- Paperback: 384 pages
- Publisher: WW Norton; Rev Exp edition (Sep 28 2000)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0393321193
- ISBN-13: 978-0393321197
- Product Dimensions: 25.2 x 18.4 x 2.4 cm
- Shipping Weight: 1 Kg
- Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
-
Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
#39,218 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #7 in Books > Health, Mind & Body > Exercise & Fitness > Alexander Technique
- #7 in Books > Arts & Photography > Photography > Cinematography
- #27 in Books > Entertainment > Movies > Biographies
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
A longtime friend of Kubrick's who remembers the days when the great director was mysteriously collecting Japanese science fiction movies in what turned out to be preparation for 2001, Walker rankled Warner Bros. and the Kubrick estate when he printed a rave review of Eyes Wide Shut weeks before the movie was released. In this book, he offers a similarly enthusiastic tour through the Kubrick oeuvre, from the first film (Fear and Desire, 1953) to the last (Eyes Wide Shut, 1999). Walker describes Kubrick as a guarded, suspicious, obsessive, controlling, paranoid workaholic, and makes us feel that he's bestowing a compliment. Each movie is given a thorough analysis, reinforced by the extensive use of stills in each case. He explains what that black obelisk in 2001 is and elaborates the various parallels between Kubrick and the character Jack Torrance in the filming of The Shining. Perhaps unavoidably, however, the section on Eyes Wide Shut seems merely to be a synopsis and lacks the detachment and detail that characterize the other chapters. One can only wish that Walker had waited for some critical perspective on his friend's final work. Nevertheless, its eulogistic tone aside, Kubrick fans everywhere will relish this as the definitive book on the director. (Sept.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
One of many books on the director published this year, the revised and expanded edition of Walker's Stanley Kubrick Directs (LJ 12/71) was obviously timed to coincide with the highly anticipated mid-July release of his last film, Eyes Wide Shut. In addition to detailed analysis and background on his 13 films, the study contains a biography, an examination of the use of color in the films, and Walker's recollections of his friend in "Stanley: A Postscript," an excerpt of which was published in the Sunday Telegraph after Kubrick's untimely death in March. Walker employs solid research and film analysis skills, but he fails to capture his subject's essence, as he did in his celebrity biographies of Garbo, Dietrich, Leigh, and Rex Harrison, among others. The use of such hyperbole as "in recent years he has grown a ruff of black beard that adds a visible dimension of inscrutability to a disposition whose self-sufficiency seems at times almost monastic" ultimately results in reader apathy. John Baxter's Stanley Kubrick: A Biography (LJ 10/15/97) remains the best recent book on the enigmatic, driven, visionary director and his work. Recommended only for comprehensive performing arts collections.ABruce Henson, Georgia Inst. of Technology, Atlanta
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
First Sentence
Only a few film directors possess a conceptual talent-that is, a talent to crystallize every film they make into a cinematic concept. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
Only a few film directors possess a conceptual talent-that is, a talent to crystallize every film they make into a cinematic concept. Read the first page
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items. |
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most helpful customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great book on a complex genius,
By "weirdo_87" (Rancho Cucamonga, CA USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Stanley Kubrick Director (Paperback)
"Stanley Kubrick, Director" is probably the best book I have read yet on this great, but often debated about, filmmaker (I have yet to read Ciment's book, though, which I hear is much better) Kubrick was known for making controversial movies being "harsh" to his actors. The films examined in this book are his most well known and cover his various themes about humanity: "Fail Safe" machines going haywire (Dr. Strangelove), the dehumanization of men into machines and vice versa (2001, A Clockwork Orange, Full Metal Jacket) and man in collision with destiny and the past (Barry Lyndon, The Shining). To date, this is the only major book made with the cooperation of Kubrick himself. The photographs in each chapter are taken from still frames from the actual films. The author provides brief summaries for each photograph, showing its use of lighting, camera placement or relation to another Kubrick film (Slow Motion shots, light used is from the light source one would expect at the actual location). According to the author, anything in Kubrick's movies has symbolism or some meaning to it, and this is where the book's only flaw is. Camera angles, lighting, set design and decoration even phrases numbers and placements of objects can be interpreted to have some meaning. He also has interesting ideas about the movies (One of my favorites is his belief that the soldiers in Full Metal Jacket's boot camp are lab mice being experimented and reconditioned on). However, this can also be very, very helpful to understand the films more. The author shows that each Kubrick film can have more depth than meets the eye (If you still think "2001" is only about boredom, you need this book). Just make sure you have seen the movies before reading for there are major plot spoilers.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Not definitive but still intriguing,
This review is from: Stanley Kubrick Director Revised And Expanded (Hardcover)
This is an interesting book, with a huge number of photographs detailing most of Kubrick's films. (The only ones not examined in depth are 'Fear and Desire,' 'Killer's Kiss,' 'The Killing,' 'Spartacus,' and 'Lolita.') The book is organized chronologically, with a small section in the middle of the book about Kubrick's use of color and an epilogue detailing Walker's personal encounters with Kubrick at the end. It is fun to read about Walker's stories about Kubrick, which shed some all-too-needed light on the personal life and motivations of the reclusive filmmaker.On the whole, Walker's analyses of Kubrick's films are good, not great: I think he is really off-base in praising Tom Cruise's acting in 'Eyes Wide Shut' and in denigrating Kubrick's use of the occult in 'The Shining.' However, his analyses of 'Barry Lyndon' and 'Full Metal Jacket' were astute, and he successfully links certain themes and motifs throughout all of Kubrick's films. Finally, although normally I don't like a huge amount of pictures in a book because of how they always jack up the price, here the pictures are well-chosen and either help jog your memory about the films or help you understand them if you haven't seen them. I will say that some of the pictures were much larger than they needed to be - I didn't need a full two-page spread of the atomic bomb exploding in 'Dr. Strangelove' - but that's a minor criticism. All in all, a generally fun book.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Full Paper Jacket,
By
This review is from: Stanley Kubrick Director (Paperback)
This may be, as the notes above claim, the "mostcomprehensive" book yet written on Kubrick. And it's clear the author's personal relationship with him enhances understanding of his films. But it's also obvious that the book was rushed onto the shelves to capitalize on the publicity surrounding Kubrick's last film and the director's death -- unless, of course, the typos and printer errors are an artistic statement about mankind's pointless quest for perfection... The strongest part of the book is in finding subtle But the writing is occasionally overblown, presenting An But there is also some really
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Want to see more reviews on this item?
|
Most recent customer reviews |
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
