Legends- Stanley Kubrick 1928-1999

   Stanley Kubrick died of a heart attack, twenty years ago today. Fortunately, film is forever, and his rock-solid rep as the director's director only seems to grow with each passing year. There's no such thing as a bad Stanley Kubrick movie. His legendary perfectionism made sure of that. While today's filmmakers scramble to get their latest franchise offering ready for next summer, Stanley typically spent 3-4 years fine-tuning a project, with little or no thought given to box office or studio expectations. In retrospect, it's fitting that he didn't make it into the 21st Century, because his style of unrushed artistry simply doesn't exist anymore.

   I've put together a list of all thirteen of his films in order of importance. Yes, we all wish he'd been a LITTLE more productive during these forty-six years. But then again, his absences made ma

13. "Fear and Desire"(1953)
Kubrick expressed embarrassment over his first AND worst film, as his standing in the industry steadily increased. A prolific 1940s photographer turned Hollywood novice, Stanley had a small crew and an even smaller budget($50,000) to work with on his debut feature(just to put things in perspective, that year's Best Picture winner "From Here to Eternity" cost $2 million). If nothing else, Kubrick's antiwar leanings were established by this story of four soldiers stranded behind enemy lines during an unspecified conflict. "Fear and Desire" is little more than the answer to a trivia question sixty-plus years later. That old saying "everybody starts somewhere" certainly applies here.

12. Another relatively minor effort from an artist that wasn't fully formed, this 67-minute independent noir is about a NYC boxer(Jamie Smith has no wiki page) and his relationship with the girlfriend(Irene Kane) of a crime boss(Frank Silvera). Kubrick was experimenting with sound and cinematography, but "Kiss" made no critical or commercial impact and is only for completists. For what it's worth, Martin Scorsese has cited it as an influence on his early career.

11. "The Killing"(1956)
Kubrick's first REAL movie didn't make money but it DID impress forward-thinking critics and talent scouts that would soon be telling anyone that would listen that they knew all along.

Kubrick's final film chronicled one of the last happy years in the marriage of superstar couple Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman. Did this movie's ludicrous fifteen-month London shoot cause a strain that led to their split, two years later? That's open to debate, but if we put Stanley's nagging perfectionism and critics' sky-high expectations aside, this movie is better than it got credit for being in the summer of '99. If you were a prententious cinephile, this was a bigger deal than "Star Wars: Episode I- The Phantom Menace". Stanley died six days after turning in a cut of "Shut" that he considered complete.

"Private Pyle!!!" R. Lee Ermey's crazed drill sergeant insured that I would never serve my country, in the blistering Vietnam drama that exploded onto summer screens the same year Oliver Stone's "Platoon" won Best Picture, perhaps muting it's critical response. But Kubrick movies have a way of sticking around and picking up more admirers in the years after their release. America's involvement in Southeast Asia became an early '80s obsession for Stanley after reading Gustav Hasford's semi-autobiographical novel "The Short-Timers". The dehumanizing boot camp scenes are justifiably famous, and while the actual Vietnam portion doesn't hit quite as hard, this is still a strong effort from the bearded recluse(as well as career highs for Matthew Modine and Vincent D'Onofrio). Check out Siskel and Ebert going to war over "FMJ" on Youtube(Gene liked it more). I miss those guys.

Ryan O'Neal is an Irish rogue, a duellist, a deserter

Kubrick's most impersonal film. What I mean by 'impersonal' is, he joined the film when it was well into preproduction, and therefore couldn't control every aspect of it(original director Anthony Mann was unceremoniously fired). "Spartacus" won four Academy Awards and was a significant moneymaker for Universal, making it a pivotal film in SK's industry development.

4.

This confrontational conversation-starter may be the most warped, disturbing film ever to become permanently ingrained in the fabric of pop culture. How do we feel about Alex DeLarge today, in the era of MeToo and cancel culture? I would ask the high school/college crowd for their take on a singing rapist-hooligan forced into a failed rehabilitation, if I were more confidant that they'd actually SEEN a weird film made before most of their parents were born. Like "Psycho", I was familiar with the iconic imagery in "Clockwork" long before I took the time to watch it. A rewatch reveals that it's every bit as potent as it was in December 1971. Malcolm McDowell's mersmerizing performance and the free-will vs. conformity theme still registers, and "Orange" stands out more than ever as the ultimate example of challenging art, in a 21st Century landscape littered with safe corporate commercialism. Kubrick's maverick reputation was cemented, as he arguably became the first filmmaker to gain a significant cult following.

Kubrick's most popular and well-known work stands tall in the annals of horror cinema. "The Exorcist" and the original "Halloween" are really it's only peers, if those two sold-out revival showings I attended are any indication. It's common knowledge that the individualistic Stanley broke from Stephen King, just as he broke from "Clockwork" author Anthony Burgess, during his year-long stay in the ominous Overlook hotel. Jack Nicholson is one of the few giant stars that got to headline a Kubrick production, and in a career filled with great characters, Stanley Torrance may be at the top of the list. Shelley Duvall's distress has been well-documented, but for what it's worth, she's immortalized here as his long-suffering wife Wendy. Kubrick constantly keeps viewers on edge with his ghost girls, expert composition and Wendy Carlos' moody score that sets the tone during the opening credits. You don't have to be a film school scholar to spot this materpiece.

Speaking of masterpieces, we've come to #1. The deep, dark recesses of space have never been explored more thoughfully than in Kubrick's epic game-changer. "2001" inspired countless future filmmakers(Spielberg, Lucas, Scott, Cameron, Nolan), and simply left an enormous cultural footprint. Few films can claim to have pushed the medium forward, and part of me wishes I could have witnessed the technical revolution firsthand with all those lucky hippies in the spring and summer of '68.

The Year in Review- 2018

   It was the year Christian Bale put on a pound for every year that Dick Cheney spent plotting against the American people. Thanos pulverized the Avengers, Michelle Pfeiffer slipped into poverty, and a Farrelly brother won Best Picture. Tom Cruise was indestructable, Bradley Cooper became a director, and Han Solo was an undeserved box office bust. Here are the ten best films in order for 2018.

1. "Vice"(2018) A portly, barely-recognizable Christian Bale is at his best as the most influential VP in U.S. history in this savage serio-comedy that should serve as an overdue wake-up call for the uniformed "Fast and the Furious"-obsessed masses. Republican bogeyman Dick Cheney quietly and cunningly amassed a scary amount of power over the course of a forty-year career in "public service". Writer-director Adam McKay brings the same frenzied energy and deft touch that was imbued in 2015's revelatory "The Big Short", to skewer a Fox News-fostered political landscape that was dysfunctional way before Donald Trump. The slam-dunk supporting cast includes the amazing Amy Adams as Lynn Cheney, Steve Carell as Donald Rumsfeld, and Sam Rockwell's uproarious George W. Bush. You can either laugh or cry. I did both.

2. "Avengers: Infinity War"(2018) I want young people to read this blog. The MCU inarguably peaked in 2018-19(Chadwick Boseman's Black Panther was a February phenomenon and the year's top grosser). Josh Brolin gives us the greatest motion-capture characterization since Gollum as the Stone-seeking alien tyrant Thanos. Chris Pratt's wisecracks offset the impending gloom and doom of the universal disintegration known as 'The Snap'. A $325 million budget buys at least a dozen heroes and an hour-long eye-popping finale that may be the decade's most purely pleasurable cinematic experience. The reliable Russo brothers(Anthony and Joe) and super-producer Kevin Feige would break the box office reuniting the team one year later in "Avengers: Endgame".

3. "Where Is Kyra?"(2018) We go from a movie the whole world saw, to one you've never even heard of...until now. A 58 year old Michelle Pfeiffer mounted a quiet comeback as Kyra Johnson, a lonely, unemployed divorcee living on the fringe of society. Indie director Andrew Dosunmu frames her NYC surroundings in incredibly bleak terms that were bound to alienate unadventurous casual viewers. But the character's desperation and seemingly insurmountable financial plight rings true, and "Kyra" achieves a stark reality rarely seen in cinema since the sobering works of the 1970s. Movies still have to hold up a mirror to our world once in a while. Kiefer Sutherland costars as her equally disenfranchised boyfriend.

4. "Mission Impossible- Fallout"(2018) A godly Tom Cruise(seemingly superhuman at age 55) extends the globetrotting adventures of IMF agent Ethan Hunt in the sixth installment of a franchise that was launched in 1996. That's incredible. With frequent creative partner, writer-director Christopher McQuarrie(returning from 2015's "Rogue Nation"), the star-producer performed a staggering amount of stunts himself- a HALO jump, a bathroom brawl, a motorcycle chase, an ankle-breaking rooftop leap, and a climactic helicopter showdown with a villainous Henry Cavill and his mustache. The bioterrorist plot is secondary to some of the greatest action ever filmed. "Fallout" was a mid-summer sensation that made "MI" fans out of a generation that has no idea it all started out as a TV show.

5. "Solo: A Star Wars Story"(2018) There's too much negativity in the "Star Wars" universe. I can't imagine any fan, young or old, not thoroughly enjoying Ron Howard's rollicking origin story that fills in the blanks of everyone's favorite space pirate, Han Solo. Alden Ehrenreich is hugely likeable in the role that Harrison Ford immortalized forty years earlier, and would be an A-lister himself right now if not for an underwhelming reception(he even had a Lawrence Kasdan screenplay). Fortunately, film is forever, and there are online indications that the fanbase is coming around. Joining Han and Chewie in the intergalactic criminal underworld is the lovely Emilia Clarke, Woody Harrelson, Paul Bettany, and a scene-stealing Donald Glover. Disney replaced "Lego" duo Phil Lord and Chris Miller with steady industry vet Howard in the middle of production, ballooning an already-large budget and creating bad press that in no way reflects the film itself.

6. "Green Book"(2018) The talents of Viggo Mortensen and two-time Best Supporting Actor winner Mahershala Ali elevate this pleasingly-old-fashioned, fact-based drama, directed by Peter Farrelly, of "Dumb and Dumber" fame. In 1962-63, a tough Italian bouncer(Frank Vallelongo) and a cerebral African-American musician(Don Shirley) really did take a road trip through the segregated deep South, and a mutual respect was earned. "Book", like 1989's "Driving Miss Daisy", has been blasted online for being a 'safe' Best Picture winner, at a time when some(ahem, Spike Lee) want more forward-thinking art recognized. Ignore that noise, and enjoy a really good movie.

7. "The Favourite"(2018) Thirty years after "Dangerous Liasons", another dark, provocative 18th Century costume drama dazzled critics and became an instant Oscar favorite(pun intended). Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz are both exceptional as well-dressed rivals in 1705 Great Britain, vying for the attention and affection of an ailing Queen Anne(breakout Best Actress winner Olivia Colman). Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos displays a Kubrick/Malick-like sense of camera framing and composition. I own a physical copy of "The Favourite"(it's not streaming as I type this), and intend to revisit this terrific trio for many years to come.

8. "Bohemian Rhapsody"(2018) Freddie Mercury lives in this blockbuster musical biopic that boasts a Best Actor-winning, star-making turn from Rami Malek. Andrew McCarten's screenplay charts his rise from the London pub scene to the indelible songs that brought worldwide fame in the '70s and '80s. His legendary Live Aid performance is a showstopping highlight made more remarkable by the pall of HIV/AIDS. The bisexual Mercury expired in 1991. Queen superfan Mike Myers makes a rare appearance as a record executive. That's very fitting. Before the renewal of sexual assault allegations against Bryan Singer, he was said to be the director of this film.

9. "A Star Is Born"(2018) What a great year for music fans. Lady Gaga(Stefani Germanotta) can act, and Bradley Cooper can direct. I was as surprised as you were. A familiar story(there are versions from 1937, 1954, and 1976) is given a fresh coat of paint by super-screenwriter Eric Roth, as an aging, alcoholic country music star falls for his young protege. It doesn't matter that you already know what happens. Jackson and Ally Maine were a runaway success critically and commercially, and the radio-friendly Gaga-Cooper duet "Shallows" instantly entered the greatest soundtrack contribution conversation. Every woman in the world loved this movie.

10. "Widows"(2018) "12 Years a Slave" director Steve McQueen followed up that masterpiece with this timely, unpredictable female-led crime flick, that he crisply cowrote with "Gone Girl" author Gillian Flynn. Critic Richard Roeper(Roger Ebert's old TV partner) named it the best film of 2018. Viola Davis is one of this decade's success stories, so it makes perfect sense that she'd get to plan a daring Chicago heist with the wives of her dead husband's gang. Local politics and plenty of complications ensue. The loaded cast includes Michelle Rodriguez, Daniel Kaluuya, Elizabeth Debicki, Cynthia Erivo, Liam Neeson, Colin Farrell, Brian Tyree Henry, Jacki Weaver, and Robert Duvall.

Honorable Mentions- "Black Panther"(2008) Wakanda forever. "The 15:17 to Paris"(2018) Clint Eastwood used the real heroes that prevented a 2015 train terrorist attack. "Annihilation"(2018) Natalie Portman puts out an intriguing sci-fi thriller. "Red Sparrow"(2018) Jennifer Lawrence as a sexy Russian spy. "Chappaquiddick"(2018) The Kennedy curse continues in 1969 NY. "Ready Player One"(2018) Spielberg serves popcorn. "The Last Movie Star"(2018) Burt Reynolds' last ride. "Game Night"(2018) Rachel McAdams was very game for this madcap comedy.

"Rampage"(2018) The Rock vs. a CGI silverback gorilla. "A Quiet Place"(2018) John Krasinski and Emily Blunt start a horror franchise. "I Feel Pretty"(2018) Amy Schumer feels flawless. "Tully"(2018) Jason Reitman rebounds with a baby-making Charlize Theron. "First Reformed"(2018) Ethan Hawke plays a conflicted priest for Paul Schrader. "Deadpool"(2018) Ryan Reynolds firms up his fame in this hit sequel. "Gotti"(2018) John Travolta as the dapper Don. "Overboard"(2018) Anna Faris in an amiable remake of the 1987 comedy. "Incredibles 2"(2018) This Pixar sequel pulled $608 million in the U.S. "Hereditary"(2018) Toni Collette is terrific in this horror thriller. "Ocean's 8"(2018) Sandra Bullock and Cate Blanchett in a NYC-set caper.

"Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom"(2018) Chris Pratt crashes a dinosaur auction. "Ant-Man and the Wasp"(2018) Michelle Pfeiffer joins Paul Rudd as Janet van Dyne. "Boundaries"(2018) Vera Farmiga sets some with Chris Plummer. "Three Identical Strangers"(2018) This heartbreaking doc details the lives of male triplets. "Won't You Be My Neighbor?"(2018) Fred Rogers was the real deal. "Skyscraper"(2018) The Rock vs. a burning building. "Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot"(2018) a wheelchair-bound Joaquin Phoenix. "The Equalizer 2"(2018) Denzel Washington's first sequel. "BlacKkKsman"(2018) Spike Lee's best output in over a decade. "The Meg"(2018) Jason Statham vs. a prehistoric shark. "Destination Wedding"(2018) Keanu Reeves and Winona Ryder were a cute couple. "The Front Runner"(2018) Would Gary Hart have been our 41st President? "Eighth Grade"(2018) It sucks for everyone. "Leave No Trace"(2018) Ben Foster and Thomasin McKenzie are moving in this little-seen indie. "First Man"(2018) Ryan Gosling is Neil Armstrong in Damien Chazelle's 1969-set space epic.

"The Old Man & the Gun"(2018) Robert Redford is a charming bank robber in his last starring role. "Christopher Robin"(2018) Ewan McGregor meets Winnie the Pooh. "Crazy Rich Asians"(2018) This Singapore wedding was a sleeper hit. "Bad Times at the El Royale"(2018) Jeff Bridges, Jon Hamm, Chris Hemsworth, and Dakota Johnson in a run-down hotel. "Peppermint"(2018) Jennifer Garner in a politically-incorrect thriller. "A Simple Favor"(2018) Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively do a favor for Paul Feig. "White Boy Rick"(2018) Richard Wershe Jr. is doing life for drug dealing. "Gloria Bell"(2018) Julianne Moore is just great. "Dragged Across Concrete"(2018) Writer-director S. Craig Zahler's gritty cop movie reinvigorates Mel Gibson and Vince Vaughn. "The Sisters Brothers"(2018) Joaquin Phoenix and John C. Reilly in 1851.

"Mid90s"(2018) Jonah Hill's raw directorial debut. "Fahrenheit 11/9"(2018) Michael Moore takes on Trump. "Instant Family"(2018) Mark Wahlberg and Rose Byrne warmed my heart. "The Grinch"(2018) is voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch in this holiday hit. "Creed II"(2018) Michael B. Jordan vs. the son of Ivan Drago. "The Christmas Chronicles"(2018) Kurt Russell plays St. Nick for Netflix. "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse"(2018) Miles Morales wins the Best Animated Oscar. "Ben Is Back"(2018) Julia Roberts and Lucas Hedges both deliver in this indie addiction drama. "Aquaman"(2018) DC's underwater warrior ruled the Christmas season. "Mary Poppins Returns"(2018) Emily Blunt in the sequel to the 1964 classic. "Welcome to Marwen"(2018) Steve Carell has a cool doll collection. "On the Basis of Sex"(2018) Felicity Jones stars in this RBG biopic. "If Beale Street Could Talk"(2018) Regina King won Best Supporting Actress for this Barry Jenkins drama. "Roma"(2018) Alfonso Cuaron won Best Director(again) for this black-and-white 1970 Mexico City-set Oscar bait. "Stan & Ollie"(2018) Steve Coogan and John C. Reilly are Laurel and Hardy. "Dumplin'"(2018) Jennifer Aniston and a Netflix beauty pageant. "The Mule"(2018) Clint Eastwood is 88 years young. "City of Lies"(2018) Who killed Christopher Wallace? "Love, Gilda"(2018) This affectionate doc details the life of the SNL legend.

The 50 Greatest Superhero Movies

  We don't suck up to the MCU around here, so you can't expect a diverse array of titles. I promise to revisit this topic in the year 2059.