Why was Eyes Wide Shut considered crap by people?

Slacker

Slacker

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I just watched it (after going through two broken copies, **** you Blockbuster) and I can honestly say it ranks with Dr. Strangelove and 2001 as his best work. Am I the only human on earth who really liked it?
 
I'm sorry to say Eyes Wide Shut is the only Kubrick-movie I don't like. I'm not sure why but I think it's just not interesting to me. Not at all. Beautifully shot, of course but not interesting at all to me.
 
I liked it. If Kubrick had finished it himself instead of someone else, I'm sure it would've been great.
 
DeusExMachina said:
I liked it. If Kubrick had finished it himself instead of someone else, I'm sure it would've been great.
Click to expand...

Uh, I'm pretty sure Kubrick finished it. He presented the final copy to Warner four days before he died.
 
Didn't he die before it was completed? And someone else completed it. That's what I remember reading...

To wikipedia!

EDIT: Alright, well, he died sometime when editing it.
 
Almost every (relevant) film Kubrick did was poorly recieved upon it's release
 
I love it oh so very much. And the building used is near where I live. And a hotel company is turning into a hotel. :naughty:

It's some of his most controversial work. Some people love and some hate it. Personally I don't think it ranks as highly as 2001 or FMJ. But it's certainly one of the better films of all time.
 
DeusExMachina said:
Didn't he die before it was completed? And someone else completed it. That's what I remember reading...

To wikipedia!

EDIT: Alright, well, he died sometime when editing it.
Click to expand...

You're thinking of AI which he turned over to that hack Stephen Spielberg before he died.
 
I thought it was worth watching but nothing special. The storyline is a tad unrealistic and overdramatised. Definately one for renting but not for buying.
 
Meh. I didn't care for it. It was well-shot, well-written, dark... but it never clicked for me. The speed (or lack thereof) is a major reason for that. It's not that I can't take slow films. 2001 wouldn't have been the god damn masterpiece it was if not for the meticulous, ethereal pacing it had. But in the context of Eyes Wide Shut, it just didn't work. I was constantly waiting for something to happen. Alas, it never engaged me.
 
All of Kubrick's movies are good. Killer's Kiss, The Killing, Spartacus, Lolita, Strangelove (aka: you), 2001, Clockwork Orange, Barry Lyndon, The Shining, Full Metal Jacket and Eyes Wide Shut are great. Did I forget any of his movies?

Oh yeah, that's right, I never saw "Day of the Fight" and probably never will.

But to answer your question, EWS got mixed reviews because when someone like the late Kubrick makes a movie, they expect it to be totally amazing, and EWS wasn't.
 
Eyes Wide Shut was a very good movie. I first saw it when I was too young to understand it and didn't like it very much, but upon seeing it again I realized it was damn good. It still probably ranks towards the bottom end of Kubrick's films, but it is certainly not "crap."
 
zleppelin said:
All of Kubrick's movies are good. Killer's Kiss, The Killing, Spartacus, Lolita, Strangelove (aka: you), 2001, Clockwork Orange, Barry Lyndon, The Shining, Full Metal Jacket and Eyes Wide Shut are great. Did I forget any of his movies?

Oh yeah, that's right, I never saw "Day of the Fight" and probably never will.

But to answer your question, EWS got mixed reviews because when someone like the late Kubrick makes a movie, they expect it to be totally amazing, and EWS wasn't.
Click to expand...

Paths of Glory.

The one people always miss out. :x
 
Reginald said:
Paths of Glory.

The one people always miss out. :x
Click to expand...

He missed Fear and Desire too. My friend managed to see it though (I have no idea how) and he hated it.

But yeah, I'd say (from what I've seen) Kubrick's films would go:

2001
Dr. Strangelove
Eyes Wide Shut
A Clockwork Orange
Lolita
Spartacus

I've actually only seen bits and pieces of Spartacus in history class, so I'm not sure if it's really fair that I put it on the bottom. I liked what I saw though, even if it wasn't really Kubrick-esque.

I'll probably order The Killing from Blockbuster Online soon.

The Shining is one of those movies that I've always ment to see, but I never can actually find time to watch it. I'd really like to see it though.

I really want to see Barry Lyndon, even though most of my friends hated it.

I'm not sure if I want to see Paths of Glory. I probably will get to it eventually though, just because I love Kubrick.
 
Reginald said:
Paths of Glory.

The one people always miss out. :x
Click to expand...
Reginald, yes, I have also watched Paths of Glory. WWI, Kirk Douglas, 1950's flick... Forgot to mention it on my list though -- I knew I was missing one.

Slacker, if you are into Kubrick you definitely want to watch Paths of Glory.
 
Barry Lyndon is probably one of the best. It's just 3 hours of completely unadulterated joy. I could literally watch it 3 times in a row without tiring.

First time I saw it, I did. :o
 
Reginald said:
Barry Lyndon is probably one of the best. It's just 3 hours of completely unadulterated joy. I could literally watch it 3 times in a row without tiring.

First time I saw it, I did. :o
Click to expand...

It's probably the most beautiful of his movies, which of course says alot in the case of Kubrick. *stares up at his 2001-poster above his monitor and sighs*

And Paths of Glory is a really good movie too.
 
Eyes Wide Shut bored me a little. The fact that I can't remember much about it says something. I'd rate Clockwork Orange and Spartacus waaaay above it.
 
Warbie, if you don't remember anything it's probably because the movie was a bit boring, as you said. But remember also that boring = good in a movie buff's dictionary:)
 
I liked Eyes Wide Shut.

I think it was advertised wrongly. I remember seeing an ad in the cinema for it, and it basically seemed like "Cruise and Kidman get naked. The End".

I didn't see it until it came on TV about a year or two ago.
 
heh, quite possibly, but not in mine.

I was forced to watch Citizen Kane at film school. A year later, after being kicked out for being a lazy sod, I was studying hexadecimal maths for a Cisco course and thinking how much more entertaining it was than that god awful movie!

Studying film took out all the magic and everything that make watching movies fun. I better stop now before full rant mode becomes enabled.
 
Cruis and Kidman brought the film WAY down, but some of the scenes were absolute brilliance. The whole drive out to the house, the 'party'--man, that was one of the most intensely riveting and disturbing scenes ever. The music was perfect, the pacing was perfect, the shots were all perfect. Incredible.

The scene where he's being followed is also awesome. The piano makes it ridiculously unnerving and puts you completely in a state of unease that is almost beyond belief.

Not a great film overall, but it has loads of great individual merit from scene to scene.
 
I just saw it and I'm actually kind of confused about it. I mean, I feel like I understand it but I feel nothing...so I feel like I missed something.
 
zleppelin said:
Warbie, if you don't remember anything it's probably because the movie was a bit boring, as you said. But remember also that boring = good in a movie buff's dictionary:)
Click to expand...

Not really. I thought the Doors was one of the most boring, overrated movies on the planet. Its alright, but that's about it. Everyone praises it as something magnificent when I was pretty disappointed to see a 2 and a half hour movie of Val Kilmer doing drugs and having sex the whole time.
 
VictimOfScience said:
Cruis and Kidman brought the film WAY down, but some of the scenes were absolute brilliance. The whole drive out to the house, the 'party'--man, that was one of the most intensely riveting and disturbing scenes ever. The music was perfect, the pacing was perfect, the shots were all perfect. Incredible.

The scene where he's being followed is also awesome. The piano makes it ridiculously unnerving and puts you completely in a state of unease that is almost beyond belief.

Not a great film overall, but it has loads of great individual merit from scene to scene.
Click to expand...

My favorite scene was Kidman telling Cruise how she almost cheated on him once. The way the camera just kind of focused on his face up-close was brilliant.

And yeah@whoever said it was advertised wrong. I had no idea there was going to be a murder-mystery element to it, and even though it was played out sort of strangely, I liked it.

What didn't you understand, xcellerate?
 
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