Eyes Wide Shut

Rating:
Summary: Mysogynist...
Review: I'm not a fan of Kubrick. At all. Clockwork Orange was, to me, horrendous.
I watched Eyes Wide Shut with 5 guys, and 2 other girls. Needless to say, the guys all loved it. We girls did not.
Certainly; an exploration in fidelity. An examination of commitment. Too bad the movie caters only to the desires of the husband, and therefore, appeals to the males in the audience.
Naked Nicole Kidman. A room filled with masked people; and only the women are naked. Naked hookers. Naked, naked, naked.
This movie could have portrayed an equal balance of sexual exploration in men and women. Rather than simply becoming yet another movie whose point becomes redundant to a percentage of the crowd watching, who is not interested in seeing naked women, naked girls, topless this, nude that.
My male friends were quick to defend this film, saying that we girls should not "overreact to such a brilliant film". Please. Had Kubrick created a film that was meant to appeal to both males and females, maybe I wouldn't have. I'm tired of watching films that so disgustingly, so blatantly, are meant only to appeal to males, and being told I'm wrong.
Interesting idea... could've had mass appeal... too bad it's made for men.

Rating:
Summary: 'not with a bang, but a whimper'
Review: The two most widely anticipated movies of 1999 were George Lucas' Star Wars 1: The Phantom Menace and Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut. It wasn't hard to predict that both would prove somewhat disappointing, simply because the hype for both pictures went beyond overkill. But Eyes Wide Shut's publicity campaign took a sad and unexpected turn when Kubrick died suddenly... just after completing the film. In the surrealistic circus that was his cinematic life, Kubrick could not have scripted a more dramatic climax to his life. His fanatical fans were no longer in the position of defending only the enigmatic director's latest epic. Now that his life was over, they had to defend the movie's place in his lifetime's body of work. A reviewer at Time magazine proclaimed it "Kubrick's final, haunting masterpiece," a phrase latched onto instantly by Time-Warner's gigantic publicity department.

All this puts me in the unhappy position of telling my readers where Eyes Wide Shut probably belongs. It's place in Kubrick's legacy might best be summed up by a quote from T. S. Eliot's The Hollow Men: "This is the way the world ends....not with a bang, but a whimper."

The movie stars Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman, of course. They play Alice and Dr. William Harford, an upper-middle class couple living in London's fashionable West End. One night Alice admits to William that she has had sexual fantasies about a man she met at a party. When he becomes angry over this, she accuses him of hypocrisy. Surely, he has also had fantasies. This fight sends him on an odyssey in which he first takes up with a dead patient's daughter and then with a hooker. Later, he learns of a mysterious private club that allows its members to explore their sexual desires. He manages to get inside the club, but in doing so, he puts himself in more danger than he ever expected.

...Some people have argued that Eyes Wide Shut works if you perceive William's journey to be a dream. I say that changes nothing. What we have is three hours of watching a couple we wind up caring nothing about, because Kubrick's view is so detached. That cold, intellectual viewpoint, which made 2001: A Space Odyssey [1969] the best movie ever created in its genre, does not work here. Kubrick didn't always use this technique. His Spartacus [1961] was the most intelligent - and arguable, the best - Biblical epic ever filmed. Yet that film succeeded not because of spectacle, but because of its making the characters all too human. It moved everyone who saw it.

...Still, I don't think that Eyes Wide Shut's being one of his weakest efforts diminishes his legacy in the least. If you look at the works of the greatest directors, you rarely find that their last movies were their best ones. Having directed A Clockwork Orange, The Shining and Dr. Strangelove, as well as the two movies mentioned above, I doubt that Kubrick's light will fade anytime soon.

To anyone who thinks I have judged Eyes Wide Shut too harshly, I can only say that we usually judge our heroes the harshest.

Rating:
Summary: Kubrick's final exploration of the internal
Review: Director Stanley Kubrick told Elaine Dundy in 1963, "There are a lot of things that I'm interested in that I haven't yet made films about. Like I felt in the past about women-- that I could be in love with a lot of them. And live with them for a while. Separately." The ideas behind his last-ever film were ones that certainly lived with him a while-- a reference to Kubrick's "future" adaptation of Arthur Schnitzler's _Traumnovelle_ surfaces as early as 1971.

The film has a leisurely, even grand pacing, as it sorts through the kaleidoscopic variations and alterations of its characters' sexual consciousness/unconsciousness. Dreams play a huge part in the film, whether they appear before the mind's eye as sweet and disarming or profound and destructive-- perhaps, even, all of the above. From icy piano to warm waltzes, bluesy rock to eerie orchestration, the film's audio track aligns admirably with the movie's glowing darknesses and bright nighttimes. All of this colludes in Sage Kubrick's alchemy bowl, as he paints a picture of Mr. and Mrs. America suffering from mental and sexual dysfunction not treatable by any drug.

Warner Bros. needs to release an unrated cut of this film for the deserving director and his fans, not to mention posterity. The film's centerpiece, a masked ball and sex orgy as visceral and haunting as anything ever captured on film, shouldn't be marred by CGI whose only purpose is to satisfy the censors. For now, however, we have one final jewel in the Master's crown to ponder. Everything from the unflinching and savagely intelligent to the devastatingly exploratory is seen in the film's microcosm, where human beings' obsessions and rivetations are as dangerous as they are potent. Note: check for a cameo by Kubrick at a booth along the wall in the first Sonata Cafe scene, to my knowledge his only one.

Rating:
Summary: Highly underrated
Review: This is a highly underrated gem. Way better than some of its reviews make it out to be. The story is essentially about infidelity. As it so happens this movie is a wonderful conversation piece. Any two people will have two different opinions about what the movie is really about. It is certainly open to interpretation. Tom Cruise plays a doctor that after some pot learns that his wife (Nicole Kidman) had a fantasy about another man. Struck by jealousy Tom's character ventures into the night of New York City and he essentially encounters sex and debauchery all over the place. At the same time, Nicole's character continues her fantasies about infidelity in her dreams. It turns out to be quite a tumultuous night for both of them emotionally, more for him than for her, because before he knows it his "adventure" makes a quick turn and becomes quite serious, but then again, nothing is what it seems.... I really like this movie, because while any other film maker would have made a relationship drama of the story, Stanley Kubrick focused on the suspensful aspect of the dynamics between the two main characters.
Eyes Wide Shut offers beautiful photography, great acting by both Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman (she is superb), and great direction by Kubrick. Love it or hate it, this is movie will definitely rise a few eyebrows and make you think.

Rating:
Summary: MORE ABOUT CLASS STRATIFICATION THAN SEX?
Review: This movie presents some powerful images of something or another and kept my attention, and that is in part my reason for the four stars. Much has been said about this movie, in no case finding much in the movie itself to cry out loud and clear, "Yes, that's the real message!". There's little didacticism here for all the effort to find some. With all this going on, I might as well put in my two cents worth, probably again getting little confirmation from the movie that my take is clearly what it's really all about. But I'm guessing maybe as for the viewers who want to see so much about sex in it, the joke is really on them, they being the ones whose eyes we're told are "wide shut". Whatever message about sex is actually there is rather nihilistic, rather than moralistic as some seem wanting it to be. No one in the film is seen achieving substantial satisfaction from sex. The couple seeking marital bliss find it exceedingly elusive. The privileged filthy-rich, who can seek satisfaction through ritualistic orgies, find no more visible fulfillment. The family where father pimps for daughter seems no more or less fulfilled than anybody else. It all seems to say that sexual satisfaction is as ephemeral and elusive as anything could be, no matter what your station in life or how you can or do seek that satisfaction. What I'm gueseing the movie is really all about is class stratification and privilege. The two classes highlighted here are what I'll call the merely rich and the filthy rich. The main character discovers the limits placed on his privilege by being in the former of those two rather than the latter. Seen that way, the most telling line in the movie is when he's told what gave him away as not belonging at the clandestine orgy - he arrived in a taxicab rather than a limo. That's how impertinent he's told he is as a merely rich person trying to intrude on the domain of the filthy rich. Whether we're in either of those classes or one lower still, our privileges certainly differ. But the happiness they bring us may not differ so much, if this movie has anything relevant to say about the matter.

Rating:
Summary: Very Underrated
Review: I would like to restrict my comments to the film itself and not to the quality of the DVD. The mixed reviews on this film left me puzzled after I first saw it. I feel this is a very complex film and people do not like things that they don't understand. It is open to several interpretations. The whole film has a dreamlike quality to it. Is what happened at the party a reality or just imagination? Was Nicole Kidman's appearance at the party just a coincidence? There are many questions and few answers. But after all isn't that what makes a film fun?, something that makes you wonder, makes you think. Everyone now wants in your face entertainment. No one wants to search for answers. I find this type of entertainment stimulating. This is a film that is typical Kubrick, long range shots, lots of color and rich in vivid imagery. This is a fine end to one of the great film careers that any producer, director has ever had. Even though Kubrick's output was not by any means huge, he has left us with a rich and wonderful film legacy.

Rating:
Summary: My all-time favorite film
Review: Stanley Kubrick's final film, an exploration of the darker side of relationships and sex, is nothing less than a masterpiece -- a perfect ending to a brilliant career. I will say nothing of the plot because I think this film is best viewed knowing as little about it as possible. Just know that it can open your eyes (no pun intended) to how you view relationships. If you like any of Kubrick's previous work, you're sure to like this one. And it doesn't matter if you never have seen a Kubrick film -- get your start with this one. Cruise and Kidman's performances are flawless, and as with all of Kubrick's films, the production is stellar. I cannot recommend this film highly enough.

Rating:
Summary: A DIRECTOR'S SWAN SONG
Review: The title of this movie is adequate,you have to watch it with your eyes wide shut to appreciate it.I can't beleive that CRUISE and KIDMAN got involved in this mess.Slow moving,pretentious and boring to say the least.Who really cares about those dreams and the way the couples try to cope with their potential infidelities?The ending if you are patient enough to get there tops it;they must make love to redeem themselves.Oh yeah!One gets the feeling that with the death of the director during the filming,they simply could not find a way to find a coherence with the project.One of the sexless sex movie ever made.Think of it,maybe i missed the point.Forget it.If you get through this,you should receive a medal of tolerance.

Rating:
Summary: Kubrick Ends with a Dud/Dog...Slow,Dull, Pretentious...
Review: Soft porn everywhere, and every character has sex on the brain, but at least I watched the whole, insipid thing. Cruise as a serious MD? That's a real stretch! Kidman stripping for the world? Not so hot either! A sado/masochist medieval sex orgy?! As boring as it can get! The whole thing oozes with underwhelming 1999 decadence, with the sole exception the scenes with the daughter, and some nice NYC evening strolls, which are ruined by some toughs who think Cruise is gay in one scene!! The whole project is an embarrassment, not least the idiotic medieval orgy scene. And the ending is a joke!! This is by far the worst Kubrick. At least CLOCKWORK ORANGE could be considered original and maybe even artistic. Heck, even his lesser knowns like THE KILLING, and BARRY LYNDON are a heck of a lot better than this overblown silliness!! Way below PATHS OF GLORY , and 2001!!! One can only wonder what Stanley would think of this mess!! But any movie I can sit through deserves at least 2 stars!!

Rating:
Summary: This Movie Was Brilliant, You Morons
Review: A lot of people I have talked to did not like this movie and I think I know why--they are idiots. If you didn't like this movie, that's fine, it just means you are an unintelligent nimrod that wouldn't know a good movie if it gave you a donkey punch. What these people fail to realize is that Stanley Kubrick had more talent in 1/8 of his sphincter than all these dimwits combined. Furthermore, Dave Young loves Mexican food--especially nachos. But back to this movie. No wait, I was finished. All hail Dave Young.