Among Stanley Kubrick's early film output The Killing stands out as the most lastingly influential: Quentin Tarantino credits the film as a huge inspiration for Reservoir Dogs and just about any movie or TV show that plays around with its own internal chronology owes the same debt. This sort of convoluted crime caper had really kicked off with John Huston's The Asphalt Jungle in 1950. From then on, nouveau noir scripts kept trying to find new ways of telling very similar stories. Here the novel Clean Break is adapted for the screen in a jigsaw-puzzle structure that caught Kubrick's eye. With a dry narration we're introduced to the key players in a racetrack heist as it's being planned, but the story bounces back and forth between what happens to each of them during and before the big event. All of this keeps the audience guessing as to exactly how it will go wrong, while the downbeat telling, the unsympathetic characters and the excessively dramatic score clearly foretell that it will go wrong from the start. The denouement is comically daft no matter how many times you see it. On the DVD: The Killing is a no-frills DVD transfer, in 4:3 ratio and with its original mono soundtrack. Criminally, just one trailer is all that's been dug up as an extra. --Paul Tonks
Arguably the greatest black comedy ever made, Stanley Kubrick's cold war classic is the ultimate satire of the nuclear age. Dr. Strangelove is a perfect spoof of political and military insanity, beginning when General Jack D. Ripper (Sterling Hayden), a maniacal warrior obsessed with "the purity of precious bodily fluids," mounts his singular campaign against Communism by ordering a squadron of B-52 bombers to attack the Soviet Union. The Soviets counter the threat with a so-called "Doomsday Device," and the world hangs in the balance while the US president (Peter Sellers) engages in hilarious hot-line negotiations with his Soviet counterpart. Sellers also plays a British military attaché and the mad bomb-maker Dr. Strangelove; George C. Scott is outrageously frantic as General Buck Turgidson, whose presidential advice consists mainly of panic and statistics about "acceptable losses." With dialogue ("You can't fight here! This is the war room!") and images (Slim Pickens' character riding the bomb to oblivion) that have become a part of our cultural vocabulary, Kubrick's film regularly appears on critics' lists of the all-time best. --Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com --This text refers to another version of this video.
Stanley Kubrick's singular war saga packs a more visceral punch in 4K. Matthew Modine, Vincent D'Onofrio and R.Lee Ermey- as a drill instructor from hell- shine in this gripping chronicle of U.S. Marine recruits during the Vietnam War. Shifting from the raw brutality of basic training to the dehumanising effects of combat, Full Metal Jacket deftly combines nonstop action with scathing dark humour. This Ultimate Collector's Set Includes: Full Metal Jacket 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray Feature Films 32-page Booklet Letter from Stanley Kubrick 4 Character Art Cards Replica Theatrical Poster Exclusive film artwork
Stanley Kubrick's dazzling, Academy Award®-winning* achievement is a compelling drama of man vs. machine, a stunning meld of music and motion. Kubrick (who co-wrote the screenplay with Arthur C. Clarke) first visits our prehistoric ape-ancestry past, then leaps millennia (via one of the most mind-blowing jump cuts ever) into colonised space, and ultimately whisks astronaut Bowman (Keir Dullea) into uncharted space, perhaps even into immortality. Open the pod bay doors, HAL. Let an awesome journey unlike any other begin. This Limited Edition Set Includes: 2001: A Space Odyssey in 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray feature and bonus discs Limited Edition SteelBook Case Exclusive Enamel Pin Exclusive Embroidered Patch Special Features: Commentary by Keir Dullea and Gary Lockwood Channel Four Documentary200 1: The Making of a Myth4 Insightful Featurettes:Standing on the Shoulders of Kubrick: The Legacy of 2001 Vision of a Future Passed: The Prophecy of 2001 2001: A Space Odyssey A Look Behind the Future What Is Out There? 2001: FX and Early Conceptual ArtworkLook: Stanley Kubrick! Audio-Only Bonus:1966 Kubrick Interview Conducted by Jeremy Bernstein Theatrical Trailer
Celebrating the 40th Anniversary of the Kubrick Classic, this limited edition set includes: 4K UHD Extended Cut, Blu-ray Extended and Theatrical Cuts, Exclusive Booklet, Letter from Stanley Kubrick to Saul Bass, Saul Bass Early Design Illustrations, Behind-the-Scenes Imagery, and a Replica Theatrical Poster. Academy Award winner Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall star in director Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of Stephen King's disturbing blockbuster horror novel. Writer Jack Torrance (Nicholson), a former alcoholic, accepts a job as the writer caretaker for a hotel high in the Rocky Mountains, isolating him, his wife (Duvall) and their psychic young son until spring. But when the first blizzard blocks the only road out, the hotel's store energy from evil past deeds begins to drive Jack insane...and there may be no escape for his family in this haunting story of madness, memory and violence. Special Features: Commentary by Steadicam Inventor/Operator Garrett Brown and Historian John Baxer (on 4K and Blu-ray) Vivian Kubrick's Documentary The Making of The Shining with Optional Commentary 3 Mesmerizing Featurettes: View from the Overlook: Crafting The Shining, The Visions of Stanley Kubrick and Wendy Carlos, Composer
Visually beautiful, Kubrick's last completed film Eyes Wide Shut blends the sinister, the sensual and the clinical in a combination that is rather too personal and idiosyncratic to be entirely successful as the final statement about gender and sexuality he intended it to be. Adapted by Frederick Raphael from the Dream Story of Freud's friend Schnitzler, it shows a young successful couple confront the dangers that lurk beyond monogamy; Nicole Kidman's Alice does little more than fantasise, flirt and dream, but even this causes guilt and pain. Doctor Bill (Tom Cruise) does rather more--he visits a whore, crashes an orgy and continues to ask questions when warned off; if no disaster ensues, and it is possible that two people die as a result, it is only luck that averts it. Much of the best of what is here is to be found in the occasional moments of stillness--Cruise walking through a morgue--or wild comedy--Cruise's attempt to hire a costume in the middle of the night interrupts major shenanigans at the fancy-dress shop. Cruise and Kidman do what they can with material that never means as much as it aspires to and the stand-out performance is Sydney Pollack's, as a worldly wise client. On the DVD: The DVD is presented in a lavish Dolby Sound that makes the most of the obsessive Ligeti piano piece and Shostakovich waltz that dominate the score and in the 1.33:1 ratio that was Kubrick's considered choice. It has subtitles in English, Arabic, Bulgarian and Rumanian, two TV spots and informative interviews with Kidman and Cruise, as well as with Stephen Spielberg to whom Kubrick had talked at length about his artistic intentions. --Roz Kaveney
Lolita (1962)A divorced British professor becomes infatuated with a flirtatious 14-year-old girl after moving to a small-town America. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)A psychotic Air Force General unleashes an ingenious and irrevocable scheme to send bombers to attach Russia whilst the President and Soviet premier frantically try to save the world. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)Kubrick's dazzling Academy Award-winning achievement (Special Visual Effects) is an allegorical puzzle on the evolution of man and a compelling drama of man vs. machine. A Clockwork Orange (1971)In future Britain the singing tap-dancing derby-topped hooligan Alex has a good time - at the tragic expense of others. His journey from amoral punk to brainwashed proper citizen and back again forms the dynamic arc of Kubrick's future-shock vision of Anthony Burgess' novel. Barry Lyndon (1975)Redmond Barry is a young roguish Irishman who dupes duels and seduces his way up the social ladder entering into a lustful but loveless marriage to a wealthy countess named Lady Lyndon and assuming wealth and power beyond his wildest dreams. The Shining (1980)The Shining is Kubrick's epic tale of a man who journeys to the elegant isolated Overlook Hotel as an off-season caretaker with his wife and son and ultimately descends into murderous delusions. Full Metal Jacket (1987)A superb ensemble falls in for Kubrick's brilliant saga about the Vietnam War and the dehumanizing process that turns people into trained killers. Eyes Wide Shut (1999)Tom Cruise plays a doctor who plunges into an erotic foray that threatens his marriage - and may ensnare him in a murder mystery - after his wife's (Nicole Kidman) admission of sexual longings in Kubrick's daring and controversial last film. Special Features: 78 page Hardcover book All-new Kubrick documentary - Kubrick Remembered Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures O Lucky Malcolm! Onece Upon A Time...A Clockwork Orange Stanley Kubrick In Focus Commentaries Rare Interviews Behind-the-Scenes Featurettes
For a limited time only, Universal Pictures are re-releasing five of their most beloved Cinema Classics in cinemas around the UK. The following films will be released: Spartacus, Blues Brothers, Scar Face, The Thing and Animal House.
This superb nine-disc Stanley Kubrick Box Set contains all the late director's work from 1962's Lolita to Kubrick's final film, the highly controversial Eyes Wide Shut (1999). There's also the excellent and highly informative two-hour documentary: Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures, narrated (a little drably) by Tom Cruise. It isn't exactly a warts-and-all portrait of Stan the Man, which is not surprising, really, given that it's directed and produced by Kubrick's brother-in-law Jan Harlan, and that Kubrick's widow Christine was closely involved in the making of it. But it does give a detailed and revealing portrait of a brilliant, demanding and often infuriating man, airing rare footage that goes right back to his earliest years as a brash youngster in the Bronx, already playing to camera with a frightening degree of self-awareness. Six of the eight movies (all but Dr Strangelove and Eyes Wide Shut) have been digitally restored and remastered, and almost all (barring Strangelove again and Lolita) now boast Dolby Digital 5.1 stereo sound remixes. For some bizarre reason, Kubrick insisted on mono sound for the 1999 set, which he approved shortly before his death. Visually the improvement over the often grainy, scratchy prints previously on offer--The Shining (1980) was notoriously messy--is immense. All the features are presented in their original ratios, which in the case of Strangelove means the changing ratios in which it was originally shot, and for 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) the full glorious 2.21:1 expanse of the Cinerama screen.So what don't you get? Essentially, the early Kubrick--the work of the young, hungry director before he moved to England and started to gather all the controlling strings into his own hand: most notably the tough, taut thriller The Killing (1956) and the icily furious war film Paths of Glory (1957). Too bad Warners couldn't have negotiated the rights for those too. But what we have here is the culminating phase of Kubrick's filmmaking career--the final 27 years of one of the great masters of cinema. On the DVDs: Besides the visual and sonic improvements mentioned above, each of the eight features includes the original theatrical trailer and multiple-language subtitles. The DVD of Dr Strangelove also gives us filmographies of the principal players, plus theatrical posters and a photo gallery, while Eyes Wide Shut includes interviews (taped after Kubrick's death) with Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman and Steven Spielberg, plus a couple of 30-second TV spots. And with The Shining we get a fascinating 34-minute documentary made by Kubrick's then 17-year-old daughter Vivian, plus--just to add a further layer--Vivian's present-day voice-over commentary on her film. --Philip Kemp
Salem's Lot (1979) - Sinister events bring together a writer (David Soul), a suave antiques dealer (James Mason) and the dealer's mysterious, pale-skinned partner (Reggie Nalder) in this bloodcurdling shocker. The Shining (1980) - Jack Nicholson plays Jack Torrance, a writer acting as off-season caretaker for the Overlook Hotel with his wife (Shelley Duvall) and son (Danny Lloyd), in this ghostly time warp of madness and murder. Stephen King's IT (1990) - Seven children face an unthinkable horror which appears in various forms, including murderous clown Pennywise (Tim Curry). Years later, those who survived vow to stop a new killing spree, this time for good. Extras: Salem's Lot - Commentary and Trailer The Shining - Commentary, Making-of Documentary with Optional Commentary, Three Featurettes and a Trailer. Stephen King's IT - Commentary
Mankind finds a mysterious, obviously artificial, artifact buried on the moon and, with the intelligent computer HAL, sets off on a quest.
Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) becomes the caretaker of the Overlook Hotel up in the secluded mountains of Colorado. Jack being a family man takes his wife and son to the hotel to keep him company throughout the long and isolated nights. During their stay strange things occur when Jack's son Danny sees gruesome images powered by a force called ""The Shining"" and Jack is heavily affected by this. Along with writer's block and the demons of the hotel haunting him Jack has a complete mental breakdown and the situation takes a sinister turn for the worse.
They trained him to kill for their pleasure... But they trained him a little too well... This presentation of the powerful film classic features an additional five minutes cut from the films original release plus the original overture and extended soundtrack. Director Stanley Kubrick tells the tale of Spartacus (Kirk Douglas) the bold gladiator slave and Varinia (Jean Simmons) the woman who believed in his cause. Challenged by the power-hungry General Crassus (Laurence Olivier) Spartacus is forced to face his convictions and the power of the Roman Empire at it's glorious height. The inspirational account of one man's eternal struggle for freedom Spartacus combines history with spectacle to create a moving drama of love and commitment.
The controversy that surrounded Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of Anthony Burgess's dystopian novel A Clockwork Orange while the film was out of circulation suggested that it was like Romper Stomper: a glamorisation of the violent, virile lifestyle of its teenage protagonist, with a hypocritical gloss of condemnation to mask delight in rape and ultra-violence. Actually, it is as fable-like and abstract as The Pilgrim's Progress, with characters deliberately played as goonish sitcom creations. The anarchic rampage of Alex (Malcolm McDowell), a bowler-hatted juvenile delinquent of the future, is all over at the end of the first act. Apprehended by equally brutal authorities, he changes from defiant thug to cringing bootlicker, volunteering for a behaviourist experiment that removes his capacity to do evil.It's all stylised: from Burgess' invented pidgin Russian (snarled unforgettably by McDowell) to 2001-style slow tracks through sculpturally perfect sets (as with many Kubrick movies, the story could be told through decor alone) and exaggerated, grotesque performances on a par with those of Dr Strangelove (especially from Patrick Magee and Aubrey Morris). Made in 1971, based on a novel from 1962, A Clockwork Orange resonates across the years. Its future is now quaint, with Magee pecking out "subversive literature" on a giant IBM typewriter and "lovely, lovely Ludwig Van" on mini-cassette tapes. However, the world of "Municipal Flat Block 18A, Linear North" is very much with us: a housing estate where classical murals are obscenely vandalised, passers-by are rare and yobs loll about with nothing better to do than hurt people. On the DVD: The extras are skimpy, with just an impressionist trailer in the style of the film used to brainwash Alex and a list of awards for which Clockwork Orange was nominated and awarded. The box promises soundtracks in English, French and Italian and subtitles in ten languages, but the disc just has two English soundtracks (mono and Dolby Surround 5.1) and two sets of English subtitles. The terrific-looking "digitally restored and remastered" print is letterboxed at 1.66:1 and on a widescreen TV plays best at 14:9. The film looks as good as it ever has, with rich stable colours (especially and appropriately the orangey-red of the credits and the blood) and a clarity that highlights previously unnoticed details such as Alex's gouged eyeball cufflinks and enables you to read the newspaper articles which flash by. The 5.1 soundtrack option is amazingly rich, benefiting the nuances of performance as much as the classical/electronic music score and the subtly unsettling sound effects. --Kim Newman
Independently financed with contributions from Stanley Kubrick's family and friends in an era when an independent cinema was still far from the norm, Fear and Desire first saw release in 1953 at the Guild Theater in New York, thanks to the enterprising distributor Joseph Burstyn. Now, with this new restoration carried out in 2012 by The Library of Congress, a film that for decades has remained nearly impossible to see will at last appear in a proper release in the United Kingdom. Kubrick's debut feature tells the story of a war waged (in the present? in the future?) between two forces. In the midst of the conflict, a plane carrying four soldiers crashes behind enemy lines. From here out, it is kill or be killed: a female hostage is taken on account of being a potential informer; an enemy general and his aide are discovered during a scouting mission... What lies in store for this ragtag group of killers, between their perilous landing in the forest, and the final raft-float downstream... all this constitutes the tale of Kubrick's precocious entry into feature filmmaking. Bringing into focus for the first time the same thematic concerns that would obsess the director in such masterworks as Paths of Glory, Dr. Strangelove, and Full Metal Jacket, Fear and Desire marks the outset of the dazzling career and near-complete artistic freedom which to this day remains unparalleled in the annals of Hollywood history. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present Stanley Kubrick's Fear and Desire in its gorgeous new restoration on both Blu-ray and DVD. Special Features: Optional English SDH Subtitles for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Stanley Kubrick's Early Short Film, The Seafarers in a New HD Restoration New and Exclusive Video Discussion of the Film by Critic and Stanley Kubrick Author Bill Krohn Substantial Booklet Containing Writing on the Film, Vintage Excerpts and Rare Archival Imagery
Stanley Kubrick's daring last film is many things. It is a compelling psychosexual journey. A haunting dreamscape. A riveting tale of suspense. A major milestone in the careers of stars Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman. And a worthy final chapter to a great director's career. Cruise plays Dr William Hartford who plunges into an erotic foray that threatens his marriage - and may even ensnare him in a lurid murder mystery - after his wife's (Kidman) admission of sexual longings. As the story sweeps from doubt and fear to self-discovery and reconciliation Kubrick orchestrates it with masterful flourishes. Graceful tracking shots controlled pacing rich colours startling images: bravura traits that make Kubrick a filmmaker for the ages are here to keep everyone's eyes wide open.
The Exorcist (Dir. William Friedkin 1973): The belief in evil - and that evil can be cast out. From these two strands of faith author William Peter Blatty and director William Friedkin wove The Exorcist the frightening and realistic story of an innocent girl inhabited by a malevolent entity. Academy Award winner Friedkin who introduces the film and supervised this new video transfer from restored picture and audio elements gets effective performances from Linda Blair Ellen Burstyn Jason Miller Max von Sydow and Lee J. Cobb. The Exorcist remains 25 years later one of the most shocking and gripping movies ever made. The Shining (Dir. Stanley Kubrick 1980): Think of the greatest terror imaginable. Is it a monstrous alien? A lethal epidemic? Or as in this harrowing masterpiece from Stanley Kubrick is it fear of murder by someone who should love and protect you - a member of your own family? From a script he co-adapted from the Stephen King novel Kubrick melds vivid performances menacing settings dreamlike tracking shots and shock after shock into a milestone of the macabre. In a signature role Jack Nicholson plays Jack Torrance who's come to the elegant isolated Overlook Hotel as off-season caretaker with his wife (Shelley Duvall) and son (Danny Lloyd). Torrance has never been there before - or has he? The answer lies in a ghostly time warp of madness and murder.
Independently financed with contributions from Stanley Kubrick's family and friends in an era when an independent cinema was still far from the norm, Fear and Desire first saw release in 1953 at the Guild Theater in New York, thanks to the enterprising distributor Joseph Burstyn. Now, with this new restoration carried out in 2012 by The Library of Congress, a film that for decades has remained nearly impossible to see will at last appear in a proper release in the United Kingdom. Kubrick's debut feature tells the story of a war waged (in the present? in the future?) between two forces. In the midst of the conflict, a plane carrying four soldiers crashes behind enemy lines. From here out, it is kill or be killed: a female hostage is taken on account of being a potential informer; an enemy general and his aide are discovered during a scouting mission... What lies in store for this ragtag group of killers, between their perilous landing in the forest, and the final raft-float downstream... all this constitutes the tale of Kubrick's precocious entry into feature filmmaking. Bringing into focus for the first time the same thematic concerns that would obsess the director in such masterworks as Paths of Glory, Dr. Strangelove, and Full Metal Jacket, Fear and Desire marks the outset of the dazzling career and near-complete artistic freedom which to this day remains unparalleled in the annals of Hollywood history. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present Stanley Kubrick's Fear and Desire in its gorgeous new restoration on both Blu-ray and DVD. Special Features: New HD Restoration of the Film by The Library of Congress, Presented in 1080p on the Blu-Ray Optional English SDH Subtitles for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Stanley Kubrick's Early Short Film, The Seafarers in a New HD Restoration New and Exclusive Video Discussion of the Film by Critic and Stanley Kubrick Author Bill Krohn Substantial Booklet Containing Writing on the Film, Vintage Excerpts and Rare Archival Imagery
The Killing: When ex-con Johnny Clay (Sterling Hayden) says he has a plan to make a killing everybody want to be in on the action. Especially when the plan is to steal $2 million in a racetrack robbery scheme in which ""no one will get hurt."" But despite all their careful plotting Clay and his men have overlooked on thing: Sherry Peatty (Marie Windsor) a money-hungry double-crossing dame who's planning to make a financial killing of her own...even if she has to wipe out Clay's entire gang to do it! Paths Of Glory: Safe in their picturesque chateau behind the front lines the French General Staff passes down a direct order to Colonel Dax: take the Ant Hill at any cost. A blatant suicide mission the attack is doomed to failure. Covering up their fatal blunder the Generals order the arrest of three innocent soldiers charging them with cowardice and mutiny. Dax a lawyer in civilian life rises to the men's defense but soon realizes that unless he can prove that the Generals were to blame nothing less than a miracle will save his clients from the firing squad. The Killer's Kiss: Stanley Kubrick's second film Killer's Kiss made the world take notice. The young moviemaker won acclaim for this dazzling film noir about a struggling New York boxer (Jamie Smith) whose life is imperiled when he protects a nightclub dancer (Irene Kane) from her gangster boss (Frank Silvera). ""Using his camera as a sandpaper block Kubrick has stripped away the veneer from the prizefight and dancehall worlds "" the New York Mirror proclaimed. Killer's Kiss not only lends considerable insight into future Kubrick classics - such as The Killing and Full Metal Jacket - but is also a remarkable film in its own right: the boxing match may be the most vicious this side of Raging Bull and the famed final battle remains an action tour-de-force.
2001: A Space Odyssey/1968 A Clockwork Orange/1971 The Shining/1980 Full Metal Jacket/1987
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