The Fog of War - Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara

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The Fog of War, the movie that finally won Errol Morris the best documentary Oscar, is a spellbinder. Morris interviews Robert McNamara, Secretary of Defense in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, and finds a uniquely unsettling viewpoint on much of 20th-century American history. Employing a ton of archival material, including LBJ's fascinating taped conversations from the Oval Office, Morris probes the reasons behind the U.S. commitment to the Vietnam War--and finds a depressingly inconsistent policy. McNamara himself emerges as--well, not exactly apologetic, but clearly haunted by the what-ifs of Vietnam. He also mulls the bombing of Japan in World War II and the Cuban Missile Crisis, raising more questions than he answers. The Fog of War has the usual inexorable Morris momentum, aided by an uneasy Philip Glass score. This movie provides a glimpse inside government. It also encourages skepticism about same. --Robert Horton

Customer Reviews:

Fog of War.......2007-09-11

As a Vietnam era veteran and amateur historian this film provided an entirely new perspective on an important time in our national history. I would highly recommend it to all.

The strange account of Robert McNamara.......2007-08-11

This is a decent film about a highly important figure from decades ago. It's somewhat flawed, however, in that it's just McNamara's own account. He's the only one giving the last word about himself. And while much of the time he seems sympathetic and highly contrite about the tragedies of the world, there are some moments where his highly educated and knowledgeable facade betrays a certain evil underneath. This is where again, and again, he seems like a perfectly moral man under normal circumstances, but when talking about war he says that things done in war are done wrong because there are no moral rules. What? Where did he get such a blindspot? The history of world is full of "rules" for war and they always include not murdering and terrorizing civilians to get what you want. His personal "fog of war" is an utterly despicable excuse. He's part of the rationalizing warmongers who think it's fine to not have morals in the moment. Nonsense. Pure nonsense. By the end I felt like I'd been roped into watching an old man's last ditch attempt to make himself appear decent.

Morris's best documentary.......2007-08-04

From the soundtrack by Philip Glass to the editing to the archival footage to the recent interviews, Errol Morris does his finest work with this film. Watch it along with Why We Fight, and you will have an eye-opening experience. You don't have to feel sorry for MacNamara, but you owe yourself the chance to listen to him articulate what he has learned and how much he regrets. Not to get too specific, but I think you will see a frightening parallel between the war in Vietnam and more current wars.
This is not propaganda. There is no bias or agenda set down by the filmmaker. You are not asked to sympathize with MacNamara. It's straight talk.

The ability to see two sides of an arguement..............2007-08-01

I watched this document for the first time last night, it drew me in from the 30 minute mark and I could not leave my seat until it was over. Befroe I wrote this review I read others. I wanted to read others who felt differently than I did.
I saw that some were upset at Mr. Mc Namara; for those of you that are upset at his culpability and duplicity in the Viet Nam Action, I ask you to re-examine two points. 1. the president offered him two cabinet spots to which Robert said he was not qualified (for either) but like most men he seized upon an opportunity. 2. Robert told President -elect Kennedy that he should get out of Viet Nam as soon as possible, then Kennedy was killed (and not by Lee Oswald).
For those of you who do not regognize a man feeling his mortality and wanting in some way to explain his folly, keep living. For those of you who believe if you were in the same posistion you would have done something different than follow the instructions of you boss(who knows even less than you) then I laugh at you. The reason America was in Viet Nam is the same reason we are have gone to Iraq. Policy set by a few men and a citizenry too complacent to say enough is enough. Do you see a similarity between our time and theirs. Thank you Mr. Mc Namara, I doubt any of our current leaders in the future will have the courage to document anything.

Fascinating.......2007-07-08

This is DVD gives honest and rare insight into the mind of a person with great influence.

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An absolute essential. . .
Like a dream, like a painting brought to wonderful life
The most beautiful movie I've ever seen.
"... good or bad, handsome or ugly, rich or poor, they are all equal now".
Wonderful period piece

Barry Lyndon
Starring: Ryan O'Neal , Marisa Berenson , Patrick Magee , Hardy Krüger , and Steven Berkoff
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
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ASIN: B00005ATQ9
Release Date: 2001-06-12

Amazon.com

In 1975 the world was at Stanley Kubrick's feet. His films Dr. Strangelove, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and A Clockwork Orange, released in the previous dozen years, had provoked rapture and consternation--not merely in the film community, but in the culture at large. On the basis of that smashing hat trick, Kubrick was almost certainly the most famous film director of his generation, and absolutely the one most likely to rewire the collective mind of the movie audience. And what did this radical, at-least-20-years-ahead-of-his-time filmmaker give the world in 1975? A stately, three-hour costume drama based on an obscure Thackeray novel from 1844. A picaresque story about an Irish lad (Ryan O'Neal, then a major star) who climbs his way into high society, Barry Lyndon bewildered some critics (Pauline Kael called it "an ice-pack of a movie") and did only middling business with patient audiences. The film was clearly a technical advance, with its unique camerawork (incorporating the use of prototype Zeiss lenses capable of filming by actual candlelight) and sumptuous production design. But its hero is a distinctly underwhelming, even unsympathetic fellow, and Kubrick does not try to engage the audience's emotions in anything like the usual way.

Why, then, is Barry Lyndon a masterpiece? Because it uncannily captures the shape and rhythm of a human life in a way few other films have; because Kubrick's command of design and landscape is never decorative but always apiece with his hero's journey; and because every last detail counts. Even the film's chilly style is thawed by the warm narration of the great English actor Michael Hordern and the Irish songs of the Chieftains. Poor Barry's life doesn't matter much in the end, yet the care Kubrick brings to the telling of it is perhaps the director's most compassionate gesture toward that most peculiar species of animal called man. And the final, wry title card provides the perfect Kubrickian sendoff--a sentiment that is even more poignant since Kubrick's premature death. --Robert Horton

Customer Reviews:

An absolute essential. . ........2007-09-17

BARRY LYNDON, Stanley Kubrick's last truly great film, is the most gorgeous evocation of Europe in general, and England and Ireland in particular, ever made. The period is the early 1800s, and cinematographer John Alcott and Kubrick painstakingly capture every nuance of color. form and design to make their film (and it truly is "their" film) a once in a lifetime experience. In accordance with Kubrick's idea to present BARRY LYNDON as a series of paintings come to life, the story, freely adapted from the Thackeray novel, moves in a stately manner. BARRY LYNDON does not hurry or rush: it flows languidly, like a great, deep river, allowing the filmgoer to savor every moment.
Ryan O'Neal, portraying Redmond Barry, has always said that this film is the work of which he is most proud, even going so far as to name his son Redmond. And he has every right to be proud: he is the calm, determined center around which the story revolves. Some critics have called his performance bland, thinking wrongly that he is out of place in BARRY LYNDON. On the contrary, O'Neal is perfectly cast: Kubrick wanted an actor to represent that deep, rolling river, and who would be slightly out of kilter with the British actors. Redmond Barry was a man who always reached for a status to which he was not born, and so was forever an outsider. O'Neal handles the part very, very well, and gives Kubrick the canvas upon which to paint. Take special note of the agonizing final duel between Barry and his estranged stepson, Lord Bullingdon. O'Neal's moment of decision is deliberate and exquisite.
The rest of the cast move through BARRY LYNDON with elegance and craft, in particular Marisa Berenson, Patrick Magee, Hardy Kruger, Leonard Rossiter and Leon Vitali as Lord Bullingdon, who would prove to be the undoing of Redmond Barry. The music, all chosen from the classical repertoire, add to the drama and poignancy, especially Handel's "Sarabande", which appears in several forms, each version sadder than the last. The glorious Chieftains perform several selections, and contribute two beautiful versions of Sean O'Riada's "Women of Ireland".
BARRY LYNDON won four Oscars in 1975, and special note was made, I believe, of the lenses specially developed for the production which could capture, for the first time, absolutely natural candlelight on film. I believe the lenses were made for Kubrick by Bausch and Lomb, and when you view BARRY LYNDON, take note of the candlelit scenes.
If you can, see BARRY LYNDON on a plasma or LCD big-screen TV: that will bring you the closest to the experience of seeing the film as it was intended for thatres in 1975.
The transfer to DVD is excellent, and sound rich and full. The only extra is a trailer.

Like a dream, like a painting brought to wonderful life.......2007-08-14

"Barry was one of those born clever enough in gaining a fortune, but incapable of keeping one, for the qualities and energies which lead a man to achieve the first are often the very cause of his ruin in the latter case."

This is the theme, spoken by an unseen narrator, which runs through at the very center of Stanley Kubrick's majestic historical epic "Barry Lyndon." Following a string of three masterworks, which, conventional wisdom has dictated, represent the creative peak of Kubrick's legendary career as a filmmaker, it was Thackeray's novel about the rise and fall of a young Irish scoundrel who rises the ranks of 18th century English nobility that the enigmatic artist chose to set his sights. Conventional wisdom also tells us that, beginning with "Barry Lyndon" in 1975 and as further pronounced in 1980 with the release of his horror opus "The Shining," Kubrick's work began to display a diminished artistic resonance. These films, the feeling goes, lacked the visionary, complex implications of "2001: A Space Odyssey" and the insightful social commentary of "A Clockwork Orange." Kubrick must simply be losing his touch, right? Well, not really. Although it may apply to "The Shining" and Kubrick's subsequent works, the conventional wisdom, as applied to "Barry Lyndon," is wrong. Or, should I say, it WAS wrong. That is, until time alone was able to be the final judge of the film's legacy. Fortunately, subsequent critical revisiting of the film led many to finally come around to appreciate "Barry Lyndon" and regard it as the rich and giant masterpiece that it is.

Kubrick himself was perhaps such a divisive and misunderstood artist due to his desire to tell stories against the grain of the usual approach. Unlike traditional film narratives, which most often focus on human relationships and manipulate our emotions through drama and conflict, Kubrick concerned himself on much larger themes. He was most often interested in man's relationship to his society, and explored themes of broader conflict. His dramas were not sentimentalized and narrowed by character conflicts alone, but always examined the implications of these characters and conflicts to the shaping of the course of society and humanity.

FILM ANALYSIS:

If for nothing else, Kubrick's film cannot be denied as a stunning example of visual achievement. Quite simply, it is one of the most sumptuous, haunting, majestic, and gorgeous cinematic experiences ever realized. Richard Schickel, the highly distinguished TIME magazine film critic, who did a cover story of the film prior to its general release, praised it as "perhaps the most ravishing set of images ever printed on a single strip of celluloid." The landscapes are epic and breathtaking, the interiors rich and elegant, and each shot composed with a painter's eye for design and detail. It is no surprise that Kubrick found his visual inspiration in 18th century paintings and even went so far as to pose his actors just as subjects in certain paintings were positioned. Additionally, the costume and sets are impeccably designed (so much so that they garnered Oscar wins, as did the photography and the music), and Kubrick's use of classical music further heightens the sense of high art and elegance. All of these production elements, coupled with a cast of actors who are in tune with the material and who embody the director's keen sense of genuine human qualities, bring to screen life an era in history with an authenticity that is often attempted but rarely ever accomplished so vividly. It is not a dull and ancient past, but a living, breathing present that we are immersed in.

As with most of Kubrick's work, after going through this journey, it is not the triumph of speech or spirit that remains with us, not the wit and wisdom of dialogue nor the emotional connection between people. It is purely the magical, visceral impact of the visuals that remains in our mind, and Kubrick puts great care into making everything count. It is the slow zooms that reveal the larger context, the landscapes, sometimes liberating, often just as oppressive. It is the nuance of a facial expression, the gleem in the eye, the empty gaze, the way that light plays off people and objects. It is the quite moments that reveal so much more than any words could ever justify. It is the music that brings mood and texture to the many varying states of emotion.

Kubrick, as well, is not up to his usual bag of tricks here. In his previous film, "A Clockwork Orange," he utilized a great many devices (i.e. slow motion, fast motion, fantasy, expressionistic acting, outerwordly sound effects) to create a bizzare and nightmarish sense of reality. In this film, however, the cinematic trickery is downplayed, as is necassary for the more elegant feel of the material, and the ever confident master artist takes great care in the more "pure" and classical elements of film storytelling that take root in the silent era. Each scene, each shot even, is deliberately executed with precise and flawless use of composition, lighting, sound, editing, and staging. Notice, for example, how the tension of the final climactic duel is so carefully escalated by the use of sound (pigeons in the rafters), music (a subtle underscore), and editing (the careful cuts back and forth between two faces), or how various pieces of music pronounce the transitions in Barry's life throughout the film.

CHARACTER ANALYSIS:

Through the journey of Redmond Barry (played with brilliant subtlety and understated turmoil by Ryan O' Neal), Kubrick is able to communicate themes of moral decay, decadence, and duplicity that exist in the attainment of power and social privilege. As we follow Barry's life, from a naïve and idealistic young Irishman, with little money and no prospects, to his rise as the cruel and treacherous Lord of the Lyndon manor, and finally to a beaten and broken man, crushed under the weight of his own inadequacies, we come to understand the dimensions of a man who has the skill and ruthless ambition necessary to use circumstances to his advantage. Ultimately, however, Barry's rise to power and fortune place him in a world this beyond his means, by which his incompetence is displayed in his squandering of the Lyndon fortune and the destruction of his own reputation. In a single moment of explosive rage between stepfather and stepson, a family quarrel that plays itself out in front of horrified spectators of London's high society, Barry begins to feel that weight bear down on him. Kubrick communicates this with a zoom out as Barry stands alone on the grand balcony, a distant figure, weak and vulnerable, overwhelmed by his great castle and by great responsibilities.

It is interesting, though, that Kubrick places judgment not only on Barry, who is admittedly a dishonest rascal, but also upon the society in which his characters exist. "Gentlemen may talk of the age of chivalry," says our omniscient narrator, speaking in a jovial British manner that only faintly masks the sarcastic brand of cynicism hiding just below the surface. Instantly, his point is clear to us. Humanity can be a cruel beast, in any age and under any circumstance, even a chivalrous one. What's more, Barry is a mere product of his age of "chivalry" and is not the only scoundrel who is able to cheat his way to the top of the social food chain. The classical scoring also adds an ironic contrast and counterpoint between the façade of nobility and the debauchery that many characters play a role in. Working with this theme, Kubrick, with a distinctive sense of characterization and human behavior, allows us to understand what makes a man (and perhaps mankind itself) proficient enough to acquire power, privilege, and political clout, often through immoral conduct, and how he comes to destroy these institutions and himself.

There is also the question of Barry's underlying motives. What is really behind this obsessive need to become a proper "gentleman," a title which takes on an ambiguous context as we discover certain facts about the inner-workings of the nobility. One gets a sense that there exists a deep rooted inferiority complex with Barry's character. Perhaps due to his underprivileged upbringing, or even due to the envy of not having the distinction of British pedigree (suggested in his joining the British army), Barry seems driven by resentment, self-loathing, and the need for acceptance. There is not one clear conviction that defines his quest, only a need to be perceived as something that he is not: a proper gentleman and dignified member of the privileged class. Our narrator questions the role of fate in Barry's rise to such fortune, but Kubrick ultimately seems to leave doubt to the credence of such ideas. Ultimately, it seems that, even when luck is on our side, when the grand gamble goes our way as it were, and we find ourselves in the favor of fate, there is no guarantee that the natural drives of humanity (in Barry's case, a self-destructive ambition for wealth and status) will favor our ability to maintain our good fortune. Man, after all, by the very flaw of his character, has the ability to be the ruin of his own way of life. Perhaps it can be seen as a warning to the rise to power of those who are incapable of acting with morality and prudence. Perhaps not. As with all of Kubrick's work, it does not lend itself to easy answers, only to immensely rewarding viewing, reviewing, and discussing...

The most beautiful movie I've ever seen........2007-07-08

It took a few viewings of Barry Lyndon for me to really grasp it, but then again, this is just like every other Kubrick movie.

By the time I accepted the slow, methodical nature of Kubrick's direction, along with the 3 hour running time, I began to realize what makes this movie arguably Kubrick's finest.

Simply put, Barry Lyndon is the most beautiful film that I know of, and I've seen many films at this point. No hyperbole, no exaggeration. This movie is gorgeous, and that is a severe understatement.

There are scenes in this movie that will move you to tears, they are so beautiful. The stunning lighting (and you can read about how Kubrick managed this elsewhere online), the lavish and overwhelmingly complex sets and costume designs, the use of incredible classical music, the ever-present brilliance of Kubrick's direction: this movie is truly an auteur at his most self-indulgent. I mean, really, the colors that Kubrick captures are mind-boggling; so many awe-inspiring uses of purple and orange and blue...it left me speechless. Some may frown upon an artist catering to that kind of self-indulgence, but for those like me, you will welcome an artist who has given full-reign to his/her imagination and has the talent to make it happen.

Of course, it is easy to overlook the many other fabulous aspects of this film. One thing that is often overlooked in Kubrick films is the phenomenal acting abilities he managed to get out of his actors, and the emotional depth that he captures (while constantly being criticized as cold and unemotional). To those who hold this opinion, I would ask that you witness Ryan O'Neal's heartbreaking performance as Barry Lyndon. He is wonderful.

While 2001 and Dr. Strangelove may vie for the best of Kubrick's unmatched career, and while I am partial to 2001's magnificence and inimitability, the objective observer in me must admit that Barry Lyndon, while certainly Kubrick's most underappreciated film, is probably his best. Stay awake!!, and you'll be treated to some fabulous performances and scene after scene filled with images that will be burned into your brain.

"... good or bad, handsome or ugly, rich or poor, they are all equal now"........2007-05-19

The beauty, the depth, and the mystery of this film are unsurpassable - what Kubrick was doing with light is just a miracle. Special lenses were designed to shoot interiors and exteriors in natural light. In one scene Barry (Ryan O'Neil) was having a dinner with a German woman who was feeding her baby and the candle light made the whole scene look like a Caravaggio's painting. This is just one of many scenes. Each of them is perfection and harmony. Costumes and sets were crafted in the era's design. Age of Enlightenment with its gallantry, wars, and duels, had been recreated in the film with the precision of the celebrated landscape and portrait masters of the period such as Thomas Gainsborough; Sir Joshua Reynolds, founder of the Royal Academy of Arts; George Romney to name just a few. If nothing else, watching "Barry Lyndon" is pure aesthetic delight - and there is one man responsible for it, Stanley Kubrick. If ever divine film was made, "Barry Lyndon" was it and Kubrick could've quoted the Bible - "God looked at everything he had made, and he found it very good".

I've read the comments and articles that call "Barry Lyndon" cold, slow, boring, "the collection of pretty pictures', "flawed" masterpiece, and the most ridiculous one, "glittering ornament with a hollow center". I simply can't understand it. "Barry Lyndon" is the most compelling and compassionate realization of the inevitable finality of everything in this world which was presented by the visionary director with elegant sensual melancholy. Stanley Kubrick known for his detached, seemingly remote and non-sentimental style chose to reach out to his viewer directly during the epilogue, "It was in the reign of George III that the aforesaid personalities lived and quarreled, good or bad, handsome or ugly, rich or poor, they are all equal now". I don't recall any other movie that would illustrate the old wisdom, "everything will pass" in such sublime and deeply moving way.

Wonderful period piece.......2007-05-07

Don't go into this expecting the Shining, Full Metal Jacket, or even Eyes Wide Shut. Barry Lyndon 'is' however a 'Wonderful period-piece'; stunning cinematography, and superb set design make the film a victorian masterpiece that echoes the era in marvelous fashion. Kubrick delivers again; a must for all serious film enthusiasts!

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ASIN: B000UJ48SQ
Release Date: 2007-10-23

Description

Thackeray's tale of a roguishly charming 18th century Englishman, card shark and con-man whose good fortune and luck finally run out.

Stanley Kubrick Collection (2001: A Space Odyssey / Dr. Strangelove / A Clockwork Orange / The Shining / Lolita / Barry Lyndon / Full Metal Jacket / Eyes Wide Shut)

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Realize that a new Kubrick boxed set is due October 2007
Great Documentary
A box set featuring the films of the world's greatest director
The master of his domain
Much better set

Stanley Kubrick Collection (2001: A Space Odyssey / Dr. Strangelove / A Clockwork Orange / The Shining / Lolita / Barry Lyndon / Full Metal Jacket / Eyes Wide Shut)
Starring: Stanley Kubrick
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
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ASIN: B00005ASUK
Release Date: 2001-06-12

Amazon.com

With the 1957 release of Paths of Glory, Stanley Kubrick confirmed his early promise and joined the ranks of world-class filmmakers. The age of the auteur had arrived, and Kubrick was a prime candidate for inclusion in the pantheon of directors later canonized by critic Andrew Sarris in his influential book The American Cinema. Ironically, this was also the period during which Kubrick left his native soil for permanent residence in England, and from that point forward, the Kubrick mystique inflated to legendary proportions. But if Kubrick was no longer bringing himself to the world, he was certainly bringing the world to his films. From the comfort of his rural England estate and locations never far from London, Kubrick would command cinematic odysseys to isolated Colorado (in The Shining), battle-ravaged Vietnam (Full Metal Jacket), upscale New York City (Eyes Wide Shut), and, of course, Jupiter and Beyond the Infinite (in 2001: A Space Odyssey).

The New Stanley Kubrick Collection includes all eight of Kubrick's films from Lolita on--a quarter-century of brilliant, challenging cinema. This second edition adds Eyes Wide Shut to the previous collection and remastered sound on five of the films plus a new anamorphic edition of 2001. Purists have complained that Kubrick's last three films have been released in full-screen format only; this was in compliance with Kubrick's wishes, and the films do not suffer unduly from full-screen formatting. This set also features a new full-length documentary made by longtime Kubrick assistant Jan Harlan, Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures. The diversity of Kubrick's work is truly astonishing, even though the director's technical precision and steely perspective on humanity may strike uninitiated viewers as cold and even misanthropic. His films almost always received mixed (and sometimes scathingly negative) reviews upon their release, only to benefit from glowing reassessment as they grew entrenched in the public consciousness. Here, in all their glory, are the collected films of a genuine master, ripe for study and appreciation for many years to come. --Jeff Shannon

Description

The new Stanley Kubrick Collection includes eight of the great director's masterpieces in stunning all-new digital transfers, restored picture and new digital audio. Titles include: 2001: A Space Odyssey, Barry Lyndon, A Clockwork Orange, Full Metal Jacke

Customer Reviews:

Realize that a new Kubrick boxed set is due October 2007.......2007-08-02

On October 23, 2007 Warner Home Video will be launching a new "Stanley Kubrick Collection". Included are brand new versions of:
2001: A Space Odyssey - Special Edition (2-disc)
A Clockwork Orange: Special Edition (2-disc)
Eyes Wide Shut: Special Edition (2-disc)
Full Metal Jacket: Deluxe Edition
The Shining: Special Edition (2-disc)
All titles have been restored and remastered and will offer both archive and new bonus features. The documentary "Stanley Kubrick: A Life In Pictures" will also be included in this set. Apparently missing from this set, but also being released in new versions individually on October 23, are Lolita and Barry Lyndon. Eyes Wide Shut will include both the rated and unrated versions. No new release of Dr. Strangelove is planned. The new boxed set will retail at eighty dollars. All titles contained in the boxed set will be available separately including the documentary.

Great Documentary.......2006-03-18

The documentary about Stanley Kubrick included in this collection ("Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures") makes it worth having. A truly great collection of movies, perfect for a Kubrick enthusiast looking to establish their DVD collection, or for people unsure about Kubrick to make them fans!

A box set featuring the films of the world's greatest director.......2005-07-03

The Stanley Kubrick Collection features 9 amazing DVD's, eight of them films. The films include Lolita, 2001: A Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange, The Shining, the documentary Stanley Kubrick: A Life In Pictures and more.
First of all, the sound/picture quality is amazing. If improves vastly over the sound/picture quality over the original, now out-of-print Stanley Kubrick Collection from 1999.
Also, the films are brilliant, except the vastly overrated A Clockwork Orange. For my review on this film, visit A Clockwork Orange on amazon.com
Every Kubrick fan should own this item!

The master of his domain.......2005-07-03

"Genius is the fire that lights itself." That could very well describe the mystique of, and the body of work from, Stanley Kubrick, arguably one of the greatest filmakers of the 20th century. This collection represents 8 of his works, from 'Lolita' to 'Eyes wide Shut', released after his sudden death in March 1999. Although other directors have a larger number of films to their credit, it only took 13 directions to go in for Kubrick to cement his legacy in the annals of movie history. From my perspective, two flicks stand out to define his greatness: 'Spartacus' (not included in this collection) and '2001: a Space Odyssey'. To do something no one else has done before, and for everyone to pull from that influence since, is a testament to his courage and perfectionism. He is listed in the Guiness book Of World Records as the director who demanded an astonishing 600-plus takes for one scene in 'The Shining'. Needless to say, Shelley Duvall was not happy after that week of shooting in the cold. But the actors who were fortunate enough to work on one of his films became major stars because of their apearances, from James Earl Jones in 'Dr. Strangelove', to Malcolm McDowell in 'A Clockwork Orange', to R. Lee Ermey and Vincent D'Onofrio in 'Full Metal Jacket', and Lelee Sobieski in 'Eyes Wide Shut'. Kirk Douglas was so fond of his talent, he made sure he got to work with him three times.

This is an excellent overview of a master artisan. Purchasing this along with the Criterion Collection version of 'Spartacus' will give you viewing enjoyment that will last a lifetime. Also check out 'A.I.: Artifical Intelligence', a Steven Spielberg product that was based on a screenplay given to him by Kubrick from ideas written in the books by Isaac Asimov. It was the last script Kubrick never finished making a movie of.

Much better set.......2005-05-30

Includes a couple more films and Vivian's feature-length documentary Stanley Kubrick: A Life In Pictures. One look at this set may be as a cash generator (after all, WB already released a Kubrick collection), but second look is Kubrick's artifact, an in-depth, beautifully remastered, feature-packed set. At last, gone are the days of Kubrick rolling in his grave from the original clunker set. He can now rest in peace, as his films are now preserved at highest imaginable quality with immersive 5.1 surround. Bless you, Vivian.

2001 was the only film in the original set to get the 5.1 treatment. Now, four other films (Barry Lyndon, A Clockwork Orange, The Shining, and Full Metal Jacket) have been touched by the magic wand, and given a massive makeover, including-- you guessed it-- 5.1 surround. The features on the separate discs are essentially the same as the original set (we still get Vivian's Making of The Shining documentary, only with a restoration job done), but the real highlight is A Life In Pictures. After only seeing three of his films (2001, A Clockwork Orange, and Shining), I must agree that Kubrick is one of the greatest, if not the greatest, director(s) that ever lived.

Now WB has listened to the wailing Kubrick estate, and given his films the respect they deserve. Avoid the original clunker. Buy this one.

P.S. The films that are in fullscreen were shot that way, and the original aspect ratio is preserved according to Kubrick's wishes. So stop complaining about it!

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The Revolution Will Be Dramatized.
The 1960s live on in this gripping documentary...
the soul of the 60s distilled
What America Is Really Like
Boring

Berkeley in the Sixties
Starring: John Searle (III) , Jackie Goldberg , Susan Griffin (II) , Jack Weinberg (II) , and Nancy Davis
Director: Mark Kitchell
Manufacturer: First Run Features
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ASIN: B00006JMQC
Release Date: 2002-12-10

Amazon.com

This outstanding documentary by Mark Kitchell, six years in the making, is a comprehensive and insightful story of campus and community activism as born at the University of California at Berkeley. Using extensive archival footage and bridging the distance between past and present with more recent interviews, Kitchell shows how a 1960 protest aimed at the House Un-American Activities Committee was the launching point for the Free Speech movement, which evolved into organized opposition against the Vietnam War, support for the Black Panther party, and the feminist movement. No simple valentine to student-demonstration days, the film brilliantly uses contemporary perspective to show how great legacies and inevitable failures were simultaneously born in a charged atmosphere. Not to be missed. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews:

The Revolution Will Be Dramatized........2007-07-25

This documentary is comprised of a series of interviews with a number of radicals over twenty years after their periods of action subsided. We see how that a movement which began legitimately--in the pursuit of civil rights and free speech--ended with a group of shallow, narcissistic, and self-righteous babyboomers on a crusade to acquire power, attention, and status by any means necessary.

The sixties began the slow rise of emotion over reason which has corrupted America and eroded our core American values. These students wanted to fight the power but it was not long before they became the power and brought socialism, conformity, and political correctness with them to our businesses, academies, and government. They railed against the establishment and now...they are the establishment. How great it would be if today's college students would "question authority" and stand up to the radicals of the sixties who attempt to indoctrinate them in the classrooms of our politicized universities.

The most hilarious moment in the film was when the students campaigning for free speech destroyed a sign that said that Mario Savio was a communist. They had no sense of irony because what they were advocating was free speech for me but not for thee. This act portended much of what would happen once the radicals took over our universities in the eighties.

The interviews conducted here are wholly confined to the drama queens that made up the counterculture with no contrary views being seen as fit to share the stage with them. These former campus storm troopers are self-laudatory and self-worshipful which is to be expected as their movement was so shallow that it actually took seriously the lyrics and presumed message of "Yellow Submarine."

The best parts of the film were the clips of Governor Reagan when he was young, energetic, and full of fire. His depiction of the activists as being spoiled children was right on the money. They used politics as a way to feel good about themselves and stood for absolutely nothing except their own need for the spotlight. They "wanted the Black Panthers to like them" so they bought into the idea that those gun-totting criminals were oppressed and therefore innocent of all crimes.

Alas, we remain cursed with this rabble today. Plenty of people had second thoughts about their contribution to the decline of America which began in the sixties but you will not hear any of their voices in this politically imbalanced film.

The 1960s live on in this gripping documentary..........2007-07-18

Berkeley in the Sixties does an excellent job of documenting the social movements of the 1960s; and it focuses on the actions of the students at The University of California at Berkeley to tell this story. Using excellent restored newsreel footage and candid footage shot during that era, we learn about the birth of the free speech movements and the civil rights movements as they started in California. The documentary then leads us through the rest of the student movements of the 1960s including the attempts by students and other young people to stop the war in Vietnam, the hippie counterculture, the women's rights movement and even the Black Panther movement. Excellent!

Amazon correctly notes that this is "no valentine" to these times. They are right. The footage you will see is rather graphic and the police brutality is disturbing at times, to say the least. On the other hand, however, we get great insight into how students and other young people tricked themselves into thinking that they could stop the Vietnam War simply by protesting and temporarily closing a draft center in their area. At one point the students simply take over a parking lot owned by Berkeley and make a park of their own there. While I like the concept; I can't agree with their simply seizing school property.

The documentary is enhanced even more by some wonderful, candid interviews with people who participated in the protests of the day. The stories they tell provide us with first hand accounts of the successes and setbacks for the social movements of the time. Of particular interest is the comment one lady makes to the effect that by the end of the 1960s everything about their lives was changing so fast she herself could scarcely keep up with it all.

The DVD also comes with terrific extras including deleted scenes and other raw, unedited footage that did not fit well into the film but nevertheless has important historical significance. I enjoyed the young girls singing a version of the song "High Hopes" to push for the JFK presidential campaign; and some footage of the Hell's Angels disdain for the protestors intrigued me as well.

The 1960s were a time of remarkably fast social change--mostly for the better, even if I don't personally agree with every last action or protest the students and other young people made during this era. The documentary does a superlative job of taking us down the road through the 1960s in a methodical fashion with terrific interviews with adults who participated in the protests and large amounts of footage of the establishment's disdain for their actions.

Overall, if you wish to get a broad brushstrokes introduction of the seemingly countless social movements of the 1960s, this documentary serves the purpose well. History buffs will also enjoy this DVD--even if they aren't liberal they will appreciate the parts of the film that explore the establishment reactions to the student protests.

I personally admire the courage of these students to stand up for their beliefs regardless of whether I agree with them all or not. Get this DVD and rejoice that we live in a land where we enjoy freedom of speech--both from the left and from the right!

the soul of the 60s distilled.......2006-08-03

This documentary goes to great lengths to show how the free speech movement in Berkeley devolved into a revolutionary struggle and lays much of that blame on campus activistst becoming so enamored of the Black Panthers -- who themselves had a keen instinct on how to manipulate their image in the media to Macy's Day float-size proportions -- that they gave up the driver's seat or exited the vehicle altogether. Through video footage of protests and riots, and interviews with key players who have obviously agonized about how things turned out and how they could have turned out differently, a well-sketched picture emerges of the political life of the '60s, a time which may never be repeated but whose ripples hopefully will never give way to stillness.

What America Is Really Like.......2006-02-25

Berkely in the Sixties explores one of the worst catastrophes in American History. When the student movement began in the fall of 1964, students wanted the freedom of political protest on campus at the University of California. The administration forbade any student groups related to non-campus activities. The students all banded together and staged a sit-in which captured national attention and brought the university to a standstill.

When it ended in the summer of 1969, police gassed and shot American citizens as if, as one lady said, "we were the Viet Cong." In between was MLK, The Black Panthers, and Vietnam. This film is a must-see for all Americans. The deleted scenes are lengthy and a bit dry, but are worth viewing.

Ironically, the University of California describes itself as "a lively place of student activism," a whitewash of the administration's brutality against its students and faculty members who sympathized with the student's cause.

Boring.......2006-01-13

I am very sympathetic to the"movement" of the Sixties, and took an active part in it, but I find this type of "talking heads" documentary boring as hell, even though it is interspersed with news footage.
An example of a truly great documenary of the time is the film "The War at Home", available on video (1979, director Glenn Silber).

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The easy life in a microcosm of car ring gang
Vastly Underrated -- Best Boston Movie Ever
GREAT CRIME DRAMA
overlooked, underrated little crime gem
A great role for Leary in "Monument Avenue"

Monument Ave.
Starring: Denis Leary , Ian Hart , Lenny Clarke , Jason Barry , and Kevin Chapman
Director: Ted Demme
Manufacturer: Miramax
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: 0788815709
Release Date: 1999-05-18

Description

Denis Leary (TV's THE JOB) and Martin Sheen (THE AMERICAN PRESIDENT) star in this explosive story about the power of loyalty, community, and friendship in the world of organized crime. In a tough Irish-American neighborhood, Bobby (Leary) is a small-time car thief working for the area's top mobster (Colm Meany -- CON AIR, THE SNAPPER). But then, Bobby's own gang kills members of his family, leaving Bobby faced with a tough choice: defend his family honor or obey the rigid neighborhood code of silence! With co-stars Billy Crudup (ALMOST FAMOUS) and Famke Janssen (GOLDEN EYE), MONUMENT AVE. is gripping entertainment in the tradition of GOODFELLAS!

Customer Reviews:

The easy life in a microcosm of car ring gang.......2007-06-13

MONUMENT AVE (aka SNITCH 1998), is somewhat of a chick-flick in a
masculine version, telling a story of a number of youths all from the
same neighborhood, who somehow escaped the radar screen of law
enforcement. This is said to stem from from the incompetence of the
constable, his being on the take, or from looking the other way due
to his shared ethnicity (Irish-Americans, Martin Sheen) with the
other delinquent elements.

The lead characters, among them Denis Leary, Kevin Chapman somehow
wind up at between 30 and 40 years of age, in almost an identical
spot as when they were youths growing up together, rejecting the 9 to
5 routine, in favor of a constant presence in pubs, drinking, high
on cocaine, whiskey, gambling, without having learned a trade or
profession.

They agree to defraud an insurer with a simulated theft of luxury
automobiles in some cases, and in others, sell those for parts as
part of a car ring on the East Coast of the USA.

The easy life, and excess familiarity with their own neighborhoods,
leads this gang to unrealistic expectactions in regards to their
ability to stop the hands of time and the winds of change, in terms
of their own neighborhood in the city from when they were kids,
fearing housing projects and other communities from setting shop in it.

In regards to business, the ring leader admits taking out a number of
well known community members over the years, to eliminate any and all
risks of informants to the police and any challenge to his leadership
position.

Surprisingly, this microcosm in which they sustain themselves
stays unchanged over a period of years, until the skeletons seem too
many, the truth too hideous to remain hidden in the closet. At their
age, the cognitive dissonance between right and wrong and the
expectations of their boss, grows too large to reconcile, such that a
desire to break free from this scene grows increasingly irresistable.

The overwhelming experience of this movie, is the skill of the
director underplaying his presence, by almost totally eliminating
music, special effects, cinematic inventions, by sticking to a
simplicity, and a low-key presence of the cameras. The action as it
unfolds feels authentic to the viewers, with the actors offering
realistic performances, in a movie that appears strongly
autobiographical in nature.

The weak point, is obviously the lack of consequences and pain felt by
the ring members from their actions, the easiness of their
lifestyles, and excess pleasure they seem to partake in, as well as
the astonishingly absent moral reflections, repercussions, analysis
of their gestures. In other words, the audience may have difficulty
identifying with the characters's shallow humanity.

Vastly Underrated -- Best Boston Movie Ever.......2006-09-07

Anyone who grew up in Boston in the 1980s and 1990s will tell you, this is one of the best Boston movies ever made and comes as close as a fictional movie can to feeling like, at times, a documentary (only "The Verdict" comes as close to capturing what Boston is all about). It absolutely blows Good Will Hunting away. (The film "Southie", while truly awful at parts, is actually better than most people think, starred a Dorchester native, and was written by another. While it was set in NYC, "State of Grace" is a close cousin to this movie, but Monument Avenue does not have a ridiculous, horrible ending, which "State of Grace" unarguably did). Believe it or not, Monument Avenue is in almost all ways actually a better film than "Mystic River", and it is much more evocative of Boston. The guys in "Mystic River" are great characters but are obviously just that, characters, while the guys in Monument Avenue feel like the real thing, and few movies capture the dead-end, small-time criminal life of blue collar white NE ethnics better. Monument Avenue is also beyond dark, the final montage that closes the movie is practically unwatchable to anyone who knew or was related to someone who was a part of what was going on in Boston at this time and features one of the most effective uses of stills and mood music in American cinematic history. Charlestown is brought to life so vividly in this film that it is a character in the movie. Everyone in the cast (except for a jarringly weak Colm Meaney) nails it. Leary being great in this movie is no surprise (even though he is a hick from Worcester), but Famke Jansen is shockingly good. The movie is based on what happened in the 1980's-1990's when gentrification hit Boston's Irish Neighborhoods and an epidemic of bar-room shootings took place in Charlestown, in full view of people, with no witnesses stepping forward (a prime motiviation behind most of the witnesses not talking was the desire to settle the score by killing the shooter themselves later on, or preserving the right of the victims friends or family members to do so -- the feuds in Charlestown were so widespread that over 125 murders similar to those in this film are said to have taken place in 10 years -- that is not a misprint). Mothers Against Violence formed in response to this epidemic of murders and refusals to cooperate with the police in Charlestown (this is foreshadowed in the film during a funeral scene). All of Boston's tougher Irish (at that time) neighborhoods -- South Boston, Dorchester, Jamaica Plain, Hyde Park, Roslindale -- had a well-known unwritten code of silence and their share of feuds and unending cycles of vengeance, but Charlestown's was by far the most infamous, all-encompassing and unforgiving. The best-kept secret to outsiders that are not from Boston is that Charlestown is, far and away, Boston's toughest neighborhood. A powerful, elegant, and unfairly ignored film. Truly spectacular.

GREAT CRIME DRAMA.......2006-07-27

ACTING IS GREAT, STORY IS SOLID. SMALL REALISTIC POCKETS OF ACTION.

DENNIS LEARY NAILS HIS ROLE AS WELL AS THE REST OF THE SUPPORTING CAST.

MUST SEE

overlooked, underrated little crime gem.......2005-08-18

If you've watched Rescue Me over the last couple years or seen The Job, you know the typical Denis Leary character: tough, profane, ethically and morally challenged, funny as hell, smarter than those around him but never as smart as thinks he is, and deep down, knows it, and always waiting for the roof to collapse on him, as he knows it eventually will, for he is no idiot though he acts like one 70% of the time. Leary, to me, is one of the best things on television, as is Rescue Me, clearly the equal of the great HBO shows and other FX notables like The Shield. If you appreciate Leary and the dark, tragic yet often comic sensibility he lends to Rescue Me, it would be worth your while to check out Monument Ave. Based on positive reviews in the NY Times and the New Yorker, I saw it on the big screen when it came out in 1998 along with about three other people in the theatre. Not surprisingly it disappeared in a week and is rarely mentioned when critics talk about great crime films, particularly crime films of the post Mean Streets type, a film that clearly was an influence on Monument Ave. And that might be because, like Rescue Me and The Job and Leary's other great film, also made by Ted Demme, The Ref, Monument Ave. pretends to be something it really isn't, in this case a Scorsese like genre piece. But at heart really more of a contemporary tragedy closer in spirit to something like Mystic River than Mean Streets and all the clones that film and Reservoir Dogs created. Monument Ave. has a plot of sorts--will Bobby, the small time car thief Leary plays, turn on his boss Jackie played by Colm Meany who has everyone around him terrorized into silence as his henchmen kill anyone who crosses him, leaving a host of grieving mothers in their wake. For Bobby this betrayal would mean going against a code of silence that has ruled his neighborhood--insular, parochial Charlestown, MA, fifteen minutes from downtown Boston but for Bobby and the rest of the characters, townies all, a thousand miles away for all intents and purposes--and his life. So in effect, as all tragedies, are, Monument Ave. is a morality play, where to do the right thing means going against all your culture and society has said is correct. Monument Ave. is a small film, one that appropriately enough airs every so often IFC, and has all the strengths that can come with a small film. Excellent performances by a strong cast, Leary in particular, but also Ian Hart, probably best known for playing John Lennon in both The Hours and The Times and Backbeat, Famke Janssen showing probably for the first time that she was not simply eye candy, and in one of his first screen roles, Billy Cruddup. Monument Ave. is no Chinatown or even Mean Streets, its aspirations and intents are much smaller, more economical, but as a finely tuned portrait of an imperfect character coming to some moral stance, one that carries consequences he could never envision, this is a film well worth seeing.

A great role for Leary in "Monument Avenue".......2004-02-25

I bought "Monument Avenue" on a whim. I'm a Denis Leary fan, and was interested to see how Leary performed in the role of an Irish thug type. It's a fitting role for Leary. He was properly cast as Bobby, a small time car thief. Leary excelled at the role, coming off as very authentic. I agree with the other reviewer who said Leary doesn't have to play piss and moan roles to shine.

Customer Reviews:

Same As It Ever Was.......2004-09-14

THE WAR AT HOME is a very strong film somewhat marred by its one-sidedness. Almost everybody interviewed participated in the Vietnam antiwar movement, and most of them participated from the time they first arrived in Madison. The film could have strengthened its case by giving more time to backers of American involvement in Vietnam and people who experienced a transition from one side to the other. A few are featured--my favorite is campus police chief Ralph Hansen--but the preponderance come from the protesters.

No matter how it's presented, however, the case would be equally strong. By the time American involvement in VN ceased in 1973, 65-70% of the U.S. population thought the war was a mistake. Over the passage of 30+ years, it's become clear they were right.

I love the documentary footage in THE WAR AT HOME, the carefully-constructed chronology that puts the Madison protests in the context of the US war effort, the sense of administration refusal to engage with a growing antiwar movement, the pointless sacrifice of 58,000 young Americans, (not to mention who-knows-how-many million Vietnamese), the divisions among Americans (which were sometimes cynically exploited by LBJ and Nixon, although the film doesn't go into much detail about that), the fiasco of the Army Math bombing.

Parallels with the current mess in Iraq are obvious, notably the arrogance of the U.S. administration in going in in the first place, the lying to convince the nation of the danger of WMD, the current floundering for a workable policy. The only "upside" so far, thank God, is that the Iraq death toll is nowhere near that of Vietnam--currently 1,000 American dead, 7,000 wounded, 10,000+ Iraqi dead. (Of course, that's no comfort to the dead, wounded, and their families. And all current western analysis suggests that it will only get worse.) Seeing THE WAR AT HOME appalls me at how little the current administration learned from the bloodshed in Southeast Asia and the difficulties in fighting against guerrillas.

Books which cover some of the same ground include Tom Bates' out-of-print RADS, about the New Year's Gang which bombed the AMRC, and David Maraniss' THEY MARCHED INTO SUNLIGHT, which juxtaposes the 1967 Madison Dow Day protests with a terrible battle in Vietnam, both occurring on the same day in October, 1967. An interesting fact: current VP Dick Cheney, one of the prime movers behind Iraq who still hasn't admitted publicly that there are no WMD, was a grad student in Madison in 1967, famously pursuing "other priorities" than the antiwar movement. According to Maraniss, he looked at the protests as a useless distraction and a waste of time. I only wish he had REALLY learned something at the University of Wisconsin.

THE WAR AT HOME is a fine historical film with unhappy resonances in 2004.

And the Beat Goes On.......2003-03-24

I was a graduate student at the UW/Madison during the period that this film covers. It shows the history and development of the anti-war movement with a great deal of accuracy. (Not perfectly accurate, but very close.)

Nothing could adequately portray the frustration, anger and betrayal felt by many students and faculty as the war dragged on, no matter what they did, and no matter how many died in Viet-Nam. This was also the period of the spread of the war to Cambodia, the assassination of Martin Luther King, the Chicago Democratic Convention Police Riots, and the Kent State killintgs. Considering all of this, the film does an excellent job of not becoming bogged down in emotion, yet letting the viewer know that it is there.

The tragic bombing of the Army Math Research Center by 4 angry but naive students put a terrible pall on peace activites in Madison, as everyone was horrified by the death of a graduate student who was in the building. However, it did not end the movement, and eventually peace was achieved.

An extremely timely film today (review updated 12/28/06), when many of the same people (and many others as well) have felt it necessary after more than 30 years to return to the streets and their communities to protest another war.

I have found this film very moving personally, but have also found it very useful as a teacher, to give my students a feeling for what that time was like, what some of the issues were, and how people felt, acted, and re-acted. Not to mention any parallels with today,

The War at Home: History at it's Darkest.......1999-03-27

The War at Home is a moving story about America's turbulent mid-decades. It is a documentary of Madison, Wisconsin's infamous ROTC bombing, an event overshadowed by the Kent-State massacre. In 1969, after riots swept Madison, several students from University of Wisconsin Madison set off a bomb in the army's mathematics labratory. They then proceeded to hijack a plane and drop a dud-bomb on the army's Badger ammunition plant in Baraboo, Wisconsin. The War at Home is the moving story of the anti-war riots leading up to the ROTC bombing, and the hunt for the suspects of the bombing. Where were you?

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An absolute essential. . .
Like a dream, like a painting brought to wonderful life
The most beautiful movie I've ever seen.
"... good or bad, handsome or ugly, rich or poor, they are all equal now".
Wonderful period piece

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ASIN: B00000J2KR
Release Date: 1999-06-29

Amazon.com

Customer Reviews:

An absolute essential. . ........2007-09-17

Like a dream, like a painting brought to wonderful life.......2007-08-14

The most beautiful movie I've ever seen........2007-07-08

"... good or bad, handsome or ugly, rich or poor, they are all equal now"........2007-05-19