FilmJerk Favorites

A group of unique directors and the essential works that you've got to see.

||| Stanley Kubrick |||
Stanley Kubrick

A filmmaker of international importance, Kubrick was one of the only directors to work within the Studio System and still have full artistic control over his films from scripting through post-production, prompting Time Magazine to compare Kubrick’s early independence with the magnitude of Orson Welles.

An uncompromising antiwar film, this gut-wrenching drama depicts a World War I officer as he labors with an ultimately futile defense for three painfully sympathetic men tried for cowardice. Kubrick artistically utilizes a beautifully washed-out black and white photography to represent the muddied boundaries of right and wrong, and the many gray areas that lay between.

A fabulous and inspiring adventure, this visually stunning epic stars Kirk Douglas as the heroic slave who fights to lead his people to freedom from Roman rule. Although a clear departure from Kubrick’s oeuvre, “Spartacus” is an all time classic helmed by a man with a precise vision who is equally capable of crafting colossal spectacle, tense tête-à-têtes, and a tender moment between lovers.

This film is so stylish it’s easy to forget it’s a horror film at heart. Considered to be the thinking man’s thriller, Kubrick molds this very particularly “Stephan King” material into the portfolio of his films about human failure, as the hero’s desperate desire to become somebody ends in frustration and tragedy.

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Michael Bay wants to scare you "Half to Death"

By EdwardHavens

June 14th, 2007

Michael Bay's production company Platinum Dunes, which has recently realized they can make crappy original movies just as much as they can make crappy remakes of horror films and toy commercials -- I mean animated children's shows -- will begin production this August on the thriller "Half to Death." To quote Morrissey, stop me if you've heard this one before...

Michael Bay wants to scare you

A young college freshman named Teresa is troubled by when she discovers she is living the same day over and over again, one that starts out innocently enough but always ends with her brutal murder by an unknown attacker. Could the murdered be her boyfriend Gregory, who is also sleeping with Teresa's roommate Lori? Or could it be Lori, who is ferociously envious that Gregory might like Teresa more? Maybe it is one of Teresa's classmates, unable to get her attention? Perhaps one of her professors, who cannot consummate their passion for their top student? Or perhaps it's some secret Skull & Bones-type society, who picked Teresa for no good reason to be their ritualistic sacrifice? It's like "Single White Female" meets "Groundhog's Day" meets "Captivity," and certain to be just as terrifying.

Finnish video director Antti Jokinen will make his feature directing debut, from a screenplay by one-time Buffy comic book writer Scott Lobdell. Look for the film in theatres sometime in 2008.


The Scorecard
Producers: John Baldecchi, Michael Bay, Andrew Form, Brad Fuller, Angela Mancuso
Director: Antii Jokinen
Screenwriter: Scott Lobdell
Production Start Date: August 2007
Location: Canada
Production Company: Platinum Dunes and Rogue Pictures
Distributor: Rogue Pictures