A couple years back, the Michigan Theater in Ann Arbor blessed me with the opportunity to see every one of Stanley Kubrick's films in the theater (minus Killer's Kiss and Fear And Desire, if you feel like counting those). While I'd seen A Clockwork Orange and 2001: A Space Odyssey several times in theaters before, it was my first chance at seeing films like The Killing and Barry Lyndon on the big screen.
While the lady and I are enjoying the Chaplin-athon that the Michigan is currently running, we've decided to do our own Kubrick marathon at home. I received the gigantic book "The Stanley Kubrick Archives" last year as a Christmas present, so we're reading all of the interviews and articles in that as we go. Right now we're halfway through Spartacus, which is the only film of his that I find a bit of a chore (I think I'll be reviewing that one, in fact).
Interesting news bit today: The long shelved film Red Dawn, a remake of the 80's actioner, is finally going to be released - but they're changing the villains from the Chinese, to North Koreans. How is this possible, you might ask? By digitally changing banners, and dubbing in new dialogue. If the film is anything like the original, it focuses more on the rebels than the invaders, so I doubt there are many scenes dealing with political maneuverings and enemy strategy. Obviously, this was done with the thought of not pissing off the fastest growing economic power in the world. Is it a completely pussy move? Yes. Do I care? Not really. I'm not sure that China invading the US was really that much more plausible than North Korea doing it; this is pure, right-wing masturbation fantasy either way. The original was goofy fun, and this could end up being goofy fun too.
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