If there is any one filmmaker that you can say did it his way it would be Stanley Kubrick. Unfortunately his death at the age of 70-years-old came far too soon for most film lovers. Luckily Warner Home Video isn’t quite ready to let go of him just yet, as they release their second Stanley Kubrick Collection, this time ramping it up a notch, while at the same time pulling it back.
I believe the first collection was released back in 2000, shortly after Kubrick’s death and just following the release of his final film, Eyes Wide Shut. That collection was special in that it also included Dr. Strangelove, Barry Lyndon and Lolita. This meant it was only falling short of Spartacus and Eyes Wide Shut in terms of carrying all of Kubrick’s well known classics. Of course I am sure many would also love a collection that included Paths of Glory, The Killing and Kubrick’s five other early works, but I think we can all agree his final nine films were his best.
Unfortunately this latest collection still doesn’t include Spartacus, a Universal title, and it also doesn’t include Sony’s Dr. Strangelove. Oddly though, left out was Lolita and Barry Lyndon, both are Warner Home Video titles, and regardless of whether or not people already own them it just would have made more sense to include them in what is being considered a definitive collection.
That said, what is here is amazing. You are getting 2-Disc special edition releases of 2001, A Clockwork Orange, The Shining and Eyes Wide Shut (Unrated). You are also getting Full Metal Jacket with two features I don’t believe have ever been on DVD and the 2001 feature length documentary “Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures” narrated by Tom Cruise.
Over the course of the next four days I am going to preview the entire collection for you, including a couple of comments on the HD DVDs as I have also had the chance to preview the HD DVD versions of all five films.
It’s a Kubrick week here on RopeofSilicon, all you need to do is click over to the next page to get started with 2001: A Space Odyssey.
