re: Least Favorite Kubrick Film

quote:

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And we can leave Eyes Wide Shut off the list, because I think that would be everyone's choice (it would be mine).

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I've grown to appreciate the masterpiece that it is - perhaps a bad first watch, but I think youngsters might have it as their favorite, so I'll disagree there.

So - taking the feature films:

The Killing

Paths of Glory

Spartacus

Lolita

Strangelove

2001

Clockwork Orange

Barry Lyndon

The Shining

Full Metal Jacket

Eyes Wide Shut

I'm going with The Killing or Barry Lyndon

I cut him a little slack for The Killing, because he was so young (of course, Paths of Glory was the next year - so he obviously learned a lot in a short period of time). I think that's the only film of his I do not own.

Barry Lyndon is a beautiful film and beautiful because of Kubrick's mad genius - he wanted to make a film look like a baroque painting, and I'll be damned if he didn't get really close - and it was his intrinsic understanding of the physical, mechanical act of filmmaking that made it possible. But, I'm not crazy about the stories or the character - to a certain degree, I've never been fond of Ryan O'Neal - and this film is no exception. (I kind of liked his character in A Bridge Too Far - that's about it).

However, I recognize it is a great piece of filmmaking - and it has been reported this is Scorcese's favorite film of Kubricks'.