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@DarthDimi
Glad you enjoyed it! I loved those cameos as well!
1 SPARTACUS
2 2001-A SPACE ODYSSEY
3 BARRY LYNDON
4 PATHS OF GLORY
5 DR STRANGELOVE etc
6 THE SHINING
7 FULL METAL JACKET
8 EYES WIDE SHUT
9 A CLOCKWORK ORANGE
1 SPARTACUS
2 2001-A SPACE ODYSSEY
3 BARRY LYNDON
4 THE KILLING
5 PATHS OF GLORY
6 DR STRANGELOVE etc
7 LOLITA
8 THE SHINING
9 FULL METAL JACKET
10 EYES WIDE SHUT
11 A CLOCKWORK ORANGE
12 FEAR AND DESIRE
This year marks the 50th anniversary of 2001. I'm hoping, from the bottom of my heart, to be able to see the film on a large screen!!
I did once, and the copy broke down just when the trippy sequence at the end started. I demanded my money back.
3 years ago I read they Stanley Kubrick archives for more insight into each movie after viewing.
This year I'm listening to a podcast called Kubrickcast which dedicates an episode to each movie. I love listening to it on the way to work.
The Starchild over Earth. It sees the orbital nuclear platforms... it detonates them. 100% of the Earth is bathed in light for a moment. Title appears: A NEW DAWN.
THAT is what keeps this movie from being, for ME, THE best film ever made.
Initially, the plan was to go there. It was decided, last-minute, to leave things a tad more ambiguous. Personally, I treat the film and the book as perfectly complementary, despite one very particular detail disagreeing between them (Jupiter versus Saturn). What the film doesn't show or tell, the book can often answer. What happens after we see the Star Child? Clarke tells me. And this is one of those rare cases where I don't have to tap into "EU material" since book and film were developed simultaneously and by both artists. :)
I saw the film a few times before I read the novel. For a while, even I went with the "is the monolith from God?" possibility. And it really could have been that; I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that reading... except that neither Clarke nor Kubrick were particularly Christian, so something bugged me about that idea. While reading Clarke's book, it all made sense to me suddenly. The book, along with its sequels, "completes" the film as it were.
Makes me conclude that Scientologist Tom Cruise is indeed a very professional actor. He and Kubrick worked on EWS for about two years, if I'm not mistaken. :)
But I was not talking of his faith but his background. He was Jewish of culture.
The Shining? You've never seen the Shi--look, have a great time, you hear me! I remember my THE SHINING deflowering and it was phenomenal.
Now, let's do some running together. "This is my rifle, this is my gun; this is..."
I'm so looking forward to you THE SHINING experience. :)
One of the great what-ifs is if FMJ was released first would it have had more impact than Stone's film? A lot of critics at the time talked about this and the recurring point was the first half was so impactful the second couldn't possibly live up to it.
It's still my favorite Vietnam War film, I'd say. Platoon is fantastic and almost just as good, but FMJ is too chilling and well shot for me to rank it anything but my favorite.
I saw Platoon before I saw FMJ. It was strange as it was at a drive-in theater as the second feature after Robocop, which had just come out in that summer of '87. While Robocop was outrageous, we weren't really prepared for Platoon. One of the friends who went with us had seen it when it was released and mentioned how sobering it was. I recall how unsettled we all were when it was finished. We were silent, just didn't know what to say, so it made quite an impact.
I don't think I saw FMJ until it came to cable the next year and was just completely rattled by the training sequences, so much so that everything that came afterward was just a letdown, not in a bad way but just not anywhere near that grinder of an experience Kubrick puts you through to begin with. Where things like 2001: A Space Odyssey can go from the dawn of man right to the space sequences, it just doesn't work as well in FMJ. But the beauty of Kubrick films is you can always go back to see if there's new appreciation.
R. Lee Ermey was a revelation and was able to make a nice career doing comedy and serious roles. His not getting an Oscar nomination was a typical Academy mistake from the time. If Platoon hadn't been so big at the previous year's awards then FMJ may have gotten more critical and awards love, so maybe it was too late there.
I used to work at a large Air Force base on its newspaper and after I left for another job, a friend of mine got to interview Ermey when he was there promoting something and I really wished I'd have had the chance. I'd have likely brought a recorder and asked him to insult me like one of the FMJ recruits.
A friend of mine who was a war movie fanatic had the FMJ soundtrack, and when I was in film school I used a song from it with Ermey's cadences for one of my student films that got a great reception.
He is truly amazing and missed. I hope to get a few books about him soon.
That's the plan!
He was the greatest imo.