RIFLE RANGE BOY

Eyes Wide Shut (1999) Director: Stanley Kubrik There are many versions of Hinduism and their search for the truth and attainment of blissfulness. The Vaishvanaites seem to think that the conversation between the charioteer and his Master encompasses all questions of life whilst the Shaivaites accept the union of the male and female counterpart of Nature as the way to reach peace. A different group of Tantric followers refer to a time when Shiva is said to be in a carnal embrace with Shakti as bliss. The lustful union of male and female is described as like a serpentine union that arise from the base of the spine to reach its peak as it reaches the brain to give a feeling of complete enlightenment called Kundalini. Interestingly, the medical caduceus uses the picture of a pair of snakes coiled around a twig as a symbol of a human body in perfect health! The right-sided snake refers to the male component whilst the left is the feminine part. No, said yet another group. The left p...

Full Metal Jacket (1987) Producer and Director: Stanley Kubrik Normally I do not fancy watching combat movies- people (on the enemy line) dying aimlessly but the Americans rarely do, and when they do, it would be a great deal which would beg for revenge! But this one is different!  It is an anti-war movie that looks at the Vietnam War from a satirical view. It highlights the contradiction of man, the duality of man, just like the main character who wears a 'PEACE' sign on his uniform and the word 'Born to Kill' on his helmet.  Another trigger happy soldier bears the words 'I am become death' on his helmet, apparently a quote from Bhagavadgita. The soldiers could not understand why they were fighting for the same people who hate their guts and presence there. The Americans go on a shooting spree targeting farmers, women and children from atop a flying helicopter with no qualms. The film shows the initial training of soldiers under extreme conditions with ...

Dr. Strangelove - or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) Director: Stanley Kubrik A satirical look at the world superpowers who seem more interested in annihilating each other rather than policing the world and living in harmony. The seed of destruction seem to have planted from the time we, Man, either as Adam and Eve or as primordial ancestors started walking this Earth. This British-American black comedy showcasing the ever versatile Peter Sellers in 3 roles - a bumbling Army officer, a handicapped ex-Nazi German scientist and as the President. Peter Sellers The special effects seen here are a pale comparison to what Hollywood and other studios have to offer these days, nevertheless, the film is quite entertaining if you are looking for a different brand of clean dark humour.

Lolita (1962) Director: Stanley Kubrick Another controversial movie made in the early 60s involving incestuous pubescent love. It is an adaptation of a Russian story. Still, due to the sensitivities of the general public of that era, the screenplay had to be altered significantly, and many scenes were just suggestive dialogues left to the imagination of the viewer. Humbert Humbert (James Mason) is a European 40 something divorced professor who has some time before starting his stint in the university. He rents a room from a promiscuous widow (Charlotte, Shelly Winters) just because he fancies the precocious teenage daughter (Lolita, Sue Leon). He gets along well with them while writing his book and joining in the family outings. The landlady forthrightly expresses her feelings to our professor while the daughter is sent off to a summer camp. They marry. An argument breaks out when Charlotte reads his diary. Here, he had written his desires for his stepdaughter and had ...

A Clockwork Orange (1971) Director: Stanley Kubrik Stanley Kubrik is one heck of a director who seem put his hand in many various genre of movies. Just like many of his films, Clockwork Orange received contrasting reviews when it came out, ranging from being a pornography to a stroke of genius. Pretty soon they were in the same level as being a classic. The story is from Anthony Burgess' 1962 book of the same name. Alex is a socio-path teenager of a futuristic London who finds sheer pleasure in hanging around a milk bar and going around beating people up just for the kick of it. He plays truant from school and bullies his gang members too. One day as he and his friends were trying to hoodwink a lady to get into her house, the police is alerted. His gang members double crossed him and Alex ends up in jail alone. As his last victim dies, he is imprisoned for 14 years. He goes along with his chores in prison as a helper to a pastor. With his help, he manages to be a vo...

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) Director:Stanley Kubrik Phew! That is what I told myself. This film is the perfect example how a good quality film just blows your mind. It is not difficult to understand why such an offering with so much of silence, dearth of dialogue and good old Johann Strauss II's Blue Danube orchestral music goes a long way to have an impact to its audience than all the marvel of pyrotechnics and nonsensical exhibition of flesh can do. This 1968 offering has a cult like following and conspiracy theorist have targeted Kubrik (the director and co-screenplay writer with Arthur C Clark) of having a hand to staging the televised screening of the moon landing that never happened! This flick is indeed a classic with its cinematography far ahead of its time. The story is divided into 4 parts and for a good part of it is left to our imagination. This epic has been the precursor for many sci-fi movies to come after that, eg. Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Star War...