Stanley Kubrick takes a selfie for Look magazine

The plethora of quality revival screenings in Chicago has made these blog posts easier than I could have imagined. Each week, it seems a film from a major filmmaker is screening somewhere, providing me with opportunities to explore myriad directors, styles, and genres. Now that the Music Box’s 70mm Film Festival is in full swing, there’s even more to see, appreciate, and write about.

I plan to do all three with regard to Stanley Kubrick, whose 2001: A Space Odyssey plays as part of the festival. For me, Kubrick is a director I appreciate more than I admire—his prowess as a craftsman is undeniable, but I often find his work tedious, and his misanthropic style hard to swallow. A Clockwork Orange, for instance, seems to me an arbitrarily angry films that takes its frustrations out on an unwitting audience. By comparison, 2001 always felt hollow, an pseudo-academic piece of navel gazing praised by those who confuse technological innovation with artistic achievement. That said, I’m eager to see the film in its intended format, with hope that whatever it is I’ve been missing over the years appears onscreen.

As much as I may dislike aspects of Kubrick’s work, I find a good number of his movies quite enjoyable—five of them, in fact. Check them out after the jump.