Michael Herr, the author of Dispatches and co-writer of Full Metal Jacket, is dead at 76.
Saturday, June 25, 2016
Friday, June 10, 2016
KUBRICK IN BRIEF(S)
Remember around the time of Full Metal Jacket, when Stanley started giving interviews, and he went around telling people like Gene Siskel how much he enjoyed the storytelling finesse on display in a series of Michelob commercials? He told the New York Times, in 1987:
"They’re just boy-girl, night-fun,” Kubrick praised, “leading up to pouring the beer, all in 30 seconds, beautifully edited and photographed. Economy of statement is not something that films are noted for.”Well, according to this lengthy SlashFilm oral history: "That piece published on a Sunday. The following day—after interested parties tracked down who was responsible for these spots—the phone of fashion photographer turned commercial director Jeremiah Chechik started rining off the hook."
Thanks to Kubrick's comments, Chechik would go on to direct such successful feature films as Christmas Vacation and Benny and Joon before being handed the great gift of directing the can't miss, sure-fire, $60 million budget, star-studded family action smash hit: 1998's The Avengers, starring Ralph Feines and Uma Thurman! The rest, as they say, is his story.
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Nerdist reports on the existence of the perfect, purchasable tchotchke to transform your work station from drab and dreary to flashy and fashy: Clockwise Alex, the unofficial Droog 1/6 size figurine with interchangeable hands, face and other parts! Currently available for pre-order from the fine folks at Craftone, so you know it's ultra-quality!
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We've all heard about how not too many people "got" The Shining when it first came out, but to actually experience the true depths of the critics's collective derangement and willful blindness at that time, one need look no further than Ernest Leogrande's review for the New York Daily News, which originally ran in late May 1987. Yeesh!
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This is a fun little video, to be sure, but its creator missed the absolute best Simpsons/Kubrick reference! Remember when Lisa experiments on Bart with electrified cupcakes, leading to a scene that is a perfect re-creation of the post-Ludovico technique staged sequence where Alex can't bring himself to reach up to the model's bare naked tits? Doubly entertaining because it's so damn naughty!
THE WEIRDEST KUBRICK HONOR YET?
With his unique "King Cuts" series, artist Mike Leavitt has created an entire menagerie of sculptures featuring some of Hollywood's most successful directors, most (but not all) represented by elements from a broad selection of their films (with the lone exception to the "multiple film" rule being Alfred Hitchcock). Each director's page features a painfully pun-filled explanation as to the nature of the imagery used. For instance, here's what his version of Stanley looks like, and beneath, the explanation:
The Shining transgenders Kubrick. His entire identity, even his humanity is relinquished. Hal's all seeing eye welds itself to his chest. He is a female robot. He's the ancient ape predating 2001. He grips to reality with an AK-47 and jelly donut stolen from a Full Metal Jacket. Clockwork Orange costuming veils him from the world in vain. Nothing can stop Stanley from drifting off into the surreal void.
KUBRICK "VERSUS" SCORSESE (BUT NOT REALLY)
Roughly six years ago, a European video editor by the name of Leandro Copperfield created a seven-and-a-half minute mash-up montage featuring iconic images and moments from the films of Stanley Kubrick and Martin Scorsese, and uploaded it to Vimeo. In 2015 he cleaned up the video and re-rendered it in lush 1080 dpi. Here is that beautiful, "remastered" version, now...
Six years after Copperfield's initial upload, and very shortly after its upgrade, Copperfield's video was watched by none other than Martin Scorsese, himself, who appears genuinely chuffed to have his work juxtaposed with that of the man he at one point calls "the Master". So chuffed was Marty, in fact, that he graciously shot a video reaction of himself experiencing the video, first-hand! You'd better watch out, Marty! Those Fine Brothers just might decide to sue you for infringing on their copyright!
You can watch Scorsese's reaction video right here, if you so fancy...
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