2001: A Space Odyssey

Stanley Kubrick was a demanding creator whose control reaches to every detail of the finished film, and whose coolly removed style and exacting methods resulted in one masterpiece after another, many of them critically hammered upon release. All of them have grown in stature with time and distance. Warner has remastered five of his greatest films for its new "Director's Series" box set, four of them in their wide-screen home video debut (Kubrick, for whatever reasons, preferred full-screen releases of his post-"2001" films). Previously available only in bare-bones editions, Warner has supplemented the films with all-new commentary and extras. The films selected for the special edition treatment span from his groundbreaking science fiction milestone "2001: A Space Odyssey" (1968), with commentary by stars Keir Dullea and Gary Lockwood, and a documentary originally made for Britain's Channel 4 in 2001 (hosted by James Cameron), to his final feature, "Eyes Wide Shut" (1999), which has no commentary but does feature archival interviews with the stars, plus a Channel 4 documentary made shortly after Kubrick's death. (Note that the disc features only the unrated international version and not, as the packaging claims, the American theatrical version as well.) "A Clockwork Orange" (1971), Kubrick's cynical, blackly humorous adaptation of Anthony Burgess' futuristic satire, features commentary by star Malcolm McDowell and historian Nick Redman, and another Channel 4 documentary. And "The Shining" (1980) features commentary by the film's steadicam operator, Garrett Brown, and historian John Baxter, and Vivian Kubrick's previously released behind-the-scenes documentary. Each two-disc set also has new featurettes (including one on Kubrick's unfinished films, specifically "Napoloen"). The single-disc "Full Metal Jacket" (1987) has one featurette and commentary by stars Adam Baldwin, Vincent D'Onofrio and R. Lee Ermey with critic Jay Cocks. Filling out the box is the 2001 feature length documentary "Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures," a comprehensive, incisive look at the director's career, directed by his longtime producer and brother-in-law Jan Harlan. The discs (except for "2001") offer both full-screen and anamorphic wide-screen versions for each film, and all the new masters look great. The discs are also available separately, and in Blu-ray and HD DVD formats.