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The newly restored and remastered nine-disc
Stanley Kubrick Collection DVD box set is hitting
European shelves this week. Already released
earlier this year for Region 1, the new Region
2 set is almost exactly the same, the only real
differences being the inclusion of the shorter
international director's cut of The Shining
and the absence of digital masking elements
in Eyes Wide Shut. We took an in-depth look
at all of the nine following discs that chart
the major part of this illustrious director's
career.
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Lolita: The first Kubrick film to cause
a major U.S. controversy remains an impressive,
funny and marvelously acted picture, though
it is somewhat thwarted by the fact that the
director was severely constrained by the censorship
rules of Hollywood's still-active Production
Code.
read
the review
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Dr. Strangelove, or: How I Learned to Stop
Worrying and Love the Bomb: Perhaps Kubrick's
most universally acknowledged masterpiece is
an enduring piece of black comedy that has proved
endlessly rewatchable to several generations
of audiences.
read
the review
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2001 - A Space Odyssey: An indisputable
milestone in cinema history, and one that changed
both form and content of the science-fiction
genre forever. Its narrative structure and rather
esoteric leaps through space and time are guaranteed
to cause more discussion for years to come.
read
the review
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A Clockwork Orange: Still the director's
most controversial picture, A Clockwork Orange
was banned from exhibition in Great Britain
by the director himself following alleged copycat
crimes that had the nation's tabloids in an
uproar. Only just recently has it become available
in the UK, where it is likely to continue to
divide opinion straight down the middle.
read
the review
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Barry Lyndon: Dismissed by critics
and audiences alike as a good-looking but pointless
(as well as endless) recreation of an age, Barry
Lyndon is the Kubrick film in most dire
need of re-evaluation. Beside its obvious (and
often breathtakingly beautiful) technical accomplishments,
its rich and varied narrative presents most
of the director's obsessions and observations
on human nature in a witty, subtle and very
funny story.
read
the review
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The Shining: One can feel Kubrick's
own anger and growing disappointment about the
way his previous picture Barry Lyndon
was received in the rage that fuels Jack Nicholson's
campy performance. Financially, The Shining
did well, and its key moments have left their
imprint on popular culture and the general public
consciousness. But as a horror film, it is neither
very suspenseful nor all that scary.
read
the review
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Full Metal Jacket: The brilliant first
half of Kubrick's belated Vietnam movie strongly
overshadows the second part, which is less exciting
and less frightening than the dehumanization
process seen in R. Lee Ermey's memorable boot
camp for the Marine Corps.
read
the review
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Eyes Wide Shut: Kubrick's last picture
scores a few points with the director's usual
eye for staging and uncanny use of music to
create atmosphere. But the film's treatment
of the trials and tribulations of middle class
sexual mores seem dispiritingly outdated, and
like nothing so much as the work of a very old
man.
read
the review
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Stanley Kubrick - A Life in Pictures:
An in-depth documentary that runs for over two
hours, this bonus disc adds a welcome look at
the life and work of the late director, and
- the Dr. Strangelove disc aside - is
the only substantial extra in the collection.
read
the review
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