Stanley Kubrick Lives On (In A 10-Disc Box Set)

Stanley Kubrick, whether you hate him or love him, will go down as one of the most brilliant filmmakers in history.  He made some of the most influential films of the last half-century.  The first time I saw Dr. Strangelove I wasn't even sure what a satire was, but I knew that movie was hilarious.  With names like BrigGen. Jack Ripper and Col. Bat Guano, and a character so patriotic he rides a 'nuke' like a bronco en route to destiny, what's not to like.

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'Vanilla Sky' Named Most Confusing Movie

If you think a list of the best or worst movies is hard to back up with anything substantive, here's one that could be a little easier: The Top Ten Most Confusing Films of All Time. The lst comes from UK DVD outlet LoveFilm (via Worst Previews), which asked its customers what flick left them most in the dark.

Maybe my memory of Vanilla Sky is drenched in apathy, but I don't exactly recall it being confusing. I mean, I know it wasn't very good and I sure didn't recommend it at the time, but I don't know if it belongs at the top of a list like this. What was confusing was how Paul McCartney got an Oscar nomination for that wretched song he contributed to the film's soundtrack. I would put their number two selection, David Lynch's Mulholland Drive atop my personal list of movies that were a bit perplexing, if only because the narrative doesn't even seem finished. Anyway, here's the list. It's British, which explains Guy Ritchie's Revolver. It is confusing, but you really had to search that one out in the US.

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Watch 'Dr. Strangelove' on Hulu

In a discussion about Tyler Perry's remaking of Rear Window, I mentioned that Hitchcock's 1950s classic is my favorite film, but that I don't have an all-time top ten or anything. I do know some films that would always be in the running, though, and one of them is definitely Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.

Quite possibly the greatest political satire off all time, Stanley Kubrick's Cold War dark comedy was released a little over a year after the Cuban Missile Crisis, and only two months after the Kennedy assassination, so clearly, global tensions were running high. The film went on to be nominated for four Academy Awards, losing three of the four to the clearly inferior My Fair Lady. Bad year for the Oscars: In addition to Peter Sellers creating three characters better than Rex Harrison's award-winning Henry Higgins, Beckett, Zorba the Greek, and Mary Poppins were all runners-up for Best Picture. Be that as it may, Strangelove is the most resonant and important film from 1964, and now you can watch it on Hulu. So do that.

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Rockwell, Scarlett To Star in Long-Lost Kubrick Flick

Stanley Kubrick walks among us. A long lost project co-written by Kubrick and author Jim Thompson will serve as the basis for a new film called Lunatic at Large, which Production Weekly says will star Iron Man 2 cast members Sam Rockwell and Scarlett Johansson.

The new version of the script has been written by Stephen Clarke based on a Thompson-Kubrick treatment that was long thought to be lost but was unearthed a few years ago by the late director's son-in-law. Here's a New York Times summation of Lunatic at Large:

"Set in New York in 1956, it tells the story of Johnnie Sheppard, an ex-carnival worker with serious anger-management issues, and Joyce, a nervous, attractive barfly he picks up in a Hopperesque tavern scene. There's a newsboy who flashes a portentous headline, a car chase over a railroad crossing with a train bearing down, and a romantic interlude in a spooky, deserted mountain lodge.

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Stephen King Ponders 'Shining' Sequel

I haven't read a new Stephen King work in quite a while, so I'm in no position to say whether or not he's still got the mettle to carry something like this through, but the celebrated author told an audience in Toronto recently that he has thought about penning a sequel to The Shining, which King calls Doctor Sleep.

The Torontoist reports that King feels "the first novel never explained what happened to young Danny and his psychic powers" and that "he believes that the events that took place at the Overlook Hotel must have left Danny with lots of emotional scars." Yes, well, I think that goes without saying.

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