Barry Lyndon

Starring:Ryan O'Neal, Marisa Berenson, Patrick Magee, Hardy KrÃ¼ger, Steven Berkoff, Gay Hamilton, Marie Kean, Diana KÃ¶rner, Murray Melvin, Frank Middlemass, AndrÃ© Morell, Arthur O'Sullivan, Godfrey Quigley, Leonard Rossiter, Philip Stone, Leon Vitali, John Bindon, Roger Booth, Billy Boyle, Jonathan Cecil
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Studio: Warner Home Video
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Amazon.com
In 1975 the world was at Stanley Kubrick's feet. His films Dr. Strangelove, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and A Clockwork Orange, released in the previous dozen years, had provoked rapture and consternation--not merely in the film community, but in the culture at large. On the basis of that smashing hat trick, Kubrick was almost certainly the most famous film director of his generation, and absolutely the one most likely to rewire the collective mind of the movie audience. And what did this radical, at-least-20-years-ahead-of-his-time filmmaker give the world in 1975? A stately, three-hour costume drama based on an obscure Thackeray novel from 1844. A picaresque story about an Irish lad (Ryan O'Neal, then a major star) who climbs his way into high society, Barry Lyndon bewildered some critics (Pauline Kael called it "an ice-pack of a movie") and did only middling business with patient audiences. The film was clearly a technical advance, with its unique camerawork (incorporating the use of prototype Zeiss lenses capable of filming by actual candlelight) and sumptuous production design. But its hero is a distinctly underwhelming, even unsympathetic fellow, and Kubrick does not try to engage the audience's emotions in anything like the usual way.

Amazon.com

The Fog of War, the movie that finally won Errol Morris the best documentary Oscar, is a spellbinder. Morris interviews Robert McNamara, Secretary of Defense in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, and finds a uniquely unsettling viewpoint on much of 20th-century American history. Employing a ton of archival material, including LBJ's fascinating taped conversations from the Oval Office, Morris probes the reasons behind the U.S. commitment to the Vietnam War--and finds a depressingly inconsistent policy. McNamara himself emerges as--well, not exactly apologetic, but clearly haunted by the what-ifs of Vietnam. He also mulls the bombing of Japan in World War II and the Cuban Missile Crisis, raising more questions than he answers. The Fog of War has the usual inexorable Morris momentum, aided by an uneasy Philip Glass score. This movie provides a glimpse inside government. It also encourages skepticism about same. --Robert Horton

Customer Reviews:

...... THE ADVENT TO AMERICA'S ....." NEW MILITARY+INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX"...............2007-06-03

This is no movie...this is no documentary; however, you go face to face with one of the bloodiest butcher's in our history concerning 'the welfare' of our Armed Forces...it's the closet thing to a McNamara autobiography as he revels in introducing himself to the ordinary hard working American and the valiant troops who languished in Vietnam; truly, he now appears in a light colored trench/coat out of the fog and mist of the war years [WW2 thru Vietnam]...he is very amicable, cozy and almost human, while revealing momentous times that shine light on a 'different' Robert McNamara who was Secretary of Defense under Presidents: Kennedy-Johnson...precisely, he had the lives of every member in our fighting Armed Forces tightly in the grip of his blood/soaked hands...he was dicitorial/authoritive and only held accountable to 'his' President[s]...he relished his role of Sec of Defense and the custodian/ship of a new concept of how America will go to WAR from Vietnam right up into the Iraq war...full knowing what this 'US Military-Industrial Complex' is all encompassing...just prior to President Dwight Eisenhower's retirement, he warned the American people to be most wary of this exclusive 'Military-Industrial Complex'.....after a comprehensive education at University of California and later Harvard University, the top men of power seeked and desired McNamara's counsel; henceforth, he was with the elite that makes America march to their collective drums...I don't buy his tear-filled mea-culpa on film at all...not at all...I say every mud combatant/soldier, who suffered severely in the WAR in Vietnam [1962-1967] should be his judge, and you'll learn from their deprivations, and no chance to win the war...just how he was truly HATED [talk about another Martin Borman]...Bob, I suggest, you take your quest for an elite life, which you attained, now go, with hat in hand and pander your wares somewhere else...I'm never buying your revised/snake oil...good riddance!!.....SSGT CHRIS SARNO-USMC FMF

A very human account.......2007-05-29

An up close and personal look at the responsibilities of those who make war happen. Shows humans with a superhuman task.

dust to dust.......2007-05-02

This brilliant series of interviews with Robert McNamara should be required viewing for *anyone* before he or she is authorized to venture an opinion regarding what America should or should not do with its power. I do not begin my review because of any clear sense of the virtue or villainy of Bob McNamara's legacy as president of the Ford Motor Company, Secretary of Defense under Presidents Kennedy and Johnson, and long-time president of the World Bank.

Far from it, the spendidly drawn impression is how dangerously concentrated power becomes in the hands of fragile, myopic, regular men and women who in many--most?--cases want to do the right thing.

McNamara's memory ranges from World War I to the extinction of River Blindness in Africa through the World Bank's efforts. For understandable reasons, the camera and the questions linger most on the Viet Nam era, for this is where McNamara took 'the world stage', as he puts it.

Clearly enamored of John Kennedy, McNamara had a more complex relationship with Johnson, whom he admired but with whom he came to disagree in a process that led to McNamara's firing just shortly before Johnson made his epic decision not to run for reelection.

As THE FOG OF WAR touches time and again upon the deliberations that framed the Bay of Pigs crisis and then the Southeast Asian war itself, one hears via the clarity of taped conversations how little we knew and, proverbially, how close we came to ultimate war.

McNamara has passionate remarks to offer on the very timely matter of taking America's strength into battle when we have failed to convince our allies of that course.

Kudos to McNamara for complicating his legacy even more by achieving astonshing things through some of the World Bank's better years.

Required viewing.

The Mediocre Achievements of a Mediocre Man.......2007-05-02

What happens when supposedly great men, upon closer examination, turn out not to be so great, after all? What happens in this particular case is a piece of icon-washing fostered by Errol Morris who apparently couldn't think of a better subject to film a documentary about.

All the accolades regarding this film would lead one to believe that it is about a titanic human individual who achieved great things, but when one actually watches the film, one sees nothing of the sort. Robert McNamara, a man who, in early pictures and footage of himself, is so bursting with arrogance and self-importance that he all but glows, played Mephistopheles to Kennedy and Johnson up until about 1967. That is to say that he provided these men with war strategies and troops and generally brought about the means by way of which their wars could be fought.

Errol Morris is an expert filmmaker and, as usual, his film is graced with the hypnotic music of Philip Glass, whose soundtracks are all but indistinguishable from one another. Indeed, the soundtrack from Koyannisqatsi might have been substituted here to provide exactly the same effect. Morris's camera angles and editing are never boring, but this viewer does not share his fascination with his interview subject.

McNamara evinces guilt about his involvements in war and appears on the verge of tears in many scenes as he recalls difficult decisions made about the Vietnam war. But as the film winds down, it becomes evident that McNamara is proud of his "achievements," although it is difficult to see how sending 58,000 young Americans to their deaths can be regarded as an achievement to be proud of. McNamara would have been better off had he remained as the head of the Ford Motor Company. Perhaps then his "achievements" that he is so proud of might have really added up to something instead of a head full of phantom shadows and dead soldiers.

It is generally considered bad form to give low ratings to an Errol Morris film, and this viewer certainly agrees that he is a very good filmmaker, indeed. Unfortunately, here his choice of subject matter fails him, for McNamara is rarely insightful regarding his role as Secretary of Defense. One comes to the film expecting McNamara to shed light upon obscure happenings, or to reveal dark secrets about what went on behind the scenes, but no such luck. In effect, all McNamara can muster up is a half-hearted "that's the way it was." There are no insights on the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki as the back of the DVD case promises, and the stunning revelations regarding the Cuban Missile Crisis amount to nothing more than that in those days, we actually came close to nuclear war and that it was only averted by sheer luck. Hmm. The film suffers throughout from this kind of glibness.

McNamara just isn't that interesting. Whatever his talents as a CEO, this is not a man given to insightful philosophical speculation. And it shows in the superficial comments that he makes about war being "just human nature."

Nice try, Mr. Morris. Next time, how about doing a film about somebody who really deserves the time and expense spent upon them?

--John David Ebert, author of Celluloid Heroes & Mechanical Dragons: Film as the Mythology of Electronic Society

Excellente.......2007-04-06

If you're looking for a blind lashing out against American militarism, skip this movie. It's a look at the life of Robert McNamara, and along the way we're asked to look at warfare differently. It's Errol Morris at the top a' his game.

Average customer rating:

"... good or bad, handsome or ugly, rich or poor, they are all equal now".
Wonderful period piece
a generation later, we in the public have caught up to kubricks "flop"
It's a pleasure to sit through such a beautiful film such as this
Kubrick's Masterpiece

Barry Lyndon
Starring: Ryan O'Neal , Marisa Berenson , Patrick Magee , Hardy Krüger , and Steven Berkoff
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
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Barry Lyndon

ASIN: B00005ATQ9
Release Date: 2001-06-12

Amazon.com

In 1975 the world was at Stanley Kubrick's feet. His films Dr. Strangelove, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and A Clockwork Orange, released in the previous dozen years, had provoked rapture and consternation--not merely in the film community, but in the culture at large. On the basis of that smashing hat trick, Kubrick was almost certainly the most famous film director of his generation, and absolutely the one most likely to rewire the collective mind of the movie audience. And what did this radical, at-least-20-years-ahead-of-his-time filmmaker give the world in 1975? A stately, three-hour costume drama based on an obscure Thackeray novel from 1844. A picaresque story about an Irish lad (Ryan O'Neal, then a major star) who climbs his way into high society, Barry Lyndon bewildered some critics (Pauline Kael called it "an ice-pack of a movie") and did only middling business with patient audiences. The film was clearly a technical advance, with its unique camerawork (incorporating the use of prototype Zeiss lenses capable of filming by actual candlelight) and sumptuous production design. But its hero is a distinctly underwhelming, even unsympathetic fellow, and Kubrick does not try to engage the audience's emotions in anything like the usual way.

Why, then, is Barry Lyndon a masterpiece? Because it uncannily captures the shape and rhythm of a human life in a way few other films have; because Kubrick's command of design and landscape is never decorative but always apiece with his hero's journey; and because every last detail counts. Even the film's chilly style is thawed by the warm narration of the great English actor Michael Hordern and the Irish songs of the Chieftains. Poor Barry's life doesn't matter much in the end, yet the care Kubrick brings to the telling of it is perhaps the director's most compassionate gesture toward that most peculiar species of animal called man. And the final, wry title card provides the perfect Kubrickian sendoff--a sentiment that is even more poignant since Kubrick's premature death. --Robert Horton

Customer Reviews:

"... good or bad, handsome or ugly, rich or poor, they are all equal now"........2007-05-19

The beauty, the depth, and the mystery of this film are unsurpassable - what Kubrick was doing with light is just a miracle. Special lenses were designed to shoot interiors and exteriors in natural light. In one scene Barry (Ryan O'Neil) was having a dinner with a German woman who was feeding her baby and the candle light made the whole scene look like a Caravaggio's painting. This is just one of many scenes. Each of them is perfection and harmony. Costumes and sets were crafted in the era's design. Age of Enlightenment with its gallantry, wars, and duels, had been recreated in the film with the precision of the celebrated landscape and portrait masters of the period such as Thomas Gainsborough; Sir Joshua Reynolds, founder of the Royal Academy of Arts; George Romney to name just a few. If nothing else, watching "Barry Lyndon" is pure aesthetic delight - and there is one man responsible for it, Stanley Kubrick. If ever divine film was made, "Barry Lyndon" was it and Kubrick could've quoted the Bible - "God looked at everything he had made, and he found it very good".

I've read the comments and articles that call "Barry Lyndon" cold, slow, boring, "the collection of pretty pictures', "flawed" masterpiece, and the most ridiculous one, "glittering ornament with a hollow center". I simply can't understand it. "Barry Lyndon" is the most compelling and compassionate realization of the inevitable finality of everything in this world which was presented by the visionary director with elegant sensual melancholy. Stanley Kubrick known for his detached, seemingly remote and non-sentimental style chose to reach out to his viewer directly during the epilogue, "It was in the reign of George III that the aforesaid personalities lived and quarreled, good or bad, handsome or ugly, rich or poor, they are all equal now". I don't recall any other movie that would illustrate the old wisdom, "everything will pass" in such sublime and deeply moving way.

Wonderful period piece.......2007-05-07

Don't go into this expecting the Shining, Full Metal Jacket, or even Eyes Wide Shut. Barry Lyndon 'is' however a 'Wonderful period-piece'; stunning cinematography, and superb set design make the film a victorian masterpiece that echoes the era in marvelous fashion. Kubrick delivers again; a must for all serious film enthusiasts!

a generation later, we in the public have caught up to kubricks "flop" .......2007-04-22

i hadnt seen this since its initial release 30 years back, and at the time i was among the many who expressed disappointment. now, it has grown considerably in my estimation. while the acting of ryan o'neal still leaves something toi be desired, everything else about the movie stands out: a subtle script, fine performances, and of course magnificent to look at. the battle sequences are harrowing, but the infighting and backstabbing of the various court intrigues (not to mention the parallel intrigues among the rural set) are whats really harrowing. kubrick made so many dark movies, and this one was so misunderstood. it doesnt rank in my own list with his 4 great science fiction films (strangelove, 2001, clockwork, eyes), but thats more a matter of personal preference. a masterpiece -- even if we are only recognizing it as such a generation later.

It's a pleasure to sit through such a beautiful film such as this.......2007-04-04

This film is seriously neglected in the Kubrick universe (only Eyes Wide Shut is neglected more), and it's a damn shame, as it is not only his most underrated film, it is also a masterpiece. It is one of the most breathtaking beautiful films ever committed to celluloid. The photography alone is enough to see it (try to see it in a theater). As Kubrick afficionados know, the scenes that were lit by candlelight were actually shot with only candlelight. There were no other lights used. In these scenes, the actors don't move about too much, as there wasn't much depth of field, because of the special lenses that Kubrick used here. They were designed specifically for this film. Christianne Kubrick, Stanley's widow, said this was her favorite film of Stanley's, as the framing is reminiscent of paintings of the period, and Christianne is a renowned painter whose paintings were used in many of her late husband's films (like A Clockwork Orange and Eyes Wide Shut). Ryan O'Neal is quite good as Barry, a scoundrel and a cheat who gets his comeuppance by the end of the film. Leon Vitali (who went on to become Kubrick's personal assistant up until Kubrick died) is astonshingly good as Lord Bullingdon, Barry's stepson and nemesis. The duel scenes (especially the 2nd one) are small masterpieces of editing, sound, and music design. Despite the film being 3 hours, it is never boring, and there's so much to take in visually the 3 hours flies by. It's a pleasure to sit through such a beautiful film such as this. The film, despite being directed by the American Kubrick, has a uniquely British feel to it, enhanced by the brilliant cast of English actors, many of whom appeared in other Kubrick films (Philip Stone, Godfrey Quigley, Patrick Magee, Anthony Sharp, Steven Berkoff, and Leonard Rossiter). Kubrick shot almost all of the film on location in castles in England and Ireland. There were hardly any sets used. The film won several Academy Awards (though not for Kubrick himself). It won for cinematography, art direction, and music score. This film was rarely mentioned by critics and film people (I remember reading about it in the World Book Encyclopedia of all things), but it's getting some long overdue recognition, and hopefully it will continue...

Kubrick's Masterpiece.......2007-02-21

This film is Stanley Kubrick's masterpiece and one of the top movies of the last 50 years. It develops out of very unlikely material, and is entirely a product of Kubrick's driving, single minded will and control.

Based on a William Thackery novel, the story is what used to be called in art and literature, "the rake's progress" -- take a low born rascal through a series of fortuitous episodes which land him in wealth, then watch his bad character unmake him through another series of episodes. The set-up reinforced social stereotypes inherent in the British class system; low bred men are inferior. Thackery was bigger than that, of course, but like all artists was a man of his time and the crack in the product widens with age -- here, the assumed genetic and social inferiority of an Irishman. Then you have fascinating stuff like decades long European wars, but nobody much is taught about this anymore. Kubrick picked a deck heavily stacked against him for this tour de force.

And cinematic tour de force it is -- all shot in natural light, narrative (other than adjusting the 1st person voice of the novel to 3rd) straight out of its time. Nor does Kubrick update moods, dialogue, social assumptions like Amadeus -- he gives you a film that looks like it was actually shot 2 centuries ago, and impresses you with the absolute alienness of many of the characters. You are hit with how changeable human society is, and yes, very cooly distanced. Thus the pacing and emotional distance appall many viewers, who think this is because the picture has "dated" -- no, it was intended and designed to be exactly the way it is. To not understand this is to not understand the movie; one's dislike may be very genuine, but Kubrick's intentionality has a grand subtle effect: the tables are turned on Thackery's social determinism. And the film is so faithful to Thackery that Kubrick here delivers a major lesson: the only difference is placing a camera in it. One must remember that Kubrick started out as a photographer and that art is central to his entire ethos and point of view. Thus too, the silent but spectacular visual message goes, pictures now make us appalled by the tragedy of war, by the realities of racial and social discrimination -- the camera itself is at near the root of many modern revolutions.

While the rake remains a rake, O'Neal brings wit to the part under Kubrick's tutelage and a large degree of empathy. Barry Lyndon -- a character now captured on film, no longer just the page -- is seen caught in an invisible social matrix, not only in the assumed inferiority of his origins. The camera focuses uncompromisingly on lords, kings, soldiers, ladies, 18th century con men, roadside bandits -- all. The mercilessness of the whole enterprise would be wholly unpalatable but for the splendour and fullness of life recreated here, and the fire of Kubrick's eccentric passion to portray it.

Memorable scenes are too many to catalogue; every performance is great, some despite the distance of time and vision are absolutely wrenching. Child actors, a Kubrick specialty, were never used better by him. If, all said, the film lacks the glow of love and humanism, the compensation is heavy wisdom and a startling piece of learning. With this film, Kubrick establishes the camera not only as a step forward in technology, but a teacher fit to take its place next to the pen, the violin, the artist's canvas.

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Great Documentary
A box set featuring the films of the world's greatest director
The master of his domain
Much better set
Warner Brothers Cleans Up Its Act - Literally.

Stanley Kubrick Collection
Starring: Stanley Kubrick
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
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The Killing
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ASIN: B00005ASUK
Release Date: 2001-06-12

Amazon.com

With the 1957 release of Paths of Glory, Stanley Kubrick confirmed his early promise and joined the ranks of world-class filmmakers. The age of the auteur had arrived, and Kubrick was a prime candidate for inclusion in the pantheon of directors later canonized by critic Andrew Sarris in his influential book The American Cinema. Ironically, this was also the period during which Kubrick left his native soil for permanent residence in England, and from that point forward, the Kubrick mystique inflated to legendary proportions. But if Kubrick was no longer bringing himself to the world, he was certainly bringing the world to his films. From the comfort of his rural England estate and locations never far from London, Kubrick would command cinematic odysseys to isolated Colorado (in The Shining), battle-ravaged Vietnam (Full Metal Jacket), upscale New York City (Eyes Wide Shut), and, of course, Jupiter and Beyond the Infinite (in 2001: A Space Odyssey).

The New Stanley Kubrick Collection includes all eight of Kubrick's films from Lolita on--a quarter-century of brilliant, challenging cinema. This second edition adds Eyes Wide Shut to the previous collection and remastered sound on five of the films plus a new anamorphic edition of 2001. Purists have complained that Kubrick's last three films have been released in full-screen format only; this was in compliance with Kubrick's wishes, and the films do not suffer unduly from full-screen formatting. This set also features a new full-length documentary made by longtime Kubrick assistant Jan Harlan, Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures. The diversity of Kubrick's work is truly astonishing, even though the director's technical precision and steely perspective on humanity may strike uninitiated viewers as cold and even misanthropic. His films almost always received mixed (and sometimes scathingly negative) reviews upon their release, only to benefit from glowing reassessment as they grew entrenched in the public consciousness. Here, in all their glory, are the collected films of a genuine master, ripe for study and appreciation for many years to come. --Jeff Shannon

Description

The new Stanley Kubrick Collection includes eight of the great director's masterpieces in stunning all-new digital transfers, restored picture and new digital audio. Titles include: 2001: A Space Odyssey, Barry Lyndon, A Clockwork Orange, Full Metal Jacke

Customer Reviews:

Great Documentary.......2006-03-18

The documentary about Stanley Kubrick included in this collection ("Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures") makes it worth having. A truly great collection of movies, perfect for a Kubrick enthusiast looking to establish their DVD collection, or for people unsure about Kubrick to make them fans!

A box set featuring the films of the world's greatest director.......2005-07-03

The Stanley Kubrick Collection features 9 amazing DVD's, eight of them films. The films include Lolita, 2001: A Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange, The Shining, the documentary Stanley Kubrick: A Life In Pictures and more.
First of all, the sound/picture quality is amazing. If improves vastly over the sound/picture quality over the original, now out-of-print Stanley Kubrick Collection from 1999.
Also, the films are brilliant, except the vastly overrated A Clockwork Orange. For my review on this film, visit A Clockwork Orange on amazon.com
Every Kubrick fan should own this item!

The master of his domain.......2005-07-03

"Genius is the fire that lights itself." That could very well describe the mystique of, and the body of work from, Stanley Kubrick, arguably one of the greatest filmakers of the 20th century. This collection represents 8 of his works, from 'Lolita' to 'Eyes wide Shut', released after his sudden death in March 1999. Although other directors have a larger number of films to their credit, it only took 13 directions to go in for Kubrick to cement his legacy in the annals of movie history. From my perspective, two flicks stand out to define his greatness: 'Spartacus' (not included in this collection) and '2001: a Space Odyssey'. To do something no one else has done before, and for everyone to pull from that influence since, is a testament to his courage and perfectionism. He is listed in the Guiness book Of World Records as the director who demanded an astonishing 600-plus takes for one scene in 'The Shining'. Needless to say, Shelley Duvall was not happy after that week of shooting in the cold. But the actors who were fortunate enough to work on one of his films became major stars because of their apearances, from James Earl Jones in 'Dr. Strangelove', to Malcolm McDowell in 'A Clockwork Orange', to R. Lee Ermey and Vincent D'Onofrio in 'Full Metal Jacket', and Lelee Sobieski in 'Eyes Wide Shut'. Kirk Douglas was so fond of his talent, he made sure he got to work with him three times.

This is an excellent overview of a master artisan. Purchasing this along with the Criterion Collection version of 'Spartacus' will give you viewing enjoyment that will last a lifetime. Also check out 'A.I.: Artifical Intelligence', a Steven Spielberg product that was based on a screenplay given to him by Kubrick from ideas written in the books by Isaac Asimov. It was the last script Kubrick never finished making a movie of.

Much better set.......2005-05-30

Includes a couple more films and Vivian's feature-length documentary Stanley Kubrick: A Life In Pictures. One look at this set may be as a cash generator (after all, WB already released a Kubrick collection), but second look is Kubrick's artifact, an in-depth, beautifully remastered, feature-packed set. At last, gone are the days of Kubrick rolling in his grave from the original clunker set. He can now rest in peace, as his films are now preserved at highest imaginable quality with immersive 5.1 surround. Bless you, Vivian.

2001 was the only film in the original set to get the 5.1 treatment. Now, four other films (Barry Lyndon, A Clockwork Orange, The Shining, and Full Metal Jacket) have been touched by the magic wand, and given a massive makeover, including-- you guessed it-- 5.1 surround. The features on the separate discs are essentially the same as the original set (we still get Vivian's Making of The Shining documentary, only with a restoration job done), but the real highlight is A Life In Pictures. After only seeing three of his films (2001, A Clockwork Orange, and Shining), I must agree that Kubrick is one of the greatest, if not the greatest, director(s) that ever lived.

Now WB has listened to the wailing Kubrick estate, and given his films the respect they deserve. Avoid the original clunker. Buy this one.

P.S. The films that are in fullscreen were shot that way, and the original aspect ratio is preserved according to Kubrick's wishes. So stop complaining about it!

Warner Brothers Cleans Up Its Act - Literally........2005-03-29

If you're reading this, chances are you've already seen many (if not all) of these movies and understand their significance in modern cinema. So, a review of the films themselves is fairly pointless. What I will discuss are the technical aspects of these DVDs as well as the bonus documentary "Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures." Like many of you, I bought some of the original Stanley Kubrick DVDs, and I can testify that they were shameful presentations of the director's work. "The Shining" had scratches, lines, and dirt all over the film. "A Clockwork Orange" looked woefully drab and washed out. But the worst offense was "Barry Lyndon." Not only did this picture suffer from print flaws, but the image, at one point, WOBBLED. Warner Brothers knew they had a turkey on their hands, so they discontinued these films and re-released them with digitally remastered picture and 5.1 sound. The improvements are noticeable, to say the least. The opening credits of "The Shining," which feature the steadicam roaming through the beautiful vistas of Colorado, is wonderfully crisp and clear. "Barry Lyndon," a visually stunning picture to begin with, is even more breathtaking with its sharp, rich colors. And "Full Metal Jacket," looks much better without the grain. Also, in place of the mono soundtrack that Kubrick allegedly preferred, we get remixed 5.1 audio ("Lolita" and "Dr. Strangelove," however, are still in mono). Simply put, Warners literally cleaned up its act by re-doing these films and presenting them the way they were meant to be shown. The fun doesn't stop there. Unlike the original Kubrick box set, this edition has a bonus documentary narrated by Tom Cruise: "Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures." This hugely entertaining film covers Kubrick's entire filmography, featuring interviews with crew members, friends, and cast including Malcolm McDowell, Jack Nicholson, Matthew Modine, Shelley Duvall, Nicole Kidman, Sidney Pollack, and Cruise himself. Woody Allen, Martin Scorcese, and Steven Speilberg also get to throw in their $.02. While they do praise Kubrick to high heaven, some predictably admit that he was very challenging to work with (he allegedly forced many of his actors to do dozens of takes while filming). Granted, this documentary doesn't exactly get us any closer to the director himself, but it does provide a fairly intimate and thorough look at his work. I've witnessed the price on this box set go down over the last couple years, so if you've been wanting to get your hands on it (and many movie buffs do), now is the time to do so.

Average customer rating:

The easy life in a microcosm of car ring gang
Vastly Underrated -- Best Boston Movie Ever
GREAT CRIME DRAMA
overlooked, underrated little crime gem
A great role for Leary in "Monument Avenue"

Monument Ave.
Starring: Denis Leary , Ian Hart , Lenny Clarke , Jason Barry , and Kevin Chapman
Director: Ted Demme
Manufacturer: Miramax
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: 0788815709
Release Date: 1999-05-18

Description

Denis Leary (TV's THE JOB) and Martin Sheen (THE AMERICAN PRESIDENT) star in this explosive story about the power of loyalty, community, and friendship in the world of organized crime. In a tough Irish-American neighborhood, Bobby (Leary) is a small-time car thief working for the area's top mobster (Colm Meany -- CON AIR, THE SNAPPER). But then, Bobby's own gang kills members of his family, leaving Bobby faced with a tough choice: defend his family honor or obey the rigid neighborhood code of silence! With co-stars Billy Crudup (ALMOST FAMOUS) and Famke Janssen (GOLDEN EYE), MONUMENT AVE. is gripping entertainment in the tradition of GOODFELLAS!

Customer Reviews:

The easy life in a microcosm of car ring gang.......2007-06-13

MONUMENT AVE (aka SNITCH 1998), is somewhat of a chick-flick in a
masculine version, telling a story of a number of youths all from the
same neighborhood, who somehow escaped the radar screen of law
enforcement. This is said to stem from from the incompetence of the
constable, his being on the take, or from looking the other way due
to his shared ethnicity (Irish-Americans, Martin Sheen) with the
other delinquent elements.

The lead characters, among them Denis Leary, Kevin Chapman somehow
wind up at between 30 and 40 years of age, in almost an identical
spot as when they were youths growing up together, rejecting the 9 to
5 routine, in favor of a constant presence in pubs, drinking, high
on cocaine, whiskey, gambling, without having learned a trade or
profession.

They agree to defraud an insurer with a simulated theft of luxury
automobiles in some cases, and in others, sell those for parts as
part of a car ring on the East Coast of the USA.

The easy life, and excess familiarity with their own neighborhoods,
leads this gang to unrealistic expectactions in regards to their
ability to stop the hands of time and the winds of change, in terms
of their own neighborhood in the city from when they were kids,
fearing housing projects and other communities from setting shop in it.

In regards to business, the ring leader admits taking out a number of
well known community members over the years, to eliminate any and all
risks of informants to the police and any challenge to his leadership
position.

Surprisingly, this microcosm in which they sustain themselves
stays unchanged over a period of years, until the skeletons seem too
many, the truth too hideous to remain hidden in the closet. At their
age, the cognitive dissonance between right and wrong and the
expectations of their boss, grows too large to reconcile, such that a
desire to break free from this scene grows increasingly irresistable.

The overwhelming experience of this movie, is the skill of the
director underplaying his presence, by almost totally eliminating
music, special effects, cinematic inventions, by sticking to a
simplicity, and a low-key presence of the cameras. The action as it
unfolds feels authentic to the viewers, with the actors offering
realistic performances, in a movie that appears strongly
autobiographical in nature.

The weak point, is obviously the lack of consequences and pain felt by
the ring members from their actions, the easiness of their
lifestyles, and excess pleasure they seem to partake in, as well as
the astonishingly absent moral reflections, repercussions, analysis
of their gestures. In other words, the audience may have difficulty
identifying with the characters's shallow humanity.

Vastly Underrated -- Best Boston Movie Ever.......2006-09-07

Anyone who grew up in Boston in the 1980s and 1990s will tell you, this is one of the best Boston movies ever made and comes as close as a fictional movie can to feeling like, at times, a documentary (only "The Verdict" comes as close to capturing what Boston is all about). It absolutely blows Good Will Hunting away. (The film "Southie", while truly awful at parts, is actually better than most people think, starred a Dorchester native, and was written by another. While it was set in NYC, "State of Grace" is a close cousin to this movie, but Monument Avenue does not have a ridiculous, horrible ending, which "State of Grace" unarguably did). Believe it or not, Monument Avenue is in almost all ways actually a better film than "Mystic River", and it is much more evocative of Boston. The guys in "Mystic River" are great characters but are obviously just that, characters, while the guys in Monument Avenue feel like the real thing, and few movies capture the dead-end, small-time criminal life of blue collar white NE ethnics better. Monument Avenue is also beyond dark, the final montage that closes the movie is practically unwatchable to anyone who knew or was related to someone who was a part of what was going on in Boston at this time and features one of the most effective uses of stills and mood music in American cinematic history. Charlestown is brought to life so vividly in this film that it is a character in the movie. Everyone in the cast (except for a jarringly weak Colm Meaney) nails it. Leary being great in this movie is no surprise (even though he is a hick from Worcester), but Famke Jansen is shockingly good. The movie is based on what happened in the 1980's-1990's when gentrification hit Boston's Irish Neighborhoods and an epidemic of bar-room shootings took place in Charlestown, in full view of people, with no witnesses stepping forward (a prime motiviation behind most of the witnesses not talking was the desire to settle the score by killing the shooter themselves later on, or preserving the right of the victims friends or family members to do so -- the feuds in Charlestown were so widespread that over 125 murders similar to those in this film are said to have taken place in 10 years -- that is not a misprint). Mothers Against Violence formed in response to this epidemic of murders and refusals to cooperate with the police in Charlestown (this is foreshadowed in the film during a funeral scene). All of Boston's tougher Irish (at that time) neighborhoods -- South Boston, Dorchester, Jamaica Plain, Hyde Park, Roslindale -- had a well-known unwritten code of silence and their share of feuds and unending cycles of vengeance, but Charlestown's was by far the most infamous, all-encompassing and unforgiving. The best-kept secret to outsiders that are not from Boston is that Charlestown is, far and away, Boston's toughest neighborhood. A powerful, elegant, and unfairly ignored film. Truly spectacular.

GREAT CRIME DRAMA.......2006-07-27

ACTING IS GREAT, STORY IS SOLID. SMALL REALISTIC POCKETS OF ACTION.

DENNIS LEARY NAILS HIS ROLE AS WELL AS THE REST OF THE SUPPORTING CAST.

MUST SEE

overlooked, underrated little crime gem.......2005-08-18

If you've watched Rescue Me over the last couple years or seen The Job, you know the typical Denis Leary character: tough, profane, ethically and morally challenged, funny as hell, smarter than those around him but never as smart as thinks he is, and deep down, knows it, and always waiting for the roof to collapse on him, as he knows it eventually will, for he is no idiot though he acts like one 70% of the time. Leary, to me, is one of the best things on television, as is Rescue Me, clearly the equal of the great HBO shows and other FX notables like The Shield. If you appreciate Leary and the dark, tragic yet often comic sensibility he lends to Rescue Me, it would be worth your while to check out Monument Ave. Based on positive reviews in the NY Times and the New Yorker, I saw it on the big screen when it came out in 1998 along with about three other people in the theatre. Not surprisingly it disappeared in a week and is rarely mentioned when critics talk about great crime films, particularly crime films of the post Mean Streets type, a film that clearly was an influence on Monument Ave. And that might be because, like Rescue Me and The Job and Leary's other great film, also made by Ted Demme, The Ref, Monument Ave. pretends to be something it really isn't, in this case a Scorsese like genre piece. But at heart really more of a contemporary tragedy closer in spirit to something like Mystic River than Mean Streets and all the clones that film and Reservoir Dogs created. Monument Ave. has a plot of sorts--will Bobby, the small time car thief Leary plays, turn on his boss Jackie played by Colm Meany who has everyone around him terrorized into silence as his henchmen kill anyone who crosses him, leaving a host of grieving mothers in their wake. For Bobby this betrayal would mean going against a code of silence that has ruled his neighborhood--insular, parochial Charlestown, MA, fifteen minutes from downtown Boston but for Bobby and the rest of the characters, townies all, a thousand miles away for all intents and purposes--and his life. So in effect, as all tragedies, are, Monument Ave. is a morality play, where to do the right thing means going against all your culture and society has said is correct. Monument Ave. is a small film, one that appropriately enough airs every so often IFC, and has all the strengths that can come with a small film. Excellent performances by a strong cast, Leary in particular, but also Ian Hart, probably best known for playing John Lennon in both The Hours and The Times and Backbeat, Famke Janssen showing probably for the first time that she was not simply eye candy, and in one of his first screen roles, Billy Cruddup. Monument Ave. is no Chinatown or even Mean Streets, its aspirations and intents are much smaller, more economical, but as a finely tuned portrait of an imperfect character coming to some moral stance, one that carries consequences he could never envision, this is a film well worth seeing.

A great role for Leary in "Monument Avenue".......2004-02-25

I bought "Monument Avenue" on a whim. I'm a Denis Leary fan, and was interested to see how Leary performed in the role of an Irish thug type. It's a fitting role for Leary. He was properly cast as Bobby, a small time car thief. Leary excelled at the role, coming off as very authentic. I agree with the other reviewer who said Leary doesn't have to play piss and moan roles to shine.

Amazon.com

This outstanding documentary by Mark Kitchell, six years in the making, is a comprehensive and insightful story of campus and community activism as born at the University of California at Berkeley. Using extensive archival footage and bridging the distance between past and present with more recent interviews, Kitchell shows how a 1960 protest aimed at the House Un-American Activities Committee was the launching point for the Free Speech movement, which evolved into organized opposition against the Vietnam War, support for the Black Panther party, and the feminist movement. No simple valentine to student-demonstration days, the film brilliantly uses contemporary perspective to show how great legacies and inevitable failures were simultaneously born in a charged atmosphere. Not to be missed. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews:

the soul of the 60s distilled.......2006-08-03

This documentary goes to great lengths to show how the free speech movement in Berkeley devolved into a revolutionary struggle and lays much of that blame on campus activistst becoming so enamored of the Black Panthers -- who themselves had a keen instinct on how to manipulate their image in the media to Macy's Day float-size proportions -- that they gave up the driver's seat or exited the vehicle altogether. Through video footage of protests and riots, and interviews with key players who have obviously agonized about how things turned out and how they could have turned out differently, a well-sketched picture emerges of the political life of the '60s, a time which may never be repeated but whose ripples hopefully will never give way to stillness.

What America Is Really Like.......2006-02-25

Berkely in the Sixties explores one of the worst catastrophes in American History. When the student movement began in the fall of 1964, students wanted the freedom of political protest on campus at the University of California. The administration forbade any student groups related to non-campus activities. The students all banded together and staged a sit-in which captured national attention and brought the university to a standstill.

When it ended in the summer of 1969, police gassed and shot American citizens as if, as one lady said, "we were the Viet Cong." In between was MLK, The Black Panthers, and Vietnam. This film is a must-see for all Americans. The deleted scenes are lengthy and a bit dry, but are worth viewing.

Ironically, the University of California describes itself as "a lively place of student activism," a whitewash of the administration's brutality against its students and faculty members who sympathized with the student's cause.

Boring.......2006-01-13

I am very sympathetic to the"movement" of the Sixties, and took an active part in it, but I find this type of "talking heads" documentary boring as hell, even though it is interspersed with news footage.
An example of a truly great documenary of the time is the film "The War at Home", available on video (1979, director Glenn Silber).

Fabric of 60s Counterculture Politics: Weaving the Threads .......2005-01-15

This is a superb, valuable documentary.

Berkeley was at the epicenter as the counterculture politics of the '60s emerged. And revisiting the political ferment of '60s Berkeley can offer an unusually helpful overview of these interwoven political currents. This film does that very, very well. It rises far,far above films which simply recount the intense experimentation with sex, drugs & rock 'n' roll that eventually charcacterized the counterculture. This film focuses on the often-less-understood, and fascinating, politics of the time.

The fascinating footage (including early glimpses at Reagan as a
relatively new "pol"), the deft editing, the years-later retrospective reflections of "now-grown-up" participants in the Berkeley "FSM" (Free Speech Movement) -- these are all very engaging, and beautifully assembled. But what makes the film great for me is its clarity in reflecting the interplay of counterculture themes: the movements for free speech and for civil rights, the movement against the Vietnam War, and assertion of the new feminism. Along with the energetic pursuit of "sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll," these elements - blended into one 'tsunami' of a movement -- were experienced by us all coming of age during that time, throughout the US and throughout much of the world. But as a young person during that era, who became very swept up in the self-proclaimed "dawning of the Age of Aquarius," I recall also feeling unclear on how these ideological components -- which otherwise seemed to me distinct and substantively unrelated - became intertwined in the social politics of that era.

Whether the film is slanted, and whether "The Movement" was positive or negative, seem to me besides the point. The Movement was; like it or not, that reality is indisputable. From varying perspectives, our entire culture experienced it, and was affected by it. Most of the many millions of us on college campuses during that time were forever changed -- for good, for ill, or both. This film presents the most coherent depiction I've seen of how this happened, what it's "logic" was - and manages to do so engagingly, without becoming pedantic. That's a whole lot for one film to do, even for someone who respects and loves film as our culture's greatest current art form.

Nice.......2004-03-19

I would like to tell you a little bit about the documentary by Mark Kitchell entitled Berkeley in the Sixties. This film is a great synopsis of the 60s civil rights and counter culture movements based out of UC Berkeley. The film was released in 1990 and contains interviews with everybody from members of the Black Panthers to Country Joe and the Fish. It starts at the beginning of the sixties with the events that would eventually lead to the first protest to the hippies and Peoples Park and so on, interviewing people even into the late 80s. The film kept my attention and was very educational.

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Same As It Ever Was
And the Beat Goes On
The War at Home: History at it's Darkest

The War at Home
Starring: Betty Boardman , Allen Ginsberg , Henry Haslach , Gaylord Nelson , and Wahid Rashad
Director: Glenn Silber , and Barry Alexander Brown
Manufacturer: First Run Features
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B0000DI87X
Release Date: 2003-12-16

Customer Reviews:

Same As It Ever Was.......2004-09-14

THE WAR AT HOME is a very strong film somewhat marred by its one-sidedness. Almost everybody interviewed participated in the Vietnam antiwar movement, and most of them participated from the time they first arrived in Madison. The film could have strengthened its case by giving more time to backers of American involvement in Vietnam and people who experienced a transition from one side to the other. A few are featured--my favorite is campus police chief Ralph Hansen--but the preponderance come from the protesters.

No matter how it's presented, however, the case would be equally strong. By the time American involvement in VN ceased in 1973, 65-70% of the U.S. population thought the war was a mistake. Over the passage of 30+ years, it's become clear they were right.

I love the documentary footage in THE WAR AT HOME, the carefully-constructed chronology that puts the Madison protests in the context of the US war effort, the sense of administration refusal to engage with a growing antiwar movement, the pointless sacrifice of 58,000 young Americans, (not to mention who-knows-how-many million Vietnamese), the divisions among Americans (which were sometimes cynically exploited by LBJ and Nixon, although the film doesn't go into much detail about that), the fiasco of the Army Math bombing.

Parallels with the current mess in Iraq are obvious, notably the arrogance of the U.S. administration in going in in the first place, the lying to convince the nation of the danger of WMD, the current floundering for a workable policy. The only "upside" so far, thank God, is that the Iraq death toll is nowhere near that of Vietnam--currently 1,000 American dead, 7,000 wounded, 10,000+ Iraqi dead. (Of course, that's no comfort to the dead, wounded, and their families. And all current western analysis suggests that it will only get worse.) Seeing THE WAR AT HOME appalls me at how little the current administration learned from the bloodshed in Southeast Asia and the difficulties in fighting against guerrillas.

Books which cover some of the same ground include Tom Bates' out-of-print RADS, about the New Year's Gang which bombed the AMRC, and David Maraniss' THEY MARCHED INTO SUNLIGHT, which juxtaposes the 1967 Madison Dow Day protests with a terrible battle in Vietnam, both occurring on the same day in October, 1967. An interesting fact: current VP Dick Cheney, one of the prime movers behind Iraq who still hasn't admitted publicly that there are no WMD, was a grad student in Madison in 1967, famously pursuing "other priorities" than the antiwar movement. According to Maraniss, he looked at the protests as a useless distraction and a waste of time. I only wish he had REALLY learned something at the University of Wisconsin.

THE WAR AT HOME is a fine historical film with unhappy resonances in 2004.

And the Beat Goes On.......2003-03-24

I was a graduate student at the UW/Madison during the period that this film covers. It shows the history and development of the anti-war movement with a great deal of accuracy. (Not perfectly accurate, but very close.)

Nothing could adequately portray the frustration, anger and betrayal felt by many students and faculty as the war dragged on, no matter what they did, and no matter how many died in Viet-Nam. This was also the period of the spread of the war to Cambodia, the assassination of Martin Luther King, the Chicago Democratic Convention Police Riots, and the Kent State killintgs. Considering all of this, the film does an excellent job of not becoming bogged down in emotion, yet letting the viewer know that it is there.

The tragic bombing of the Army Math Research Center by 4 angry but naive students put a terrible pall on peace activites in Madison, as everyone was horrified by the death of a graduate student who was in the building. However, it did not end the movement, and eventually peace was achieved.

An extremely timely film today (review updated 12/28/06), when many of the same people (and many others as well) have felt it necessary after more than 30 years to return to the streets and their communities to protest another war.

I have found this film very moving personally, but have also found it very useful as a teacher, to give my students a feeling for what that time was like, what some of the issues were, and how people felt, acted, and re-acted. Not to mention any parallels with today,

The War at Home: History at it's Darkest.......1999-03-27

The War at Home is a moving story about America's turbulent mid-decades. It is a documentary of Madison, Wisconsin's infamous ROTC bombing, an event overshadowed by the Kent-State massacre. In 1969, after riots swept Madison, several students from University of Wisconsin Madison set off a bomb in the army's mathematics labratory. They then proceeded to hijack a plane and drop a dud-bomb on the army's Badger ammunition plant in Baraboo, Wisconsin. The War at Home is the moving story of the anti-war riots leading up to the ROTC bombing, and the hunt for the suspects of the bombing. Where were you?

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"... good or bad, handsome or ugly, rich or poor, they are all equal now".
Wonderful period piece
a generation later, we in the public have caught up to kubricks "flop"
It's a pleasure to sit through such a beautiful film such as this
Kubrick's Masterpiece

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ASIN: B00000J2KR
Release Date: 1999-06-29

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Customer Reviews:

"... good or bad, handsome or ugly, rich or poor, they are all equal now"........2007-05-19

Wonderful period piece.......2007-05-07

a generation later, we in the public have caught up to kubricks "flop" .......2007-04-22

It's a pleasure to sit through such a beautiful film such as this.......2007-04-04

Kubrick's Masterpiece.......2007-02-21

Average customer rating:

"... good or bad, handsome or ugly, rich or poor, they are all equal now".
Wonderful period piece
a generation later, we in the public have caught up to kubricks "flop"
It's a pleasure to sit through such a beautiful film such as this
Kubrick's Masterpiece

Barry Lyndon [Region 2]
Starring: Ryan O'Neal , Marisa Berenson , Patrick Magee , Hardy Krüger , and Steven Berkoff
Director: Stanley Kubrick
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD