Today is: Near future movie day!

[TVC15]

Hamburger Hill was the Transformers of Nam movies, man!  Lemme replace it with Rambo III!  Or should that have been in near future day?

[Van Cruncheon]

my dad LOVED hamburger hill -- called it the only quasi-realistic depiction of fighting in 'nam filmed. i fell asleep during it.

[Ichirou]

Time After Time will be included in any potential Malcolm McDowell night.  Probably at the expense of either Tank Girl or Star Trek Generations.  Or both, maybe.

I didn't notice you had Time After Time on DVD.  That is one awesome movie.

Oh, what about a David Warner sci-fi night?  Acclaimed Shakespearean actor selling out to do cheap sci-fi schlock.  You could start at his high point and work your way down:

Time After Time
Tron
Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (as a Federation ambassador...)
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (...and then somehow he's become Chancellor of the Klingon Empire)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze (the man behind the secret of the Ooze!)
Wing Commander

[Van Cruncheon]

mmmm, tron. the dude cyberabides!

[TVC15]

I'd like at least most of the movies to be, you know, good Ichirou.  They don't have to be all classics, but good!

Doing these theme days is fun, even if this one did get derailed halfway through.  Giant Sex TV makes it seem like I have a movie screen in my apartment!  With better picture.

[Ichirou]

You can still do a David Warner night and have it be good, but it'd have to be...not focused on his sci-fi works.

[TVC15]

You can still do a David Warner night and have it be good, but it'd have to be...not focused on his sci-fi works.

Looks like he has done an extensive amount of US TV work, from the 90s Batman cartoon (as Al Ghul!) to Twin Peaks, to Dinosaurs, to Gargoyles.

[Ichirou]

Foreign crime caper night!

Le Samourai
The Red Circle
Rififi
Non Touchez Pas Au Grisbi
Grand Slam

[TVC15]

Hmmm, I could swap something from that out for Bande a Part and I would be good

[Smooth Groove]

I give up!  I just finished the shining and I am movied out. . .

Children of Men
2001
A Clockwork Orange
1.25 hour long documentary/interview with Malcolm McDowell
The Shining

Full Metal Jacket and Eyes Wide Shut will have to wait.

What could next weekend's (attempted) theme be?

Get me some caps of Nicole Kidman's cupcakes in HD. 

[Ichirou]

Get me some caps of Nicole Kidman's cupcakes in HD. 

I second that request.

[Solo]

I too just watched A Clockwork Orange on HD-DVD yesterday Whitey, and its incredible how much of an improvement this transfer is over what previously existed. Also, watching it again for the first time in years, what was previously a middle of the road Kubrick for me, I now think I would place at #2, JUST below 2001. So yeah, I fully endorse the ACO love. The McDowell retrospective is great too. I loved his reaction to the dildo question, and his impersonation of the actor playing the crippled old man in ACO. These HD Kubrick sets are a godsend. And if ACO's transfer is considered to be "weak" compared to the others, then I am in for a real treat.

[Bloodwake]

COM...meh. Cuaron has done better work with y tu mama tambien and potter.

LOL. I'm sorry, and I'm a fan of the Harry Potter movies, but there's no fucking way that you just said Prisoner of Azkaban was better than Children of Men.

Hell, Azkaban was one of my favorite Potter movies, but in terms of filmmaking and overall quality, Children of Men is a much, much, much, much, much better movie.

Damn, I want to see it in HD NOW.

[Bloodwake]

God damn you guys by the way. Amazon still hasn't sent my Blu-Ray set for A Clockwork Orange

 

[bud]

COM...meh. Cuaron has done better work with y tu mama tambien and potter.

cheebs, are you for real.

[TVC15]

I too just watched A Clockwork Orange on HD-DVD yesterday Whitey, and its incredible how much of an improvement this transfer is over what previously existed. Also, watching it again for the first time in years, what was previously a middle of the road Kubrick for me, I now think I would place at #2, JUST below 2001. So yeah, I fully endorse the ACO love. The McDowell retrospective is great too. I loved his reaction to the dildo question, and his impersonation of the actor playing the crippled old man in ACO. These HD Kubrick sets are a godsend. And if ACO's transfer is considered to be "weak" compared to the others, then I am in for a real treat.

You know Solo, I have to echo Mupepe and say that the Shining transfer is even better.  Like, there are shots that didn't even stand out in that movie that are now total classics to me.  Things I never even came close to remembering before. 2001 probably has the best of the transfers so far, but that's a great looking movie to begin with, whereas with The Shining, a movie I have seen a zillion times and have also seen fairly recently, it was like watching a whole new movie.

Those tracking shots of the car in the beginning in HD   That's some of the best cinematography I have ever seen, and it looks even better now.  All the scare shots   The dog/bear guy in HD   Anything that happens in the gold room   Jack's incredible performance in HD

For whatever reason, I gon't remember the movie looking near this good.  It probably doesn't really stand up to the Iconic Shot Every 30 Seconds-ness of 2001 and A Clockwork Orange, but it's still better looking than 95% of the movies out there.  Before this fewing, outside a few of the classic close ups, I only remembered this movie for its famous steadicam shots.

[Solo]

Awesome. I was gonna do 2001 next, being my fav Kubrick and all, but youve convinced me to go for The Shining first. Ill eventually get EWS and FMJ too, just because Im a Kubrick junkie and a completionist.

If ACO is any indication, Kubricks films are a match made in heaven on HD formats.

[TVC15]

Watching these all, and then reading up on the movies afterwards (don't want to spoil my viewings or taint my own interpretation), it's shockingly obvious that almsot none of his movies were very well received upon release, except for Full Metal Jacket and the pre-2001 stuff, and even that wasn't ranking things as classic.  Full Metal Jacket is, of course, viewed as a mixed bag today, but everything before is seen as a total, round the boards classic.  For this reason, I am very very excited for my second viewing of Eyes Wide Shut, though I am keeping my expectations as low as humanly possible.

But 2001, A Clockwork Orange, Barry Lyndon, the Shining. . .all were critical mixed bags on release.

[Solo]

I think for sheer variety of genre alone, and for mastery of each genre, I am shockingly close to bumping Kubrick past Leone into my favorite director slot. Watching all these movies in a compressed time period really smacks you over the head with how incredible of a filmmaker Kubrick was. I like Leone's style more, but he never ventured too far off the beaten path/displayed a lot of range. Kubrick made the best sci-fi movie ever, the best comedy ever, one of the best horror movies ever, one of the greatest historical epics ever, and one of the best whatever-you-want-to-classify-ACO-as movies ever. There certainly isnt a director working today that is worthy of holding his jock strap.

[bud]

COM...meh. Cuaron has done better work with y tu mama tambien and potter.

cheebs, are you for real.

[TVC15]

I know Solo.  I don't know how I never noticed, but every single one of his movies is totally different.  Not just in setting and sort of plot, but also in themes, and in the devices he uses to convey those themes.  I don't recall ACO and The Shining being so deep and thematically rich, but my mouth was basically hanging open!

[Solo]

Yup. ACO really hit me hard this time too. I dont know if I wasnt paying attention/was too young or whatever when I had watched ACO in years past, but it was like seeing a new movie.

I also love how despite tackling so many genres and themes, there is a definite Kubrick style. He is one of those directors who you know whose film it is without seeing their name. Most of it with Kubrick is due to cinematography. He operated his own cameras a lot, and he was also a photographer. The shot composition and framing is really what strikes me the most about his work. Its darn near flawless. The Shining is a fantastic example of this. He also loves static shots, and when his camera does move, its usually slow and methodical. There are about a billion frames from his films that I would love to have prints of just to hang on my wall.

And his musical choices are impeccable.

[TVC15]

I'm really excited to check out Full Metal Jacket and Eyes Wide Shut again.  I know I have to keep my expectations in check, but I am really expecting them to feel like new movies, too!  I know they won't be as great as his early stuff, but still, maybe these movies I never thought of as great before will be great with my new, more educated viewings.

[Solo]

I really hope whoever owns the rights to Paths of Glory and The Killing and especially Strangelove get on the HD bandwagon soon. Also, WB needs to remedy the fact that they only put the reissue of Lyndon out on DVD, not BRD/HD DVD.

[TVC15]

Yes to all of those!  Is Strangelove (or any of the older ones) in widescreen?  I forget what year widescreen got big.

Also, I really wouldn't mind Lolita and Spartacus on BD.

[bud]

i've only seen a handful of kubrick films.

[Solo]

Yes to all of those!  Is Strangelove (or any of the older ones) in widescreen?  I forget what year widescreen got big.

Also, I really wouldn't mind Lolita and Spartacus on BD.

Pretty much all Kubricks were open matte. Shown in widescreen in theatres, and full screen for home video. Thankfully, these new releases are finally fixing that, giving us the theatrical ratios. Usually 1.66 for Kubrick stuff, but of course there are exceptions like 2001 and its 2.20 ratio.

[Ichirou]

I think everything after Spartacus was shot open matte, wasn't it?  Because Kubrick didn't like how his movies looked when they were panned and scanned for TV?

[Solo]

Yup. He knew how his movies would be presented in home video, and didnt want to have them butchered, so he avoided the problem from the outset. Hell, stuff like The Shining you can tell was shot for the 4:3 television ratio. The way the movie is framed is always very "box-y" and square. I was worried how it would look opened up for 16:9 displays, but apparently it looks great and doesnt destroy the film. Ill find out for myself hopefully tonight.

[Mr. Gundam]

I still need to watch Black Book on Blu-ray...

[TVC15]

I still need to watch Black Book on Blu-ray...

Let me know how that is, in every aspect.  I am curious, but not curious enough to jump on it blind.  Verhoeven's output is mixed at best, and it appears his best years are behind him, but still, foreign film in HD!!!!!!!

[Mr. Gundam]

I'm going to try and watch it tonight while my wife is at class (evening MBA at Seattle U).

[Solo]

Call me crazy (as I contradict every review of the sets I have read), but I found that The Shining's HD DVD IQ wasn't nearly as impressive as A Clockwork Orange's. And I still think that, while awesome, The Shining is definately a lesser work from Kubrick.

[Gay Boy]

i've only seen a handful of kubrick films.

what ones?

I am so angry at myself for buying 2001 and clockwork last week on dvd since now I got a hd-dvd player.  I can't buy 2001 twice in less than a week...

[bud]

off the top of my head:

fmj
shining
2001
strangelove
clockwork

i remember having seen bits and pieces of ews, but that's about it iirc.

[Solo]

i've only seen a handful of kubrick films.

what ones?

I am so angry at myself for buying 2001 and clockwork last week on dvd since now I got a hd-dvd player.  I can't buy 2001 twice in less than a week...

Heh, the Kubrick HD DVDs were pretty much the reason that I finally bit the bullet and got the HD DVD player, and I already feel like my purchase has been validated. Home video sets of the year.

[Bloodwake]

after seeing The Shining in HD last night, I have been acting like I'd never seen it before (it was the sixth or seventh time I've seen it)

wow just wow, HD makes movies worth watching again

It really does. I love HD media.

[TVC15]

Call me crazy (as I contradict every review of the sets I have read), but I found that The Shining's HD DVD IQ wasn't nearly as impressive as A Clockwork Orange's. And I still think that, while awesome, The Shining is definately a lesser work from Kubrick.

Aside from 2001, I don't think any of the transfers were like, significantly better than the others.  I think a lot of this may have to do with me not remembering how many damned good shots there were in the Shining, like in the beginning.  A Clockwork Orange, I've always remembered that as every frame being a work of art.  Outside of that cinematography aspect, I think the technical prowess of the trasnfers was comparable.  I'm not sure if I could pick a winner on technical transfer merit, but The Shining was more of a shock, because I just didn't remember it being filled with that many iconic shots.

So, I dunno, I don't think you are crazy.  They all have such sufficiently great transfers that it is difficult to declare a victor.  The Shining does have some flaws you can see on the film (for example, watch closely in the classic scene of Jack menacingly making Shelley Duvall back up the stairs in the room he is writing in.  You can see artifacts and flaws in the film pretty clearly in one portion of that scene).

[Howard Alan Treesong]

yeah, for me it's not that The Shining transfer was the "best" so much as it was the greatest revelation compared to previous viewings

[TVC15]

A Clockwork Orange and 2001 really have that whole Every Frame is a Work of Art thing going on.  2001 is

I like how Kubrick takes you to the edge in 2001, a point where you think things can't get any more megaton awesome, and then he totally goes over the top into like, Fucking Religious territory for the ending in that weird Victorian room.  That part is like Golden Hour, magical shit on like every level imaginable.  It made me fucking shiver, with every camera angle change

[Solo]

Yeah, 2001 is fucking iconic in every frame. The dawn of man. The space waltz. The monolith on Jupiter. The infinite beyond. My infinite fap! It gives me the chills too, Whitey. Especially when they make the final cut back from the monolith to Dave, who is no longer a dying old man, but the starchild, and Also Sprach Zarathustra chimes back in. Epic.