Bad First Films

Kubrick, Hitchcock, and Bergman What do Alfred Hitchcock, Ingmar Bergman, and Stanley Kubrick all have in common? They're all considered some of the greatest filmmakers to have ever lived. In addition, though, they have another curious connection in that all three have first films that are terrible. The Pleasure Garden, Crisis, and Fear and Desire…

Stanley Kubrick: The Definitive Ranking

13 movies. Not 10. I'm five for five! Anyway, here's my latest offering to the listicle gods. Stanley Kubrick's complete filmography. Kubrick's canon, those movies that he laid authorship on, was actually only 10 movies. They excluded Fear and Desire, Killer's Kiss, and Spartacus. But you know that 10 movies is just simply unacceptable. Kubrick's…

Eyes Wide Shut

#6 in my Ranking of Stanley Kubrick films. This might be the best approximation to the experience of a dream in film. Dreams are hard to realize because they don't follow a lot of the basic rules of logic and storytelling we're used to.  The only other movie I can think of that works this successfully…

Full Metal Jacket

#9 in my Ranking of Stanley Kubrick films. I can imagine myself in a few years wondering, "What did I think of that one movie?" I would pull up the blog, do a quick search, find the review, and be refreshed with my attempts at insight. My opinion that day would be reinforced by the opinion…

The Shining

#5 in my Ranking of Stanley Kubrick films. Analysis of Kubrick's 1980 horror film tends to devolve into pure symbology, and I find that type of analysis dull at best. I've seen breakdowns of the film that range from it being a comment on alcoholism, family breakdown, American history regarding Native Americans, and even the gold…