Full Metal Jacket turned 30 years old this summer. Commemorate the milestone by reading this excellent Birth/Movies/Death retrospective by Jacob Knight. And dig that crazy artwork, man!
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Once you're done checking out the above article, you should also give this awesome audio retrospective on the Task&Purpose podcast a listen. Entitled "To the Everlasting Glory of Full Metal Jacket", this podcast is created by, and geared towards, veterans and currently serving members of the American military, which makes for a great perspective on this cinematic masterpiece.
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And finally re: FMJ, check out this Collider article in which Matthew Modine discusses two major scenes that were cut from the final version of the film, and this CinemaBlend article about a scene inspired by R.Lee Ermey's dirty poetry. Combine all of this with a fresh viewing of the flick, and you will have properly celebrated the 30th anniversary of Kubrick's most underrated flick, the immortal Full Metal Jacket.
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Here's a funny little thing to watch...
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In this Movie Pilot overview, Eric Hanson explores Kubrick's oeuvre in terms of his accomplishments as a translator of literature into cinema, and the various conflicts and controversies that have arisen from his relationships with many of the authors whose work he has adapted. This piece is, unfortunately, short and insubstantial. Hanson doesn't even address the extremely interesting history of Kubrick's relationships with Calder Willingham, Jim Thompson, Vladimir Nabokov, or Gustav Hasford! So please don't mistake me linking to this article as giving it my seal of approval. I do NOT. However, it does point future article writers towards what I believe could be a very intriguing topic for exploration. Who knows? I might just write such an article myself for this blog.
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This little video tells the viewer how to use (and get away with breaking) the 180 degrees rule.
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You know, when it comes to oddball ways directors have scraped together money for their projects, Kubrick hustling chess games to scam unwitting potzers out of their pocket change barely even qualifies, especially when compared with what Robert Rodriguez did to finance his films. But hey, it's Kubrick, so I suppose he makes the above-linked list based the quality of his oeuvre and the pull that the authors suspected including him would have on movie geeks, in terms of getting eyeballs directed towards their article. I guess their scam worked, seeing as they got my attention.
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During the course of researching and writing his book Reconstructing Strangelove, Inside Stanley Kubrick's Nightmare Comedy, author Mick Broderick uncovered a long hidden plan by Kubrick to relocate his entire family to Australia if ever it became obvious that a nuclear war was about to start... as well as the hilarious reason why Kubrick eventually gave up on his plans:
The American director had set up accounts, transferred funds, organised visas and investigated film projects in anticipation of his move.
However, he cancelled when he discovered he would have to share a bathroom on the ship that would take him to Australia.
“Famous for not flying, Stanley had bought tickets for the ocean liner. But when he found out he would have to share a bathroom the trip was off,” says Broderick.
“The idea of spending months at sea sharing toilet space with complete strangers was intolerable; he would much rather face thermonuclear war.”You know what, folks? If you don't think this qualifies as classic, Strangelove-level comedy in a Kubrick vein all on its own, I don't know what to tell you.
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Speaking of interesting books, Robert Koller's The Extraordinary Image: Orson Welles, Alfred Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick, and the Reimagining of Cinema explores the obsessions of Hitchcock, Kubrick, and Welles, based on the ways in which they expanded the use of sound in cinema. Based on this lengthy, academically rigorous review, it looks very much worth checking out.
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Apparently, people are saying The Weekend's latest video, for a song called "Secrets", was influenced or inspired by Kubrick in some way. I'm not so sure about that, but you can be the judge. Here's the vid:
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Illustrator Brian Sanders offers a rare glimpse into Stanley Kubrick's creative process. Here's an example of the kind of illustrations you'll find at this link.
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