AVS Discussions
Movie and TV Discussion => Movie reviews => Topic started by: Barry on January 02, 2026, 04:27:53 PM
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Eyes Wide Shut: Criterion 4K
I am a big fan of Stanley Kubrick. I have thoroughly enjoyed most of his movies and have always found his point of view unique. A great thing about 4K releases is that they are bringing back many films that have been kind of forgotten. And now I get to explore many of his early films that were never available.
Eyes Wide Shut was Kubrick’s last movie. And cutting to the Chase, it was not one of his best nor was it one that I enjoyed.
The movie starred, Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman, who were married at the time it was made in 1993. Although the film has a New York setting, it was all filmed in great Britain, except for some of the outdoor scenes, which were not only shot in New York, but some close to my neighborhood on Long Island..
The story involves a couple exploring, their lives and their sex lives. Tom Cruise, who’s a doctor, is kind of jealous of his wife’s dreams with other men. And he goes out and has a few bizarre encounters and one very long and very big strange, offbeat encounter in a house on Long Island. There are people dress in costumes and wear masks and apparently have a great deal of sex.
Frankly, I didn’t enjoy this movie. It sort of becomes an enigma wrapped in a puzzle that is never really fully kind of explained. At the end, Sidney Pollock, tries to summarize what happened and make it all seem worthwhile. This was a typical movie ploy that Kubrick had always avoided, and it just didn’t sound right. I guess the mOvid just didn’t make sense to me.
The Video:
The video was not pleasing. The way the film was shot with exaggerated primary colors, back lighting, and perhaps too much grain made the movie look more like an animated fairytale at times. I had hoped that the 4K would look better than I remembered the Blu-ray but I don’t think there’s much of an improvement here. Yes you get to see more detail..
The Audio:
The audio seemed perfect. There’s not much surround sound here and dialogue was the most important. There was a great deal of background music, but it never wiped out the dialogue.
This movie, along with Lolita, are not my favorites for Kubrick.
Censorship
It should be mentioned that 4K and physical discs are essential for seeing some complete movies. Before the movie was released and AFTER Kubrick died, fail, CGI to blot out much of the nudity so that it would get an R rating.
In a few of the Daniel craig James Bond movies some action sequences were cut out so that I can keep the PG-13 rating. Fortunately, on physical discs like this one, the original intent of the director was restored, and it deleted scenes were placed back in.
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Thanks for the review, Barry.
Never saw it, and nothing I've read about it really made me want to see it either.
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Thanks for the review, Barry.
Never saw it, and nothing I've read about it really made me want to see it either.
Never saw it either.
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Such a bad movie
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Such a bad movie
It's an awesome movie - 7 out of 10 critics and audience members agree -
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/eyes_wide_shut
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film a score of three and a half stars out of four, writing, "Kubrick's great achievement in the film is to find and hold an odd, unsettling, sometimes erotic tone for the doctor's strange encounters." He praised the individual dream-like atmosphere of the separate scenes, and called the choice of Christmas-themed lighting "garish, like an urban sideshow"
It's one of my favorite Kubick films.
Just because you don't get the film doesn't make it bad.
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Eyes Wide Shut: Criterion 4K
I am a big fan of Stanley Kubrick. I have thoroughly enjoyed most of his movies and have always found his point of view unique. A great thing about 4K releases is that they are bringing back many films that have been kind of forgotten. And now I get to explore many of his early films that were never available.
Eyes Wide Shut was Kubrick’s last movie. And cutting to the Chase, it was not one of his best nor was it one that I enjoyed.
The movie starred, Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman, who were married at the time it was made in 1993. Although the film has a New York setting, it was all filmed in great Britain, except for some of the outdoor scenes, which were not only shot in New York, but some close to my neighborhood on Long Island..
The story involves a couple exploring, their lives and their sex lives. Tom Cruise, who’s a doctor, is kind of jealous of his wife’s dreams with other men. And he goes out and has a few bizarre encounters and one very long and very big strange, offbeat encounter in a house on Long Island. There are people dress in costumes and wear masks and apparently have a great deal of sex.
Frankly, I didn’t enjoy this movie. It sort of becomes an enigma wrapped in a puzzle that is never really fully kind of explained. At the end, Sidney Pollock, tries to summarize what happened and make it all seem worthwhile. This was a typical movie ploy that Kubrick had always avoided, and it just didn’t sound right. I guess the mOvid just didn’t make sense to me.
The Video:
The video was not pleasing. The way the film was shot with exaggerated primary colors, back lighting, and perhaps too much grain made the movie look more like an animated fairytale at times. I had hoped that the 4K would look better than I remembered the Blu-ray but I don’t think there’s much of an improvement here. Yes you get to see more detail..
The Audio:
The audio seemed perfect. There’s not much surround sound here and dialogue was the most important. There was a great deal of background music, but it never wiped out the dialogue.
This movie, along with Lolita, are not my favorites for Kubrick.
Censorship
It should be mentioned that 4K and physical discs are essential for seeing some complete movies. Before the movie was released and AFTER Kubrick died, fail, CGI to blot out much of the nudity so that it would get an R rating.
In a few of the Daniel craig James Bond movies some action sequences were cut out so that I can keep the PG-13 rating. Fortunately, on physical discs like this one, the original intent of the director was restored, and it deleted scenes were placed back in.
The movie always had an exaggerated / surrealistic dream like look - probably on purpose. I haven't had a chance to watch my new 4K disc yet, but I expect it looks better than the aging Blu-ray did.
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It's an awesome movie - 7 out of 10 critics and audience members agree -
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/eyes_wide_shut
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film a score of three and a half stars out of four, writing, "Kubrick's great achievement in the film is to find and hold an odd, unsettling, sometimes erotic tone for the doctor's strange encounters." He praised the individual dream-like atmosphere of the separate scenes, and called the choice of Christmas-themed lighting "garish, like an urban sideshow"
It's one of my favorite Kubick films.
Just because you don't get the film doesn't make it bad.
I honestly couldn’t care less what critics think of a movie.
this movie was hot garbage
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I honestly couldn’t care less what critics think of a movie.
this movie was hot garbage
Stanley Kubrick didn't make a bad film - period. I own them all now on 4K (edit - starting with Dr. Strangelove - not the older films other than Spartacus ).
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Stanley Kubrick didn't make a bad film - period. I own them all now on 4K.
You have Lolita in 4k?
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Stanley Kubrick didn't make a bad film - period. I own them all now on 4K.
That’s your opinion. Not fact.
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That’s your opinion. Not fact.
Name a bad film directed by Kubrick besides Eyes Wide Shut, since I already know you don't like it. I'll wait.
Here's a list to make it easier with the critic's scores. I'd bet the audience scores are similar.
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You have Lolita in 4k?
Actually I misspoke - I do not have Lolita, or his first 4 films. Just the later films starting with Spartacus. Not sure Lolita is out on 4K and it might not be one I'd watch as much as the later films.
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Actually I misspoke - I do not have Lolita, or his first 4 films. Just the later films starting with Spartacus. Not sure Lolita is out on 4K and it might not be one I'd watch as much as the later films.
With the exception of Lolita I have all the films on 4K and you can see that in my picture above. However, criterion has announced that they will be releasing Lolita this year in 4K. I had hoped you had a Headstart on getting it.
craig, the review statistics that you show are not very relevant in my opinion because they are not the reviews when they first came out. For example, my favorite Kubrick movie, 2001, got very bad reviews when it first came out. Years later, people recognized it as a masterpiece.
in the case of eyes wide shut, a quarter of the reviewers who saw it did not like it. I very much trust and respect the opinions of people on this site and if they didn’t like a movie to them, it was a bad movie. Reviewers don’t make movies better or worse. try to have a gentler tone, the people on this site should be allowed to voicemtheir opinion without criticism.
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Name a bad film directed by Kubrick besides Eyes Wide Shut, since I already know you don't like it. I'll wait.
Here's a list to make it easier with the critic's scores. I'd bet the audience scores are similar.
Only takes one. Eyes wide shut
thats like saying I got a 100 on my test! Besides number 3. (Well guess what I didn’t get a hundred then lmao)
and as I previously stated crutic score means nothing to me. I use them as a guide that’s it.
there are PLENTY of 90%+ RT scores that the movie was AWFUL
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With the exception of Lolita I have all the films on 4K and you can see that in my picture above. However, criterion has announced that they will be releasing Lolita this year in 4K. I had hoped you had a Headstart on getting it.
craig, the review statistics that you show are not very relevant in my opinion because they are not the reviews when they first came out. For example, my favorite Kubrick movie, 2001, got very bad reviews when it first came out. Years later, people recognized it as a masterpiece.
in the case of eyes wide shut, a quarter of the reviewers who saw it did not like it. I very much trust and respect the opinions of people on this site and if they didn’t like a movie to them, it was a bad movie. Reviewers don’t make movies better or worse. try to have a gentler tone, the people on this site should be allowed to voicemtheir opinion without criticism.
Thank you!
I feel a few posters in here feel like their word is gospel. And if you don’t agree your wrong and beneath them
it has been more and more like that recently.
makes me not want to post as much
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Thank you!
I feel a few posters in here feel like their word is gospel. And if you don’t agree your wrong and beneath them
it has been more and more like that recently.
makes me not want to post as much
Honestly, I feel the same way me as you! for example, David and I have not agreed totally on everything, but we respect each other very much. We can disagree, but not argue. and we even joke about it.
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Honestly, I feel the same way me as you! for example, David and I have not agreed totally on everything, but we respect each other very much. We can disagree, but not argue. and we even joke about it.
If everyone likes the same things life would be pretty boring
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Thank you!
I feel a few posters in here feel like their word is gospel. And if you don’t agree your wrong and beneath them
it has been more and more like that recently.
makes me not want to post as much
Hopefully not me!
Your comment about reviews is so on the mark. I remember when "Magnolia" was in theaters and the critics raved how great it was. My wife and I went to see it in the theaters and when it was over we wondered WTF those critics were raving about. Neither of us liked the movie one bit. Sure, Cruise delivered a "dramatic" performance, but I think his acting in "A Few Good Men" was better than the critically acclaimed one in "Magnolia." At least AFGM was an entertaining movie.
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Hopefully not me!
Your comment about reviews is so on the mark. I remember when "Magnolia" was in theaters and the critics raved how great it was. My wife and I went to see it in the theaters and when it was over we wondered WTF those critics were raving about. Neither of us liked the movie one bit. Sure, Cruise delivered a "dramatic" performance, but I think his acting in "A Few Good Men" was better than the critically acclaimed one in "Magnolia." At least AFGM was an entertaining movie.
Nope definitely not you!
also felt the same about magnolia. Oh well
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With the exception of Lolita I have all the films on 4K and you can see that in my picture above. However, criterion has announced that they will be releasing Lolita this year in 4K. I had hoped you had a Headstart on getting it.
craig, the review statistics that you show are not very relevant in my opinion because they are not the reviews when they first came out. For example, my favorite Kubrick movie, 2001, got very bad reviews when it first came out. Years later, people recognized it as a masterpiece.
in the case of eyes wide shut, a quarter of the reviewers who saw it did not like it. I very much trust and respect the opinions of people on this site and if they didn’t like a movie to them, it was a bad movie. Reviewers don’t make movies better or worse. try to have a gentler tone, the people on this site should be allowed to voicemtheir opinion without criticism.
I'm going to take a cue from bmoney and if I don't like a movie, I'm going to label it BAD. On that note, all animated movies are BAD! ;D
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There ya go ! 8)
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I'm going to take a cue from bmoney and if I don't like a movie, I'm going to label it BAD. On that note, all animated movies are BAD! ;D
You must not have seen Shrek haha
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You must not have seen Shrek haha
he should watch "up"
or non animated "Grumpy Old Men"
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he should watch "up"
or non animated "Grumpy Old Men"
Yes, that opening prologue is touching in a way that goes far beyond what one would expect for the genre. And the rest of the movie offers a satisfying adventure story that fits perfectly with those early themes.
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Yes, that opening prologue is touching in a way that goes far beyond what one would expect for the genre. And the rest of the movie offers a satisfying adventure story that fits perfectly with those early themes.
Arguably one of the best Pixar movies ever made. If the first montage doesn't bring a tear to your eye, then you're a heartless person ;)
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Arguably one of the best Pixar movies ever made. If the first montage doesn't bring a tear to your eye, then you're a heartless person ;)
This
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You must not have seen Shrek haha
I did once - it was bad!
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Arguably one of the best Pixar movies ever made. If the first montage doesn't bring a tear to your eye, then you're a heartless person ;)
I'll never know since I'll never watch it. If it was so great, they should have made a live version of it.
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I'll never know since I'll never watch it. If it was so great, they should have made a live version of it.
They will!😜
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I'll never know since I'll never watch it. If it was so great, they should have made a live version of it.
They did...it's a stage play ;)
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I'll never know since I'll never watch it. If it was so great, they should have made a live version of it.
Lmao. This is a great philosophy. At least I watch a movie before determining it stinks.
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Lmao. This is a great philosophy. At least I watch a movie before determining it stinks.
I have zero interest in cartoons. ::)
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I have zero interest in cartoons. ::)
In your next post, will you be telling us to stay off your lawn? ;)