Posts Tagged ‘Barry Lyndon’

DP/30: Leon Vitali on Kubrick

Wednesday, July 20th, 2011


Celebrating the 40th anniversary of A Clockwork Orange and the release of a magnificent 9-film Blu-ray box from Warners Home Entertainment, Leon Vitali, whose relationship with Kubrick started on Barry Lyndon, talks about the master filmmaker.

Also of note, Criterion Collection releases the last two films of Kubrick’s not yet on Blu, Killer’s Kiss and The Killing, this August. The only feature Kubrick made not available on DVD or a high-quality Blu-ray version is Fear & Desire, which Kubrick owns and doesn’t want anyone to see. (A Spanish-subtitled version is viewable, illegally, on YouTube.)

YouTube won’t allow an embed of my Kubrick tribute from Ebert Presents this weekend, but here is the link to it on YouTube itself. (Apparently, the current thinking on YouTube is that if they flag content and the owner isn’t complaining, they leave it up, but don’t allow embeds. As this is, in part, promo for WB Home Ent, and well within Fair Use, I assume there will be no complaining from the studio.) An edited-down version of the piece is available on the Ebert Presents site.

Stanley Kubrick Passed Away 12 Years Ago Today

Sunday, March 6th, 2011

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDupoFh5Op0

One of the greatest scenes in movie history in one of the greatest films in movie history.

I remember waking up on March 7th, 1999 and seeing the news that Kubrick had died on AICN.  I couldn’t believe my eyes, thought it was some kind of joke.  The man was my hero, the man who made me interested in movies as an art form.  When I realized that it was true, I nearly burst into tears.  Eyes Wide Shut was still four months from being released and word had gotten out that he had screened it a few days before his death.  I was excited to see my first new Kubrick film in theaters – even if it wasn’t finished – but depressed because it would be the last.  The man was a visionary and I will always believe that he was the greatest filmmaker that ever lived.

To quote the ending of the film: “It was in the reign of King George III that the aforesaid personages lived and quarreled; good or bad, handsome or ugly, rich or poor, they are all equal now.”