Spartacus's Recent Activity - Spout

Film:Spartacus

Mon, 03 Aug 2009 19:06:25 GMT

Title: Spartacus
Year: 1960
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Plot: Spartacus (Kirk Douglas) is a rebellious slave purchased by Lentulus Batiatus (Peter Ustinov), owner of a school for gladiators. For the entertainment of corrupt Roman senator Marcus Licinius Crassus (Laurence Olivier), Batiatus' gladiators are to stage a fight to the death. On the night before the event, the enslaved trainees are "rewarded" with female companionship. Spartacus' companion for the evening is Varinia (Jean Simmons), a slave from Brittania. When Spartacus later learns that Varinia has been sold to Crassus, he leads 78 fellow gladiators in revolt. Word of the rebellion spreads like wildfire, and soon Spartacus' army numbers in the hundreds. Escaping to join his cause is Varinia, who has fallen in love with Spartacus, and another of Crassus' house slaves, the sensitive Antoninus (Tony Curtis). The revolt becomes the principal cog in the wheel of a political struggle between Crassus and a more temperate senator named Gracchus (Charles Laughton). Anthony Mann was the original director of Spartacus, eventually replaced by Stanley Kubrick, who'd previously guided Douglas through Paths of Glory. The film received 4 Academy Awards, including Best Supporting Actor for Ustinov. A crucial scene between Olivier and Curtis, removed from the 1967 reissue because of its subtle homosexual implications, was restored in 1991, with a newly recorded soundtrack featuring Curtis as his younger self and Anthony Hopkins standing in for the deceased Olivier. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Times Tagged: 12
Number of Lists: 30
Number of blog posts: 4
Number of discussion threads: 1
SpoutRating: 3

Spout Post: Re:Which of these movies directed by Stanley Kubrick is your favorite?

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 21:52:55 GMT

Post By: Risselada
Post To: Movie Polls
Post Date: 9/23/2009 5:52:55 PM
Body: [quote user="Dr_Gor"] This was a tough one but in the end I had to go with The Shining (SURPRISE!)... King, Kubrick and Nicholson had to get my vote. I didn't know that Kubrick directed Spartacus (!) but that would be a contender for my second favorite along with Dr. Stranglove and 2001 . < GOR > [/quote] Yeah Anthony Mann was originally the director on Spartacus and did some filming for about a week before being fired by Kirk Douglas. Then he brought on Kubrick. Not sure what was wrong with Mann though. Oh well.

Spout Post: Re:Which of these movies directed by Stanley Kubrick is your favorite?

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 23:47:44 GMT

Post By: pippin06
Post To: Movie Polls
Post Date: 9/22/2009 7:47:44 PM
Body: Of these Kubrick films listed, I've seen: 2001: A Space OdysseyA Clockwork OrangeDr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the BombThe Shining (part)Spartacus (part) I don't really count the partial ones. And, after a few gos at viewing, as it's one of my favorite movies, I feel like I completely understand 2001, so that one's my favorite hands down. A Clockwork Orange was powerful but too disturbing for my sensitive palette, and Dr. Strangelove was darkly funny and funnily dark, but 2001 is just an amazing film to me on every level.

Spout Post: Which of these movies directed by Stanley Kubrick is your favorite?

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 18:12:36 GMT

Post By: Risselada
Post To: Movie Polls
Post Date: 9/22/2009 2:12:36 PM
Body: Please reference this thread for the rules of this group. Please vote only once in each poll. Movies referenced in this poll:2001: A Space OdysseyBarry LyndonA Clockwork OrangeDr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the BombEyes Wid ShutFull Metal JacketKiller's KissThe KillingLolitaPaths of GloryThe ShiningSpartacus

Spout Post: Mr. Wordsmith

Wed, 21 May 2008 03:38:23 GMT

Post By: Tenenbaums
Post To: Tenenbaums Blog
Post Date: 5/20/2008 11:38:23 PM
Body: "Trumbo" is the story of charismatic blacklisted screenwriter Dalton Trumbo and his turbulent rise from the career and life-tarnishing government brand. Based on son Christopher's play, Peter Askin's film weaves rollicking archival interviews with readings of Dalton's equally bizarre but beautiful letters (his preferred form of distance communication) read by current Hollywood royalty, including Paul Giamatti, Nathan Lane and Liam Neeson.The actors turn the recreations into full-blown celebrations of Dalton's fantastic use of language, notably epitomized in a sarcasm-tinged note to an electric company representative and an improbably long ode to masturbation, addressed to a teenaged Christopher. And though these words are Dalton's, they are still outdone by the man himself, always in peak form, twisting words to the pleasure of all.When the content shifts to the wide-reaching effects of his blacklisting, the opposite of Dalton's widespread joy is revealed in the attitudes of outsiders, gullible to the false judgments of communist ties. Though these blockades succeeded in handicapping the Trumbos' lives, it failed to keep Dalton from writing. Using an array of pseudonyms, Dalton completed numerous screenplays in order to provide for his family, earning an unattainable Oscar for "Roman Holiday" along the way.As studio tensions eased, Dalton was permitted by Otto Preminger ("Exodus") and Stanley Kurbrick ("Spartacus") to display his name in the respective films' credits. In his return to uninhibited fame, Dalton used the opportunity to express the trials of his experiences and the resulting politics. The concept of men unwilling to turn informants is a key theme of "Papillon" and especially "Spartacus," in which the seminal line, "I am Spartacus," stands not only as Dalton's most famous line, but as a testament to his resiliency and honor.Askin's film is remarkably entertaining in bringing an equally fascinating man's tale to life. The talented wit employed by Dalton Trumbo throughout his career receives a fitting tribute as his timeless words are allowed to endure.

Spout Post: If Saul Bass Designed the Star Wars Credits

Mon, 03 Mar 2008 20:00:42 GMT

Post By: SpoutBlog
Post To: SpoutBlog on spout.com
Post Date: 3/3/2008 3:00:42 PM
Body: Star Wars may have the most famous opening title sequence in film history, but in terms of influence it’s got nothing on the work of Saul Bass. He’s the brilliant graphic designer who gave us the animated credits for Hitchcock’s Vertigo, North by Northwest and Psycho and Scorsese’s Casino, Cape Fear, The Age of Innocence and Goodfellas and most of Otto Preminger’s work, including Exodus, Anatomy of a Murder and The Man With the Golden Arm. You’ve also seen his work at the beginning of West Side Story and Alien and Big and The Seven Year Itch and Spartacus. But what if he had designed the opening credits to Star Wars? Well, it might have looked something like this video, which was created for a school project. Interesting, yes. Creative, yes. Entertaining, yes. Memorable, no. It just goes to show how significant some credit sequences can be, because this is hardly appropriate for George Lucas’ film. And I don’t just mean because the music is all wrong. If this student wanted to go with a jazz score for the titles, he should have gone with a jazz cover of the Star Wars theme. And if he wanted something more upbeat, he could have used a jazz cover of the Cantina Band song (both covers can be heard on this album). If I was this guy’s professor, I’d give him a B+, mostly for effort and the fact that I love the lazer blasts and the zoom in on the Death Star at the end. For the A, though, he’d need to resubmit with something more suitable than a Buddy Rich soundtrack. [via Fraktastic] Originally posted on:SpoutBlog

Spout Post: To The Academy: Educate, Don't Placate

Sun, 06 Jan 2008 14:34:43 GMT

Post By: BigJeffLebowski
Post To: BigJeffLebowski Blog
Post Date: 1/6/2008 9:34:43 AM
Body: In the January 14th issue of Time, film critic Richard Corliss eschews reviewing the week's releases (it is January, after all) to instead pontificate on the state of the Oscars ("How to Save the Awards Shows"). As many are wont to do, Corliss offers his suggestion on how to improve the Oscars. He throws out the notions usually bandied about in bids for cheap audience thrills, and suggests something that he considers self-evidently simple: give the awards to popular movies.Now, with all respect to Mr. Corliss, I agree that the Oscars don't have the finest track record for nominations, let alone for awards. But if I may be granted my say, the problem with the list is that it usually slants too commercial. Does anyone really think The Departed was the best picture of 2006? Or Crash the best picture of 2005? Or Million Dollar Baby the best picture of 2004? Or... well, you get the idea.Granted, these are not bad films. (Okay, Crash is a bad film.) But they are populist films. And whether or not they make as much money as unsophisticated comedies or franchises or sickeningly saccharine schmaltz is regardless. These are films with big names both in front of and behind the camera, with money to spare on production and promotion. By now, they even have a subgenre of their own: Oscar-bait.Corliss points out that "In the old days, the Best Picture prize went to box-office hits like Casablanca, The Bridge on the River Kwai, The Sound of Music." Is anyone really going to debate that Casablanca and The Bridge on the River Kwai are classics in all senses of the word? (Let's not debate The Sound of Music; as far as I'm concerned, that's one of the most erroneous awards the Academy has ever given. But I digress.) There's a difference between saying Gladiator is in the spirit of Spartacus and saying that Gladiator is as good as Spartacus. There's an intelligence, a tastefulness, and an artistic merit in a Spartacus that is lacking in favor of the bombast and the superficial showmanship of a Gladiator.I am of the opinion that Little Miss Sunshine, though brilliant, was overpraised. I do not feel it was the best original screenplay of the year, nor do I believe that it was among the five best pictures of the year. But let's put that aside and consider not the film itself, but what it meant within the context of its fellow nominees. Little Miss Sunshine was "the little indie that could," a film that could have gone straight to DVD and had a small devout following, but because of early critical praise and festival buzz, worked its way up to the Oscars. How precious. No one seemed to notice that Steve Carrell is one of our most bankable stars at the moment, not to mention the presence of other big name players such as Alan Arkin, Toni Collette, and Greg Kinear. No one that would necessarily pull a record breaking opening based on their name alone, but this isn't an indie in the Jim Jarmusch sense of the word. (Or -- excuse me, I forgot I was on Spout for a moment -- the Joe Swanberg sense of the word.)I would love to see Juno nominated for Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay, and Ellen Page nominated for Best Actress. To my delight, if the pre-Oscar buzz is to be trusted, there's a strong possibility of this coming to pass. But, as Karina has so eloquently pointed out on her blog, Juno is, like Little Miss Sunshine before it, not an indie. But if/when it gets nominated this year, it's going to be this year's "little indie that could." There will be those who champion it for it's decidedly outsider aesthetics and subversive attack on the general public; there will be those who lash out against it, saying it was only nominated to fill a quota. Both of these camps are wrong, and I find each one equally disheartening.Until the Academy is required to sit down and watch every film that comes out over the course of a year -- Oscar bait or not -- their awards are always going to be slanted and biased. Now, I'll admit that I don't think it would hurt if someone lost their copy of, say, Underdog, but once again, this is a slippery slope.I think back to my halcyon days of working video retail, when a precocious teen could stand behind the register, content and safe in his sense of cinematic superiority. I had a phrase, a credo if you will, for why I would never let a customer blindly refuse a letterbox edition of a film. "Educate, don't placate," I would say, as I took out a piece of (approximately) 2.35:1 paper and demonstrated, "This is how a movie is shot, but this is all you're getting to see," while ripping the paper in half. (I also had diagrams I would draw, but that would take too long to explain.)I would like to instruct the Academy to do the same thing: don't simply placate the masses who want validation that the films they paid to see are good. Chances are, they're not. No offense. Educate them on some of the better films they may have missed or not bothered to see. The film critic is always going to be hated by the populace, who routinely declare "I always disagree with reviews." There's no reason for intelligent, discerning people to sacrifice their integrity and pander to a constituency that isn't going to listen to them either way. EDIT: A very truncated version of this rant was printed in the Letters to the Editor section of the January 28 issue of Time magazine, several pages away from an interview with Woody Allen. I plan to gloat that Woody Allen and I were both published in the same issue of Time for many years to come.

Spout Post: Re: Films that deserve the Criterion treatment

Sat, 19 May 2007 11:31:38 GMT

Post By: josephkuzma
Post To: Criterion Collection
Post Date: 5/19/2007 7:31:38 AM
Body: Personally I find it odd that the only Kubrick to be Criterionized (not a word) is Spartacus. Don't get me wrong, I liked Spartacus but I would prefer to see Criterions of the other Kubrick films. Specifically Dr. Strangelove, A Clockwork Orange, 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Shining & The Killing.Also, what's with the Beastie Boys video anthology? How to Criterionize something that will (apparently) never cease being added to. It's already out of date, isn't it? Plus: THE BEASTIE BOYS!? Really, that's an important contemporary music DVD? Monterey Pop is perfectly understandable but Beastie Boys? Arrrgh... At least Criterionize Big Time of The Last Waltz.

Spout Post: Ben Hur

Fri, 23 Feb 2007 20:39:00 GMT

Post By: HairyLime
Post To: HairyLime Blog
Post Date: 2/23/2007 3:39:00 PM
Body: Caught the second half of this one on TCM last night (have seen it before, but it has been a loooong time). While it does have a spectacular chariot race sequence, the rest of the movie just leaves me flat. The chariot race takes place about 3/4 of the way through the movie, and then you are left with the 'leper mother and sister' storyline to keep the audiences interest for another hour. The direction and set ups, aside from the grandiose set pieces, are of the garden variety 'biblical epic' style i.e. a lot of side views, as if you are looking at rennaisance paintings (a lot of the set-ups in DeMille's Ten Commandments are cut from the same cloth).Won 'best picture' in a year with rather weak competition (although if the Academy had any guts or imagination, they would have given it to "Some Like It Hot", as well as the Best Actor award to Lemmon, which went to Heston). Heston is his usual scenery chewing self, and Hugh Griffith has some fun with his role as an Arab horse trader.Not a huge fan of the 'biblical epic', but am somewhat more interested in Roman history, and suggest: Gladiator, I, Claudius, Spartacus

Spout Tag:war

Sun, 20 Dec 2009 01:16:35 GMT

war
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Spout Tag:escape

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 19:51:44 GMT

escape
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Spout Tag:historical

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 21:32:41 GMT

historical
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Spout Tag:criterion

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 02:08:23 GMT

criterion
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Spout Tag:KUBRICK

Sat, 07 Feb 2009 21:18:30 GMT

KUBRICK
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Spout Tag:roman

Mon, 04 May 2009 13:03:58 GMT

roman
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Spout Tag:slavery

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 02:27:19 GMT

slavery
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Spout Tag:crucifixion

Thu, 08 Jan 2009 18:28:20 GMT

crucifixion
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Spout Tag:battle-war

Fri, 31 Jul 2009 13:03:15 GMT

battle-war
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Spout Tag:senator

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 07:13:47 GMT

senator
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Spout Tag:Best-Supporting-Actor

Mon, 07 Jan 2008 09:21:24 GMT

Best-Supporting-Actor
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Spout Tag:gladiator

Mon, 19 May 2008 00:12:05 GMT

gladiator
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Spout Tag:barbaric

Sat, 26 Sep 2009 13:19:39 GMT

barbaric
Number of films tagged: 2

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Spout Tag:I-am-Spartacus

Sun, 24 Jun 2007 00:24:29 GMT

I-am-Spartacus
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Spout Tag:cheesy-flute-music

Mon, 02 Apr 2007 16:55:50 GMT

cheesy-flute-music
Number of films tagged: 1

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