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Summary: PRAISE FOR LEON VITALI !!!
Review: Big Cheers to Leon Vitali for putting this collection of mostly remastered DVDs of Kubrick's later film library. If you are a Kubrick film fan and you do not own this box-set, then you are being very cruel to yourself. This is all the Kubrick you'll ever need! The digital remastering is on these films: "Lolita", "2001", "Clockwork Orange", "Barry Lyndon", "The Shining", and "Full Metal Jacket". "Dr Strangelove" and "Eyes Wide Shut" are not digitally remastered in this set. The following films are in widescreen format: "2001", "Clockwork Orange", and "Barry Lyndon"...the rest are not unfortunately. The extra "About Stanley Kubrick" DVD is a big hit! It's worth having for any fan and is narrated by Tom Cruise. I still feel that "Paths of Glory" should make it on all Kubrick box sets from now on...but that's my opinion. Other than that, this box set is superb! Leon Vitali did a SUPER job of remastering the films for this DVD release, and his reverance for his former employer should be commended by all of us fans. Thanks Leon - I'd love to sit down and talk with you someday and discuss Stanley Kubrick and his wonderful wonderful movies!
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Summary: Kubrick is God
Review: An unbelievable collection of movies, with the added bonus documentary on Kubrick, the genius behind it all. Buy It. Watch It. Love It.
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Summary: This is the reason box sets were made
Review: Even in the pantheon of auteur film directors, Stanley Kubrick was something of a maverick. While not strictly a recluse, he nevertheless learned early on to avoid the press and concentrate on his work in the most hermetically sealed world he could manage. He rose up from a quiet, almost obscure New York childhood to become a true innovator of the medium of the motion picture. On his life's creative journey he showed the audience that the director of a film can be as much an artist as the writer of a text, the actor on a stage, or the painter of a picture. The best directors, like Kubrick, somehow manage all three, and see the screen as a canvas where there is no genuine limitation. Chances are if you are reading this review, you already have seen a Kubrick film, and like most you found something in it that touched or compelled you. And if you are considering this purchase of the 8 films that form the core of his canon, I can guarantee you that there is a universe of provocation and discovery awaiting you. Kubrick did not make many films, but the ones he did make are all masterpieces, and they all share a function of good cinema in general-- they repay upon repeated viewings. There is little space here for a digression on what exactly makes a Kubrick work so special-- and why Kubrick himself is such a discussed and treasured figure. This has been written about and mulled over by more gifted writers. However, what we can mention here is a little-discussed fact about Kubrick: his sense of humor. A Kubrick film is always a memorable experience, and there is always something that you will be taking away from the viewing. For some, it can be social commentary or a spectacular camera shot. For others, it is humor. Discard your preconceptions and throughout the themes of politics, psychology, and technology that Kubrick spins in his visual yarns, you'll get more than a small dose of fun. This excitement can take any form, physical, sentimental, intellectual, or ethical. What matters is that these pictures produce it seemingly effortlessly and endlessly. One of the most grand purchases a film consumer can ever make, the 9 dvd's here (8 films and 1 documentary) are a virtual library of both moviemaking genius and human insight, from the literary to the imagistic, the historical to the futuristic. All of the films are presented in the aspect ratio Kubrick intended, and all of the films have superb picture and sound quality, and include trailers. In the case of _Strangelove_, _The Shining_, and _Eyes Wide Shut_, there are included documentaries and interviews. The only thing missing is an interview with author Arthur C. Clarke on _2001_ that appeared in a prior edition of that title, but this is nitpicking since Clarke makes an appearance in the Jan Harlan documentary, _Kubrick: A Life In Pictures_. Included as a bonus dvd in the box, it is yet one more reason to make the purchase since it is not offered as a separate title. This set is recommended to fans of great cinema, students of film, and anyone interested in meaty, intense, broad, powerful, harrowing movies, that are as much philosophical exploration as they are imaginative entertainment.
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Summary: The Comprehensive Stanley Kubrick Curriculum
Review: If someone you know is a serious student of filmmaking, there will be no better gift for him or her than "The Stanley Kubrick Collection" on DVD. My partner Greg gave this collection to me for Christmas, and as a longtime Kubrick fan I couldn't be happier. In addition to pristine transfers of Kubrick's last eight films, there is also a ninth disc: An extremely well-produced, 2 and ½ hour documentary, "Stanley Kubrick: A Life In Pictures," which will have any Kubrick fan salivating. I was genuinely startled by the amount of archival footage of Kubrick, going as far back as early childhood, that the producers were able to dig up. It's a stunning achievement, considering the director's fiercely private nature. For anyone who wants to learn how Kubrick honed his craft, how he did what he did, how his films were received as well as how we now consider his work in retrospect, "Stanley Kubrick: A Life In Pictures" is absolutely invaluable. However, I still believe that Warner Bros. deserves the contempt of every Kubrick fan in the United States for ignoring our pleas and failing to release an unaltered Director's Cut of "Eyes Wide Shut." At the very least the studio could have included the unaltered scene in question as an Easter Egg! I almost reduced my rating of this collection to FOUR stars for this reason; but as many people as possible need to see these films, to learn about Kubrick's life and work, because we will never again see a director with his singular artistic vision. So I give this collection FIVE stars, while simultaneously fixing the execs at Warner Bros. with a blistering glare.
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Summary: what was he thinking?
Review: I love these movies, they are milestones to be sure. But I refuse to purchase these titles in pan-and-scan. "Full screen format" is misleading and deceptive. To me "full screen" is the HDTV aspect ratio that fits my television. What was Kubrick thinking when he prohibited their release in letterbox? I can only hope that whomever has the rights to these films now has the brains to rectify this, otherwise they will make no money off me!
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Summary: I like this movie a pretty lot
Review: The movie is a pretty lot good, and the sounds is also a pretty lot good...overall i liked it a pretty lot. The amount of extra features adds a pretty lot of good to the DVD's.
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Summary: A pretty good set...
Review: For film nuts, this is missing a few films; "Paths of Glory", "The Killing", "Killer's Kiss", and "Spartacus" (the former can be had [in]a deluxe Criterion Collection double disc.) So, in other words, it's missing three misfires and one classic. So what about what's in this collection? First, there's "2001" and "Dr. Strangelove", one of the greatest science fiction films ever made and one of the funniest black comedies around. Then we have "A Clockwork Orange", perhaps a classic, certainly quite divisive, and "Full Metal Jacket", a highly effective anti-war film. If the box set stopped here, I'd own it already. I haven't seen "Barry Lyndon", so that leaves us with Kubrick's two unmitigated disasters, "Lolita" and "The Shining." Anybody who tells you these are brilliant films is either A) discussing the visual and acting work, which is undeniably great, or B) completely ignorant about the novels. The problem is this; while the man himself wasn't misanthropic, you sure couldn't figure that out from his films. If you've read either of the two books, you know what the problem is already. "The Shining" relies heavily on the relationship between Danny and Jack Torrance to generate its horror, and "Lolita" is about the strong emotional bond that forms between a man and a young girl (which is, of course, sexual among other things.) And Kubrick just can't do it. He's too removed to even attempt to connect with the viewer in that fashion. "Lolita", if you changed around a few details, would be entertaining; definitely a lesser film, but a good black comedy. Instead, it's just a mess. "The Shining" wouldn't have been a good film, horror or otherwise, no matter what you did to it; it's too arty and not concerned enough with establishing why we should care about these characters, because it's pretty clear Kubrick doesn't care. Oh, there are some wonderful shocks, but that's it. It fizzles. "Eyes Wide Shut" has already been so severely buried by such a wide range of film fans I won't repeat the flaws except to say I don't care how pretty it looks, the basic plot is "Tom Cruise can't get a one-night-stand" and all the dream-like posturing in the world can't disguise an ill-thought-out script. That said, five classics to three disasters is an excellent ratio. If you can swing it, the good far outweighs the bad.
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Summary: now i have to go out and buy it again...
Review: Five stars above for the films themselves; need I launch into another rave about Kubrick? No, anyone who's made it this far will know the movies, have their own favorites, their own opinions. However, if you have not bought any Kubrick on DVD yet, go with this, the remastered editions. Why didn't WB come out with these versions first? The answer is simple: to make more money off of you, the consumer.
The first editions of Stanley Kubrick DVDs, (with the exception of Eyes Wide Shut) were made using old, washed out, faded prints of the films. Barry Lyndon was the most obvious casualty; a color-faded, foggy print which looked just plain awful. Now you can see it in all its glory. Same goes for the others. Five stars for Stanley Kubrick, zero stars for Warner Brothers, who should have done it the right way the first time, but opted to grab your dollars and get these films out quick, then having to do it all over again, perhaps due to customer complaints of what awful prints they used for the first edition releases. Now I have to go out and buy them all over again... Perhaps Warners should offer to give free exchanges of the old DVDs for these newly remastered versions. Nah, too obvious, right?
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Summary: 'STANLEY KUBRICK COLLECTION' creme of the crop Kubrick
Review: And so, after a career spanning almost 50 years, the most controversial, critically aclaimed (ok, one of THE BEST, if not THE BEST) Director of all-time and his most celebrated films can now be enjoyed in their full glory for years to come. This is any Kubrick-fan, movie buff's dream, to have the majority of Kubrick's films translated to DVD, remastered in blazing THX for quality sound and picture! And the result is absolutely stunning! You will never catch movies such as "Dr. Strangelove", "Lolita", "Clockwork Orange", or "2001" remastered with such detail, and sound a picture! It's fabulous that finally we can see what these films were fully realized to be. The bonus documetary DVD is equally fantastic, and the total package here is NOT TO BE MISSED! 9 INCREDIBLE DVD'S! After viewing all of the movies, and the documentary, it is easy to see why Kubrick was a pioneer in his field and a genius in many respects. His movies were done with such grace and eloquence and perfection that each individual film stands by itself and exhibits such incredible depth and value. Only on DVD could you possibly appreciate and comprehend the genius and master craft of Kubrick and his films. I strongly recomend scooping up the extra pennies to buy this DVD collection. It's worth it!
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Summary: The term "pan and scan" does not apply here!
Review: After reading the umpteenth observation concerning the letterboxing, or lack of letterboxing on some of the movies included in the "Stanley Kubrick Collection", I am compelled to point out for the umpteenth time that the term "pan and scan" does not apply here! The films "The Shining", "Full Metal Jacket", and "Eyes Wide Shut" were each filmed with an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 (actually 1.37:1) and then masked to a ratio of 1.85:1 for theatrical presentation. For these DVD's the image was simply not masked at the top and bottom. Nothing you saw in the theater is missing! Areas of the image you were never intended to see, however, are visible, which is why (for example) you can see the tips of helicopter blades at the top of the screen in the shots following the Volkswagen through the mountains at the beginning of "The Shining". The image from side to side is all there, nothing is missing!
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