I keep coming back to Barry Lyndon. It is magnificent.

Rating: Null/10 (14 October 2004)

I keep coming back to Barry Lyndon as my favourite, all-time film. It is magnificent in every department. The pacing is superb, the humour is subtle, the story is engrossing, the performances are understated yet brilliant, the art direction is impeccable, the music is sublime, the cinematography is faultless and the overall result is an epic masterpiece that gets better with each viewing. For these reasons the film is lost on many a film lover. It is an intellectual piece and I'm so glad he made it such. (People who find it boring, stale and unintelligible should quietly retire to Video Ezy and rent out Die Hard, buy some popcorn and coke, invite a view buddies over and enjoy a rowdy night in.) Any way, back to Barry Lyndon. Stanley Kubrick never repeated himself, which even the greatest directors do some of the time. All of his films, which he had artistic and financial control over bear, a strikingly original note. Compare the uniqueness of Dr Strangelove to Lolita, or Clockwork Orange to The Shining, or Full Metal Jacket to Eyes Wide Shut. The differences in subject matter and content are vast yet a similar vehicle is visited in four of his films. The military is used in Paths of Glory, Dr. Strangelove, Barry Lyndon and Full Metal Jacket. This military theme in his films seems to throw some light on man's proclivities towards violence and human debasement. There are a further 176 comments made about this film. Not many other films on IMDb have that many comments. Testimony to the stature of the film. Barry Lyndon's kindred spirits are Radiohead, Mozart, Picasso, and Cormac McCarthy.