Eyes Wide Shut

Rating:
Summary: Haunting ...but little more
Review: Sometimes Kubrick's work is all at once wonderfully disturbing and entertaining - 2001, Strangelove, Clockwork Orange, The Shining.

Eyes Wide Shut is haunting and entertaining also - but the mystery of this movie has very little supporting story compared to the rest, which were rich all around.

Regardless, Kubricks unnerving eye is in full effect here and Kubrickians will get their fix - albeit more methodonal.

Rating:
Summary: The master at work one last time
Review: Kubrick made this a film with gut clencher scenes; he made a film that pulls you to the edge of your seat; he made a film that laughed at itself; he made a film about the dark moods that bedevil the best of us. Was his choice of a 20s book not quite updated for the 90s deliberate? Was he joking with us by picking Tom Cruise to emote his way through his trauma without sharing his thoughts? I was enthralled and embarrassed and teased and teased and teased by this movie, so many scenes set up in typical box office fashion and spoilt in mockery, my stupid expectation foiled by an ordinary - that is real - resolution (Kidman's dream for example). Stay away if you're looking for porno; stay away if you're looking for mindless entertainment; stay away if you seek answers... There are moments in this movie of excruciating reality pinioned amidst unbelievable and unworthy characters.

Rating:
Summary: A deeply cerebral mystery of the sexual subconscious
Review: Stanley Kubrick's final film is a haunting classic that puts a cap on a provocative and thought-provoking career that spanned fifty years. Kubrick fans (this critic is one) generally loved "Eyes Wide Shut" and Cruise/Kidman fans (likewise) generally hated the film or could not understand what it was about.

In "Eyes Wide Shut", Dr. Bill Harford (Tom Cruise) journeys unchartered psychological territory. Tom Cruise fans will be doing the same. If you are not familiar with Kubrick's work be prepared to experience something very different from what you are used to. The possibilities of the mind and the temptations of the body duel in "Eyes Wide Shut". This is an amazing piece of filmmaking. It is food for the mind, not entertainment for the soul.

Like Alfred Hitchcock, Kubrick did not deliver easy-to-understand films on a platter to his audiences. Independent thought and interpretation was a must. Let your mind absorb what you see. "Eyes Wide Shut" is intensely layered. There is no way on earth that you can see everything that is happening in it in one viewing. Yet that is the mark of a great film -- to see different things in subsequent viewings. If you value mind-stimulating material, you will love this film.

You will enjoy the look of this film. Red, blue and purple figure prominently in the film's color scheme. There are also bright golden yellows and cloudy whites. Thanks to Larry Smith's cinematography, these colors are more than simple decoration. They symbolize much more. The DVD for this film will astound in its display of saturated color and light. Alas, it will be a full-screen (not widescreen) DVD presentation, but that is just how Kubrick filmed it.

Any sex in the film, you ask? I thought I could read your mind! The best thing to say is not how much sex, but how it is expressed in "Eyes Wide Shut"...

Kubrick's film is distinctly European in its feel and sense of time and space. And that's not just because it was shot in England. (Yes, believe this: even those "New York" streets Cruise paces in the dead of night are actually Pinewood Studios sets located in the UK!) The disjointed structure of events through editing and camera movement capture a disorienting view of Kubrick's New York. An unsettling journey. An incredible experience. No matter your reaction to it, "Eyes Wide Shut" will stay in your mind for a while after you have seen it. It is worth saying that this is an adult film with mature themes.

The music has its own power. Jocelyn Pook's score is wonderful. And selected European classical music paints alternating smooth and abrasive textures. Especially great is the music which plays during the film's opening and closing credits. It is grand and feels like a carousel ride. A ride that lasts for two hours and forty minutes, which is the length of the enchanting, mysterious adventure that is "Eyes Wide Shut".

Similar themes of mystery are explored in "The Game" (1997), but with less thought-provoking implications. And the bizarre film "The Comfort Of Strangers" (1990) is a pale, shallow comparison to Kubrick's classic work here.

What's best about "Eyes Wide Shut" is that it is a complex film. A film to think and talk about. A mature, adult film. The best film of 1999.

So take a chance. Sit back and experience "Eyes Wide Shut".

Rating:
Summary: Poor use of DVD technology
Review: They could easily have offered a 2 sided DVD that include the unrated and and R version. Instead, the moralists are making that decision for us. I'm boycotting this and waiting for the unrated version.

Rating:
Summary: A Spellbinding Meditation on Emptiness
Review: Kubrick's last film may not be his best work, but it is haunting and important. There is a point in "Eyes Wide Shut" where everything--the wandering, the speculation, the mystery, the ambiguous morality--suddenly comes together. As Cruise stands looking at a corpse in a cold, clinical hospital morgue, his expression is one of such agonized disappointment that it's difficult not to see this moment as the film's climax. And even though it provides no concrete answers (Kubrick rarely does) the scene acts as a capsule for the entire film: it is part-agony, part-enigma and enormously empty. I couldn't help but feel that Kubrick dwelt on Cruise's face throughout the film in such unforgiving close-ups to mirror the expressions of his audience. Certainly this film was both agonizing and mesmerizing. And, yes, it often languished in its own agony. But Kubrick creates such a void with this film that it's difficult not to read it as a record of everything that we all are (and are not) at the end of the Twentieth Century. We are empty; we think we see, but our eyes are closed. We are both the corpse on the table and the character who stares in disbelief at it. Never have I been so moved by a film.

Rating:
Summary: 5 for the movie, possibly much less for this version though
Review: This is the American, so called "Austin Powers-version," right?

Rating:
Summary: Waiting for Kubrick's true vision..
Review: I attended the theatrical release of this movie with some trepidation, not that the movie was a critical flop, but because many minutes of the film have been removed so carelessly to meet MPAA rating requirements (a great example is the cut away from the Cruise/Kidman scene at the bedroom mirror) It is my assertion that the deleted scenes/digital modifications reduce the emotional impact of key plot elements and the interplay between central characters. If you would like to see what Kubrick truly wanted the film to portray, consider waiting for a (as yet unplanned) future release which presents the movie in a 'Director's Cut' format.

Rating:
Summary: The whole movie is a run on joke.
Review: I think I'm the only person I know that appreciates this movie, so I can understand why it's so easy to hate. But what I think VERY few people understand about it is that it's one long joke, and that's what makes it so great. Yes, there is a deeper meaning to the over all story, and it does have its highly unusual moments. But when you get down to it, Nicole Kidman's last line in the movie is a punchline. So why aren't more people laughing? It's also a very hard joke to get, and if you can't laugh at it, then you're bound to hate it. But when you're done watching Eyes Wide Shut, take a few minutes to just think back on all of the situations Tom Cruise gets in, and then concider the last line. If you can get it from there, then you'll definatly enjoy this movie. If not, then yes, it probably won't go into your top ten of favorite films. But give it a shot. Even if you don't enjoy it, Eyes Wide Shut still has a great cast, beautiful sets, and unusual moments that you'll enjoy.

Rating:
Summary: Eyes Wide Shut: Intimate, Beautiful, Unforgettable
Review: There are so many things I love about this film, I hardly know where to begin! Obviously Kubrick put a GREAT deal of love into every aspect of the film; into every moment. Each scene lives in my memory indelibly; more vividly than most of my own experiences save dreams bordering on visions. I don't know how to respond to other reviewers' comments/difficulties concerning the plot. Perhaps it is far-fetched? I admit that watching this film is an extra-ordinary experience. (Wasn't 2001 meant to be this way as well?) Nevertheless, I do feel that the story relates to our lives in a very real and helpful way. I felt the capacity for un-conditional love affirmed in a most satisfying way, in the midst of overwhelming temptation. Also, the importance of sex ought not to be underestimated in a marriage relationship. This movie sincerely and most completely portrays the emotional intricacy and beauty of this deeply personal subject.

Rating:
Summary: work of art
Review: A simple review to say that if Kubrick had not done this movie 1999 would have been very sad in an artistic point of view. Each scene is prepared in its smaller details, music fits very well ... Less big budgets movies and more artists won't do no harm down here.