So much average

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Jan Harlan, a producer for the films of Stanley Kubrick since 1975's BARRY LYNDON, has put together an amazing documentary on the masterful filmmaker. The film covers Kubricks entire career, giving ample time to discuss each of his films as well as any controversy or production issues surrounding them. Narrated by Tom Cruise (star of Kubrick's final film, EYES WIDE SHUT), the nearly 2.5 hour documentary is an in-depth discussion that brings together those who worked closely with Kubrick throughout the years, including Harlan himself, Jack Nicholson, Malcolm McDowell, and Sir Arthur C. Clarke. The behind-the-scenes information in regards to how Kubrick sought to achieve his masterful visions or bring out the best in his actors is nothing new if you've watch the supplemental material available on the DVDs for Kubrick's film, but the best of the film comes in the form of Kubrick's personal life. The documentary includes rare footage of Kubrick at home with his wife and children and we are given the chance to see him in a different light: that of a caring husband and occasionally strict father. The material can become a bit dry and it's a bit longer than necessary, but there's a lot of information to cover and it's sure to satisfy fans of one of the world's most masterful filmmakers.

Nobody denies that Stanley Kubrick was a unique director, one of the best ever of those who worked in the United States, and that the story of his life and his pictures is something really interesting and worth seeing. I had devoured a book about Kubrick's films before, and I was absolutely fascinated. But I am not supposed to review Stanley Kubrick but this movie about him.I rate it only 5 out of 10 because in my opinion it is too long but at the same time does not take its time to deal with the individual films – there are too many of them (although Kubrick himself is stated to have considered them too few!). Maybe they should have decided to concentrate on particular aspects of Kubrick's work. The interviewees are credited only by their functions not by their names, so we often do not know who we have in front of us. And altogether, as this film was made as a huge homage to Kubrick after his death, it is much too glorifying, too humble and too full of devotion. And hymns of praise sung to somebody else is not what one wants to hear for 135 minutes throughout.

Not a single interview with Stanley Kubrick features in this documentary about him. However the list of collaborators is so long and deep this hardly matters. There are glimpses of him at work on several films while his collaborators describe the experience. The film must have been meticulously researched as there is such a wealth of detail to enjoy. The three scenes that stand out are the excerpt from his first feature film - The Killing; the f/0.7 lens used to shoot Barry Lyndon and the footage of him as a boy at the end of the film. At the end you are left feeling that you have learned so much about Kubrick yet he somehow escapes definition; he remains elusive, mysterious even. An excellent portrait of a brilliant man.

I only have two problems with this otherwise fantastic documentary: Tom Cruise's narration and the fact that EVERYONE he worked with (actors, producers, studio heads) just praised and praised the man as a "difficult but genius" force. From what I've read, there are probably several hundred people who hated him when he was alive. He was especially cruel to Shelley Duvall, and I've read interviews with her when Kubrick was ALIVE, who said making The Shining was the worst experience of her life. Now, in this documentary, she talks about how she has absolutely no regrets, because it made her "smarter." Maybe so. But more than likely there would have been a completely different attitude if this documentary had been made while he was still alive. And Tom Cruise's narration--I kept hearing "I worked with the greatest director of all time on his last movie, so there!" in his self-important narration. Malcolm McDowell would have been a more appropriate choice, in my opinion, as the humble narrator. But all in all, this is an excellent examination of a brilliant mind, a trade photographer who made arguably the greatest string of films in the history of cinema, from Lolita to The Shining (at least in my humble opinion).