Diary entries forSpartacus
Spartacus
I love the notion of Douglas pulling this off, in part, through spite for being snubbed on Ben-Hur. On today's revisit I find I'm appreciating this more for its antagonistic position in the history of Hollywood epics, of what Trumbo, Douglas, and Kubrick were able to push through in spite of the tenor of the times. Beyond that I'm hard-pressed to maintain enthusiasm for this particular three hour span were it not for the powerful trio of English actors grounding the Roman contingent.
Spartacus
The Roman Empire looked cool in this film, cool shots.
Spartacus
Auteurs: Stanley Kubrick Film #5: Spartacus Stanley Kubrick's Roman epic isn't exactly what I remembered it being. Watching this film in my sophomore World History class, I watched a heavily edited version of this film, with it being half of the runtime, rather than a three and a half hour long epic. With this, I was able to get the general idea of the story of Spartacus, cutting much of the filler of the film. While Spartacus is an impressive achievement as a film, it's not as good as I recall it being. I believe that watching the edited version (this was a personal edit by my teacher, so I can't watch it again) first hindered the film, since I only saw the meat of the story, rather than the stories of other characters. Watching this in full made me realize how different this film felt compared to Kubrick's other films, and after finishing the film, it makes sense, since there was a lot of studio and actor intervention, making Kubrick lose the control that he wants over his films. It's definitely a Kubrick film, but it doesn't necessarily feel like one of this films. It's an enjoyable epic, but one that I won't be raving about later on when discussing Kubrick's canon.
Spartacus
Maybe there's no peace in this world, for us or for anyone else. I don't know. But I do know that as long as we live, we must stay true to ourselves. I do know that we're brothers. And I know that we're free. We march tonight! Cineturu parah
Spartacus
While it definitely hasn’t aged spectacularly at some points, there’s really something to be said for an epic like this. They don’t make them like this anymore. Wildly impressive in its scale, but also making the small stakes count.
Spartacus
I’m not one for old hollywood epics such as this, most of the time I find them to be a bit silly considering the subject matter. Spartacus was a bit different. Not only is the cinematography a technicolor dream, the story has heart and talented actors to carry it. Kirk Douglas’ has a magnetism to him that made me really fall for the character in a way that I wasn’t expecting. Also, going to be honest here, completely forgot this was directed by Kubrick until the opening credits. If I had missed that, I would literally have not been able to guess he directed it. His style is very, very distinct and besides the meticulous way the camera is placed and moved, there’s really none of what you would expect from him here. Which, I suppose was the point of his being hired to do this. Even still, I think in lesser hands this could have been a forgettable hollywood epic, one among many. It was not. (I prefer the show version of this story though, I must say. It’s more explicitly homoerotic and just straight up gay, and the tone is more fitting. Though, come on, the cinematography from the film is unmatched. The acting as well.)
Spartacus
This film has everything a good historical epic needs; A good plot, a good soundtrack, good acting, crazy scale, amazing cinematography (as much as I love the cinematography in Kubrick's B&W films, it's hard to compete with the stunning colors in his color films). The film was a little too long for my taste but not too bad. It's not a masterpiece - we're not there yet, but it is a very good film.
Spartacus
Stanley!!!! Why are your movies so effing long?!?! This had some of the most atrocious haircuts I’ve ever seen. Solid movie. I don’t think there were any scenes that dragged on individually, but as a whole, some editing for time would’ve improved this. Solid plot and dialogue was good so no complaints there. Some funny moments too which is always a bonus. Can’t get past the length though. 7.9
Spartacus
the screenplay is incredible, and so are the performances. absolutely stacked cast with some of my favorite actors. not very kubrick-like visually but still a wonderful experience.
