It appears that Steven Spielberg has officially taken it upon himself to finish Stanley Kubrick’s life’s work.  The Lincoln director is developing another one of Kubrick’s projects, this time for the small screen.  Napoleon is perhaps the most famous of the 2001: A Space Odyssey helmer’s unrealized films, with Kubrick having conducted massive amounts of research for the biopic on the French Emperor, only to see the project canceled due to the hefty cost of location filming.  Hit the jump for more on what Spielberg had to say about Napoleon.

Opening this weekend is director Steven Soderbergh’s psychological thriller Side Effects.  Written by Scott Z. Burns (Contagion, The Informant!), the film is about “a successful New York couple (Rooney Mara and Channing Tatum) whose world unravels when a new drug prescribed by Emily’s psychiatrist (Jude Law)—intended to treat anxiety—has unexpected side effects.”  The film also stars Catherine Zeta-Jones and Vinessa Shaw.

At the recent Los Angeles press day I landed an exclusive interview with Vinessa Shaw.  While we were scheduled to talk about her work in Side Effects, we actually spent a lot of time talking about one of her other projects: Stanley Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut (she played a small but significant role as an HIV-positive prostitute).  As a huge fan of Kubrick (like all of you) I figured it would be cool to hear some behind-the-scenes stories about the making of his last film.  Of course we also talked about Side Effects, her work on CBS’ Vegas, and her next film, Electric Slide.  Read or listen to what she had to say after the jump.

During the late 1980s, a generation of American boys went to war in Vietnam. Doing so, however, didn’t require any basic training or an actual tour of duty. Nope, all that was required was a working VCR and a VHS copy of any one of the squad of Vietnam War-era movies available at the local mom and pop video store. Seriously, I can’t remember a single birthday party from that time that didn’t involve a screening of Good Morning, Vietnam or Hamburger Hill or Platoon. But the Vietnam War movie that has always lingered strongest in my memory – the one that looked different and felt different from the others – was Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket.  Hit the jump for my review of the 25th anniversary Blu-ray.

Stanley Kubrick was a master screenwriter and director.  While Kubrick sadly passed away in 1999, his undeveloped screenplays live on.  Today, eOne Television International (Hell on Wheels) has announced that producers Steven Lanning and Philip Hobbs will develop two television projects, Downslope and God Fearing Man, based on screenplays by Kubrick.  eOne doesn’t specify if these projects will be TV movies or if Kubrick’s screenplays will be the launching point for a series or mini-series.  Hobbs previously served as a co-producer on Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket.

Hit the jump for the press release, which contains more details on Downslope and God Fearing Man.

Stanley Kubrick‘s The Shining is about characters who are drawn into madness by their surroundings.  Rodney Ascher‘s Room 237 is about film critics who are drawn into madness by The Shining.  Films that offer up numerous interpretations are like crack to film critics.  Movies that are so broad that any interpretation is valid are like bad crack, but a film like The Shining, a film helmed by a notoriously meticulous director and filled with unexplained mysteries and symbolism, is the best kind of film critic crack there is.  Room 237 is both a celebration and pointed critique of film criticism.  The movie shows how people can think big and expand their minds by thinking deeply and passionately.  It also shows how our minds can run away from us and how we’ll twist a movie apart in order to fit our theory rather and not realize that our argument is crazier than Jack Torrance.

Rochester, New York’s Dryden Theater will be showing a special presentation of Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining on October 22nd at 8:00pm.  But what makes this presentation even more special is that it will include the original coda to the movie.  The coda played in a few theaters back when the film was first released in 1980, but Kubrick went back in and edited it out.  Kurbick was meticulously about editing his films and he famously (or perhaps infamously) went back and removed 19 minutes from 2001: A Space Odyssey after its original premiere.

If you want to know what’s contained in the coda, hit the jump.  If you live in the New York area and want to check out this screening (and you should), The Dryden Theatre box office opens 45 minutes before a given screening. [Update: The Dryden Theatre has informed us that the movie will not include the original coda.  The print being shown is the 142-minute extended U.S. version that includes footage Mr. Kubrick subsequently cut from the European release.]

Two Kubrick films left out of the original Kubrick Box set and Papillon. What do these films have in common? All three have recently been put out by Warner Brothers. For Lolita and Barry Lyndon, it’s a bare bones affair, but for Papillon, it’s got a nice book casing, and a period featurette. Actually with Papillon the best supplement is the packaging itself. Still, these are catalog films that it’s good to see on the format, and our reviews of Lolita, Barry Lyndon and Papillon on Blu-ray follow after the jump.

Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange is often a touchy subject between myself and some of my film-enthusiast friends. As a fan of the film, I often find myself defending its audacity and sense of humor as a satirical work. In return, some of my aforementioned friends point to the film’s iconic “Singin’ in the Rain” scene in arguing two things: 1) the film goes too far in making its “point” and 2) that I have a sick sense of humor.

Regardless of your feelings towards the film and/or that particular scene, it’s hard to deny the unsettling first impression and lasting impact that they have on you as an audience member. As a result, I was delighted to hear Malcolm McDowell describe the five-day shoot that eventually lead to the controversial scene in his own words. Even if you’ve already read our interview with McDowell and Leon Vitali (if you haven’t, be sure to check it out by clicking here), I recommend hitting the jump to see the former talk about the events that helped lead to one of Kubrick’s most memorable scenes.

Last week I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Malcolm McDowell and Leon Vitali for the upcoming 40^th Anniversary Blu-Ray edition of Stanley Kubrick’s seminal sci-fi satire, A Clockwork Orange, which hits stores on May 31^st.  While most of you know McDowell from his career defining turn as Alex in Kubrick’s film, Vitali is also an important part in the filmmaker’s legacy. After first collaborating with Kubrick on Barry Lyndon, where he played the role of Lord Bullingdon, Vitali became a friend and adviser to the iconoclastic director. After Kubrick’s death, Vitali was put in charge of the DVD restoration of all of Kubrick’s films.

We got to chat for about an hour, so this interview is loaded with great information on both the artistic elements of acting in a film and the technical minutia of actually making a film. We discussed everything from the invention of Steadicam, to Kubrick’s often blunt interactions with actors, to Anthony Burgess’s original thoughts on the film adaptation of his novel, and much, much more.  Hit the jump for the full interview.

We’re nearly ten years on from A.I.: Artificial Intelligence, and Steven Spielberg’s fusion with Stanley Kubrick’s sensibilities is still a challenging and worthwhile film to revisit. We’re also now fifty-five years on from Cecil B. DeMille’s gorgeous take on The Ten Commandants, a film that has survived the test of time – partly by being shown on network television repeatedly. Both are now available on Blu-ray, and both are worth looking into. My review of both films on Blu-ray follow after the jump.

Some folks last year were dismayed that Warner Bros released no-frills, theatrical-version-only Blu-rays for Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy.  They complained they were being ripped off by a product no one was forcing them to buy.  But with The Hobbit finally moving forward and Warner Bros. wanting to put Middle-Earth back in the minds of audiences, it looks like the Extended Editions might be on the way.  The Digital Bits reports that they have sources at Warner Home Video and New Line Cinema saying that Warner Bros. is planning to release The Lord of the Rings Trilogy: Extended Editions on Blu-ray this year.  It’s currently unknown whether these editions will have new special features or if Peter Jackson will oversee the transfers.  If I had to guess, I would say these Blu-rays will have the same special features as the DVDs and if we’re getting more LOTR special features, it probably won’t be until there’s an “Ultimate” set which also includes The Hobbit.

The Digital Bits says to expect an announcement on the Extended Edition Blu-rays in the next several weeks along with an Blu-ray announcement for Stanley Kubrick’s Lolita and Barry Lyndon.

Legendary actor Robert Duvall has condemned “the great Stanley Kubrick” as an “actors enemy”.   The fiery exclamation came  during a round table interview with THR after it was revealed that director David Fincher frequently took around fifty takes to get the perfect shot whilst filming The Social Network. Fellow interviewees Mark Ruffalo and Jesse Eisenberg laugh (perhaps with disdain?) as Duvall compares Fincher to Kubrick. No doubt a comparison like that would normally be considered flattering, but Duvall continued, dismissing the performances in such classics as The Shining and A Clockwork Orange as “the worst performances I’ve ever seen in movies”. Hit the jump for more.

Criterion has announced their October releases and they’ve lined up some great titles including Wes Anderson’s The Darjeeling Limited, Ingmar Bergman’s The Magician, Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai, Stanley Kubrick’s Paths of Glory, and Nobuhiko Obayashi’s 1977 film House.  Criterion has provided us with high resolution front and back cover art as well as details on each release.  Hit the jump to take a look.  All are being released on DVD and Blu-ray:

Between Carlito’s Way and Spartacus on Blu-ray we see the greatness and weakness of Blu. When it comes to modern films – and with more films shot digitally – you don’t find a lot of recent films that look bad on the format. And even if a film is still shot on film (even 16mm, as with The Wrestler) the material is supervised by the makers, and the source material is going to be pristine. But when it comes to older films, the material can be lacking, and decisions can be made to smooth out or remove grain. With many of the creative team behind these films no longer with us, you could argue there’s no right answer, just preference. And then you have the case of The French Connection where the director changes the color palette on what appears to be his whim. No one’s going to complain about Carlito’s Way’s transfer, but a number of people are pissed off at Universal for the Spartacus Blu-ray, while others think it looks fine. My reviews of Spartacus and Carlito’s Way on Blu-ray are after the jump.

The late Oscar-winning director Stanley Kubrick held high esteem for years while he was still alive, and now that he has since passed, Hollywood isn’t ready to let his genius slip away. Philco Films is prepping three properties based on scripts by Kubrick, according to Screen Daily, and they seem to reflect the late film-maker’s varied career. The first will be a large-scale Civil War film entitled Downslope. The second, Lunatic At Large, will star Scarlett Johansson and Sam Rockwell, and the third is a TV series called God Fearing Man that revolves around a famous bank robber in the early 20th century.

Philco Films isn’t aiming low with any of these properties either, as they are targeting A-list casts and crew to bring these three pieces to life. For a more detailed look at each project and the plans behind them, hit the jump.