Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick (1928 - 1999) was an American film director from New York City. Kubrick's career was cut short by an untimely heart attack. Nonetheless, some of his movies advanced the art of film direction for a generation. Here are the best movies by Stanley Kubrick.
The Killing (1956) is one of the first movie by Stanley Kubrick and made on a relative tiny budget. Even that it did not hold the monumental grandeouse as later Kubrick movies this one is newertheless a talented movie. It is a well told story about some people planning and execute a racetrack robbery. The cast include big names like Sterling Hayden and Elisha Cook, Jr.
The following year, Paths of Glory Kubrick became Kubrick’s first masterpiece. The film are depicting the World War I in a way that never being done before. As an audience you feel like you are down in the trenches with the soldiers.
Kubrick's Spartacus (1960) is set in 73 BC, where the slave Spartacus is sold to a gladiator trainer. After weeks of learning to kill in the arena, Spartacus leads a violent revolt against his owners. The number of rebels increases as escaped slaves join him, escalating to a fight against Rome itself.
Interestingly, Kirk Douglas, who plays Spartacus, asked Kubrick to take over the production of Spartacus. On the shootings he and Stanley Kubrick didn’t get along very well and Kubrick was not completely satisfied with the result.
Kubrick came however back and landed two superb movies the following years: Lolita in 1962 and Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb in 1964.
In 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), astronauts find a strange monolith buried on the moon. With the HAL 9000 computer, humanity undertakes an expedition to learn the source of this mysterious find. The quest sets in motion a race for the next leap in evolution.
Many film buffs believe 2001 is the best movie ever made. Indeed, Kubrick set a whole new standard and tone for the science fiction genre. His mastery of photography comes to the fore in this movie. From the scene montages to the vivid subliminal details, 2001 represents the sci-fi movie standard even today.
Choreographed violence in A Clockwork Orange.
Set in futuristic Britain, Alex DeLarge is betrayed by his gang and jailed in A Clockwork Orange (1971) Alex agrees to try crime aversion therapy to shorten his sentence. Upon release, he indeed abhors violence, but not all goes according to plan: Alex's old gang is still after him.
Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange remains one his best work, if not his most controversial. The portrayal of sex and violence debuted as newly charted territory by any director of the time. Why? Because Kubrick was a genius at communicating unsettling ideas indirectly. Kubrick's film direction makes you think. Whether or not you enjoy the experience of seeing this film, you will discover something about yourself—and it will strike at the heart of who you are!
Unique film fotography in Barry Lyndon.
The next movie was also something really unique. Barry Lyndon (1975) have been called the most beautiful film ever made. The reason was partly because Kubrick was allowed to use so-called Carl Zeiss primes that been constructed for NASA. One of the benefits was that indoor scenes by night could be shot with only candle lights as light sources. The result was remarkably authentic and the 18th-century felt closer than ever.
Stanley Kubrick's filmography places him among the filmmaker greats. He found ways to retain complete artistic freedom and control with the financial support he received. In effect, Kubrick films rank among the most visionary, influential films ever made. Even his early films demonstrate how you as the viewer can enjoy engaging with the plot of a film as well as its experience, which is perhaps more important when watching movies. For these reasons and more, Stanley Kubrick's work stands as testament to the true power of filmmaking.
→ Link to Stanley Kubrick filmography (on IMDb).