There's no one like Kubrick

[HaplessCrewman]

Awesome video on Kubrick's One-Point Perspective shot.

http://vimeo.com/48425421

There will never be another Stanley Kubrick movie but his influence is undeniable.

My favorite recent "Kubrick" movie is There Will Be Blood by P.T. Anderson. Can anyone think of others?

 

[Harvey]

I like P.T. Anderson, but he has a way to go before his voice is as distinctive as Kubrick's. The closest figure in contemporary cinema to Kubrick is probably Terrence Malick, although in many ways he's Kubrick's complete opposite in terms of the stories he likes to tell.

And kogonada is the best video essayist I've seen online, at least relating to film/television. His/Her videos make style, which isn't always easy to detect, seem obvious.

 

[JarodRussell]

There will never be another Stanley Kubrick movie but his influence is undeniable.

Kubrick invented the 1-point perspective?

 

[Rowdy Roddy McDowall]

Most view Anderson as more Altmanesque than Kubrickian, given their mutual penchant for larger ensemble casts. After getting used to that approach, the one-man-show of THERE WILL BE BLOOD took some getting used to.

Some might scoff, but I think WATCHMEN is Kubrickian in its scope, if not in its strict approach....it's ambitious anyhow.

 

[Drago-Kazov]

Was anybody capable of making a good movie for every genre the same way Kubrick was?

 

[Harvey]

Ernest Lehman, who mostly worked as a screenwriter, had enough range to write the screenplays for excellent musicals (West Side Story) as well as excellent examples of the suspense genre (North by Northwest).

As far as directors go, though, I'd have to think about it. Martin Scorsese has certainly been successful in multiple genres.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Steven Spielberg has certainly been successful in multiple genres, even if not in every genre.

 

[J.T.B.]

My genre categories may not line up with everyone's, but:

Robert Wise did historical drama, disaster, musical, horror, thriller, war, science fiction, and crime. I can't think of a comedy off hand.

Robert Altman did period drama, contemporary drama, fantasy, comedy, thriller, mystery, science fiction, musical, western and crime.

John Ford did period drama, biopic, current-event drama, documentary, war, romance and of course western. Borderline on comedy and mystery and no real musical but there was so much song and dance in Ford movies that one critic said they felt like long trailers for imaginary musicals.

Justin

 

[CorporalClegg]

But Kubrick did Tom Cruise p0rn.

 

[Drago-Kazov]

He considered doing a porn movie but gave it up.

 

[Gaith]

Well, I just mentioned this one:

Would make (ideally the second half of) a great erotic-noir double-bill with Eyes Wide Shut. May not have quite the same mythic flair, but it is almost as trippy, and also has a not-entirely dissimilar carnivalesque aspect, to boot.

 

[JarodRussell]

Steven Spielberg has certainly been successful in multiple genres, even if not in every genre.

The thing about Spielberg that fascinates me so much is that each of his films is different. I wouldn't know that Indiana Jones was made by the same guy that did Schindler's List, and that Jurassic Park is from the same guy that did Minority Report, and that Jaws is from the same guy that did ET, and so forth...

 

[Rowdy Roddy McDowall]

I'm glad that SCHINDLER'S LIST was made by the director of JURASSIC PARK, but I'm disgusted JURASSIC PARK was made by the director of SCHINDLER'S LIST. To put it politely, take away the SPFX of PARK and what are you really left with? A good John Williams score, sure, but where's the story?

 

[MacLeod]

Not every film is a "Schindler's List", just take JP for what it was a summer blockbuster.

 

[JarodRussell]

That non-sensical argument again.

The story is that a rich business man clones dinosaurs to create a fun park. Investors force him to have the park evaluated by a group of experts. Meanwhile, a competitor orders dinosaur embryos to be stolen from the labs. During the theft, things go wrong, and the dinosaurs are set free, while the people in the park are trapped. It's about dinosaurs. But it could have been about lions as well with basically the same story. What do the visual effects have to do with that?

And why is that less of a story than "Shark shows up and a sheriff tries to kill it" or "archeologist and Nazis search for a magic treasure" or "business man tries to save people from death"?

 

[Rowdy Roddy McDowall]

Characters we actually care about. Non-cookie-cutter personalities. Suspense in who lives or doesn't. The music and effects in JURASIC PARK were its only assets. It sure as hell wasn't the acting.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

The premise of Jurassic Park was intriguing, and you can thank Michael Crichton for that. I hated the parade of Spielberg clichés, such as his "patented" shot of the face of an emotional child, but overall I really enjoyed the film, and I'm very glad it was made.

 

[sojourner]

Spielberg has 3 types of movies. His "sense of wonder" movies like E.T. and Close Encounters. His blockbusters like Indiana Jones and Jaws. And his "serious" films like Saving Private Ryan and Schindler's List. Some of his movies fit in more than one of those categories.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Steering the thread back on topic, I think Kubrick is da bomb. (His films still are.)

 

[Harvey]

Robert Wise did historical drama, disaster, musical, horror, thriller, war, science fiction, and crime. I can't think of a comedy off hand.

Briefly perusing his filmography, I don't think he ever did a comedy. Unless you count Star! (heh).

As for Spielberg, I can't say I really care either for Jurassic Park or Schindler's List. One is a rather rote blockbuster elevated by its visual effects, a good cast, and a great John Williams score. The other is shameless Oscar-bait that's filled with sentimentalism and fails to dramatize the most interesting (and least heroic) aspects of Schindler's character. Jaws, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and Close Encounters of the Third Kind remain as his three best movies. I suppose I like E.T. quite a lot, too.