u/Icy-Show6190

i've always been a pretty big fan of kubrick, the shining is my favorite movie ever made and so last night i went ahead and watched two other movies by kubrick which are pretty well-known, full metal jacket and 2001: a space odyssey
i loved both and i think the viewing experience cemented stanley as my all-time favorite director
here's my ranking of them;
>!#1. The Shining, 1980 - as said before, this is my favorite movie ever made, and i have a deep attachment to it as it was one of the first horror movies i ever saw. i adore the way that every single frame of this movie is literal cinematic perfection and every single moment and shot seems so carefully framed and laid out. this film was undoubtedly kubrick at the top of his game as a director. the performances given by jack nicholson and especially shelley duvall are also some of the best in any movie i've ever seen, and the child acting by danny lloyd is genuinely exceptional. this is one of the only films i have ever seen which i would genuinely describe as being perfect.!<
>!#2. Full Metal Jacket, 1987 - this movie really surprised me with how realistic it was in its depiction of war. i'll be fully honest, i had seen the first half about boot camp before, so i already knew and was expecting what happened to leonard, but even without that part catching me off guard, the bleak, depressing atmosphere of the vietnam war and the futility in everything that occurs in the second half really made an impact on me. what really makes this film stand out as not only a great war movie, but especially as a great anti-war movie, is in the way that there is never really any big victory or happy moment. in every single combat scene to my memory, a member of the lusthog squad dies, and even in the final scene when they get the sniper, it doesn't feel especially noteworthy or good. the way that you are forced to look at the sniper as she writhes on the ground in pain begging to be shot makes it feel more haunting and cruel than anything else; and this futility and lack of any real achievement is emblematic of the vietnam war as a whole. fantastic movie which really spoke on the horror and futility of war.!<
>!#3. 2001: A Space Odyssey, 1968 - this movie was not at all what i was expecting and i have a lot to say about it. i had heard all about HAL 9000 and going in, i thought he was going to be an antagonistic presence from beginning to end. instead, i was met with the dawn of man sequence, and a full 20 minutes of zero dialogue and not even any human actors on screen. admittedly, this sequence somewhat bored me, until the black monolith showed up, and i started to understand. as far as i'm aware, the monolith is meant to symbolize evolution, because after it shows up, the apes who touched it begin to utilize tools and fend off the ones who had not evolved to wield tools to secure access of the water hole, symbolizing survival of the fittest. after this sequence, i was met with the shots of space, which are amazingly realistic for a film made in the 60s. a common criticism of this film is that everything is so slow, but it's probably the most realistic depiction of space i've ever seen in a sci-fi movie. in space, things aren't exactly very fast. my favorite part of the film by far was the jupiter mission aboard the discovery one, mostly because this is where my favorite character in the movie comes in; HAL 9000. the voice acting for this character, and the way that it is so monotone and blank was genuinely fantastic, and his turn as a villain was also very interesting. as is stated many times throughout the film, the 9000 series has a perfect operational record, so my interpretation is that these computers are built and coded with the impression that they must be perfect. so this means when HAL makes a mistake and begins to malfunction, he literally can't even process the concept that it might have been an error on his part. the sequence where HAL is disconnected is genuinely disturbing, the way that HAL pleads with dave and is presumably panicking but has no way of conveying that through his tone, and so continues to speak in the same monotone is honestly frightening and made me feel really bad for him. jupiter and beyond the infinite is where the movie really surprised me, though. the stargate sequence was wonderfully abstract and existentially horrific, and the ending scene in that weird white room was arguably even more abstract and almost liminal in a way. one thing i love about the ending to this film is how it ditches almost all aspects of conventional filmmaking. there is no more dialogue, and dave seems to somehow see his older self while also being present as his younger self, but then suddenly his younger self is gone. then suddenly the monolith appears and dave becomes a fetus...? it's very disorienting, i'm not quite sure i even understand the ending as of right now, and i honestly love it for that. the ending to this movie literally had me saying "what??" out loud multiple times.!<

so uh, yeah that's my yap fest on these. if there are any other kubrick films you think i should check out, lemme know below ig.