Lolita (1962)

I finally read Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita in February so I thought I'd watch this film too. I had really high hopes for this, not only because I loved the novel, but because Stanley Kubrick directed it and Nabokov himself worked on the screenplay. What could possibly go wrong? Many things, as it turned out.

Humbert Humbert (James Mason) is a middle-aged, divorced European professor of French literature who moves to the US for a job at Beardsley College, Ohio. Before he begins his post, he decides to spend the summer in Ramsdale, New Hampshire and rents a room in the house of a widowed woman, Charlotte Haze (Shelley Winters), after he meets and falls for her teen daughter, Dolores "Lolita" Haze (Sue Lyon).

Eyes Wide Shut (1999)

Genre

Drama | Mystery | Thriller

Director

Stanley Kubrick

Country

UK | USA

Cast

Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, Sydney Pollack, Marie Richardson, Todd Field, Sky du Mont, Rade Šerbedžija, Vinessa Shaw, Fay Masterson, Leelee Sobieski, Alan Cumming, Leon Vitali, Julienne Davis, Thomas Gibson

Storyline

New York City doctor William Harford (Tom Cruise), who is married to art curator Alice (Nicole Kidman), pushes himself on a harrowing and dangerous night-long odyssey of sexual and moral discovery after his wife admits that she once almost cheated on him.

Opinion

Last night I finally saw Eyes Wide Shut, film that will always be remembered for being the last work of Stanley Kubrick, one of the greatest filmmakers in film history. Just like every film he has made, this one has caused some controversy, and, I am sorry to say it, it did really disappoint me.

Overlong, tedious, and uneventful most of the way, Eyes Wide Shut is a major disappointment, and the writing is to be blamed.

Based on Arthur Schnitzler's 'Traumnovelle', the concept behind the story - a husband and wife rediscovering their passion through sexual experimentation outside the marriage - is interesting. But the slow moving story as a whole isn't particularly involving, and fails to make the viewer feel sympathy for the protagonists and care for their marriage.

The way too verbose screenplay does not tell through images, but through mostly banal dialogue most of the events.

Also, the film adds little to the stories of love, sex and betrayal used out of proportion in the film industry, and the veil of mystery and ambiguity that covers the film is not enough to save it.

Despite everything, the touch of Kubrick is there and you can feel it in the disturbing and creepy orgy scene, that shows perversion, and the negative side to lush without falling into pornography.

Fine acting from Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, Sydney Pollack and Marie Richardson, but the upsetting thing is that there is no chemistry between Cruise and Kidman, and they were even married at the time.

Quotes

Dr. Bill Harford: No dream is ever just a dream.

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)

Genre

Comedy | War

Director

Stanley Kubrick

Country

USA | UK

Cast

Peter Sellers, George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden, Keenan Wynn, Slim Pickens, Peter Bull, James Earl Jones, Tracy Reed, Shane Rimmer

Storyline

U.S. Air Force General Jack Ripper (Sterling Hayden) goes completely and utterly mad, and believing that fluoridation of the American water is a Soviet plot to poison the U.S. populace, sends his bomber wing to destroy the U.S.S.R. Now it's up to a room full of politicians, including General Turgidson (George C. Scott), President Merkin Muffley and Dr. Strangelove (both played by Peter Sellers), to stop the upcoming nuclear war.

Opinion

Taking a subject like the cold war, and telling it like a comedy is possible if you have of the one and only Stanley Kubrick.

Beside having a very long title, Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb is a superb satire of man, his fears, and his delusions. In fact, on the one hand stands out the sarcasm towards the politicians and the military structure, but on the other hand is the irony towards the mankind, and their/our desire to a limitless science - that is only likely to make the mankind take a step backwards - that stands out.

The hilariousness and horror of this nuclear war is skillfully directed and written by mastermind Stanley Kubrick. The plot, loosely based on Peter George's Red Alert, is excellent, and it's very well pace. The characters are also well-written, memorable and interesting. And the dialogue is quite simply great. 

This film can claim numerous memorable sequences, ironic yet gruesome at the same time, such as the one-sided phone call between the U.S. President and the Russian Prime Minister, or the final sequences where the pilot rides the nuclear bomb.

Also, Kubrick's hand-held camera techniques, Gilbert Taylor's black and white wonderful cinematography, and the spectacular and memorable War Room only add more impact. 

The acting is top-notch. Words can't describe Peter Sellers's brilliant performances in his three roles. With a wonderful accents, he is hilarious as British Officer Mandrake, incredibly gloomy as President Merkin Muffley, - also has a great one-sided dialogue with the Russian Prime Minister -, and simply and fantastically insane as ex-Nazi Dr. Strangelove. The fact that he improvised most of his lines makes you realize what an actor he was, and what a chemistry he had with Kubrick. George C. Scott is also spectacular as warmonger General Turgidson, and Sterling Hayden does a wonderful job as Jack Ripper, the General that went a little funny in the head. 

Quotes

President Merkin Muffley: Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the War Room.