Repeat Viewing Store Now Open!

Do you have an overwhelming desire to own stuff? Feel the need to announce your likes and interests to every person you pass on the street? Is there a gaping emptiness in your soul that can only be filled by wasting money on worthless junk? Then come spend your hard earned cash at the Repeat Viewing pop-up store! For a strictly limited time, you can own some of the custom items from this website, including film-related products inspired by:

• 2001: A Space Odyssey
• Alien
• Blade Runner 
• Mulholland Drive 
• Raiders of the Lost Ark 
• The Shining 
• Two Hands
• And many more!

 

Follow the link and get your greasy mitts on a new t-shirt, mug or bag - while stocks last! 

New Year, New T-shirts

Nine new designs have been added to the Custom T-shirts collection. You can check them out via the tab at the top of the screen, or roll your eyeballs downwards towards these low resolution images here:

 

 

You could also join my six non-bot followers on Instagram and be among the first to see each new design as it drops. I hear it's what all the cool kids are doing these days.

Custom T-shirts Now Available

For those of us living outside of the UK or US, purchasing custom t-shirts from websites like Etsy and Redbubble can be an expensive endeavour. To circumvent costly shipping charges, I design and print my own t-shirts.

A variety of designs can be found by clicking on the Custom T-shirt tab, with more designs being uploaded in the very near future.

The Private Pyle Conundrum

Stanley Kubrick had many obsessions throughout his life and career. He loved a good notebook. He adored animals, particularly cats. And he had a big old man crush on Napoleon Bonaparte. There was however, one nagging problem when it came to the exiled emperor of 19th century France. Kubrick could not understand how a master strategist like Napoleon could be such a noob when it came to invading Russia. No army had ever managed to successfully invade Russia in 600 years, so why did Napoleon attempt it during the winter of 1812, when his soldiers were already pushed to their limits and dangerously low on supplies? This was a frequent source of confusion and frustration for Kubrick. I have a similar issue with Kubrick and his writing of Private Pyle’s character arc in Full Metal Jacket.

As big a fan as I am of Stanley Kubrick, even I can admit that his films are peppered with cringe worthy moments. Eyes Wide Shut, for instance, is full of them. Yet most of these directorial decisions are related to his penchant for ‘interesting’ performances. Private Pyle’s character arc stands alone in Kubrick’s filmography as, potentially, his one and only screenplay flaw. Spoilers ahead.

Private Leonard Lawrence enters Full Metal Jacket as a slack jawed mouth breathing dullard. His amusement at being berated by Drill Instructor Gunnery Sergeant Hartman earns him the moniker ‘Gomer Pyle’ and the first of many beatings. He is unfit, slow to learn, disliked by his peers and routinely humiliated. Then, under the tutelage of Private Joker, Pyle transforms into a well trained killing machine. He gains the respect of Hartman and graduates as a United States Marine Corps Infantry Rifleman.

Immediately following this, he is found sitting in the latrine with his rifle Charlene. He claims he is ‘in a world of shit’, and proceeds to murder Hartman before blowing his own head off. This is something I could never understand, and is the first of two points I would like to make on the subject. Pyle has achieved the impossible - he has become a Marine. So why is he still ‘in a world of shit’? Fair enough to say that he was in a world of shit, but now? Why not kill Hartman weeks ago? Why not blow your head off when you’re at your absolute lowest? Why wait until you’ve achieved the one thing no one said you could do before killing yourself? Other than to cap off the Parris Island segment with a shocking climax, what logical reason is there to place this scene here?

My second point is this - assuming Pyle wasn't drafted, why didn’t he just quit? Hartman hounded him relentlessly to leave, and it seemed to be an option, so why stick it out? I can see only two reasons why someone might choose to continue training despite the torture and abuse Pyle received:

1. He had been given a court order stating that he either go to prison or join the Marines, and Pyle believed the alternative was worse.
2. He needed the money. Perhaps Pyle was the sole income earner for his family, and maybe the Marines was the only employer willing to give him a job?

Now I am aware that none of the characters in Full Metal Jacket have fleshed out backstories, and that this was a conscious decision on Kubrick’s part. But if the audience is to believe that a character’s derangement was inevitable and unavoidable, then one or two lines about his criminal past or his destitute family might have sold that point more convincingly.

Kubrick’s screenplays evolve over years of countless writers, drafts and meetings. During filming, he rewrites scenes himself, over and over again with no concern for time or budgetary constraints. Every single story decision and line of dialogue is considered numerous ways before being immortalised on film. Private Pyle’s unconvincing character arc therefore, like Napoleon’s decision to push forward into a Russian winter, will forever remain a mystery for the ages.

The Parallelism of Kubrick and Kate

Stanley Kubrick and Kate Bush are two of the most important and influential artists of the 20th Century. Despite this, Kubrick is not renowned for his singing or dancing. Similarly, having recently laboured through Bush’s 1993 self proclaimed ‘load of bollocks’, The Line, The Cross and the Curve, it’s safe to say that she is not synonymous with film making. Yet both of these artists have so much in common it’s astonishing that everyone isn’t talking about it, like, all of the time. According to comedian Michelle Wolf, ‘Blogs are a conversation that no one wanted to have with you’. That observation has never been more applicable than to this red hot topic.

How To Make A Belated Sequel

It has become common practice for filmmakers to strip-mine the past for pre-existing IP with a ready made fan base. This has resulted in a slew of new 'first' sequels to movies from the 80s and 90s – movies that we never thought required a second outing. In 2020, sequels that may or may not be coming your way include:

• Top Gun: Maverick (Top Gun 2)
• Beetlejuice 2
• The Rocketeers (The Rocketeer 2)
• Coming 2 America (Coming to America 2)
• Triplets (Twins 2)
• Space Jam 2

I love a good dot-point list, so here's another one of belated releases from the past few years:

• Split (Unbreakable 2)
• Doctor Sleep (The Shining 2)
• T2 Trainspotting (Trainspotting 2)
• Blade Runner 2049 (Blade Runner 2)

The fear of alienating those who are unfamiliar with the original has also precipitated the rise of the ‘soft reboot’ - films that are more remake than sequel. These films rarely adhere to a numbering system (for example, Rocky II, Rocky III, Rocky IV) but instead try to hide their numerical position in a larger franchise (Rocky Balboa, Creed). Every so often, though, a belated sequel will appear that proudly flaunts its sequelness. But does that always make for compelling viewing? Let's compare two recent examples...

Eyes Wide Shut: Masterpiece Or Meh?

I’m rarely confounded by a film, yet Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut confounds me. In the twenty years since its release, I’ve watched it a thousand times; not because I like it, but because I still don’t know if I like it. Is it a work of genius, the culmination of a lifetime of obsessive research by history’s greatest film-maker? Is it a rumination on the masks we wear, itself masquerading its meaning behind layers and layers of inscrutable detail? Or is it the last ditch effort of a pervey old man to stare at some boobs? 

We've heard it all before: Eyes Wide Shut set the Guinness World Record for the longest film shoot of all time. Stanley Kubrick required his actors to perform take after take of inconsequential actions, so much so that Harvey Keitel quit and Tom Cruise developed a stomach ulcer.* Kubrick literally worked himself to death, suffering a major heart attack only days after completing his final cut of the film. Considering the time, money and energy that went into the making of Eyes Wide Shut, it's impossible to watch the film without regularly pondering the following question: What the hell is going on?

Other questions might include:
- How come no-one in this film seems to know how to act? 

- Why does New York City look so fake?
- Is the orgy supposed to be erotic, suspenseful or lame?

Let’s discuss.

The Shining, Animated

So you love Stanley Kubrick's The Shining, but you always wondered what it might have looked like if it was a 2D pixel art side-scroller? Well, wonder no more...

 

 

View-Master Mock-Up: Paths Of Glory

Ever wondered what Stanley Kubrick's 1957 anti-war masterpiece Paths of Glory might have looked like if it was released as a View-Master reel set? Something like this perhaps ...

More Kubrick View-Master sets can be found by clicking the VIEW-MASTER tab at the top of the page, along with a bunch of other sets that never existed.

Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey Trading Cards

Much has been written about Stanley Kubrick's 1968 sci-fi classic, 2001: A Space Odyssey. I have no intention of adding to the noise. Instead, I've created a set of 2001: A Space Odyssey trading cards, plugging a gaping hole in the pop culture stream while simultaneously avoiding doing anything real or worthwhile or meaningful with my weekend. Enjoy!

Click on the TRADING CARDS tab to see more of the set.

View-Master Mock-up: A Clockwork Orange

Up next in my series of View-Master reel sets that never existed, Stanley Kubrick's 1971 film A Clockwork Orange. Again, I've tried to remain faithful to the package design of the time period.

View-Master Mock-up: Full Metal Jacket

Towards the late 80s, View-Master reel packaging became increasingly colourful and kid friendly - and this has been reflected in my latest mock-up for Stanley Kubrick's 1987 Vietnam war film, Full Metal Jacket. 

To see more Full Metal Jacket merchandise that never existed, check out this Read-Along Record.

Stanley Kubrick's The Shining: Now Available in 3D!

Long before James Cameron reinvigorated the film and panel van airbrushing industry with his 2009 Sam Worthington vehicle Avatar, kids could hold a chunk of carcinogenic red plastic to their eyeballs and experience exactly what it must be like if everything was cut out of cardboard and positioned slightly apart from everything else. 

The View-Master was introduced in 1939, to a pre-war general populace who were clambering for stereoscopic images of tourist attractions. By 1981, it was standard fare in every child's toy box, with a variety of film and television licensed products available for purchase. These included you're typical 80s blockbusters, such as E.T. The Extra Terrestrial, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Jaws 3D, and The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension. A complete list of all available titles can be found at The View-Master Ultimate Reel List.

Although View-Master reels had, for many years, been designed specifically for an adult market, by the early 80s the target audience was predominately children - which is why we never saw the films of Stanley Kubrick released as a View-Master reel set. I am slowly rectifying this oversight with the first of a series of adult-centric View-Master mock-ups, beginning with the 1980 horror classic, The Shining.

It Was Inevitable: Adult Read-Along Records

Once there was this thing called vinyl records. Vinyl was sort of like CDs, except bigger, and blacker, and when you played them they had this crackling fireplace quality that made everything you heard sound warm and 'authentic'. 

Unlike MP3s, when you held a 12 inch record in your hands you felt like you owned something real, substantial. Its fragility made you treat them with care and respect, holding the edges like it was some kind of precious artefact from your youth. Which, retrospectively, it was.

It was only a matter of time before I started making Read-Along record imagery for more adult films. Because irony, right? So here is Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket as a Read-Along Adventure. Insert hilarious iconic film quote here: