Kubrick's Filmography: 6 down, 6 to go

Stanley Kubrick is the person who I now consider the greatest film director of all time (even greater than Alfred Hitchcock and Frank Capra). I first saw The Shining at the age of 13. I was greatly fascinated by it, and it's since become one of my favourite horror movies.

When I was 14 I watched A Clockwork Orange (which is the greatest movie I've ever seen next to Hitchcock's Rear Window) and Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (one of the greatest comedies of all time).

And earlier this year I have seen 2001: A Space Odyssey and Full Metal Jacket. Space Odyssey was the first Kubrick to give me a mixed/negative feeling. After I watched it, I hated it. It was boring beyond belief, didn't seem to have any plot whatsoever, and only had like 40 minutes of dialougue in a 2 and a half hour movie. After a second viewing, I came to appreciate and love it. Visually, it is impossible to describe how fantastic it is (and the movie was released 39 years ago). I found out that the movie was not boring at all, and that it did have a plot. It had a very deep and complex plot. It just wasn't told with characters and speech (like 99.9% of movies do). The visuals told the story, which still amazes me. Space Odyssey (at least to me) is the greatest science fiction film of all time (ranking above T-2, Blade Runner, Alien, Aliens, and Star Wars IV-VI).

And last night I finally got around to seeing Eyes Wide Shut, Kubrick's most disliked movie. Though I don't understand the hate it gets. Each scene was beautifully shot, the score/soundtrack fit in perfectly, and it had a plot almost impossible to comprehend after watching the movie just once. Yeah, the movie was really slow, but it gave it a dream-like feeling that made you question everything the events of everything that was happening. I'll admit, I didn't understand what was going on the majority of the time, but it sure had me intrigued.

My ranking of the Kubrick movies I've watched from best-to-worst:
A Clockwork Orange: 10/10
2001: A Space Odyssey: 10/10
The Shining: 10/10
Dr. Strangelove: 9.5/10
Full Metal Jacket: 9.5/10
Eyes Wide Shut: 9/10

The 6 Kubrick movies I still need to watch:
Killer's Kiss (1955)
The Killing (1956)
Paths of Glory (1957)
Spartacus (1960)
Lolita (1962)
Barry Lyndon (1975)