Last week I gave myself a gift that has been occupying my time. I bought The Stanley Kubrick Director’s Series collection from Warner Home Video. The set contains the last five films of Kubrick’s life, minus the poorly-received BARRY LYNDON – 2001:A SPACE ODYSSEY, A CLOCKWORK ORANGE, THE SHINING, FULL METAL JACKET, and EYES WIDE SHUT.

I had seen most of these films at some point in my life, but none in many years. Amazingly, I have never owned a Kubrick film in any form. I must admit, placing this set in my collection is much like owning an original Monet. It is art.

Here are my thoughts on these films:

2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY – Beautiful, profound, boring, annoying, joyous. The film defies explanation because it refuses explanation. Concepts and ideas are painted with forms, light, and images; words are irrelevant. The special effects still work because they are not treated as special; rather, they are crafted as a series of iconic images that are just as symphonic as the overlaid score. It is science fiction distilled and purified.

A CLOCKWORK ORANGE – This is like a mixture of DR. STRANGELOVE and 2001. It is comical, yet realistically futuristic. MY favorite aspect of the film is the use of language, and how it changes with each successive generation into something less than intelligible. It’s a bit too long and overindulgent, but still a fascinating moral parable.

THE SHINING – Although frequently cited as one of the scariest films ever made, I must admit that the film has never frightened me. But there can be no doubt that Kubrick infinitely improved Stephen King’s novel, infusing it with psychological depth. Kubrick again leaves it ambiguous, never really telling us whether the events are purely hallucinogenic or ghostly. An amazing technical achievement, and also one of the few times that Kubrick elicits some great performances.

FULL METAL JACKET – Tinkering with movie form and conventions, Kubrick makes an unsentimental and unblinking film about war. The bathroom scene is one of the most perfect moments captured on film. The end battle sequence is harrowing. Matthew Modine is terrific, Kubrick’s best hero. And what can you say about R. Lee Ermey as Gunnery Sergeant Hartman except WOW?? Unflinching and brutal.

EYES WIDE SHUT – Beautifully photographed, but ultimately a failure. Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman are mostly decent, but the film is top heavy with symbolism and stylistic flourishes. Again, Kubrick is at his best when he holds his camera on a performance and lets it sink in. Kidman’s blunt admission of adultery in her heart, exposed in her underwear, is a long and eviscerating scene. The film is too cold and too clinical to actually strike to the heart of this kind of subject matter. It doesn’t help that he’s saddled with mediocre actors this time around.

Kubrick was a once-in-a-generation phenomenon, whose eye and intellect are sorely missing from film since his death. He is often generalized as a technical director obsessed with machines rather than humans. While it is true that Kubrick’s films dealt with man’s disconnect from nature through machinery, he was also very interested in human nature. However, he didn’t approach humanity the way Steven Spielberg does;  Spielberg embraces the warmth of human nature, while Kubrick hangs back, wary. Kubrick was keenly aware of human shortcomings, and he was always eager to place a mirror in front of them. He was like a caring and curious god, watching his creation with detached affection.

Although Kubrick was a distinct visual director, he never allowed his style to interfere with his attention on telling the story or relating a persepctive. That’s not to say that Kubrick’s messages are particularly easy to grasp; they are rarely presented on a platter for easy dissection. But Kubrick always focused on characters, their faces, their relationships to other people or machines, their motivations, desires, dreams. The much-vaunted style was merely the eye through which we would see these particular relationships and people.

When we look at the current crop of young directors in Hollywood, it’s hard to find someone who approaches Kubrick’s depth of vision or style. Of the bunch, David Fincher might come closest, although he has shown more style than substance in most of his films. Most of the younger directors have grown up ruined by video games and tentpole movie entertainment, and their films reflect these influences. Kubrick’s training came from still photography; the new generation of directors trained on Nintendo and TOP GUN. The artists are largely gone from Hollywood, their canvases profaned on the altar of opening weekend grosses. It’s  sad state of affairs.

I miss Stanley Kubrick. I miss having that thrill of discovery inherent in his films. I especially miss him in this age of carbon-copy blockbusters and their generic mindlessness. But I am so glad to finally have some of his output on my shelves next to crap like GODZILLA and INDEPENDENCE DAY. Like Kubrick himself, they class up the joint a little.