20th Anniversary of Kingdom of Heaven (Directors Cut)

 

          This my friends is a movie review in the making getting close to eight or ten months prior to the movies release. This was one of the first Ridley Scott films I actually watched in the movie theaters and through the course of the film’s release to DVD and Blu-Ray I was obsessed with the world and it's story for a long, long, long time and still consider this one of Ridley Scott's greatest accomplishments and Orlando Bloom's greatest performances on screen. Kingdom of Heaven is a hero's journey set in the years of the Crusades, moreover, it has magnificent storytelling about one man's struggle with faith, that which anyone can relate to and hopefully by end of this review everyone should watch this and enjoy it.

           Still in grief over his wife's sudden death, village blacksmith Balian (Orlando Bloom) joins his long-estranged father, Baron Godfrey (Liam Neeson), as a crusader on the road to Jerusalem. After a perilous journey to the holy city, the valiant young man enters to retinue of the leprous King Baldwin IV (Edward Norton), which is rifle with dissent led by the treacherous Guy de Lusignan (Martin Csokas), who wishes to wage war against the Muslims for his own political and personal gain. 

           At the time of the film’s release on may sixth of 2005, there was a theatrical cut of the film which was the first time I watched the movie and really at the time I didn't think much of the fact that there wasn't a lot of detail that needed between scenes me, loving Gladiator as well as Black Hawk Down, I didn't think much of the less of details, I was loving a lot of the scenery and the battle sequences and more importantly the world that Sir Ridley Scott build around Kingdom of Heaven. And through the course of maybe two years since the film’s release Scott, released a Director’s Cut for which still stands as the true version of the movie itself, and there were a ton of scenes that made a lot more scenes as well as scenes I wished they included with the theatrical cut of the film moreover never understood at the time why they cut a big chunk of the film alone. And what made sense was that the producers of 20th Century Fox pressured Sir Ridley in making the film a decent two and a half hours and it's been a long time since I've seen the theatrical cut but I've seen it a bunch of times to remember a lot of scenes that they didn't included but needed to be included especially the duel between Balian and Guy by the end of the film, and even a storyline between Princess Sibylla and her son as well as her struggle with her horrible husband Guy. And most importantly we wouldn't have a surprisingly underappreciative performances in David Thewlis who plays a Hospitaller Knight who guides a tortured man in Balian through the course of his journey in what Christianity is all about as well as being a sort of guardian angel to Orlando Bloom's character, moreover I think these are one of the many things that makes the Directors Cut of Kingdom of Heaven the truer version Scott indented to be and will hopefully stand the test of time. I always said this and I will continue to say it again that this movie was and always will be Orlando Bloom's greatest performance, and after hearing him state that he wipes his performance of Troy out of his mind, I still consider him the greatest man to walk the earth. But what I love about his performance is that he's a tragic hero, a man whose tortured by the loss of his wife as well as doubting his faith in God, somehow through the course of his time in the Holy Lands rise up to be a great hero amongst the people, he protected, and like most tragic hero you also relate to his character because in all honesty, we all have a sense of loss in our faith we are at times doubting our religion as well as understanding God's will and I love the way Sir Ridley, molds his hero through the course of the movie. At the time of the movie’s release, I always had a huge crush on Natalie Portman through Star Wars films, and I remember watching Kingdom of Heaven how stunningly beautiful, Eva Green who plays the princess of Jerusalem. Moreover when you think about the chemistry from great legendary actors and actresses through the years, Bloom and Green's chemistry in the movie was one of my favorite on-screen couples, because when these two meet for the first time it's almost like a love at first sight, only it's through Eva Green's eyes and Bloom is all but being humble never expecting this woman would save this Lord of Ibelin, and when she tells him that Sibylla calls, the many times I see that scene I feel like the wish to be like Bloom, in the middle ages because even I would love to be with Sibylla during that time as well. The most shocking fact about the film as well as a underappreciative performance was Edward Norton's portrayal as King Baldwin IV, and even after the film’s release I was surprised in hearing that was Edward Norton and sure I would pegged it, to be him considering hearing his voice but at the time I didn't know it, and even Edward Norton himself didn't want to be credited through the theatrical cut of the movie, because he wanted his performance to be a mystery to the audience and now I can hear his voice and know it's Edward Norton, and what I love about his performance is that he's a gentle king that is a man of honor, moreover can be ruthless when he has too, but more importantly he gives great wisdom to Bloom's character and telling him that we never know our end, but when you stand before God you stand tall and say that your soul is in your keeping alone, and I think that's great advice that we all should use in life especially when we as mortals don't know what will happen to us, till the very end of our lives. When this film came out people criticized about the movie being inaccurate, as well as not being historically accurate, and for me I don't think that should be an actual thing to follow when it comes to telling a story especially with this one, it's not about being historically accurate it's always about telling a story as well as going on a journey with these characters to a whole new world we've never experienced as an audience, and that to me is what going to the movies is all about, and if we wanted a historically accurate movie we might as well take a history course about the crusades. Sir Ridley Scott claims that he's an atheist, and the funny thing even after this film being made was that he intended to make a movie about a hero that questions his religion and by the end of his movie found a purpose as well as gaining his faith or ah, hell I don't know there so, many questions in terms of why Scott wanted to make a movie about the crusades despite the man being a sort of atheist? Either way I'm assuming that the man wanted to make a movie that brings a realism to what the crusades were all about furthermore show how radical or fanaticism becomes a danger, especially when a massive army is coming to your doorstep, but more importantly being respectable to people of all faiths, even though you have different beliefs in terms of religion doesn't mean you should be respectful you your fellow man, and the way I see it, all men are equal in God's eyes. Which again this is one of those films like Exodus: Gods and Kings too, where even I don't know why Scott works on story's that include religion, but then again I would imagine he's always love telling stories about these epic medieval films as well as going back to the age of Gladiators furthermore when you have a great formula in story telling that Scott loves to do, you shouldn't judge a man on what he loves and what he's good at. Out of all of Sir Ridley Scott's greatest films, this is one of the many films I would recommend to anyone who’s a fan of epics to sit down and watch from beginning to the final frame. It's one of those great epics that has a great story as well as a classic hero's journey as well as epic battles that you can sit down and enjoy. I don' know if you can find the Director's Cut on any streaming service they may have it I'm not sure or haven't done a lot of research but if it does have the Directors cut on streaming then I would highly recommend watching the Director's Cut of the film and granted this film is on all streaming services but I doubt they don't have the Director's Cut. So, if you really want to watch this movie then I would highly recommend buying the movie on Blu-Ray or 4K, moreover I promise you the purchase of the film will be worthwhile as well as your purchase will be worth the wait as well. And sure, this film doesn't seem Christmas themed, but deep down if we're saying Happy Holiday's then I declare Kingdom of Heaven to be a Christmas movie to watch on this Holiday season. GOD WILLS IT!   

 

                

Movies I haven't seen in a while: Babes in Toyland

 

        You know when your brain processes forgotten memories of past Christmas movies you haven't seen in a long time and you’re absolutely shocked to find out that you've seen this movie at a very young age? Well, everyone this was one of these times where mind blown almost the same way the atomic bomb blew up in Oppenheimer. Babes in Toyland staring young Drew Barrymore and very young John Wick aka Keanu Reeves, long before he killed people with a pencil. No, matter how strange and cheaply made this movie was and don't worry well get into this movie in a little bit, there's nothing compared to the fact that Santa Clause or the Toymaster is played my Mr. Miyagi aka Pat Morita, I guess it shows that we all have a version of what Santa Clause looks like.  

        Like, the Wizard of Oz, an 11-year-old girl (Drew Barrymore) is transported to Toyland, a mystical kingdom threatened by an old and creepy Harvey Weinstein. 

        I remember seeing this movie in like, maybe the second or third grade of Elementary School. And really at the time I didn't think much of this movie, it was like every typical Christmas movie that our teachers would have us watch before Christmas break commenced. Now having watched the movie I was shocked but also confused as well as feeling appalled because they're a creepy middle aged man flirting with a teenager, as well as wanting to marry one when we go to Toyland, and I don't know if our teachers were shocked that they're allowing their students including me in watching this movie or they didn't care moreover didn't think they get we kids would get the context. Apparently this film cost five million dollars to make, for which I refused to believe this film cost five million dollars, because if you look at this film, when we get to Toyland all of the characters look like their wearing nothing but bear, mouse, duck costumes as well as frog costumes and they all look like they got them at you dollar store used old costumes from Disneyland and Disney World, though granted they shot in Germany during the eighties when the Berlin Wall was still up and they had to purchase some land to build the town, but I refuse to believe they spend five million dollars on this movie because everything else besides the town and sets are just awful in terms of costumes. They're is so many questions on how this film was able to get made as well as how NBC allowed this film to be possible, I mean sure they're able to cast some recognizable actors like Eileen Brennan long before she was the love interest to Peter Faulk in movies like Murder, By Death and the Cheap Detective as well as Pat Morita who plays Santa or Toymaster either way I'm told that Santa is in the movie and it's set on Christmas Eve, either way it's very confusing to look at the Toymaster/Santa and my 38 year old brain is thinking "I didn't know Santa is of Asian descent or Asian/American". And look if your casting Mr. Miyagi to play Toymaster/Santa in your movie, couldn't you at least have a moment where he teaches Drew Barrymore how to fight as well as using the technique wax on, wax off and sure we're making the movie worse but this film was already turning worst when your costumes look like they came out of Disneyland and Disney World. While watching this movie I begin to ask why are they a ton of Mother Goose characters? And why does this movie remind me of the Wizard of Oz? Well having dug up some information, I got a full understanding on what Babes in Toyland is about, this was a stage opera that woven all the characters from a Mother Goose nursery rhymes and yes the whole premise is about saving Christmas and the play and opera? where all contrived after the success of the Stage production to the Wizard of Oz around the early 1900's, and look the bottom line is whoever created this opera or stage production stole the same premise of The Wizard of Oz and I'm surprised there was no lawsuit's filed about copying same story premises, I mean Akira Kurosawa was smart enough to sue Sergio Leone so during the sixties. Look the more I talk about this movie the more I begin to think about sending myself to an insane Asylum, this film is one of the most confusing Christmas movies I've ever seen and I would put this in the Black Dahlia of unsolvable movies in terms of how the hell this movie got made, from the costumes to the main antagonist wanting to molest the damsel in distress, this film is almost baffling than the Star Wars: Holiday Special. So, if you’re looking for a movie that is so, confusingly bad as well as wanting to relive bad Christmas movies, your elementary school teachers would let you watch before your Christmas break begins. Then, TV Babes in Toyland is the movie for you AND it's on Tubi so, have a great time watching things even, I wouldn't let my kids watch. 

    

Love Actually

 

           To all the ladies out there who may read this review or don't read my reviews either way I doubt all the ladies are reading my reviews in all fairness. Anyway, to all the ladies out there I want to apologize (quote, unquote) for considering your favorite Christmas, romantic comedy overrated. This is my first time sitting down and watching this popular romantic comedy Love Actually, and in all fairness, I did watch this movie with an open mind thinking "I've never seen this, maybe this might be good, what can't go wrong. Then through the course of the movie I begin to have conflicts about whether to continue watching the movie or just stop the movie out of sense of boredom, though I will just get into Love Actually right now. 

           Nine intertwined journeys examine the complexities of the one emotion that connects all individuals, love? Which I'm confident about the movie being about finding love. Look, bottom line it's about nine storylines trying to find love during a two-hour long movie. 

            Like I said before, I really did, I literally saw this streaming on Peacock and I've never seen this movie before so, I thought "well why not it's your typical Christmas movie, what can go wrong?" Though the problem is, is that this film has one too many characters to follow as well as wanting to care about these characters also. Like if this film had at least six characters and two out of the four characters found love or fell out of love and the rest found love, great I can by this being a great romantic comedy to watch at Christmas. But, this film has one too many characters as well as nine storylines to follow and a good portion of the characters are unlikeable, especially the Walking Dead sheriff aka Andrew Lincoln whose in love with Keira Knightly and you don't know that until she finds her wedding video and all it is, is Keira Knightly being pretty and you slowly realized that all he did was filmed her and nothing else. Now, first off that's creepy, secondly as a fellow wedding videographer, I also found that the most unprofessional way because if I did that and sure they're were a lot of pretty brides I helped film over the years but they weren't up my alley of ever getting a chance with them because they're getting married, but more importantly if I filmed just them, I would get fired as well as probably put on the list of creepy guys to avoid. And some of these storylines like Alan Rickman and Emma Thompson being a married couple though Rickman is flirting with the secretary and me I was like "well, Emma you should know better than to marry Hans Gruber". But then you have a guy who decides to go on a back backing trip to America to get laid (also this film is British) because his accent can get ladies, for which I guess then I should go to Europe to pick up some ladies because they find my American accent sexy, hell, I can't do that in the Middle East I'd probably get shot. And the storyline with Liam Neeson and his son played by Thomas Brodie-Sangster, that could of been its own Christmas film, and the same with Hugh Grant's storyline as well as Colin Firth's storyline, for which I wouldn't mind watching those movies all together considering I did make some jokes about the actress playing Hugh Grants love interests by stating "listen honey, you're too good for Hugh Grant and you should probably run because he's going to cheat on you with a one out of ten hooker", and again Grant's storyline is was great to watch hell, I would watch a ninety minute movie about his story, but then again this film consist of one to many characters that are both unnecessary as well as unlikeable and that really was what took me out of this film in terms of liking it. Granted this film is not the worst I've ever seen hell it's still Christmas Vacation in my number one list of most hated Christmas movies of all time, though this film is for certain the most overrated Christmas movie I will say, and it's not the most hated movie I would say, because I never had steam coming out of my head while watching this movie, I was basically not sure whether to turn the movie off or continue on, but in the end I finished the movie so, at least that's an accomplishment. So, look ladies if this is your favorite Christmas movie of all time, I applaud you in loving the film, but this is not my cup of tea and I see a lot of Christmas/Romantic comedies that have only two couples to focus on and not one to many characters, even one couple that's shooting a fake porno that consist of not even doing each other if you know what I mean, I'll hopefully be here all week, through the month of December. 

             

Almost Christmas

 

          Getting more into the Christmas spirit, I decided to dig deeper through some movies I've watched during the good old days of cable TV. And some of these movies are right on Peacock, especially an underappreciative Christmas movie that holds a great understanding of being with family no matter how dysfunctional your families are now. Danny Glover takes the leading role along with Mo'Nique, along with Gabrelle Union (Nebraska native), Omar Epps and Jessie T. Usher aka A-Train from The Boys, for which shows you when it comes to acting alongside a legend like Danny Glover you'll gain great success.

           Walter Meyer (Danny Glover) is a retired mechanic who lost the love of his life one year earlier. Now that the holiday season is here, he invites daughters Cheryl (Kimberly Else), Rachel (Gabrielle Union) and sons Christian (Romany Malco) and Evan (Jessie T. Usher) to his house for a traditional celebration. Poor Walter soon realizes that if his bickering children and the rest of the family can spend five days together under the same roof, it would be a truly Christmas miracle. 

           This film is close to ten years old, and I remember seeing this for the first time on the internet and I begin to think to myself that "okay this is of course one of these movies that make me realize why I'm not a big fan of family Christmas films", Furthermore didn't see this film in the theater just because it reminds me of my family being dysfunctional as well as bickering with my brother and sister. Though through the years of cable TV when this movie at the time, the film arrived when I could watch it (granted parts of it), I slowly begin to see that there's something more to this movie than reliving the monstrosity that is films like Christmas Vacation. Many great examples both family members have their own personal grief that they're personally trying to deal with, furthermore they all have their own personal feuds that through the course of the movie they each make amends as well as important subplots that have closure by the end of the movie. Most importantly what makes this film great, is that Danny Glover playing the Dad in the movie which brings great warmth as well as getting tired of his kids fighting for which you can relate to that along the journey him and his family have but more importantly you understand things that mean a lot to him but also having to deal with the loss of his own wife. Mo'Nique even does a great job in the film as the comic relief as well and she does in the best way that gives you a laugh but more importantly has great chemistry with Danny Glover in terms of relating to each other as well as standing up for one another. The sister dynamic between Gabrielle Union and Kimberly Elise are excellent, as well as being able to relate to them in terms of reminiscing to the many times I've argued with my sister and with this I relate to Union the most because I'm the youngest out of my brother and sister, moreover it's a great sense of relating to your own siblings and the most important you also have a sense of closure as well as forgiveness that you never get when it comes to Yellowstone. I would highly recommend watching Almost Christmas, especially if you have a Peacock account, furthermore I relate to this family Christmas movie more than Christmas Vacation for many GOOD reasons, this film at least have some comedic value that's actually funny than Chevy Chase never learning a lesson as well as not understanding the aspect of never trusting you’re a**hole of a boss. More importantly and this shows why it's better than Christmas Vacation, it as the Christmas chaos that you can relate to and at least has that sense of believing this family members can make amends as well as the hope to love one another by end of the film. Hands down I would defiantly put this in my top ten best Christmas movies of all time. 

      

Jack Frost

 

          Getting into the Christmas spirit at times takes a while to get into and especially since we're already into the Christmas season. Though there are movies in a strange, strange way, gets you ready for the Christmas spirit and this is one of those films that is sort of funny but also feels really, pathetic and especially when your main antagonist is a sort of Styrofoam, snowman killer? Either way the surprising factor is that this is American Pie alum, Shannon Elizabeth's first acting role. 

          As notorious killer Jack Frost (yes, his name is Jack Frost) is being driven to his execution, the truck carrying the murderer encounters a bizarre accident that transforms him into a mutant, Styrofoam, SNOWMAN.

          Granted the only reason, this film peaked my interest was because Shannon Elizabeth is in the movie and she's of course nude while taking a shower and the killer appears, from water to snow and for strange way of picturing it is either graping Elizabeth or bashing her brains in and yet, this was Shannon Elizabeth's first acting role so, deep down I can't make jokes about her appearing in this movie because you have to get into the film business somehow, sometimes you have to make the worst before you can make a hit, though I'm guessing the writers and director or whoever was in charge with casting at Universal, though obviously a dude, saw this movie and was like "YOU'RE HIRED" and the rest became history. The thing that makes this movie funny but more importantly pathetic, is that this Snowman that is supposed to be marketed as a scary movie monster, is an actual Styrofoam snowman with absolute no life like to the thing, moreover has now movement or anything to feel like a scary monster and the only times you see liveness to the monster is from his hands, upon which is somebody using gloves or when look of white cooking gloves and more importantly the mouth of the snowman, doesn't move at all and you only see the snowman with somebody's voice as the background sound. For which all those things for sure look and sound sad and pathetic at the same time, but also the budget of the entire movie was 500 grand, for which I would imagine they would at least use that money to improve the visual effects right? But no, and this is one of those films where I was curious as to where the money went to because the actors they picked we're sure as hell not the best actors and you could of paid them minimum wage at least and spend a good portion of the movie on the snowman to make it believable, considering the film was only shot in 18 days. Either way this film is a great example of video stores back then needing to fill their shelves with many Christmas movies as possible so people in the nineties can come back and rent more Christmas films. All and all the movie for sure gave me tons of moments to laugh about furthermore is one of those films I would consider pathetic to watch and I bet Shannon Elizabeth has wiped her memory clean of this movie. I’m not an American Pie fan and if you’re a fan of cringy, overrated coming of age, sex comedies and use to have a massive crush on Shannon Elizabeth, then this is the movie for you. Though if you’re looking for some unintentional horror comedies then this is the movie for you, and the best part is that the film is on Tubi so, you don't have to feel guilty in wasting your life savings on a sh*ty movie in terms renting the movie on your phone for a price and again that's one of the many reasons why I prefer to use Tubi when it comes to bad B-movies. 

     

Yojimbo

 

        Continuing on with my addiction to Ghost of Yotei as well as the Ghost of Tsushima, I decided to explore another Samurai film from old school Japanese cinema, Yojimbo a classic Samurai film directed by legendary filmmaker, Akira Kurosawa who helped influence ton of filmmakers with his legendary Samurai film, such great directors like George Lucas who later created the greatest movie franchise of all time Star Wars. Now if you remember my May Recommendation: A Fistful of Dollars, Sergio Leone unofficially remade Yojimbo who Kurosawa later sued for copying the same movie. Though in the end, Kurosawa did compliment Leone and complimented him in A Fistful of Dollars as well as telling him he loved the movie.

        A nameless Ronin, or Samurai with no master, enters a small village in feudal Japan where two rival businessmen are struggling for control of the local gambling trade. Taking the name of Sanjuro Kuwabatake, the Ronin convinces both silk merchant Tokuemon to hire him as a personal bodyguard, then artfully sets in motion a full-scale gang war between the two ambitious and unscrupulous men. 

        Looking through my reviews through the years I slowly realized that I never written a review on Kurosawa's Yojimbo, for which is a big shock on my part, for good reasons is that this is for certain one of the greatest Samurai movies ever made and really paved the way for other filmmakers to use this film as inspiration. I haven't watched a whole lot of Kurosawa's films in which I need to make a point, in doing so, but for any newbie whose never seen any of Kurosawa's work, Yojimbo would for certain be one of those films I would highly recommend watching from its great cinematography to limited resources in terms of the action sequences as well as showing very little blood and limbs flying, this movie still stands the test of time as one of Kurosawa's greatest films. Moreover, the writing of Yojimbo came from numerous inspirations from classic film noir books from Dashiell Hammett and even the films too. Getting back to the whole debate on the unofficial remake between Kurosawa and Sergio Leone, whatever happened between these guys and granted the lawsuit was settled outside of court, I believe Kurosawa did the right thing in suing, though as great as A Fistful of Dollars was, if I was an up and coming filmmaker I would at least tweaked the idea a little bit to draw differences but then maybe would of been complicated, hell I don't know, though if you put these movies their both the same movie just one is a Samurai/Ronin and the other is a gunfighter. And even though these movies together, share the same plot Leone wasn't the only one, there were numerous filmmakers that used the same plot hell, apparently a Bruce Willis film in the mid-90's used the same premise only it was set in the prohibition era, for which again a little on the laziness, but at least they credited Yojimbo as being the basis for the story. For anyone who loved movies like, Tom Cruise's The Last Samurai or the latest TV series Shogun, Yojimbo is one of the greatest Samurai film I would highly recommend watching from start to finish, with the combination of great cinematography and great acting this film has everything, moreover if you’re not big in watching a movie with foreign language and English subtitles I completely understand though the interesting thing is if you work on a foreign movie like this one you can read the subtitles long before the actors are done speaking to which you can understand what their talking about, but then again if you don't want too that's completely fine on your end but old school Japanese films I've been able to get a good understanding in terms of being able to read the subtitles fast. Moreover, if you have an HBO Max subscription then you're all set in terms of watching the whole movie as well as being able to find other hidden gems like this, the same way Tubi has some great hidden gems as well. 

           

Spartacus

 

          

           Trying to find more Stanley Kubrick movies I've never seen, unfortunately this is the rare few that Stanley Kubrick claims in his words disowns as his canon of movies just because he didn't have much in terms of creative control value. Though in all fairness this film proves that Kubrick was capable of being able to shoot a grand scale epic, as is proven in his earlier films in the early seventies. Spartacus was one of the many epic movies in the fifties and early sixties that always made huge money, at the box-office although this was Kirk Douglas’ own passion project to the extent of not being the right choice for classic 1959 Best Picture winner. 

           The Rebellious Thracian Spartacus (Kirk Douglas), born and raised a slave, is sold to Gladiator trainer Batiatus. After weeks of being trained to kill in the arena, Spartacus turns on his owners and leads the other slaves in rebellion. As the rebels move from town to town, their numbers swell as escaped slaves join their ranks. Under the leadership of Spartacus, they make their way to Southern Italy, where they will cross the sea and to return to their homes. 

           Now what I said earlier, about Kirk Douglas being his passion project is true, the process of developing Spartacus was out of failure of not getting the title role of Ben-Hur. For which sure, if I was an actor thinking I'm buff and attractive I would understand Douglas, but in terms of being a director I would want a young actor to play the title role not a 42 year old who thinks he can do all of those stunts, moreover I would probably imagine all of the directors or Kirks agents, in the early nineties and 2000 being called by Douglas saying he still wants to star in movies, and all them being so miserable and annoyed of having to explain Kirk that he's over 1,000 years old and doesn't remember where he is as well as probably told him out of frustration that he needs to go to an old folks home. If I had to rate this movie for sure I thought this was a good movie from start to finish and from a Stanley Kubrick standalone movie granted not his most memorable but still pretty good considering I would still rank this movie over the Shinning in a heartbeat. Furthermore I think my main problem with the movie is the blend of the conversation with action and when it comes to epic movies like Spartacus you need at least a fifty/fifty split of action and conversation flowing and at times I felt even in like the first act, that there was more conversation and less action, upon which caused my brain to turn mush and maybe thinking of turning the movie off, though I had to take certain breaks for sure. And important tip to all cinema fans, who haven't dived into the epics from the fifties and sixties, you need to at least take a break or two when watching this movie because of the length of the movie is and movies like these with a three-hour mark does take a toll on you. Furthermore that was another problem for me was understanding that these movies back then were almost made that way, and sure I could criticize about the length of the movie but then that would just be too unfair to criticize a movie where theaters paid for these kinds of movies for their concessions as well as break times, granted I never understood the men watching Gone with the Wind when it came out because it obviously wasn't for them, though I'm guessing they used a lot of bathroom break times when they put up with Scarlet acting like a b*tch. From my research I'm guessing Amazon Prime has taking off of its prime subscription for now, that being said if you’re feeling for an old school epic movie as well as diving into Kubrick's filmography, then I would highly recommend watching this movie along with constant breaks but I still look at this film as a way for Kubrick to prove himself and to Hollywood that he can actually do epic movies despite, Kubrick himself considering this film not in his pantheon of his best work. And yet for me after experiencing this movie I would honestly imagine Kubrick had to make this movie because he was hired by a fellow actor in Douglas and proving Hollywood that he can do these types of movies. Now, so far in my search of the best Stanley Kubrick films so far, I'd say it's for certain Dr. Strangelove because of its great comedic performances and directing and then follows with Full Metal Jacket. And number three is of course the most disturbing Kubrick film aka A Clockwork Orange in the top three best Kubrick films. Then we follow Spartacus, 2001 and the Shining as Kubrick's best films and I'm obviously going to be pushing both 2001 and Shining down the countdown soon, so don't you worry about that, but the quest continues for sure.