Kubrick fan-gal

I love Kubrick's work. I might not understand it, but I still love his movies. I'm glad I went to watch 2001: A Space Odyssey at Somerset House. I was pretty close to skipping it. Having tried about 5 times to watch it on my laptop, I had given up hope that I could last the 141mins without dozing. I survived! Although I do remember Niffies nudging me at one point *grin*

There are scenes from 2001, which just blew me away. Watching it on the big screen was beautiful. I can't believe this movie was made in 1968. Man had barely ventured into space, with the first space flight taking place in 1961. Yet this movie, made me feel in such awe of space. I'm pretty amazed at how space is portrayed in this movie. But err, I still can't appreciate much from the "Dawn of Man" yelping monkey scenes :P

Now that I think about it, the ending of the movie had a familiar Matthew Barney'ish "wtf is happening" feel to it. I wonder if Barney got some of his inspiration for Cremaster from Kubrick.

One of my most prized possessions in Rondon, is a strip of frames cut from a 70mm print of 2001: A Space Odyssey owned by Kubrick. It came as part of "The Stanley Kubrick Archives" book which C gave me for my birthday last year. I definitely appreciate it a lot more now.

Somerset House is a great venue for open air cinema. Though next year, I'm bringing my puffy jacket and a thicker cushion. It's definitely not warm enough to sit around in a singlet top and flip-flops :P My arse was definitely aching by the end of it.

Late night cinema (Part II)

I've become a really big fan of Kubrick's artistic direction. My mostest favouritest movie of all time is The Shining. It's beautiful to watch. Scary too. Kubrick took a very typical Stephen King novel and turned it into a brilliant screenplay. It's number one on my list. If you don't have time to watch it though, here's a re-enactment by bunnies in 30 seconds. And you can read some fascinating stuff about the Overlook Hotel and how the movie was filmed here.

Scene from The Shining

Other worthy Kubrick mentions are A Clockwork Orange, Dr Strangelove and Full Metal Jacket. Although I found A Clockwork Orange's themes of violence and rape a bit passe (it's not my fault I'm desensitized, it's our generation's attitude to anything taboo these days), the movie is soo confrontational about it and way ahead of its time. I can see how scandalous A Clockwork Orange would've been back in the 70's, I almost wish I was old enough to have watched it back then. Dr Strangelove was an unexpected discovery. I never knew of Peter Sellers' talent as an actor until I saw this movie.

FORGET Spartacus and 2001. *UGH* I made myself sit through Spartacus. I couldn't handle 2001 though. The screeching monkeys-that-looked-like-humans-dressed-as-monkeys was more than I could handle.

Last note on Kubrick, what I love most about watching his films, was discovering where all the cult references we see in movies and TV today come from.