Stanley Kubrick, the auteur

Stanley Kubrick is a true blue auteur. An auteur of who Andres Bazin could be proud. Kubrick mixed elements together in such a fashion that you could immediately say, "That is Kubrick." A couple of these elements include "dolly" or "rolling" shots (where the camera would follow a character or group), close-ups of anguished, emotional faces (including Nicholson's and D'Onofrio's respective "glares"), ironic music, and war themes. Full Metal Jacket (1987) represents Kubrick's lifetime of toil and work. He seamlessly melds all the elements from previous movies into this powerful, troubling film. You can see this at work in this clip:

The Drill Sergeant is followed by a rolling camera and causes Gomer Pyle to have some of the most terrible faces I have ever seen.
Ironic music in Dr. Strangelove:

Stanley Kubrick will forever be remembered as a extraordinary writer-director. His body of work "only" included sixteen films, but in forty-eight years, that does not sound like a lot. An average of three years per movie really shows in the crafted, particular way he shot his films. He liked close-ups of everything:

His shots have spurred many imitations, like the following scene:

It is unfortunate Kubrick died before the new millennium, but he left behind many works to appreciate and dissect. He will always be remembered in- and outside film classes.

Jack Nicholson's Star Persona

Jack Nicholson is the quintessential Hollywood leading man. No matter what role he adopts, Nicholson always brings a strong presence to the screen, leveraging his looks with his acting ability. From a villain to a hero and everything in between, Nicholson's characters have become some of the most recognizable in movie history. With a staggering number of leading roles under his belt, Nicholson's career spans over five decades of hit after hit movie.

In most still images of Nicholson, he steals the picture with all eyes drawn immediately to his classic good looks and commanding presence. In every role he plays, there is a sense of strength mixed in with a touch of crazy. In fact, in his most well-known roles, he uses his "faintly sinister appearance" to etch his persona in the public's mind. Recently, he brought this essence to The Departed. Scorsese perfectly utilized Nicholson as the slick, ruthless Mob boss; one walks away from the movie wondering if Nicholson is playing at insanity or actually insane. In that manner, he could be considered a method actor.

Additionally, he is the ladies' man, the dashing rogue, the man every mom warned her daughter about. He takes on that role in As Good as It Gets with Helen Hunt. His ability to play characters from comic book heroes to real life political icons is a testament to his versatility as an actor. He will forever be remembered as one of Hollywood's top leading men.

Sony Pictures Classics

As a film distributor, Sony Pictures Classics appears to enjoy distributing eclectic documentaries and narratives. Wikipedia lists Sony Pictures Classics (SPC), previously known as Orion Classics, as the indy/art film subsidiary of Sony Pictures Entertainment (Wikipedia is appropriate as a source here because it is a non-partisan topic). It also reads that SPC distributes as well as produces, but according to the Internet Movie Database (IMDB), it has produced only a handful of movies in the past few years. Many of the movies distributed by SPC have well-known actors and actresses looking for the next sex, lies, and videotape break-out indy hit. The three movies that stuck out to me are Youth Without Youth, Das Leben Der Anderen, and Die Falscher.

None of the movies went straight to DVD; all were theatrical releases. All involve drama based in Europe. Although Youth Without Youth is a romance, it is still a drama set in a period of crisis and turmoil like The Lives of Others and The Counterfeiters. The films also have a strong political leaning to them. Youth Without Youth is about a man pursued by the Nazis for the secret to his amazing medical recovery. The Counterfeiters is set inside a Nazi concentration camp. The Lives of Others involves East Berlin and spying on your fellow man. These films also enjoyed limited openings in NYC and LA. SPC likes picking up very political movies for distribution. Movies such as a Jimmy Carter documentary, an Iranian Revolution cartoon, and a Palestinian-Israeli confrontation narrative all are steeped heavily in politics. Additionally, SPC likes to distribute subtitled foreign films and a few straight-to-DVD titles.

I recognized many of the indie films listed for SPC on IMDB; SPC must have a large advertising budget. I will now pay more attention to distributors to determine if it will be the kind of movie I want to watch. I enjoy highly political movies, so SPC seems like a sure fit.

In the picture above, an actor in The Counterfeiters is shown in a medium shot. In the picture below (with the snow), an actor is in a full shot from Youth Without Youth. The actor to the right is pictured in a medium shot from The Lives of Others.