Showing posts with label Stanley Kubrick. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Stanley Kubrick. Show all posts

Director's Chair #8 -- Day Three


LAMBs in the Director's Chair
Event #8 starring Stanley Kubrick
June 8th to 10th of 2010

There is one particular scene from one of Stanley Kubrick’s films in need of being brought to your attention. It is relevant to the topic at hand for today. The scene is completely awe inspiring to me in terms of a technical standpoint. During the ninety seconds in which the scene unveils upon the screen, there is only a single character present for nearly the entire time and he does not say a single word. However, after viewing the scene the audience feels unnerved, even though nothing really happens. The audience is emotionally provoked. How is it possible? Why is the feeling of uneasiness specifically recalled by the scene? It is interesting to witness all the conversations that have revolved around this particular scene. By chance, are you able to guess what movie or scene that I am referring to here? I will let you know which one I am talking about in a moment, but first here are the contributions for the final day of the eight installment of the Director’s Chair series featuring the man with the plan: Stanley Kubrick. The first order of business would be a movie I was talking about in the report yesterday. Paths of Glory was released in 1957 with Kirk Douglas helming the lead role of the movie. It is the early flagship of the anti-war film within Kubrick’s career and I was considerably moved when I had watched it for the first time. We are fortunate enough to have the following review submitted for the film, which I recommend it to be read in addition to watching the movie if you have not seen it yet.
Okay, so it would be in poor form if I were to ignore the other heavyweight champion of war films that Kubrick has directed. I am talking about the one movie that has one of the best fifteen-minute open scenes that I find enjoyably entertaining. Honestly, I did not know they could even “stack shit that high” as so perfectly described by the drill sergeant from hell. For your own personal enjoyment, I would like to present to you the list of articles for Full Metal Jacket (1987).
All work and no play make Jack a dull boy. Is that why we love watching movies? Are we attempting to avoid becoming dull and boring? It sounds like a reasonable plan to me. I am sure you are completely aware of what the next film on the list will be. Word has it that Kubrick was completely engrossed in reading Stephen King’s book The Shining after suffering through a numerous collection of other novels he considered adaptability factor to be unfavorable. According to the story I heard, he was throwing book after book against his office walls upon reading the first few pages of each one and quickly finding an amount of boredom quickly settling in. Finally grasping a copy of King’s book and began reading it he became so quiet that his personal assistant grew worrisome if he was doing okay. Anyway, here is the list of articles and reviews that have been submitted for his film The Shining (1980).
The headlining film for today would be one of my favorite black comedy films. The humor in the film targets a very narrow demographic of people would find the material hilarious. It is a satire film with so many different sexual undertones. You would have to pay close attention to all the details in order to grasp the full spectrum of material that has been placed in the film. I am talking about Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964). Hmm, would it be another anti-war film? Here are seven articles worth of material that you should definitely check out in addition to watching the film if you have not seen it before.
Referring back to the introduction, I would like to know if you were able to guess the movie scene that I was mentioning. The description of the scene was rather vague and not very helpful with listing any valuable hints or suggestions from which movie it could be found. Well, the one giant hint would be the mention of the scene being in one of the four movies that have been featured today. Okay, I will just right out mention that I am referring to the tricycle scene from The Shining. You can watch the entire scene on YouTube by following this link here:
Some of the elements that appear in the scene which just blows my mind would include they way they were able to place the film camera so low to the ground and perform a tracking shot of the tricycle through the hotel without picking up any sounds other than the noise from the plastic wheels of the toy. In addition, have you noticed how perfectly even the lighting is through every hallway without a single shadow or extraneous sign of the film crew anywhere? Then there is the tense building of the notoriously evil hotel suite that is merely implied as evil by the creepy music, a random flash frame of the twin girls, and the lengthy gaze of an innocent child staring at the door. It is so simplistic on screen, but there is so much emotional power behind it that audience is effectively unnerved by what they are watching. Crazy stuff!

In conclusion, I would like to offer a bit of thanks to everyone who has participated in the Director’s Chair series and to those who continuously stop by to read the articles that I link to within every installment. Make sure to stop by later for the announcement of the ninth installment of the series, because it will be another round of fun and excitement for everyone.
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Director's Chair #8 -- Day Two


LAMBs in the Director's Chair
Event #8 starring Stanley Kubrick
June 8th to 10th of 2010
Hi, hi, hi there! At last, we meet. Our brief govoreet through the letter hole was not, shall we say, satisfactory, yes? To what do I owe the extreme pleasure of this surprising visit?
What else could be more fitting of an introduction the second day of the Stanley Kubrick blogathon then a couple of quotes from A Clockwork Orange? The famous 1971 film starring Malcolm McDowell is the feature presentation for today along with a few sideline performances that are equally as entertaining and interesting. I must admit that the list of articles for today is short, but still holds an equal amount of importance with all of the other lists of articles that are included in the Director’s Chair series. Shall we begin with an oldie, but goodie? Jumping back to the year of 1956, we find Mr. Kubrick in his late twenties and working on his third feature length film. The Killing is not the first movie I think of when I hear his name. However, the film made such a strong impression with it was released that it encouraged actor and producer Kirk Douglas to track down Kubrick in order to collaborate on a film. Their co-production, Paths of Glory, was released the following year.

Here is a brief review of The Killing...
Working backwards in time may not be a logical maneuver, but let me direct your attention to a 1955 film Killer’s Kiss, which is Kubrick’s second feature film.
Nudity! We all love a good nudie film with hot celebrities and lots of sex. However, is a soft core porn film an odd selection to be the last film that Kubrick ever directed in his lifetime? I will let you decide for yourself. In the 1999 film Eyes Wide Shut, there were several well placed people to cover up the sexual acts in the film. Some of the “people” that were placed between the camera and the crude acts were digitally placed within the frame during post-production as part of a concern about the MPAA ratings board. I am unsure why this would be an issue since Kubrick is no stranger to sexually explicit scenes displaying frontal nudity (ahem, just like Clockwork). I appreciate the reviews of the film that have been submitted for this event. Honestly, I was a bit surprised that I received more than one review for it. I hope you enjoy these reviews.
By this point, would you think that A Clockwork Orange would need a proper introduction? Probably not. The film has a very strong cult following, which includes at least one of the LAMBs members that I know about. Without further ado, here is the entire list of reviews and editorial for the movie.
Well, now it is time to wrap it up. Tomorrow we will have a few more Kubrick related articles to read through and enjoy. It will be the third and final day of the current installment, which I hope you have been enjoying so far to this point. Make sure to stay tuned for the ax wielding good time that we will have tomorrow, because all work and no play makes the LAMBs a dull group.
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Director's Chair #8 -- Day One


LAMBs in the Director's Chair
Event #8 starring Stanley Kubrick
June 8th to 10th of 2010

In the year 2001, the scientists of Earth were able to embark on a historical trip to the outer orbit of Jupiter. The cosmic road trip was made possible by the advanced computer technology similar to how GPS works here on the surface of the planet. The technology of global position was translated and adapted to the form of galactic position, which was used in the auto pilot program that allowed several human travels to reach Jupiter for a scientific research study. What no one bothered to consider was the platform in which the galactic positioning program was built upon: Windows 2000. The failed trip was documented by filmmaker Stanley Kubrick and published writer Arthur C. Clarke in what is notoriously referred to by its given name 2001: A Space Odyssey. With a semi-related footnote, I would like to mention that Arthur C. Clarke has written a report of the follow up trip in 2010 when the group of scientists returns to the orbit of Jupiter to tie up a few loose ends from the first trip back in 2001. As you may have concluded, the focus for today is 2001: A Space Odyssey along with a few other films that Stanley Kubrick has directed during his career. Placing an identifying thud upon the first day of the current installment of the LAMBs in the Director’s Chair series, it would have been careless for me if I did not storm right out of the gate with a strong opening. In receiving the highest number of reviews and articles for this event, the famous movie featuring HAL 9000, which is a semi-allusive reference to computer giant IBM, will be the opening act for Director’s Chair #8. The following list contains direct links to the articles that have been posted on each participating website who has published an article or review for the movie. Enjoy!
Why should I stop with just one movie when there are so many other good reviews to cover before the end of our three-day blogathon series? Before jumping right into another round of movie reviewing fun, it would be appropriate to take a moment and reflect upon the filmmaking career of iconic director Stanley Kubrick. There are a few participating writers who have submitted an article (or two) describing the qualities they most admire about Kubrick’s work.
Now we return to our regularly scheduled movie reviewing. For the remainder of the overview for today I would like to take a step aside from the ordinary, the expected, and the general rules of engagement by which the Director’s Chair has been played by for a while now. Three particular articles have which been submitted for the event by which I am deeming as an exception to the rule for participation. The topic within each article is relatively close enough to the focus of Kubrick’s career that it would be a loss for all of us if I were to ban the articles entirely from a proper inclusion in the event. The first exception that I would like to share with you is about the “lost” soundtrack of 2001: A Space Odyssey. The original score for the film was dismissed by Kubrick and later replaced by classical music. It would be rude for me to explain the entire scenario to you when the article does a fine job by itself.
Now for the other two exceptions I would like to share with you are reviews for a film that never was personally directed by Stanley Kubrick. Instead, this particular film was directed by a friend of his, Steven Spielberg. The film began as a science-fiction film project that Kubrick wanted to direct himself, but sadly, he died before his plans were to materialize. The film in which I am talking about is A.I. Artificial Intelligence. Since it is a project that he is considered the paternal father of creating its story, I thought it would be in the best interest to have any articles about the film to be included in this series.
Make sure to stop by tomorrow to catch the second day of the Director’s Chair series. There will be a few more reviews and articles posted covering several more of Kubrick’s films. I am sure that it will be something you will not want to miss!
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Director's Chair #8 is One Week Away!


LAMBs in the Director's Chair
Event #8 starring Stanley Kubrick
June 8th to 10th of 2010

Submission Deadline
10 PM on June 7, 2010

E-mail articles to...
mattehavoc@gmail.com

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Hey everyone it is D.J. Heinlein from the blog site Matte Havoc. I am here to remind everyone about our next installment of the LAMBs in the Director’s Chair series. The first day of the event is next Tuesday (June 8, 2010) and we will be taking a closer look at the films from revered director Stanley Kubrick. I know this event has several bloggers extremely excited and they have already sent in their submissions for the event. For those of you who are new to the LAMB group and have never heard of this series before today I will offer a quick explanation of how it works. Every four to six weeks or so the group of LAMB members join together for a three day blogathon where we each write as many articles and reviews about the career of a selected film director. Each participating LAMB member can approach the blogathon in any style or fashion in which the writer feels most comfortable. The primary rule for each article is that it has to focus upon the directorial career of the selected candidate. In previous installments, there were selected candidates who have established careers in directing and acting, but it is expected to focus upon the films in which the person has been given a directorial credit. We are not limited to writing reviews for each film, because each article can include a comparison of several directorial films from the candidate or even a historical recap of his or her entire career. There is no limitation to the number of submitted articles for each installment. Currently we have selected Stanley Kubrick as the primary candidate for installment number eight. If by chance, you have either ten articles about his films or maybe just one article to submit then send all in for participation. The deadline for all submitted articles is 10 PM on Monday, June 7, 2010. This means the articles need to be live on your site by that time and I will need a direct URL link to each of the articles. All direct links should be sent to me, D.J. Heinlein, by e-mail to mattehavoc@gmail.com by the deadline. If you have any questions or concerns please leave a comment to this post or send an e-mail to me. Have fun with this event!
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Director's Chair #8: Stanley Kubrick


LAMBs in the Director's Chair
Event #8 starring Stanley Kubrick
June 8th to 10th of 2010

Submission Deadline
10 PM on June 7, 2010

Hey everyone it is D.J. Heinlein from the blog site Matte Havoc. Right off the top I would like to offer an apology to everyone for announcing the next installment of the LAMBs in the Director’s Chair series with a certain amount of being inexcusably late. Originally the announcement post was supposed to be published at the end of April. Now here we are more than halfway through the month of May and the announcement has finally arrived. I will admit that I have been a bit sidetracked lately by a couple of personal projects that I have been working on at home. Okay, so it may be apparent by the photograph off to the right hand side and the head at the top of the blog post you may have discovered the identity of the director for the eighth installment of the LAMBs in the Director's Chair series. It is Stanley Kubrick! The event has been scheduled for Tuesday, June 8 to Thursday, June 10. This means that we are now three weeks away from the event. I hope it will be enough time for everyone to track down a copy of a Stanley Kubrick film in order to write a proper review. I have my fingers crossed for a huge turnout for this event as we have seen over the course of the last few installments. If you have a review or an editorial about his career already written then send it to D.J. Heinlein by e-mail at mattehavoc@gmail.com anytime before June 7th at 10 PM PST. For the convenience of promoting the event here are the banners along with the appropriate code to be copied and placed on to your website.

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