Stanley Kubrick: Visionary Filmmaker Collection [Blu-ray] [1962] [Region Free]

My brother adored this. He's collecting all the box sets of films and TV shows from his youth that he can!

The films are all unique and brilliant. These are the films which all sit inside the top 100 films ever made. The quality of these blu ray releases is wonderful. 2001 is the film to show to mates when they are umming and ahhing about upgrading to blu ray. the picture is sharp enough to cut the eyeballs and is truly breathtaking. Also, Lolita and Barry Lyndon were previously unavailable on blu and make their debut here. Barry Lyndon is one of my very favorite films (it also has my favorite cinematography of any Kubrick film) so I was very pleased about this, it often gets overlooked but I would personally put it a nose ahead of full metal jacket and EWS. The extras are more than enough on the discs but also included is a whole documentary which is in depth about Kubrick on disc 8. At triple the asking price it would still be a reasonable buy but at this price it is literally a steal - about £3 a film. I have many of these on DVD but at this price I just had to upgrade. If you are even slightly into Kubrick you will without a doubt come back to these films again and again. I'm not wishing to be dramatic but its a price so low its almost criminal. I saw The Shining for sale in a well known entertainment outlet last week and it was £14.99 on normal DVD with all the extras included here, that is two thirds the price of this collection which has 6 times as many films (all in High definition), a documentary and a small book!!!! Buying this at the current price is a steal and even if somehow you haven't seen all the films included just go ahead and buy it I swear you won't be disappointed. So amazed by the price was I that I researched the Blu ray releases to make sure they were not really poor restorations and transfers but this is far from the case = all are known to be good while a few (2001 & The Shining) are noted as being outstanding eye popping transfers. In summary get your hands on this before they sell out and then put the price back up to a reasonable amount, which should surely be about £10 a film. Get it .... Quick !!!

Where to begin with this? 7 films covering 4 decades from one of the greatest directors of all time, Stanley Kubrick. Lolita is the first film in the set, shot in black and white and starring James Mason as a man who becomes obsessed with a teenage girl and also starring Peter Sellars and Shelley Winters, it's a very black comedy, hilarious in places, chilling in others with excellent performances from the whole cast. 2001: A Space Odyssey is next, one of the greatest scifi films of all time, hardly any dialogue but beautiful to look at like all Kubrick's work really about the evolution of man from primitive ape to the journey into space after the discovery of a mysterious black monolith. Next, A Clockwork Orange. Another classic scifi film starring Malcom Mcdowell as a young violent psychopath in the future who gets brainwashed by the government to try and cure him. Darkly funny with Mcdowell giving his best performance. Barry Lyndon sees an 18th century gambler rise up from commoner to gentleman with a title only to lose it all. Perhaps Kubrick's most underrated film, this period drama is a work of art. The Shining sees Jack Nicholson look after a hotel in the middle of a snow storm with his family only to find out the hotel is haunted. One of the best horror films of all time and one of Kubrick's best with Nicholson giving one of his best performances. Full Metal Jacket sees a group of marines training for then being sent to the Vietnam war in one of the all time great war films while last is Eyes Wide Shut, Kubrick's final film before he died and one of his more underrated films about a New York doctor who discovers a bizarre cult. A very adult drama about relationships and not a Hollywood porno starring Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman that many thought it was at the time. A fantastic set of films, and all classics but despite this, Kubrick's best work not in the set as they were done by another studio showing just how good Kubrick was with tons of documentaries about Kubrick and the making of the films too, this set is a must buy for any serious film fan.

1. Lolita- James Mason puts in an excellent performance as a dirty old pervert academic who immediately takes a shine to his landlady's young teenage daughter. Obviously, there are no graphic images but even so, it was somehow distinctly cringe-worthy just watching it. For example, Lolita gets sent to a summer camp, much to Mason's annoyance, called 'Camp Climax for Girls.' 3.5/52. 2001- A Space Odyssey- Classic and very influential film that has inspired countless other sci-fi movies over the years. Released in 1968 it must have literally blown people's minds as it was so far ahead of its time. Now obviously, it comes across as dated, but there's still much to enjoy in this film, focusing mainly on a space expedition to Jupiter where the on-board computer 'Hal' begins to malfunction and break down. 4.5/53. A Clockwork Orange- Acid trip of a film in which Macdowell goes from a gnag murderer to a totally reformed character after receiving some unorthodox new treatment. But is he really cured? 4/54. Barry Lyndon- Epic tale of a penniless chancer who goes from rags to riches and then back again 3.5/55.The Shining- Absolute classic- Nicholson and Duvall put in excellent performances in this dark occultic tale of cabin fever, isolated alone as they are for the winter in the deserted 'Overlook' hotel which has been constructed directly on top of ancient native American burial grounds. 5/56. Full Metal Jacket- For me, too much focus on the harshness of the marine training period, where the drill sergeant gives the new recruits hell, culminating in dire results.3.5/57. Eyes Wide Shut- Good performances from Cruise and Kidman make this film distinctly watchable but it could have gone so much further into the dark side of the elite underworld. 3.5/5