behind the madness of which is Stanley Kubrick. The references and recollections by acquaintances, production partners and relatives gives new insight into the development of this important cinematic auteur.As I rescreened the films, the book served as a behind the scenes guide informing me to unknown details
Rating:
Summary: He's still out there, making movies...
Review: This is an excellent and exhaustive bio despite the fact that Kubrick is a diehard recluse with fiercly loyal friends and familly that never talk about him... espcially to writers. But somehow, Lobrutto has managed to lift the vail of secrecy and silence that shrouds the Kubrick kingdom and give us a tantalizing view of this self-exiled genius at work behind the camera, and even in his English castle. How Lobrutto has managed to make the life of a filmmaker who never leaves home for years at time seem exciting is beyond my understanding. But the author does it, and does it with style. A must read for anyone interested in the world's greatest, most respected, and often most misunderstood filmmaker.
Rating:
Summary: Light & Smoke & Mirrors
Review: This was the first full biography of Stanley Kubrick I read, buying it in hardback as soon as it was published. There had been very little biographical info on the director until his death in 1999 and I think I read most of the books about his films up to that point.
I was disappointed with this bio. It got to the point where the last sentence in every third paragraph read, "And there was only one man for that job, and that man was Stanley Kubrick." I found John Baxter's bio, also called STANLEY KUBRICK, much more entertaining and enlightening.
If you've seen Kubrick's daughter's short film, "The Making of THE SHINING," on THE SHINING DVD, you get a glimpse of the rewriting frenzies that went on--a genuine shock to me since Kubrick's films appeared so tight and controlled ("We make it up as we go," Jack Nicholson jokes as a Kubrick assistant literally cringes), a look at the director's temper when a scene doesn't go right, and the scenes featuring his disregard for Shelley Duvall border on cruelty.
All of this is more than you'll find in LoBrutto's biography.
Rating:
Summary: Light & Smoke & Mirrors
Review: This was the first full biography of Stanley Kubrick I read, buying it in hardback as soon as it was published. There had been very little biographical info on the director until his death in 1999 and I think I read most of the books about his films up to that point.
I was disappointed with this bio. It got to the point where the last sentence in every third paragraph read, "And there was only one man for that job, and that man was Stanley Kubrick." I found John Baxter's bio, also called STANLEY KUBRICK, much more entertaining and enlightening.
If you've seen Kubrick's daughter's short film, "The Making of THE SHINING," on THE SHINING DVD, you get a glimpse of the rewriting frenzies that went on--a genuine shock to me since Kubrick's films appeared so tight and controlled ("We make it up as we go," Jack Nicholson jokes as a Kubrick assistant literally cringes), a look at the director's temper when a scene doesn't go right, and the scenes featuring his disregard for Shelley Duvall border on cruelty.
All of this is more than you'll find in LoBrutto's biography.
Rating:
Summary: The best that has yet to come
Review: Though it did not concentrate heavily on the personal aspects of Mr. Kubrick's life, I found this book to be rich in technical details about his films. Mr. LoBrutto's research was thorough and it shows throughout the body of this work. One can not be certain that all the things said about Mr. Kubrick are true, but there are certainly some gems about him here (I found Kirk Douglas' opinion of him quite interesting). I highly recommend it to anyone that has an interest in such a master filmmaker. I don't think we will see anything like him ever again.
Rating:
Summary: Utter cr*p
Review: Vincent LoBrutto actually managed the impossible. He made the subject of Stanley Kubrick Boring. If you are a fan of Stanley Kubrick (like me) and are interested in purchasing a biography I'd suggest the one written by John(?) Baxter. It's ten times better.
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